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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
man: Finding
iething for
t Sunday void
SM COLUMN 2B
michigandaily.com
Bucks
crush
Monday, March 5, 2007
OHIO STATE 65, MICHIGAN 61
SEASON KILLER?
upset
hopes
By DANIEL LEVY
Daily Sports Writer
What if?
That pesky question has hovered
over the Michigan basketball pro-
gram in recent years.
And Saturday's 65-61 loss to No.1
Ohio State was no different.
The Wolverines had numer-
ous chances down the stretch but
couldn't make the plays or shots
they needed in the final minutes
to pull off the upset. Those closing
moments soured what seemed to
be a huge Michigan victory in the
making.
The importance of knocking
off the nation's top team, coupled
with the emotion of Senior Day,
would have been a fitting way for
Wolverine seniors Dion Harris,
Brent Petway, Courtney Sims and
Lester Abram to say goodbye to
Crisler Arena. Instead, barring an
improbable run in this week's Big
Ten Tournament, the team will be
back at Crisler the following week
to take another crack at the NIT.
"When you come so close and you
know you have to get this win, (a
moral victory) doesn't really mean
anything," Sims said. "Slip-ups like
we had at the end of (Saturday) cost
us the season."
Michigan's agony began when
Harris sprung loose for a 3-pointer
with the score tied at 61 and two
minutes remaining. Harris's shat
bounced in and out, and Ohio State
took the rebound the other way,
resulting in a Jamar Butler lay-up
that gave the Buckeyes their first
lead since the opening minutes of
the second half.
The Wolverines tried to answer
on their next possession when Pet-
way found Sims alone under the
rim. But the senior's dunk hit the
back rim and came out.
See BUCKEYES, Page 3B
Close loss leaves no room for error
By H. JOSE BOSCH
Daily Sports Editor
While Michigan senior Dion
Harris fielded questions from the
media following Saturday's loss
to No. 1 Ohio State, his eyes were
glazed and he didn'thave his usual
air of confidence.
For the first time this season,
Harris looked vulnerable.
And when a reporter asked the
Detroit native if coming close to
winning big games and the NCAA
Tournament meant anything,
Harris strained to keep his com-
posure.
"Coming close is not good
enough," Harris said. "Coming
close doesn't mean anything to me
as an individual. That just means
you came close but you didn't get
it."
For Michigan, "it" will most
likely be an NCAA Tournament
birth.
While most fans and critics
wrote off the Wolverines weeks
ago, last Tuesday's win over rival
Michigan State gave Michigan a
slim chance to dance in March.
Add a win over the top-ranked
Buckeyes and the Wolverines
would've had one more conference
win than last season, along with
some momentum heading into
the Big Ten Tournament. Those
two wins could've given Michigan
the margin it needed to be invited
to the Tournament by the NCAA.
Tournament Selection Commit-
tee.
But following what was the
most frustrating four minutes in
the program's recent history, that
longshot has gotten even longer.
Now Michigan must do one of
the toughest things to accomplish
in sports: get up to play a must-win
game after expending all its energy
in a rivalry loss.
"I think we still have a shot (at
the Tournament) because there
are a bunch of teams out there (in
See LONG SHOT, Page 4B
splits
with
SBucks
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - Michigan's 6-5
loss to Ohio State on Feb. 24 was
the bizarro version of the Wolver-
ines' 4-3
win the MICHIGAN 5
previous j OHIO STATE 61
night. - - - -
Every-
thing was opposite.
In the first game, Michigan
fought back and scored the game-
winning goal with 68 seconds
remaining. The next night, Ohio
State erased two separate two-goal
deficits and tallied the game win-
ner with 90 seconds remaining.
Nearly four minutes after Michi-
gan sophomore Tim Miller magi-
cally tied the game at five with a
tally from behind the goal line, Ohio
State's Mathieu Beaudoin ripped
the game-winning slapshot from
just inside Michigan's blue line.
Beaudoin shouldn't have had the
chance to take the shot, but Michi-
gan sophomore Andrew Cogliano
whiffed on his clearing attempt.
Michigan played with a 6-on-4
advantage for the game's final 40
seconds but failed to capitalize.
The emotions of the Michigan-
Ohio State rivalry boiled over at the
final horn with a partial melee near
the Buckeye goal.
See ICERS, Page 3B
Badgers end
Blue's season
By ANDY REID guard provided the versatility
Daily Sports Writer needed to open up a 19-4 Bad-
- - - --- ger run on her way to scoring 22
INDIANAPOLIS - One team points on the evening.
entered with NCAA Tourna- "They were getting some
ment aspirations. big shots, and we were miss-
The other had nothing to ing some big shots," Michigan
lose. ----- coach Cheryl Burnett said. "And
One MICHIGAN 59 then you're.trying to play from
team WISCONSIN -_1 Bi behind against ateamthatgains
made great confidence from Jolene
sure it would live to fight anoth- Anderson and the things that
er day. she can do."
The other played without the With Anderson carryingWis-
passion to do so. cousin through its lackluster
As the opening game of the first half, the Wolverines (3-13
women's Big Ten Tournament Big Ten, 10-20 overall) needed
wound down, it was evident a similar effort from one of its
that Michigan was the latter players.
team. Wisconsin cruised past But when freshman LeQuisha
the Wolverines, 81-59, and into Whitfield decided she should be
the second round last Thursday the one to step up, the Wolver-
night in Conseco Fieldhouse. ines didn't reap the desired ben-
Anyone who found a seat for efits.
the tournament expecting to In just seven minutes on the
see some good, fundamentally floor in the opening half, Whit-
sound basketball would have field turned the ball over six
been severely disappointed. The times and missed all of her free
opening round game featured throw attempts. Whitfield's six
two sluggish and sloppy teams missed shots were a major con-
who combined for 25 first-half tributor to Michigan's miserable
turnovers. 25-percent shooting.
Michigan's problems'started Bygame's end, Whitfield's stat
when Wisconsin settled down line was a train wreck: 1-for-11
and ran a more solid offensive shooting, justtwo rebounds and
scheme. Midway through the seven turnovers in 13 minutes.
first frame, Wisconsin junior Although it seemed that
Jolene Anderson looked like Whitfield tried to take over the
an unsupervised kid in a candy game, all she managed to do was
store, sampling everything. lose control. The more negative
After hitting a few open outside plays she made, the more Whit-
shots, Anderson found lanes to field pushed the ball, resulting in
the basket as Wolverine defend- more turnovers and poor shots.
ers started keying on the perim- Despite the less-than-spec-
eter. Anderson's unpredictable tacular first half - even by the
shots helped her score 11 of the Wolverines' standards - they
team's first 17 points. came out of the tunnel ready
The first-team All-Big Ten See BADGERS, Page 3B
A P P H O
Sophomore Jack Johnson and the Wolverines finished second in the CCHA after splitting their weekend series at Ohio State.
For Icers, the time is now
COLUMBUS -
As the final buzzer blared at
the Schottenstein Center two
Satur-
days ago, Michi-
gan concluded its
regular season.
Another sea-
son in the books,
and where do
the Wolverines ;
stand? A
Second in the
CCHA, but only COLVIN
thanks to Miami --
(Ohio)'s loss. A Touch of
Ranked 12th Dutch
in the country.
18-9-1 in the CCHA, 23-12-1 over-
all.
And, numbers aside, almost exact-
ly where they were last year.
That's not a good thing, consider-
ing last season has becomea measur-
ing stick for the kind of mediocrity
the Michigan program desperately
wants to avoid.
The paths were different, but the
result was the same. Last season it
was ahot startfollowed by a down-
ward spiral. This time, it kicked
off with inconsistency and under-
achieving, pushed away by a steadily
successful stint that carried into
February.
But then came the final leg of the
journey, the real implosion. A loss
to CCHA doormat Bowling Green.
A tie - that should have been a win
- with then-No. 6 Michigan State,
Michigan's only ranked opponent
in the second half of the season. A
split with Lake Superior State. A split
with Ohio State.
And we're back where we started.
"You hate to finish off on a note
like tonight," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said following the 6-5 loss
to the Buckeyes.
It was a sour note, for sure. Ohio
State tallied the game-winner with
1:30 remaining. Fights broke out all
over the ice. Senior captain Matt
Hunwick jumped in the melee and
he didn't even know what started it.
Now the real fight has to begin,
the fighteto put the past away and
regain Michigan's dignity - starting
now, in the postseason.
The Wolverines may be hover-
ing in the same position as last year.
Fans are wondering which team
See COLVIN, Page 3B