The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, November 27, 2006 - 3B Duke downs host Blue By DAN FELDMAN Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's basket- ball team was romped 92-47 on Saturday, its worst loss in more than a decade. The Wolverines were thorough- ly dominated, holding the advan- tage in just one major statistical category (offensive rebounds). And the loss was at home, no less. Pretty embarrassing, right? Not exactly. Michigan lost to No. 5 Duke, the runner-up in last season's NCAA Tournament and a team that has won at least 30 games every season this millennium. Playing such stiff competition, the Wolverines (4-2) didn't need a win to impress. "They're an up-and-coming team," Duke coach Gail. Goesten- kors. "They're a young team, but I think some of their best players are the young players. As I've watched tape on them, they just keep get- ting better and better." Heck, they didn't even need to keep the score close to impress. "They just did not give up," Blue Devil point guard Lindsey Hard- ing said. "Sometimes, when we're in a lead, some teams, they'll start to lay down. ... They kept trapping. They kept pushing. We couldn't slip up. Even though we won by a certain amount, I think the effort S didn't show that because they kept playing hard, so we had to." Of course, the Michigan play- ers went into the game thinking that they would win. Junior guard Janelle Cooper scoffed at even the notion that a loss, let alone a blow- out, was expected by the Wolver- ines. But it's not about what hap- pened Saturday for Michigan. It's where the Wolverines, who are still two games better than they were at this point last year, go from here. "It all is determined upon how our group looks at this game," Weekend not a complete wash for M' By DAN FELDMAN Daily Sports Writer Even with the loss to Duke, the long weekend wasn't completely devastating for the Michigan women's basketball team. A worn Wolverine squad eked out a 44-41 win over Toledo Wednesday. After limping to an ugly 18-17 halftime lead, Michigan opened up a 38-22 lead midway through the second half. Michigan coach Cheryl Bur- nett said that developing a stron- ger lead came from buckling down defensively and gaining confidence offensively. But the Wolverines had to hold off a Rocket run that cut the lead to 42-41. "I'm not making any excuses, but I knew at some point, our three games in six days, and our getting home at 3:00 a.m. in the morning from UNLV, might catch up with us," Burnett said. "I thought our kids really dug in, because we were very dead- legged." With that 42-41 lead in hand, forward Stephanie Skrba was sent to the free throw line to shoot a one-and-one with 15 seconds remaining. A clock malfunction delayed her shots, but the sopho- more wasn't fazed. Minutes later, she sank both free throws. "That's nerves of steel," Bur- nett said. Toledo guard and leading scor- er entering the game Danielle Bishop missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing Rocket possession. Mich- igan point guard Jessica Min- nfield grabbed the rebound and was fouled with five seconds left,, but missed the front end of her one-and-one. When Bishop's long 3-pointer at the buzzer clanked off the rim, Michigan's win was complete. Court to gridiron: Even though there was a basketball game being played Saturday at Crisler Arena, football is still king. The Michigan alumni band, playing at the Duke game on Sat- urday, performed the Notre Dame Victory March during a media timeout with 11:31 remaining in the first half. The Fighting Irish played Southern Cal that night in a game with large ramifications for the Michigan football team. A Trojan loss would have greatly helped Michigan's chances of playing in the BCS Championship Game against Ohio State. Despite the band's effort, Southern Cal beat Notre Dame, and Michiganis now a Trojan victory over UCLA away from the Rose Bowl. Toledo coach Mark Ehlen asked what the score of the Michigan- Ohio State football game was as he came into the post-game press conference. Whenhe was remind- ed that the Buckeyes won 42-39, Ehlen, an Ohio State alum, joked that at least the Rockets scored more Wednesday than Wolverine football team did in Columbus. Conveniently enough, he didn't mention that Michigan women's basketball's 44 points topped the Buckeye football team's 42. Sweet home Midwest: For Duke coach Gail Goestenkors, the game against Michigan was a homecoming. Goestenkors is from Waterford and played col- lege ball at Saginaw Valley State. She said that she was happy to see her friends and family, in particularly, her niece and nephew. "It was just good to be back home, but it was even better to win," Goestenkors said. The three Blue Devil assis- tant coaches also experienced a return to Big Ten country. Gale Valley played at Michigan State; Tia Jackson and Shannon Perry went to Iowa. ACC/Big Ten Challenge?: Sat- urday was not Duke's first game against a Big Ten opponent this season. The Blue Devils downed Penn State 70-42 four days ear- lier in Durham, N.C. The Nittany Lions were picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten, while Duke was tabbed third in the ACC. The ACC has been on a different level than the Big Ten lately. Three ACC teams (Duke, defending national champion Maryland and North Carolina) made the Final Four last season. Those three teams are all ranked in the top five this year. Junior Janelle Cooper entered Saturday's matchup againt No. 5 Duke looking for a win, but left with a 45-point loss. Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said. "... This group - Ican already tell, that's the way they're looking at it ... is get better. Get better, get more determined, don't get dis- couraged." Burnett thought the Blue Dev- ils exposed every Michigan flaw, which serves as a learning experi- ence. A bad team might not have taken advantage of every Wolver- ine breakdown, but Duke (5-0) exploited the smallest of Michigan mistakes. "We try to teach what we call 'play perfect,' where, in practice, we talk about very specific things, offensively and defensively," Bur- nett said. "And for our players to understand that if just one person is out of position in what we con- sider the rules, whether it's our screening rules or whether it's our defensive rules, that another team can take advantage of that." Michigan's guards will have to work on going over screens. The Wolverines wanted to close on the Blue Devil's shooters, but couldn't. Harding and fellow Duke guard Abby Waner torched the Wol- verines for a combined 33 points, shooting 5-for-7 from behind the arc. Wolverine freshman center Krista Phillips had her first oppor- tunity to play against someone her own height, 6-foot-7 Allison Bales, who was named to last season's NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team. Bales was 7-for-11 from the field and had six blocks, but Phil- lips said she learned a lot about defending and getting open in the post. If the Wolverines can work out those kinks, and the many others that the blowout unveiled, they can hope to never hear this after a game again: "One thing that our coaches really emphasized was that this is a young team and they don't know any better," Waner said. "They don't know what to expect and they'regoingto playthe same every game, regardless of who they're playing because they don't know - whether it's a ranked opponent or not - how to approach a game." Gators knock off Arkansas in Saturday's BCS Southeastern Conference Championship From page 1B game. If the Wolverines fall short of the title average, compared to Michigan's .9216. game, they will likely earn a bid to the Rose This week, the Trojans substantially Bowl on Jan. 1. increased their margin over Michigan in No. 5 Louisiana State, No. 6 Louisville, the Harris and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Boise State, No. 9 polls. They also took over the advantage in Arkansas and No. 10 Notre Dame round out the BCS computer rankings, the BCS Top 10, but none is considered a Even a Trojan loss on Saturday wouldn't national title contender. guarantee the Wdlverines a rematch with Ohio State. No. 4 Florida's .8897 BCS aver- - The Associated Press age could improve significantly if the contributed to this report. Southern Cal leaps past Blue in AP poll,, nears title game SPARTANS From page 1B -ines a 3-1 advantage. But the Spartan defense keyed on the outside hitter, and Bruzdzinski couldn't get comfort- able during the rest of the match. Bruzdzinski, who had eight total kills, was held below dou- ble-digit kills in a match for the first time in 44 outings. "We consider ourselves a pretty balanced team," senior Erin Penn said. "If Katie strug- gles, then someone is always there to pick up the slack We just couldn't find that balance Stonight." With their offensive stars Bruzdzinski and juniorLyndsayMillerheldunderwrapsformost of the match, the Wolverines looked to budding outside hitter, freshman Veronica Rood, for offensive firepower. Even though Rood's 11total kills led the team, they weren't enough. The first game was tightly contested, but Michigan State took it after freshman Megan Bower failed to handle a vicious Spartan spike. From there, Michigan State took control. While the defense dominated the tempo of the game, the Spartan offensive attackers, mainly Johnson, hammered Michigan with aggressive spikes. "The first game went pretty well, but there was about five or six plays that we messed up small, insignificant things," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. "We weren't getting after free balls and stuff like that, and we started to get frustrated. You can't play this game if you let that get to you, so it's going to be a long night if you get frustrated." The Wolverines haven't lost the State Pride series - a trophy given to the winner of the matches played between the two schools - to the Spartans in five years. Rosen was more upset about how the team played than losing the trophy. "If we don't execute things like that don't really matter," Rosen said. "We need to repre- sent our team and our university. I don't think we did that very well tonight." A win against Michigan State (10-10 Big Ten, 19-11 overall) would have all but sealed an NCAA Tournament appearance for the Wol- verines. The NCAA selection committee, who too- tinely invites six Big Ten teams to the tourna- ment, took the strength of the conference into consideration and chose seven this year. Michigan (8-12, 21-12) needed a strong per- formance Saturday at Iowa - its final regular season game - to cement a seventh place stand- ing in the Big Ten. The Wolverines got that strong performance and then someas they sweptgthehHawkeyes in three games. The struggles the offense faced against the Spartans were gone as Michigan had four play- ers with double-digit kills - three more than Wednesday night. Bruzdzinski returned to her form, recording 20 kills, to help the Michigan offense bounce back against the Hawkeyes. The junior started hot again, but unlike the Michigan State match, she retained that momentum. The Wolverine defense was also able to calm down and play its style of game. The team reg- istered a total of 75 digs, led by Bower with 23, and 12 blocks. Rosen said that after Wednesday's difficult loss the team responded well in the practices leading up to the match against Iowa (2-18, 13- 19). The team worked on its offensive tempo and keeping defensive schemes under control "This week we just practiced on getting back to our style of game," junior Sarah Draves said. "We knew we had to stop focusing so much on the other side of the net and just play volley- ball."' With the win, the selection committee, who announced the bracket at 3p.m. Sundayextend- ed a bid to the Wolverines to play Cal Poly (13-1, 22-5) on Dec.1 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. "I think we deserve to get (into the tourna- ment)," sophomore Kerry Hance said. "We've had a great season. If we get in, we just have to take it one game at a time, because every game counts." Rosen believes it will be prepared for the stiff competition it will face in the NCAA tourna- ment. "It's all even in a tournament," Rosen said. "I think the conference has prepared us for it, because we won't see teamsthat are better than what we've already faced." With the highs and lows the team has already experienced this year, the Wolverines should be ready for anything the tournament throws at them. (AP) - Southern Cal has passed Michigan tobecome the new No. 2. The Trojans advanced one spot to overtake the Wolverines in The Associ- ated Press Top 25 on Sun- day, a day after their 44-24 victory over Notre Dame. Southern Cal, the sixth team tobe ranked No.2 this season behind No. 1 Ohio State, leads the Wolverines by 36 points in the poll. Michigan, which com- pleted its regular season with a 42-39 loss to Ohio State on Nov. 18, fell to No. 3. The Wolverines (11-1) are 63 points ahead of No. 4 Florida, which beat Florida State 21-14 to improve to 11-1. Ohio State (12-0) was a unanimous No. 1 for the second consecutive week and third time this year. The Buckeyes received 65 first-place votes from the media panel. While the Buckeyes have been top-ranked since the preseason, No. 2 has changed frequently. Notre Dame, Texas, Auburn and Florida have also held the second spot. Michigan's six-week run there was the longest of any team this season. Michigan had a nine- point lead on Southern Cal in last week's poll, but the Trojans changed the minds of numerous voters on Sat- urday night. "I was pretty sure I was going to keep Michigan No. 2 until I watched USC play," said John Hoover of the Tulsa (Okla.) World. "Part of the reason (the Trojans) struggled in the middle of the season and lost was becauseaDwayne Jarrett wasn't healthy," he said. Jarrett was at full strength against Notre Dame and caught three touchdown passes. The rest ofathe Top 25 took a major reshuffling after a week with several upsets. LSU moved up four spot to No. 5, a season-high for the Tigers, after a 31-26 ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL victory over Arkansas on Friday. It's official, Michigan's hopes for a rematch for the national cham- No. 6 Louisville moved pionship are all but gone. With its 44-24 thumping of Notre Dame, up two spots and No. 7 Wis- consin jumped three plac- Sothern Cal jumped over Michigan to number two in both the AP es. The Badgers have their and BCS rankings. Florida held on against a mediocre Florida State highest rankings since team to keep its slim title hopes alive. With its surprising loss November 2004, when they to lowly South Florida, West Virginia's title hopes disappeared. were No. 4. Most of this week's games are conference championships, pitting No. 8 Arkansas dropped top 25 teams against each other. The SEC championship game three spots after its first between Florida and Arkansas promises to he one of the moat loss since the opening week of the season. Oklahoma is exciting games of the day. tied with the Razorbacks after moving up five spots. TEAM LAST WEEK THIS WEEK Boise State (12-0), which 1 hoSaeIl n fsao beat Nevada 38-7 to om- t plete an unbeaten regular season, cracked the top 2. Southern Cal beat Notre at UCLA 10 for the second time in Dame 44-24 school history at No. 10. ------ --_ ------ - - - The Broncos were also 10th 3. Michigan Idle End of season late in the 2004 season. 4h d Auburn is No. 11, fol- 4.Florida beat Florida Arkansas lowed by Notre Dame, State 21-14 which dropped six spots 5. Louisiana State beat Arkansas 31-26 End of season after losing to USC. Rutgers is 13th, Virginia 6. Louisville beat Pittsburgh Connecticut Tech is 14th and West Vir- 48-24, ginia dropped eightspotsto 7 Wisconsin Idle End of season 15th after beingupset 24-19 at home by South Florida. 8. Arkansas lost to Louisiana Florida Wake Forest, heading State 31-26 to the Atlantic Coast Con- ference title game to face 8. Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State Nebraska Georgia Tech, moved up 27-21 four spots to No. 16. 10. Boise State beat Nevada 38-7 End of season Texas, which lost its sec- ond consecutive game on 11. Auburn Idle End of season Friday to Texas A&M, and 12. Notre Dame lost to Southern End of season Tennessee are tied at No. 17. The last time the Long- Cal 44-24 horns were ranked this low 13. Rutgers beat Syracuse 38-7 at West Virginia was October 2003, when they were 19th. 14. Virginia Tech beat Virginia 17-0 End of season No. 19 Nebraska plays 15. West Virginia lost to Rutgers Oklahoma in the Big 12 South Florida 24-19 championship game. Mountain West Conference 16. Wake Forest beat Maryland 38-24 at Georgia Tech champion BYU was No. 20. California was No. 21 17, Tennessee beat Kentucky 17-12 End of season and Texas A&M was back 17. Texas lost to Texas A&M 12-7 End of season in the ranking at No. 22 after a 12-7 victory against 19. Nebraska beat Colorado 37-14 Oklahoma the Longhorns. 20. Brigham Young beat Utah 33-31 End of season No. 23 Georgia Tech dropped seven spots after 21. California beat New Mexico at Utah losing 15-12 to Georgia. 42-17 No. 24 was Hawaii and No 25 Boston College slipped 22. Texas A&M beat Texas 12-7 End of season seven spots after losing 17- 23. Georgia Tech lost to Georgia 15-12 Wake Forest 14 at Miami on Thanksgiv- 24 Hawa beat Purdue 42-05 Oregon State iognight. Clemson fell out of the 25. Boston College lost to Miami 17-14 End of season rankings after losing to South Carolina. Games updated through Nov. 27. SOUTHERN CAL, CONGRATS ON YOUR LOSS TO OREGON STATE. HAVE FUN LOSING BY 86 ON JAN. 8.