The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
January 30, 2012 - 3B
Wolverine midseason awards
By COLLEEN THOMAS
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's basket-
ball team has successfully com-
pleted the first half of its grueling
Big Ten schedule. After posting
one of the program's best records
in history, the Wolverines (5-3
Big Ten, 16-5 overall) are looking
to secure their first NCAA tour-
nament bid since 2001. Michigan
picked up wins against Illinois,
Indiana, Minnesota, Northwest-
ern and Ohio State - the Buck-
eyes were the Wolverines' first
and only win against a ranked
team this season - and dropped
one game to in-state rival Michi-
gan State and two to Penn State,
who was ranked in both contests.
There have been a few impor-
tant factors in Michigan's first-
half success:
Offensive MVP: Junior for-
ward Rachel Sheffer has stepped
up in conference play, scoring
double digits in six of the team's
eight conference games. She's
also established a post pres-
ence that Michigan had been
searching for all season. Sheffer
has gone up against some of the
toughest, most physical forwards
in the nation and has mostly come
out with success. She can also
shoot the 3-pointer respectably -
she's 33 percent on the season -
ARIZONA
From Page 4B
careers, and they know that Col-
lins can lead them there.
There's no shortage of players
who want to play for the team.
The Firebirds don't recruit like a
college team, but making the team
is a competitive process. Coaches
hear about players, talk to them,
watch them play and scout them
out a little bit. It's not an easy pro-
cess.
When Luke played, the Fire-
birds' roster was mostly com-
posed of Arizona kids with the
occasional exceptions.
Today, the team hosts players
not just from around the United
States, but from Sweden and Mex-
ico as well. It's not surprising to
Waldersen, who knows the extent
of Collins' reputation as a WHL
scout across the country. But it is
a little surprising to Luke.
"Thinking about it, you'd think,
'Move away from Arizona to play
hockey,' " Luke said. "(It's) what
I did and what a lot of kids end
up doing. But now, I think, as
hockey's growing, more and more
come to play. It's a better team,
people will come in from every-
where if there's an opportunity."
There's definitely opportunity.
Though no player is ever a shoe-
in to make it to the next level of
hockey, the Firebirds see their fair
share of talent skating through
the doors of Oceanside.
When Luke started playing
for Collins, he made it his goal to
make it to the U.S. Development
Program. He was whisked off to
Ann Arbor to play for his junior
and senior years of high school -
his aspirations came true.
He thanks Collins for that.
"He's got experience, he's
played a lot, he knows about the
game," Luke said. "He's had suc-
cess. He had a junior program he
started from scratch. He's just one
of the best coaches, such a well-
respected guy that you trust his
opinions."
This year, Collins' team has
gone 13-7-2 since the regular sea-
son started in September. When
an Arizona team can play games
against teams from Michigan or
Pennsylvania and hold its own,
people notice.
And a little bit of attention is
all the team wants. It's a sport
dominated by teams from hockey
hotbeds like Michigan or Massa-
chusetts, and winning is the only
surefire way the Firebirds can set
themselves apart.
As Luke puts it, kids want to
play on teams that win.
Collins' teams win. That's how
they get respect. That's how Luke
got noticed.
Mike Lehto's job is to get
people excited about hockey.
This is coming from a man who,
after growing up in Michigan's
Upper Peninsula, had never been
exposed to basketball as a child
because hockey was all he knew.
Lehto lights up when talking
about hockey. And as the Rocky
making her a dual threat.
Defensive MVP: Junior guard
Jenny Ryan has been the bread
and butter of the Wolverines'
stellar defense this season, lead-
ing the team in rebounding and
steals. Standing at 5-foot-9, she
may not be the most intimidating
player on the court, but the inten-
sity she brings on defense is her
best quality. She's always sprint-
ing up and down the court and
vocally directing the defense. All
of her teammates agree that she is
the spark of the Michigan defense
- Sheffer said Ryan is the leader
on defense and someone who pro-
vides energy for the team.
Biggest win: The game against
Ohio State was by far Michigan's
biggest win, as it came against the
only ranked team the Wolverines
have beaten all season. Though
the Buckeyes have been a peren-
nial leader in the Big Ten, they've
dropped the last three matchups
against the Wolverines. This year,
Michiganwon inconvincingfash-
ion, upsetting their then-unde-
feated rival, 73-62. All the pieces
seemed to fit together on offense,
and the Wolverines played one
of their best games defensively.
Michigan held the Buckeyes' top
two scorers to 10-of-34 shooting,
and three Wolverines broke into
double figures.
But despite one of the best
starts in program history, the
Wolverines can't seem to break
into the top-25. To add to that,
each of the three times the team
garnered votes in the polls, it
proceeded to lose the following
week.
It may be bad luck, but if
Michigan wants national notori-
ety, it has to prove it deserves of
inclusion in the top-25. Inclusion
could come with wins against the
top teams in the Big Ten, and the
Wolverines still have a chance to
crack the top-25 if they can win a
few more key games.
Michigan State: This time,
Michigan will have home-court
advantage, but that still may not
be enough. The Wolverines will
have to put up a fight in the paint
- Michigan State has a physical
forward in Lykendra Johnson,
who dominated the paint against
the Wolverines, and a couple
other forwards who helped the
Spartans outrebound the Wol-
verines, 44-29, in their previous
game. Michigan coach Kevin
Borseth has been emphasizing
the importance of rebounding
all season, and this is a game in
which the Wolverines have to win
the battle on the boards.
At Nebraska: No matter who
you are, it's tough to win on the
road. And it's even tougher to win
on the road against a top-25 team.
If the Wolverines want to pick up
another marquee victory, they
have a chance to do it in Lincoln.
The 19th-ranked Cornhuskers
has had an up-and-down season,
barely pulling out a double-over-
time win against Northern Ari-
zona, and losing to Penn State at
home after beating them on the
road. But the Wolverines will first
have to shut down Nebraska's
three potent scorers who con-
tribute to one of the highest-scor-
ing offenses in the conference.
The entire Michigan squad will
have to channel its performance
against Ohio State in order to take
down Nebraska on the road.
Purdue: This is another game
that Michigan has the potential
to win. This is the only time the
Wolverines will face the Boil-
ermakers in the regular season,
and it happens to be their sec-
ond-to-last game. It could decide
Michigan's seed in the Big Ten
Tournament and possibly its seed
in the NCAA Tournament. Pur-
due is on top of the Big Ten right
now, and if the Wolverines win,
this game could match the sig-
nificance of the victory over Ohio
State.
Michigan will have to contain
senior Brittany Rayburn and
sophomore Courtney Moses -
something not many teams have
been able to do.
Osu
From Page 1B
crash in from the weak side and
either get a putback or draw a
foul, finishingwith 12 rebounds -
eight on the offensive end.
The Wolverines took a quick
5-0 lead in the opening min-
utes. After the Buckeyes quickly
answered, the scoring went back
and forth from there. A combi-
nation of solid defense and poor
shooting from both teams kept
it a low-scoring affair, as both
Michigan and Ohio State shot
under 40 percent from the field
in the half.
The Buckeyes looked to have a
serious advantage with Sullinger
establishing himself in the paint
early. But Michigan responded by
switching to a 2-3 zone out of the
second media timeout. Ohio State
struggled to adapt to the new
look, which Beilein has rarely
INEXPERIENCE
From Page 1B
would dart for the NBA. Nobody
confuses Luke for a ginger Nos-
tradamus.)
Michigan isa much differ-
ent team than last season. They
aren't dominated by freshmen
anymore. They actually have
seniors this time around. And I
certainly think this edition of the
Wolverines is better. Whereas
the loss last season put their Big
Ten record at 2-7, they're just one
game out of first place in the con-
ference at 6-3 after this one.
But Luke's words still ring
true. Fans were thrilled that
Michigan performed as well as
it did last season simply because
the performance was ahead of
schedule - the team was really
building toward the future. Next
year, some surely thought, we
won't be inexperienced. We won't
be too youngto competefor cham-
pionships.
But even though most of the
Wolverines now have a full year
under their belt, it doesn't sud-
denly make them experienced
vets. Sophomores are largely
better to have than freshmen,
but they still aren't even upper-
classmen. They're still relatively
inexperienced, and they still
have plenty to work on before
they reach their ceilings. (Maybe
this isn't true for the five-star,
McDonald's All-American types,
but Michigan doesn't have any
of those on its roster.) And the
loss to Ohio State was a reminder
that, for all the experience that
key freshmen got last season,the
players aren't as ripe as Michigan
coach John Beilein wants.
Redshirt sophomore forward
Jordan Morgan has done a much
better job of staying out of foul
trouble so far this season. But
faced with his biggest challenge
yet in Buckeye bruiser Jared Sull-
inger, he reverted to his old ways,
picking up his fourth foul early in
the second half.
It was the definition of need-
less. Tim Hardaway Jr. was
good against the Buckeyes, but
his inconsistencies elsewhere
have been well-documented.
And sophomore forward Evan
used this season. The Wolverines
kept the ball out of the paint, and
the Buckeyes usually missed any
open 3-pointers they got.
"I think you'll see that from
time to time during the year, try-
ing to change the matchups we
have," Beilein said. "We always
try to do things just to change
up, so they never get comfortable.
You let this team get comfortable,
they got too many bullets in that
gun."
Ultimately, Ohio State did get
comfortable. When the Buckeyes
extended their lead to eight points
early in the second half, Michi-
gan responded with a 7-0 run to
tighten the game once more. But
Ohio State answered with an 8-0
run of its own just before Mor-
gan's fourth foul. The Wolverines
couldn't come back after that.
And Sullinger finally came
alive late in the game to help seal
it for the Buckeyes, who found
their shootingtouch in time to put
it away late in the second half.
Smotrycz has proven my argu-
ment better than any other player
with his up-and-down perfor-
mances this season. He picked
up his fourth foul just a couple
minutes after Morgan, and like a
lot of other second-year players,
often shows upbig or completely
disappears in games. Of course,
there's also the fact that the
team's best player this year -
playing Beilein's priority position,
no less - is the least experienced
of them all. Trey Burke hasn't
often played likea freshman this
season, but he's still a rookie. For
all his skills, he has more develop-
ing to do. This isn't to say that this
year is over, and that we shouldn't
have high expectations until next
season, when all the sophomores
are juniors and Beileinbrings in
what is by far his most talented
crop of recruits.
This edition of Michigan is,
without a doubt, a good team, and
has the potential to make a pretty
deep run in the NCAA Tourna-
ment. But that doesn't mean that
we should expect all the growing
pains to go away. Losses like this
one are goingto happen because
the Wolverines still don't have all
the weapons they need.
"I think every (first) half we
play here has been (close), and
then (Ohio State) just has tremen-
dous talent," Beilein said after
the loss. "We have to hit the open
shots that we had, and we have to
finish plays at the rimto stay in
there."
Those are plays that truly
experienced, veteran teams make
without even thinking - when
Michigan can do that consis-
tently, you'll know Beilein has the
seasoned team he wants.
By the end of lastseason, the
freshmen were playing beyond
their years. And based on
Beilein's track record of teams
improving overthe course of a
season, we can expect them to
once again make significant prog-
ress before the year is over.
But before you get too frus-
trated by performances like
Sunday's, just remember: most of
the team is still young. They're
building, but construction isn't
finished just yet.
Estes can be reached at
benestes@umich.edu.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Sophomore forward Luke Moffatt started his hockey career in Arizona before joining the USNTDP in Ann Arbor.
Mountain District coach-in-chief
for USA Hockey, he tries to evoke
those same emotions in children
from Arizona, Colorado, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and
Utah.
Coach-in-chief is what it
sounds like - overseeing all
aspects of youth hockey in Lehto's
six states, from teaching volun-
teers who have never put on a pair
of skates before how to become
capable coaches or to funneling
players through state wide and
regional clinics in hopes that
some of them will make the pres-
tigious USNTDP.
Lehto has seen a steady
increase in the number of regis-
tered hockey players in the Rocky
Mountain Dis-
trict - the
number stood
at 39,117 in the "Jt's
2010-11 year.
It seems who I a
impressive'
when you real- It'S t
ize that. Lehto
had to build a
hockey com-
munity out of virtually nothing.
But then you realize that number
is spread out between six states
- and it can't compare to the
over 54,000 registered skaters in
Michigan alone.
The spread-out nature of
Lehto's district creates logisti-
cal obstacles. Playing another
team isn't just another game - it
becomes full-fledged road trip.
And road trips start to take a toll.
In Michigan, a trip to another
team's rink could be a 30-minute
car ride. When Luke played, he
took 30-minute rides to the air-
port.
It becomes exhausting.
Luke pointed to his freshman
year of high school as an example
- he had 46 absences.
"That was bad," Luke said,
laughing. "I had to lie about going
to school all the time. I'd get doc-
tors notes from family friends.
We were only allowed to miss so
many days for our activities, (the
school) was really strict."
Traveling wasn't a big problem
for Luke. His parents made sure
his homework was always com-
pleted on time, and he was fortu-
nate enough to be able to afford
flights to Boston three times a
year.
But that's not always the case.
Lehto talked about a team with
hopes of making a trip to a nation-
al tournament. Those dreams
might have to be put on hold since
only 11 of the 22 players have the
means to afford the trip.
Traversing long distances is
inevitable for teams like the Fire-
birds, who have to take the time to
find quality teams to play against.
Families aren't the only ones
suffering from financial burden -
towns are too.
Rinks in these
communities
art of weren't built
with one every
Lm now. couple of miles
like they were
UI," in Canada.
Some rinks
in the Rocky
Mountain Dis-
trict have to operate 24 hours a
day to accommodate all the dif-
ferent programs from different
towns that need to use the ice.
Availability of ice isn't some-
thing Lehto can control. But he
does work hard to make the most
of the facilities available to him -
fillingup local rinks for 20 hours a
day isn't a small feat.
He views hockey like any other
product. It has to be something
consumers want and can get easy
access to. It has to generate excite-
ment and be able to withstand in
the long-term.
Coach-in-chief may entail
something different in the south-
west than it does in Michigan. But
Lehto thinks he's doing a pretty
good job at it.
"We have a small following, but
it's a dedicated following," he said
proudly. "Our program is as big as
any other. Can it get as big as it is
back east? It certainly could."
Sometimes Luke tries to come
up with witty responses for when
doubters ask him about the via-
bility of hockey in Arizona.
But for all the attitude he
might give to teammates or other
curious fans, he doesn't really
mind at all. In fact, his hockey
upbringing is something he's
rather proud of.
Some things, like pond hockey,
he admits that he'll never truly
know. He found a way to make
do, though.
Luke and his "neighborhood
gang" would substitute a frozen
pond for concrete and spend
hours playing roller hockey in the
cul-de-sacs near his home. The
risk of a car unexpectedly flying
around the corner was always
impending, but the kids didn't
mind. They just wanted to play.
In high school, Luke was
known as the "hockey kid," and
his pastime set him apart from
his classmates who spent all their
time playing traditional Arizona
sports like baseball or football.
He was an outlier then, but not
anymore. Michigan teammate
Chris Brown is from Texas, and
Mike Chiasson is from Nevada.
They all get it - they're all part
of the same desert club.
It's impossible for Luke to put
himself in a hypothetical situa-
tion: What if he had never lived in
Arizona? What if he had grown
up in Michigan?
He sat and racked his brain for
some sort of answer. After a few
moments of thought, he finally
came up with an answer.
"I don't wish I'd grown up in
Michigan," Luke said firmly. "I'm
glad I grew up in Arizona. I had a
wonderful experience there with
hockey. Everything has ended up
working out for me so far."
Even if it means going through
the rest of his life reassuring peo-
ple that its possible to find ice in
the desert?
"It's the same questions every
time, but it's something kind of
cool. It's part of who I am now.
It's fun. I'll answer (the question)
1,000 more times."
BIGS
From Page 1B
Redshirt sophomore center
Jordan Morgan and sophomore
forward Evan Smotrycz couldn't
match the Buckeyes' strength
down low and resorted to fouling.
Both had four fouls and had to be
spelled by lightly used reserves.
With sophomore center Jon
Horford out indefinitely with a
foot injury, Beilein had to call on
junior forward Blake McLimans
and sophomore forward Colton
Christian. Both saw their most-
ever playing time in a Big Ten
game.
"It just takes some of our flow
offensively away," Beilein said of
taking Morgan and Smotrycz out.
"Our defense actually was pretty
good during that span, but it was
our offense that hurt during that
span when we had to go to the
bench."
Offensively, the Wolverines
couldn't manage to overcome
Ohio State's frontcourt, even when
Smotrycz and Morgan were in.
Michigan was unable to cre-
ate opportunities for itself inside
the 3-point arc and could only
get points in the paint on passes
to slashing teammates and feeds
right under the basket. Pen-
etration into the lane resulted in
either a kick-out or an off-balance
shot.
Freshman point guard Trey
Burke was baffled by Ohio State
guard Aaron Craft and had toset-
tle for jump shots. He made three
3-pointers but couldn't get to the
rim at will like he's accustomed
to.
"They kind of double-teamed
me off the pick-and-roll, so it
wasn't really like I could just turn
the corner," Burke said. "Aaron
Craft wouldn't let me use the
screen. That was their game plan
- not to let me use the screen.
They had a pretty good scheme
on me."
Down the stretch, when the
Buckeyes extended their lead to
double digits, Michigan's only
hope of a comeback was to drain
its 3-pointers, which had mixed
results.
Ohio State didn't even have to
revert to fouling when the Wol-
verines tried to get inside. In fact,
Michigan had zero free throw
attempts until 2:33 was remain-
ing in the game. It was almost the
first time since the 1996-97 sea-
son that a Big Ten team was held
without a free throw.