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8 - Friday, January 16, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Blue to celebrate anniversary
of 1989 NCAA Championship
SAIDOALSALAH/Oaily
Senior Melinda Queen attempts to drive past Michigan State defenders.
Scan' slip
past Spartans,
mcgan ;
wins third s
against Mi(
By CHANTEL JE
Daily Sports P
Senior captain C
stood alone at the pt
last night's postgame
ence following the Mi
en's basketball team's
Michigan State. Her f
until final-
ly, the first MI CHIGA
question MICHIGA
came. She
looked up and sighed.
"I don't think I can
son said through tears
Almost on comman
sica Minnfield and j
Phillipssurroundedth
ready to take on the to
as a unit.
The disappointmen
the Wolverines' firstI
loss of the season, fron
straight to the Sparta
not capitalizing on a le
second half.
"I think we can
Michigan coach Kevin
"We just got mixed up
had agood game plang
we had a lot of really g
The Wolverines (2-
overall) drew a largec
rivalry game. The Mic
section chanted "can
write," "little sister"
gan State) coach (Suzy
hot", which even mad
the Spartan bench smi
Michigan played a s
much to the credit of
tainingthe Spartans' 6
center Allyssa DeHaan
Michigan State (4-2,
dently rattledearly, thrc
away on multiple occas
ing up 11 turnovers intl
was apparent the Spart
ing uneasy with their
into halftime, and traili
,tate Minnfield sparked the Wolver-
ines with an early 3-pointer to start
the second half, but both teams
chigan traded baskets for the next 1 min-
utes. With 12:57 left, Benson hit a
3-pointer to put Michigan up six.
INNINGS But in the second half, Merchant
riter had her team switch defensive looks
to keep Michigan on its heels. The
ary Benson Wolverines experienced a field-goal
odium during drought during the next nine min-
press confer- utes and 23 seconds as the Spartans
ichigan wom- turned their six-point deficit into a
41-37 loss to five-point lead.
ace was down With 3:36 left, Minnfield made
a steal, layup and free throw, with
N STATE 41 3:36 left, while bringing Crisler to
N 37 its feet and giving the Wolverines
a much-needed burst of energy.
Shortly after, Benson hit a deep
do this," Ben- 3-pointer from the corner to give
the Wolverines a lead heading into
d, senior Jes- the final minute.
unior, Krista But before the celebration for
eirteammate, Benson's 3-pointer had ended, Spar-
ugh questions tan redshirt junior Aisha Jefferson
drove the lane and converted a layup
it came from whilebeing fouled by senior Stepha-
Big Ten home ny Skrba for a three-point play.
n losing three Jefferson was clutch on her free
ans and from throw, and the Spartans as a team
ad late in the shot 10-of-14 from the line. But o
Borseth's dismay, Michigan made
e unglued," just five of 12 free throws.
Borseth said. "It is the whole game," Borseth
I thought we said. "We make free throws and the
oing at it, and game is different. We didn't make
ood looks." any free throws."
4 Big Ten, 9-8 On the other end, the Wolver-
crowd for the ines heaved up another one of their
higan student 35 3-point attempts of the night.
't read, can't DeHaan grabbed the rebound, was
and "(Michi- fouled and made her free throws to
Merchant) is extended the Spartan lead to four
e members of and close out the night.
le. The home loss is an obvious dis-
olid first half, appointment for the Wolverines,
Phillips con- who head to Minnesota this Sun-
-foot-9junior day. Although Michigan is 0-3 on
1. the road in Big Ten Conference play,
11-6) was evi- Minnfield is positive that her team
owingthe ball will overcome this loss.
ions andrack- "We gotta forget about it," Min-
he first half. It nfield said. "Staying confident, stay-
ans were feel- ing together as a team, that's all we
play heading really can do. We can't dwell on this
ing 17-16. loss, we just have to move on."
Ar ma, A
Fisher reminisces
about unexpected
national title
By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Editor
Steve Fisher can remember it
clearly.
As fans took their seats in the
Seattle Kingdome before the 1989
NCAA National Championship
Game, Fisher looked on as Michi-
gan men's basketball star forward
Glen Rice laid on a training table.
Team trainer Jerry O'Connor
wrapped Rice's ankles like he
did before any other game. But
this time,
even with Ohio State
the pressure
to finish his at Michigan
third-seeded Matchup:Ohs
Wolverines' State 12-3;
unexpected Michigan 13-4
Tournament
run, Rice was y8n Satur-
particularly
relaxed. Where: Cris-
So relaxed er Arena
that he was TV:
sleeping. BTN
O'Connor
pointed to
Fisher and laughed as the even-
tual Most Outstanding Player of
the tournament lay as calm as ever
before the biggest game of his life.
"You could sense a growing
belief in confidence in a group of
guys that they were on the brink
of achieving something that had
never happened to them or the
program," Fisher said.
Rice led Michigan to its first
and only basketball title by scoring
a record 184 points in the Tourna-
ment.
Rice and most of his teammates
will be honored Saturday for their
1989 NCAA title when the 24th-
ranked Wolverines face Ohio State
at Crisler Arena. The current team
will wear dark blue replicas of the
1989 uniforms to celebrate the
20th anniversary.
Fisher, now the head coach at
San Diego State, won't be in atten-
dance for tomorrow's festivities.
He was fired in 1997 amid accusa-
tions involving former booster Ed
Martin.
But Fisher still keeps in contact
with many of his former players,
including Rob Pelinka, Terry Mills
and Sean Higgins.
"Those kids are no longer kids,"
Fisher said. "They're in their 40s
now. It doesn't seem possible."
Then-Athletic Director Bo
Schembechler named Fisher
interim head coach on the eve
of the 1989 NCAA Tournament
after then-head coach Bill Frie-
der accepted the head coaching
job at Arizona State with the plan
to join the Sun Devils after the
Tournament. When Schembechler
discovered Frieder's plans, he
immediately fired Frieder and
replaced him with Fisher, famous-
ly saying "a Michigan man will
coach Michigan, not an Arizona
State man."
Known as a true teacher to his
players, Fisher led the Wolverines
past Virginia and No. 1 seed Illi-
nois to advance to the champion-
ship game against Seton Hall.~ FILE PHOTO
"It truly happened in such a Terry Mills celebrates Michigan's win overVirginia. which sent the Wolverines to the
quick fashion, you had no time inal Four in Seattle Michigan eat Illinois and Setn Hall to win the national title.
to worry or get nervous," Fisher
said.
And as Michigan and Seton Hall
went into overtime, there wasn't
room for nerves.
The Pirates fouled Wolverine
guard Rumeal Robinson' with
three seconds left in the extra
frame and the Wolverines down
one. Robinson had been in the
exact situation earlier that season
against Wisconsin when both his
free throws clanked off the rim.
After the Wisconsin loss, Fisher
remembers Robinson telling him,
"I'm not going to ever let that hap-
pen to me again."
The next time was different.
Robinson drained both shots to
put Michigan up by one. The Wol-
verines won the game, 80-79 (OT).
"They took a timeout to try to
make him a little extra nervous,
and I could just see in his eyes
that he had a calmness about
him," Fisher said of Robinson. "He
meant what he said - he was going
to make them."
Most of the current Wolver-
ines aren't old enough to remem-
ber Michigan's title run, and six
weren't even born at the time. But
Michigan coach John Beilein said
his staff emphasizes the program's
history to the team.
"(Freshman center) Ben Cronin,
born in (1989), once asked me, 'Was
Michigan ever good in basketball?'
" Beilein said with a laugh.
Fisher is in his 18th season as
a head coach and has dealt with
his share of joy and turmoil. But
Fisher said his greatest memories
are the personal experiences he
shared with his family and play-
ers. His oldest son Mark, who he
once held in his arm as his team
cut down the nets in 1989, is now
an assistant coach with his father
at San Diego State.
Fisher said he doesn't feel like
it's been 20 years since Michigan's
historic run. And if you ask him,
he's okay with it.
"I think that's the beauty of it,"
Fisher said. "It seems like you can
close your eyes and relive many,
many of the moments that trans-
pired in that magical run that we
had."
Hagelin leads resurgent offensive production
Sophomore Swede finally starting to get things going.
Though forward Carl Hagelin
comes on strong in struggled through much of the
first half of the season and scored
the second half of just two goals, he has been on a
tear since the
season Nov. 28-29 Col- Bowling
lege Hockey G
By CHRIS MESZAROS Showcase. The Green at
Daily Sports Writer sophomore from Michigan
Sweden has six Matchup:
Just two series ago, the No. 6' goals and 10 Bowling Green
Michigan hockey team's success assists on the 7-12-3; Michi-
largely depended on its top offen- year and has gan 15-7
sive line, which scored nearly half helped revitalize When: Today
of Michigan's goals. Michigan's sec- 7:35 P.M.
But in last weekend's series and line.
against Miami (Ohio), seven of the "I believe I ceAre: Yost
Wolverines' nine goals came from should have had
lower in the depth chart. a better start Radio: WTKA
And one of the players Michi- than I had for
gan hoped to rely on this season is sure," Hagelin said. "Even though
you aren't playing your best, you
have to keep working hard."
The Wolverines have dominat-
ed opponents since the Michigan
State series last December, scoring
at least four goals in every game.
The biggest reason for the resur-
gence is balanced scoring.
Although Michigan's top line of
sophomores Aaron Palushaj and
Louie Caporusso and freshman
David Wohlberg have 35 goals on
the season, the second and third
lines have started to pick up some
of the slack.
One of the biggest contributors
is Hagelin, who is also known for
his stellar play on the penalty kill
and nearly unmatched speed on
the ice. The better he plays, the
more energy and enthusiasm he
has for the game.
"I feel alot better, actually, even
in practice," Hagelin said. "I feel
like I have more energy and am
more confident with the puck. It's
easy to play when the whole team
is playing better."
Last weekend, Ijagelin showed
off his ability with a man down,
not only helping to successfully
kill a RedHawk penalty but also
scoring a shorthanded goal in the
first game of the series. Hagelin
connected on a rebound goal off
a shot fellow sophomore linemate
Matt Rust.
Both Hagelin and Ruststruggled
earlier this season but are start-
ing to find their stride. That's the
theme of most of the Wolverines'
offensive parings: It's difficult for
a line to succeed when only one
forward is playing well.
"Both those guys are unbeliev-
able players, and whenever they're
on their game, this team doesn't
have much trouble winning,"
Caporusso said.
Michigan has a home-and-home
series against Bowling Green this
weekend, and although the Falcons
(7-12-3 overall, 4-9-1-0 CCHA) are
struggling this season, Michigan
can't afford to overlook them.
Bowling Green's sophomore
goaltender Nick Eno, who has
missed most of the season to inju-
ry, is expected to return and will
likely provide a boost for the Fal-
cons.
The Wolverines are tied for
fifth place in the CCHA and are 10
points behind conference leader
Notre Dame.
Michigan's sweep of No. 10
Miami last weekend was vital for
the Wolverines to stay in the con-
ference race, but coupled with a
series against No. 1 Notre Dame
in the next two weeks, Michigan
could risk fallingvictim to compla-
cency against Bowling Green.
"We can't overlook anything
right now," Hagelin said. "We're
fifth or sixth in the standings
right now and we don't want to be
there."
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Marosevic SuperDrafted
fifth overall to FC Dallas
By ANDY REID Although many professional
Daily Sports Editor soccer pundits believed Marosevic
- --would be taken as high as No. 2,
Peri Marosevic, who recently the highest draft pick in Michigan
shunned his senior year on the soccer history was excited about
Michigan men's soccer team the opportunity.
to join Generation adidas, was "I can't say enough about how
taken as the fifth-overall selec- much this means to me," Maros-
tion in the Major League Soccer evic told MLSnet.com. "As a little
SuperDraft yesterday. child, I have always wanted to pur-
FC Dallas drafted Marosevic. sue my life as a professional soccer
The team finished 8-10-12 last player. Today is a new beginning.
season, good enough for a fifth- It's a beginning that I'm looking
place finish in the Western Divi- forward to and I will never for-
sion standings. zet."
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