8 - Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Excuses aside
it's time to
:: start winning

College basketball needs
more John Beileins

Feel free to criticize John
Beilein as a coach all you
want.
Personally, I'll consider you
an idiot if you do. Thankfully,
though, with
the Wolver- BEN
ines' shocking ESTES
performance
this season, I On Basketball
think the cries
of rabble-rousing Michigan fans
calling for Beilein's head have
been finally - and rightfully -
reduced to nothing more than a
whimper.
But even those people with an
apparent vendetta against Beilein
- the ones that wanted him fired
after one down season, whenthe
expectations were too high for the
team anyway - have to recognize
and appreciate whatthe Michigan
coach represents.
I love college basketball, but,
like all sports these days, it's
becoming increasingly suscep-
tible to corrupting forces. A lot of
coaches are more than willingto
take advantage of that.
Kentucky coach John Calipari
is lauded as one of the top men
in his profession, and his results
certainly speak to that. But a
basketball public and a national
media - all too easily blinded
by wins and championships -
seem to conveniently forget that
wherever Calipari has stopped
as a head coach, NCAA allega-
tions have followed in hiswake
(and he's already been in several
recruitmentcgray areas in his two
seasons at Kentucky).

Jim Calhoun is already in the
Basketball Hall of Fame, and
deservedly so. But his plaque
doesn't include the recruiting
violations that the NCAA recently
found him guilty of at Con-
necticut. And Rick Stansbury has
found success at Mississippi State
- but with the ongoing Renardo
Sidney saga, it's clear the coach
is willing to sell his soul for more
wins.
But Beilein breaks that mold.
Some are appalled that the man
doesn't embrace the win-at-all-
costs mentality that many - too
many - of his peers have adopted.
Of course Bellein wants to win,
but he does it the right way.
Beilein will never recruit some-
one like Sidney. Those type of
high-caliber players - brought up
in a corrosive AAU culture shad-
ier than Bernie Madoff, carrying
more baggage (read: potential vio-
lations) than a 747 airplane - rep-
resent a slippery slope down the
gray areas of college basketball.
I'm not saying Beilein won't
recruit good prospects,just not
those athletes whose commit-
ments come at the cost of selling
out one's character. Heck, he even
avoided talking publicly about
his own son when he played in
high school, for fear of breaking
obscure NCAA rules.
John Beilein still takes to heart
what the core values of amateur
athletics are supposed to be.
The term student-athlete actu-
ally means something in Beilein's
lexicon - he genuinely cares
about how well his players do

academically, recognizingthat a
college degree is just asvaluable
as a Final Four berth in the long
run. In fact, when trying to figure
out travel arrangements to Ohio
State this season in the face of the
looming Snowpocalypse, players
missing as little class as possible
was an important factor in the
team's plans.
For Beilein, college basketball
is about developing his pupils
both as players and as men. He
talks alot about his team being a
family, but he's not justblowing
smoke. These Wolverines are his
first group composed of solely
his recruits - players who want
to play the rightway, who want
to learn, who want to grow with
their teammates - and their
chemistry is readily apparent in
the locker room.
Why do you think all these
NBA fathers are sending their
sons to play for John Beilein?
Because they knowthat after four
years of his coaching, teaching
and benevolence, they'll emerge
ready to play pro ball if they're
talented enough, ready to enter
the business world if that's their
calling - ready for any challenge
in life.
As the NCAA continues to care
more and more about its profits,
as other coaches continue to care
more and more about their own
individual success, Beilein stands
out asa positive force - fans of
all teams should take heart that
coaches like him still exist.
That's why Saturday's post-
game scene was so gratifying for

college basketball fans who still
care about class. There was Tom
Izzo, ripping an opposing player
when his own teams have done
far worse than making a contest-
ed layup at the end of a five-point
game. There was the Michigan
State coach, begrudgingly com-
plimenting Michigan with all the
genuineness and grace of a sore
loser.
But then there was Beilein,
constantly praising his opponent,
turning down several opportuni-
ties to campaign for an NCAA
Tournament berth, answering
each question calmly and hum-
bly despite notching the biggest
rivalry win for the Wolverines in
years.
Perhaps I'm out of touch; per-
haps it's time to recognize what
college sports are turning into,
and it's time for the Wolverines to
join up or get left in the dust.
But as students here, we should
be proud that we're abovethe sys-
tem. Call it stereotypical Michi-
gan arrogance, but I refuse to
apologize for still wanting to play
by the rules, for still hoping that
true amateurism can someday
return to our sports culture.
If you still don't think Beilein is
the best coach for Michigan - if
you want him gone, or want the
Wolverines to join the Kentuckys
and Connecticuts in the moral
basement of the NCAA - by all
means, feel free to start crying
out "Sparty on!," or to go join the
Ohio State bandwagon.
You probably belong there
anyway.

The Michigan baseball
team has its fair share
of excuses it could use
for its early season struggles.
Some - you could even argue
- carry some weight.
The Wolverines (2-9) have
yet to
play a DANIEL
home WASSERMAN
game,
and On Baseball
recently
concluded a 10-day road trip
during which the team played
nine games spanning across
two time zones.
Two starting pitchers -
senior right-handers Kolby
Wood and Travis Smith - have
been severely hampered by
injuries.
Michigan played what
coach Rich Maloney called the
toughest pre-Big Ten schedule
the team has ever faced -
opening up against two top-25
teams.
Youth and inexperience
have played a big role in the
Wolverines' lineup.
Michigan's opening-day
lineup consisted of seven
underclassmen and redshirt
junior first baseman Garrett
Stephens, who came into the
year with only two career
starts at first base. The young
players have big shoes to fill,
with five MLB draft picks and
former All-Big Ten first base-
man Mike Dufek gone.
On top of all that, the Wol-
verines still haven't been able
to practice outdoors. Instead,
they're confined to Oosterbaan
Field House, where they can't
even field live balls.
With that said, it's time for
the excuses to stop.
"It's only a matter of time,"
freshman left fielder Michael
O'Neill said after-Sunday's
8-0 loss to Sam Houston State.
"Guys are making good pitches
and we just haven't gotten any
breaks yet. Once we start get-
ting some breaks and putting
together timely hitting, we'll
be fine."
While O'Neill is searching
for optimism - and who can
blame him, he's just a fresh-
man - Michigan has bigger
problems than the breaks
going the wrong way.
In 11 games, the Wolverines
have been outscored 90-49. If
you take out Michigan's two
wins this season - both of
which came against winless
Massachusetts - the Wolver-
ines are getting beaten by an
average score of about 9-3.
Thus far, the most glar-
ing weakness been pitching.
Left-hander Bobby Brosnahan,
Michigan's ace, is 0-3 with

an ERA of 12.51, while he has
allowed as many walks -
seven - as strikeouts.
The lefty has struggled to
find any confidence. Even in
a rare bullpen appearance
Sunday, he surrendered seven
earned runs in 2.2 innings.
Brosnahan isn't the only
starter that's struggling thus
far. Only one starter - sopho-
more right-hander Tyler Mills
- has pitched past the fifth
inning.
And in five games, the start-
ing pitcher has pitched only
three innings or less. To say
the bullpen has been ove
worked and overwhelmed thus
far would be an understate-
ment.
This upcoming weekend
will be very telling in how the
young Wolverines can respond
to adversity.
Michigan will travel to Rock
Hill, S.C. for the Bojangles
Baseball Classic, where they'll
face host Winthrop (5-5) and
Stony Brook (2-4) - both win-
nable games.
After the Wolverines were
picked to finish second in the
Big Ten, few would've pre-
dicted Michigan to start the
season on such a sluggish note.
But the season is still young,
with plenty of room left to get
on track. There's no better
example of this than the Wol-
verine basketball team, which
responded from a 1-6 start in
conference play and now is in
position to make the NCAA
Tournament.
"Early in the year they lost
six games, and that could've
snowballed into something
even greater, and then they
probably wouldn't have found
themselves in the position
thepre in now," Maloney said
of the basketball team, which
also entered the season young
and inexperienced.
"But they fought through
that adversity in an admirable
way."
With the Wolverines'
dreams of a successful start to
the season long gone, it's going
to take more than just a few
good bounces to turn things
around entering conference
play, which begins Mar. 25.
"There's some things that
are going to have to change,"
O'Neill later admitted. "We
keep saying that things are
goingto be okay and things
are going to get better, and
I strongly believe that they
are, but we're going to have to
make that happen."
There's no doubt that Michi-
gan has the talent to bounce
back. The question is, do they
have the confidence?

0

Michigan boasts top defensive unit in CCHA

By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan hockey team
has been known as a training
ground for elite offensive talent.
And when the Wolverines win,
it's hard to argue that point.
But in the eyes of the coach-
ing staff and players, Michigan
no longer craves that label - it
wants to be known for boasting
a top-level defense and churning
out two-way players.
"Most people in the hockey
world would talk about our
offense, our speed and our skill,"
Michigan associate head coach
Mel Pearson said Monday. "I
think sometimes our defense
gets overlooked, even though the
coaches in the program preach
that we want to be the best defen-
sive team in our league - or the
country - every year."
And the Wolverines (20-7-1-0
CCHA, 23-9-4 overall) certainly
have an argument. The defen-
sive unit closed out the season
against Northern Michigan with
an emphatic 5-0 shutout on Feb.
26, simultaneously giving Michi-
gan the top spot in the CCHA

and the conference's best defense
- boasting a 2.04 goals-against
average.
It's the second time in three
years that the Wolverines have
been the league's least-scored-
upon defense.
"When everyone thinks Mich-
igan hockey, theythink Michigan
recruits the top offensive guys,"
senior defenseman Chad Lan-
glais said Monday. "And it's true,
to a certain extent, but in the last
few years we haven't been the
offensive dynamo that Michigan
is used to being.
"I think we've made up for that
defensively without being recog-
nized."
Michigan might be changing
its M.O., but this wasn't supposed
to be the year of the defensemen.
This is a defensive corps that
entered the 2010-11 campaign
having lost NHL-caliber defen-
semen Steve Kampfer and Chris
Summers - both seniors last sea-
son who have appeared for stints
in the NHL this season - while
returning just two seniors.
With three incoming fresh-
men entering the lineup and
every defensive pairing shifting,

there were supposed to be a few
hiccups.
"You always have some con-
cerns when you have freshmen
comingin," Pearson said. "I think
it's the hardest position to play
in college hockey, with the rules
and the speed of the game."
Added junior defenseman
Brandon Burlon: "You have to be
able to adapt to different situa-
tions, different players. You never
know from one day to the next.
Guys have to come in and assume
different roles sometimes."
Surprisingly, Michigan had
very few troubles, thanks in part
to freshman defenseman Jon
Merrill, who never relinquished
his opening-day spot on the top
defensive pairing with Langlais
- ultimately being named to the
CCHA All-Rookie Team on Mon-
day.
"I think Jon Merrill, from day
one, was prepared and ready to
play, and a lot better defensively
than I think we even gave him
credit for," Pearson said.
But the defense did hit a sig-
nificant speed bump in mid-Jan-
uary, when senior defenseman
Tristin Llewellyn was dismissed

from the team for what Michigan
coach Red Berenson described
as a "violation of team expecta-
tions."
Down to only one senior on
defense, Berenson turned to
freshmen defensemen Mac Ben-
nett and Kevin Clare to fill the
void.
"We felt all eight defensemen
were all very capable of playing,
it was almost like we had too
many players - it's like having
five quarterbacks and only being
able to play one," Pearson said. "I
think when (Llewellyn) departed
it gave an opportunity for the
other kids to step in, and they
took advantage of it."
While Bennett has since
assumed most of the playing
time, on a team fielding just one
extra defenseman, Clare hasn't
skipped a beat. In Clare's 12
games this season, Michigan is
an undefeated 9-0-3.
"We have the most confidence
in all of our (defensemen), no
matter how many games or min-
utes they've played," Langlais
said. "We know every one of us
can step in and play a vital role on
this team."

cHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily
Freshman defenseman Jan Merrill was named to the AII-Roskie CCHA team.

And it's not just the defense-
men that can be credited with
the team's newfound defensive
prowess. As Berenson reminds
the press after nearlyeverygame,
senior goaltender Shawn Hun-
wick's goalmouth acrobatics are
as pivotal to the defense as the

blue-line grinders.
"From the beginning of the
year Coach Berenson really
stressed team defense," Merrill
said. "I think that's somewhere
we've really grown as ateam and
it's become almost our team iden-
tity."

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