The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, December S, 2006 - 9 BCS can't seem to avoid issues ence everyone's already ics'year. Southern Cal, Oklahoma heard all the analysts' opin- and Auburn all finished the season ions on Michigan's unfortu- with perfect records, but after add- nate postseason fate, I decided the ing up the numbers, the Trojans best way to handle the blow would and Sooners took the top-two spots be to rank the in the BCS. Auburn had survived top-four Bowl a brutal Southeastern Confer- Champion- ence schedule, which somehow ship contro- holds more weight now when the versies. pollsters consider who should go where. In 2004, it wasn't good No.4: enough for the computers, and the 2000. Trojans and Sooners squared off In what's KEV,~ for the title. become a In the Orange Bowl, Southern common WRIGHT Cal dismantled Oklahoma 55-19, BCS trend, taking the National Championship the regu- The Sixth Man and leaving Auburn coach Tommy lar season Tuberville whining for months ended with an undefeated and a afterward - apparently a common one-loss team in the champion- trend among SEC coaches. ship game. Florida State recov- ered from an early-season loss to No. 2:2001. Miami - which coincidentally also Miami entered the season the finished with one loss - to place hands-down favorite to take home second in the standings. The Hur- the National Championship, and as ricanes were also ranked second in the season progressed, Nebraska both human polls, but in the BCS looked poised to contend for the computation, Miami couldn't beat chance. The Cornhuskers finished out Florida State. The Seminoles 11-1 with just one glaring weakness: entered the game as a 10.5-point They didn't win their own confer- favorite, but the Sooners rolled to a ence. Colorado handily defeated 13-2 win. Florida State coach Bobby Nebraska, 62-36, in the Big 12 Bowden even commented on the Championship Game, but when matchup after the game. the rankings were averaged, the "When I look at it now, I think it Cornhuskers remained entrenched should have been Miami and Okla- in the No. 2 spot. That resilience homa," Bowden said to The Associ- didn't help them beat Miami, as the ated Press. "We didn't look like we Hurricanes rolled over Nebraska belonged here." 37-14 in the Rose Bowl to claim the At least he was willing to National Championship. acknowledge a mistake had been No.3 Oregon also sported a 10-1 made. record, but the Ducks were left out of the National Championship con- No.3:2004. versation because their strength of * Every year, BCS antagonists schedule was too weak. prayed for more than two teams to finish the regular season unde- No.1: 2003. feated. They thought that kind of Michigan-Nebraska was sup- scenario would force the confer- posed to be the last split National ence commissioners to get together Championship, or at least that's the and find a new system to decide the problem the BCS should have fixed. National Championship. But in 2003, the greatest BCS con- Well, 2004 was the BCS crit- troversy yet unfolded in the final ICE HOCKEY Call of duty: Cogs headed to Worlds By JAMES V.DOWD British Columbia and sat around Daily Sports Writer television sets watching games while eating holiday meals. Andrew Cogliano's five-goal per- "Everyone in Canada at Christ- formance during this past week- mas time watches the tourna- end's series with Western Michigan ment," Cogliano said. "Last year, it didn't net him the CCHA Offensive was in Canada and the whole coun- Player of the Week award. But the try gathered around the team. Even sophomore did receive the ulti- when we play overseas everyone mate reward for a young Canadian is watching. It's a big thrill when hockey player yesterday: A second everyone supports us." straight bid to Team Canada's Should Cogliano make the team, World Junior Championship selec- he will once again miss the Great tion camp. Lakes Invitational later this month. After helping our neighbor to It's also possible that he will miss the north win its second straight this Sunday's game at Notre Dame, and 12th overall gold medal at because the selection camp begins last year's tournament in British Sunday night in Calgary. Columbia, Cogliano was named to While it was hard for the Wol- this year's 38-man pool by Canada verines to lose a goal scorer for the coach Craig Hartsburg. GLI last season, the larger issue "It's obviously a thrill to be was Cogliano's play in the weeks picked, and I had a pretty good after his gold-medal performance. time last year," Cogliano said. "But After playing solidly in the first even though I'm going to the camp, half of the season, the then-fresh- it's going to be a tough time making man struggled to find his feet upon the team." returning from the World Junior During last year's tournament, Championships. Cogliano served largely as a role How the championships will player, but he anticipates making a affect a player's performance upon bigger impact this time around. In a returning to Ann Arbor varies, but more limited capacity than Michi- Michigan coach Red Berenson sees gan fans are used to, the sophomore the international experience as an notched five points, with a goal and important one. four assists during Canada's gold- "We have kids who have left here medal run. with a lot of confidence and came "Last year, I played a different back with no confidence," Beren- role, playing on the third line," son said. "And some kids come back Cogliano said. "I think (Hartsburg, with a gold medal and play well. an assistant coach last year) really (At Michigan), we put together a liked the way I played and he's the team of elite players who receive coach this year. He invited me to the opportunity (to represent their the summer camp, and I got really country), and we're affording them good feedback from them there." that opportunity." Despite the improvements he's Michigan may also stand to made over the course of a year, receive an advantage in Canadian Cogliano knows his battles are far recruiting if Cogliano makes the from over. Of the 38 players in con- team. tention for a roster spot, just 22 will "Maybe Michigan will ben- be named to the team. Cogliano efit from all this," Berenson said. is just one of three players from "Maybe Cogliano came to Michi- American colleges. _ gan because (former Wolverine Just training with quality play- Mike) Cammelleri played on the ers can be a mentally, physically Canadian team, and Jason Botter- and emotionally draining process, ill went three years in a row. That even before you make the team. might have helped some other kid "(The selection process) is really make the decision to come to Mich- tough," Cogliano said. "It's some- igan." times tougher than the tourna- NOTES: Michigan's two injured ment. It's pretty intense, and you defensemen, senior Jason Dest and don't want to see any of the guys sophomore Jack Johnson, both sat you make friends with not make out of practice yesterday. Dest dis- the team." located his shoulder and Johnson Making the team is considered suffered an undisclosed shoulder a top honor for young Canadians injury during Saturday's game at because the entire nation bonds Western Michigan. over the performance of the team. Berenson said that Dest will While the tournament was hardly likely sit out a month, and Johnson televised in the United States last is day-to-day after X-rays on his year. Canada filled the rinks in shoulder were negative. Amaker counts on experience Michigan coach Lloyd Carr isn't the only person toexperience the BCS blues. Since its incention in 1998, the RCS hascaused hearthreak to a nurnerhnftearns By MARK GIANNOTTO Daily Sports Writer Senior Brent Petway went from shooting less than 50 percent from the field against North Carolina State to recording a perfect 4-for-4 versus Wofford. Senior Lester Abram improved from a woeful2-for-8 shootingshow- ing against the Wolfpack to scoring seven points in the final 45 seconds of the first half last Saturday. Senior Courtney Sims rebounded from scoring just seven points in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, to drop 19 against the Terriers. And senior Dion Harris went from missing 10 from behind the arc against North Carolina State to dismantling the Wofford defense for his first career double-double (14 points, 10 assists). So what happened in the five days between Michigan's 74-67loss to the Wolfpack and its 83-49 beatdown of the Terriers? For one, the opponent got easier. Wofford is a below-.500 team from the Southern Conference, while North Carolina State is an undefeated team from the power- house Atlantic Coast Conference. But while a weak opponent may have helped, the Wolverines' senior class got in gear in part because of a meeting with Michigan coach Tommy Amaker. "Coming off the loss to North Car- olina State, (Amaker) wasn't happy with our leadership," Harris said. "We, as seniors, have to take more control of the team. He can't always be the one jumping down our throats when things aren't going well or guys aren'tgivingtheir best effort. He said that's up to us sometimes." Harris seems to have responded best to the meeting. After taking too many shots in the comeback effort versus the Wolfpack, the Detroit native simply played within the flow of Saturday's game. The 14 points against Wofford were expected, but 10 assists and just one turnover were what particularly impressed the coaching staff. For a team still searching for a reliable point guard, Harris's performance was a welcome relief. His ability to set up other players allowed younger players like freshman DeShawn Sims to excel against the Terriers. Even though the Wolverines have a number of young players on their team, the burden of making the NCAA Tournament will ultimately fall onto the seniors' shoulders. With all four in the starting lineup, the onus is on them to produce every game. "I guess coach saw that we could have done more as far as being the senior group," Abram said. "Our team is going to go how the seniors go. ... I guess it just took a loss to wake everybody up and see we have to have better practices and play better in the games." Michigan currently stands at 8-1, but all eight of those wins have come against teams from non-power con- ferences. There aren't many poten- tial blowouts left on a schedule that includes games against No. 1 UCLA and Georgetown, in addition to a challenging Big Ten schedule. But if anyone can handle that, it may be these four players. Whether it's injuries, arrests of teammates or just poor play, Amak- er realizes that these seniors have endured it all in their three previous years as Wolverines - all except an NCAA Tournamentbid. "(Amaker) knows how much we've been through together with him, and he just wants to see us succeed," Sims said. "Coach always says he's here for us, especially the senior class. He meets with us a lot, so (the meeting) wasn't just because we lost. He just wanted us to refocus on the goal at hand." few weeks of the season. Oklahoma and Louisiana State went through the regular season as clear-cut favorites to make the title game. And Southern Cal had an outside shot after rebounding from an early loss to California to finish the regular season 11-1. The Soon- ers dominated every team they played until running into Kansas State in the Big12 Championship Game. Oklahoma lost badly, but the Sooners' performance throughout the season gave them enough room that the loss didn't change their final destination. Oklahoma fell just one spot in the BCS standings, to No. 2. The final BCS rankings proved late-season losses aren't that harmful. Still, the National Champion- ship matchup between Louisiana State and Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl suggested that one of the two teams didn't belong there, as the Tigers won 21-14 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indi- cates. After Southern Cal's victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, both The Associated Press and Coaches Polls voted Southern Cal No.1. But, the computer rated Louisiana State the National Champions. The two teams split the honor, and contro- versy remained the name of the game for the BCS. So there you have it. While you might feel too depressed to go on this holiday season, at least take some solace in previous team's mis- fortunes. It'll beat that hand-knit- ted sweater you get from your grandma. - Wright can be reached at kpwr@umich.edu. Graduating college is no small task. Instead of rewarding myself with an expensive gift, I think I'mu put my health first with a unique health care option called SOLO. Customizable, powerful and affordable, SOLO offers me a full range of plans to make starting a career easier.Just visit the web site below and discover what I did - powered byU, the power of SOLO. www.hap.org/SOLO 1-888-999-4347 ;;. wxwux a yam a may me eoe. a. anv S .. S..-.