The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - December 2, 2002 - 3B FRIDAY'S GAME Massachusetts (65) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Sneed 26 2-5 3-4 2-2 0 2 8 Smith 25 3-8 1-2 1-4 0 2 7 Butler 31 7-14 4-7 4-10 0 4 18 Nelson 34 1-13 1-2 1-1 7 1 4 Pegues 29 6-16 1-1 1-3 1 1 14 Zsedenyi 21 2-4 0-0 0-2 0 1 6 Maeweather 11 2-2 0-0 1-2 2 1 5 Govan 10 0-0 3-4 0-1 0 0 3 Foster 13 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 2 0 Totals 200 23-63 13-2013-31 10 14 65 FG%: .365. FT%: .650. 3-point FG: 6-23, .261 (Zsedenyi 2-4, Sneed 1-1, Maeweather 1-1, Pegues 1-6, Nelson 1-11). Blocks: 1 (Sneed). Steals: 4 (Smith 2, Sneed, Nelson). Turnovers: 10 (Pegues 4, Nelson 2, Sneed, Smith, Butler, Foster). Technical fouls: none. MICHIGAN (91) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Pool 24 7-9, 2-2 0-6 2 3 17 Smith 19 7-9 6-6 0-4 1 2 20 Bies 27 5.7 2-2 2-6 0 3 12 Reams 21 3-5 2-3 0.1 3 0 9 Burlin 13 1-2 0-0 1-2 5 0 2 Cortis 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 Andrews 19 3-5 3-4 0-1 2 0 9 Hauser-Price 12 0-2 1-2 0-1 0 2 1 Carney 10 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 1 0 Goodlow 18 5.8 0-0 3-5 2 1 11 Gandy 19 3-4 0-0 0-4 2 2 6 McPhilamy 10 1-5 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 Totals 200 36.61 16-19 9-39 19 15 91 FG%: .590. FT%:.842. 3-point FG: 3-12,.250 (Pool 1-1, Reams 1-2, Goodlow 1-1, Hauser-Price 0-2, Car- ney 0.2, Burlin 0-1, Cortis 0-1, Andrews 0-1, McPhilamy 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Bies 4)rSteals: 5 (Bies 2, Carney 2, Burlin). Turnovers: 8 (Pool 2, Reams 2, Bies, Burlin, Andrews, Gandy). Technical Fouls: none. Massachusetts ...........39 27 - 65 Michigan............55 36 -91 At: Crisler Arena Attendance: 1,522 SUNDAY'S GAME Detroit (63) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Wild 26 3-5 0-0 3-4 3 3 6 Anaejionu 15 8-14 0-0 1-3 0 4 16 Harakas 35 1-2 3-4 2-7 5 2 5 Goddard 29 4-9 1-2 0-1 4 2 10 Solner 31 5-6 0-0 0-0 0 2 10 McGee 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jaskot 19 1-4 0-0 0-3 0 3 3 Krzyzek 3 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Bortz 19 3-4 2-2 2-3 0 3 8 Crum 21 1-11 3-4 1-5 1 3 5 Totals 200 26.57 9-12 9-30 13 22 63 FG%:.456 FT%:.750. 3-point FG: 2-13, .154 (God- dard 1-5, Jaskot 1-4, Crum 0-2, Harakas 0.1, Solner 0-1). Blocks: 3 (Goddard 2, Crum). Steals: 9 (Solner 3, Jaskot 3, Wild, Harakas, Bortz). Turnovers: 23 (Goddard 5, Solner 4, Wild 3, Harakas 3, Jaskot 3, McGee, Krzyzek, Bortz, Crum). Technical fouls: none. STEVE JACKSON ; Queen aligns himself with other Wolverines castoffs FRANK PAYNE/Daily Guard Rachael Carney (22) and center LeeAnne Bies (right) battle for possession in Michigan's 87-63 win over Detroit. S-mi-th's 29 leads 'M' Cagers MICHIGAN (87) By Brian Schick Daily Sports Writer FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Reams 20 1-3 2-2 1-1 4 2 5 Smith 29 11-14 7-8 2-9 1 2 29 Bies 16 4-7 3-5 2-3 1 4 11 Pool 26 7-12 0-0 4-11 2 1 15 Burlin 21 2-6 0-0 0-1 2 1 5 Cortis 4 1-1 0-2 1-1 0 0 2 Andrews 18 1-4 2-2 0-0 2 1 4 Hauser-Price 15 2-2 5-5 0-0 2 0 9 Carney 16 1-2 0-0 0-1 3 2 2 Goodlow 4 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Gandy 27 1-8 0-1 2-5 4 0 2 McPhilamy 4 1-1 1-2 1-1 0 0 3 Totals 200 32-61 20-27 13-35 21 17 87 FG%: .525. FT%: .741. 3-point FG: 3-8375 (Reams 1-2, Burlin 1-2, Pool 1-3, Gandy 0-1). Blocks: 2 (Bies, Pool) Steals: 17 (Hauser-Price 5, Bies 3, Reams 2, Gandy 2, Andrew 2, Smith, Burlin, Car- ney). Tumovers: 17 (Smith 6, Pool 5, Burlin 2, Gandy 2, Carney 2). Technical Fouls: none. Detroit.................22 41 - 63 Michigan...................36 51 -87 At: Crisler Arena Attendance: 1,401 When it comes to dominating in the post, Michigan women's basketball forward Jennifer Smith has not disap- pointed in the early stages of this season. DETROIT 63 Smith scored a career-high 29 yesterday against Detroit and 20 MI:HR;AN 87 against Massachusetts, while leading the Wolverines to a pair of wins. Michigan handed Detroit a 87-63 loss yesterday, and ran away from Massa- chusetts 91-65 on Friday. The Wolverines' 4-0 start is the program's best since 1999, the year they started 7-0. Smith finished last night 11-of-14 from the field and 7- of-8 from the free throw line. Smith, who also grabbed 13 boards, benefited from numerous passes into the post and her ability to shake off defenders. "My focus today was to take it up strong," Smith said. "I credit my teammates for giving me nice passes tonight." Smith also helped her teammates, as she was often dou- ble-teamed in the second half. When guard Niki Reams passed the ball down to her, Smith waited until two players were drawn in and kicked it back out to Reams for a jump shot from the perimeter. Smith missed just one shot inside the paint, and also helped out her teammates on the defensive side. She limited the Titans' center Sara Crum to just 1-of-11 shooting - 0- of-7 in the first half - and just five boards. Poor shooting in the first half was also exhibited by both teams in the early minutes. Neither team could seem to buy a basket in the opening five minutes, as they scored a com- bined 12 points. "For a while, we were getting good shots on the basket, and they were falling," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "But then I thought we got to a point where we were doing a little one-on-one and being impatient against their zone." One of the major factors that turned around the slow start was Guevara's deep bench, which has been essential in all four wins this season. Sophomore guard Sierra Hauser-Price came in and gave the Wolverines a boost by adding four points before the half expired, pacing an 8-2 run for the Wolverines. Michigan's other two post players were also major con- tributors against Detroit, each scoring in double figures. Center LeeAnne Bies finished with 11 and forward Tabitha t Pool added 15, also grabbing I1 boards. "I was happy with the way that we controlled the tempo of the game, and I thought that was due in large part to our post players," Guevara said "We were able to do the things we wanted to do on the block in order for us to be successful." The frontcourt was largely responsible for the dramatic turnaround in the second half shooting, as the Wolverines shot 63 percent and accumulated 51 points. The Wolverines saw the reverse in Friday's game against Massachusetts, scoring 55 in the first half to pace an easy vic- tory. The Minutewomen (2-1) attempted 23 3-point shots, but sank just six of them. Michigan's lead reached as high as 34 before Guevara decided to play some of her bench players and Massachusetts started a small rally at the end of the game. Michigan couldn't seem to miss inside the arc on Friday, as the Wolverines came out and made 20 of their 25 two- point shots. Forward Raina Goodlow said the Wolverines were actively seeking the ball and making the most of their open shots. "A lot of it had to do with hustle plays," Goodlow said. "A lot of scoring wasn't necessarily off the offensive set. A lot of times it was just picking up the loose ball and scoring. We had a lot of really good heads-up plays." Nvery Queen's recent dismissal from the basketball team has led any Michigan fans to start con- spiracy theories on Internet message boards. They say that this is just part of coach Tommy Amaker's plan to slowly rid his program of the "Ellerbe guys" so he can replace them with his hand- picked recruits. The reality is that Amaker doesn't make distinctions like that. Two "Ellerbe guys" are co-captains, and they get plenty of minutes and public praise from Amaker. Unlike Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight, Amaker didn't come into his new job with a plan to rid the program of possibly problematic players. While Knight dismissed three scholarship players in his first seven days, Amaker gave his problem children a chance to buy into his message. Amaker's agenda has Brian Elerb always been to build a classy program that scholarsl wins consistently. Michigan in I'll admit that I but only fly expected Michigan to still on th lose another player before the start of next Tommy season. But those feel- ings were not based on any Amaker conspiracy. That prediction was built on the history of former coach Brian Ellerbe's recruits, who have shown a remarkable penchant for leaving the program prematurely. Ellerbe recruited 13 scholarship ath- letes to Michigan in three years, but only five of those (LaVell Blanchard, Gavin Groninger, Bernard Robinson, Dommanic Ingerson and Chuck Bailey) are still on the roster. Leland Anderson was the only player to leave the program on his own. Ironi- cally, he said he transferred to Provi- dence because of a lack of playing time in Ann Arbor. Jaquan Hart and Kelly Whitney never even qualified academically, and Josh Moore fouled... I mean, failed out of school. Before jumping to the pros after his freshman campaign, ques- tions about Jamal Crawford's amateur status caused the NCAA to suspend him two times for a total of 14 games. Queen and Maurice Searight were shown the door by Amaker for repeat- edly violating team rules. But they - were merely following in the footsteps of Kevin Gaines, who finally earned the boot from Ellerbe just before the start of his sophomore season. Gaines' final acts as a Wolverine were to drive with a blood alcohol level of .17, then wrestle on the side of the highway with Queen and Robinson. Gaines eventually got kicked off another team, Houston, later in his college career. These sorts of off-the-court problems have helped to create the "losing cul- ture" that Amaker said he must over- come before the program turns the corner. e p 'n t ,e he yA While all that is publicly known about Queen's dismissal is that he "vio- lated team rules," it has been clear that Queen has been consistently falling short of Amaker's goals for behavior when the cameras weren't watching. Amaker started the hard-working and gritty Mike Gotfredson 20 times last year to help get that message across to Queen, who was clearly the team's most talented option at the point. If losing his starting spot wasn't enough to get his attention, Queen was suspended twice for violating team rules during his first two years at Michi- gan and put on team probation for his role in the highway wrestling incident. All of this took place after he pled guilty to disorderly intoxication and being a minor in possession of alcohol during the fall of his freshman year. Indeed, the man who recruited 13 was charged with assault and battery for athletes to allegedly hitting anoth- three years, er high school student of those are with a belt is no inno- cent victim. roster for But nevertheless, 4maker. Queen's play on the court will be missed. Queen was always supposed to be a backup point guard, but early departures forced him into more minutes over the last few years. During his short stay with the Wolverines, Queen worked hard on the court in games. He knew that he was the shortest player in the Big Ten, not the most tal- ented, and he played within himself - handling the ball well and making open shots when needed. Despite his limita- tions (listing him at 5-foot-7 was gener- ous), Queen found ways to get after rebounds and loose balls. With nothing other than strength and heart, Queen led the Wolverines in rebounds (six) last year in a victory over Penn State. Queen averaged 4.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 26.8 minutes of action per game during his three sea- sons at Michigan. Amaker knew that dismissing Queen would make his bad basketball team even worse. This was not addition by subtraction in the short term, and this Saturday's ugly offensive performance against Western Michigan is testament to that fact. Amaker didn't want Queen gone, or he would never have suited him up this season. Amaker, no matter what you think of his personnel decisions, is here to win basketball games and build this program up from ashes. Amaker gave Queen every opportuni- ty to buy into his philosophy, but even- tually by ignoring that message, Queen became an active part of that losing cul- ture. That is when he had to go. 'M' STATS Player G Smith 4 * Pool 4 Bies 4 Gandy 4 Andrews 4 Reams 4 Goodlow 4 Hauser-Price 3 McPhillamy 2 Burlin 4 Cortis 2 Carney 3 Min 27.5 25.0 26.3 25.3 18.5 25.0 11.8 11.3 7.0 17.5 6.0 11.0 A 1.5 2.5 1.0 2.3 1.0 2.8 0.8 0.7 0.0 3.8 0.5 1.3 Reb 7.3 7.0 6.5 4.0 1.3 2.5 3.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 1.3 Pts. 20.0 12.3 11.8 9.0 7.5 7.3 5.3 3.7 2.5 2.3 2.0 0.7 Team rebounding big factor in perfect start Steve Jackson can be reached at sjackso@umich.edu. By Brian Schick Daily Sports Writer One of the goals for the Michigan women's basketball team is to outre- bound its opponent each night. So far, BASKETBALL the Wolverines have to be pleased Notebook that they are meet- ing one of their major goals. "We want that characteristic of being relentless (on the glass)," Michi- gan coach Sue Guevara said. Through four games this season, the Wolverines have dominated the glass, pulling in 160 boards to their opponents' 121. Guevara stresses rebounding in her practices, and spends a large amount of time teaching her players to anticipate where the ball will go after the shot. "It starts with going after the ball, reading its bounce. We want to make contact and go get it," Guevara said. "You have to be aggressive, tough and you have to really want it. We talk about how defense wins games and rebounding wins championships." A large portion of the rebounding has come on the offensive glass, as 52 boards have come on offense. This num- ber might be larger had the Wolverines not shot 73 percent in the first half against Massachusetts. Only seven shots missed, but three were pulled down for the offensive boards regardless. What may be most impressive is that post players are not the only ones rebounding. The guards have done their share of pulling down shots, as two Wolverines guards average more than two per game. Forward Raina Goodlow said that by keeping oppo- nents from getting second chances, it makes rebounding easier. "Part of our job is to keep (opponents) off the boards," Goodlow said. "That is a big focus coming into each game." SHARE THE WEALTH: This season has seen Guevara use her bench to rotate players throughout the game. Over the weekend, all 12 Wolverines saw action in both games. But more than playing all her players, Guevara allows them to stay in the game and accumulate signifi- cant minutes - against Massachusetts, 11 played double-digit minutes. Not only are all the players getting into the game, they are all are scoring too. Both weekend games saw seven players with five points or more. "Everyone got solid minutes (against Massachusetts)," Guevara said. "I love the fact that we have a strong bench, and our bench play will help us down the line. I think this is strongest team we've had in that time. Our depth is young, but we're getting them experience early." FAST START: The Wolverines are 4-0 this season, the best start since the 1999-2000 season, when Michigan started 7-0, the best in program history. Last year saw the Wolverines start 0-1, before winning straight. Despite the early success of this year's team, Guevara doesn't want to be compared to last year's team, as after starting 10-1, the Wolverines fin- ished the next 18 games 7-11. "We don't really talk about last year a whole lot," Guevara said. DAl SPORTS SUNDAYS AT NOON 4 O YNARD ST. I. Doe . 6tk - Dce.o 20th ~Ja bAMLdb1t I~ 0 FRANK PAYNE/Daily Forward Jennifer Smith and Michigan have outrebounded all opponents this season. MOO" I r U . . = MhT~1-1K~-17.1 ILA EIMF [4- 7M