B- March 7, 2011
MftS Oii Vy
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
kPORTSMONDAY COLUMN..
We were wrong, Michigan
deserves to dance
'M' finds itself in national
title contention once again
Prior the start of the cob-
lege basketball season, I
had absolutely zero hope
hat the'Michigan men's basket-
all team would earn an NCAA
lournament bid.
Zilch. Nada. Nothing.
The only chance the Wol-
rerines had
'as to hope
hat the Fab
ive would be
eincarnated,
md Web-
er, Howard,
tose, Jackson
md King
sould take RYAN
:he floor KARTJE
gainst the
hio States,
Nisconsins, Purdues and other
:ough teams on their schedule.
And could you blame me for
ny skepticism?
Manny Harris, one of the
nost athletic and talented
corers at Michigan in the past
lecade, had left early for the
BA. DeShawn Sims, his part-
er in crime, had graduated.
nd with their departure went
5 of the Wolverines' points per
ame.
There wasn't a single analyst
the country that would tell
ou they thought Michigan
ould make the NCAA Tourna-
nent.
But as Darius Morris laid in
he Wolverines' final basket in a
'0-63 win over rival Michigan
tate - a win that gave Michi-
an one of its most important
eason sweeps in recent history
- it was time for the entirety
>f the college basketball world,
ncluding myself, tp admit that
hey underestimated John
teilein anA his Wolverines.
When Michigan came within
I possession or two of beating
yracuse back in November, we
trushed it off as a fluke -,the.
E olverines had been known to
urprise ateam or two in the
>ast few years - and went back
o normal when they lost to
JTEP the next day.
And when they lost seven of
ight games in their toughest
tretch of the season, we sighed
nd remembered that this is
what we thought would happen
his season.
But something happened
it the end of that stretch as
Michigan took to the court at
dichigan State's Breslin Center.
Something happened when Stu
)ouglass hit a big-time 3-point-
r as time ticked away in the
ame's second half.
By MARK BURNS
Daily Sports Editor
Last season, the Michigan
hockey team had the "horses to
get into the race," but as assistant
coach Mel Pearson described last
Thursday, the team just was a lit-
tle behind at the finish line.
A year removed from their
CCHA Tournament title, the
Wolverines are still "knocking
on the door," according to Pear-
son, and the tools to finally break
down the door and grab Michi-
gan's first NCAA championship
since 1998 are present once again
in Ann Arbor.
"There's been a lot of those
years where you feel you have a
chance, and you have the team
capable of winning it, and then
from that point, a lot of things
have to fall into place," Pearson
said. "But are we due? We're
probably due ... Now, do we have
the right players, in the right
frame of mind?
"This time of year, we're right
there again. When you look at
it, are there teams out there you
just can't beat? I don't think
that's the case."
Since the beginning of the
calendar year, the Wolverines
have an 11-4 conference record,
sweeping five-of-seven weekend
series, an impressive statistic
considering they had swept just
two opponents - Bowling Green
and Lake Superior State - prior
to The Big Chill at the Big House
in mid-Dec.
Even with the team's 11th
CCHA regular season title to its
name - clinched over Northern
Michigan - senior co-captain
Carl Hagelin and Pearson reit-
erated similar sentiments: the
Wolverines still haven't reached
their top-end yet this.late in the
year.
"As a coach, you're trying to
get everybody's best game the
same night, and I don't know if
you're ever going to get that,"
Pearson said. "But that's what
you're trying to work toward.
We're getting closer. This time of
year seems to bring out the best
in our team ... There's something
different about this time of year.
Hopefully, last Saturday in Mar-
quette was just a sign of that."
Hagelin added that play-
ing sound defense as Michigan
heads into the second round of
the playoffs this upcoming week-
end at YostIce Arena is one of the
key ingredients to formulating a
deep run into the NCAA Tourna-
ment - the Wolverines are tied
for third in the CCHA, allowing
2.31 goals per game.
And though Hagelin and the
other six members of the current
senior class have reached the
Frozen Four just once, Michigan
head coach Red Berenson has
been there eight times during his
27 years on the bench.
Following the completion of
the Wolverines' sweep of North-
ern Michigan last weekend,
the team sang 'The Victors' in
the locker room and from the
post-game festivities, one could
see a very emotionally-charged
Berenson who normally is as
even keel as it gets.
"It's hard to see how much
Red cares sometimes because
he, keeps that straight face,"
senior forward Matt Rust said
last week. "But, I think from day
one, he's really expected a lot
from this team. I think he might
have a little special place for this
team."
Berenson turned 71 this past
December and is approaching
the last few seasons with the
Wolverines, but his commitment
to success hasn't wavered - he
signed a three-year contract
extension last May, which will
keep. him at Michigan through
the 2012-13 season.
"It's like this team is his baby
Hagelin said about Berenson's
love for Michigan. ,"He loves
every player that comes through
here. He just tries to develop us
as much as possible, and obvi-
ously anytime you can win some-
thing, it's a huge accomplishment
for him and the team.
"He says when the team is
playing well, it's not because of
the coach, that's when all the
players are clicking. That's the
goal we still have to reach."
MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily
Freshman guard Tim Hardaway has helped Michigan all but assure itself a
NCAA Tournament or NIT bid.
Something happened when
Michigan left the building with
its first win in almost 14 years
in East Lansing.
The Wolverines started to
look like a Tournament team.
Sure, Michigan may have lost
three games since then.
But a closer look shows one
loss to the nation's top team
(Michigan led at half) and two
heartbreakers with the game
winding down (against Wiscon-
sin and Illinois).
There are few teams outside
of the NCAA's elite that can
claim a better end to the season
than the Wolverines can.
And now, with only the Big
Ten Tournament remaining,
there are few bubble teams that
can make a better case to stay
on the right side of the bubble
than the Wolverines can.
Michigan will face Illinois
on Friday to sweeten their
resum6 and show their late-
season prowess in the Big Ten
Tournament.
But if you ask me, the Wol-
verines have already done
enough to earn that coveted
bid, one that looked so impos-
sible, so unlikely just four
months ago.
The NCAA Selection Com-
mittee may put an awful lot
of credence into the idea of
big-time wins. And Michigan
doesn't exactly shock the world
when it comes to that category.
But the Wolverines' late-
season run, sandwiched by
two impressive victories over
the Spartans, showed that this
team is on the upswing.
Put this team up against the
same Syracuse, Ohio State,
Kansas, Wisconsin and Purdue
teams that they played and nar-
rowly lost to earlier in the sea-
son, and I'm not so sure we'd
see the same result.
And if that's not on the com-
mittee's mind, then the integ-
rity of the entire group should
be questioned.
Because now with the regu-
lar season over, it's obvious that
we were ALL wrong about this
Michigan.
And it would be an awful
shame if the committee makes
the same mistakes we made in
judging the Wolverines before
the season.
- Kartje would love to
hear if any of you actually
thought Michigan would be
this good. He can be reached
at rkartje@umich.edu
R'BAK"Dail w
Senior forward Carl Hagelin has a team-leading 45 points for the Wolverines, who won the CCHA regular season title.
W O MEN'S BASKETBALL
Loss complicates tourney chances
H f
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By EVERETT COOK
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - The Michi-
gan women's basketball team has
a fairly simple offensive game
plan that it tries
to execute every NOTEBOOK
game.
The Wolverines depend on get-
ting the ball into the key, whether
it is by their slashing guards or
working it into the post, and then
either finishing from down low or
dishing the ball out to their tal-
ented outside shooters.
Night in and night out, Michi-
gan relies on its outside shooting
either to score or to get the ball
into the post.
Against Illinois on Friday, the
Wolverines couldn't do either
effectively, which eventually
doomed them against a team with
the worst record in the Big Ten.
Even though Michigan played
solid defense, it never found
offensive rhythm from anywhere
on the court. Despite getting plen-
ty of open looks, the Wolverines
couldn't capitalize consistently.
Whether in the post, perimeter
or midrange, it didn't matter -
Michigan simply couldn't find the
net.
"We were getting some good
looks, and the people we wanted
to shoot were shooting it and they
weren't falling for us," senior
guard Veronica Hicks said after
the game. "They were making
shots and we weren't."
The Wolverines shot just 37
percent from the floor, includ-
ing 27 percent from beyond the
3-point line. After a certain point,
the Fighting Illini could relax a
little more around the perimeter,
knowing Michigan was having
trouble making shots. That led to
more pressure inside, making it
very difficult for the Wolverine
frontcourt to execute in the paint.
Perhaps the Wolverine play-
er most affected by the Illinois
defense was sophomore forward
Rachel Sheffer. When Michigan
played Illinois last Sunday, Shef-
fer scored 23 points, including the
game-winning layup. This time
around, she scored just six points
and was shut down by a stiff
defense all game.
"They gave it to me when I was
open, and when I started making
a move I just saw my other players
wide open around the 3," Sheffer
said. "It just came down to hitting
shots and we weren't making any
of them."
TOURNAMENT HOPES: Mich-
igan went into the game against
Illinois- feeling very confident
about their NCAA Tournament
chances. Win one game, and
the Wolverines would be all but
guaranteed a bid to play in March
Madness. Instead, Michigan will
head into Selection Monday on
March 14 unsure of its chances to
go dancing.
Historically, the top four seeds
in the Big Ten have typically
been given a bid, but usually all
four seeds have 20 or more wins.
Michigan finished the regular
season third in the Big Ten with
just 17 wins after it won a three-
way tiebreaker.
"It is what it is, we put our fate
in the hands of somebody else and
from here you just wait and see -
you hope for the best and expect
the worse," sophomore Jenny
Ryan said. "We want to meet our
goal of the NCAA Tournament
and in my heart, I'm confident,
but it's in the hands of somebody
else at this point."
INCONSISTENCY: Michigan
has plenty of wins against good
teams, but they also have a couple
of losses against bad teams. If the
Wolverines do not end up making
the NCAA Tournament, key loss-
es against bad teams will come
back to haunt them.
Michigan went an astounding
5-0 against the fourth- (Iowa),
fifth- (Ohio State), and sixth-place
(Wisconsin) teams in the Big Ten,
which gave them the third-place
tiebreaker. Those wins were piv-
otal for the Wolverines, but a few
important losses could have more
meaning for the postseason.
Along with Thursday's loss
against Illinois, they also lost to
conference bottom-feeder Min-
nesota twice. Before the Big Ten
season began, Michigan lost to
Detroit Mercy, who finished 6-11
in the Horizon League.
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