Tuesday
March 21, 2006
sports. michigandaily. com
sports@michigandaily.com
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Junior Dion Harris celebrates with his team after his fallaway 3-pointer as time expired led the Wolverines to a dramatic 87-84 victory over Notre Dame.
Harris's shot saves seniors'
season
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Editor
Dion Harris wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet.
"I'm just glad to be giving the seniors another opportu-
nity to play in front of the home crowd and possibly (go)
back to New York," Harris said. "I'm just doing every-
thing right now for the seniors,
because they deserve it." N M
The junior hit a 3-pointer as time expirGA iy
expired in the second overtime to
extend Michigan's season and topple an upset-hungry
Notre Dame team, 87-84 at Crisler Arena last night.
The Wolverines were unable to capitalize on their first
two chances to close out the game. Buzzer-beaters failed
at the end of both regulation and the first overtime.
"We had opportunities," Michigan coach Tommy
Amaker said. "Certainly, we had the possessions down
the stretch to kind of come away with it, and we didn't. I
thought we had some really good looks and opportunities
to win the game."
After the two failed attempts, the third time proved to
be a charm for the Wolverines.
Senior Daniel Horton dribbled the ball at the top of the
key as the seconds ticked off as Amaker called for an iso-
lation play. When Horton ran into a double team on the
left elbow, he lobbed the ball to Harris, who was waiting
at the top of the key. The Detroit native launched a fade-
away trey that founds its way through the hoop and sent
Crisler Arena into a frenzy.
"I don't think we've ever had a game like that since I've
been here," Harris said. "Double overtime, the crowd was
great and we just kept fighting, no matter what happened
I think everybody had fun out there:"
The win brings Michigan (20-10) one game closer to
Madison Square Garden, where the NIT's Final Four
is played. The lone obstacle is Miami, which defeated
Creighton by one point last night. The Wolverines beat
the Hurricanes by 21 during the regular season. The two
teams will face off at 8 p.m. tomorrow night.
Early on in last night's game, it appeared as if the Wol-
verines would not get a chance to play in the quarterfinals.
Notre Dame (16-14) led for almost all of regulation.
After taking the lead two minutes into the game, the Irish
held the advantage until just 13 seconds remained in the
second half.
"They came out of the blocks early," Amaker said.
"Coming back and inching our way back in, possession
by possession, helped make this a memorable evening:"
After Michigan slowly clawed back into the game,
Horton provided the shot that looked like it would end the
game in regulation.
With his team trailing by one, Amaker called a time-
out and designed a play for the Cedar Hill, Texas, native
to shoot a 3-pointer. With 14 seconds to go, Horton got
free off a double screen and drained a trey from the right
wing.
But Horton wasn't the only senior guard on the floor
playing to keep his career alive. Irish guard Chris Quinn
did everything in his power to keep his season going,
answering Michigan time after time with clutch shots. His
baseline lay-in with five seconds left tied the game and
sent it to overtime. He finished with a team-high 18 points
and nine assists, playing in all 50 minutes of the game.
"He's a crafty basketball player," said Horton, who
led all scorers with 29 points and also dished out eight
assists. "It's tough to guard him; he has really good size
for a guard."
Notre Dame's swarming defense forced Michigan to
settle for a Chris Hunter 3-point attempt at the end of the
first overtime.
In all, four Wolverines scored in double figures, with
Harris, Hunter and junior Lester Abram each giving 15
points to Michigan's cause.
The team effort is what has brought the Wolverines a
game away from a return trip to New York, just two years
after they captured the NIT championship with a win over
Rutgers.
"If we were to end the season the right way by winning
another championship, it would mean the world to us,"
Horton said.
If last night's game had taken place
in the NCAA Tournament, it would
have gone down in Michigan lore
forever.
The Wolverines' 87-84 NIT victory
over Notre Dame had nearly every ele-
ment of a great basketball game: two
overtimes, a ridiculous game-winning
buzzer-beater and two stars (Daniel
Horton and Chris Quinn)
making unbelievable plays
down the stretch and refus-
ing to let their teams give
up. I give all the credit in
the world to the fans that
made Crisler Arena hop,
and the players - especial- a
ly the seniors - who kept
their competitive spirit alive
despite the disappointment p
of Selection Sunday. But
the game was still missingM
one major thing: M
Implications. SIN
Last night's contest was Spittig
an NIT game. Not a major
nonconference matchup,
not a key Big Ten game, and certainly not
an NCAA Tournament game. Five years
from now, no one will remember who won
this tournament, and for good reason. It's
a venue for also-rans and mediocre teams,
and last night's exciting, well-played con-
test doesn't change that fact. The bottom
line is that Oral Roberts, which got rocked
in the first round of the NCAA Tourna-
ment, has already achieved much more
this season than Michigan, no matter how
far the Wolverines go.
I wasn't always so cynical about the
NIT. In fact, I was sitting squarely on
the Michigan bandwagon when the Wol-
verines made their championship run
my freshman year. But a great deal has
changed in the last two years. I've broken
down some ways that this year's NIT trip
won't live up to two years ago - even if
Michigan once again comes away with
the title.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: In 2003-04, all
but one of Michigan's top eight players
were freshmen or sophomores. This year,
the Wolverines' seven best players are
juniors or seniors. It doesn't take a genius
to figure out the distinction between the
two seasons.
Two years ago, Michigan's future
seemed bright, and its five-game NIT run
only added to the optimism surrounding
the program. At the time, many people
- myself included - believed the experi-
ence of winning an NIT championship
would far outweigh the experience of
being blown away in the NCAA Tourna-
ment. Michigan's core for the next two
years had, supposedly, learned to play
together and proved it could stand up to
the pressures of a tournament environ-
ment. The stage seemed set for an NCAA
Tournament trip the next season. And,
maybe, a legitimate Final Four run this
year, when Michigan's veteran-laden
squad would reach its maximum potential.
Well, that didn't quite pan out. This
year, it's hard to see what practical pur-
pose the NIT serves for the Michigan
basketball program. Seven seniors will
be gone next year. It's hard to imagine
Dion Harris, Courtney Sims, Brent
Petway and Lester Abram will learn
anything new from the experience.
Sophomore Ron Coleman and freshmen
Jerret Smith and Jevohn Shepherd have
already received much more playing time
than they deserved at this stage in their
Michigan careers. And even if they could
learn something from the NIT, Tommy
kT
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Amaker isn't really playing them anyway
- they played a combined 22 minutes
last night. So there's just no reason to
believe this team will improve from its
seventh place in the Big Ten, NIT-worthy
performance next year.
FOND FAREWELL: I have to believe that
winning the NIT in 2004 was a sweet
cap-off to Bernard Robinson, Jr's Michi-
gan career. B-Rob saw some
tumultuous times during
his Michigan career - the
explosion of the Ed Martin
scandal and the elimination
of a head coach - so finish-
ing his career with a champi-
onship, even in the NIT, had
to be special.
I can't imagine it would
be the same feeling for this
year's senior class. The 2004
NIT Championship was sup-
T posed to be a stepping stone
ER to bigger and better things, not
Fire a precursor to a 13-18 season
and yet another NIT berth.
Last night's gutty performance
proved that the seniors want to win, and I
respect their competitiveness. But unlike
B-Rob's squads, this team was capable of
earning not just one but multiple NCAA
Tournament bids. The absence of a March
Madness trip is a void two NIT titles could
never fill.
BELIEF THAT TOMMY AMAKER WAS A GOOD
COACH: When I arrived in Ann Arbor, it
appeared that the Michigan basketball
program and its young, media-savvy
coach were brewing up something
special. Tommy Amaker had recruited
talented, clean-cut players to lead the Wol-
verines in a new direction. An "anony-
mous donation," which at the time was
rumored to be from Amaker, made stu-
dent bleacher seats free of charge. I admit,
I was taken in by the little wave and nod
Amaker gave the Maize Rage prior to
every game. I even naively remarked to a
friend that Tommy was "creating some-
thing like Duke" in Ann Arbor.
Today, I would slap my former 18-year-
old self for making such a ridiculous com-
ment. At this point, it's clear that Tommy
Amaker isn't building anything Duke-like
here. After following this team around
the country, from Boston to Minneapolis
(but not San Diego for the NCAA Tourna-
ment, as I had hoped), I'm hard-pressed to
come up with a single area where Amaker
is an above-average coach. His last two
recruiting classes haven't been Big Ten-
caliber, his in-game coaching is suspect at
best (zone defense, anyone?), his players
haven't developed, and the program, while
not scandal-racked, hasn't been squeaky-
clean. Any lingering hopes I had about
Amaker's coaching prowess evaporated
in the past two weeks. He let his team fold
down the stretch against Indiana and then
stood on the sidelines and watched them
mail in a virtual NCAA Tournament play-
in game versus Minnesota in the Big Ten
Tournament.
Winning this year's NIT would bring
Amaker one step closer to picking up
the coveted "greatest NIT coach of all
time" title. But I hope that's not what
Bill Martin brought him here for. All
the NIT championship banners in the
world couldn't replace victories when
it really matters - during the regular
season and the Big Dance.
- While MattSinger isn't excited about
Michigan's NIT run, his parents are because
he might be coming home next week. He
can be reached at mattsing@umich.edu.
N ICE HOCKEY f
ICers face toug test in tore oener
By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Writer
One may be the loneliest number.
But it sure beats zero.
Since finishing a road sweep against
Northern Michigan on Nov. 12., the
Wolverines have not beaten a single
quality opponent on the road. The
team has played Tournament-bound
Miami (two games), Nebraska-Omaha
(two games) and Michigan State (one
game) and amassed a 0-5-2 record in
the process.
This alarming trend can be traced
throughout the entire season. Michigan
is just 5-6-3 on the road, and only two
of those wins came against a quality
opponent, the aforementioned North-
ern Michigan series sweep.
Michigan coach Red Berenson didn't
sound too optimistic about his team's
chances heading into the NCAA Tour-
nament during the team's voluntary
practice yesterday afternoon.
"Nothing you can look at on paper
looks good for Michigan," Berenson
said. "And I've tried to look at it every
which way, and we just don't have a lot
going for us right now."
The Wolverines square off against
North Dakota, the host school for the
West regional, meaning Michigan will
essentially be playing a road game.
The Fighting Sioux have a mediocre
home record over the course of the
year (13-9-0), but are 8-3-0 at home
since the beginning of the new year.
North Dakota also boasts a four-game
winning streak and a WCHA Tourna-
ment conference championship.
A strong road record has proven to
be very important for championship
teams over the past four seasons. Den-
ver and Minnesota (the only national
champions college hockey has seen in
that time) had impressive road records
(36-17-12 combined) during their
championship run. Even last season's
Denver squad, an underachieving
team much like this year's Wolver-
ines, had a 9-6-1 road record during
the season.
"It's a big concern," said Berenson
of the team's poor performance on the
road. "We're not going (into the Tour-
nament) on a roll, and this might be
the toughest road environment we've
played in. But we can't just cancel the
game and mail in the points."
Berenson understands that as the
most experienced person on the trip,
it will be his job to "paint the right
kind of picture" for the freshmen and
the rest of the team. He preached the
importance of getting off to a good
start, which will be crucial if the
Wolverines hope to quiet an oppos-
ing crowd.
Recent history has been kind to
Michigan in playoff road games.
Two seasons ago, the Wolverines had
to travel to New Hampshire for the
first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan defeated the Wildcats in
front of their home crowd en route to
a Frozen Four appearance. And back
in 1998, the Wolverines beat Boston
College to win the NCAA title in
Boston.
Despite a bleak outlook that has left
some scrambling to find a silver lining,
senior goalie Noah Ruden believes the
team's not having the same anxieties.
"You don't worry about that kind of
stuff," Ruden said. "If you start talk-
ing in your head about, 'We haven't
won on the road in a long time,' ...
you're going to start psyching yourself
out. (You can't) worry about the fans,
not worry about any of that other stuff,
just worry about your game."
The University of Michigan
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
VICTOR B. LIEBERMAN
Marvin B. Becker Collegiate Professor of History
ANew Vw ofoEusia
8o - 18oo
Saturday March 25, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
at Dance Gallery Studio, 815 Wildt Street, Ann Arbor, Ml
Busch Gardens of Tampa. Florida is now hiring performers of many
talents for a variety of live show productions including an all new
show to open in May of 2006. We are particularly interested in:
comedic actors that can sing and/or sing and dance: Billy Crystal/
Nathan Lane/Martin Short type. We are also seeking: dancers that
can sing and act (comedy), vocalists that can act (comedy) and
dancers with strong jazz technique. We are also seeking kit
drummers and keyboard players. You should have an outgoing
personality, singing ability is a plus. No appointment necessary.
Bring prepared audition and a current non-returnable resume and
headshot. Also seeking technicians and stage managers. Visit our
Rackham
Tuesday, March
Amphitheater
21, 2006 -- 4:1.0 PM
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