DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 6 a 2B - Monday, December 4, 2006 'M' SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY -12.6 W Basketball @ Miami (Ohio), 7p.m. THURSDAY-12.7 M Basketball @Miami (Ohio), 8 p.m. FRIDAY -12.8 WRESTLING vs. Central Michigan,7 pm. W GYMNASTICS VS. MAIZE-AND-BLUE SCRIMMAGE, 7:30 P.M. ICE HOCKEY VS. NOTRE DAME, 7:35 PM. SATURDAY -12.9 M BASKETBALL VS.DELAWARE STATE, 2 P.M. W Basketball @ Nebraska, 8 p.m. SUNDAY--12.10 Ice Hockey @ Notre Dame, 3:05 p.m. 'home games in all caps *all times EST SAID AND HEARD "I don't know exactly what the voters were thinking ... I don't think there's any question that had USC won yesterday against UCLA, we would have remained No. 3." - Michigan football coach LLOYD CARR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Eric Tannenbaum WRESTLING Tannenbaum was the 165-pound champion at the Cliff Keen Invitational with a perfect 5-0 record. The redshirt junior along with his co-cap- tain Josh Churella, led the team to a second-place finish at the tournament. Weekend disappointment worst of all Two hundred and sixty five days ago, I went through what I thoughtwas the most gut-wrenching of all possible Michigan sports week- ends. I witnessed the Michigan men's bas- ketball team limp to the finish line after a 16-3 start, and put itself on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. What happened that" Sunday night is now well-documented - the Wolverines were left SCOTT out of the NCAA Tour- BELL nament for the ninth straightyear. I didn'tthink that sinking feeling would ever be matched. Then, this pastweekend happened. Through it all - the ups of UCLA's win over Southern Cal and the downs of Arkan- sas' meltdown and allithe media hoopla in between - Saturday's events that spilled into Sunday gave last March a run for its money. So which saga was worse? Sounds like something only a tale of the tape can settle: HIGHEST HIGH: Football: UCLA linebacker Eric McNeal's interception in the final minutes of Saturday's UCLA-Southern Cal matchup. The pick stifled the Trojans' comeback attempt and secured the 13-9 Bruins win. More than that, it ener- gized Ann Arbor, and reinstituted hope to a school that thought its shot at a Bowl Cham- pionship Series Championship Game appear- ance was over. Basketball: Michigan knocks off No. 8 Illinois two weeks before the Big Ten Tourna- ment and appears to solidify its spot in the Big Dance. Edge: Football - being one step closer to the BCS Championship Game > being one step closer to the NCAA Tournament. LOWEST LOW: Football: Michigan, ranked No. 2 in the BCS, dropped the Game of the Century to the top-ranked Buckeyes, 42-39, on Nov.e18. Michigan still held its No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings the next day, but the margin was miniscule at best. The next week, Southern Cal passed the Wolverines in the BCS. Michi- gan never reclaimed second place in the poll. Basketball: Michigan capped off a 2-7 fin- ish to its season with a loss to lowly Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament opener. The next weekend, Michigan was left out of the field of 65 for the NCAA Tournament. Edge: Football - nothing beats the sinking feeling of having a rival end your season. BIGGEST HERO: Football: The aforementioned McNeal. His interception buried the Trojans and ele- vated Michigan to the theoretical No. 2 spot, pending the result of the Arkansas-Florida game. Basketball: Horton. Time and time again, the then-senior did whatever he could to bail Michigan out of tough situations. Most notable was his 39-point performance in Michigan's win over Illinois. Edge: Basketball - it's not fun having oth- ers do your dirty work. GOAT: Football: Reggie Fish, Arkansas' punt returner. With his team ahead of Florida by four in the third quarter, Fish tried fielding a punt ... over his shoulder ... on his own 3-yard line. He subsequently muffed the return, and the Gators recovered the ball - along with the momentum -in the end zone, and never relin- quished the lead. Basketball: Michigan coach Tommy Amaker. Many people could take the blame for the late-season collapse last season, but in the end, the responsibility rests in the hands of the coach, who was consistently out- coached as the season drew to a close. Edge: Football - no question for anyone who actually saw that inexplicable attemptto catch a ball Saturday night. PLAYER INPUT: Football: Mike Hart following Michigan's regular-season finale loss to Ohio State: "Do I think there shouldbe a rematch? Probably. I think we're both the top teams in the country, regardless of what anybody says. On a neutral site, it wouldbe a big game.... I guarantee if we play them again it would be a whole dif- ferentgame. We should have got them the first time around. We didn't. So if it doesn't happen, that's our fault. You know, but if we played them again, it would be a whole differ- ent game. Guarantee that." Basketball: Daniel Horton following Michigan's regular-season finale loss to Indi- ana: "I don't understand why people keep asking us - we're in the Tournament. If we don't make the Tournament, then there's something wrong. If we don't make the tour- nament, then I don't know who else deserves to." Edge: Push - both statements were ballsy, and both players poured out their hearts after frustrating events. COACH INPUT: Football: Lloyd Carr refuses to campaign. Basketball: Tommy Amaker refuses to campaign. Edge: Push - both may have been classy, but sometimes class isn't what's the most nec- essarything when others are campaigning all over the place. MISLEADING EVENT: Football: Media "experts," including ESPN, CBSSportsline.com and FOXsports. com, all placed Michigan in the BCS Champi- onship Game over Florida in their respective Saturday night projections. Basketball: Joe Lunardi, the man behind the near-flawless Bracketology, put Michigan in his final projected field of 65. Other ana- lysts, such as CBS's Clark Kellogg and ESPN's Jay Bilas said "Michigan has nothing to worry about." Edge: Football - both times Wolverine fans' hopeswere unnecessarily raised, but once again, muchmore was on the line for football, making the hurt much stronger. IRONY: Football: Florida's last national title came after a rematch with Florida State, who beat the Gators in the regular season. Florida coach Urban Meyer continued to stress over the past month that Michigan didn't deserve a rematch and that the fans wanted the Gators to play - a myth most polls on major sports websites completely debunked Saturday night Basketball: Teams like Air Force and Seton Hall got the nod over Michigan, even though neither had the marquee wins that Michigan possessed (Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin). Edge: Football - let's be honest, the hoops team probably would have been trounced in the first round of the tourney just like Seton Hall and Air Force were. BOTTOM LINE: I don't think I'm going to complain about last March ever again. Just when I thought things couldn'tget any worse, thispast week- end trumps the pain from last March, and by quite a large margin. The emotional roller coaster Michigan fans went through on Satur- day will possibly never be matched (though I should be careful what I wish for). So football team, take solace in this:You won this competition, and it's something that Urban Meyer could never steal from you - no matter how much he campaigns. - Bell can be reached at scotteb@umich.edu. I U I SHORTAGE OF DIAPERS IN MICHIGAN? THAT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE ALL u soccer capure crown OUR BABY SUPPLIES WERE SHIPPED TO FLORIDA THIS WEEK. By ROBERT KAITZ period that I've been here," Michigan coach Jeff After Michigan lost its firstgan me in the tour- Daily Sports Writer Any trip to Arizona in mid-November sounds like a great vacation. But the Michigan men's club soccer team didn't go down to Arizona State with leisure on its mind - it simply want- ed to take care of business. Mission accomplished. The Wolverines won the National Intramu- ral-Recreational Sports Association's (NIRSA) soccer national championship in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 18. Michigan compiled a 5-1 record to win the third National Championship. After a loss to North Carolina in its opening game, the Wol- verines caught fire. "We played one of the worstgames of the sea- son (against the Tar Heels)," said Aaron Swick, senior midfielder and team president. "But we were able to come back so quickly and gain momentum, and then we kept on rolling from there." Tournament Most Valuable Player Brent Medema's first-half goal off a corner kick held up as the game winner in the championship game against Illinois. Senior goalkeeper Alex Lubyansky was unbeatable, recording five con- secutive shutouts. The championship was the pinnacle of immense success over recent seasons. "We've put a lot of work over the six-year Shuk said. "Every year we've come close and every year the goal is to win it. To have it come true is amazing." The National Championship was the Wolver- ines' sole focus throughout the season. "We finished up every practice with a 'champs' cheer," junior striker Cyrus Shabrang said. But the appeal of joining the team is hardly limited to its on-the-field competitiveness. "It's nice cominginto college fromhighschool with the opportunity to meet a lot of great guys as a freshman making the team, since freshmen are looked at as completely equal," junior mid- fielder Jeff Jackson said. Looking at the athletic and social opportuni- ties the team presents, it's little wonder the team has earned such an impressive reputation. Each year more than 70 students try out for a coveted spot on the 24-player squad. But the team's rep- utation extends beyond the Ann Arbor campus. Junior midfielder Brad Murphy was 14 years old when he first heard about the club soccer team. "I was refereeing a soccer game, and I men- tioned how I wanted to go to Michigan," Mur- phy said. "And then somebody started telling me about how great the club soccer team at Michi- gan is and howI should play." Former players also stay connected to the happenings of the team. nament, it received calls of encouragement from seven former players and Michigan varsity coach and former club coach Steve Burns. The camaraderie among the players is clear; they are responsible for organizing and running the team by themselves. "We have to raise or pay for pretty much everything, whether it is hotel rooms, gas, air- plane tickets, or anything else," Swick said. "There is a huge financial commitment playing on the team." Shuk credits another group for its uncondi- tional backing. "The parents are vital," Shuk said. "So many parents traveled with us to Arizona and were always there to help us with keeping the water coolers full. And with six games in three days, makingsure we had enough ibuprofen." Michigan also receives financial support from campus favorite Big Ten Burrito. But the team still feels underfunded on occasion. Nothing illustrates this point more than the place it calls home, the not-so-picturesque Elbel Field. Regardless, the Wolverines are having a blast playing the sport they love and bonding with each other. The season is over, but a familiar goal has already been set for next year's team. "We are only losing three or four players, so a repeat is definitely on our minds," Shabrang said. The Yaffe Center 2006-2007 Speaker Series Persuasive Communication: Yaffe Cent er What's Breaking Through Today? for Persuasive Communication MICHIGAN ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Open to the public. Admission is free for U-M students, faculty and staff; $25.00 for those not affiliated with the University. Limited number of seats available. Please call John Hogan of the Ann Arbor Ad Club at 734.780.8113 to reserve a seat, Parking: University lot near the corner of Hill and Tappan Streets. 6 a I Save the Dates January 26 - lain Roberts February 12 - Derek Koenig Co-leader, IDEO's Experience Design Practice Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications Persuading Through Using Non-Traditional Great Industrial Design Communications Effectively