8A - Friday, November 16, 2007 4 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0 GEORGETOWN 74, MICHIGAN 52 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOOTBALL Title just one win away 'M' blown out in first real test By MARKGIANNOTTO DailySportsEditor WASHINGTON, D.C. - George- town just took the wind right out of the John Beilein era sails. Maybe it was the same gust that led to a collection of Michigan air- balls. Either way, the Wolverines' ship capsized against No. 5 Georgetown, resulting in a 74-52 Hoya blowout at the Verizon Center last night. Michigan (2-1) looked over- matched from the opening tip against a Georgetown team that trotted out two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore - all of whom saw significant minutes a season ago - to open the contest. Compare that to the two fresh- men, two sophomores and senior who donned the maize and blue to begin the opening frame, and it's clear whythere were six shots that didn't even touch the rim for the Wolverines over the course of last night's game. "I think a lot of it had to do with the excitement," redshirt fresh- man K'Len Morris said. "Coming against a top-five team, a former Final Four team, there were a lot of jitters. Our biggest thing was we just didn't execute our offense." Georgetown didn't have the same troubles. The Hoyas (2-0) pounced on the young Wolverines, jumping out to leads of 12-0, 28-7, and 43-19 during the first half. The Michigan offense that was a breath of fresh air in two wins against Radford and Brown last weekend turned into a parade of ugliness on the stat sheet. The Wolverines converted just eight field goals in the first half and shot a porous 29 percent from the field. That's not to mention the nine turnovers, eight missed 3- pointers and a whole lot of embar- rassment. From freshman Manny Harris's turnover on the team's initial pos- sessionto freshman Kelvin Grady's missed floater to end a miserable opening stanza, Michigan never stood a chance against a veteran- laden Hoya squad. "Itwasn't a surprise, but I didn't want that to happen," Beilein said of his team's first-half struggles. Sophomore DeShawn Sims was By DANIEL BROMWICH Daily SportsEditor The Michigan-Ohio State game tomorrow will decide the Big Ten Champion for the 42nd time in the series' history. Something that has happened 42 times in 104 years shouldn't surprise anyone. But the way the teams got here has been all but predictable. Before the season, the Wolver- ines were ranked fifth in the AP poll, projected as the conference favorite and considered a serious contender for the National Cham- pionship. A season-opening loss to FCS team Appalachian State immediately changed all that, and a loss to Oregon the following week appeared to kill this season soon after it had began. The Wolverines rolled off eight straight wins, though, and put themselves in the driver's seat for the conference championship. A trip to the Rose Bowl is in order if they can beat Ohio State - some- thing this record-setting senior class has yet to accomplish. "You really can't be the best (class) if you don't beat Ohio State at least once," Hart said back at Big Ten Media Day in August. "A lot of people beat them two or three times. We're only going to beat them once. To not beat them once - it would definitely take away from our careers a lot." While mostexperts would have picked Hart and Co. to beat the Buckeyes at the start of the year, few think they will now. This was expected to be a rebuilding year of sorts for Ohio State. After losing Heisman Tro- phy winner Troy Smith alongwith their top two receivers and their No.1 running back, the Buckeyes were supposed to retool this year before challenging forthe Big Ten crown next season. But Ohio State surpassed expectations this year. It went undefeated through 10 games before being upset by Illinois last week. Even with the loss, the Buckeyes are favored by four entering tomorrow's game. One factor in those odds is the unknown availability of Hart and senior quarterback Chad Henne. Hart didn't play a single down against Wisconsin last week, and Henne played just two series before sitting out the rest of the game with a nagging shoulder injury. Both have expressed their desire to play tomorrow, but their status remains unclear. If there weren't enough story- lines in tomorrow's game already, rumors surfaced this week that Michigan coach Lloyd Carr might retire following the game. Many had already expected Carr to step down following the season, but this new wave of speculation could easily affect the game. A reporter even asked Carr about his future at Monday's press conference. Predictably, Carr dodged the question. "The only thing on my mind is this game," Carr said. But the players have been deal- ing with this all season, and said Monday they "definitely" wanted to win this game for Carr. "There would be no better feel- ing (than) if this was his last year and we won the Big Ten," Henne said at Media Day. "That would (send) him off in the right way." The Wolverines can still win the conference for Carr. Before the season, three goals were laid out by Hart, Henne, and tackle Jake Long, the three seniors who bypassed the NFL Draft to come back for afinalseason. They want- ed to beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten and win a bowl game. "That's what we've been trying to do all year, and that's our goal," Long said. "It's right there for us. Beating Ohio State and winning the championship." And although the National Championship is out of reach, Carr couldn't be happier playing for a trip to Pasadena, Calif. "If there's a greater bowl than the Rose Bowl, then I'd like to see it," Carr said. "I'd love to be there." Despite the way the season started, it'll take just one more win to get there. CHANEL VON HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN/Daily Freshman Kelvin Grady's second half performance -13 point on 4-of-5 shooting - was on of the lone bright spots for the Wolverines in last night's blowout loss to Georgetown. the most disappointed player in the Wolverine locker room after the game. Following his 20.5 point-per-game opening weekend, the Detroit native had a disastrous road debut, scoring just one point while committing five turnovers. Senior captain Ron Coleman wasn't spared from the carnage, either. He went scoreless on five shot attempts. "We just had a bad night by our frontcourt," Beilein said. "But they'll watch film, they'll listen to me and they'll get better." Not all was lost for the Wolver- ines, though. With Georgetown resting its starters for much of the second half, freshmen duo Grady and Harris showed glimpses of what could be in store for the future. Aftergoing1-for-3 fromthe field in the first half, Grady displayed a nice medium-range jumper, col- lecting 13 second-half points on 4- of-5 shooting. Harris rebounded from a 2-for-7 first half to score eight points after halftime. Boasting a young, inexperi- enced team this year's Wolverines, growing pains like last night are to be expected. In the locker room afterwards, players had already begun to think about the growth this game could cause in the long run. There may be some windy waters ahead, but at least Michi- gan has a measuring stick for suc- cess down the road. "Now we know what we have to do, what we have to work at to become a team like Georgetown," Morris said. ICE HOCKEY Blue looking for fast CCHA start 4 After 14 seasons, Rademacher calls it quits By ANDY REID ing the University's 1993 decision Daily Sports Writer to give women's soccer varsity sta- tus. The Michigan women's soccer In her 14 seasons at the helm, team is without a coach for the first Rademacher compiled a 160-108-37 time since the program's begin- (.585) record. She led the Wolver- ning. ines to two Big Ten Tournament Debbie Rademacher, who championships along with four accepted the head coaching posi- regular-season top-two finishes in tion before the Wolverines' inau- conference. gural 1994 season, resigned from Rademacher's Michigan teams her post yesterday. also went to nine NCAA tourna- Rademacher was hired by then- ment appearances, making it to the Athletic Director Joe Roberson to Elite Eight in 2002 and the Sweet build a team from scratch follow- 16 in 2003. "It has been 14 great years at Michigan for me," Rademacher said through the Athletic Depart- ment. "But I've decided - with a new baby and another young son - to focus on being at home with my family." While most startup programs take years to find their footing, Rademacher had immediate suc- cess with the Wolverines, making a run to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament in her first season. But Michigan has steadily declined in recent years. The Wol- verines have posted 20 total wins and made just one NCAA Tournament appearance - a first-round exit in 2006 - over the past three seasons. This year, Michigan (1-5-4 Big Ten, 3-9-6 overall) posted its lowest win total and its worst- ever conference finish (ninth). But nothing can overshadow the job Rademacher did in building the program from nothing just 14 years ago. "Debbie should be proud of her record and her commitmentto aca- demic success," Athletic Director Bill Martin said through the Ath- letic Department. "There are very few people in any sport that have built programs at two schools and have stayed on this long with suc- cess." Added associate Athletic Direc- tor Bitsy Ritt through the ath- letic department: "We are deeply indebted for her service to help build this program." The search for Rademacher's replacement will begin immedi- ately, according to the Athletic Department. By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Writer If Michigan sweeps in Sault St. Marie this weekend, it'll boast its best starting record since coach Red Berenson skated in a Michi- gan sweater. No. 2 Michigan (6-0 CCHA, 9- 1 overall) will be on the road this weekend for the fourth time in six weeks, facing off against CCHA bottom-dweller Lake Superior State (0-2, 2-5-1). With two wins this weekend, the Wolverines will be off to their best start since 1961-62 - Berenson's senior year at Michigan. "I just remember we expected to win every game, no matter who we played," Berenson said. "You get that kind of confidence." This year's Wolverines keep saying they aren't overconfident, especially with a roster of 12 freshmen - but their eight-game winningstreakis thelongestsince 2005. The 6-0 conference start is the first in Michigan history. Michigan continued to work on improving its penalty-killing unit in practice this week. It may be at the top of the CCHA, but the Maize and Blue are just mediocre when itcomes to killing penalties. The Wolverines have allowed eight power-play goals in 49 opportunities this season and five power-play tallies in their six con- ference games, good enough for just fifth in the conference in pen- alty-killing percentage. Michigan has allowed a power-play goal in six of its last seven games. Berenson has repeatedly called the penalty-killing unit a "work in progress" but said it's hard for the Wolverines to work on the penalty kill in practice because they're playing against their own teammates. "Our guys aren't going to shoot the puck, really rear back and shoot it on the point when you're coming up to block it," he said. "They're probably going to let up a little bit, so it's not the same. It's like not using real bullets. But just the same, we work on it, we look atvideo. "Right before the game, we'll show our (penalty kill) guys the other team's power play and what to expect." Michigan has relied on vet- erans Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik on the penalty kill, but freshman Matt Rust has been one of the Wolverines' biggest weap- ons while shorthanded. Rust is one of the most-used players on the penalty kill but has been on the ice for just one of the eight power-play goals allowed. Against Lake Superior State, the Wolverines hope to reduce what Berenson called "tired penalties"'- calls that come dur- ing the second and third period of games, when the Wolverines start to become outskated or fatigued. To win this weekend, Michigan cannot allow the Lak- ers to get back into the game like Nebraska-Omaha did two weeks ago, when Michigan gave up a lead in the second period of both games. But even though the Wolver- ines never trailed against winless Alaska last weekend, Michigan played at a slower pace than it did against teams like Boston Univer- sity during its first home series. "We turned the puck over at the blue line a lot (against Alas- ka), and I think we played down," Rust said. Injury update: The Wolver- ines will be traveling to Sault St. Marie without one of their biggest first-year contributors. Freshman Louie Caporusso, who is tied for fourth on the team with eight points through 10 games, injured his knee in practice and is expected to be out for four-to- six weeks. U MORE ONLINE at michigandaily.com BLOGS Like Procrastination Station? Read the live blog of last night's instant classic. (michigandaily.com/thegame) 6