The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 9

Y' hits the road for rivalry

Junior Alex Vanderkaay is eager to challenge Northwestern at this weekend's Bg
Ten Championships. The Wolverines lost to the Wildcats during dual season.
Tankers ready
to seek revenge

By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Writer
The lights at Canham Natato-
rium dimmed after practice and,
as his team headed to the locker
room, junior Alex Vanderkaay dove
into the pool wearing a brand-new,
maize-and-blue fastskin. After
swimming one lap, he voiced his
opinion of the new attire.
"It feels weird!" he exclaimed.
"It feels fast," Michigan coach
Bob Bowman corrected, laughing.
After four solid months of train-
ing without taper, the Wolverines
are ready to fit into their new fast-
skins and face their Big Ten rivals at
this weekend's conference champi-
onships in Columbus.
No. 12 Michigan finished 3-1-1
against Big Ten opponents dur-
ing the regular season, with a tie
against defending Big Ten Cham-
pion Indiana and a loss to North-
western. At their last meet, against
Ohio State and Northwestern, the
Wolverines were drowned by the
Wildcats' first-place finishes.
Co-captain Vanderkaay dis-
missed the suggestion that North-
western's dominance would
continue and believes that Michi-
gan's deep talent pool will reverse
the results at the Big Ten Champi-
onships.
"One of the things about Big
Tens is that you need a lot of depth,"
Vanderkaay said. "In past years,
that's been our problem. But this
year, we're a lot better with that.
Northwestern's not that good. They
don't have the depth we have. They
have their star swimmers who are
going to win events, but so do we."
Added sophomore Matt Patton:
"We're definitely a different team
than when we raced them. We have
a lot more rest now than we did
then, and we're definitely going to
surprise a lot of people."
Bowman said Michigan's main
competitors will be No. 6 North-
western, No. 10 Minnesota and No.
11 Indiana. The Wolverines have
finished third at the Big Ten cham-
pionships in both years of Bow-
man's tenure, with their last two
conference championships coming
in 2000 and 2003.
Last season, Michigan was
propelled by then-seniors Chris

DeJong, Davis Tarwater and Peter
Vanderkaay.
"Our senior class scored the
majority of our points at Big Tens
(last season)," Bowman said. "This
year, we've done a very good job of
bringing the younger people up.
You never replace somebody like
Peter Vanderkaay, but I think two
or three people can add up the
points that he scored. That will be
the question - can everybody down
the line step up?"
The Wolverines' eight freshmen
have stepped up to the challenge
during the regular season, earning
NCAA consideration times and fre-
quently winning dual meet events.
Freshman Adam DeJong said this
weekend will be no different for the
underclassmen.
"Everyone on the team is expect-
ing us to pull our own weight,"
DeJong said. "We know we're one
of the best freshman classes in the
Big Ten. We have that mentality, we
can swim well and everyone in the
freshman class can score."
Bowman said Patton and
Vanderkaay are expected to be the
team's top contributors.Vanderkaay
is vying to win the 200-yard butter-
fly and 400-yard individual medley
while Patton attempts to earn a vic-
tory in the mile. In addition, the two
athletes expect to place first and
second in the 500-yard freestyle.
The team swam in Columbus
during its final regular-season
meet, an advantage that will reduce
the amount of time needed to
adjust to the pool before swimming
against Big Ten competition. After
leaving for Ohio State on Tuesday
afternoon, the team will practice
once on Wednesday before the
beginning of the three-day meet
the following afternoon.
And on Thursday - whether the
athletes are putting on their Michi-
gan fastskins for the first time in
their career or the first time this
year - the Wolverines expect to
dive into the pool and race fast.
"We had a plan this year, and I
think that we've followed it every
step of the way," Bowman said.
"Our goal is to improve, qualify a
lot of people for NCAAs, and score
as much as we can. There's every
reason to expect that we'll do well
at Big Tens."

By DANIEL LEVY
Daily Sports Writer
Backyard brawl.
This one's for bragging rights.
Throw out the records.
There. The cliches attached to a
rivalry like the one between Michi-
gan and Michigan State are out of
the way.
Well, maybe one more.
There's nothingmore dangerous
than a wounded animal.
Thatwcould be the case tonight
when the two teams tip off at the
Breslin Center because the Spar-
tans are reeling. Michigan State
enters the matchup with fresh
bruises after losing its fourth-
straight game in embarrassing
fashion - a 62-38 defeat at Pur-
due last Wednesday, in which the
Spartans tallied just 12 second-half
points.
"We're still a young and inex-
perienced team," Michigan State
coach Tom Izzo said. "We're going
through something a lot of these
guys haven't gone through."
That's because Michigan State
is used to being atop the Big Ten
and preparing for a March away
from home in previous years. This
season the game is vital to both
squads, because like every other
middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team,
Michigan and Michigan State find
themselves scratching and clawing
for their NCAA Tournament lives.
The Wolverines (5-5 Big Ten, 17-8
overall) just ended their own four-
game losing streak with a just-good-
enough effort against Minnesota on
Saturday to keep hopes of making
the Tournament alive. But they are
still looking for a signature victory
after a disappointing home loss to
Iowa crippled the team's already
damaged tournament resume.
Meanwhile, the Spartans' (4-6,
17-8) current skid has them barely
hanging on the bubble, meaning
Izzo's bunchwill be desperate for
a win.
"I think they're gonna be think-
ing it's a must-win for them," senior
Brent Petway said. "They're gonna
be really fighting to get this game."
When dealing with Michigan
State, the talk starts and ends with
Drew Neitzel. If Michigan is going
to win in East Lansing for the first

CAN THE WOLVERINES FINALLY
BEAT SPARTY ON THE ROAD?
Michigan hasn't beaten its intrastate rival in a
decade at the unfriendly confides of the Breslin
Center. And pretty Buch since the Tom Izzo era,
the Maize and Blue hasn't been able to beatthe
Spartans at pretty much any location, Last year
Michigan finally held serve with its East Lansing
based rivals, winning its game at home, but still Ios-
ing at Michigan State. With a limping Spartan squad
entering tonight's game, can Michigan finally break
through on the road? Don't get your hopes up
THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE

0
1
2

Number of Michigan wins in East
Lansingsince 1991.
Number of BigTen road wins the
Wolverines have this year.
Number of overall road wins
Michigan has this season.

time since 1997, the Wolverines In addition to focusing on the "(Walton's) able to guard any-
will need to slow the Spartan play- defensive end, Michigan is also body on the perimeter," Harris
maker down. After spending two hoping to carry some offensive said. "He's going to try to pressure
seasons developing as a traditional momentum from the Minnesota us and get into us a lot, because he
pass-first point guard, Neitzel has game into tonight'smatchup. While can. I recognize his defensive abil-
shouldered most of the scoring a two-point victory over one of the ity."
burden this season (18 points per conference's worst teams isn't any- Michigan is also coming off one
game) for an inexperienced Michi- thing special, the Wolverines shot of its best road games of the year.
gan State squad. 74 percent from the field during The Wolverines stuck to their
The junior showed just how dan- their second-half comeback. gameplan and limited their turn-
gerous he has become in the Spar- Petway provided the second- overs (nine) in a 13-point loss that
tans' two-point loss at No. 2 Ohio half spark (16 points) against the was closer than the final score indi-
State earlier this season. Neitzel Gophers. But it was fellow senior cates in Columbus last Tuesday.
went off for 24 second-half points Dion Harris who carried the team The improved play away fromhome
in the near-upset. with his career-high 27 points in a should provide confidence heading
"He's very difficult to defend," game the Wolverines had to have. into tonight's contest.
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker The 6-foot-3 guard took advan- "I think we played smart and
said. "He's a dynamic passer in tage of his size against Minnesota's together (at Ohio State)," senior
addition to being a good scorer. ... smaller defenders. But tonight, he Courtney Sims said. "Sometimes
Unlike some other players who just will most likely face 6-foot-2 sopho- on the road in the past, we fell apart
score points themselves, this kid is more Travis Walton, who will pose when it was a tight situation and
responsible for points." a much bigger challenge. teams went on runs."


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