Thursday February 9, 2006 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com OERTllSiigan tii 9A 9A Buc s brin N y it into By Matt Singer Daily Sports Editor Coming into last Saturday's matchup with Iowa, the Michigan s men's basketball team was seldom reminded of its disastrous 2004- 05 season. At the midway point of . . the Big Ten season, the Wolverines ALEX DZIADOSZ/Daily boasted a 6-2 record, already claim- The duo of Dion Harris and Daniel Horton average a combined 28.6 points per game. ing two more conference wins than up point guard Jerret Smith (con- The defeat was the Wolverines' they totaled in 2004-05. And unlike cussion) didn't make the trip to most lopsided since they fell by 29 Boring sports month on the horizon ?0 I'll fix that s __r last season, Michigan had largely avoided the injury bug, with only Lester Abram missing time during conference play. But the Wolverines' trip to Carver-Hawkeye Arena brought to mind some unpleasant paral- lels to the previous sea- son. Abram (ankle sprain) SICE HOCKEY TONIGHT i~QioStateat No. 22Michig~n. Crt ~Ai ESPN Iowa City, forcing third-stringers Sher- rod Harrell and Hayes Grooms to play a combined 25 minutes. With two members of its backcourt rotation out, and a third, Dion Harris, in foul trou- ble, Michigan played its worst game of the points to Purdue on Jan. 30 last sea- son. "I honestly haven't tried to think back too far with things," Michi- gan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I haven't even given (last season) that kind of consideration or thought. We're just full-steam ahead, and we want to see where we are and what we can do to get better for the next game." After the debacle against Iowa, See BUCKS, page 10A et's be honest folks, it could be a rough few recently, which is promising, especially considering weeks for the average sports fan. the past few years. Student ticket sales dropped by 40 There's already a bad taste left in most percent this year, with fewer than 1,000 students buy- people's mouths following the "Super" Bowl. Aside ing season tickets. It took 10 home games for Crisler from the 50 or so people I saw walking around cam- Arena to finally sell out. But at least we're at the point. pus on Monday with yellow busses on their heads, where Crisler is full. (I'm no fashion expert, but I don't really Now that people are coming, Michigan see that catching on in the near future) fans need to continue to support, not bail Sunday's game left many of us dissatisfied. on, the team when it needs their presence It was a sloppy game, sloppy officiating the most. and no sloppy wardrobe malfunctions. Even though some of my professors Sorry, but that just isn't a winning combi- may suggest otherwise, I'm not stupid. I nation for me. realize that just as fast as the bandwagon So the football season officially ended filled up, it can empty. - unless you're one of the six people in Last Saturday was ugly - really ugly. the world who plans your schedule around We're talking Barry-Alvarez-in-a-wet- Arena Football telecasts or actually watches SCOTT t-shirt-contest ugly. But it was just one the Pro Bowl. The Super Bowl is in the past. BELL game. For those college football enthusiasts out Too Soon? The players were surprisingly even- there, recruiting classes were finally set in keeled both after Saturday's game and at stone. Even the chance for diehards to roadtrip to Loui- practice on Monday. There was no sense of panic - they siana and talk Jai Eugene into exploring Ann Arbor's realized it was just one of those nights. Iowa put up daycare facilities has come and gone. season-highs in almost every offensive category. Daniel So that brings us to the Winter Olympics. Yes, even Horton went as far as to say "I don't think anybody could t I can admit, I'm excited for a couple things. Watch- have beaten them (Saturday)." ing hockey will be fun and watching figure skaters So if the team still hasn't given up hope on winning fall is always entertaining. And the prospect of Bode its first Big Ten title in 20 years, then you shouldn't Miller doing a keg stand right before skiing down a either. steep grade definitely piques my interest. But there's Michigan remains just one game out of first place. a reason the Olympics happen only once every four It seems almost certain that, barring a massive col- years. Nobody cares about biathlons. The average lapse (knock on wood), this year's team has at least person doesn't know the difference between luge and guaranteed itself a spot in the Big Dance. Unlike skeleton. And I'm guessing no more than a handful Michigan teams in the past, though, just making the of people know what in the world a triple salchow is. dance isn't good enough. From day one, this year's. The Olympics will be fun ... for about a day. team has said one of its goals is to win a Big Ten title. Then there's NBA basketball. But who are we kid- That's why the remaining home games are so cru- ding? The next four months will be like reading a cial. As Michigan found out last weekend, winning on 400-page book where all that matters is in the last the road - especially against the conference's elite five pages. Everyone knows that when we get to June, teams - is nearly impossible. Going 8-0 in league the Pistons and the Spurs are going to be battling for play at home is a must for a team who wants a confer- the title once again. Unless Larry Brown magically ence title. reappears in Auburn Hills and tries to run the Pistons Today, Ohio State enters Crisler Arena. into the ground again, or if Amare Stoudamire really If seeing your school battle one of its biggest rivals brings Phoenix up to the next level when he returns, isn't incentive enough to go out and watch the game, there's no reason to watch another pro game until the then here's another reason: NBA Finals roll around in June. That is, unless you're This year, the game actually means something. All a compulsive gambler. of the rest do. Oh yes, it could be a very rough February.... Maybe it won't be such an ugly month after all. But this year, there's an exception. If you want a team to cheer on once March Madness Considering we're wedged between the Super Bowl actually does roll around - and not just a team that and March Madness, arguably one of the biggest lulls is happy with showingup - then you have to do your in the sports calendar, it shouldn't take much to come part during February. out and support a winning team. Yes, for the first And it starts tonight. Four home games left. Any- time in recent memory, the Michigan men's basket- thing fewer than four wins is unacceptable. ball team is playing well and playing for something that counts. Scott Bell hopes John Cooper magically replaces I know that not everyone on this campus needs a Thad Matta as Ohio State's coach before tonight's lecture about cheering them on. Support has been up game. He can be reached at scotteb@umich.edu season, losing 94-66 to a red-hot and back- Hawkeye squad. Tking" te b step, Montville lumps up from club to varsity By Daniel Levy Blue and White game they brought to make the team, he definitely couldn' Daily Sports Writer up a couple club guys. I thought that anticipate the playing time he would It d With the school year about to begin, Michigan sophomore Jon Montville was getting set for another year of club hockey. A few weeks later, he and a handful of other players were invited to skate with Michigan's varsity hock- ey team in the annual Blue & White Intrasquad game. He managed to wow the coaching staff with his phenomenal stat line - zero goals, zero assists and a -2 rating. "At the beginning of the year, I was planning on being on the club team," Montville said. "I was on the club team for a couple weeks, and then for the would be the end of it." And that was the end of it - at least the end of Montville's club hockey experience. After the scrimmage, the Michigan coaching staff asked him and a few other players to join the var- sity practice squad. With several roster spots still open, the coaches wanted to get a better look at some of the club players who filled out the lineups in the Blue and White game. Apparently, they liked what they saw from Montville. "One thing led to another, and I eventually made the team," Montville said. "I wasn't planning on it at all." If the Novi native wasn't expecting get during the stretch run of the season. But Michigan coach Red Berenson's decision to move junior David Rohlfs to forward, in an effort to bolster a slumping offense, left an open slot on defense. Montville took advantage. "Once I made the team, I was hop- ing to play in the (Great Lakes Invi- tational) once all the guys left for the World Juniors," Montville said. "I wasn't planning on playing in the sec- ond half of the year. Then they moved Rohlfs up, and, luckily, I got some playing time." 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