Friday March 31, 2006 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com 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