I i SPORTS The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2005 - 3E BASKETBALL: BOWING OUT EARLY * Cagers lose in first round of Students should support program Big By Josh Holman MARCH 11, 2005 Daily Staff Writer Tens CHICAGO - It was a completely different setting - postseason play in the United Center, their backs up against the wall in a win-or-go- home situation. But the drama played out in familiar fashion. It was a game in which the Wolverines gave it their best shot only to realize that, during this tumultuous sea- son, their best was never enough. The Northwestern Wildcats (15-15) hit the brakes on Michigan's roller-coaster season in a 58-56 victory at the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. It was the third straight loss for Michigan (13-18) and its 13th in the last 14 games. "We're obviously disappointed that we weren't able to pull games out," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "It's still what it is. It's a loss on our record and a loss for our team." The Wolverines had plenty of chances to pull out the win and even controlled the beginning of the game. But a series of mistakes proved too difficult for them to overcome. Michigan dug itself out of a 10-point hole to close the gap to two with 1:08 remaining in the game. After a defensive stop, the Wolverines had 35 seconds to set up a game-tying shot. Fresh- man Ron Coleman - who went 0-for-7 from the field - found himself open from behind the 3- point line and fired up a miss with 23.9 seconds still left on the clock. Northwestern guard T. J. Parker gave the Wolver- ines another chance to tie the game after he missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation. But sophomore Dion Harris could not convert for Michigan, missing the first of his two free throws on the Wolverines' ensuing possession. "I was really confident when I came up to the free throw line," Harris said. "I thought that first one was good but it came up short." Trailing 55-54 with 9.9 seconds left in the game, Michigan found another way to kill its chances of catching the Wildcats. On the inbounds play after Harris's second free throw, Parker snuck behind Michigan's defenders, received the pass around mid- court and streaked toward the basket. Senior Dani Wohl was trailing Parker and attempted to foul him on the layup, sending Parker to the ground. Wohl was immediately called for an intentional foul. "I was just trying to slap his arm and make sure he didn't make the shot," Wohl said. "Obviously I wasn't trying to hurt the kid. I didn't want him to make the shot." Parker converted one of his two free throws to boost Northwestern's lead to two points. He then hit SHARAD MATTU Mattu Fast, Mattu Furious JANUARY 5,'2005+ n March 14, 2004I knew what was coming. The Michigan basketball team wasn't going getting invited to the NCAA Tournament, and would have to settle for the NIT. I thought the NIT be a waste of our time. Luckily, I've never been so wrong. Michigan won the whole thing, and in the process put a positive spin on the entire season. Sure, the Wolverines got some breaks, but give the team credit. They bounced back from the disappointment, won three home games and then went to New York City and won two more games. And give us, the fans, some credit. There weren't many of us at that first-round game, but the Maize Rage and company were loud. Afterwards, when it was announced that tickets for the next game would be on sale 30 minutes later, I raced through the snow on Elbel Field (thankfully I lived just five minutes away), went to mgoblue.com and clicked refresh over and over until tickets were available. I did the same thing after the second game, too, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't alone. For those last two games, we pretty much packed Crisler. The point is, Michigan basketball is BACK, and this needs to be celebrated. I'm worried that in the six-plus months since, we've all forgotten how caught up we were in this team (let me say this again: we were actually run- ning home from Crisler to buy tickets so we could go back there two days later). The bottom line is, last season ended BIG, and this season needs to begin BIG. We can't have a letdown. To accomplish that, I think I've got the perfect idea. Midnight Madness. Sadly, many Wolverine fans don't even know what this is. There's a date where college basketball teams can officially begin practice. At Kansas, Maryland and many other schools (including Michigan State) the first practice is held at midnight in an arena packed with fans. Kentucky televises it across the entire state. During my three years at Michigan, the basketball program has come a long way. The aftermath of the Fab Five is long for- gotten. And most importantly, thanks to coach Tommy Amaker and his Duke ties, the students matter. We got courtside bleacher seats, which are now free (I bought season tickets - could you hook me up with some courtside seats?). Heck, Amaker even acknowledges the student section before every game, which is something Lloyd Carr and Red Berenson can't say they do. So Midnight Madness is just the next step. Another great reason to have this is to get the women's basketball team in the spotlight. Last year coach Cheryl Burnett was look- ing for all the fan support she could get. Well, there wouldn't be a better opportunity than this. She's got a young team that may struggle at first, but soon it'll be good. They deserve the exposure, sharing Crisler Arena would give it to them. Wouldn't it be fun to see them have a 3- point contest or mix the teams up and scrim- mage for a little while? I believe this can happen, but everyone tells me that two weeks and two days is too soon. I don't have the patience to wait one year, two weeks and two days, so let's give it a shot now. The collaboration that goes into every basketball game by the Maize Rage - from the weekly meetings to flyers sasy who's been arrested and who nearly bombed his SATs - is amazing. Even against a horrible team like Penn State, the fans show up. For that game someone made a 10-foot poster of the Nittany Lions' seven-foot, 200-pound twig, Jan Jagla. So for the next two weeks, Maize Ragers, let's direct our time and energy towards this project. Trust me, the athletic department won't make this happen. I really believe Amaker and Burnett would want this. But at the same time, Michigan is always about tradition. It's why we may never see a Michigan football night game, and it's why this hasn't happened already (because it should have). So it's on us. The question is, how bad do we want it? I still haven't found a reason not to have it, and trust me, I'm looking. I'm not asking them to dunk off trampolines, so they aren't any more likely to get injured. And Coach K at Duke does something along these lines every couple years (he apparently doesn't like the term "Midnight Madness"), so Coach A doesn't have that excuse. I've also been told that Michigan will hold the Maize and Blue Scrimmage on Oct. 30, 2004 following the football team's slaughtering of Michigan State. But that's exactly my point. It's time for the basketball team to stop piggy-backing off the football team. It deserves its own day. The hoops squad deserves all the support the fans are willing to give it, and thefans-_ deserve this stage to support the team. Sharad Mattu can be reached at smattu@umich.edu.- Sophomore Brent Petway picked up eight rebounds in Michigan's loss to Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. two more free throws to ice the game. Parker finished with 15 points, 11 of which came in the second half, helping the Wildcats overcome a six-point halftime deficit. "We just fell short," junior tricaptain Graham Brown said. "You got to give (Northwestern) credit. They got a 10-point lead on us, we fought hard and got back and did whatever we could to get a victory here, but they capitalized on it." The major swing came midway through the sec- ond half. A layup by Parker spurred a 12-0 run by Northwestern in just under three minutes, putting the Wolverines on their heels. "You can't give up a run like that," sophomore Brent Petway said. We were in the lead, we had con- trol of the game and the next thing you know, they go on a 12-0 run like that. It's disheartening." Michigan turned the ball over on three consecu- tive possessions during that stretch, due in part to Northwestern coach Bill Carmody's decision to press the Wolverines' ballhandlers. Michigan had 19 turnovers in the losing effort. "We had a lot of turnovers," Brown said. "I had quite a few myself. That's really hurtful to our team. We can't have those turnovers and expect to win." The Wolverines did manage a small comeback in the final minutes of the game. Sophomore Courtney Sims scored a career-high 25 points after posting a goose egg in Saturday's loss to Iowa. The center scored 12 points in the final 12 minutes, anchoring Michigan's rally. . "I knew I had to come out and bring a lot of ener- gy to our team," Sims said. "I don't think I did that last game and that's what the problem was." The loss pushed Michigan's Big Ten Tournament record to 3-7. Its 18 losses are also the most since the 2001-02 season, Amaker's first at Michigan. "For me, personally, sometimes you need to take a step away and let things sink in and enjoy things and then you try and map out a new plan," Amaker said. "You try to figure out things of where we want to go and how we're going to get there. I like the nucleus of the kids we have and I like the kids that we have coming in." Blue falls to Iowa in tourament U U, By Matt Venogoni MARCH 11,2005 Daily Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS - If the Michigan women's basketball team were a televi- sion series, it would have been cancelled long ago. The plot never changed and every game for the Wolverines this sea- son seemed. to go the same way. Michi- gan would compete for a good portion of the contest, but then they would fall behind by too much. But it's 70-42 Big Ten Tournament loss to Iowa on March 3, Michigan lost, but with a different script. In the previous game between the two teams, just 10 days earlier, Michigan stayed with Iowa for 34 minutes, but Iowa prevailed 78-59. Although the Wolverines were within 10 points of Iowa for most of last Thursday's game, Michigan (1-15 Big Ten, 5-23 overall) never made an offen- sive run. The Hawkeyes controlled the tempo and kept the Wolverines at bay. Two free throws by freshman Ta'Shia Walker cut Iowa's lead to nine points with under 15 minutes left in the second half, and that was as close as Michigan came. Iowa junior guard Crystal Smith was the main reason Michigan never threat- ened the Hawkeyes (8-7, 20-8). After Wolverine senior BreAnne McPhilamy hit ajumper from the elbow, Smith scored 15 of Iowa's next 20 points. She started by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. A Becky Flippin 3-pointer temporarily stopped the 11-0 Hawkeye run, but Smith quickly reeled off nine straight points. "Crystal was very good attacking the basket tonight and taking the open three," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "I like to see the ball in Crystal's hands. We called a play to get her an open three, and I think that really kind of ignited her." Even Michigan's defensive specialist, sophomore forward Kelly Helvey, could not stop the fleet-footed Smith. Helvey and freshman forward Janelle Cooper matched up with Smith for most of the Sports .M',,h.ga. ni.n & }G fteark R sr } c .k Y:;t, 7 . : ::z. k' N ik #. App. war } a.t . x a gg IN }:::.:A:portion:}of.all.:sales at:the Pierpont Commons Bookstores are the only book stores.contralted by the University of Michigan. * A wide variety of our best sellngoitesgifts and apparel fMor al students, . The ichgan.Uion aUmni, family, frien an kids available for purchase nn-lina TONY DING/Daily Heavily guarded, senior Tabitha Pool scored nine points in Michigan's loss to Iowa. 15 points. Pool tried to drive to the basket early on, but Iowa plugged up the lane for much of the game. With the lanes clogged, McPhilamy took what she could, nailing jumpers from the elbows for most of the game in netting a career-high 12 points. "My teammates did a great job of get- ting me the ball and I was just able to hit the shots," McPhilamy said. Pool had success early in the game, making her first two jumpers, but the Hawkeyes keyed on her for the rest of the game. Each time she touched the ball, an Iowa defender swarmed her. Pool has been used to that kind of treatment this year, but this time her teammates could not pick up the slack. Iowa's defense limited Pool to nine points on 4-for-16 shooting. With Pool struggling to score, Michigan's offense fell apart. The Wolverines shot just 32 percent from the field, including a dis- mal 3-for-23 from 3-point range. U U \?~~nWbaneRUNNINGEUFIT I I i