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8A - Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

k Louie Caporusso,
where art thou?

4.#n
SAIDALSALAH/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein (left) has yet to win a game against the Spartans in his tenure at Michigan. MSU's Delvon Roe (right) dunks last night duringthe second half.
'M'drpsin-state hartbreaker

By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Editor
Down by one point with 1.5 sec-
onds left in last night's game at
Crisler Arena, sophomore Stu Doug-
lass was inbounding the ball direct-
ly in front of Michigan's bench.
He knew the play: option one was
junior-
Manny MICHIGAN STATE 57
Harris MICHIGAN 56
coming
off a screen. If that wasn't available,
it was a jump ball - Douglass would
lob the ball up near the basket and
hope that a Wolverine would tip it
in.
The referee blew the whistle,
and the ball was in play. The Spar-
tans switched on the screen for
Harris, which meant it was time
for the jump ball. Sims cut to the
basket. Douglass threw a perfect

pass. DeShawn Sims caught the ball
above Spartan Tom Herzog.
And all of Crisler thought it was
in. But it wasn't. And Michigan lost
to the Spartans, 57-56
"It would have been a hell of a
score," Michigan coach John Beilein'
said after the game.
When the ball improbably rolled
out of the basket, the game ended
like so many of Michigan's games
have lately-the other team makes
plays in clutch moments, and the
Wolverines do not.
"The world feels like it's crashing
down," Sims said about the moment
the ball rolled out. "But you still
have to maintain a certain amount
of focus and move on to the next
game."
For the vastmajorityofthe game,
it was the fifth-ranked Spartans
who were having trouble maintain-
ing their focus. The first half was

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)f Michigan State's best, but The second half was much of
ie of Michigan's best defen- the same for both teams. Michigan
es of the season. continued to play perhaps the best
Wolverines (3-5 Big Ten, defense it was played all year and
verall) forced 11 Spartan Michigan State (8-0, 18-3) kept giv-
s in the half and converted ing up the ball, committing 18 turn-
overs for the game.
The Wolverines continued to
brick their deep balls, all except for
The world Sims, who nailed 3-of-5 3-pointers
.es .k ,s in the second half after attempting
eels lke it's none in the first. He had a big hand in
s d ,, keeping Michigan in position to win
while the Spartans made their run
midway through the second half.
"I wasn't finishing inside, and
I know I've been working on my
to 15 points, which helped stroke," Sims said. "So I knew my
a 27-25 halftime lead. stroke was on and I just let it ride
tunately for Michigan, today and I was hitting every shot
n was, as it has been so that I took."
nes this year, ice-cold from But it was the last 3-pointer he
land, hitting just 2-of-15 took, with 35 seconds remaining in
ond the arc. the game and his team up by one,
that will be remembered - an air-
ball from the baseline.
After the miss, Michigan State
called a timeout and went for the
last shot. Spartan junior Kalin
Lucas ended up with the ball and
nailed a mid-range jumper with 3.5
seconds left.
That play led to Sims's missed
To learn alley-oop, and Michigan to yet
more about another loss to a top-25 team.
"Somehowwegotto getpositives
flu prevention, out of this," Beilein said. "It's been
including a tough five games, but we'll find
vaccines, positives out of this."
contact your After last night, Michigan sits
health care inninth place in the Big Ten. The
Wolverines would most likely have
provider, local to win the all of their remaining
health games on their Big Ten sched-
department, ule and make a run in the Big Ten
Tournament in order to get into the
or viit NCAA Tournament.
michigan.gov/flu Despite the three-game losing
or call 2-1-1. streak, Beilein told his players to
keep their heads up.
"You should not be discouraged
Michiga 3eesrtmest by this, you should be encouraged
by this," Beilefs said. "They're a
great team with a great coach ...
Don't put your heads down."
ennifer M. Granholm, Governor
Janet Olszeweki, Director

ast season, the top-seeded
Michigan hockey team
was upset by Air Force in
the first round of the East Region-
al in Bridgeport, Conn. Falcon
goaltender
Andrew
Volkening
stopped all 43
shots en route ,
to the pro-
gram's first-
ever NCAA
Tournament
win. MAR
So you're BURNS
probably ask-
ing yourself,
"What does that have to do with
this year's Wolverines?" - ateam
desperately trying to make the
Tournament for the 20th-straight
year?
Well, to be honest, it has every-
thing to do with this season's team
and a certain player's confidence.
You see, at the end of last sea-
son, a certain Wolverine finished
as a top-tO Hobey Baker Finalist
and grabbed AHCA/Reebok Divi-
sion I Ice Hockey All-American
First-Team honors. Not to men-
tion, he ended the year with a
team-high 24 goals, and was sec-
ond in scoring.
Only one year later, that par-
ticular Wolverine's time on the
ice has been a far cry from the
highlight reel performances he
delivered for the Michigan faith-
ful during the 2008- 2009 season.
By now, you've probably
guessed I'm referring to junior
center Louie Caporusso, a player
whose game still hasn't returned
from Bridgeport. Sure, the Wood-
bridge, Ont. native has tallied six
goals and 13 assists through 26
games, good for third on the team
in scoring so far. But against the
upper echelon of CCHA teams
- Miami, Michigan State, Fer-
ris State and Lake Superior State
- Caporusso has registered just
five points in eight games and has,
frankly, been a ghost on the ice all
season.
It took him five games to tally
his first point, and at times, Capo-
russo has looked more like he's on
a morning skate than in the thick
of a conference race.
Maybe I'm being too hard on a
player who showed me so much
last year, and this year, has shown
me close to nothing.
We're all - still wondering;
When i ast +e-'s Loienar--

russo going to crawl out of the
woodwork, throw this team on his
shoulders and catapult it into the
NCAA Tournament?
But looking closer into Capo-
russo's woes this year, there ma
be a few reasons for the drought.
Throughout the season, Michi-
gan coach Red Berenson has often
switched the lines on a week-to-
week basis, so the lack of consis-
tency with Caporusso's linemates
may have affected hi§ offensive
production.
Or it could be the departure of
former Wolverine Aaron Palushaj,
for the American Hockey League
after last season. Palushaj assisted
on a third of Caporusso's goals
and played considerable time
with him on the power play. But
Caporusso has, on multiple occa-
sions, played down the effect of
Palushaj's departure on his game.
It could simply be taking fewer
shots - he is fourth on the team
in shots, taking just 55 through
26 games or basically two shots a
game.
And for Caporusso, who's on
the power play and always skates
on one of the top two lines, that's
unacceptable. Maybe he has
changed his mindset, for what-
ever reason, to a pass-first-shoot-
second mentality. Any number
of different scenarios could be
attributed to Caporusso's offensive
demise. I, or anyone else for that
matter, haven't been able to pin-
point one specific area definitively.
While a player's worth can
surely be measured by more than
statistics alone - leadership in the
locker room, being a physical pres-
ence on the ice, finding a niche as
a role player - Caporusso was a
dominant force in college hockey
last year and a prolific goal scorer.
But at the end of the day, Capo-
russo needs to put goals in the
back of the net and resurrect his
sniper mentality if the Wolverines
are going to successfully make a
late-season push in the CCHA.
For now, the Louie of old has
long since vanished, and I don't
know when the resurrection is
going to take place.
All I can tell you is the No. 29
that lost to the Falcons in last
year's first round still hasn't
returned to Ann Arbor.
His flight was probably just
delayed.
- Burns can be reached
a nmmrk a micae

Wash your hands for ~
at least 20 seconds.
(ABOUT AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO SING
THE ALPHABET.)
Cover your cough
and sneezes.
(NO TISSUE? HEY, YOU HAVE A SLEEVE.)
Stay home if
you're sick.
(YOUR FRIENDS WILL LOVE YOU FOR IT.)
Get the flu vaccine.
(C'MON DON'T BE A BABY.)

I
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ARIEL BON
Junior Louie Caporusso has tallied six goals through 26 games this season.

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