The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 4, 2002 - 5B
Trash talk
"I'm in it to win. I ain't in it to lose."
- Michigan forward Bernard Robinson, looking ahead to
the Big Ten Tournament, after his Wolverines ended their
season by losing six straight. Robinson did his part,
contributing 20 points in the lose to Ohio State.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Ohio State 84
Michigan 75
Players of the Game
Dommanic Ingerson
(Michigan),
Ingerson led the Wolverines with 21
points and three assists while shooting 8-
of-14 from the field.
Brian Brown
(Ohio State)
Brown, who played all 40 minutes,
scored 19 points, dished out 8 assists,
and pulled down six rebounds.
-- ®.::
Win in Indy, and we can give Amaker another year of patience
ft er Saturday's loss to Ohio State, despera-
tion set in for the Michigan Wolverines. It
was a frustrating night that saw six seniors
(who are models of the sys- _
tem coach Tommy Amaker is
trying to implement) lose for
the sixth-straight time. Michi-
gan had shown promise early
this season, teetering around
the .500 mark, but this late
collapse has left the team
with the same number of '
wins (10) as last season. DAVID
The arrival of Amaker to HORN
Ann Arbor bought the new
coach some time, as fans Tooting
were willing to wait patiently my own
for him to turn the program
into, say, Duke. But the reality is that the last three
weeks of Michigan basketball have been painful to
watch and probably painful to coach, and Amaker
realizes that while long-term promises are great,
Michigan needed something big to happen this
season - a major upset, a winning streak, a Big
Ten Tournament run - to keep questions from
being asked during the offseason.
Buckeyes cli
Nothing has happened. The Wolverines won
two-straight games to begin the Big Ten season,
but they were against two of the conference's worst
teams. Michigan's biggest win was at home on
Feb. 2 against Wisconsin, but that's hardly an upset
on the scale of Illinois or, say, Duke. Michigan has
lost the games it was supposed to lose, and lost a
number of games they ought to have won. Michi-
gan has lost 17 games this season, and these last
six have been particularly devastating. Prior to Sat-
urday's Ohio State loss, the Wolverines had lost
their last four games by an average of 24 points.
For a time, if you had criticism of the team's
short-term failures, you could shout it from your
rooftop. Amaker didn't care.
But all of a sudden he realizes that his team has-
n't done anything immediately worthy of praise.
The patience of fans is a precarious thing, and
needs some food in the short term to keep its
appetite from raging in the long term. Amaker
came in preaching defense, but his team has not
been converted. Last year Michigan's opponents
shot 44.9 percent from the field; this year they are
shooting 47 percent. Last year opponents averaged
33.6 rebounds per game; this year they are averag-
ing 34.4. The Wolverines have regularly allowed
teams to score in the 70s.
So with little to show for themselves after a
rebuilding season, Amaker and his players began
hinting at playing spoiler at this week's Big Ten
Tournament.
"When you get to tournament play, when it's
one-and-done, crazier things have happened,"
Amaker said. "And were still holding our hope
that maybe some things can happen for us this sea-
son."
"I'm in it to win it. I ain't in it to lose," sopho-
more Bernard Robinson said of the Big Ten Tour-
nament. "This is a team that can surprise a couple
of people. It's a tournament and coaches and play-
ers start to get tight because you're in the tourna-
ment and it's one game and you're out, so you
never know what happens in the tournament - it's
a whole different environment."
All of a sudden the attitude is "hey, you never
know," and that desperate optimism is something
that has not been heard much around Crisler Arena
this season. Previously, when Amaker had been
pressed to reveal his expectations regarding wins
and losses, conference seeding, or postseason pos-
sibilities, he has been stoic and reserved, confident
in his system and unconcerned with such short-
term and unpredictable matters.
There are two types of criticism that Amaker is
aware of. One is short-term. Why didn't Dom-
manic Ingerson get more minutes in this or that
game?
The other is long-term. Questions about
where the program has been, and where it's
going. Questions about why scholarship players
drop out of the program, and how long it might
take for Michigan to return to a position of
national prominence.
Amaker has shrugged off the short-term,
while establishing himself as someone who
ought not to be questioned about the long-term.
His mantra is, "I've got a plan -stick with me."
His plan is a long-term one, and he has asked
players, fans and the media to excuse the short-
term for now as he builds for the future.
But while Amaker can ask for patience all he
wants, something extraordinary will need to hap-
pen this week in Indianapolis for the pundits to
grant Amaker another year of patience.
David Horn can be reached via email at
hornd@umich.edu.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Ohio State (84)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A O- A F PTS
Savovic 23 6-9 5-5 2-5 0 3 19
Williams 34 4-8 0-1 3-6 1 2 8
Radinovic 10 0-0 4-4 1-1 0 4 4
Darby 24 2-3 5-5 1-2 1 2 17
Brown 40 6-14 6-8 0-6 8 1 19
Fuss-Cheatham 11 1-1 1-2 0-0 0 1 3
Connolly 22 1-4 0-0 1-1 2 2 3
Dials 21 4-6 3-4 2-3 1 4 11
Dudley 9 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Martin 6 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 0
Totals 200 27-50 24-2910-29 13 2 84
FG%: .541. FT%: .828 3-point FG: 6-10, .600
(Savovic 2-3, Darby 2-3, Brown 1-2, Connolly 1-2).
Blocks: 0. Steals: 8 (Williams 2, Brown 2, Connolly
2, Darby, Dials Turnovers: 16 (Savovic 4, Williams
3, Brown 3, Connolly 3, Radinovic, Darby, Fuss-
Cheatham). Technical fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (75)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Gibson 7 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 2 0
Adebiyi 2 0.1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Young 37 5-7 7-7 1-4 2 2 17
Jones 28 1-5 0-0 0.1 2 4 2
Gotfredson 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Queen 15 0.1 2-2 0.1 0 2 2
Ingerson 25 8-14 1-1 0-2 3 2 21
Garber 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Robinson 33 8-15 4-4 0-3 2 5 20
Groninger 8 0-1 2-2 0-1 0 1 2
Blanchard 31 4-7 0-0 3-5 1 3 9
Bailey 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Totals 200 27-54 1616 8-22 28 17 94
FG%: .500. FT%: 1.00. 3-point FG: 5-16, .313
(Ingerson 4-8, Blanchard 1-3, Jones 0-2, Queen 0-1,
Robinson 0-1, Groninger 0-1). Blocks: 3 ( Robinson
2, Young 1). Steals: 5(Gibson, Jones, Ingerson,
Robinson, Groninger) Turnovers: 18 (Young 5, Jones
4, Queen 3, Blanchard 3, Ingerson, Robinson,
Groninger). Technical fouls: none.
Ohio State ..............34 50 - 84
MICHIGAN.................29 46 - 75
At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor
Attendance: 11,784
BIG TEN STANDINGS
ich Big
The road through Indy
Ten; fans storm court
6 *.A
#4 Indiana
ame 4
11:30 a.m. EST
ESPN2
Game 4 winner
By Steve Jackson
Daily Sports Editor
The Ohio State fans stood on the
floor and chanted after the game, "O-S-
U! O-S-U!" . _
"Just like foot-
ball! Just like foot- BASKETBALL
ball!" Notebook
It wasn't the first
time this season that a crowd has
stormed the court after a Michigan loss,
but it was the first time it happened in
Crisler Arena.
After the Wolverines' 84-75 loss, the
Buckeye faithful joined their team on
the court to celebrate their piece of the
2002 Big Ten regular season title.
"This shows how great our fans are,"
Ohio State guard Brian Brown said.
Michigan's Maize Ragers were
almost completely missing as the game
was over spring break, and a significant
number of those seats were picked up
by folks from Columbus. But that was
no excuse in the minds of the players.
"I never would have expected that,"
Michigan guard Dommanic Ingerson
said. "It's really disappointing, especial-
ly for the seniors to go out like that. You
could hear (the Ohio State fans) the
whole game."
Although none of the players would
admit that the crowd had any effect on
his performance, some did acknowl-
edge that the visiting fans gave the
Buckeyes a big boost.
BANGED up: Michigan point guard
Avery Queen was limited to 15 minutes
on Saturday because of a twisted knee.
"Some guy just landed on it wrong,"
Queen said. "I tried to put myself back
in, but it was just too stiff"
Queen is expected to play Thursday
against Northwestern.
THE LAW WON: Former Michigan
guard Kevin Gaines is in trouble again.
He was arrested in North Carolina on
.Feb. 24 at approximately 2:30 a.m. and
charged with assault on a female.
His bond was raised from $5,000 to
$10,350 after it was learned that he
might be wanted on an unspecified
charge in Michigan. He remains in Pitt
County jail and will not return to the
Houston basketball team.
"(Gaines) has some real issues in his
life that he must get in order," Houston
coach Ray McCallum told The Associat-
ed Press. "We will support him, but bas-
ketball is a secondary issue right now."
Gaines was kicked off the Michigan
basketball team in September 2000 fol-
lowing an arrest for driving under the
influence of alcohol on Telegraph Road
with then-incoming recruits Queen and
Bernard Robinson.
HORTON HONORED: Michigan recruit
Daniel Horton has received yet another
distinction. The 6-foot-3 point guard
from Cedar Hill High School in Texas
has been selected to compete in the
2002 EA Sports Roundball Classic.
This comes less than a week after Hor-
ton was named a McDonald's All-
American.
#5 Michigan State
1:45 p.m. EST
CBS
Game 8 winner
Team
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Iowa
Purdue
Michigan
Penn State
Conference Overall
W L W L
11 5 18 11
11 5 20 7
11 5 23 7
11 5 19 10
10 6 19 10
9 7 16 11
7 9 16 12
5 11 16 14
5 11 13 17
5 11 10 17
3 13 7 20
$8 Purdue
Game 1
2 p.m. EST
ESPN2
#9 Iowa
#1 Wisconsin
Game 5
2 p.m. EST
ESPN2
Game 1 winner
#2 Ohio State
Game 6
6:40 p.m. EST
ESPN Plus Regional
Game 2 winner
Game 5 winner
Game 10
3:30 p.m. EST
CBS
#7 Northwestern
Game 2
4:30 p.m. EST
ESPN
$10 Michigan
Game 6 winner
#6 Minnesota
Game 3$
7:10 p.m. EST
ESPN Plus Regional
#1 Penn State
#3 Illinois
Garde 7
9:10 p.m. EST
ESPN Plus Regional
Game 3 winner
Game
4:05 p.m. EST
CBS
Game 7 winner
Game 9 winner
Last Saturday's results:
Iowa 76, Michigan 56
No. 16 Illinois 56, NORTHWESTERN 41
No. 17 OHIO STATE 77, Purdue 66
Minnesota 68, PENN STATE 64
Last Wednesday's results:
Wisconsin 74, Michigan 54
MINNESOTA 69, Northwestern 51
Last Tuesday's results:
No. 16 ILLINOIS 70, No 21 Indiana 62
Michigan State 81, No. 17 OHIo STATE 76
Saturday's results:
No. 17 OHIo STATE 84, MICHIGAN 75
No. 21 Indiana 79, NORTHWESTERN 67
MICHIGAN STATE 93, Iowa 79
PURDUE 92 Penn State 57
Illinois 67, MINNESOTA 66
Thursday's games:
Iowa vs. Purdue, 2 p.m.
Michigan vs. Northwestem, 4:10 p.m.
Minnesota vs. Penn State, 7:10 p.m.
UP NEXT:
" approximate game timos
Michigan beaten badly in
two road games over break
Evans dominates to
snap Hawkeyes' skid
Michigan became the perfect cure
to the ailing Iowa Hawkeyes, who
had lost five straight games prior to
this one. The Wolverines' biggest
upset of last season was a 70-69 win
at Iowa City on Jan. 20, but they
could not repeat the feat this year.
Iowa center Reggie Evans
answered the bell after being
benched for two straight games by
coach Steve Alford for his poor class
attendance. Evans torched the
Wolverines inside with 20 points and
11 rebounds in a 76-56 victory.
It was Michigan's third-straight
loss by 20 points or more, and its
seventh-straight loss oi the road.
Michigan guard Gavin Groninger
woke up from his scoring slump by
scoring 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting
from behind the 3-point arc.
But it wasn't enough for the strug-
gling Wolverines.
Iowa reserve Glen Worley con-
tributed to the win with 14 points
and 10 rebounds.
Ryan's Badgers win
first title since 1947
The Wolverines learend the painful
lesson that more talent doesn't neses-
sarily guarantee wins. The overachiev-
ing Badgers, who were picked by
several publications to finish near the
bottom of the conference, lit up
Michigan by making 13-of-19 3-pint
attempts in their 74-54 defeat of the
Wolverines.
It was a reminder to the Wolverines
that they are last in the Big Ten in 3-
point defense.
With the win, Wisconsin clinched a
share of its first Big Ten title since
1947.
While Michigan defeated the Bad-
gers 64-53 at Crisler Arena on Feb. 2
in arguably its best game of the sea-
son, Wisconsin jumped ahead and
never looked back in this one. The
Badgers grabbed a 25-point halftime
lead, and despite Chris Young's 19
points and Bernard Robinson's 17, the
Wolverines could not muster a corn-
back and fell to 10-16 overall and 5-
10 in the Big Ten.
BUCKEYES
Continued from Page 15
With 55 seconds remaining in the
game, Young and fellow-senior (and
good friend) Leon Jones exited the
Crisler court to a standing ovation.
Young kissed court, then let the
tears roll down his eyes as he
watched the final seconds from the
bench.
"I was overwhelmed," Young said.
"I can't even put an emotion on it. I
was probably experiencing every
emotion possible."
The senior class includes tri-cap-
tains Young, Jones and Rotolu Ade-
biyi. Herb Gibson, Ron Garber and
fifth-year senior Mike Gotfredson
round out the departing class. All of
them except. for Garber started on
Saturday for coach Tommy Amaker,
who has given this class more
responsibility (on and off the court)
than anyone could have ever antici-
pated.
"It's so nice if your seniors can
win on senior day, but we're very
proud of these kids, and I think
we're going to look back and be
proud of what they were able to do
here," Amaker said. "And I'm
always going to be very grateful of
their efforts, their leadership, and all
the things that they've done this sea-
son."
Tavaras Hardy AP PHOTO
.NORTH1WESTERN
As the 10th seed in the Big Ten Tourn-
ment, Michigan faces Winston Blake and
seventh-seeded Northwestern. The Wild-
cats won the only matchup between the
two this season, defeating Michigan 58-
54 in Ann Arbor on Jan 16.
Who's dancing?
Here's a look at which teams have already
assured themselves a spot at the Big
Dance:
Florida
Atlantic
Winthrop
An Ohio Stae fan rushes the court to celebrate with the 2002 co-Big Ten champs.
- I
WEEKEND NOTES
HoW THE Top 25 FARED
No. 1Kansas 95, Missouri 92:
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Top-ranked
Kansas finished its first unbeaten
Big 12 season by beating the team
that gives the Jayhawks fits.
Five of the previous six times they
played at Missouri
with a top-five
ranking, they lost.'
In both 1997 and
1998, the Missouri '. Drew
game was the Jay- Gooden
hawks' only loss in AP PHOTO
conference plav.
son said. "It was kind of like that
test that was waiting at the end. If
we were going to go undefeated, we
were going to have to win at Mis-
souri, and we got it done."
The best thing about beating Mis-
souri, the way Kansas coach Roy
Williams saw it, was he won't have
to answer questions about why he
didn't win.
"And the second best, and it is in
that order, is that it makes us 16-
0." he said.
yesterday, the second time in 15
days the Rebels have knocked off
the sixth-ranked Crimson Tide at
home.
Ole Miss (20-9, 9-7) finished the sea-
son 13-1 at Tad Smith, including 8-0
in the SEC. The Rebels have won 91
of their last 100 home games.
Sanders said it's not necessarily the
setting as much of the style of play
that makes Ole Miss such a rude
host.
Team
1. Kansas
2. Maryland
3. Duke
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Alabama
7. Gozaga
8. Pittsburgh
9. Marquette
10. Florida
11. Kentucky
Record
27-2
23-3
26-3
27-3
22-4
24-6
26-3
23-4
23-4
20-6
19-7
This weekend's results
Beat Missouri 95-92
Beat Virginia 111-92
Beat North Carolina 93-68
Beat Memphis 80-75 (OT)
Beat Colorado 82-71
Lost to Mississippi 84-56
Beat San Diego 87-79
Beat West Virginia 92-65
Beat DePaul 72-53
Lost to No. 11 Kentucky 70-67
Beat No. 10 Florida 70-67
Murray
State
Davidson
'M' STATS
Player
Blanchard
Robinson
Young
I ngerson
Groninger
G
27
27
27
27
26
Min
29.0
27.8
31.3
15.3
15.8
A
1.9
2.2
0.9
1.2
1.4
Reb
6.3
4.4
5.6
1.5
1.1
Pts.
14.1
12.3
11.3
8.1
5.9