0 Tuesday March 4, 2003 michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu SPORTS 8 Aloha means Beer Pong: College's competitive outlet Hometown boys saying good-bye to Ann Arbor By Naweed Sikora Daily Sports Editor Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan seniors LaVell Blanchard and Rotolu Adebiyi couldn't wait to become Wolverines. Now they wish they didn't have to leave. The two seniors, along with Michi- gan's third senior Gavin Groninger, will be playing their final two reg- ular- season games for Michigan this week. And with the self-imposed sanc- tions in effect, their off" B ° Michigan careers will end after the Big Ten Tournament. "This season means a lot to LaVell," said Adebiyi, who is finishing his fifth season with the team. "I've known him since the ninth grade, we grew up in Ann Arbor together; and we played together all the time, and basketball is very important to him." Adebiyi says the two haven't talked about post-graduation and what awaits both of them in the future. "We know it's going to come, so we just leave it alone," said Adebiyi. "Right now we are just trying to focus on basketball." Living in Ann Arbor, Michigan bas- ketball was always a big part of the two players' lives. Besides playing in high school, they loved watching the Wolver- ines compete on the court. "Growing up here, you see it all the time," said Adebiyi. "I was good friends with (former Michigan coach Steve) Fisher's son, so I was always around the atmosphere and we were always cheer- ing for the team. To say I was a part of it and a captain is special for me." Since arriving on campus four years ago, Blanchard has been Michigan's most dependable player. Even though his years at Michigan were during tough times for the program, Michigan coach Tommy Amaker feels his captain's devo- tion has helped build a strong founda- tion for the future - even though he won't be here. "It's LaVell's team," Amaker said. "He's played outstanding basketball for us all season. He's been part of some significant wins this season, and I'm proud of his development here. "I think the freshman look to him and respect him. He really likes the younger players in terms of friendship, and I think he sees himself in them." Blanchard, who has been considered a candidate for the All-Big Ten Team and Big Ten Player of the Year, was quick to praise his coach for how much he has improved. "He's taught me so much," Blanchard said. "Before, I was mainly a scorer and a rebounder, but he really emphasized to me that you have to play the whole game. He's a great person, and he's done so much for me." Blanchard also said that he hasn't focused on life after school and basket- ball just yet. "Right now, I'm focused on being in college and enjoying my life, because it's getting down to just a few weeks now, Blanchard said. ON THE LOOSE: Michigan freshman Lester Abram has found his rhythm, and it shows. Abram has averaged 15 points over his last four games, and is becom- ing the consistent producer that he was DAVID KATZ/Daiy LaVell Blanchard, along with fellow Michigan seniors Gavin Groninger and Rotolu Adebiyi, is playing in his final two regular season games this week. JEFF PHILLIPS Ramble on supposed to be. The freshman credits his success to being more aggressive with his shot and finding scoring opportuni- ties during games. "During the 13-game winning streak, everything was working so I wasn't looking for my shot as much," Abram said. "But as soon was we lost a couple, I realized that I could be more aggres- sive on offense and take my defender to the basket more often." Amaker says that Abram has had an outstanding freshman season, and his toughness on the boards down the stretch has been instrumental for Michi- gan's success this season. RONALD SAYS No!: Incoming freshman Dion Harris, who is a candidate for Mr. Basketball in the state of Michigan, was left off the McDonald's All-American roster. Both Blanchard and freshman Daniel Horton were McDonalds All- Americans. Abram, who played against Harris growing up in Michigan, found the deci- sion surprising. "It was strange, because I thought he was the best player in the state," Abram said. "He might be Mr. Basketball, which means he would be the best play- er in the state, but get left out of the All- American game." Two Michigan high schoolers, Brandon Cotton (St. Martin Depor- res) and Olu Famutimi (Northwest- ern Edison) made the roster. Cotton will be attending Michigan State next season. Joe Louis Arena crowd welcomes back Kaleniecki By Dan Rosen Daily Sports Writer Michigan freshman Brandon Kaleniecki came back to the lineup this past weekend against Michigan State, and while he made his official return on Friday, he was truly welcomed back on Saturday. The Livonia native hit the ice for the first time in three weeks and a row of his family members were perched in the upper reaches of Joe Louis Arena to cheer him on. His younger relatives even brought out signs proclaiming their love for "The Pitbull." "I've got a lot of cousins and $0°11 with a wristshot early in the third period. The tally put the Wolverines up 5-3 early in the third period and proved to be the eventual game-winner in the 5-4 vic- tory. He is now in a three-way tie for second on the team with 12 goals. "He'll add some offense to our team, definitely," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He's playing hard; and it was good to see him score a goal on Saturday." Kaleniecki, who skated Monday with a small group of others, was relieved that he didn't take too much flack from his teammates for the fan club. "They don't really see the signs too much, so that's kind of good," Kaleniecki said. STILL HOBBLED: Sophomore Milan Gajic suffered a knee injury Friday night in Ann Arbor, and he was forced to watch Saturday's game from the stands. His status for this weekend's duel with Ohio State is still up in the air. "Right now, he'll probably skate (on Tuesday), but I'm not counting on him (for the weekend)," Berenson said. "I don't know that if he's healthy by the middle of the week, whether I'd take him (to Columbus) anyway." Gajic has been paired with fellow sophomores Jason Ryznar and David Moss for one of Michi- gan's most consistent groupings this semester. On the season, Gajic has 18 points on nine goals and nine assists. DOWN BUT NOT OUT: While other media publica- tions have written that Ferris State has clinched a share of the CCHA regular season title, Berenson pointed out that there can't be a tie. The Wolverines now trail the Bulldogs by four points in the standings. If Ferris State was to lose both games at Bowling Green this weekend, that would open the door for Michigan to pull even. According to Berenson, the first tiebreaker would be overall conference wins, which would be even between the two teams. After that, it would go to the head-to-head series, which the teams split. Then it would move to the number of goals that each team scored during the head-to-head series. The Wolverines hold a slight edge in that category, with a 9-8 lead. "That would be a longshot," Berenson said. "But it still is a possibility." en I blew out my knee in January, I thought my days of college competition were over. All my dreams of an IM basketball, mini-soccer or another softball champi- onship were down the tubes. My friends told me I should come watch and cheer them on, but that's like being invited to Thanksgiving dinner and instead of eat- ing, you're tortured by your family's life updates while your stomach acid eats away at you. No thanks. Luckily, my competitive fire was revived when I was informed of the greatest thing to happen to Mondays since Monday Night Football: Beer pong at Touchdown's. My favorite part about tailgating finally found a home during the offseason. It is the great equalizer amongst men (and women, who have been doing quite well). No matter how big or how small, how athletically gifted or inept the players are, they can still be com- petitive. For me, the game combines all of my skills (drinking beer and throwing ping pong balls into cups) into one perfect game. Everyone has their own house rules, and in case you are curious, I will briefly break down those at Touch- down's. If you and your partner both make the ball in different cups, you get them back, and those two cups are removed. If you make them in the same cup, then three cups are removed, but you don't get the balls back. You re-rack cups when six, four and two cups remain. Inside, the setup is incredible. It is a 32-team, single-elimination tournament, played on the main floor on eight tables, with a T-shirt going to the quickest fin- ished game and a gift certificate to Jimmy's Sgt. Pepper's to the winner. All this goes on with tailgate music blaring (meaning ample amounts of AC/DC and Guns 'N Roses). Even if beer pong isn't your thing, you can still have fun downstairs, where another tailgate favorite, flip-cup, takes over for the los- Season can still have meaning for youthful 'M' BY DANIEL BREMMER ON WOMEN'S HOOPS The 2002-03 season has been an embarrassment for the Michigan women's basketball team. But heading into the Big Ten Tournament on Thurs- day, some positive things still remain for the Wolverines to play for. Looking back on Michigan's confer- ence season, there are some moments that exemplify its shameful season. Fol- lowing losses to Penn State and Michi- gan State, Michigan proceeded to drop decisions to two beatable teams in Wis- consin (5-14 overall at the time) and Iowa (3-6 in Big Ten play at the time). After four straight losses, seeing Northwestern - a team that had lost 10 straight games - on the schedule should have been a relief for Michigan, which headed into Evanston on Feb. 9. But to Michigan coach Sue Guevara's dismay, her team managed just 12 first- half points - a total which would've been just nine if not for a 3-pointer to close the frame -- andallowed the Wildcats to string together a 31-0 run in the process. The result: 67-38 loss to a team that had been the laughing stock of the Big Ten for years. When it looked like things had hit rock bottom, they only got worse. Michigan's sixth-straight loss came to Wisconsin on Feb. 13, and then Michi- gan State came to Ann Arbor on Feb. 16. In front of more then 4,400 fans at Crisler and a national audience, the Wolverines came out sluggish and were easily dominated. The score was 32-6 before you could even spell the word embarrassment and the team never irot ers of beer pong. In the first week, we crashed and burned in the second round - it wasn't pretty. But the week after our shocking exit, we came back with a vengeance. We began with my partner, Andy, again making about 90 percent of the cups in the first two rounds, and with me crying about how the cups were too stiff, small and red. By the next round, though, we were on. Andy no longer needed to carry me, so I took the brace off his back and began making cups. We had so much momentum that our easi- est matches were our final two. Sadly, those two matches were against our friends. I would have been happy just to have one of us win, but I was even happier that we won. I repaid Andy by actually making the cups at the beginning, and he nailed the final ones. This was teamwork in the truest sense of the word. I wish I could go back and rewrite those high school athletics essays with this in mind. With the victory, I have changed my resume and sent updates to the graduate schools I've applied to. The congratula- tory letters are no doubt currently en route to my house. I'm petitioning the IM department to print "2002-03 Beer pong champions" T-shirts. If the IM department comes through, my family will need to cut it off my body before I'm buried with it. Surprisingly, the University has yet to ask us to speak at graduation. Still, we have the responsibility of being marked men. Every game we play, peo- ple want to take down the champs. I used to wonder why NBA players never go play street ball in the summer, but now I know. There is no incentive to win other than to save face. It's not like I'm going to stop playing outside of the tournament, but I'm sick of hearing things like, "We beat the champs!" and "You only won because (fill in the blank)." I'm not too concerned though. After two weeks of competing, we have our ring, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I expect to form a Duke-like dynasty and by the time you finish reading this, I am confident that we have pocketed our second consecutive championship. -Jeff Phillips would like to thank Colin Fowler for making all of this possible. Jeff can be reached atjpphilli@umich.edu. 01 they know that I don't like that, but they do that just to spite me," Kaleniecki said jokingly. The forward suffered a high-ankle sprain on Feb. 7 against Northern Michigan when Wildcats' goalie Craig Kowalski fell on him. He had tried to make it back for the Feb. 21-22 series with Nebraska-Omaha, but his ankle didn't recover quickly enough. The freshman made his presence felt this Saturday 0 get into a real ALYSSA WOOD/Daily Forward Jennifer Smith will look to help Michigan salvage its season on Thursday. three of those four games, its safe to say that even pride is out the window, along with almost all chances of a post-season berth. A WNIT bid is now out of the ques- tion, because the Wolverines would need to win four tournament games in a row to pull its record above .500, which would mean winning the Big Ten Tour- nament and therefore an automatic NCAA Tournament berth. True, that scenario is possible, but highly improba- ble, that Michigan would be able to beat first-round opponent Illinois on Thurs- day, then Purdue on Friday, and still have to win two more games against the likes of No. 14 Penn State, No. 13 Minnesota or Ohio State, all of which have beaten Michigan twice this season. But instead of looking at the season as a complete loss and giving up at the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines need to look at the tourney and wipe the slate clean. The team needs to forget about the embarrassing end to its regular sea- son and focus on making something out of nothing. And while they may not be able to win the whole tournament, com- ing home with a victory would still ben- efit the team just the same. Winning a game or two would mean more to the team than just a 'W' in the 9 >the ultimate vacation! your latest toga party can't compete with our version of "rush week." join our group as you see the famous sights and gather with the real greeks! >aegean classic cruise 7 days from $479 >spotlight on greece 12 days from $995 >greek island hopping 14 days from $1049 >london to athens 19 days from $1539 prices are per person, land only, subject to availability.