0 6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 28, 2002 Nowhere to Spartans picked No. 1 in conference be seen By Seth Klempner Daily Sports Writer CHICAGO - Despite the loss of sophomore point guard Marcus Taylor to the NBA this past summer, Michigan State and coach Tom Izzo are right back where they want to be. After its seem- ingly annual title of Big Ten preseason favorite was usurped by Illinois last year, the Spartans have reasserted themselves by reclaiming their place atop the Big Ten preseason voting in both the coaches and media polls. This fall outof the top spot was a brief respite for a team that had made the previous three Final Fours and had to replace four starters. But this season, Izzo returns four starters, two of which are seniors Aloy- sius Anagonye and Adam Ballinger, along with a trio of standout sophomores. "Last year, we weren't (favored) and I felt that we played to those expectations that myself and others put on us," Izzo said. "I think to get to that next level you have to realize that (recognition) is not just something people are going to give you, but rather a privilege." Following Michigan State in both polls was one of last year's NCAA finalists, Indiana. Although coach Mike Davis has refused to name any of his starting five, the Hoosiers will be led by senior Tom Coverdale, who was named to the Preseason All- Conference Team. After Michigan State and Indiana, it is as good as anybody's guess which teams will compete amongst the top of the Big Ten. As usual, coaches are praising the parity and balance of the Big Ten. "The thing that is different from the Big Ten and other leagues is that while it doesn't have the appear- ance as being as top heavy as the ACC or Big 12, our league is not bottom heavy at all," Illinois coach Bill Self said. The media and coaches were split between the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year with the coaches picking sophomore Rick Rickert of Minnesota and the media choosing Illinois senior Brian Cook. Cook, a 6-foot-10 forward, follows former teammate Frank Williams in receiving the honor. Both Cook and Rickert were also named to the Preseason All-Con- ference Team. Despite breaking his nose in practice last week, Cook (13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last year) refuses to wear a protective facemask, saying that it disturbs his vision. Does Cook feel that it in any way foreshadows or serves as an omen to his final season in Champaign? "I don't really read into it to much," Cook said. "My main objective is to get this team as ready as I can. "I played without it during our scrimmage yester- day and I could see better. If it gets hit, it gets hit. There is nothing I can really do about it." Preseason favorites Big Ten coaches and media met in Chicago yester- day for the annual media day. Michigan State was selected by the coaches and media to finish first. Minnesota and Indiana tied for second in both polls. Here is the preseason first team All-Big Ten squad as voted by the media and coaches. 0 a Player Team Year Pos. 2001-02 PPG Brian Cook** Illinois Sr. F Tom Coverdale Indiana Sr. G Brent Darby Kirk Penney Rick Rickert* Ohio St. Sr. G 13.5 ppg. 11.9 ppg. 12.8 ppg. 15.1 ppg. 14.2 ppg. S Wisc. Minn. Sr. F So. F *denotes preseason player of the year by coaches selection **denotes preseason player of the year by media selection DAVID KATZ/Daily Sophomore Dommanic Ington was one of the more experienced players on the Maize team in Saturday night's scrimmage. The Maize squad lost to the Blue 53-4 Freshman Lester Abram led the Maize with 12 points. No preseason hype this year for Michigan 0 By Josh Holman Daily Sports Writer CHICAGO - At this time last year, the rest of the Big Ten vas buaing about Michigan's chances in the conference at its annual Media Da, for wnen's bas- ketball. The Wolverines were coming off a second round apparance i the 2001 NCAA tournament and were boasting an incoming recruiting lass the included in-state stars Tabitha Pool and BreAnne McPhilamy. The rst of th Big Ten coaches placed them atop of the preseason conference coache' polls )ith 2001 national runner-up Purdue. It appeared that Michigan had arried. Fast-forward one year. The Wolverines are coming off a seaon in wlich they started 10-1, but ended 7-13, including their first-round exit om the VNIT at the hands of Valparaiso. Purdue is still selected in the preseon mediapoll to capture yet another Big Ten title, with Penn State favored in ti Big Tencoach- es' poll. But the buzz has left the Wolverines' corner, as I-higan filed to break into the top three. Minnesota was selected to finish third, bringing about a gieral corsensus that the Boilermakers, Nittany Lions and Golden Gophers aret the top of the pack this year. "Being the underdog is something we've done before," sior co-captain LeeAnne Bies said. "Some people may not like that role, but itmn be used as a motivating factor." The Wolverines are returning four starters from last year's sqd. Bies is one of their returning seniors and was selected to the preseason AllInference team at center. Fifth-year senior and co-captain Raina Goodlow also urns this sea- son after missing all but five games due to a staph infection last year. Goodlow and Bies, measuring 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3 respectively, bring a significant amount of size to the lineup. But more importantly, they bring experience. The Wolverines are welcoming six freshmen onto this year's roster. One of them is expected to emerge as a point guard, but such a set of inexperienced hands may be the reason why the Wolverines aren't receiving the same amount of respect they did last year. "We have a lot of experience coming back, but we also have a lot of inexperi- ence where the ball is going to be handled," coach Sue Guevera said. "It's a mat- ter of how quickly we can get that blend in." Those freshmen will be battle-tested early. The Wolverines have scheduled five teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year in their nonconference schedule. Then they'll be faced with the rigors of Big Ten play. "Every game is a challenge," Goodlow said. "We need to focus not so much on who our opponents are but what we're doing." But Michigan's conference opponents will be hard to ignore. Players like Pur- due's Shereka Wright, a 2002 Naismith Award Finalist, and Penn State's Kelly Mazzante, last year's national scoring leader, will be venerable challenges for both the veterans and the rookies. But even these big dogs on campus know the Big Ten has a tendency to surprise. "It's still a dogfight," Mazzante said. "Every team needs to be up for every game. There's a lot of good teams." Besides Bies, the other preseason All-Big Ten members are Jennie Lillis from Iowa, Mazzante - who is the preseason conference player of the year - Wright and Lindsay Whalen from Minnesota. DANNY MULUMOK/Uaily LeeAnne Bies is one of two seniors returning to this year's team that will rely on its six freshmen to emerge. Field hockey can't beat No. 1, but brings home a Big Ten title Tough weekend for Blue excused by coach 0) By Brian Schick Daily Sports Writer This weekend was bittersweet for the Michigan filed hockey team. Sat- urday saw the second-ranked Wolver- ines (6-0 Big Ten, 15-2 overall) end their 14-game winning streak with a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to No. 1 Old Dominion Saturday, but they won the Big Ten title against Penn State on Friday. If Michigan could take anything away from the loss to Old Dominion (6-0 Colonial Athletic Association, 15-2), it is possible that the Wolver- ines could face them again in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan dug itself an early 3-0 hole, but began to claw its way back as forward April Fronzoni opened the scoring midway through the first half. Defender Kristi Gannon notched the second Michigan goal off a penalty corner, and Fronzoni pulled the score even with six min- utes to go in regulation. But Old Dominion's Lotte Bant scored the game winner three minutes into the extra session. Coming into this weekend, the Wolverines had already wrapped up a share of the Big Ten title. But beating Penn State would wrap up the confer- ence schedule with a perfect 6-0 record and an outright title. That was the case this on Friday, as Michigan beat Penn State, 3-1, to win its second outright Big Ten title and the third title in school history. This season, the Wolverines were determined to win the conference title after watching both of their biggest rivals share the crown last season. Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz felt that the Big Ten is the primier confer- ence in the nation, and going undefeat- ed in conference play was no easy task. "This is the toughest Big Ten con- ference ever, with every team a quality team," Pankratz said. "The Big Ten is the toughest conference in the nation, and to not lose a game is a really important accomplish- ment for them." Penn State (3-2, 12-3) made things interesting for the Wolverines in the early going on Friday afternoon. After Fronzoni opened the scoring six min- utes into the game, the Nittany Lions' Kelly Concini netted the equalizer just two-and-a-half minutes later. Defender Stephanie Johnson was the difference for the Wolverines in the game, finding the net for the first time in nearly a month on a penalty corner. Johnson added one more for good measure just before By Matt Kramer Daily Sports Writer 1 0 JOHN t CHRISTIAN DESIGNERS a CRAFTSMEN SINCE 18 O 9Michigan COLLEGE MONOGRAM RING -YEAR DATE -DEGREE -GREEK LETTERS -YOUR MONOGRAM Free Brochure 14K GOLD $450 RINGBOX.COM 1-888-646-6466 A look at the underside of U of M TOM FEtLUAMP/Laily With a 3-1 victory 0 Penn State, Kate Dillon and the it of the Wolverines clinched t Big Ten title. halftime, tying herason record for goals at 11. In the second ha Michigan was content to play defer and keep shots away from goalkeer Molly Mal- oney, who faced onl, single shot in the second half. "Penn State's speevas real close to ours, and they weree fastest team we've played to dateankratz said. "Molly Maloney playesolid today in goal and made some portant saves on breakaway situatio. When your score opportunistic jls and you have solid goalkeepinit's going to be a good day." Normally, Michigan men's tennis coach Mark Mees would not be pleased to see his players win five of 12 matches. But considering it's only the middle of October, Mees will let it slide. Competing individually in the Rolex Regional Championships in Madison, only Michigan's Michael Rubin, Dave Anving, Chris Shaya and Josef Fischer won matches this past weekend, but Mees was hardly upset. "We talked about making improve- ments as a team since the beginning of September, when everyone got to school," Mees said. "I really feel good about the way our players competed this weekend." I Rubin, a sophomore transfer from Washington, won his first match on Saturday, taking down Minnesota's Manuel Lievano 6-3, 6-3. But Rubin could not keep the momentum going later that afternoon, dropping a tough three-set loss to Illinois' Mike Calkins 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. "Michael played real solid for us and I was really happy with the way he played," Mees said. "He lost to someone that is probably the favorite to win the entire main draw" While Anthony Jackson, a junior competing back in his home state of Wisconsin, suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Minnesota's Alex Zhari- nov, Mees feels that Jackson is getting better by the day. I mm -m -m -m -= - "Anthony just has to get his confi- dence going a bit," Mees said. "He played an excellent match against excel- lent competition." Sophomores Anving and Fischer both won their first matches. Fischer defeated Xavier's Ryan Potts 6-3, 6-2 and Anving beat IUPUI's Luke Recker 6-2, 6-1 before both lost in the second round. The final singles matches won't be determined until tomorrow. Fellow sophomore Vinneth Gossain lost his only match of the draw, falling to Indiana's Julian Villiez 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Shaya, competing in the qualifiers bracket, won his first two matches before falling in the third round to Louisville's Matt Mayer. In the doubles bracket, the team of Rubin and Shaya fell to Illinois' Chris Martin and Ryan DeHart 8-3 in the first round and the team of Chris Rolf and Gossain made it to the third round before falling to Northwestern's Josh Axler and Adam Schechterly. While the weekend's tournament won't be counted toward the Wolverines overall record because it wasn't a team event, Mees was pleased that his players competed with the ferocity that they did. "Sure, there was some pressure there for guys to keep their spots," Mees said. "This was a very important tournament. We take pride in the way we compete and we came out well. I was looking for improvement, and we improved." Michigan next competes in the Rock- et Invitational in Toledo next weekend. www.universitysecrets.com 9 r' ima me """""". """ o """ mmm I LIVE AND LEARN rrfl p Ih% - - - - - - JAPANESE. ~ Student Discounts ~ Professional Bartending Training ~ Tips on Finding a Top Paying Job ~ Become a Talented, Socially Ole ---.Awau STanne lliritas 1 1 I , I I1m 11