2B - February 14, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
No.11 Michigan State drops'M'

My Michigan sports

t was 5 a.m. last Saturday,
morning, and I couldn't get
back to sleep. The previous
few days I had been dealing with
bouts of insomnia too, thinking
over and over about my time as a
Michigan student/sports fan.
I've had
plenty of
experiences
as a fan and a
writer watch-
ing Michigan
sports, but
has it been
enough? Did RYAN
I really' take KARTJE
advantage of
the tradition,
of the history and of the free Ath-
letic Department deals?
I suppose I've had an unfair
advantage working for The Michi-
.gan Daily, but by no means is it
impossible to call yourself the ulti-
mate Michigan fan with a whole
four years at the University.
I started thinking. If I had to do
it all over again, from dayone, what
would make my experience com-
plete? So I started a list, compil-
ing all the things that any normal,
albeit savvy, Michigan fan could
complete (or at least get away with
assuming security was minimal).
If you're a senior like me, it may
or may notbetoo late to cross these
off and finish the list in full. But if
you've got plenty of Football Sat-
urday tailgates ahead of you, then
get ready to paint yourself maize
and blue and do it up the rightway.
Because trust me, it all goes way
too fast.
COMPLETE A FULL "C-YA!"
CHANT IN THE STUDENT SEC-
' ION AT YOST
There are few things that
scream super fan more than the
dedicated wordsmiths of Yost's
infamous "C-Ya!" chant. Sure, it's

bucket list
offensive. And yes, I don't by any he's just as animated on the side-
means condone any of the slurs/ lines during Michigan's games. As
insultsthatcome along with it. But an added bonus, see how far you
it takes more than just the amateur can get away from the Michigan
Michigan fan to be able to spit out bench before the coach is inau-
all 11 slurs on the fly like the Chil- dible.
dren of Yost do several times per RUSH THE COURT AT CRISLER
game. Once you can complete that, This one may rely quite a bit
any "Goalie! Sieve!" cheer should on how good the basketball team
be mere child's play. This one is, but something tells me many
should be an easy checkmark. students will have a chance in the
GO TO AN AWAY FOOTBALL coming years. I missed my shot
GAME when I (moronically) turned down
You aren't quite a true Michi- tickets to see Michigan play Duke
gan football fan until you don your two years ago. So don't make the
student section shirt in hostile ter- same mistake - there's nothing
ritory. And I'm not talking about like rushing the court after a huge
sitting in the away student section. win. Disclaimer: Don't waste your
Call your friend from Michigan court rushing on a weak game.
State, Penn State, Ohio State, Wis- PLAY IN ONE GAME OF IM
consin, etc. and tell him/her to get BROOMBALL
you right into the middle of the The piece de resistance of IM
action, sports! If you've never played
In order for this to be consid- broomball before, you don't know
ered complete, you must perform what you're missing. The sport
at least three obnoxious "Go Blue!" takes skilled athletes and turns
cheers during the game. Maybe, them into clumsy fools, while
if you're lucky like me, you'll get turning others into regular Wayne
several resounding "ASS-HOLE!" Gretzkys. If I'm not mistaken,
chants in your direction. sign-up is this week for the 2011
BECOME A MICHIGAN ULTRA season. See you on the ice.
... AT LEAST FOR A DAY FOLLOW MICHIGAN TO A
The Ultras took Michigan BOWL/FROZEN FOUR/NCAA
sports fandom to a new level last TOURNAMENT GAME
year, completing the quickest rise There are few things in college
to being a prominent student sec- sports like watching your team
tion in a long, long time. Of course, compete for a title. Unfortunately,
Michigan soccer's unprecedented there haven't been many opportu-
season helped, but hanging with nities in the past four years for me
the Ultras is one of the most excit- and my fellow seniors (five, to be
ing and different things you can do exact).
on campus. But if you get the opportunity
Yes, the U-M Soccer Complex is (there aren't many), pack up your
way too far away. But come early, friends and make the road trip to
get a free scarf and it'll be worth it. Jacksonville or St. Paul or heck,
WITNESS ONE KEVIN BORS- maybe Pasadena. Trust me, it'll be
ETH SIDELINE FREAKOUT worth it.
This shouldn't be too hard. The
women's basketball coach will for- -Read the rest of Kartje's
ever live in infamy for his YouTube bucket list online. He can be
explosion a few seasons ago. But reached at rkartje@umich.edu.

By CAITLIN SMITH
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - The Mich-
igan women's basketball team
trailed by just 10 points at the
end of the first half, after a last-
second shot by Michigan State
hit the back of the rim, bounced
straight up MICHIGAN 56
above the MICH. ST. 69
height of
the shot clock and miraculously
fell back down through the net.
But that wasn't the last of the
bounces the Spartans would
receive.
Within the first three minutes
of the second half, the Spartans
quickly extended their lead to 17
points, en route to a 69-56 vic-
tory over Michigan. The Wolver-;
ines' poor offensive effort was the
main reason for Michigan's ninth
straight loss to the Spartans (10-2
Big Ten, 22-3 overall) on Sunday.
. "I just thought our offense was
awful," Michigan coach Kevin
Borseth said. "I thought our
defense did a decent job under
the circumstances, but (Michigan
State) hit shots."
Michigan's defense showed a
sign of resiliency against, argu-
ably, two of the best players in the
Big Ten - senior forward Kalisha
Keane and redshirt junior Lyken-
da Johnson. The Wolverines (7-5,
14-10) forced16 Spartan turnovers,
blocked four shots and nabbed six
steals in the game. Michigan also
held starting senior guard Cetera
Washington to zero points.
"Keane and Johnson are a
handful," Borseth said. "They are
bookends, they are just so strong.
Those are two kids that are going
to play in the WNBA and be very
good. We were really selling the
farmtotry andstopthose kids,but
there's a mismatch there."
But despite Michigan's aggres-
sive defensive effort, four Michi-
gan State starters were still able to
score in double-digits. According

Sophomore guard Jenny Ryan scored 11 p
to Borseth, the Wolverines just
couldn't contend with the strength
of the Spartans.
It was because of that strength
that Michigan couldn't get the
ball down low and into the lane.
The Wolverines - who only sunk
one shot inthe first five minutes of
regulation - scored just 16 points
in the paint and shot just 40.5 per-
cent from the field.
"(Michigan State) did a good
job playing defense," senior guard
Veronica Hicks said after the
game. "I figured it was goingto be
tough for me to get in around the
rim, that's something I liketo do. I
didn't get into the lane as much as
I wanted to and when I did there
were hands poking at me from
everywhere. They did a great job
closing the gaps and we need to
do a better job at maintaining my
dribble and keeping the ball closer
to our bodies."
Michigan shot 50 percent from
behind the 3-point arc, but that
alone was not enough to cut into
the massive Spartan lead. The
Wolverines average 22 3-point
attemptsper game this season, but
they shot just 16 long-range balls

TOD NEEDLE/Daily
oints in the loss to the Spartans.
against Michigan State.
Michigan mustered one offen-
sive run late in the second half that
brought it within eight points of
the Spartans. The Wolverines took
advantage of Johnson sitting the
bench because of foul trouble and
cut Michigan State's lead by nine
points. But then Johnson came
back onto the court, providing that
final spark the Spartans needed
to seal the win. Within her first,
two minutes of play upon return-
ing, Johnson scored four points,
grabbed two rebounds and dished
out an assist.
The Wolverines didn't recover
despite a well-spread offensive
effort that included 19 points from
the bench. The lack of scoring by
some of Michigan's key starters
had a toll on the team offensively.i
Junior center Carmen Reynolds
scored only one point on the night
and sophomore guard Rachel
Sheffer tallied just five of her own.
"It depends on the rhythm of
your offense," Sheffer said. "We
really didn't find any rhythm to
our offense all night. We went on a
few little runs, but we never really
got into thatrhythm."

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