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December 6, 2004
GONE BOWL-IN'
Check out all 28 bowl matchups
and find out which teams were
snubbed this season.
PAGE 6B
SPIKED!
The Michigan volleyball team
is eliminated from the NCAA
Tournament by host Texas.
PAGE 8B
GENNARO FILICE
Bonds's steroid alle-
gations don't change
my point of view.
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
SPORTS DAx
1B
Od iiguailllutl
Carr denies rumors of sickness, job change
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Editor
Lloyd Carr says he is not sick, not
retiring and, is not becoming athletic
director.
Carr held a press conference at
Crisler Arena before Saturday's bas-
ketball game against Notre Dame to
dispel the numerous rumors that he
would be leaving his post as Michigan
football coach after the season.
"I'll make this short," Carr said.
"I'm not sick, and I'm not retiring."
Carr called the press conference
to assure recruits that he indeed will
be around if they decide to come to
Ann Arbor. The time between a team's
final regular-season game and its bowl
game is a crucial period for recruit-
ing in college football, and Michigan
hosted a number of recruits this week- desire to eventu
end. director. Accord
Rumors about Carr's status had of the rumors c
increased since Michigan's loss to national "coachi
Ohio State, and Carr said that two coaches using th
recruits told him
this past week that "I'll make this short.
they had heard
them. I'm not sick, and
Carr said he , not
decided to hold a I rm notretiring"
press conference
because he felt the - Lloyd Carr
rumors had come to'
a point where he had
to say something.
He said that he had not addressed the tions about Ca
team about the issues but planned on there was a conti
doing so during yesterday's practice. for associate hea
The rumors had, for the most part, to take over the ti
centered on Carr's health and his emergency.
ally become athletic
ding to Carr, many
ame from within the
ing fraternity," with
em against Michigan
for recruiting. Carr
said that he knew
who some of the
coaches were, but
would not disclose
their names.
Detroit Free
Press columnist
Drew Sharp wrote
in October that
there were ques-
rr's health and that
ingency plan in place
d coach Fred Jackson
eam in the event of an
Speculation of Carr's retirement has
also been ahot-button topic on Internet
message boards over the past month.
But Carr said that he has no health
problems, has no desire to become ath-
letic director and no timetable regard-
ing his departure.
"As long as my health is good and
my desire to do this job doesn't wavi-
er, then I intend to coach," Carr said.
Carr later joked that he would not
coach for more than 20 more years.
In 10 years as Michigan's head
coach, Carr has compiled a 95-27
record, a national championship and
five Big Ten titles.
Carr has led the Wolverines to a
bowl game every year as Michigan's
head coach and set a school record
with four straight bowl wins from
1998-2001.
TONY D!N
Lloyd Carr, watching Saturday's basketball game with Michigan special
teams coach Mike DeBord, denied beforehand rumors he was retidng.
Irish creamed
MICHIGAN 61, Notre ame 60
'M' slips past
Notre Dame
By Megan Kolodgy
Daily Sports Writer
Slow shooting held back Michiganjunior Daniel Horton through-
out the first half of Saturday's matchup against No. 20 Notre Dame,
and sophomore Courtney Sims could see that his typically clutch
teammate could use a pick-me-up. As the Wolverines took the court
for the second half; Sims told the forlorn Horton, "You're going to
win this game for us."
And in many ways, he did.
With just 20 seconds remaining, and his team down 60-58, Hor-
ton drove in for a layup on a slingshot pass from freshman Ron
Coleman. The shot dropped, and Horton drew a foul from Notre
Dame's Dennis Latimore. He stepped up to the line with collected
confidence, sank his free throw and clinched the game for the Wol-
verines.
Michigan (4-3) edged out Notre Dame (3-1) 61-60 at home on
Saturday, and in doing so, managed to kill two birds with one stone.
The Wolverines picked up their first win against a ranked opponent
and found a support in backcourt second-stringers who had career
performances.
But it was Horton's contributions at critical moments that gave
Michigan the late-game surge it needed to pull ahead.
"We've seen him do this before here," coach Tommy Amaker
said of Horton. "We've seen him kind of will his way and will our
team. I think that's the player he's become in this program."
Horton's efforts might have been in vain if not for sophomore
Brent Petway. With the chance to put the Wolverines up by three
in the last four seconds, Petway missed the front-end of the one-
and-one, allowing Notre Dame the chance to snatch the rebound.
The Irish's Chris Thomas had just crossed half court and was ready
to put up a jumper, when Petway, who trailed Thomas, shot out in
front of him and cleanly blocked the shot as the buzzer sounded.
"If I had dwelled on missing the free throw - put my head down
- Chris Thomas probably would have gotten a wide-open look,"
Petway said. "You just have to make up for it some way or another.
So I just ran back ... I knew he was looking to shoot it because he
didn't even look like he wanted to pass."
The score was tied at 30 at the onset of the second frame. But within
the first 10 minutes, the Irish jumped out to a 51-41 lead after an 8-0 scor-
ing run. It was Horton who brought a halt to the Wolverines' drought,
nailing Michigan's first bucket in nearly five minutes. He was also,
essentially, the lone scorer in the final 5:44 of the game, draining two
3-pointers and another field goal. While these shots allowed him to carry
Michigan almost single-handedly, it was in the waning moments of the
game that Horton showed Crisler Arena why Sims felt compelled to
See IRISH, page 5B
Abram, Brown
out with injuries
By Megan Kolodgy
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker
announced yesterday that two of his captains will have
to sit out for at least a portion of the season. Junior
Lester Abram, Michigan's Most Valuable Player last
year, must undergo surgery on a nagging left-shoulder
injury and will likely apply for a redshirt this sea-
son. Junior Graham Brown will sit out for four to six
weeks after hernia surgery, which is tentatively set for
tomorrow.
Abram sustained an injury to his shooting shoulder while
going up for a rebound in last year's Big Ten Tournament
during Michigan's 79-70 toppling of Iowa. He doubled over
in pain and temporarily took to the bench. He returned
moments later and shot 8-for-8 from the free throw line
down the stretch of the game. After that, however, Abram
did not return to the floor until four games later in the NIT
semifinal against Oregon.
The injury did not seem serious enough to warrant sur-
gery, so Abram began this season as a starter and played in
every game until Michigan played Sacramento State.
He took the court again on Saturday against Notre
Dame after missing four games, and although he did not
contribute much in terms of stats, his presence seemed
to have a calming effect on the Wolverines. It looked
like Abram might slowly return to his prominent role
on the floor. Several of his teammates were happy to
see him back.
"It felt great when he got up to check in and the crowd
was cheering for him," sophomore John Andrews said
of Abram's temporary return. "It was nice to see him
out there."
But now the team will be without the spark of one of its
most dynamic players.
"After following the procedures provided by our
team doctors and medical community, we have been
advised that surgery is now in Lester's best interest,"
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said yesterday in a
statement. "We will certainly do everything we can
for Lester and his family throughout this upcoming
surgery and rehabilitation process."
Filling the void created by Abram's absence will be no
small task for the Wolverines. He has averaged 11.4 points
and 4.3 rebounds per game in his career at Michigan.
Brown already underwent surgery last summer for the
same injury, but it has persisted and requires that he have
the operation once again.
"Our medical staff advised us that surgery is the best option
y. See INJURIES, page 3B
MICHIGAN 6, N6tre Dae I
Michigan's Brent Petway celebrates after blocking Notre Dame guard Chris Thomas's shot as time expired on
Michigan 8, Notre Dame 0
Icers' offense explodes in sweep
By Jake Rosenwasser
Daily Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND - With seven minutes left
in the third period, a pack of about 50 Notre
Dame students poured out from the bleachers
during a long television timeout. Notre Dame
was trailing by eight goals, and the students had
seen enough. After a weekend in which Urban
Meyer chose to coach Florida football over
Notre Dame and Brent Petway swatted away
the Irish's undefeated basketball season, the
Michigan hockey team may have sent the Notre
Dame faithful over the edge. No. 5 Michigan
throttled Notre Dame 8-0 on Saturday night at
the Joyce Center just a day after it beat the Irish
6-1 at Yost Ice Arena, outperforming Notre
Dame in every aspect.
"In no way can we let our forwards or defen-
semen off the hook here," said Notre Dame
coach Dave Poulin after Saturday's game.
"There are 20 guys in that lockerroom and
everyone's responsible. Every single person."
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily The Wolverines (9-1-0 CCHA, 11-4-1 over-
all) played a prominent role in the lopsided
affair as well. Freshman Kevin Porter and
junior Jeff Tambellini each scored twice, and
junior goalie Al Montoya made 16 saves for his
second shutout of the season.
The Michigan defense stifled the Irish
offense, limiting it to few scoring chances.
"I thought our team probably had its best
game of the season in terms of offense, defense,
power play, penalty killing and so on," Michi-
gan coach Red Berenson said. "I don't think it's
fair to say that we're that much better, if any
better, than they are. This weekend, we were."
The Irish (2-7-3, 3-8-4) had just returned
from a road trip to Alaska last weekend, which
may have influenced their sluggish play.
"We'll play them again down the road, and
we'll see how the teams match up later," Beren-
son said. "But I just attribute the differential in
the weekend to the Alaska trip."
Sophomore T.J. Hensick put Michigan on
the board just two minutes into play when he
put back a rebound goal. Two minutes later,
freshman Chad Kolarik scored the first of
Michigan's five power play goals on the night
when he slapped a one-timer off of Notre Dame
goalie Morgan Cey's pad and into the net.
"(Our power play) was much better," Beren-
son said. "Obviously, we were moving the
puck, and we got our.chances. And we buried
our chances."
The penalty kill also thrived over the week-
end, holding the Irish to just one power play
goal in 19 chances. Sophomore Jason Dest led
the defensive effort by leveling two mammoth
hits on Irish skaters.
Midway through the second period, Notre
Dame defender Brock Sheahan skated towards
the Michigan goal with a clear path to the goal
from left side. Dest raced back and caught up
to Sheahan just before he tried to shoot. Dest
lowered his shoulder and laid into Sheahan,
sending him sliding into the boards. When
play was stopped a second later, Sheahan had
to be helped to his feet by two of his team-
mates.
"Coach always tells me that when I'm play-
ing good is when I'm hitting," Dest said. "So
this weekend, I really tried to concentrate on
playing physical and stuff like that. I don't put
See ICERS, page 4B
T.J. Hensick scored the first goal for Michigan on both Friday and Saturday.