4
Tuesday
September 9,2003
michigandaily.com/
sports@michigandaily.com
cbe fichigan iftd
SPORTS
10
'Coach K'
"
gives clue
to donor
By W
Diy sports Writer
YPSILANTI - Perhaps that
"anonymous" donation to the Michigan
men's basketball program wasn't so
anonymous afterall.
Following Michigan coach Tommy
Amaker's announcement Wednesday
that returning student ticket holders
would be given the opportunity to
renew their tickets at no charge due to
an anonymous donation to the program,
speculation over the donor's identity
was widespread. Yesterday, Duke coach
Mike Krzyzewski may have given the
first clue toward solving the mystery
when he implied that Amaker himself
may have had more to do with the
donation than meets the eye.
"I think if you would search on that, I
think that you would find that the mys-
tical powers of Tommy Amaker being
involved, looking out for the students,"
Krzyzewski said with a grin. "I really
believe that it's something that Tommy's
been pushing for, forever."
Krzyzewski, who spoke yesterday to
the Washtenaw County Economic Club
at the Ypsilanti Marriot at Eagle Crest,
called the decision to offer free tickets
to the Maize Rage "one of the best
decisions that could be made." Duke's
student section also gets free season
tickets.
Krzyzewski's implication seemed
Perry No. 6i
poll, ignores
By J. Brady McCollough
Daily Sports Editor
Chris Perry had to know it was com-
ing. You don't run for 420 yards and
four touchdowns on 8.5 yards per carry
in the first two weeks of a season and
avoid hearing the word Heisman.
When asked about
college football's most
prestigious award and
his possible candidacy
yesterday at the week-
ly media luncheon,
Perry looked sternly
i<i '::
1 _O
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker (front) and the Maize Rage (back) have
joined together to bring forth a new era for Wolverine basketball.
to name Amaker as the anonymous
donor. But Michigan Ticketing Ser-
vices Director Marty Bodnar refused
to confirm or deny whether Amaker
was responsible for the donation.
"The name of the donor is anony-
mous and will remain anonymous,"
Bodnar said.
While the origin of the donation to
the basketball program may still be
unclear, Amaker's relationship with
Krzyzewski is just the opposite.
Amaker played point guard for 'Coach
K' from 1984 to 1987 before returning
to Duke from 1988 to 1997 as an
assistant.
Because of their friendship, which
remains to this day, Amaker's Michigan
squad will no longer play Krzyzewski's
Duke team. In his first two years at
Michigan, Amaker was 0-2 against his
mentor.
"When Tommy first got the job, we
thought about continuing the series, and
then we decided that we should go two
more years. Now those two years are
done;' Krzyzewski said. "I think we'd
both rather not play one another
because of our close relationship, and I
think it's a good decision."
Krzyzewski's speech to the crowd of
around 600 emphasized strong team-
work as a key to success. The legendary
coach shared anecdotes from his 22-
year career at Duke, including stories
from his team's 1992 NCAA Tourna-
ment game against Kentucky - in
which Christian Laettner hit a turn-
around shot at the buzzer to win -
along with his experiences coaching the
1992 U.S. Dream Team to an Olympic
gold medal.
at his audience and spoke deliberately.
"It's two weeks into the season,"
Perry said. "Can anybody name the
guys who were (being considered) for
the Heisman Trophy last year two
weeks into the season?
"It doesn't mean anything."
Last year's Week Two list included
Florida quarterback Rex Grossman,
Nebraska running back Dahhran
Diedrick and Oregon running back
Onterrio Smith, all of whom had
mediocre seasons and didn't come any-
where near the Downtown Athletic
Club. Maybe Perry is onto something.
"No disrespect to Central Michigan
and Houston, but if we would have lost
to them, people would have said it was
an upset," Perry said. "To get excited
about two games ... we haven't even
started the season yet."
In ESPN.com's Heisman "Experts
Poll," Perry is tied with Mississippi
quarterback Eli Manning as the No. 6
Heisman candidate in the nation. North
Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers
in Heisman
early hype
is listed at No. 1, even after losing this
past Saturday to Wake Forest. Virginia
Tech tailback Kevin Jones and Kansas
State quarterback Ell Roberson are No.
2 and No. 3, respectively, even though
both players were injured this past week.
Wisconsin tailback Anthony Davis and
Miami tight end Kellen Winslow are
No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
TRADING SPACES: True freshman
LaMarr Woodley has already switched
from linebacker to defensive end. It
turns out that fellow freshman Prescott
Burgess, recruited as one of the top
safeties in the country, will take his
place at linebacker in Michigan's
defense of the future.
Burgess is listed as backup inside
linebacker on the depth chart.
"We had talked, when Prescott first
came here, the question was how big is
he going to get?" Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr said. "Looking at him dur-
ing our training camp it was very obvi-
ous that he is a physical guy.
"I think it's a move that down the road
will be very positive for our program."
HARRIS OUT: Michigan linebacker
David Harris is out for the season with
an injury to his ACL. Harris hurt his
knee during the Houston game, becom-
ing the fifth Michigan linebacker in the
past two seasons to suffer a season-end-
ing injury.
NoTEs: Carr said true freshman kick-
er Garrett Rivas will handle the field
goal duties against Notre Dame....
Safety Marlin Jackson, who was sus-
pended against Central Michigan and
did not start against Houston, will start
his first game of the season Saturday.
Criticism of
Navarre is
unwarranted
0
KYLE O'NEILL
The Daily Janitor
W hat a weekend in sports it
was. The Detroit Lions
scored 42 points and won
by 18 - a feat not easily accom-
plished by a squad that has struggled
in such easy decisions, such as taking
the ball and not the wind in overtime.
The Detroit Tigers' Mike Maroth
lost his 20th game on Friday, and I've
never felt that bad for one person in
my life. In all honesty, no one with
his talent and attitude deserves to lose
20 games in a season. Hopefully he
will avoid the Brian Kingman route
and not let 20 losses define his life's
purpose.
Then there were teams making col-
lege football upsets happen: Georgia
Tech, Wake Forest and Bowling
Green. And then there were those
escaping by a wing and a prayer: Ohio
State, Miami and Notre Dame.
But even with Andy Roddick win-
ning his first Grand Slam title at the
U.S. Open, there was just one sports
story that stuck out in my mind the
most.
It was 3rd-and-8 in Michigan's third
drive against Houston. Quarterback
John Navarre dropped back to pass.
Finding no one open, he took off to
run to the left. At one point, he looked
like he was going to pass, but instead
he tucked the ball and took the sack
that Houston linebacker Bryant
Brown gave to him.
Then it happened. There were boos
from the crowd.
Maybe it was because Navarre took
thesack;t maybe it was because it
was Michigan's third-straight three-
and-out - but either way, any nega-
tivity was not warranted.
If fans booed because of the former,
they probably didn't realize that
Navarre had just saved six going back
the other way.
The toughest thing to do for a quar-
terback is to know when to take a
sack. That was something the Navarre
of old didn't do very well - hence
the interceptions thrown into coverage
in his younger days. It is not easy to
decide when to take a sack to prevent
a bad decision. Most quarterbacks
would sooner throw than say, "Here,
hit me as hard as you can ... free
shots to my ribs all around!"
But Navarre is wiser and more
mature, and for that one play in the
game, he made a Heisman-like play
with his head when his arm was
looking like anything but a Heisman
candidate's.
Which brings me to the Heisman
talk. John Navarre is not going to win
the Heisman. Simply put. Can he be
an All-American, All-Big Ten or even
win the Davey O'Brien award? I have
no doubt in my mind that he can. But
he is not a Heisman candidate. It was
a nice idea sponsored by the fraterni-
ties around campus and also by a few
college football analysts, but in reali-
ty, he's just another very good quarter-
back with very good career (and
probably senior season) numbers and
an NFL size that will make scouts
take him as a mid-rounder.
But if any Michigan player will
deserve it by the end of the season, it
will be Chris Perry (and until after the
Notre Dame game, I wouldn't even
begin to throw his name in that ring).
If you were a fan who booed for
the latter of my two reasons, then get
off Michigan's back. I know you'd
like to see the Wolverines score every
time they touch theball, but it's going
to be difficult for them to get started
in the first quarter. The reason: Teams
are going to throw things at them that
aren't on Michigan's film collection,
if only for the reason that it is a
perennial power and that other teams
know they have to abandon their
gameplan early on to catch Michigan
off guard.
What this means is that the defense
will have to be extra solid in the first
quarter as offensive coordinator Terry
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