(The lAriguton &dig
SPORTS 4'.,P.
Monday
December 9, 2002
Devil of
Like 'Coach
K,' Amaker
a time
needs time
D URHAM, N.C. - For seven minutes
Saturday, Michigan was better than
Du'ke. Featuring an effort that would
have overwhelmed the likes of Virginia Tech and
Central Michigan, the Wolverines led Duke 11-
10, were shutting down the Blue Devils' offense
and seemed to believe that they could, miracu-
lously, pull an upset at Cameron Indoor Stadi-
um.
Obviously, they didn't win.
But as Duke slowly began to pull away from
Michigan, I stumbled upon some stunning infor-
mation. One of the game's timeouts afforded me
the opportunity to read
through Mike Krzyzewski's
biography in Duke's game
program.
And you know what?
Krzyzewski - or "Coach
K" as you had better call him
down here - didn't have
very good teams when he
started coaching at Duke. CHi-S
The bio reads: "When
Coach K came to Duke in BURKE
the spring of 1980, he found Goin' to
a program that was searching work
for strong leadership and a
rebirth of the success that Blue Devils fans had
come to know and love."
Sound familiar? It should, because it's almost
the exact same situation under which Tommy
Amaker took the helm of the Michigan basketball
team.
"I love Tommy, I don't just like him, I love
Tommy," Krzyzewski said after Duke's 81-59 vic-
tory over Michigan. "Tommy's part of my heart,
part of my family."
Athletics-wise, there's a very good reason why
Coach K might hold such strong emotions for
Amaker. That's because Krzyzewski's first team at
" Duke limped into the NIT. His second and third
teams finished 10-17 and 11-17, respectively.
It wasn't until a sophomore point guard by the
name of Tommy Amaker finally came into his
own in the 1984-85 season that Coach K finally
started dancing come March with a 24-10 record.
That means it took four seasons for arguably the
most respected coach in college basketball to get
to the NCAA Tournament.
Now Amaker has the reigns of his own team, a
Michigan program desperate for a return to
national prominence. And before everyone gets all
over his case for the Wolverines' disappointing 0-6
start, here's another juicy little tidbit from Coach
K's bio: "Success stories do not just happen
overnight."
Like it or not, at 0-6 or 6-0 this team is going
to end its season at the same place - in Chicago
at the Big Ten Tournament.
Michigan fans have heard for the last several
years that the future is going to be brighter, and,
for the first time, Amaker has things in place so
that that light at the end of the tunnel no longer
feels like an oncoming train.
As valuable as senior LaVell Blanchard has
been to Michigan for four years and as much as
fellow seniors Gavin Groninger and Rotolu Ade-
biyi have put into this program, it takes some time
to build a winner, and everything's pointing
See BURKE, Page 5B
TONY DING/Daily -W1
Above: Michigan senior LaVell Blanchard tries to signal for a timeout while inside the shorts of Duke freshman Michael Thompson.ey
Top right: Duke's Chris Duhon finishes one of the many Duke jams on the afternoon. Duhon had 15 points and six steals.
Speed, power o Blue Devils too muc for cagers
By Charles Paradis
Daily Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. - It was everything
one expects from Duke, clicking offense,
solid defense and excellent coaching.
And it was everything one has come to
expect from
Michigan this sea-
son - lots of MICHIGAN 59
effort but ulti- DUKE 81
mately another
loss.
The end result of all these expectations
was an 81-59 win for the Blue Devils.
In the last two games, Duke has been
able to jump out to large leads against the
Wolverines - a 34-8 lead last year and a
34-2 lead two years ago. But this year,
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker made it a
priority to prevent Duke from getting out
in front too early.
"The history of this Duke and Michigan
rivalry in the past is that they just come in
and try to get the knock out punch early,
and we were not going to let them do that,"
Michigan freshman Daniel Horton said.
The Blue Devils scored first on a 3-
pointer by Chris Duhon. But instead of let-
ting Duke go on a run, it was the
Wolverines who made a surge, scoring the
next seven points of the game. They stayed
competitive for the first 10 minutes of the
first half and held their first lead over
Duke since 1999. But the Blue Devils ral-
lied back with an eight-point run to take a
16-11 lead - a lead they would never
relinquish.
One of the most interesting matchups of
the game was Duke's Dahntay Jones
against LaVell Blanchard. Instead of using
a larger player to guard Michigan's leading
rebounder and scorer, Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski gave the responsibility of
checking Blanchard to the smaller, quicker
Jones.
The strategy worked as Jones limited
Blanchard to nine points and just four
rebounds in the game. The senior captain
also led Michigan with seven turnovers.
"Blanchard is really a perimeter player.
He is, I think, their best 3-point shooter,"
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We
wanted Dahntay on him."
Turnovers again plagued the Wolverines,
who had 25 turnovers in the game, includ-
ing 19 in the first half.
"We've been really concentrating on our
team defense and helping one another out;"
Krzyzewski said. "We're not just moving
individually, we are moving collectively
and helping one another out. That's how
you get the turnovers."
See BLUE DEVILS, Page 5B
Icers fail major test;
swept by Northern
Musketeers band
together to beat 'M'
By Dan Rosen
Daily Sports Writer
MARQUETTE - The crowd in the
Berry Events Center stood for the final
two minutes of Saturday's game to
applaud their team.
Northern Michigan scored three
third-period
goals, includ- MICHIGAN 4
ing an
empty-netter, NORTHERN MICH. 1
to beat
Michigan 4-1 and complete a two-game
sweep of the Wolverines at home.
"It's not hard to get up for a team like
Michigan," said Wildcats forward Mike
Stutzel. "Everyone got up and it was
just a great weekend for us."
The Wolverines opened the scoring
in the first period with a powerplay
ki, who's had a nose for the net all
season, and he lifted it under the
crossbar for a. 1-0 lead.
Northern Michigan quickly answered
with a powerplay goal of its own. With a
5-on-3 advantage, forward Mike Stutzel
ripped a pass from behind the net to
Wildcats captain Bryce Cockburn. The
senior fired it passed Montoya into the
lower left corner of the net.
The two teams were deadlocked at
one for the entire second period. The
Wolverines were able to get a number
of good scoring chances, especially on
the powerplay. But they couldn't crack
the scoreboard.
"I think we played well in the game
and maybe better then we did (Friday)
night - particularly in the second peri-
od, when the game was on the line,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
CINCINNATI - The website
womencollegehoops.com declared
this season that Xavier's two start-
ing senior
g u a r d s" MICHIGAN 64
would be
"scary X XAVIER 75
good." Both
picked as preseason All-Americans,
Amy Waugh and Reetta Piipari lead
a backcourt that might be one of the
strongest Michigan will face this
season.
The Michigan women's basketball
team can make a testament to that
statement, as Waugh and Piipari
were too much for Michigan's fresh-
man backcourt. They combined for
By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Writer
ers while playing all 40 minutes for
the Musketeers (4-1). They also
managed to shut down Michigan's
guards, holding freshmen Mie
Burlin, Niki Reams and Lauren
Andrews to just 10 points on 4-of-
19 shooting.
"We always try to keep shooting;
sometimes we're on, sometime
we're off," Reams said. "We had
some lapses."
The lone bright spot for the
Wolverines (5-1) yesterday was the
inside presence of senior center
LeeAnn Bies. After hitting just one
of her 11 shots in Saturday's 61-56
win over Saint Louis (5-3), Bies
seemed to have no problem against
Xavier's frontcourt, scoring 31
points and pulling down 12
rebounds. Bies earned All-Tourna-
1
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