6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 27, 2006 Peter tapper, Patroits fit into Cinderella slipper 'MN' still perfect in Big Ten 0 What a difference a couple weeks can make. Two weeks ago, I probably still would have told you that George Mason was some kid in my ninth grade algebra class. Then, after hearing the Patriots' story on Selection Sun- day, they were now known to me as the team whose star player peter-tapped a Hofstra player. A few days later, after it beat Michigan State, George Mason was then known as the team who gave me leverage to make fun of my Sparty friends. But now, the Patriots are simply known as everyone's new favorite team, a squad that over the past four games has shown us all that it's for real. Even the most diehard of George Mason fans (and yes, I realize how weird it sounds to hear the phrase George Mason fans and diehard in the same sen- gatSId Dance F with Scott tence) could not have expected this to hap- pen. All of the analysts bragged about the parity in college basketball, but this brings parity to a new level. As much as this whole parity angle was stressed leading up to the Big Dance, nearly all of the so-called experts had very No. 1 seed-heavy Final Fours. But the two number ones that made it to Indianapolis for the Final Four both belong to George Mason - as in, their No. 11 seed. And now, with Connecticut, Duke, Memphis and Villa- nova all watching the Final Four from home, it's anybody's tournament to win, and that includes George Mason. Don't be so sure that this will be like all of the other Cinderella stories from past NCAA Tournaments. You know the formula: The upstart mid-major gets hot for two rounds - sometimes three, if they're lucky - but inevitably runs out of steam and succumbs to a stronger team in the tourney's later rounds. But if this year's Big Dance has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. Is it really that crazy for George Mason to pull off two more wins? The Patriots have already taken down arguably the two best teams it will have to face: Connecticut and North Carolina. Sure, the other three teams are playing very well and deserve their spots in the Final Four, but we're not talking about Tournament-tested foes here. No team in the Final Four made it to the second week of last year's NCAA Tournament. Florida was the lone team to even win a game. And we're not talking about veteran teams, either. Each of the three teams standing in George Mason's way of its improbable NCAA title hopes all boast star players who aren't old enough to buy a sixer of Bud. So maybe George Mason should steal the Zui motto of Albany, Connecticut's first-round opponent who wore shirts that stated, "Why oor not us?" t Bel Why not the Patriots? They seem to have taken the torch from Connecticut as this year's team of destiny. The Huskies came back from deficits against Albany, Washington and George Mason. In the latter two, it took buzzer-beaters to bring the game to overtime. I doubt any neutral observer of yesterday's game between the Huskies and Patriots really thought deep down inside that George Mason would pull it out after Connecticut's Denham Brown made that reverse lay-in as time expired. But George Mason did win, and along with the game, it took the title of team of destiny. There are conspiracy theorists out there who thought there would be no way that karma would allow Tony Skinn and his happy hands to win after his past sins, but that theory seemed to be dispelled yesterday when his missed free throw late in the game didn't prove to be the Patriot's undoing. So consider this your last warning: If you haven't hopped aboard now, act soon. The George Mason band- wagon is filling up and filling up fast. Jump on now, because it's about ready to pull out. And it's not stopping until it reaches Indianapolis. By Jamie Josephson Daily Sports Writer The No. 30 Michigan men's tennis team is seeing triple. By crushing Wisconsin, 6-1, in Madison on Saturday, the Wolverines sealed their third consecutive win and third Big Ten victory of the season. It seems that Michigan (3-0 Big Ten, 9- 6 overall) has officially rebounded from its three consecutive losses between March 2 and 11. "I'm very pleased," Michigan coach Bruce Berque said. "We played well and competed well. Our guys were definitely ready to play (on Saturday)." The Wolverines came out of the gates hungry against Wisconsin (1-2 Big Ten, 8-6 overall). With wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, Michigan earned the doubles point. The Wolverines' leading tandem of junior Brian Hung and sophomore Matko Maravic continued to dominate, serving the Badgers' No. 1 duo of Nolan Polley and Jeremy Sonkin their first doubles loss of the season, 8-5. "Wisconsin's No. 1 doubles was a good team," Berque said. "Matko and Brian seem to get better each time they play. Matko volleyed at an extremely high level (on Saturday). He's really improved his vol- leys at the net. They both played well and are improving all the time." The duo improved to 11-4 on the sea- son and jumped seven spots in the national rankings to the eighth position. At the No. 2 slot, junior Ryan Heller and freshman Andrew Mazlin won their third consecutive doubles match after tak- ing care of Wisconsin's Gian Hodgson and Brennen Phippen, 8-4. An 8-6 loss at the No. 3 position served as the sole blemish on its doubles record for the day. In singles, Michigan stole the show, win- ning five of its six matches. Berque said that just about everyone on the Michigan roster played extremely well. Maravic was one such player. At No. 1 singles, the sophomore phenom got a sweet taste of revenge. Last season against the Badgers, Maravic lost to Sonkin in straight sets. On Saturday, Maravic returned the favor, overpowering Sonkin, 6-2, 6-3. "Matko played extremely well," Berque said. "He just played aggressively, consis- tently, competitively and really strong. It was one of the more complete matches I've seen him play this year." On the other end, at No.6 singles, fresh- man Peter Aarts came through in his first opportunity to clinch a match for Michigan. The Wolverines led 3-1 with three matches left, and Aarts stayed determined against Hodgson. The rookie took him down in three sets, 3-6,7-5,6-3. "It was good to see Peter win his match," Berque said. "It was the first time he won a clinching match. It was good to see him play well. He's really picking it up. We've been stressing to him to play with a con- sistent level of intensity ... and to show a stronger competitive presence on the court. He's also worked on his shot selection. He's choosing shots more wisely on the baseline and cutting down on unforced errors. Peter has made significant improvement" Posting a perfect conference record so far, Michigan looks poised to com- pete for its first Big Ten title since the 1995-96 season. Having one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the NCAA, Michigan seems to have learned from some of its tough losses prior to the Big Ten season. "Every time we lost a match, we were playing a high-level opponent that made us learn a lot to know what we need to do to get better," Berque said. "As we start the Big Ten season, I told the guys that if we're playing in the NCAA Tournament, we'll have another crack at one of these (top-10) teams. Right now, we can't take anyone lightly so that at the end of season, we will have hopefully improved to the point where we can beat one of those teams." 0 WOM EN'S TRACK A ND FIELD Blue trio shine on West Coast By Bryan Hamilton Daily Sports Writer On Saturday, it snowed in Ann Arbor. On that same day in California, it was partly sunny with a high of 64 degrees. It's no wonder that the Michigan women's track and field team chose to open their outdoor season with a trip to the West Coast. Looking to escape the doldrums of the midwestern winter and cramped indoor tracks, the Wolverines were finally able to stretch their legs out on a longer, outdoor track under a warm Irvine, Calif. sun. In the individual scoring meet, many of the Wolverines placed high. Leading the way was a Michigan trio that included fifth- year seniors Katie Erdman and Stephanie Linz, who took the 1,500-meter run and high jump, respectively. Freshman Bettie Wade captured the long jump title. Michi- gan coach James Henry said he was pleased with his team's performances. "I thought opening up, we were pretty good," Henry said. "Katie Erdman was outstanding, and I was very impressed with Bettie Wade. I thought she may be a little flat from the indoor season, but she opened up very well for us." The three aforementioned runners were not the only Wolverines to post strong show- ings at the meet. There were five Wolver- ines who took second-place finishes. These included fifth-year senior Theresa Feld- kamp in the 1,500-meter, junior Chanelle Campbell in the 200-meter, freshman Tif- fany Ofili in the 100-meter hurdles, fresh- man Joi Smith in the 400-meter hurdles and freshman Casey Taylor in the triple jump. The meet was non-scoring, so Michi- gan set no specific team goals. But the lack of a goal clearly did not create a lack of motivation. "It was just the first meet for us," Henry said. "I didn't have any real expectations for the girls. I just wanted them to go out there and perform with no pressure on them. But I am very pleased with how they did." Even though Henry did not have high expectations for the meet, he certainly was not surprised by the showing his runners posted. Coming off of a year in which the Wolverine runners took the Big Ten Cham- pionship in cross country and indoor track, the team will be looking to continue its winning trend into the outdoor season this spring. "We have a great group of ladies here:' Henry said. "They are very close, very tal- ented, very competitive, and we have great leadership on this team. Our goal is to go for the triple crown." The triple crown is an extremely rare accomplishment in running that the Wol- verines have the unique opportunity to achieve this year. To obtain the crown, a school must win the Big Ten Championship in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. The feat is so rare, in fact, that only two schools in the Big Ten have ever done it - Wisconsin three times and Michigan, who did it most recently in the 1997-98 sea- son. With the first two trophies in the bag for the Wolverines, the final and maybe most difficult leg of the crown is all that remains. Yet, with the makeup of this year's team, Henry said he believes it is a feat well within reach. "These ladies have given us a great opportunity to be on that track this year," Henry said. "And today was a good begin- ning toward being on that track." 0 George Mason took UConn into overtime, and then beat the No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four in Indianapolis. '.4 4~ 44 44 44, 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 '.4~ .44 44 44 44 44 44 f r" s .c a._l '^ri ....i ..J .t...:..................,...s.,.,..s ...:.a.1f. ..1.,,.... C9:.... "'¥':...,... n""'+......Y.,#......-r....,.-..^ <...-. .-...oa. . E- ..r .,i. -...v - :. - ....,a.... a.., a .s.. .®.m... ..e... _ _ .. _ .m. _ _ ._ m.