8 - Friday, November 21, 2008n
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.corn
A fresh beginning
Seniors hope
for first win
against the
Buckeyes
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily SportsEditor
When Terrance Taylor decided
to return for his senior season on
the Michigan football team, he had
some unfinished business.
"I didn't feel right leaving with-
out my degree and leaving without
beating Ohio State," Taylor said. "It
just didn't sit right with me."
He still has a chance to go 2-for-
2.
Taylor said the degree will come
in December. For
him and the rest Michigan
of Michigan's
seniors, the final State at
chance against the Ohio State
Buckeyes (6-1 Big
Ten, 9-2 overall) Michigan 3-8-
will come Satur- Ohio State 9-2
day in Columbus.
Michigan has lost when: Tomor-
four in a row to row, soon
Ohio State, and Where: Ohio
a loss Saturday Stadium
would be Michi- TV: ABC
gan's longest los-
ing streak in the
history ofthe rivalry.
This hasn't been the swan song
the seniors envisioned when they
decided to go to Michigan. The
arrival of Rich Rodriguez thrust the
program into its most drastic coach-
ing transition in 40 years.
The chance of a bowl game and a
winning season disappeared three
weeks ago. Hopes of a conference
championship ended well before
that. *
But beyond the on-field disap-
pointment,theseniorshave assumed
leadership roles in an unfamiliar
system. Some of the changes might
seem trivial, but they're not for play-
ers who spent three years in a differ-
ent culture.
There used to be no curfew.
Now, there is a 10 p.m. curfew some
nights.
During team dinners, the upper-
classmen used to make new players
and coaches sing. Now, they have a
gong show before the season where
the freshmen perform.
The players used to wear suits
before the games. Now, they wear
warm-ups.
The team used to be free to use
cell phones at Schembechler Hall.
Now, onlythe coaches can.
"It's different good," Taylor said
of the changes, before lowering his
head and bursting into laughter.
The laughter brings back memo-
ries of clashes between Taylor and
the new coaching staff, especially
during spring practice. But he has
moved past those differences and
emerged as one of the team's vocal
leaders.
"I just wanted to be part of a pro-
cess to show the new class and the
new recruits that this is what Mich-
igan is about," Taylor said. "This
is how we handle business. This is
what we don't do, and. this is what
we do."
Former Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr used to tell the team Michigan
football stories, like the significance
of the singed helmet, which was
implemented by former coach Fritz
Crisler so his quarterback could see
his downfield receivers. He also told
the story of the Little Brown Jug,
which ignited a rivalry between
Michigan and Minnesota when a
Wolverine left a water jug on the
field in 1903.
"Coach Rod had given a brief
summary of the Little Brown Jug,"
Taylor said. "What Coach Carr
would do, he would tell the whole
story. He would give the names of
the trainers."
Rodriguez hasn't been at Michi-
gan very long, and can't be expected
to recount all 129 years of Michigan
lore.
But there are some aspects of
the Michigan football team that
everyone knows, even for those who
haven't been here long at all.
One of those traditions is the
Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. In fact,
the news flash came on Rodriguez's
first day when someone sent him a
"Beat OSU" button. It sits next to his
phone, as a reminder.
"Just because I don't say some-
thing about that on my first day on
the job doesn't mean I don't under-
stand the importance of the game,"
Rodriguez said.
This year's Michigan squad (2-5,
3-8) is the biggest underdog in the
rivalry's history.
The Wolverines will starta quar-
terback who had no scholarship
offers coming out of high school.
The Buckeyes' starting quarter-
back was the nation's top-ranked
recruit last year. Michigan has set a
school record for losses in a season,
and Ohio State could go to the Rose
Bowl if they win and Penn State
loses tomorrow.
But this is still the Michigan-
Ohio State rivalry.
"Until you're there and you see it
with your own two eyes, it's totally
different," Taylor said. "I really
don'tknow. I can'tgetinside (Rodri-
guez's) head to tellyou how muchhe
fully understands it. But until you're
there, it's just kind of different from
what you see on film."
At the end of his 45-minute talk
with the media Monday, Taylor was
asked if he has any guarantees for
the rivalry game.
"No, I don'tgota -," Taylor start-
ed.
Then, he paused and continued
with confidence.
"Yeah, I've got a guarantee for
you. I'm going to play my heart out,
and I'm pretty sure other seniors
can guarantee that."
NEW YORK -
n his most famous song "New
York, New York", the late
Frank Sinatra sang his famous
line, "I'm gonna make a brand new
start of it - in old New York. And
if I can make it there, I'll make it
anywhere."
Thursday's 55-52 upset of No.
4 UCLA was the Michigan men's
basketball team's verse, its first
chance to shine against a domi-
nant team.
On the storied stage at Madison
Square Garden, the Wolverines
defied expectations and beat the
Bruins with an all-around team
effort.
And Michigan coach John Bei-
lein can add an impressive victory
to his slate as he continues build-
ing his program in Ann Arbor.
Many fans would like to forget
last season's RUTH
program- INCON
record 22 loss- ON -S
es. Bybeating ON W I
a three-peat
Final Four team, the Wolverines
found a wayto distance them-
selves from that infamy.
Last night's win marked a
positive start to the season and the
first big victory for a coach who
has beenheavily criticized in the
past year. Beilein's doubters won't
be silenced yet, but they can see a
quality win and successful execu-
tion of his system.
"It's good for us, most impor-
tantly, it's good for the city of Ann
Arbor, let them know that this
team is rebuilding, and we're not
goingto stop," said junior power
forward DeShawn Sims, who
called the win the biggest of his
Michigan career.
Beating UCLA doesn't auto-
matically put the Wolverines in
the NCAA Tournament. They
have plenty of work to do before
that happens. But everyone will
talk about this game. And for a
program that has been little more
than a joke for the past decade,
some positive attention is wel-
come.
The victory snaps Michigan's
12-game loss streak against ranked
opponents and was its the first'
against UCLA in six seasons.
"These early season wins are
always terrific, but you've got to
really putthem in perspective
because it's sort of a resume-type
of game," Beilein said.
After UCLA beat Michigan in
Ann Arbor last season, Bruins
coach Ben Howland called the
Wolverines the "best 4-8 team in
Redshirt junior Zack Gibson and redshirt sophomore Anthony Wright smother UCLA wing Josh Shipp last night.
the country." They had the talent
then, but their youth prevented
them from executing consistently.
The Michigan team that won
last nightplayed solid team
defense. It was patient on offense.
And it didn'trely on sophomore
Manny Harris for all its scoring.
Freshman Stu Douglass posted 14
points and Sims had 18.
"You can definitely see their
improvement - the guys that
know the system, the guys that
returned from that team," How-
land said. "There's definitely a
good cohesion amongst the play-
ers. I thought they were a really
good unit."
Although it was technically a
neutral site, there were plenty of
Wolverine fans wearing maize
throughout the Garden.
in the second half, you could
see the Michigan fans come alive.
With just under 15 seconds left,
the pep band played "The Victors"
and the fight song was audible
throughoutthe arena.
It wasn't a group of fans singing
their fight song out of obligation.
For the first time in a long while,
Michigan basketball fans actually
had something to cheer about.
Wolverines show improvement
against A&M, but don't finish
Michigan aims to
support Sauer by
scoring on Fridays
Benson's final-second
3-point attempt
bounces out
By TIM ROHAN
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's basket-
ball team was inches away from
tying the game and forcing over-
time in a statement game of its
own.
A year ago, the Wolverines lost
at Texas A&M by 28 points, and
faced the TEXAS A&M 59
Aggies MICHIGAN 56
again last
night at
Crisler Arena.
The Wolverines hung with
No. 12 Texas A&M (3-0) until a
3-pointer from senior forward
Carly Benson bounced off the side
of the rim with seconds to play.
Michigan lost the game narrowly,
59-56.
Michigan (1-2) was coming off
a loss against Akron, after which
Michigan coach Kevin Borseth
called the offense's play "atro-
cious." The Wolverines were
slightly better against the Aggies.
"(Borseth) did exactly what he
needed to stop aggressiveness,"
Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.
"That is to spread the floor and
have post players who can shoot
the three."
Last night, even though Michi-
gan was spreading the floor and
attacking the lane with purpose
and kicking to three-point shoot-
ers, the Wolverines didn't knock
down open shots. The Wolverines
shot 16 percent (4-of-25) from
behind the arc and 36 percent
(18-of-50) from the field.
Borseth didn't regret his
team taking so many 3-pointers,
although the Wolverines missed 21
6
Despite similar stats,
senior has four more
losses than Hogan
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan hockey team's
offense is letting down its senior
goaltender.
Sophomore Bryan Hogan's goal
support when he starts Satur-
days is remarkable compared to
senior Billy Sauer's when he starts
Fridays. The ninth ranked Wol-
verines (8-4-0 overall, 5-3-0-0
CCHA) have scored 30 goals for
Hogan and just 10 for Sauer.
With so little offensive support,
it's no wonder Sauer is a bit frus-
trated.
"When you lose Friday night,
the team has a chance to redeem
themselves Saturday night, but
I have to wait to the next week,"
Sauer said.
The Wolverines scored just
once in each of
SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Junior center Krista Phillips, seen here last season, had 13 points and eight rebounds in Michigan's 59-56 loss to Texas A&M.
Sauer's past two
starts. Michigan
fell to a Western
Michigan team
that had just one
previous win and
to Alaska, which
typically strug-
gles on offense.
Besides
Hogan's 6-0
and Sauer's 2-4
record, both have
similar statistics.
Hogan has slight
Michigan at
Miami(Ohio)
Matchup:
Michigan 8-4;
Miami 6-3-3
When:
Tonight,
7:30 P.M.
Where:rSteve
Cady Arena
TV:
NHL Network
of them. He called misses "shots in
rhythm," something which Michi-
gan didn't have last year at Texas
A&M.
The Wolverines relied on getting
open looks from dribble penetra-
tion and high-post screens to hold
off the aggressive Aggie defense.
With about nine minutes to play
in the first half, senior guard Jes-
sica Minnfield took a pass from
Benson at the top of the key, ran
her defender into Benson's screen,
drove through two defenders and
finished with alay-up.
But, whenever Michigan scored
a key basket, the Aggies seemed
to counter with either a defensive
stand or a bucket of their own.
Texas A&M had 15 points off the
Wolverines 18 turnovers.
Michigan played arguably its
best defensive game of the season.
Holding Texas A&M to 28 percent
(9-32) shooting from the field in
the first half, the Wolverines had a
four-point halftime lead.
"We could not run our motion
offense, a lot of sets we wanted,
because they had one foot in the
paint on almost everything we
were doing," Blair said.
But at crunch time, the Wolver-
ines couldn't overcome the steady
Aggies, even though Texas A&M's
largest lead in the game was just
five points. With 21 seconds left in
the game, and Michigan down by
three points, Borseth called a tim-
eout to set up a play. The designed
play to get an open 3-pointer was
foiled, and Minnfield found junior
center Krista Phillips open under
the basket for a lay-up. The Aggies
made their two free-throws, after
Michigan fouled them, to close out
the game.
Phillips finished with 13 points
and 8 rebounds. She also played
well beyond the stat sheet by set-
ting screens and playing solid
defense. Minnfield's 14 points led
the team in scoring.
With five more games against
teams currently ranked in the top
25, the Wolverineswill have plenty
of chances to challenge the best of
women's basketball. But Borseth
sees last night's effort as some-
thing to build on.
0
advantages in
goals allowed average (2.22 vs. 2.85)
and save percentage (.906 vs..893).
See REDHAWKS, Page 9