The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
6
DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
2B - Monday, November 20, 2006
SAID AND HEARD
'M' SCHEDULE
MONDAY-11.20 "We should have got them the
W Cross Country @NCAA Champion-i
ships (Terre Haute, Ind.),C12 p.m. first ti
sCos oentryW@eNCAAChampion- but if we played them again,
ships (TerreMHate, led.), 12 p.m.
W BASKETBALL VS. DETROIT7 EM. it would be a whole different
TUESDAY-11.21 game. Guarantee that."
ICE HOCKEY VS. MICHIGAN STATE
7:35 P.M. - Michigan running back MIKE HART
WEDNESDAY--11.22,, .. ,
Volleyball @ Michigan State, 7 p.m.
W Basketball @Toledo, 7 p.m. "
M BASKETBALL VS. YOUNGSTOWN p e C l e
STATE, 7PM.M Golf (i Aloha Purdue Collegiate
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Tyrel Todd
WRESTLING
Todd recorded a perfect record this weekend in
the Body Bar Invitational at Cornell. The redshirt
sophomore pinned each of his first two oppo-
nents in the first round and won the champion-
ship bout 10-2, scoring two takedowns and three
minutes of riding time in the final match.
a
e re
ilon reveal a Gspecil lman
Invitational (Po
W Golf W Aloha
Invitational (Poi
FRIDAY -11.2
Ice Hockey @W
SATURDAY-
M BASKETBALL
MORE COUNTY,
W BASKETBALL
Ice Hockey @ M
Volleyball @low
'home
p, Kauai, Hawaii) n nearly 21 years as a sports fan in New
a Purdue Collegiate Jersey, I learned that Bo Schembechler
was a greatcoach.
ipu, Kauai, Hawaii) But injust12 hours_
as an editor attheDaily
4 Friday, Ilearned that
Visconsin, 8:05 p.m. Bo Schembechler was a
great man.
11.25 When I woke up
VS. MARYLAND-BALTI- on Friday, IOheardthat
Schembechler had been
2 PM. rushed to the hospital
VS. DUKE, 7 P.M. after he collapsed while
innesota, 7:05 p.m. taping his weekly TV
Na, 8:30 p.m. show. And judging JACK
games in all caps by the reaction ofthe
too EST media, it appeared as HERMAN
though this situation
was much more serious
than the one that forced him to get a pacemaker
just a few weeks ago.
By the time I arrived at the Daily, the 77-year-
old Schembechler had passed away. A number
of e-mails and voice messages awaited me, all
from people volunteering to work on aspecial
section that we hadn't even announced.
Many reportersrushed to the Daily. Old
staffers called to voice their support. One
member of the Board of Student Publications
- which handles the purse strings at the Daily
- told us innan e-mailnotto worry aboutthe
costof producing the paper, because this was
"an event as big as the JFK assassination for
anyone connected with the University, and it
certainly requires first-rate coverage."
Some writers forgot aboutclass. Others
missed meetings. Our hockey writers even
skipped Friday night's game in Big Rapids.
Most of us were too young to remember
Bo on the sidelines, but we knew he was an
extraordinary man who deserved an extraordi-
nary tribute.
We weren't quite sure where to go or who to
call, but we soon discovered how small a hurdle
that was. Itseemed as if it didn't matter where
we went or who we talked to, Bo had an impact
on nearly everyone.
One Daily writer recounted thectime he
TREVoR CAMPBELL/Daily skipped school to attend a Schembechler book
3
LA'
especially ones from theDaily. One wrote on
ESPN.com that Bo referred to him and his beat-
mates as "hippie Daily sportswriters." Yetas the
phone calls and e-mails came in, even they had
nothing but kind words about Bo.
Bo made many Daily football writers better
reporters,because stupid questions didn't fly at
a Schembechler press conference.
But he had a softer side, too.
I thoughtcaboutthetime lastyear Imet him
at Crisler Arena, when we were goingto talk
to Michigan basketball coach Tommy Amaker.
Schembechler was a bit frustrated, as techni-
cal difficulties had prevented him from filming
something for ESPN. But following this failure,
Bo took the time to chat with all ofus writers,
and Isoon forgotabout what happened just
minutes before.
FormerDaily sports writer Chuck Jaffe
remembered whenBo sent ahandwritten note
-and one his best $5 cigars -to Jaffe's father,
who had suffered his second heart attack. And
whenever Bo saw Jaffe from then on, he made
sure to ask about his father. Jaffe's story brought
me to tears - even as I re-read itSaturday night.
After hours of interviewing coaches, players,
fans,barbers, students and justabouteveryone
else you can think of, we finally hitthe most
difficult partofthe night:putting the paper
together.
We had enough quotes and anecdotes to fill
books, but we had just six pages to print them.
Stories that contained 900words and deserved
twice as many needed to be cut to 300. Even
Jaffe's beautiful piece couldn't survive the
editor's knife.
In what can be a rare achievement at a daily
college newspaper, we made deadline. And
when we noticed a small mistake after we sent
the pages to the printer, we fixed it.
Bo would expect - and deserved -nothing
less.
- Herman wants to thank all the reporters
at the Daily for gathering some great
stories, and everyone else for telling them.
He can be reached at jaherman@umich.
edu. If you didn't read the special section,
be sure to check it out in today's paper.
16
Michigan legend Bo Schembechler left everyone with a story to tell.
signing. Bo made the then-10-year old promise springtraining. Many people doubted Schem-
that the truancy would be a one-time occasion bechler could be an effective baseball executive,
before offering to take a picture with the young but on that day at least, Bo provedthem wrong.
Wolverine. The writer said that at that point, he His speech captured the full attention of more
could imaginethe greatccoach as GrandpafBo. thano150players and veteran coaches. Even
Kinesiology student Kyle Grubman spoke to the Spanish-speaking players - who couldn't
one Daily writer abouthistime with Schem- understand a wordiBosaid -seemedcapti-
bechler in Public Policy201, which Bo attended vated by a man whose presence transcended all
this semester. Grubman had chattedto Bo about sports.
his pacemaker and Ohio State and felthonored Of course, Bo's former players hadtheir fair
when Bo referred to Grubmanand his friends as shareto say as well.So did coaches who worked
"men." Bo's death hit Grubman like the loss of a with him at Michigan. Wolverines who played
close friend. long afteriBo retired had memories, too.
Joe McDonald, who worked under Bo for But if there was one group Schembechler
the Tigers, told me about Schembechler's first always seemed to have it in for, it was reporters,
'M' bounces back at UNLV Big Ten powerhouse puts
By CHRIS HERRING and half - and five rebounds to pace er off a pass from sophomore Melinda
Daily Sports Writer the Wolverines in just her third career Queen to knot the score at 44.i rf
game. Phillips was just one of many Wol-
Over the past few years, the Michi-
ganwomen'sbasketballteamhasexpe-
rienced its fair share of meltdowns in
late-game situa- -- -
tions. MICHIGAN 58
So Saturday U NLV 481
must have pro-
vided quite the feeling.
Five days after relinquishing a 13-
point lead against Ball State in a loss
at home, the Wolverines again found
themselves in a world of trouble - this
time down eight at UNLV with 13 min-
utes to go.
But Michigan managed to get in
a rhythm offensively, buckle down
defensively and walk away from Las
Vegas victorious, 58-48.
The road win marked the team's
first since Dec. 23 of last year when
Michigan took down St.Bonaventure.
Earlier in the week, Michigan coach
Cheryl Burnett warned that changes
might be on the horizon following
Monday's head-scratching loss.
The coach was true to her word,
starting an unusually tall lineup that
included two freshmen.
After the win, it would be difficult to
question her decision. Freshman LeQ-
uisha Whitfield saw increased playing
time as a result of the adjustments, and
she did not disappoint. She logged 19
points - 17 of which came in the see-
Burnettsaid she was happy with the
changes,addingtheygave Michiganan
advantage.
"It actually ended up being a couple
offreshmenwho really had some great
performances," she said through the
athletic department. "One of course
being LeQuisha Whitfield. (Freshman)
Sireece Bass was the one getting her
the ball a lotrof the times. We ended up
being able to throw a couple different
things at UNLY during the game, and
that helped us."
One of those "things" was height.
At one point Michigan used a lineup
that featured four players 6-foot-1 or
taller, increasing the team's post pres-
ence. Burnett liked the idea of using a
taller lineup, saying itrgives her team "a
few more looks."
The Wolverines capitalized on their
lookslaterinthe game,shootingl3-for-
24 from the field in the second frame.
FreshmanKristaPhillips continued
her strong post play with nine points
and five rebounds. She started the
Wolverine rally when she scored five
consecutive points to cut the UNLV
lead to 44-41 with just more than nine
minutes left.
Phillips keptothe team's momentum
going, grabbing an errant Rebel pass
moments later. On that same posses-
sion, Janelle Cooper hit a three-point-
verines to turn up the intensity on
defense, which Burnett said allowed
the team back intothe game.
"(our defense) really did create
offense in the second half," she said.
"Our kids really showed some great
confidence when they got behind.
They went out and played a smartbas-
lketballgame."
Michigan went on a 20-10 run over
the game's final seven minutes to col-
lect the win. Whitfield's contribution
was huge, and she nearly outscored
the Rebels by herself in that span. The
freshman hit two 3-pointers to put the
game outnof reach for UNLV.
Sophomore Stephany Skrba's per-
formance was nearly just as key. Just
one game after failingto see any play-
ing time, she scored 12 points and
picked up five rebounds forthe team.
Skrba's performance sparked
the Wolverine bench, as Michigan's
reserves outscored the opposing
bench for athird straightgame. In this
contest, the Wolverines contributed 29
points offthe bench,compared to eight
points coming for Rebel reserves.
"We knew UNLV didn't have much
depth," Burnett said. "They really
ended up going about seven (players)
deep. We have a lot of experience that
we can continue to put out there to
help us."
By ASHLEYBILKIE
For the Daily
At CliffKeenArenaonadisappointingSaturdaynight,
No. 5 Penn State (16-2 Big Ten, 26-2 overall) ensuredthe
Wolverines a losing Big Ten record for the third consecu-
tive season.
The Wolverines matched the PENN ST. 3
stellar play of the Nittany Lions MICHIGAN 0
the firstotwo games of their home-
season finale, with close losses at 30-27 and 34-32, but
couldn't keep up in the third game, as the Lions walked
away with a dominating 30-14 victory.
"I'm really proud ofhow our team came out and played
tonight," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. "In the first
two games we stuck with our game plan.... we got frus-
trated in game three and got away from our plan, but I
loved the way we looked in games one and two."
For much of game one, the score was tied. It opened
with a 5-5 tie before two straight aces from senior cap-
tain Erin Penn gave the Wolverines an 8-5 advantage.
The Lions quickly tied the game at 8-8 before the teams
tradedpoints.
A solid effort all around by the Wolverines pushed it
to a 26-26 tie, and it looked as though they might notch
a victory, thanks in part to solid defense from junior
captain Katie Bruzdzinski. Penn State responded with a
block and a kill to take a 28-26 lead, and the Wolverines
were unable to mount a counterattack.
In game two, the Wolverines came out flat and
allowedthe visitors to mount a seven-point edge, thanks
to exceptional play by Penn State's Nicole Fawcett. Faw-
cett stung the Wolverines all night, responding when
it looked as though the home team might steal a game
from the best team inthe Big Ten. Although the Wolver-
ines picked up the pace and slowly chipped away at the
lead, they couldn't hold on to a 26-23 lead. Inthe fashion
of the rest of the weekend, things didn't go the Wolver-
ines' way, and Penn State breathed a sigh of relief with a
two-point victory.
Like the crowd, it appeared as though the wind had
goneoutofthe Wolverines'sailsingamethree.Thehome
team never led, or even tied the score, and allowed the
visitors to build a14-point advantage. The visitors served
up 10 aces and had a staggering.434 hitting percentage.
Despite losing the last two home matches of the sea-
son, one Wolverine entered Michigan's record books this
weekend. Junior setter Stesha Selsky recorded eight digs
against Penn State to take over as Michigan's all-time
leader in digs with 1,382.
Bruzdzinski had another outstanding weekend,
notching an additional 15 kills against Ohio State and 18
kills against Big Ten powerhouse Penn State. The junior
captain was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on
Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, the first conference player to win
back-to-back awards in more than a year.
"She is a great player and she handles the pressure
of being our go-to hitter well," freshman libero Megan
Bower said through the athletic department. "Tonight
she took on too big of a load, and the other teams are
A
Grapplers remember past and
focus on tournaments
By AMBER COLVIN
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 7 Michigan wrestling team
wants to learn fromits mistakes. Con-
sideringthe season just started a cou-
ple weeks ago, there aren't thatnmany.
But the Wolverines are looking back
to last season - aseasonthat included
a No. 2 ranking, a statement victory
over the top-ranked team in the coun-
try and a disappointing seventh-place
finish at the NCAA Championships.
Michigan doesn't want another
spoiled endingto its fairy tale. So this
year, it's putting a stronger emphasis
on tournament competition, with a
number of invitationals on the sched-
ule. and mentally it helps to be in these
The 10-team Body Bar Invitational tournament settings."
on Saturday was one of them. At Cor- Todd won the 184-pound champi-
nell's Newman Arena, the Wolver- onship Saturday, going undefeated.
ines finished with a team score of 114 Two other Wolverines, redshirt junior
points, one point shy of the first-place Eric Tannenbaum and redshirtsopho-
team, the Big Red. more Steve Luke, did the same in the
"We had very few tournaments 165-pound and 174-pound categories,
last season, and I don't think I was respectively. Todd also notched two
very prepared for the national tour- falls.
nament," redshirt sophomore Tyrel Along with the group of three per-
Todd said through the athletic depart- feet wrestlers came three runner-up
ment. "I wrestled well at the Big Ten performances. Redshirt juniors Josh
Tournament, but the national meet Churella and Jeff Marsh, as well as
really blew me away. I think it's great redshirt sophomore Casey White
that we're competing in more tour- all came up second in their weight
naments this year. It gets our bodies groups with a loss in the champion-
used to the grind of a lot of matches, ship round.
ROB MIGRIN/Daily
Junior Katie Bruzdzinski notched 33 kills in a losing weekend.
startingto catch on. We need to take advantage of other
teams keying on her and give her some help on offense."
After stringingtogether three big wins againstNo. 12
Minnesota, No. 16 Purdue and Indiana in a little more
than aweek,the Wolverines failed in their bid for an even
Big Ten record.
Michigan started falling toward a losing Big Ten
record Friday night at home, as No. 19 Ohio State (11-7
Big Ten, 21-7 overall) defeated the Wolverines in three
games (30-25, 30-22, 30-24).
"We built some momentum at the end of this season
and we're looking to make the postseason," Bower said
through the athletic department. "A great postseason
run is a definite goal forthisteam, but we're still taking it
one match at a time."
The Wolverines didn't make the postseason last year, *
but with their third 20-win season in four years, a post-
season birth seems inevitable. The NCAA Division I
selections will be aired on ESPNews on Nov. 26.
The Wolverines (7-11 Big Ten, 20-11 overall) travel to
Michigan State on Wednesday, before closing out the
regular season at Iowaon Saturday.
"We need to prepare for Michigan State," Rosen said.
"It's the most important match we have. The nextmatch
is always the-most important. Monday and Tuesday our
primary focus will be to prepare to beat MSU, and then
we'll turn around and do the same for Saturday's match
against Iowa."
The Wolverines look to even their season record
against the Spartans, who took a 3-0 victory on Oct.11
at Cliff Keen.