Wednesday
January 12, 2005
sports. michigan daily. com
sports@michigandaily.com
SPORTtS. .d- g-It
9
..........
Blue blown
out by No. 5
Ohi14o State
By Jack Herman
Daily Sports Writer
Fourteen minutes into the first half of last night's
women's basketball game between
Michigan and No. 5 Ohio State, H A
Buckeyes senior Caity Matter hit
her first 3-pointer of the game. Just
32 seconds later, she dropped in her second trey in a row,
forcing Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett to call a timeout,
her second in a span of less than 50 seconds.
But nothing could cool down Matter, who ended the
contest with a game-high 28 points. She drained three
more 3-pointers in the next two minutes, leading Ohio
State (3-1 Big Ten, 15-2 overall) on a 24-2 run to a 84-56
victory over the Wolverines..
"My teammates were getting me in the spots, and they
were making a nice pass," Matter said. "I was getting some
open looks, and they happened to go in. It felt good, but it
felt better to go out there and win."
The Buckeyes appeared to be unstoppable from all over
the court. While shooting 50 percent from behind the arc,
Ohio State made 34 of 60 shots - the best anyone has
fired off against the Wolverines this year.
Michigan (0-5, 4-12) was at a loss while trying to
guard the Buckeyes. Ohio State's offense looked like a
well oiled machine moving the ball around the hard-
wood. The team had 26 assists on the night, thanks in
part to sophomore Brandie Hoskins, who added seven
assists for the Buckeyes.
"Sometimes it's a very simple game that people can
Hypocrisy rampant
in coverage of Moss
Freshman Ta'Shia Walker's efforts weren't enough, as the Wolverines lost their eighth straight game.
complicate," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "We com-
plicated it early. But once we started spacing and moving
the ball, we had not only some good looks around the
perimeter but some good one-on-one opportunities in the
post."
Michigan hung close at start of the game due to a strong
free-throw shooting performance. The Wolverines made
eight of their first 10 shots from the charity stripe, which
accounted for half of their offensive production in the
game's first 12 minutes. Michigan grabbed a lead with 7:17
left when freshman Ta'Shia Walker received a pass from
sophomore Kelly Helvey and drilled a trey to give a 19-17
advantage to the Wolverines.
That was Michigan's last lead of the night. The team
was held to just six more points for the rest of the half.
Another poor shooting performance hurt the Wolverines,
and they ended the half shooting just 29.2 percent.
"The wheels fall off when we start not doing what we
need to do offensively," Burnett said. "We did pretty well
executing early to keep the close, and then, all of the sud-
den, we don't execute, we start standing."
Troubles on both ends of the court seemed to get to
the Wolverines. With the Buckeyes taking command
of the game in such a short period of time, Michigan
began to turn the ball over and force shots that it should
not have taken.
"Something on the floor that I don't like to see that
I've seen is players looking frustrated and looking kind of
pouty," Burnett said. "To me the game is not over until it
is 0:00."
The second half was no less frustrating for the Wolver-
ines. Although the team did shoot much better from the
floor - 42.9 percent - nothing stopped the Ohio State
offense. During the second half, the Buckeyes took a lead
as great as 36 points despite an improved effort by Michi-
gan, especially senior Tabitha Pool. Pool scored 16 sec-
ond-half points after having a dreadful 1-for-10 shooting
performance in the first half.
Nothing the Matter with Buckeyes' ''
DANIEL BREMMER
Garden State of Mind
ust like the collective jaw of the
country's two biggest sports net-
works on Sunday after Randy
Moss's now-infamous touchdown cel-
ebration, mine also dropped in shock.
But the celebration itself - in
which Moss scored a touchdown, and
then pretended to moon the Lambeau
Field crowd - didn't bother me at all.
Instead, I was shocked about the way
the celebration was covered by Fox
and ESPN.
There's nothing wrong with celebrat-
ing a touchdown in an over-the-top or
attention-grabbing way, but there is a huge
problem with our hypocritical society con-
demning such harmless celebrations.
My biggest problem with all these
critics freaking out about the celebration
is how innocent the entire ordeal was.
Who was 'really hurt or offended? As far
as I can tell, the worst that comes from
a fake mooning is the potentially awk-
ward moment between a father and son:
"Daddy, what did Randy Moss just do?"
Moss didn't take out a gun and shoot
anybody. He didn't use racial slurs. He
didn't expose himself. He didn't curse.
He didn't even give anyone the finger.
Let's be honest here: if that awk-
ward father/son moment is the biggest
piece of societal damage that comes
from this touchdown celebration, isn't
that a good thing?
One semi-suggestive celebration, and
suddenly people forget about Moss's
two touchdowns or the fact that his team
beat the Packers in the playoffs at one of
the toughest places to play in the NFL.
As of yesterday, there was talk that
Moss would be fined and might even be
suspended.
As ESPN's Michael Wilbon joked
on Monday's "Pardon the Interruption,"
if anything, Moss deserves to be sus-
pended for his out-of-control hairdo but
not for his celebration.
If there's anyone that does deserve to
be suspended after this whole thing, it's
Joe Buck and the rest of the broadcast-
ers who made such a big deal about the
celebration. Immediately afterward,
while announcing the game, Buck called
the incident "disgusting" with a fervor
that would make it seem like Moss just
stomped on a bunch of pigeons. On an
overreaction scale from 1 to 10, Buck
was somewhere around a 12.
To be honest, I didn't even realize
what had happened with Moss until I
heard Buck screaming about it - and
I bet I'm not the only one who didn't
notice the celebration.
Buck wasn't alone in his criticism of
Moss's celebration. The Fox network,
which broadcasted the game, refused
to show any replays of the "incident"
during the game or afterward. That's
right, the same network that refused
to show a three-second replay of a guy
pretending to moon a crowd has aired
hour-long, quality-of-life enhancing
shows like "Who's Your Daddy?" (a
paternity guessing game), "The Swan,"
(a plastic surgery contest) and "The Lit-
tlest Groom" (a "little" version of ABC's
"The Bachelor"). And the list goes on.
In the midst of all the hoopla about
Moss lurks one legitimate target that
always seems to go unnoticed - beer
commercials broadcast during the game.
Not that I have anything against beer
- but if just one of the many ads from
Bud, Miller or Coors Light influences
just one child towards alcoholism, then it
is already thousands of times worse than
Moss's celebration. And how many of
these commercials air during the game?
Similarly, commercials about erectile
dysfunction are much more sugges-
tive (and sure to create more awkward
"Daddy, what's that?" moments) than
Moss's celebration. But there's no limit
to how many Viagra, Cialis and Levitra
commercials are shown during football,
and few people raise a stink about any
of them.
ESPN is just as guilty of not practic-
ing what it preaches. "SportsCenter"
didn't show the Moss replay on Sunday
- neither did "NFL Primetime." But
during both of these shows, ESPN had
no problem airing provocative com-
mercials for its new series "Tilt," based
on the poker-craze (the series premiere
will air tomorrow night). Sex, gam-
bling and violence are fine for ESPN
in advertising its own show, but Moss's
celebration - an incident about a hun-
dred-times less suggestive than ESPN's
own commercials - can't be shown on
"SportsCenter."
Until the networks airing these NFL
games clean up their own programming
and stop running commercials for alcohol
and impotence drugs, there is no reason
for any of these "questionable" celebra-
tions to cease. And as someone who isn't
offended by any of those aforementioned
things and wasn't offended by Moss on
Sunday, I hope that the only change made
is less hypocrisy in deciding what is
"appropriate" and what is "disgusting."
Daniel Bremmer can be reached at
bremmerd@umich.edu.
By Matt Singer
Daily Sports Writer
Coming into its matchup with Michi-
gan, No. 5 Ohio State found itself on top
of the Big Ten in virtually every offensive
category - leading the conference by wide
margins in scoring, field-goal percentage
and 3-point percentage.
But the Buckeyes' offense stumbled out
of the gate last night, scoring just 13 points
in the first 11 minutes.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, it was
only a matter of time before the Buckeyes'
offensive juggernaut got going. When the
Michigan defenders collapsed on 6-foot-
4 center Jessica Davenport, Ohio State's
deadly shooters got hot from long range,
going 12-for-24 from downtown and kill-
ing the Wolverines' hopes of an upset.
"From an offensive point of view, (Dav-
enport's height) probably helped us because
they have to double team her, Ohio State
coach Jim Foster said. "We've got enough
shooters that we're going to find some pret-
ty good shots."
Ohio State senior Caity Matter spear-
headed the Buckeyes' jump-shooting
onslaught. After missing her first two shots,
the guard took over the game, sinking 10 of
her last 11 shots, including eight of her last
nine 3-point attempts. During one stretch
late in the first half, Matter drilled three
consecutive three pointers, extending the
Buckeyes' lead from 22-19 to 31-19. And
once Matter got going, there was little the
Wolverines could do to slow her down.
With under six minutes to go, she shrugged
off tight defense from Michigan sopho-
more Kelly Helvey and swished her eighth
and final 3-pointer of the game, tying a
career high.
Although Matter's shooting prowess
wowed the Crisler Arena spectators, her
coach was clearly not surprised.
"(I see her shoot like this) about three
days a week," Foster said. "She can really
shoot the ball, and she pretty much does it
every day. Sometimes she guards herself,
but she didn't do that today."
While Matter stole the show with her
perimeter play, it was Davenport's con-
sistent inside effort that opened the floor
for the rest of the Buckeyes. The Wolver-
ines made life difficult for the sophomore
center, swarming into the paint when
Davenport received the ball down low.
But with 6-foot freshman Ta'Shia Walker
shouldering the bulk of the defensive bur-
den, Davenport inevitably found scoring
opportunities against the shorter defender.
She finished with 19 points on 8-of-13
shooting.
"(Davenport's) long, isn't she?" Michi-
gan coach Cheryl Burnett said. "I think
Ta'Shia did about as good a job as she
could do on a 6-foot-4 player."
Davenport's scoring was key, but her
impact on the game went well beyond just
putting the ball in the basket. With multiple
Michigan defenders hounding her each
time she touched the ball, Davenport's
intelligent decisions opened up good looks
for her teammates and helped Matter put
up a game-high 28 points.
"I thought we did a great job early
swarming the post, which was our game
plan," Burnett said. "And we knew we had
to recover back, especially on (Matter).
(But) we didn't adjust on the court to stick
to her."
Ohio State sophomore guard Brandie
Hoskins added 19 points and contributed
a game-high seven assists. In all, Matter,
Hoskins and Davenport combined for 66
of Ohio State's 84 points, outscoring the
entire Wolverine team by 10.
UAfVIU I IAN/ULJOIy
Sophomore Kelly Helvey reacts to her
team's 84-56 loss last night.
0 WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Boyle hopes to overcome aggravated injury
By Daniel Bromwich
Daily Sports Writer
Junior pole vaulter Elizabeth Boyle learned the
hard way that giving 110 percent is not always a
good idea.
"If all you have is 100 percent, and you are giv-
ing 110 percent, then you are giving more than your
body will let you," women's track and field coach
James Henry said. "That's how you get injured."
Boyle tore her quadricep muscle training in the
fall of 2003. But instead of resting it to allow it to
heal, she continued to train and lift hard, not want-
ing to lose any time. In doing so, Boyle sprained
another muscle in her leg and was forced to redshirt
the 2004 indoor season.
It is this work ethic, in addition to her astounding
athletic prowess, that makes Boyle an elite athlete.
She holds school records for both indoor and out-
door pole vaults, with marks of 12-113/ and 13-6,
respectively. She set the indoor record during her
freshman year and the outdoor record last year.
While these are the marks of a veteran, Boyle was
still a "rookie" - at least in Henry's mind.
"She is one of the hardest workers I've seen, and
the only problem with that is that sometimes she
works too hard." Henry said. "You can't train like a
veteran when you are still only a rookie, and that's
what she was doing."
Boyle's injury was especially tough for her to
handle because she had just spent the summer in
Arkansas training with renowned coach Earl Bell,
a former Olympian and world recordholder in the
pole vault. Bell had worked hard with Boyle on her
technique and her jumping, and the injury seemed
to come at precisely the wrong time.
"It was really disappointing because I was real-
ly looking forward to seeing the results from my
training with him, and then I couldn't because I
was injured," Boyle said. "But I can definitely tell
the difference in my technique, even now, as I was
able to retain most of the things I learned through
the injury."
Henry sees a difference in Boyle's approach this
year after undergoing training with Bell.
"She's much more patient, and she's learned
to pay attention to what her body is telling her,"
Henry said. "She knows that she can't chase her
performances but has to let them come to her."
The injury didn't hamper Boyle's spirit, and her
goals are still high.
"I'd really like to jump 14 feet this year, and I
think I can do it with my new technique and my
additional experience," Boyle said.
Henry has some other goals for Boyle.
"We want Big Ten Champion, qualifying for
nationals and All-American, in that order," Henry
said.
With Boyle back and ready to take on any and
all challenges, it doesn't seem so unrealistic. She
hopes that this season will turn into yet another
record-setting year. But this time, she'll probably
stick to giving just 100 percent.
AP PHOTO
Vikings receiver Randy Moss's touchdown celebration caused controversy during
Minnesota's win over the Green Bay Packers Sunday.
The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science,
and the Arts presents a public lecture and reception
M MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Wolverines make their presence felt abroad
James W. Allen
Joaquin M. Luttinger
Collegiate Professor of Physics
By Pete Sneider
Daily Sport Writer
There was a little bit of Maize and
Blue in Grosseto, Italy this summer at the
IAAF World Junior Championships. The
July event boasted four runners - repre-
senting four countries - who would all
go on to suit up for the Michigan men's
track squad this season.
For freshman Victor Gras (1500-
meter), the World Junior Champion-
ships marked his first time competing
for his native France. His family moved
to the United States. from France when
Whitehead said.
Despite coming off an ankle injury and
being unable to reach peak condition, the
opportunity alone was memorable.
"It was like having cake and ice
cream," Whitehead said. "The oppor-
tunity was new because I've never been
overseas before. I would have liked to
have had my legs and done better, but I
definitely had fun."
The competition also pumped him up
for the upcoming track season.
"It was definitely a good preparation
for me because I got to see some good
talent, which boosted expectations for
Waithe's 4x400-meter relay clocked a
time of 3:11.33, good for 11th out of 31.
He also got the chance to meet one of his
future teammates, Woods, who compet-
ed for Canada.
"Right before I left, coaches told me
about (Woods) and (Gras), and I thought
it was awesome," Waithe said. "It was
crazy, but I only got to meet (Woods)."
Woods had just signed his letter of
intent for Michigan before competing
in Italy. Unlike the other three runners,
Woods had previous experience running
for his country.
"That was my fourth time represent-
ing Canada," Woods said. "It was the
best one by far. It was a bigger deal. I was
relaxed, and I was running great."
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