Wednesday
February 1, 2003
michigandaily.com
sportsdesk@umich.edu
£iefidtirgan t aiQ
iPORTS
8
Full-steam ahead
Sanctions not on Michigan's mind against Hoosiers
,+
By Naweed Sikora
Daily Sports Editor
This Friday, Valentine's Day, will be a spe-
cial holiday for some people. Everyone is look-
ing for a little love from a boyfriend, girlfriend,
husband or wife. The Michigan basketball team
will be hoping for a little love from
the NCAA Infractions Committee,
which will finally make a decision as ASSEMBL
to how it will punish the Wolverines
for the Ed Martin scandal. who: Michiga
Given Michigan's self-imposed Ten, 14-8 over
sanctions announced prior to this When: 7 p.m.,!
season, which included a one-year plus/ESPN2 T
postseason ban, two years proba- Latest: The wc
tion and a payment of $450,000, win in Bloomin
the committee has several way back on J
options. 1995, spanning
It might choose to extend
the ban, rendering Michigan unable to
play in a postseason tournament for
another year or more. It might choose
to take away future scholarships, or
increase the monetary penalty. Or it
might choose to accept how Michi-
gan punished itself.
All in all, this Friday will be the most important
day for the future of Michigan basketball since the
day Tommy Amaker was hired. But that's not what
the second-year coach is thinking about.
"I'm focused on Wednesday," said Amaker at
Monday's practice about Michigan's game at Indi-
ana tonight. "I've been focused on our team and our
LY HALL
n (7-2 Big
rail) at. Indi-
8).
ESPN-
olverines last
gton was
Ian.24,
g six games.1
season and our players all year. They
deserve that, and it's not going to
change."
Friday's hearing has no affect on
Michigan's chances of winning the Big
Ten title, and a win tonight could signifi-
cantly boost those chances. With six
games remaining after tonight (three
home, three away), the Wolverines (7-2
Big Ten, 14-8 overall) will finish with at
least 10 wins if they can defend their
home court successfully.
Tack on a road win, either tonight or
know it will be desperation time for Indiana if the
Hoosiers want to defend their Big Ten crown.
"I think the timing of playing Indiana is not
good," Amaker said. "Knowing how dangerous and
desperate teams become when they've lost a few
games, if I had a chance to structure it, I wouldn't
have it this way. But we will try to be the aggressor
and be hungry when we go out there. That team has
a lot of pride, and we'll get their best shot."
Although the Hoosiers have been struggling, they
still present several challenges Michigan will have to
overcome if it wants to pick up the win. Assembly
Hall in Bloomington has been unkind to the Wolver-
ines, as they have not won there since Jan. 24, 1995.
Defending against freshman Bracey Wright, who
leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring with 17.1
points per game, will be a daunting task.
"His deep shooting range is incredible," Amaker
said. "He can stretch you out on the floor, and I've
been impressed with his ability to create his own
shot."
Michigan's Daniel Horton is familiar with Wright
from playing high school basketball in Texas. The
two met in the state championship tournament their
junior and senior years, splitting the meetings.
Indiana senior Jeff Newton, who is coming off a
24-point performance against Michigan State, and
senior Tom
Coverdale s e
will also be '
waiting to
right the
ship for the
Hoosiers.
W h i 1 e
F ri d ay's
may be cru-
cial for the
future of the
Michigan bas-
ketball pro-
gram, tonight's
game is crucial for
the outcome of this season,
which as Amaker says is every-
one's main concern.
"I don't know what to expect
Friday, I've never been a part of
this before'"Amaker said.
And when it comes to chasing a
conference championship, these
Wolverines might not know what to
expect either.
down the road against Purdue, Wisconsin or Penn
State, and the Wolverines would have 11 wins,
which was good enough for a share of last year's
conference title.
But considering that the Hoosiers (4-5, 14-8) have
lost five straight and will head out on a three-game
road swing following tonight's game, the Wolverines
10
Inconsistent scoring fuels losing streak
Unfortunate times leave
icers without Berenson
By Josh Holman
Daily Sports Writer
Much of the concern surrounding the
Michigan women's basketball team is
not its actual Big Ten record of 2-8. The
most distressing fact is that a good team
is sitting near the bottom of the Big Ten
at 2-8. The Wolverines certainly weren't
expected to walk away with a Big Ten
title this year, but this wasn't supposed
to happen either. I
"That game was our awakening,"
sophomore Tabitha Pool said of Sunday's
loss in Evanston. "We lost to Northwest-
ern by a lot. It was just embarrassing."
The flashes of inconsistency up and
down the Michigan roster are a telling
sign of what could have been this sea-
son. A handful of players have been con-
tributing each game during the current
five-game losing streak, but any type of
production came to an abrupt halt in the
29-point loss to the Wildcats on Sunday.
There had been signs of life in the
games prior to that game. Last Thurs-
day's game against Iowa marked the
return of senior LeeAnn Bies to the
starting lineup. She responded with 15
points and eight rebounds. Bies was
non-existent, though, for the Feb. 2
game in Wisconsin. Freshman Niki
Reams was more than ready to shoulder
the load that game, notching 15 points,
four rebounds and four assists.
Senior Raina Goodlow had a break-
through game in East Lansing against
Michigan State. When the rest of the
team couldn't buy a shot, the forward
was draining every jump shot she took,
going 7-of-9 from the field for 15 points.
"We all know we can do it,"
Reams said. "We have the talent. We
all need to get clicking, and things
will turn around."
The best example of what this team
is capable of came against Big Ten
leader Penn State, when six Wolverines
scored in double figures. Michigan lost
72-70, its smallest margin of defeat
during the streak.
The consistency level has been falling
ever since, though. Not knowing which
player will show up any given day has
forced coach Sue Guevara to start play-
ing musical chairs with her lineups.
She's used three starting lineups in the
last five games, as well as countless
rotations on the floor during the game.
Whether the constant changes
have shaken the confidence of her
players is unknown, but any change
may be viewed as positive in the
middle of all this losing.
"When you walk into a gym afraid
you're not going to win, that's tough,"
Guevara said. "We have to talk about the
disappointment, which we have, but we
have to stay as positive as we can."
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan hockey team is prepar-
ing for one of its biggest weekends of the
season, and it is going to have to contin-
ue doing so without its head coach. Red
Berenson left the team on Sunday for
Regina, Saskatchewan to tend to his 90-
year-old father, who suffered a stroke late
last week. Berenson informed the
Wolverines of the situation after their 5-1
win over Northern Michigan on Saturday
night and associate head coach Mel Pear-
son has run the team ever since.
"Our prayers and thoughts are obvi-
ously with him, and we hope everything
turns out," Pearson said.
As of practice yesterday, no one within
the Michigan hockey program' had talked
with Berenson since he left, but everyone
was hopeful that he would be back for
this weekend's home-and-home series
with Michigan State.
"I know he really wanted to try and
get back for the game on Friday;' Pear-
son said. "Everybody knows he wants to
be here, but he's attending to some pretty
important matters."
The Wolverines are just trying to go
on as normal. They were on the ice for
just 40 minutes on Monday and were
back to a normal schedule yesterday.
"They've been good," Pearson said.
"(Yesterday) they worked hard, they had
some energy, and the concern (assistant
coach Billy Powers) and I have right now
is to make sure we're sharp in practice."
While the Wolverines would like to
admit that nothing is lost without Beren-
son on the ice, senior captain Jed Ort-
meyer confessed things aren't the same
without the legendary coach.
"The little sense of urgency and pres-
sure is a little more intensified when he's
on the ice;"Ormeyer said..
Ortmeyer added that nothing could
take away the intensity this weekend.
"We look to these series all year,"
Ortmeyer said. "It's doesn't matter
who's coaching them, it's still Michi-
gan-Michigan State."
I
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berenson hopes he
can be back for the games this weekend.
Corrigan 'hyped' about his super hits
By Julie Master
For the Daily
No hit? Hit? Super hit? Which one
would you rather have?
In gymnastics language, everyone
strives for the super hit. That way, you'd
only be five-tenths away from hitting a
perfect routine. And that's just what
men's gymnastics sophomore Geoff
Corrigan did two weeks ago against Illi-
nois-Chicago.
"Last meet Geoff put it all togeth-
er," coach Kurt Golder said. "He
competed in four events and three of
them were super hits, which are the
caliber of performances we need to
be in contention for Big Ten and
NCAA titles."
As the season rolls along, coaches
and teammates are looking to Corrigan
to get things done. After sitting out last
year due to shoulder problems and a
knee injury, Corrigan claims that he is
back and ready. Coaches agree that his
hard work will be imperative to the
team's performance.
"A lot of the success of our team
depends on Geoff performing at (a
super hit) level. If he can do that the rest
of the season, it will help our cause
tremendously," Golder said.
Unfortunately for Corrigan, his per-
formance last weekend at the Winter
Cup Challenge did not match that of the
previous weeks. Only six members of
the team were honored to compete in
this event, which could lead to a future
spot on the U.S. National Team. Corrig-
an's worst event was on the parallel
bars, where he added a peters three
quarter pirouette and .9 more difficulty.
His nervousness and intimidation over-
came him.
"When you go to U.S.A. gymnastics
meets, it's not a team environment,"
Corrigan said. "It's real quiet, you don't
have your whole team cheering you on,
and the crowd isn't behind you, so you
get a little more nervous."
But Corrigan is looking toward the
upcoming meet against Minnesota this
Saturday to prove he's back on track. All
he needs is self-motivation.
"Before an event, I always imagine
everybody in the crowd yelling that I
can't do it," Corrigan said. "It gets me
real hyped.'
Corrigan's teammates sense his deter-
mination. They believe it's important for
team members to hit their routines,
because if they do, others will as well.
"It's great to have Geoff on the
team," senior captain Kris Zimmer-
man said. "When I watch him in the
gym I can tell he really wants it bad.
He wants to do well for himself and
do well for the team."
0
SPORTS PAvILION
Who: No. 4 Michigan (4-4) at No. 9 Min-
nesota (2-5).
When: 7 p.m.
Latest: The two teams competed Jan. 11 at
the Windy City Invitational. The Wolverines
took third place and the Gophers came in fifth.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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