y W s F S t f F k 3 t, t 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.