MEN'S SWIMMING: Strong senior performance not enough at Big Ten Championships. PAGE 2B THE SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN: Daily staffers come together for the first edition of 'Ramblings.' PAGE 3B WRESTLING: Regular-season champs fall short in bid for tourney title. PAGE 6B 0 March 6, 2006 SPZRTSA obt at(bigan Badu a 9MICHIGAN 67 Ba k he b b He NCAA bid in question after Cagers drop finale By Jack Herman Daily Sports Editor Daniel Horton has finally had enough. "I don't understand why people keep asking us - we're in the Tournament," Horton said in the locker room after Saturday's game. "If we don't make the Tournament, then there's something wrong. If we don't make the tourna- ment, then I don't know who else deserves to." Well for one, there's Indiana. The Hoosiers emerged with a precious 69-67 road victory on Senior Day at Crisler Arena, claiming the Wolverines as their victims for the 10th straight time. Whereas the win might just be enough to catapult Indiana (9-7 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) into the Big Dance, it might just be enough to keep Michigan out. A Wol- verine victory would have given them 19 wins overall and, more importantly, a plus-.500 conference record. Instead, Michigan and its even Big Ten ledger must win at least one game in the conference tournament to guar- antee its first bid since 1998. Still, Hoosier coach Mike Davis agrees with Horton's assessment of the postseason situation. "If you go 8-8 in the best conference in the country, you deserve to be in," Davis said. The NCAA Tournament committee might not see things that way considering what Michigan had to offer on Saturday. Although the group surely wants Horton, who turned in another great game for the Wolverines (34 points), it probably wishes the star senior could leave his teammates behind. Michigan set the perfect example... Of what not to do when on the tournament bubble: 1.) Jump out to a 12-1 lead to start the game. Then let the Hoosiers and their less-than-stellar offense whittle the deficit to three (30-27) by halftime. 2.) Shoot 7-for-14 from the free-throw line, minus Horton (13-for-13). 3.) Watch junior Dion Harris go 2-for-10 from the field. He's made just five shots since returning from his injury four games ago. 4.) See big man Courtney Sims fail to attempt a shot. 5.) Record a season-high 24 turnovers and a tie for season-low seven assists. 6.) Commit two key - and unnecessary - fouls (Graham Brown on offense, Harris on defense) in the final two minutes. And then there was The Play. With the Wolverines behind 65-64 and 30 seconds remaining, they ran down the clock for one final shot, holding on to their last timeout. Horton had the hot hand, having scored 14 of the Wolverines' last 20 points. But instead of taking it for See HOOSIERS, page 5B Indiana loss a flashback to struggles of the pa st T his year's class of seniors has always opted to do things the t hard way. As a result, the past four years of basketball in Ann Arbor have taken place on that road less traveled, as opposed to doing things the easy way. Any of the players in Tommy Amaker's first recruiting class SCOTT at Michigan could have jumped BELL ship and bailed when sanctions Too Soon? were levied on the program, but everyone stayed. Maybe it was an omen for what was to come for this group. One hundred and twenty-two games after the arrival of this six-person class to Ann Arbor, the group faces exactly what it did when it entered: adversity. Saturday's game against Indiana was indicative of the careers of the seniors and the season of this entire Michigan basketball team. The game began on a promising note. The Wolver- ines jumped out to a 10-0 run in front of a sold-out Crisler Arena crowd hungry for Michigan to finish above .500 in league play. Kind of like the team's 10-1 start this season. Or the 13-game winning streak Daniel Horton and company strung together four years ago as freshmen. But that's too easy for this group. Beating an embattled team like Indiana would not only have solidified Michigan as an NCAA Tournament team. It would have put the Wolverines above perennial powers like Michigan State, Wisconsin and Indiana in the Big Ten standings to close out the regular season. Sounds rational. Sounds like the easy way. Doesn't sound like Michigan basketball. By halftime, the game was practically deadlocked. The Wolverines' pressure defense that held the Hoo- siers to just one field goal in the game's first ten minutes was beginning to bend, and the victory was definitely in question. It was just like teams of seasons past, cooling off once midseason rolled around. Just like Michigan's 2-6 record to close the regular season after its hot conference start. And by game's end, when Michigan's 10-point sec- ond-half lead had morphed into a two-point loss, it left me thinking - was this another telling sign of how this season would end? Michigan didn't just lose; it did so in the weirdest way imaginable. See BELL, page 5B STEVEN TAI/Daily Senior point guard Daniel Horton's 34 points weren't enough to fight off the upset from visiting Indiana. The 69-67 loss put Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes in question and dropped the Wolverines to the seventh seed in the Big Ten Tournament. 0 WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Di stance runners propel 'M' to title Recurring nightmare haunts Icers By Chris Herring Daily Sports Writer . The past few years, winning the Big Ten title has not been a hope of the Mich- igan women's track and field team. It's been an expectation. Going into this season, things were no different. "The expectation is already there," said Michigan coach James Henry, who was recently named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "They come into my track pro- gram knowing that winning the Big Ten is something we expect." The team battled from behind in the final events at the Big Ten Champion- ships Feb. 26 in Madison to outscore second-place Illinois 126.67-112 and take the indoor title for the fourth time in five years. to win. I just thought that was too much to come back from." But in the end, it was Michigan hoist- ing the championship trophy. By sweeping the top three spots in the 5,000-meter run, Michigan closed the 14-point gap that stood between it and then-first-place Illinois. Sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier crossed the finish line first. Her time of 15:58.61 auto- matically qualified her for next week's NCAA Indoor Championships, and also set a Camp Randall Fieldhouse record. Juniors Erin Webster and Rebecca Wal- ter finished second and third, respec- tively, to complete the sweep and gain 24 points for the team. Webster also picked up 10 points for the Wolverines when she won the 3,000-meter run. Junior Katie Erdman won the 600- meter title for the third time in her By H. Jose Bosch Daily Sports Writer Billy Sauer stood slumped over in front of his net. It wasn't fatigue that sat heavy on his shoulders and caused him to hang his head. It was the magnitude of Ferris State's game-winning goal that had Sauer - and the rest of his teammates - downtrodden. Bulldogs forward Zac Pearson's overtime goal, which gave Ferris State a 4-3 win, may put the 1lth-ranked Wol- verines' streak of 15-straight NCAA tournament appearances in jeopardy. Although the disappointing weekend did not affect Michigan's place in the CCHA standings or cost it a first-round bye in the conference tournament, the Wolverines have to win their series against the Bulldogs (12-11-7 CCHA, 17-13-8 overall) this coming weekend to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Wolverines had finally put their medio- cre play behind them. The night before, Michigan (13-10-5, 18-13-5) skated to a hard fought 3-3 tie at Ferris State to end its three-game losing streak in Big Rapids. And the momentum of that good play carried over to Saturday's game - Senior Night for the three departing seniors Ebbett, Brandon Kaleniecki and Noah Ruden. After two periods of play, Michigan held a 3-0 lead and looked to finish off the Bulldogs to collect on three of their four possible points of the week- end. The image of freshman Andrew Cogliano, staring at the sky with his arms raised in jubilation after the third goal of the second period, was sym- bolic of the relief the team felt after the score. Then the wheels on the bus came flying off. "I really don't know (what hap- pened)," coach Red Berenson said.