10 - Friday, November 10, 2006
1eThe Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
sees new foe
in season open-
By CHRIS HERRING
Daily Sports Writer
After a six-win 2005-06 season,
the Michigan women's basketball
team hopes to take a step forward
this year.
But the first step will be toward
the unknown.
Michigan hosts its season open-
er and the program's first-ever
game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff
tomorrownight.
"I'm sure the coaching staff
knows about (Arkansas Pine-
Bluff), but the coaches really
haven't told us much about them
yet," said junior Katie Dierdorf,
who is still unsure of her play-
ing status for tomorrow's game
because of a hip injury.
One thing Michigan probably
does know is that the Golden Lions
will come into Ann Arbor just as
hungry for a win as the Wolver-
ines. Their season was no more
successful than Michigan's last
year; Pine-Bluff went just 6-21 and
finished dead last in the Southwest
Athletic Conference.
But the Wolverines, seeking
their firstwin since last December,
will come in with a slight idea of
what to expect.
According to Michigan coach
Cheryl Burnett, the Golden Lions
don't have a true post presence.
Instead, they try to run the floor
with all five players.
"Arkansas Pine-Bluff is a very
athletic team," Burnett said. "The
most challenging thing about them
is thatthey will go five out because
they don't have true post players. It
will be an advantage for us at one
end because of our height edge,
and an adjustment for us at the
other end."
Unlike last season, the Wolver-
ines will look forward to games
where the opposition has less
height. In their preseason game
against Athletes in Action, fresh-
men post players Krista Phillips
and LeQuisha Whitfield combined
for 22 points and 11rebounds.
"Our posts did a great job,"
junior Ta'Shia Walker said. "They
cleared the boards and got a lot
of offensive rebounds. What was
great about it was that the produc-
tion came from a lot of different
people."
Michigan will benefit from
having more depth this season.
Trying to slow down Pine-Bluff's
up-tempo game would have been
a daunting task for the Wolver-
ines last year, when the team had
just seven players available due to
injuries. Having more bodies to
use should help curb Pine Bluff's
athleticism throughout tomorrow
night's game.
"Last year, regardless of what
kind of shape we were in, we even-
tually got tired because we only
had seven or eight people," Dier-
dorf said. "Now that we have 14,
we can sub a player in the second
someone gets tired."
ThoughtheGoldenLionsappear
to be quicker than the Wolverines,
Burnett is confident her team can
play solid defensive tomorrow.
"We take pride in the fact that
we make our post players guard
out on the perimeter anyways,"
Burnett said. "Our guards know
how to play post defense. Now it
is really about bringing our action
to fruition. We have a basic way to
play the game, and that's the way
we want to play it."
AmEN'_S CROSS COUNTRY
Injured star's
return boosts Blue
By MIRGIM JUSUFI
Daily Sports Writer
If there's ever a time you need
your leader to setback inthe swing
of things, now is it.
Competing in just one race
this season before last weekend's
Big Ten Championships, Michi-
gan men's cross country captain
Michael Woods is almost back to
prime condition for tomorrow's
NCAA Great Lakes Regional in
Bowling Green.
Woods struggled with multiple
injuries all season and has been
unable to perform up to his stan-
dards.
"I have had some tendon and
ligament problems in my left foot,"
Woods said. "I'm finally starting to
get control of them, but I feel they
have restricted me in my races."
Restricted or not, Woods still
finished eighth at the Big Ten
Championships, capturing All-Big
Ten second-team honors - just
one spot short of the first team.
Not a bad way to bounce back,
considering it was his first race
since the Notre Dame Invitational
more than a month earlier.
But personal achievements are
the furthest thing from the Otta-
wa, Ontario native's mind heading
into Regionals.
"For myself, as an individual,
there are no real expectations,"
Woods said. "The big expectation
for us is to qualify as a team for
Nationals. That's the big goal, and
everything else is basically trivial
compared to that."
Qualifying for Nationals has
been on Michigan's mind since last
year's Regionals, where the Wol-
verines failed to qualify as a team
for the first time since 2000.
That disappointment has
become the key to Michigan's
tougher training schedule and the
driving force in its resurgence as
a top contender. Adding an extra
30 miles a week from last year's
routine, the Wolverines are reap-
ing the benefits in time for the big
events.
"The improvements I've seen
are just remarkable," Woods said.
"I can't believe how well the team
has improved and how muchstron-
ger we are. In races, we're always
one of the top teams from the start
all the way to the finish - where
last year we'd start offup front, but
fade back towards the end."
The Wolverines might be
amazed by their progress this sea-
son, but one person could see it
coming.
"I wasn't surprised by anybody,"
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst
said. "I would have been surprised
if they hadn't run well, but I'm not
surprised because of the dedica-
tion they have and the desire to
be a lot better than they were last
year."
This desire is evident in Mich-
igan's younger runners, who have
stepped up and made the Wolver-
ines a force to be reckoned with.
The team's top five includes four
sophomores, with Woods, a junior,
as the elder statesman.
Stepping to the front of the pack
this year is sophomore Lex Wil-
liams, who placed sixth at the Big
Ten Championships and led Mich-
igan to a second-place finish. Wil-
liams attributes his success this
season to his team.
"It's the hard work and the guys
I'm able to train with every day,"
Williams said. "And we have some
great leaders on the team like
Mike Woods and other people to
look up to."
Williams is quickly becoming
a leader in his own regard. He's
been the Wolverines' top finisher
for the last four races, something
he hadn't noticed.
"I don't really feel like I'm the
lead runner on the team," Wil-
liams said. "Woods is always right
next to me the whole time, and
everyone else is close behind, too.
We're just teammates trying to
win together."
Whether or not the Ann Arbor
native feels like the lead runner,
Williams wants to have another
greatperformance for Michiganto
make it to the NCAA Champion-
ships next Friday in Terre Haute,
Ind.
This weekend, the Wolverines
will be in a field of 38 teams in the
hunt for one of the two automatic
bids to Nationals.
"We think we can get the sec-
ond auto-qualifier spot for Nation-
als, but we have a strong region
and we'll probably have four
teams going to nationals from our
region," Williams said.
Michigan is expected to finish
in the top three, but will have to
worry about Big Ten rivals Wis-
consin, Minnesota and Michigan
State, as well as Notre Dame and
Butler. The defending national
champions and top-ranked Bad-
gers are heavily favored to win
Regionals.
HOOSIERS
From page 9
ing against Ball State a week ago. The Wolverines' second-string defend-
ers were burned on two long pass plays in the second half, and Michigan
allowed a season-high 26 points.
Apparently, the Wolverines (7-0, 10-0) heard the wake-up call loud
and clear.
"We just have to keep doing what we've been doing all season, which
is running the ball, stopping the run (and) not giving up big plays," Hall
said.
If they do, the new-look Hoosiers should have at least one thing in
common with last year's disappointing squad - a loss to Michigan.
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