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.