SPORTS michigandaily.com/sports sportsdesk@umich.edu TUESDAY MARCH 5, 2002 9 Big Ten co-champs need to impress at Tourney By David Horn Daily Sports Editor How much does the Big Ten Tour- nament matter? As the conference's fifth postseason tournament begins in two days at the Conseco Field- BASKETBALL house in Indi Notebook anap ol s coaches, players and members of the NCAA selection committee are aware that what tran- spires at the Big Ten Tournament will have more impact on the NCAA Tour, nament than ever before. "I think this year there's more to play for," Illinois coach Bill Self said. "This year will be totally different. We need to keep the momentum going. Last year there was more to lose; this year there's more to gain." Late surges have put teams like Self's Illinois squad and Michigan State back on track after sub-par starts, and the result is a four-way tie atop the Big Ten standings between Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio State, with the Spartans just a game behind them all. The last time there was a four-way tie in the Big Ten was in 1926, when Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Michigan shared the honor. That makes the job of the NCAA selection committee a bit more diffi- cult than it would have been had Michigan State and Illinois - regular season co-champions last season - trailed off midseason and then never returned. Now it looks like there are five Big Ten teams assured of a bid to the Big Dance, and possibly a sixth - Minnesota - should it advance far in Indianapolis. The Big Ten hasn't seen this sort of parity in years, certainly not since the conference began its postseason tour- nament in 1998. Four regular season co-champions now have to represent themselves particularly well in the Big Ten Tournament to assure them- selves a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament. "Depending on how things play out in other leagues, I think we should be a five or better now, with maybe a chance to be a two. You'd probably have to run the table to do that though," said Self of his own team's status, which mirrors that of the Illi- ni's Big Ten peers. There is also the always important matter of bragging rights. "We've got to determine who the best team is," Self said. ON THE MARK: Michigan State guard Marcus Taylor was named this week's Big Ten Player of the Week after his 32 and 34 point performances against Ohio State and Iowa, respectively. He shot a combined 8-of-12 from behind the 3-point line in the two games and managed to climb five spots to the top of the conference leaderboard for scoring. He became just the second player ever to lead the Big Ten in scoring (17.7 points per game) and assists (5.0 assists per game). The first was Iowa's Andre Woolridge in 1997. His play is the primary reason why the Spartans have won five straight games to put themselves in position for a return trip to the NCAA Tourna- ment. "When your best players play well, that makes a big difference," Michi- gan State coach Tom Izzo said of Tay- lor's impact. WHO GETS A VOTE?: Don't count Michigan out of the NCAA Tourna- ment just yet. Michigan (5-11 Big Ten, 10-17 overall) somehow earned eight votes in this week's AP poll. That places the Wolverines ahead of such expected Tournament partici- pants as N.C. State, Memphis and Missouri. ARUN GOPAL Boston Colleges' hint at rash o f NCAA upsets Michigan State guard Marcus Taylor earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career by averaging 33 points per game last week. confidence on t current streak By J. Brady McCollough Daily Sports Writer s many of you know, we are currently in the middle of the greatest week of the year - Championship Week. For seven days, we're transfixed - well, at least I'm transfixed - by ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS as they televise tournament cham- pionship games of conferences that most people have never heard of (hon- estly, who knew that the Atlantic Sun was a D-I basketball league until last Saturday?). From the Ohio Valley to the Sun Belt, college basketball fans around the country become acquainted with teams trying to fulfill a dream. The champion of each conference tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tourna- ment, but for these smaller leagues, the conference tournaments are especially important. Unlike the ACC or the Big Ten, which annually send multiple schools to the NCAAs, the Big South isn't going to get an at-large bid any- time soon. The only way for a school like Winthrop to get into the Big Dance is to win the Big South tourney (which the Eagles did, for the fourth straight season). In most years, teams like Winthrop are nothing more than first-round fod- der for bigger schools. The euphoria of making the NCAA Tournament is replaced with a sense of doom on Selection Sunday, when some team like Coppin State finds out that it is the No. 16 seed in the East Region and has to play Duke in the first round. But, with Selection Sunday less than a week away, I'm here to tell these small schools that this year could be different. There's always an upset or two on the opening weekend, but this season's NCAA Tournament, which begins next Thursday, has the potential for a ton of early-round surprises. The reason for this is simple: I can't remember another season when there were so many highly ranked teams who came out of nowhere to have great years. I'm talking about teams like Marquette, Pittsburgh, Oregon and Gonzaga, which might be the most overranked team since the inception of basketball polls. All of these schools have surpassed everyone's expectations but their own, and - with the excep- tion of Gonzaga's Dan Dickau - none of them have any players that anybody has heard of. I'll collectively term these teams "Boston Colleges", in deference to last year's Boston College squad. Prior to the start of last season, everyone thought Boston College was going to be horrible, and with good reason - the Eagles had been one of the worst teams in the Big East for a few years, and there wasn't any reason to expect a change. The rest is history. Boston College went on an amazing run, winning both the Big East regular-season and tourna- ment titles and cracking the top 10. All the while, nobody could figure out why the Eagles were good, and everyone was waiting for them to screw up. To top it off, even though Boston College was winning for five months, nobody could name any of its players, besides maybe star guard Troy Bell. The thing about the NCAA Tourna- ment is that teams like that are usually exposed right away. For some reason, the magic these teams have during the season vanishes once the Big Dance starts. Boston College, which was the No. 3 seed in the East Region, barely survived the first round before losing in Round 2 to Southern Cal. In the process, the Eagles earned a place alongside the likes of the 1995-96 Pur- due team, which may have been the worst No. 1 seed ever (remember when the Boilermakers almost lost to No. 16 Western Carolina?), the 1998-99 Auburn team, which might have been the second-worst No. 1 seed ever and South Carolina, which got two straight top-three seeds in the late-'90s and promptly lost to Coppin State and Richmond is consecutive first rounds. There are usually one or two teams like that in a bracket. This year, there's a chance that all of the No. 2 seeds and some of the No. 3 seeds will be "Boston Colleges." Currently, Gonza- ga, Pittsburgh, Alabama (another team that could be a "Boston College") and Oregon are ranked sixth through ninth in the AP poll, and Marquette is ranked 13th. Two more potential "Boston Col- leges" - Georgia and Western Ken- tucky- are ranked No. 17 and No. 18. Many of these schools will end up with top-three seeds in the NCAA>, Tournament. A top-three seed in the NCAAs usually has the advantage of intimidation - the smaller schools are often happy just to be on the same court. But, a "Boston College" doesn't scare anybody. A team playing Pitts- burgh or Oregon in the first round won't be intimidated and will go in thinking it has a good chance to win, which is an ideal formula for upsets. So, I encourage the Winthrops, Flori- da Atlantics and Davidsons of Champi- onship Week to keep their chins up. Sure, they could end up facing Kansas in Round One, but who knows? They could catch a break and earn a No. 15 seed, and this year, that means they'll have a good shot of seeing the second round. Arun Gopal still regrets picking Boston College to reach the Elite Eight last year He can be reached at agopal@umich.edu. Michigan forward Mike Cammalleri couldn't help but laugh when asked about Mark Mink, his roommate during his freshman year. Mink, who has played ice hockey his entire life, has become progressively more enamored with field hockey in his time at Michigan. His "passion and love" for the non-ice variety of the game can't be questioned. "He really likes field hockey. It's his favorite sport," Cammalleri said. "He likes it so much that sofhetimes we call him a jersey-chaser, because he's always trying to watch the games." In addition to his tireless devotion to the field hockey team, Mink has been chasing plenty of CCHA jerseys - right into the boards. The jun- ior has been one of the Wolverines' most consis- tent workers night in and night out, especially during their current nine-game CCHA winning streak. "He's really stepped it up, especially in the last couple of weeks, and we needed that," junior John Shouneyia said. "If we're going to stay hot, the best players are going to have to keep it up. We're going to need his success to continue." Michigan coach Red Berenson said at the beginning of the season that he and his staff were expecting Mink to be a big factor on the team's second line and were hoping he would contribute 15 to 20 goals this season. But points have not been forthcoming for the Livonia native, who had just two goals and six assists on the season going into the Wolverines' game with Ohio State on Feb. 23. "It's been frustrating for us and him all year that he hasn't had a better season," Berenson said. "And it hasn't been a lack of trying." Said Mink: "When you're not scoring or con- tributing offensively, you've got to do the little things out there. Whether it's a big hit or a good shift down low cycling the puck, it's going to wear out the other team's defense." - TOM FELDKAMP/Daily After bouncing around between various lines, forward Mark Mink has found his place on the Wolverines. This past Saturday against Western Michigan, Mink tallied the game-winning assist. Mink has been a line foster child for most of the season, alternating between the first, second and fourth lines as the coaches have tried to find the right combination for him to excel. but against Western Michigan, he finally found a home, paired with Shouneyia - his long-time teammate - and freshman Eric Nystrom. Mink found his scoring touch, tallying a goal. on Friday and the game-winning assist Saturday on a pass to Shouneyia. He has scored four points (2-2-4) in his last three games, and considers himself "on a roll." "It was a good feeling," Mink said. " I've been struggling most of the season, but I'm really starting to get my confidence back." "He's had a chance to step up and play a bigger role, and he's done that," Berenson said. "He's giving us his absolute best effort, and he's getting rewarded for it." Shouneyia, who has played with Mink since they were in junior leagues together, knows his friend well and believes in what he can do with some confidence to fuel his performance. "I know he's capable," Shouneyia said. "He's taken it upon himself to turn things around and re-boost his own confidence." Icers dye hair to get psyched for playoffs choosing a concentration? * The LS&A Concentration & Advising By Naweed Sikora Daily Sports Writer How can you tell that the Michigan hockey team has begun preparing for In addition to the hair, the players have also started to grow beards. "We all want to have a little some- thing there, except (Jed Ortmeyer) because he can't grow anything," W- t m I Au .._ ..