The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 -11
International play
snatches 'M' duo
By Michael Nisson
SDaily Sports Writer
Over the next three weeks, the Michigan hockey team
will play two important series, and it will do so shorthand-
ed. Forward Jeff Tambellini and goaltender Al Montoya -
both sophomores - will miss action to play for their coun-
tries, while junior forward David Moss is out with an
injury
Tambellini was the only U.S. college hockey player invit-
ed to attend Canada's junior national team tryouts, which
commence this weekend.
His absence will hinder the Wolverines' effort this week-
end when they travel to Omaha. The two-game series
against Nebraska-Omaha is pivotal for the Wolverines, who
have slipped to fifth in the CCHA after splitting a pair of
games with Michigan State this past weekend. If Tambelli-
ni does not make Team Canada, he will rejoin Michigan at
the Great Lakes Invitational.
Michigan coach Red Berenson noted that although Tam-
bellini may be in a slump (he hasn't notched a point in six
games), losing him will hurt the Wolverines because he's
still their leading goal scorer and is always one of Michi-
gan's most dangerous scoring threats.
Berenson also noted that Moss would not see action this
weekend because of a high-ankle injury sustained in Fri-
day's 2-0 victory against the Spartans.
Montoya will miss the GLI at the end of the month to
play for the U.S. National Junior Team in the International
World Junior Championships held in Finland. In his
absence, the Wolverines will probably start sophomore
Noah Ruden. Ruden, a Bloomfield Hills native, has seen
action in two games this season and five games over the
course of his career.
Ruden downplays the rare opportunity to relieve Mon-
toya.
"That's (the backup goalie's) job," Ruden said. "It's no
different than if (Montoya) were to get hurt or something
Opposites abound in Blue defeat
By Daniel Bremmer
Daily Sports Writer
Last year, two keys to the 2-6
Michigan basketball team knocking
off a 6-2 Vanderbilt squad were stop-
ping Matt Freije and controlling the
glass.
Unfortunatly for the
Wolverines, the things
that they did well in
last year's win were
the same things that
they struggled with
this weekend.
o ff
o°
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Junior David Moss badly sprained his ankle last Friday and
will sit out this weekend.
(else) were to happen (to Montoya). I know about (it) a few
weeks down the road, so it helps in terms of mental prepa-
ration."
Ruden's businesslike approach doesn't mean that he's not
happy for the chance to play.
"It's going to be fun to play in a big venue like Joe
Louis, (against) the best team in the nation, and it's an
opportunity to show the coaches and everyone else that I
am good enough to be out there."
The "best team in the nation" that Ruden is referring to
is Boston College, which is currently the No. 2 squad in the
country according to USCHO.com's rankings released yes-
terday. The Wolverines face the Eagles on Dec. 27 in
Detroit and then will take on either Michigan State or
Michigan Tech the following day.
The story of both Vanderbilt games
was rebounding - in both cases, the
team that won the battle on the boards
also won the battle on the scoreboard.
Last year, Michigan controlled the
glass by a 36 to 28 margin in a 70-66
win at Crisler Arena.
But Saturday, the Wolverines were
dominated inside by a 42-24 margin en
route to an 83-63 loss in Nashville.
"That is the most telling statistic of
the game," Vanderbilt coach Kevin
Stallings said. "(Michigan is) an athlet-
ic team, and I was just hoping that
we'd be able to outrebound them. That
really attests to our effort."
Michigan was also unable to control
Freije, whom they had kept in check in
last year's victory.
The senior struggled on Dec. 22,
2002, in Ann Arbor, connecting on just
3-of-9 field-goal attempts to finish
with a lackluster nine points and four
rebounds.
This year, things were different for
the 6-foot-10, 249-pound senior. Freije
struggled with his jumper in the first
half on Saturday, but he managed to hit
all four of his field goals in the second
half en route to 22 points. The SEC
Preseason Player of the Year, Freije
was able to get to the free-throw line
10 times, hitting on seven.
"He's a great player, but great play-
ers are going to miss shots some-
times," said Michigan center Graham
Brown of Frieje's first-half struggle.
"We were trying to get there on
defense, but he got open looks off
screens, and he knocked them down in
the second half."
PET-WAY ABOVE THE RIM: Michigan
freshman Brent Petway exhibited his
amazing, jump-straight-out-of-the-
gym leaping skills again in Nashville,
Tenn. But this time, it was Petway's
shot blocking, not his dunking, that
caught everyone's attention.
Petway was credited with three
blocked shots in the game, including a
stuff of 5-foot-10 guard Mario Moore's
driving layup in the first half. Petway
- who had previously recorded four
blocks on the season - got up so high
on the play that he almost hit his head
on the backboard in the process.
Then, late in the second half, the
high-flying freshman sent back 7-foot-
2 Vanderbilt center Dawid Przy-
byszewski's dunk attempt. Off an
inbounds play, the Commodores
passed the ball to guard Russell Lakey
just outside the 3-point line. Michigan
guard Dion Harris was guarding the
ball, and forward J.C. Mathis ran out to
the perimeter to set up a double team,
leaving Przybyszewski open to slip to
the hoop. Lakey dropped the ball off
down low, where Przybszewski had
what looked to be an open layup, but
Petway came from the weakside to
come up with an impressive stuff.
As a player who usually uses his
dunking to get his team fired up, Pet-
way said he was trying to do the same
with his blocks.
"That's what I'm here to do: bring
some energy to the court," he said. "I
was just trying to get our team ener-
gized to help us play harder."
BRETT MOUNTAIN/Daily
Freshman Brent Petway had three
spectacular blocks against Vanderbilt.
O'NEILL
Continued from Page 10
become exceedingly efficient at it. The
function of the One is now to return to
the media, allowing them to ask the
most repetitive of questions so that the
One may show them falsely that every-
thing will be better the next time around.
After which you will select from the BCS
eight individuals: six champions, two at-
larges to rebuild college football. Fail-
ure to comply with this process will
result in a cataclysmic system crash
killing everyone connected to the BCS,
which, coupled with the extermination
of college football, will result in the
extinction of the entire human race.
You won't let it happen. You can't.
You need human beings to survive.
They pay for your endorsements to
live. And I doubt the BCS could actu-
ally kill us ... I think.
There are levels of survival we are
prepared to accept.
No there aren't. Without the general
support of fans and the media, you last
out your contract. We buried the XFL
for lessuthan this, and we'll certainly
bury you as well. The BCS isn't col-
lege football. It never has been, and it
never will be. You can load it up with
fancy formulas and high-tech lan-
guage, but in the end you're taking
away from what college football has
always been: football played on some
variance of turf. If we wanted comput-
ers to determine our national champi-
on, we'd let EA Sports do it with actual
graphics and a virtual team that would
never get injured or have the imperfec-
tions or emotions of a human. Now I
realize that there is no easy answer to
any of this. But there are better options
than the BCS, and no matter what they
are, we should take them.
If I were you, Mr. Architect, I would
hope we don't meet aga n.
We won't.
Now you're making sense.
Kyle O'Neill can be contacted at
kylero@umich.edu.
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