qqw w w ---- -- Ir - - -w w w w w w ,w WV wl- .lw qpr .T- J.._- ____. _ _ ___- -,,,_ - _-____ . ,___ -, 4-" - " .' ) " ' f l I, ii' - The Michigan Daily - Tipoff2003- Thursday, November 6, 2003 The Michigan Daily- Tipoff2003- ?0-304MI~n's BasketbaII chdul 'kT OPONT Uc CON 4TM at., Nobv. 8 Michigan Tech (ex) Ann Arbor 7 p.m. ri, Nov. 14 NBD)L Team (ex) Aran Arbor 7 p.m. r. Nov.21 Oakland An Arbor 7pm *d. Nov. 26 High Point Arn~ Arbor 7 pm .~n, Nov. 30 at ButlerkIdianapols 7 p.m. 4i. Dec. 2 'North C(arolina State AnnwArbor 7:30P.M.. ~t., Dec. 20 Ceta ihian, Ant)Arbor 2 p~rn. -Wy. Dec, 22 Delware State Ann Arbor'7 p.m. t., Dec. 27 UC1LA.Ann Arbor 5 ~m ., ec. 30 Boton University Ann Arbor 7 .11 7 1Lr .a dwetern :Ann Arbor 7pm rn. x; 3A #tl nd;~mAntirb 4:30 p.m > .d at P nnn1 :17 irtr at Illinois12:45 M :.. PrdeA for 12:17 p. : o5, 11i at Minnesota Minneapolis 7 pm. ri ,Feb. 14"at toa busCity 1:34 p~m.- V . eb. F&18 Penn State An~r8pm o . Feb 22 Wisconsin Ann Aror 2 p. O e.~, Feb, 24 Michigan StateAnnArbor 7 p m. ~~Feb, 29 Ohio State AyAbrNoon 4 rctb 2-3 a nin l M B %-rch 6-7 ' a'tt t.e m Ean. ti ~ar~h 1.44 Bi Ten Torna(en .0~a~ap~s ' THE MICHIGAN DAILY BASKETBALL WRITERS' PRESEASON PICKS Daniel Bremner Chris Burke Bob Hunt Michigan regular season record 19-8 18-9 20-7 20-7 Big Ten confernc hmpion Wisconsin Michigan State WiscOnsin Michian Stat Big Ten second place Michigan State Illinois Michigan State Michigan Big Tn third plae Ichgnru chhgmgan Ilmnos Michigan finish 3rd 4th 3rd 2nd MIchigan Player of the Yar.: D.niHrton Derd RoInsn Danie1 HortOn Bemard Rbinson Michigan Freshman of the Year Courtney Sims Courtney Sims Courtney Sims Brent Petway 'i Tn Toumament p hm on ndiaa M h.gan State Mc Big Ten Player of the Year Dee Brown (Ill.) Bracey Wright (Ind.) Daniel Horton (Mich.) Nationa Player ofthe .Year Ray Felton (UNC) cky Padng (Izz ) 1Hak WarrIck Syr) National Coach of the Year Bill Self (Kansas) Tom Crean (Marq.) Bo Ryan (Wisconsin) Best conference= Surprise team . ACC Xavier Most disappolntlng team Msui Best mascot Syracuse Worst mascot Notre Dame NCAA Final Four Connecticut (champion in bold) Duke Kansas Michigan State Big 12 ' Bradley Oregon Western Kentucky Il inois' Connecticut Duke Michigan State Missouri ACC Southern Cal. Auburn Syracuse Duke Florida Gonzaga North Carolina Wisconsin Chris Hill (MSU) Emeka Okafor{(UConn) Roy Williams (UNC) Big east Marquette Texas Gonzaga Stanford Arizona Connecticut North Carolina Syracuse By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer BRETT MOUNTAIN/Daily Szechuan Sounan 4/tanda'un Gantonese Ann Arbor's Award-Winning Chinese estaurant _ - 15% SZ C1)uAN WEST 2161 W. S*;4* 'Zine-in 0o"7ainy-outI 734769472z SZe C1UaN WCST V~oted #1- /tetto Times Open: /A Th 11:30-10 - 7 & Sat 11:30-11* Sun 12-10 See Israel with Israelis. Or not. Trip 's free, so you decide. Oranim-birthright israel. 100% Israeli. Why settle for anything less than the real Israel? On your once-in-a-lifetime free 10-day trip to Israel... Let Isrelis Show You rIsrael Register today at: WWW.sIraeII Freem.CO Multiple Departure Dates: Nov-Dec 2003, Jan-Feb 2004 Departures from: NY, LA, Miami, Chicago & Toronto Toll Free: 1-888-281-1265 S3*-.info@israel4free.com - .i"' - This season, J.C. Mathis is going to be a leader. He'll be a player who speaks up in practice, a player who scratches and claws for every rebound and a player who stays upbeat in even the most trying times. He'll walk onto the floor as a Michigan captain. And yet he's never played a regular- season game as a Wolverine. The 6-foot-8 forward was never sup- posed to put on a Michigan uniform. After playing for his father at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, N.Y. Mathis decided to play at Virginia in the ACC, a conference he had watched on television since he was young. At first it looked as if he was going to star there. Mathis played in every game his freshman year and put in a season-high 24 minutes in the Cava- liers' one-point loss to Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He was named the team's most improved player. But as his sophomore season went on, Mathis' spot in the starting lineup dissolved as his future in the eyes of coach Pete Gillen began to fade. So much so that he believed that transfer- ring was the only way that he was going to see major playing time, even if he had to sit out a year to do it because of NCAA transfer rules. "I didn't know where I was going to go," Mathis said. "I just knew I wanted to go somewhere else." It was made official that May. Math- is was released from his scholarship, hoping that someone would give him a chance. One of the coaches that gave him that chance was Tommy Amaker. Amaker had recruited Mathis when he coached at Seton Hall, and he figured that Mathis could add experience to a team that didn't have much. "He's a communicator," Amaker said. "He's very intelligent, very bright, very aware. Those are things that I have always liked about him as a player." There was a catch, however, as Amaker didn't have any scholarships to give. He did promise Mathis he would grant him a scholarship for the follow- ing year. Mathis eventually decided that playing for Amaker was worth having to pay his own way. So Mathis came to Ann Arbor and had to sit on the sidelines during the self-imposed sanctions, the six-game losing streak, the 13-game winning streak, the end-of-season deterioration, the NCAA sanctions and the appeal. But during it all, Mathis was there to support his new teammates. "Whenever we came back from an away game, whether we won or lost and everybody's sore and tired, he'd always be ready to go," sophomore for- ward Graham Brown said. "He'd be yelling, and he'd always get us ready to come to practice." Mathis found his role most trying during the Wolverines' defeats. "It's difficult sitting on a bench dur- ing a game and thinking maybe I could have helped in that situation," Mathis said. Mathis got through the situation with the help of his teammates and his fami- ly. He is close with his former coach and father, Johnny, as well as his broth- er, Jarrett, a senior at Berkshire Acade- my in Massachusetts. "In a perfect world, (my father) would still be my college coach too," Mathis said. "I enjoyed the experience that much." Johnny Mathis still tries to see as many of his sons' games as possible, as he was in attendance for the Maize and Blue Scrimmage. Jarrett is currently considering many Eastern schools, such as Rutgers, Villanova, Princeton, Fairleigh Dickinson and Columbia, but J.C. is unable to see his games. "I try to help him as much as I can, he really wishes I could see some of his games," J.C. Mathis said. "It's really hard after he's had a really good game, and he's trying to describe plays to me. It's really difficult." When Michigan discovered that it won its appeal with the NCAA and would be able to qualify for the post- season, Johnny and Jarrett were the first two people he called. But like many situations J.C. has come across lately, he had to wait. He got both of their answering machines. That, howev- er, took little away from the moment. "It sounded too good to be true, because no one really kept us up to date on how the appeal was going," Mathis said. "They didn't tell us how strong they thought our chances were, or how strong our case was. A lot of us didn't want to get false hope, wishing that we could get it and then get crushed." Now Mathis is anxious to finally play in an actual college game after an 18-month layoff. He was named cap- tain along with senior forward Colin Dill. "J.C really knows the game of bas- ketball well," Dill said. "We often talk about what we have to do together as captains to make sure our team is play- ing as well as (possible)." Mathis will be just one of three upperclassmen on this year's team, and the only Wolverine to ever play in an NCAA Tournament game. Mathis strengthens a frontline to a team that was playing just seven deep last season. He may compete for a job in the starting lineup - he started the second game of the Wolverines' pre- season Canadian tour - and will help develop the team's younger post play- ers. "I'm hoping that he can be the rebounder that we really need to anchor that frontline and lead the way, whether he's starting or not starting, for our younger players on how to do things the right way," Amaker said. One player that has benefited from Mathis' presence is Brown, who aver- aged 20 minutes a game last year as a freshman. "J.C. plays the game like me," Brown said. "He doesn't have the jumper that a lot of other guys do. He just knows you have to be crafty out there when you're shooting, so he's shown me what he's learned over the years. He's always such a positive play- er out there, and he's always such a great leader out there." His experiences have made an impression on everyone. "He's had to sacrifice a lot to be here," Amaker said. "When you look around our lockerroom, all our players can recognize that we have to sacrifice, and probably no one has sacrificed more than J.C. to be at this school." But for now, Mathis just wants to get on the court. "I've been playing so long with an empty gym," Mathis said. His coaches and teammates are happy he won't have to wait much longer. MAGNA RX+ The #1 male enlargement pill in the country. As seen on TV and in Maxim, Stuff and FHM. SIZE DOES MATTER!! LIVE LARGE!! SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!! Call 1 -800-300-4ME N Mention that you read about it here and get 2 bottles for the price of 1! Or visit us at www.magnarx.com. Remember - be bigger, better and longer! Just Cut It 3041/2 State By Appointment 668-9329 www.dascolabarbers.com