8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 10, 2003 March 13 #8 Ohio State March 14 #1 Wisconsin Game 4 - 12 p.m. ! March 15 Game 4 winner March 16 Tanya Brown Energy Reporter, Bloomberg (Step Aerobics Superstar) ESPN pions r . .,,E !i came z men-4 Game 9 - 4:05 p.m #1 NorthwesternCBS #3 Michigan #6 Indiana Game 7 - 9:10 p.m. - - __I ESPN Plus Game 7 winner Game 9 winner I I f' f Game 3 - 5:05 p.m. ESPN2 #11 Penn State Game 3 winner 6 2003 Big Ten Tournament United Center - Chicago A L Big Ten battle heads to Chi-town Bloomberg wants to meet the real you. Owis BURKE ON THE BIG TEN There's only one real thing that you can bank on in relation to the Big Ten basketball tournament that begins on Thursday in Chicago. There are no cer- tainties. If this year's helter-skelter Big Ten race has shown anything, it's that any- one is capable of winning at any time. VS. No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Iowa: Talk about a matchup of two teams stuck in a downward spiral. Ohio State was expected to chal- lenge for an NCAA Tournament spot, while Iowa was up near the top of the coference for much of the year. Both teams have struggled massively in the second half. The winner gets to play regular sea- son champion Wisconsin. Congrats. Ohio State 74, Iowa 60 f t VS. No. 7 Minnesota vs. No. 10 North- western: The Golden Gophers are clearly on the NCAA Tournament bub- ble, sitting at 16-11 overall. Northwestern has played better bas- ketball as of late, but the Gophers ought to be desperate. They're going to need to knock off both Northwestern and Illinois to get to the Big Dance. Minnesota 83, Northwestern 69 9 s. No. 6 Indiana vs. No. 11 Penn State: This one looks a lot more interesting after the Nittany Lions stunned Indiana in Happy Valley on Saturday night. The Hoosiers are in the same boat as Minnesota, desperately in need of a victory - and probably two - to get to the NCAA Tournament. The winner gets Michigan. Indiana 77, Penn State 71 So there's the first round. But the real focus will be on who gets out of the second round - the four teams that will get to the Big Ten's Final Four: No. 1 Wisconsin: The Badgers are red hot, and always dangerous in tour- nament play because of their ferocious defense. They should cruise into the weekend. 5 No. 5 Michigan State: The Spartans are scorching, and have an NCAA Tournament berth wrapped up. Pur- due's in trouble on Friday. Our unbelievable recruitment village makes a stop at the Sports Coliseum at University of Michigan on Wednesday, March 12, 2003. No. 7 Minnesota: Here's the sleeper. The Gophers, assuming they get by Northwestern, will get Illinois for the second time in a week. That proposi- tion could be a very dangerous for the Illini, despite the home court advan- tage in Chicago. No. 3 Michigan: Don't count the Wolverines out just yet. Sure, they've struggled lately, including Saturday's disastrous loss at home to Purdue. But you can't count out the aura of desperation - this is Michigan's NCAA Tournament. We've rounded up the most popular snacks in the world, the funkiest furniture, and 41 one cool bar (of information). Bloomberg in learning representatives are interested about you. No need to be formal, impress us with the real you. Come as you are to experience the creative, entrepreneurial energy that drives BloombergIs success, and make it a great place to start your career. We have career opportunities that let you be you, just like Tanya Brown. Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:00 P.m.-5:00 p.m. Sports Coliseum at University of Michigan 721 South Fifth Avenue (corner of Hill Street) http//careers. bloomberg. com n mp KYLEa O'Ni ON 1E CIA BOWLING GREEN - "You see, he's not a machine, he's a man!" As Duke said to Balboa in "Rocky IV," so has first-year Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch said to his Falcons. Every game for them is like going against the massive Ivan Drago. Every team they face seems to be laden with NHL-bound talent. Michigan has seven drafted players to the Falcons' three. But where Bowling Green has fifth-, sixth- and seventh-round picks, the Wolver- ines have first rounders like Eric Nys- trom, third rounders like Jason Ryznar and used to have players like Mike Cammalleri and Mike Komisarek, who are at least believed to be good enough to leave school early. The only way Paluch's players are leaving early for anything is by having a doctor's note to excuse them. The Falcons' stars who weren't draft- ed aren't that much to glare at, as Ferris State's undrafted leading scorer, Chris Kunitz, has the same amount of goals as Bowling Green's top line. Yet, despite having very little punch offensively, Paluch seems to have his players believing in the Eye of the Tige ... errr, Falcon. "Our style is based on the foundation of hard work, and I think when you can will yourself to move your feet hard and make contact, you can be successful against some pretty good teams," Paluch said. "When we're doing that, we can make it difficult for some teams." Though it sounds simplistic and a bit corny, "hard work" is an understatement for what the Falcons do on the ice. If the Detroit Pistons are "Goin' to work," Bowling Green is pulling the graveyard, overtime shift. And now Michigan has to deal with it again. These are the same Falcons that fought to get their fourth goal in a 6-4, Nov. 8 loss to Michigan and then came out the next night to tie the Wolverines 1-1. These are the same Falcons that over- came two different leads against Michi- gan State to get a 3-2 overtime win over the Spartans. And these are the same Falcons that were embarrassed, 10-1 and 5-1, by the think that this weekend at home against the Bulldogs wasn't just a way to train for Michigan. With barely any home crowd to watch them, the Falcons got a little taste of what Yost can be like when Ferris State fans overtook the Falcons' faithful. "It's a great test for us. We were using that (series to prepare us)," Paluch said. "Our goal remains - we want to get to Joe Louis Arena (for the Super Six). The only way to do that for us is to pre- pare against a team like Ferris for what we're going to face in Ann Arbor. It's quite a challenge going up to Ann Arbor, but we're going to work hard all week, and we're going to bring a good effort up there." As for mistakes made in the last meeting against the Wolverines, Paluch knows some problems that need to be worked out for this weekend. "From Friday night to Saturday'night in that series ... in the offensive zone we were controlling the puck down low," Paluch said. "When we got into any type of transition game, that's where Michigan can really excel because they have so many skilled play- ers that can really turn a turnover into something dangerous." Michigan needs to be afraid. If the Wolverines thought Lake Superior State coming in and almost pulling off a first- game upset in the best-of-three series last year was something, then they need to realize that Bowling Green is more likely to lose that first game and pro- duce second and third-game upsets. Doubters of Paluch and his 9-22-3 record need to look no further than Crisler Arena. Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker turned an 0-6 team into a heart-warming story. Paluch has the same kind of personality and knowledge for his game as Amaker does for his, and when the talent may not be there, knowing what you're doing in training a player mentally and physically goes a long way. Daniels should win this year's CCHA Coach of the Year award, but it's safe to say Paluch is a few years, at most, away from winning his own. With all that said, this is not "Rocky IV" Michigan will not fold as badly as Ivan Drago did. And although Bowling Green is likely to win one game, the Wolverines will not drop two at Yost. Michigan advances In three games. his team back into a contender, this is not the team to help him. And with a healthy Chris Kunitz on the wing and Mike Brown in between the pipes for the Bulldogs, there should be no diffi- culty getting on to the next round. Fer- ris State advances in two games. No. 10 Nebraska-Omaha at No. 3 Ohio State: The key to this matchup is Nebraska-Omaha goaltender Dan Ellis. And although he has two recent wins against the Buckeyes, he and his Mavericks have been outscored 25-6 in their last six games in which they are 0-5-1. Ohio State isn't playing exceptional hockey by any means, but as this weekend against Michigan showed, it is playing at a high level - something Nebraska-Omaha is not. Ohio State advances in two games. No. 9 Alaska-Fairbanks at No. 4 Michigan State: Alaska-Fairbanks was picked by many to be the surprise team in the CCHA this year. Well, surprise, surprise - the Nanooks didn't live up to that expectation. But on the bright side, they didn't finish where they have usually been picked to finish: last place. Despite the rough season, Alaska-Fair- banks is unbeaten in seven games, including a sweep over Ohio State. The Spartans have lost just four of their last 18 games and look to continue their recent hot streak after its own beginning of the season slump. While the seeds aren't close, this looks to be the best matchup of the first round, and just because most everyone picked the Nanooks to surprise this year, I'm going to pick them here. Alaska-Fairbanks advances in three games. I VS. U S. No. 8 Western Michigan at No. 5 Northern Michigan; No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 6 Miami: All four of these teams are quite similar in that they're your typical middle-of-the- I