2B -December 5, 2011 TMhna-cido

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

'We never promised
you a rose garden'

The Michigan State foot-
ball team entered the
conference title game
dreaming of roses.
At Lucas Oil Stadium, the
Sparty bus faltered. The drive
gave out late
in a thrilling
42-39 loss to
Wisconsin in
the inaugu-
ral Big Ten
Champion-
ship game on
Saturday. STEPHEN J.1
The NESBITT
momentary
prestige and
superiority
that fueled the engine finally ran
dry on Sunday night with the
BCS bowl selection:
Michigan State - Outback Bowl.
Michigan - Sugar Bowl.
It was a Spartan double-
whammy, courtesy of the BCS. It
wasn't fair. Michigan was beaten
fair and square at Spartan Sta-
dium earlier this season and
finished as the clear No. 2 in the
Big Ten Legends division.
"Michigan sat home tonight
on the couch and watched us,"
said Michigan State senior quar-
terback Kirk Cousins follow-
ing the loss to Wisconsin. "We
played our hearts out - you saw
it. I don't see how you get pun-
ished for playing and someone
else gets to sit on the couch and
get what they want.
"If this is the way the system
is, I guess it's a broken system."
Cousins is right, of course. It
is a broken system pockmarked
with holes and inconsistencies.
But the injustice this season just
might be payback.
On Nov. 26, 1973, an equally
flawed system crushed Michi-
gan's season.
That day, the Daily ran the
headline: "We never promised
you a rose garden: Everything's
coming up weeds!"
It was two days after a titan
clash between Michigan and
Ohio State, a pair of unbeat-
ens. They tied, 10-10. At 2:01
p.m. that Monday, the Big Ten
announced that the conference
athletic directors voted, 6-4, to
send the Buckeyes to the Rose
Bowl.
The deciding vote came from
Michigan State.
Bo Schembechler was
incensed. Michigan had earned
the right to the Rose Bowl.
"They did everything I ever
asked of them," Bo said. "They
outplayed Ohio State.
"The Big Ten will live to
regret this decision."
Bo took no time in diagnos-
ing the faults of the Big Ten
selection system - there were
grudges and biases galore.
Wisconsin's Elroy Hirsch
voted for Ohio State. Bo claimed
it was due to the Wisconsin
Athletic Department receiving
an unfavorable mention in his
book that had just been released,
"Man in Motion."

0

ALDEN REISS/Daily
Junior guard Eso Akunne and sophomore center Blake McLimans sparked a key 10-0 run in the Wolverines' win.
McLimans Akunne step
Up in win over Iowa State

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio led the Spartans to a 10-3 record.

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thwestern's John Pont What, you say, the system is
or Ohio State. Then- flawed?
;an Athletic Director Don "It's nothing but goddamn
m had made enemies in politics," said senior defensive
lier days as athletic direc- end Don Coleman. "The athletic
tvanston after not allow- directors were playing with us
Chicago Bears to play at and we really got screwed in the
western's Dyche Stadium. end.
higan State's Tippy Dye "I hope Southern Cal beats
or Ohio State. The Spar- the (expletive) out of Ohio State.
ad Wolverines had battled I've got nothing against Ohio. I
r a year over television won't be rooting against them,
to their annual rivalry but against the Big Ten."
On top of that, the vote Thirty Michigan seniors
erfect retaliation for missed out on the Rose Bowl in
;an being the only school 1973. Today, in the BCS era, 18
against the Spartans' Michigan State seniors were left
ion to the Big Ten in 1949. out of a prestigious bowl.
the pot was stirred most Why? Not necessarily because
Ten commissioner Wayne of the running feud between
the programs. It's because the
NCAA can't find a just postsea-
. . . son system.
he injustice "I feel like we deserve (a BCS
bid)," Spartans receiver B.J.
is season Cunningham said. "We earned
could be it, we got to the championship
game and we beat Michigan."
payback. Unfortunately, today's equa-
tion considers much more than
simple wins and losses, B.J.
Michigan jumped the Spar-
tans and will play in the Sugar
Before the decision was Bowl - not because of talent
he volunteered informa- or head-to-head success, but
Michigan quarterback because of prestige, fan bases
Franklin's collarbone and money.
In a word, it's still about poli-
ois's Cecil Coleman heard tics. No matter what, there's no
ury status of the Wolver- way to get it right. Either way, it
ar player and flip-flopped. always seems wrong.
ed for Ohio State. "I want to know ateam that's
e decision) was based on better than the Michigan State
nce, petty jealousies and Spartans in the Big Ten (other)
:ggerated issue of Frank- than Wisconsin," said Michigan
ury," Bo fumed. State senior wide receiver Keith
easy to see how Michigan Nichol.
own. It was anything but "It just gets ripped out of your
hand. I could literally taste that
got screwed," said senior rose in my mouth and it's not
Doug Troszak. "It's a what I have right now."
hame." The Spartans have exploded
for two brilliant seasons.
Michigan is rewarded for 132
seasons as the winningest
program in college football
history. The two programs still
aren't even.
In this day and age, wins still
give you roses, but prestige and
money still drive the bus.
Sparty's over.
- Nesbitt can be reached
at stnesbit@umich.edu or on
Twitter: @stephenjnesbitt.

LUKE PASCH
Daily Sports Editor
Saturday afternoon's men's
basketball game between Michi-
gan and Iowa State was a story of
unlikely heroes.
For much of the first half, nei-
ther team could gain separation,
and the
Cyclones IOWA STATE 66
led the MICHIGAN 76
Wol-
verines, 23-21, with just a few
minutes to go before the break.
Then, from the high post, red-
shirt sophomore center Blake
McLimans kicked the ball out to
junior guard Eso Akunne, who
knocked down the 3-pointer.
Neither McLimans nor
Akunne typically see much floor
time, but the pair kick-started
a 10-0 run for the Michigan
offense, and the Wolverines
went on to win, 76-66.
"It feels magnificent," said
sophomore guard Tim Hardaway
Jr. after the game. "We just feel
great to be back home in frontof
our home crowd. We just wanted
to go out there and put on a show
for our fans."
McLimans added a two-point
bucket of his own during that
run, and for good measure, the
big man nailed his own 3-pointer
on Michigan's last possession of
the half. The Wolverines (6-2)
took a 34-25 lead into the locker
room.
"The bench was really respon-
sible for that," said Michigan
coach John Beilein. "Eso came in
and shots weren't falling.... Then
he went behind a ball screen on
a hand back and knocked one

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Blake got a pick and roll, jumpers, free throws and tough
ook a charge, then hit a plays underneath after tallying
to end (the half). just four points in nine minutes
:at separation on that of the first half. He finished the
- we'll play a lot of 3-point contest with 16 points on 7-of-10
ng teams - we won't play shooting.
er that can get back in a On the defensive end, the Wol-
as fast as that team can get verines did solid work limiting
n the game. So the spread a proficient shooting team. The
uge for us, and Eso and Cyclones came into the game
had a lot to do with that." tied for No. 7 nationally with 10.3
shman point guard Trey 3-point field goals per game. On
continued to impress in Saturday, they were just 6-for-27
st season with the reins, as (22 percent) from long range.
shed the contest with 13 But late in the game, Iowa
and three 3-pointers. State made a comeback push.
Down by as much as 23 points
in the second half, the Cyclones
eventually narrowed their deficit
e just wanted to six points with under 30 sec-
onds to play.
go out ... and "We weren't strong with the
ball (late in the game)," Beilein
t on a show." said. "We talk about being boss
with the ball. We weren't strong.
We were just watchingthe
clock."
rdaway Jr. had a bounce- But it was too little too late for
'erformance from his trip Iowa State.
ginia on Tuesday, where The only Iowa State player to
e the bench for most of give the Michigan defense much
st half in foul trouble and trouble was redshirt sophomore
ed with just five points. On forward Royce White, who fin-
lay, Hardaway Jr. finished ished with a game-high 22 points
team-high 19 points on and six offensive boards. But
2 shooting. those were points the Wolverines
also picked up a steal were seemingly willing to con-
he top of the key during cede, as they keyed in mostly on
gan's 10-0 run in the first the dangerous Cyclone perimeter
eading to a breakaway one- shooters.
d dunk that ignited the "Very rarely did we double
'in Crisler Arena. (White) in the post," Beilein said.
he second half, Michigan "We've doubled people in the
rued to pull away from post. We felt that he was going to
State (5-3). Redshirt sopho- have to beatus from two.... We
forward Jordan Morgan weren't giving him a lot more
alive, scoring on midrange attention than just 1-on-L"

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Wolverines drop Cyclones

MATT SPELICH Though Michigan was even-
Daily Sports Writer tually able to put more points on
the board than Iowa State, its
With 29 seconds left in the inside game struggled against
Michigan women's basketball the Cyclones' big baseline
game defense.
against IOWA STATE 49 "I thought both teams tonight
Iowa MICHIGAN 56 did really well defensively," said
State Michigan coach Kevin Borseth.
yesterday, the Cyclones' sopho- "We were struggling offensively
more forward Hallie Christof- to get down in the paint and get
ferson drained a 3-pointer to cut quality shots off. We tried to do
Michigan's lead to four. anything we could to get inside
Following a timeout, the there and make something hap-
Cyclones needed to foul. Unfor- pen. A couple of times we forced
tunately for them, they decided shots in the middle, but they are
to foul senior guard Courtney so tough around that basket.
Boylan. She went six-for-six Luckily, kids hit shots when they
from the charity stripe, all of needed to, so that was really big."
which came in the final minute Fortunately for the Wolver-
of play. ines, Iowa State wasn't defend-
The Wolverines (8-1) held on ing outside shooters, allowing
to defeat the Cyclones, 56-49. Michigan to have a successful

game around the arc.
"Their style of defense is to
lay off the 3-point shooters,"
said junior guard Jenny Ryan.
"As a 3-point shooting team, our
shooters came in and knew that
this was our game."
The Wolverines ended up
shooting 8-for-18 from beyond
the arc. Though Iowa State made
two more threes than Michigan,
it also took 36 attempts.
The Cyclones live and die by
the 3-point shot, averagingclose
to 30 attempts a game. The only
other time the Cyclones (6-2) lost
was against Penn State, when
they went 6-for-26 from the
3-point line. Michigan has been
very careful not to depend too
heavily on its shooting to win
games. Instead, defense has been
the focus so far.
"When go into a game we
don't think, 'We're shooters,
let's just shoot the ball,"' Ryan
said. "We approach each game
differently, tryingto figure out
what will be required of us to
win. I think this year, versus past
years, we go into games relying
on our defense so we can win
even when we aren't feeling our
shots."
Rebounding has been a central
focus of the Wolverines' defense,
primarilybecause it's been their
weakness. Iowa State snagged 10
more boards than Michigan, and
No.6 Maryland - the only team
to beat the Wolverines - nabbed
23 more rebounds.
"Free throws and defensive
rebounds win games," Borseth
said.

SThantonWilder
andKen Ludwig'si
radaptationo
By George Farquhar Reserved seating $26 & $20
Directed by Priscilla Lindsay Students $10 with ID
Department of Theatre & Drama tickets.music.umich.edu
December 8 at 7:30 PM League Ticket Office
December 9 & 10 at 8PM 734-764-2538
December 11 at 2 PM
Power Center uniry oMkga sA,,F
kIMUsic,Theatre & Darce

musical
a Department of Musical Theatre studio production
Music by Jason Howland " Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Book by Allan Knee * Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Dec. 8 at 7:30 PM " Dec. 9 & 10 at 8 PM " Dec. 10 & 11 at 2 PM " Arthur Miller Theatre
f Ur ive,,ityof Imichigc)"kh General Admission $17 " Students $10 w/hD
JEL Hakc, Thatrc'&Danc.eLeague Ticket Office 734-764-2538 tickets.music.umich.edu

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