2B - Monday, November 16, 2009 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com 2B - Monday, November 16, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom __ -w SPARTANS From page 1B in either game this weekend. After starting the season 4-for-8 with the extra-man advantage, it has scored just three goals on its last 49 chances. Trailing 2-0, Michigan had four-and-a-half minutes with the man advantage in Saturday's third period. The Wolverines worked the puck around the perimeter and kept the pressure going in the offensive zone, something they failed to do in other power plays, but Michigan State shut down the middle and cleared the rebounds with the man advantage. Of those potentially game-changing chances, the Wolverines gener- ated just two shots. "It's just execution," Kampfer said. "Coach (Berenson) has given us a very simple plan to go out there with. ... I think we need to get shots through and start crash- ing the net." The power play is just a small part of Michigan's early-season offensive woes. The Wolverines' goals on the weekend came from junior Carl Hagelin, one of the few players consistently scoring points, and freshman defenseman Lee Moffie, who has been in and out of the lineup. Despite facing 31 shots Satur- day, Spartan goaltender Drew Palmisano was rarely forced to make anything more than a rou- tine save in his second career shut- out. A little bit of bad luck and alot of missed chances have resulted in just four Michigan goals in its last four games. While the Wolverines have a chance to find their scoring touch next weekend in a home-and- home against Bowling Green, the conference's second-worst defen- sive team, the series could end up being a lot more complicated. "We're not that good," Beren- son said. "We've got one returning 20-goal scorer, and he's got one goal, and outside of that, every- body else - they're doing what they can, but we don't have alot of prolific offensive players." CLIF RE Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson has struggled in his first season. The Wolverines have given up 309 total points in 11 games. Robinson needs to be held accountable or dfensive woes WILDCATS From page 1B and the Wolverines didn't let up as the game went on. They were clicking on fast breaks. They were trapping oppo- nents on defense. And even the freshmen looked comfortable doing it. - Some very impressive individ- ual achievements were overshad- owedby Harris' triple-double, too. Vogrich, in his college basketball debut, went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. And while reporters con- tinuously asked questions about Harris, Beilein made sure to point out another player in the post- game press conference. "Look right next to (Harris') name," he said. Next on the box score was senior forward DeShawn Sims, of course. Sims recorded a double- double, which included a game- high 22 points. Sims, along with Harris, came out of halftime on fire. He quickly scored a layup, and Harris drilled an easy 3-pointer. After that, the two created fast break opportuni- ties and dunks as if they were put- ting on a skills clinic. And the scariest part for Michi- gan's future opponents might not be the multitude of points from the potent duo. It could be their defense, which was highlighted by 16 combined defensive rebounds. Harris in particular impressed fans with his hustle while fighting for the ball, especially considering his health concerns coming into the game. "I just want to be an all-around player and crash the boards," Har- ris said. "That's my mindset - just attack, and try to get rebounds." If Harris continues to concen- trate on rebounding and tallying assists, he could grow into an even more dangerous, multi-faceted player this season. Throw in a quicker and stronger Sims, and, well, there's a reason the pair has been garnering a great deal of attention. "If Manny and (Sims) play like they did (Saturday), shar- ing the ball, getting rebounds, doing all the little things, it's going to be a great year for us," Vogrich said.:"We're going to be hard to beat." MADISON - This is one of the all-time worst stretches in the history of the Michigan defense. Since padding the stats against Delaware State, the Wolverines have given up more than 1,800 yards and 156 points in four games. As a frame of refer- ence, it took 11 ANDY and a half games REID for Michigan to surrender that many points in 2006. Two quarterbacks - Penn State's Daryll Clark and Wisconsin's Scott Tolzien - have each thrown four touchdown passes during that skid. Before this season, just four quar- terbacks had ever reached that feat against the Wolverines. Even the much-maligned 2008 defense isn't on that list. And even though Brandon Gra- ham called Michigan a second-half team after the Iowa game, the Wol- verines have been outscored 99-19 after the break in the past four games. The Michigan defense is bad. Understatement. The Wolverines have given up 309 points this sea- son, four more than at this point last season, which was the worst statistical defense in the history of Michigan football. But that's not what this column is about. It's not hard to point out that the unit is bad. What I want to know is who is being held account- able. Rich Rodriguez will answer questions about the defense in his press conferences, but the head coach is notoriously hands-off with the defense, focusing instead on the other side of the ball. His defensive staff should be answering some of the questions. Where are the halftime adjust- ments? What was going on with switching Donovan Warren to safety? How did Wisconsin "keep getting stuff behind us," as middle linebacker Obi Ezeh said? But they won't even give report- ers the time of day. Greg Robinson has talked to the media once in the last four weeks. That one time, he was briskly walk- ing toward Schembechler Hall as myself and another reporter tried to keep up and ask him a few ques- tions. After the Wolverines were torn up for 500 yards against Purdue? "Not today," Robinson said to reporters. His defensive line coach Bruce Tall also declined comment. What about this week? Linebackers coach Jay Hopson told reporters he didn't want to talk and then said, "Greg will handle that." Robinson exited the locker room five minutes later. He said no, looked back and said, "You guys - tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomor- row." There has never been media availability on a Sunday, and Rob- inson has never come to a midweek press conference. Last season, I almost felt bad for Scott Shafer. Every week, the defense looked inept. Every week, Michigan gave up big play after big play. But every week, as it became more obvious that Shafer wasn't fit- ting in and was probably going to be let go at season's end, the defensive coordinator still forced a smile on his face, asked reporters how they were doing and let them grill him for a few minutes. Robinson should be more than comfortable with fielding tough questions. He had to have gotten his fair share of them while he was the head coach at Syracuse, when his teams went a combined 10-37. As the defensive coordinator of the Michigan Wolverines, you should be willing to answer ques- tions about your unit - even when you give up 45 points and the ques- tions will undoubtedly be negative. Robinson should feel compelled to at least give an update about the defense every once in a while, even if it's for nothing else than the 100,000 people packing the stadium every Saturday, for one of the most loyal fanbases in college sports. I'm not asking for much. Just answer a few questions. - Reid can be reached at andyreid@umich.edu. 01 Disappointing 10th-place finish ends Michigan's postseason hopes By MICHAEL LAURILA For the Daily BLOOMINGTON- The Michigan men's cross country team couldn't outrun illness and injury in the Great Lakes Regional meet on Sat- urday. The team's 10th place finish proved to be a disappointing step back from last season's second- place triumph. Fifth-year senior Sean McNa- mara, who tied for 10th in last year's regional meet, strained his Achilles tendon with 1,000 yards to go Saturday, causing him to lose about SO places. Sophomore Bobby Aprill, who placed 84th at last year's meet, couldn't run due to illness. Freshman Dallas Bowden, who was slotted to run, did not com- pete for undisclosed reasons. Even though the Wolverines facedeproblems outside of their control, Michigan coach Ron Warhurst wasn't going to blame his team's mediocre performance solely on that. After 35 seasons as head coach, Warhurst knows that every team faces these same issues. "We've been pretty affected by illnesses and stuff," Warhurst said. "Everybody is going through it. We just didn't run well. Period." Coming into the meet, Michi- gan was hoping to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the second straight year. The top two teams at the regional receive an automatic bid into the NCAA meet, and 13 other teams receive an at-large bid. With the Wolverines' 10th-place finish, they were nowhere near qualifying. "We ended up 10th, and you're thinking coming into it that you can get second or third," Warhurst said. "It was very disappointing." Leading the way for Michigan was redshirt junior Peter Christ- mas in 29th place. Following close behind him were freshman Bren- don Blacklaws, finishing 31st, and fifth-year senior Brandon Fel- lows, finishing 33rd. The race is a 10-kilometer run, or approximate- ly six miles. "I did great up until about 7K," Christmas said. "About everybody on our team just had a bad day. Personally, I just had a cramp in my lung. "Not really anything I can do about that." Christmas knows the Wolver- ines had an outside chance to make it to the NCAA Championshipmand didn't perform to their maximum potential. "I would say it was a mediocre race for me at best," Christmas said. "I didn't have a horrible day, but I didn't have a great day, just not a good one." With this meet, the team is done for the year. Warhurst wasn't very pleased with the team's performance throughout the season, but he knows it can bounce back. The Wolverines had plenty of talent, but just couldn't tie it all together. "I just don't think we performed well in a lot of situations, at least up to their capabilities," Warhurst said. "We'll have to reevaluate and find out what the deal is." SAID ALSALAH/Daily Sophomore Alex Hunt and Michigan swept Purdue and Indiana this weekend. 'M' moves closer to NCAA bid with weekend sweep By MARK BURNS ing balls off our blocks, and we DailySports Writer just kind of sat back and waited for them to lose instead of us Ever since the spring season, going out and winning." the Michigan volleyball team has Two sets later, the Wolverines worked on serving, passing and were in what Rosen called a "dog- blocking, just like every other fight." With the match tied at two team in the Big Ten. sets apiece, sophomore right side But after months of daily prac- hitter Alex Hunt used her pow- tices and preparation, coach erful serve to throw the Hoosier Mark Rosen knows what his defense off balance and grab four team needs more than anything points for Michigan. this late in the season: wins. The Wolverines (10-6, 22-7) And that's just what the 14th- won the fifth set 15-11, as Hunt ranked Wolverines got this week- led the offense with 18 kills on end against Purdue and Indiana the night. Senior outside hitter at Cliff Keen Arena. It was the Juliana Paz garnered 15 kills as Wolverines' first weekend sweep well. since Sept. 25 and 27 - against The Wolverines played their the same Purdue and Indiana way to a similar outcome against teams. During the seven-week the Boilermakers on Friday. The stretch, the team was just .500 in Wolverines raced out to a 2-0 conference play. lead and then squandered the "At this point in the season, next two sets to set the stage for you can sense everyone's urgen- another five-set match. Michigan cy," Rosen said. "I think for us, boasts a 4-2 record in five-set we feel pretty secure that we're matches. going to get in, but we don't want Senior captain Megan Bower, to limp into the tournament. We like Rosen, noted how this week- want to run in the tournament." end's matches were critical for Against the Hoosiers, Michi- possibly securing a higher seed gan took the first two sets of the in the NCAA Tournament, and match, and all signs pointed to a earning the right to host the first three-set sweep. But four service two rounds. The last time the aces in the third match by Indi- Wolverines hosted the beginning ana (4-12 Big Ten, 15-15 overall) stages of the tournament was in and some sloppy defensive play 2007. allowed the Hoosiers to jump "At this point in the year, you back into contention. take wins where you can get "When you hit (an attack per- them," Rosen said. "When our centage of) .433, you expect to kids' backs were against the wall win a game," Rosen said. "Defen- and the match was on the line, sively, we got very casual. They they found a way to win. I'll take started tooling our block, bang- that any day." Blue qualifies for NCAAs with at-large bid Peale leads Wolverines to third-place finish at Regionals By CAITLIN SMITH For theDaily BLOOMINGTON - Thanks to a strong performance at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament and some at-large points accumulated throughout the season, the Michi- gan women's cross country team will advance to the NCAA Cham- pionships. This weekend's regional meet provided the ultimate spectator sport. Family, friends and fans raced up hills and through fields of waist-high grass to follow the stampede of runners as they took on the 6,000-meter course. The Wolverines came in third place (104 points) at the meet, and were just two points shy of auto- matically qualifying for Nationals. Notre Dame and Ohio State took first and second place, respective- ly. Redshirt sophomore Kaitlyn Peale led the Wolverines with a second-place finish overall (20:51), which means she will automati- cally advance as an individual to Nationals. The race began with a lot of pushing for a good position, but Notre Dame runner Lindsey Fer- guson forged a large lead early on. Peale kept her initial pace and stayed close behind in the chase pack. "I could tell (Ferguson) was fading the last 2K or so, and (Michigan coach Mike McGuire) kept telling me that I could catch her," Peale said. "So, I just kept on my pace and stayed with Emily MacLeod from Michigan State. Once you catch someone at the end, it is a big mental boost. So I knew once I had that, I would fin- ish strong." Peale made her move and fin- ished strong, just nine seconds behind MacLeod. Although Peale had felt under the weather before running, she still felt good about her race. "It was a battle," McGuire said of the meet overall. "You could tell during the course of the race that it was just back and forth." Four freshmen also helped score points for the Wolverines. Rebecca Addison (13th) and Jillian Smith (21st) both placed among the top 25. Kaitlyn Patterson claimed 27th place, and Lindsey Hilton followed behind in 45th. The NCAA Championships will be held Monday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, Ind.