Friday
March 31, 2006
sports. michigandaily. com
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OERTSiign Bailg
8
- - ------------- - -
'M'seniors
deserved to
go out on top,
even in NIT
NEW YORK -
C all it a microcosm. Squared.
You know the story. Michigan starts strong, brings
oodles of optimism to its fan base and then throws it
away in the end.
The current crop of seniors knows it well. It's the way
their four years went. After the
Wolverines won the NIT during
the seniors' second year, people
expected big things. But two sea-
sons later, there they were: back in
the NIT.
This season took that path too.
Michigan jumped out to a 16-3
start, and again people expected
big things. But seven losses and
two wins later, there they were:
back in the NIT.JACK
The NIT tournament, of course, HERMAN
ended up the same way too. Michi- On tap
gan won four straight games, and it
finally looked as if the pieces had
been put together. But once again, the Wolverines folded.
And boy, was it ugly.
Daniel Horton, the second-best free throw shooter in coun-
try, hit just 1-of-4 from the line. Brent Petway threw a dunk
attempt directly out of bounds. Tommy Amaker earned a tech-
nical foul.
But the worst of it was simple: Michigan didn't win.
Make all the jokes you want. The Wolverines would have
been the 66th-best team in the country. Tommy Amaker is
making his claim to be an inaugural member of the NIT Hall of
Fame. Bill Martin already has his room booked for next year.
But these seniors deserved to go out on top.
These guys took a chance on a young coach. On a team
rebounding from scandal. Still they came.
Horton, who single-handedly won a number of games for
Michigan this season, deserved better.
Graham Brown, the do-everything workhorse, deserved
better.
Sherrod Harrell, the walk-on who ended his career with a
start in Madison Square Garden, deserved better.
The list can go on and on. Chris Hunter battled through
injury after injury. Amadou Ba always had encouragement
JdOREST CASEY/Daily
Juniors Brent Petway and Lester Abram join seniors Daniel Horton and Chris Hunter at midcourt to watch South Carolina's Renaldo Balkman shoot free throws In the 76-64 loss in the NIT final.
waiting for his teammates on the sideline. Horton went through
a lot last season.
Something Courtney Sims said after the game may sum up
the seniors best.
"Especially for us juniors, this is the group that we always
looked to for leadership," Sims said. "When we came in as
freshmen, even though like Bernard (Robinson, Jr.) was here
and everything, they were like the leaders."
This was their last chance. On Senior Night at Crisler
Arena, they lost to Indiana. In their last Big Ten Tournament
game, Minnesota embarrassed them. In their final chance to
hear their name announced on Selection Sunday, they came
up empty.
So an NIT title would have meant more than you'd think.
In the end, can you really blame the seniors for this finish?
It's not their fault that Sims performed a disappearing act
during the Big Ten season that would have made Houdini
proud.
It's not their fault that at times during the season, players who
didn't deserve significant playing time were seeing it.
And ultimately, it's not their fault that Tommy Amaker isn't
the answer for Michigan basketball, and Martin insists that
nothing is wrong.
Bringing an NIT championship back to Ann Arbor wouldn't
have solved any of these problems.
A victory would have meant little to nothing in the grand
scheme of the Michigan basketball program.
An NCAA Tournament appearance - even a one-and-
done - would have been better.
And this team could have done better.
But hey, one more banner hanging in Crisler Arena
couldn't hurt.
Especially when it would be one more way to remember this
special group of seniors.
- Jack Herman can be reached at jaherman@umich.edu.
0l
0 WOMEN'S GOLF
Former walk-on Easton makes
a habit out of beating the odds
By Lisa Gentile
Daily Sports Writer
From the beginning, senior Kelly Easton
has always overcome the odds.
In high school, when her school didn't
have a girls' golf team, she tried out for the
boys' squad - and made it.
As a walk-on her freshman year at Mich-
igan, she was going to be redshirted. But
due to unforeseen circumstances, she was
called up to play in the Mercedes-Benz
Collegiate Tournament, where she had a
season-best 54-hole score of 243.
"She was really enthusiastic and ready
to play (her freshman year)," Michigan
coach Kathy Teichert said. "That's the type
of player we're looking for on our team,
who will step up in any given situation.
This spring, and this whole year, Kelly has
really stepped her game up quite a bit to
really help us out."
In the past few weeks, the Port Huron
native has continued to improve her golf
game. Easton thinks Cheryl Stacy, a new
addition to the coaching staff this year,
has helped her grow as a person and as a
player.
Also, Teichert's decision to order online
golf profile tests for the team helped Easton
identify her flaws and areas in which she
needed to improve. She realized that she
often just needed to trust herself and have
the confidence to perform well in tourna-
ments. By altering her mindset, Easton has
learned to perform better.
"I would say (that I'm) more relaxed,"
Easton said. "I just take it one hole at a
time and don't get ahead of myself."
Easton has also built unique relation-
ships with her teammates. According to
her roommate and teammate, junior Julie
Inwood, Easton's optimism is contagious.
Inwood feels that Easton's dedication
and success this season have motivated
her teammates to continue working hard.
Easton also tries to encourage her team-
mates when they struggle. Living with
Easton has been helpful for Inwood, both
on and off the course.
"We're good at keeping each other moti-
vated and kind of keeping a positive atti-
tude," Inwood said. "When something's
going wrong ... we have each other to talk
to after practice."
The senior also wants to finish her final
season strong and help her team to a suc-
cessful year. Since only the top performers
are sent to certain tournaments, Easton is
particularly motivated to play her best.
"I just want to travel to all of (the tour-
naments), so I have to play well in each
tournament to secure that," Easton said.
"Also, at the same time, we're having so
much fun, and that makes it that much eas-
ier to enjoy the experience."
With the help of the senior's continued suc-
cess, the team hopes to turn in a strong per-
formance at the Northwestern Invitational in
Rancho Mirage, Calif., on April 3 and 4.
"I just hope that we can finish it with a
bang," Easton said. "And keep improving
each tournament and keep having fun."
0
Head coach Carol Hutchins looks to fire up the Wolverines for another successful Big Ten season.
Sofitball looks to re peat
past Big
By Amber Colvin
Daily Sports Writer
1
n success
well," junior pitcher Lorilyn Wilson said.
Wilson allowed five hits in one and two-thirds
innings and was pulled shortly into the game.
But now it's 2006, and things are different.
This year, Wilson has found her stride just in time
for the Big Ten season. Riding a 24 and one third
inning shutout streak, Wilson was named Big Ten
Pitcher of the Week and pitched a no-hitter with just
one walk last weekend at the Louisville Classic.
__ _ _
BASEBAL
A national title isn't the only thing the Michigan
softball team has to defend this season. Last year's
regular-season play also set a standard worth liv-
ing up to. The Wolverines racked up 65 wins, with
15 against Big Ten teams, en route to the 2005
national championship.
While the chance to repeat last
year's impressive 65-7 overall record is
long gone, No. 12 Michigan (18-9) still SUND
has a crack at duplicating or improv-
ing 2005's two-loss Big Ten season.NN
That quest starts Sunday, when at No. 12 M
the 12th-ranked Wolverines take Nooi
on Minnesota in a doubleheader at Alumni
Alumni Field.
"The good news, with Big Tens
starting, we can start over with all of
our statistics," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said.
The statistic that worries Hutchins most is the
team's .266 batting average.
"All of these kids in that lineup can hit much
Wolverines look to capitalize,
take early lead in Big Ten race
sota
Aichigan
This year, Michigan already has
one home victory under its belt. The
Wolverines defeated Bowling Green
3-0 on Tuesday with back-to-back
home runs from sophomore Saman-
tha Findlay and senior Becky Marx.
This year, instead of starting the
conference season against the then 28-
4 Hawkeyes, Michigan will match up
with the 11-14 Golden Gophers. Min-
nesota returns just five starters from
Yesterday the Michigan baseball team was
11-7. Today the team is 0-0.
The Wolverines begin the Big Ten sea-
son this weekend at the Fish against Big Ten
By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Writer
last year's squad - a team that Michigan trounced
in a doubleheader sweep in Minneapolis.
Current senior Jennie Ritter struck out 14
Gophers for a 4-0 decision in the first game. Wilson
bottom feeder Northwestern,
a team Michigan hasn't played
since 2003.
On paper, it looks as if the Wol-
verines have a sizable advantage.
Michigan has won six straight
games and eight of its last nine,
while the Wildcats are only 3-15
that - everybody's ready. (Right now) we're
11-7, and I think we still have our best base-
ball ahead of us."
To move toward the goal of playing its
best baseball, Michigan must cut down on its
errors. Since coming back to Ann Arbor, the
Wolverines have committed a staggering 12
errors in five games against
Oakland and Bowling Green.
Even though the errors didn't
VEEEKEND hurt them in the win-loss col-
westem umn, the Wolverines can't
chigan expect to remain a contender in
3:05 .m the Big Ten with poor defense.
v:1:05 p m. Maloney will likely start
THis W
North
at Mi
Today::
Tomorrow
in hits (20). The West Bloomfield native is
coming off a stellar performance Tuesday
afternoon, when he went 3-for-5 with a home
run and three runs in Michigan's 7-5 win
over Bowling Green.
A series sweep would put the Wolverines at
the top of the Big Ten and give them momen-
tum for the rest of the Big Ten season. Next
week the Wolverines travel to Minnesota,
where they dropped four games last season,
and then follow that trip with series at home
against Ohio State and on the road against
Purdue. The Buckeyes and Boilermakers
are both expected to contend for the confer-
ence title. But both teams have difficult road