8A - Thursday, March 11, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 9 'M' remains on bubble with NCAAs looming Wolverines excited for chance at out-of- conference play By AMY SCARANO Daily Sports Writer Now it's waiting time. It's been two years since the Wolverines have seen the post- season. And with NCAA Selection Day just five days away, there is no telling what this postseason will hold. Michigan (17-13 overall, 8-10 Big Ten) could be selected to the NCAA Tournament - though the likelihood of that is debatable. If they don't make the field of the 64 best teams in the nation, they will probably receive an at-large bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Either way, the Wolverines are excited at the possibility to play opponents from other conferenc- es. "I think our conference from top to bottom is so tough, day in and day out, that I think any one of us would relish a chance to play someone outside of it," Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said follow- ing the team's loss in the confer- ence tournament. "We are waiting, hoping that we get an opportunity to do that." The Wolverines completed the regular season last week when they lost to second seed Michigan State 61-50 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in India- napolis. A win over the Spartans would have almost certainly secured Michigan's spot in the NCAA Tournament, but with the loss they remain squarely on the bub- ble. Last year, five teams from the Big Ten were selected to the NCAA Tournament, the most since 2006. Minnesota (20-12, 11-7 before selection day last season) had the worst record of the conference's tournament teams. And the Wolverines, with 17 wins on the season, are seventh in the conference. But with five possible bids in the conference and only three teams - Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin - sitting pretty going into selection day, it is likely that either Michi- gan, Iowa or Penn State will be celebrating come Monday. Any one of those teams has a they advanced to the third round * decent chance of making the tour- of the tournament two years ago nament. Michigan swept Iowa before losing to Michigan State in early in the season before the East Lansing. Hawkeyes found success to end "We (played at home) a couple the season with 18 wins. Penn years ago," senior center Krista State started strong before los- Phillips said. "We want to do ing eight of their final nine regu- it again, to have a home-court lar season games to end tying the advantage. We want to try to get a Wolverines with 17 wins. The Nit- few more Ws before the season is tany Lions split games with Michi- over." gan this season. Though Borseth has seen just one postseason appearance with the Wolverines, he's no rookie to "W e want to try the NCAA or WNIT. In his nine years at Wisconsin-Green Bay, he and get a few took his team to the NCAA Tour- nament seven times and to the more Ws before WNIT twice. No matter which tournament@. the season's over" they end up playing in, Borseth is more than capable of succeeding with such an inexperienced team - But even a WNIT bid would be between all 13 players, just four of an improvement for Michigan, a them have ever played a postseason team that ended its season after game in their collegiate career. a first-round loss in the Big Ten "(This year) is a lot differ- Tournament last year. ent," sophomore forward Carmen In the event of receiving a Reynolds said. "It's been a lot dif- WNIT bid, Michigan will likely ferent. We are young, we have a lot have a chance to play at home, of fun with each other and we get something the Wolverines were along great so we are just looking able to take advantage of in their forward to what we have in store last postseason appearance when for the postseason." Junior Veronica Hicks leads the Wolverines in scoring this season with 13 points per game. Michigan sits on the bubble with NCAA Tourney selection on Monday. Third Annual Gramlich SHOWCASE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010 of Student Work 4:00 - 6:oo P.M. Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, ist and 2nd floors 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Poster session. Free and open to the public. Refreshments served. join us as we highlight and celebrate the intellectual achievements of graduate and undergraduate students at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Ford School faculty have nominated students for inclusion, and the posters on display will represent a wide range of student work: from local issues to foreign policy, from social welfare policy to health care reform, from undergraduate work to dissertation research. Students will be on hand to describe their projects and answer questions. This annual event is named for long-time U-M faculty member and former Federal Reserve Board Governor Ned Gramlich, as a tribute to his belief in and commitment to the value of a public policy education. Details, call Jill at 734-6i-3893,. wwwfordschool.umich.edu Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy i s iUN VP RSITY OF MiCt )GAN 0 ARIELBoND/Daly Junior Dorian Shaw leads the Wolverines in home runs this season with eight in 18 games of action. She also led the team last year with a total of 14. Despite lengthy road trip to start the season, Michigan finds success rT- . , , ,, Wolverines are 14-4 without playing a home game in 2010 By ALEX HERMANN Daily Sports Writer It's an annual occurence for the Michigan softball team. Every year the Wolverines travel for more than the first month of the season as the Ann Arbor weather remains uncertain. This season, No. 7 Michigan plays six straight weekends away from home, with its home opener finally coming on March 24. But even with the challenges that come with playing on the road, the team has still seen a tre- mendous amount of success. Last year the Wolverines were 20-9 before they ever played in Ann Arbor, and in the 2008 sea- son Michigan went 29-3 during its early-season road stretch. And in 2010, a similar script is being written. The Wolverines (14-4) have played well early, led by their two stud pitchers, junior Jordan Taylor and senior Nikki Nemitz. The success is more impressive when you consider the quality of teams that Michigan gener- ally plays before entering Big Ten play. This season, the Wolverines have had matchups against eight top-20 teams already, winning five. "We practice indoors all year," junior first baseman Dorian Shaw said after last week's win at Mis- sissippi State. "When we go out and beat a team that hasn't had to practice indoors a single day all season, I take pride in that. I have to practice on rubber turf, with a high ceiling and crazy lighting, and we can still come out and compete with you guys." Though the results have been favorable for Michigan, traveling across the country every week doesn't necessarily become easi- er the longer you do it. At best, it becomes tolerable - sort of. "You don't even know what day it is sometimes," Nemitz said. "Having to get on buses and planes, and driving here and flying there, it kind of gets old and bor- ing. But you just get used to it and you know how to handle it." Even for seniors like Nemitz, the traveling can be grueling. But for other upperclassmen like Shaw, staying on top of her academics presents the biggest challenge. "That middle of the week when you can only go to class two days, three days in the week and then you're gone again," she said. "I think that that's the hardest part, keeping up with everything, all of your responsibilities, within the three days that you're actually in town." . Every Big Ten team makes sim- ilar sacrifices. West-coast schools travel east to play relatively early in the morning in the eastern time zone. Even Southern schools do quite a bit of traveling, con- sidering the same schools aren't hosting every early-season tour- nament. But with that said, Michigan still faces a unique challenge when you consider both the trav- eling and the quality of the com- petition. "I don't think you ever really get used to not being in your bed for seven straight weekends," Shaw said. "Although the travel, you know, makes you a little bit weary and you can't wait to play at home, we understand that it's kind of a necessary evil." But getting away from Ann Arbor might also allow the team 0 to concentrate simply on softball. "Once we're out of town, it's like softball is the only thing we have to do," Shaw said. "We wake up, we eat, we go hit, we go play, we come back, we eat more. It's kind of like being a professional athlete." The Wolverines continue their road play in the Red and Black Tournament in Louisville this weekend. Innovation Today for America's Tomorrow imagination at work g .