The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com F
Wolverines trying to regain its
steep legacy with upset of Duke
SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Junior Chris Summers thinks the Michigan hockey team's game tonight against
Michigan State will be its biggest matchup of the year. Unlike past seasons, both
teams have had lackluster starts and enter the series with little hype.
Excitement low
with teams down
By GJON JUNCAJ meetings. In the past, Michigan
Daily Sports Writer and Michigan State were fighting
for breathing room near the top of
Rivalry games come with many the conference standings.
givens: hatred, trash talk, fierce Now it's about establishing an
hits, wild crowds and a lot of cli- identity.
ches. But this weekend, there's one "(This weekend) might take on
tradition missing, from the No. 14 another dimension," Michigan
Michigan hockey team's home-and- coach Red Berenson said. "Because
home series with Michigan State. right now, both teams are trying
Hype. to prove they're not as bad as they
The Wolver- Mhigan St look."
ines (5-5 CCHA, The Wolverines and Spartans
9-7-0 overall) at Michigan currently trail first-place Miami in
enter tonight's Matchup: the standings by nine and 11 points.
matchup losers of MSU 4-9-3; A potential sweep means four
five of their past Michigan points, which could spring the vic-
eight games and 9-7-0 tor back into the conference race.
are- still search- When: Tonight, There's plenty of urgency to go
ing for consistent 7:35 p.m. along with bragging rights.
scoring. Mean- Where Yost "We have to have agood weekend
while, the Spar- Ice Arena if we're going to have any momen-
tans (2-6-2-2, tum going into the second half of
4-9-3) are win- TV/Radio: the season," junior Chris Summers
less in their past FSN Plus said. "(Tonight) is our biggest game
nine contests, of the year."
largely because of offensive woes. Goals will be at a premium this
Michigan State ranks last in the weekend. The Wolverines looked
conference in goals and has been their best this season in games
outscored 43-26 this season. where they relentlessly crashed
The Spartans' discouraging the net to create scoring chances
month of November has been exac- around the crease. Even that may
erbated by two blowout losses, one not be enough this weekend, as
to No. 4 Miami (Ohio) and the other a familiar face will stand in their
at Nebraska-Omaha. Michigan way.
State lost those two contests by a SpartangoalieJeffLergis5-4-4
combined score of 12-2. with a .913 save percentage in 13
"You watch a lot of their tape, career starts against the Wolver-
and it's a fine line between them ines. With the 2007 national title
winning and losing," Michigan and six career NCAA tournament
assistant coach Mel Pearson said. wins, Lerg is the most accom-
"They're right there in most oftheir plished netminder Michigan will
games, but it still comes back to face this season.
your team. While the coaching staff has
"So you try, maybe this year, not seen the good and the bad from
totalkaboutthem asmuch. Because Lerg throughout the past three
you can't sugarcoat it. Their record seasons, the Wolverines don't
is what it is in the past nine games. plan to attack him differently
But we've talked more about our from opposing goaltenders.
record (and) how we're playing." "You have to look at games
The Wolverines carry their low- where you've had success against
est ranking entering a matchup him in the past," Pearson said.
with Michigan State since at least "(You) try to incorporate some
2002. Unexpected injuries on the of things where there's traffic
blueline and a disturbing lack of in front of the net (and) turning
offensive support for senior goalie cycles behind the net. Obviously,
Billy Sauer have facilitated Michi- he's a terrific goalie."
gan's fall from its preseason No. 2 Berenson will counter by giv-
ranking. ing sophomore Bryan Hogan
In a strange way, the Wolverines' his second Friday start in net
and Spartans' struggles illustrate this season. Berenson hopes the
why this series could have more move will spark the Wolverines'
meaning than in recent years. The offense, which has scored 37 of its
two teams have been ranked in the 47 goals this year with the High-
top 10 in each of their past eight land native between the pipes.
.,LLEBALL
Blue overcomes deficit
in Lexington to advance
in NCAA Tournament
By MARK BURNS the Wolverines had the Wildcats
Daily Sports Writer on their heels.
"Itwas astreakymatch," sopho-
The No. 19 Michigan volleyball more setter Lexi Zimmerman said.
team's youth showed during the "And we had all of the momentum
first three sets against No.20 Ken- at that point, so we just used it to
tucky last night. But the Wolver- our advantage."
ines matured at just the right time. The Wolverines used that
Michigan (25-8 overall) over- momentum to win the final set and
came a 2-1 set deficit to defeat the match from the hometown Wild-
Wildcats three sets to two in the cats (26-6).
opening round of the NCAA Tour- "We didn't play perfect tonight,"
nament at Memorial Coliseum in Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
Lexington, Ky. "But we played well and that got us
"We are a very young team," the win."
Rosen said. "But in that set, we In a game filled with streaks,
needed to grow up very fast and Michigan held a 24-20 advantage
we did." in the opening set only to see the
Down 14-10 in the fourth frame lead evaporate.
and on the verge of being bounced "The crowd played a bit of a fac-
out of the tournament, Michigan tor in the first set," said junior right
responded. side hitter Megan Bower, who had
After a service ace by fresh- 12 kills. "We weren't as loose as
man libero Sloane Donhoff and we could be, and that played a big
two kills from junior outside hitter part."
Juliana Paz knotted the score at 15, See WILDCATS, Page 8
No. 4 Duke comes
to Crisler Arena
tomorrow for second
matchup with M'
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
Two decades ago, the Michigan
and Duke programs were on top
of the college basketball world.
Coming off a National Cham-
pionship in 1989, the Wolverines
brought in a star-studded fresh-
man class dubbed the Fab Five in
1991.
The freshmen led Michigan to
back-to-back sec-
ond place finish- Duke at
es in the NCAA
Tournament in Michigan
1992 and 1993. Matchup:
Their loss in 1992 Duke 8-0;
was to the Blue Michigan 5-2
Devils, who also When: Tomor-
won the title in row, 3:30 PM.
1991. Where: Cris-
At the time, ier Arena
they looked like
two - programs ESPNRadio:
destined for con-
tinued success
and college basketball immortal-
ity, but they took different paths.
Since then, Duke (8-0) has
become synonymous with top-tier
college basketball, missing March
Madness just once and claiming
the NCAA Championship again
in 2001.
And Michigan? The Wolver-
ines, due to NCAA sanctions, were
forced to vacate the records from
1992, 1993 and from 1995 through
1999. Michigan was also forced to
vacate its 1992 Final Four appear-
ance, the 1997 NIT championship,
the 1998 Big Ten Tournament
Championship and the 1993, 1996
and 1998 NCAA Tournament
Appearances.
The Wolverines (5-2) have a
shot to earnbacksome of their lost
glory Saturday when a refreshed
Michigan team and No. 4 Duke
clash for the second time this sea-
son. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.
at Crisler Arena.
Michigan's first loss of the sea-
son was to Duke in the finals of
the 2K Sports Classic on Nov. 21.
Although the Wolverines were
competitive, they suffered their
sixth straight loss to the Blue
Devils, dating back to 1999.
"One of the reasons we sched-
ule Michigan is because playing
them will make us better, win or
lose," Duke coach Mike Krzyze-
wski said after the win over Mich-
igan.
The two teams faced each
other every year from 1989 to the
2003 season and started up the
tradition again last year when
Michigan traveled to Duke (8-0).
According to the Raleigh News
and Observer, there were no
games from 2003-2006 because
Krzyzewski doesn't like to coach
against former players (former
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker
played for Krzyzewski from1984-
87). When Amaker started at
Michigan in 2001, there were still
two years remaining on the con-
tract between the two schools..
When it expired, Duke didn't
renew it.
"You like it when you have a
home game all the time," Michi-
gan coach John Beilein said. "It's
better than playing in Cameron
(Indoor Stadium) I think. It's an
advantage that we have now as
both of us coach up our players
and both teams try to get better
the next two weeks."
And Krzyzewski knows exactly
what it means to have home-court
advantage.
"Playing up there, in their envi-
ronment will be a heck of an envi-
ronment," Krzyzewski said after
beating Michigan two weeks ago.
Outside of Cameron Indoor
Stadium is a field named "Krzyze-
wskiville."
Leadingup to thebiggestgames
of the season, students camp
out for weeks in order to haver
a shot at the first row. Students
even have the capability to
Former Michigan center Eric Riley and the Michigan men's basketball team were
downed 75-68 on Dec. 8,1990 in what was a fierce, annual battle between the
Wolserines and Duke. Under former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker, the rivalry
ceased, hot corrent coach John leilein has revised the matchup. -
access wireless internet. the upset of the Jruins - but
You may not see students camp- win against Duke would make
ing out around Crisler Arena, but their resume come Selection Sun
Saturday's game sold out within day even more appealing.
hours of the Wolverines upset of And it would certainly help ii
then-No. 4 UCLA. bringing the Michigan basketbal
Beilein and the Wolverines programback to its golden days a
already have a signature win - a national powerhouse.
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