10 - Friday, December 7, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Duke all too familiar for Beilein Miles officially signs contract with LSU 4 By MARK GIANNOTTO Daily Sports Writer Michigan coach John Beilein has been in this spot before. Dec. 1, 1992, he took Canisius to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face defending National Champion Duke. It was Beilein's first season as a Division-I basketball coach. That Canisius squad oddly resembled this year's Wolverines - a whole bunch of freshmen and sopho- mores, and just one senior. What happened? Let's just say he hasn't shown any film from that game to his cur- rent team. "It didn't go well," Beilein said of the 110-62 Blue Devil win. Now, 15 years later, Beilein brings another inexperienced team into the unfriendly confines of Cameron when Michigan takes on No. 6 Duke tomorrow at 2 p.m. This time around, the challenge may be just as daunting. Take a look at the numbers and things don't bode well for the Wolver- Serving Ann Arbor since 1980 ines, who have lost five of their past six games. The Blue Devils have won an NCAA-best 55 consecutive non- conference home games, a span of nearly seven seasons. They've won 34 straight games in the month of December. And their average mar- gin of victory this season has been an impressive 24.2 points, with wins over Illinois and Wiscon- sin - two teams picked to finish ahead of the Wolverines in the Big Ten. Throw in an advantage in points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage and this looks like an easy Duke victory. But it isn't as if the Wolver- ines don't know all this already. Michigan has seen the Blue Dev- ils already - considering their six appearances on national television already this year. "We're going to go compete no matter what it says on the front of the jersey," freshman Kelvin Grady said. one thing Michigan (3-5) does have going for it is rest. After the Wolverines played five games in 11 days, Beilein said fatigue might have been a factor in Michigan's disappointing 62-51 loss to Har- vard last weekend. The Wolver- ines have had a week off to get their legs back and assimilate into a regular schedule. It's alsogiventhemsometime to digest what has gone wrong since starting the season with two easy wins over Radford and Brown. Beilein said he had the team go back to the basics - like han- BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - LSU head football coach Les Miles signed a contract extension yesterday to keep him at the uni- versity through 2012, apparently ending speculation that he might leave for a job at the University of Michigan. "I'm thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled to be LSU's head coach. I'm thrilled to be on the cam- pus," Miles told the LSU Board of Supervisors before signing the deal. "I look forward to many years as the LSU head coach." The deal was approved yester- day by the LSU board's athletic committee, but needs the approv- al of the full board, which meets Friday. That vote is considered a formality. The contract doesn't change Miles's salary, which already will rise to at least $2.8 million annu- ally based on LSU's Southeastern Conference championship this year. An SEC championship win requires Miles' salary to be at least the third highest in the con- ference. If LSU wins the national cham- pionship, the contract provides Miles would become among the nation's top-earning college foot- ball coaches. University officials estimate that would put his annual earn- ings somewhere between $3.2 million and $3.5 million. LSU (11-2) faces Ohio State (11- 1) in the BCS national champion- ship game Jan. 7 at the Louisiana Superdome. Also remaining unchanged is the $1.25 million penalty Miles must pay LSU if he leaves for Michigan, a contract clause that college football fans became well acquainted with after Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr announced his retirement in November. Freshman Manny Harris and the rest of the Wolverines should expect a lot of pressure defense from Duke. dling the ball while running at full 0) is led in scoring by freshman speed, getting into a proper defen- forward Kyle Singler, who likely sive stance and pivoting correctly. would have declared for the NBA "I feel like this whole week in Draft out of high school had it practice we worked hard, so I'm been allowed. Junior Greg Paulus interested to see how we go out and senior DeMarcus Nelson pro- there and respond to the last cou- vide leadership and grit for a team ple games and how we lost," fresh- that has shown a killer instinct in man Manny Harris said. the early part of this season. The Wolverines haven't put Beilein expects the Blue Dev- much thought into exactly what ils to pressure Michigan's young this year's Duke squad brings backcourt early and often, more to the table, given the amount than likely through a full court of work they have to do on their press of some kind. own team. But after a down year Whether his team succumbs by their standards last season, the to that pressure like his Canisius Blue Devils are back in their usual team of the past remains to be spot atop the national conscience. seen. Boasting eight McDonald's All- "The odds are against us," Americans on its roster, Duke (8- Beilein said. "Let's just say that." Just before his team played Tennessee in the SEC champi- onship game Dec. 1, Miles effec- tively stopped predictions he would bolt Baton Rouge for Mich- igan, announcing his intention to remain at LSU. Miles wouldn't talk about the speculation that had dogged him for the past weeks about a return to Michigan, where he played, worked as an assistant coach and met his wife. LSU officials praised Miles's coaching, his straightforward- ness and his integrity. "He told the people inthisroom he wasn't going to Michigan, and he never was. He never leveraged it," LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said. During his three years at LSU, Miles has amassed impressive statistics that set records at the university. His overall record of 33-6 is the best three-year span in LSU his- tory, and his 14 wins over teams ranked in the top 25 is a school record, Bertman said. Miles also deflected concerns about the distractions the uproar over his tenure at LSU may have caused, saying he and his team were focused on the champion- ship game. "I can promise you we're at the task at hand," he said. The contract extension signed Thursday added a series of finan- cial incentive clauses to recognize players' academic achievements. If players hit certain academic benchmarks, Miles is given aspool of $150,000 to $250,000 to dis- burse to his coaching staff. Also, the contract termination clause was changed. If LSU fires Miles without cause, the coach could be owed as much as $15 mil- lion, up from $10 million. MORE ONLINE at michigandaily com/thegame BLOGS Be sure to check out The Game for live blogs from all of this weekend's hockey and bas- ketball action. It's also the best place to keep up-to-date on the continued search for Lloyd Carr's replacement as head football coach. 4 4 4 When suffering overwhelms, can faith and love sustain the human spirit? J.B. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Archibald MacLeish Directed byPhilip Kerr-Dept.oflheatre& Drama Dec. 6 at 7:30 PM - Dec. 7 & 8 at8 PM Dec. 9 at 2 PM - Power Center Tickets $24 and $18 - Students $9 with ID League Ticket Office " 734-764-2538 4 4 4 4 4