The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 7A TheMihign ail -micigndilyomEhusdy, arh 1, m01 mmnm.- 7Aa 'M' remembers late-season loss Michigan's journey to the NCAA Tourney By MICHAEL LAURILA Daily Sports Writer When the Michigan women's basketball team tips off against Oklahoma in its NCAA Tourna- ment first-round game on Sunday, it will have been 4,018 days (10 years and 363 days to be exact) since the Wolverines last danced. In 2001, then-coach Sue Guevara led Michigan to its second-consecutive berth. The Wolverines have been searching for a chance to dance ever since. The journey has been long. It's seen many different faces, includ- ing three coaches, and two differ- ent athletic directors. Most teams can detail their road to March in a season but Michigan's road to March is a bit longer and has more than a few details. Michigan women's basketball B.K.B (before Kevin Borseth): When Guevara arrived in Ann Arbor in 1996, the Wolverines hadn't had a date to the dance since 1990 - the program's first- ever bid. Shetook Michiganto the NCAA Tournament in her second season, only to suffer a first-round loss to UCLA. Following another first-round loss to Stanford in 2000, the Wol- verines got over the hump a year later and defeated Virginia in the opening round. It was only the second time Michigan had ever gone further than the first round in the program's history - 1990 beingthe first. With three NCAA tournament berths in four years, it seemed Guevara had changed the atmo- sphere of the women's program. The Wolverines hadn't previously been known as an elite program, but Guevara had made them just that - one of the Big Ten's best, a team where NCAA Tournament appearances were the norm. But the wheels came off the wagon the next two years. Between 2002 and 2004, Guevara compiled a 30-29 regular-season record, and the team was 9-23 in conference play. Guevara left the program following an abysmal 2003 collapse in conference play. Just as it had appeared that Guevara had turned Michigan into a program where an NCAA Tournament berth was expected, Cheryl Burnett, who was the next coach to lead the Wolverines, found otherwise. The Missouri native, who'd brought Southwest Missouri State to glory during her 15 years there - earning 10 NCAA Tour- nament berths and two Final Four appearances - wanted to do similar things for the Wolverines. In her inaugural press confer- ence, Burnett talked about how proud she was to be the coach of such a prestigious university "where academics are the foun- dation of athletics." Not only did Burnett not find similar success as Guevara at Michigan, she barely found any at all. After four seasons as Michi- gan's coach, she'd compiled a 35-83 record and never took the Wolverines to the postseason. She abruptly retired from coaching following the 2007 season. The early Borseth years: Borseth took over a program that had suffered five consecutive losing seasons and didn't seem to be making any progress towards achieving the success it had in the early2000s.Michiganwent10-44 in Big Ten play during Burnett's four-year tenure, and the Wolver- ines were considered one of the weakest teams in the conference. Borseth had a solid reputation as a hard-nosed yet warm-hearted coach, who'd experienced much success at Wisconsin-Green Bay. During his nine-year stint, he took the Phoenix to seven NCAA Tournaments and compiled a 216- 62 overall record. A native of Bessemer, Mich., Borseth felt comfortable coming back to Michigan to coach. He'd previously coached for 11 seasons at Michigan Tech from 1987-1998 and had experience recruiting within the state and the Midwest. After Burnett went 10-20 in her final season, it seemed likely that whoever took the reins would see a similar losing record in their opening season. But Borseth made an immediate impact. The Wolverines overachieved and fin- ished the year at 19-13, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. His predictions also held true in his second season: the second year was the toughest. Michigan finished 10-20 on the year and 3-15 in the Big Ten. So close, but so far: Following the atrocious 2008- 2009 season, 2009-2010 found the Wolverines as the preseason favorite to finish in the cellar of the Big Ten. Borseth reiterated the predictions he'd made during his inaugural press conference and the struggles of rebuilding a program. Borseth's vision revealed itself in 2010, as Michigan finished 17-13 following the Big Ten Tour- nament. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme had the Wolver- ines as one of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament before Selec- tion Monday. But likely due to Michigan's meek 8-10 Big Ten record and sixth-place conference finish, Creme's predictions turned out faulty and the Wolverines found themselves in the WNIT. The team made a surprising run to the semifinals, only to be-defeated at the hands of Miami (Fla). A year later, Michigan found itself in a similar position late in the season. The Wolverines went into Selection Monday at 17-12, with a 4-5 record against top-25 teams, and they beat ranked Ohio State twice. Unlike 2010, Michi- gan finished 10-6, en route to a third-place finish in the confer- ence, and the team felt it had done enough to make its first NCAA appearance since 2001. Once again, Creme had the Wolverines dancing and pegged as a 10-seed - not even one of the last four in. But Michigan didn't receive a bid to dance and settled for another WNIT berth. The Wolverines played all of their games on the road because of con- struction to Crisler Arena, and in doing so, suffered a first-round loss to low-seeded Eastern Michi- gan. The Journey Ends: Coming into this season in his fifth year at the helm, Borseth finally had four classes that were his own recruiting concoctions. The experienced roster, which lost only one player to graduation, looked ready to make it over the hump and finally dance. The Wolverines lost to Ohio State in the second-round of the Big Ten Tournament, but had an RPI of 44. They felt they'd done enough, once again But Creme, who'd put the Wolverines into the tournament the previous two years in his predictions, had them the second team out. When the field of 66 was announced this past Monday and Michigan's name popped up as an 11-seed in Norman, Okla., it seemed that Borseth's plans since his arrival had finally come to fruition. "When our name came on that screen, that room just explod- ed," Borseth said following the announcement. "The committee has tough decisions to make, and the last couple of years we weren't on the positive end of that choice, and this year we were. Whatever the reason, I don't know, but I'm glad we were." It might have taken five years to get the Wolverines to dance, but they're there, and they're looking to stay for the long haul. As one of the team's leaders, Boylan felt the team's frustration about not being able to close out games as a freshman and when the team was snubbed by the committee later in her career. But she has finally been rewarded for her determination and dedication in her final season at Michigan. In the same way that the Michigan men's basketball team's seniors Stu Douglass and Zach Novak are the building blocks for the current team, Boylan and senior guard Carmen Reynolds are the cornerstones for the Wol- verines' present and future suc- cess. "Our program has changed so much since coach Borseth came here and (the seniors and I) were a part of his recruiting class," Boylan said on Tuesday. "To be able to leave our footprint on the program means so much to us." By ZACH HELFAND Daily Sports Writer Jon Merrill was furious with himself. The sophomore defense- man hit his stick against the ice in frustration after his late- NOTEBOOK game turnover against Bowling Green cost the Michigan hockey team the game. Three weeks ago, the Wolver- ines were still battling for first place in the CCHA, and the loss to last-place Bowling Green knocked them out of the race. Merrill was less than pleased. Well, cheer up, Mr. Merrill. It turns out that loss was a good thing. "It was big for us to really lose to them," said senior forward David Wohlberg. "I think in (that) game when we lost to them, that really opened our eyes to how good of a team they were. "Now we know what we have to do to go and win against them this time." Michigan will play Bowling Green - this year's Cinderella team in the conference playoffs - on Friday in the CCHA semifinals. After defeating Lake Superior State in the first round, the Fal- cons shocked top-seeded Ferris State in the quarterfinals. With the rest of the CCHA apparently sleeping on the Fal- cons, some Michigan players have taken to something seemingly absurd:they're singingthe praises of their loss. "Even though that was a big loss for us, it prepared us for every series," said freshman forward Alex Guptill. "I don't think we'd do as well in the Notre Dame series if we don't lose that game against Bowling Green." Bowling Green overcame a three-goal deficit on Sunday against the Bulldogs to win the deciding game in overtime. BLOCK TALK: A standard hock- ey puck, shot at 90 mph, exerts a ,Y F \ s\ 4 ~ Sophomore defenseman Jon Merrill had a crucial turnover late in Michigan's lo force of 6557 newtons. Given that you can under- stand the difficulty in getting hockey players to block shots. The problem is, Michigan coach Red Berenson knows that cham- pionship teams block shots. So, recently Berenson and the rest of the coaching staff have begun a shot-blocking initiative. First, it was the plastic pucks. Freshman forward Phil Di Giuseppe said the plastic pucks appeared a month ago during practice at Yost Ice Arena. They were meant to ease the team in to getting in front of pucks without the risk of injury. The timing isn't a coincidence. About a month ago, Berenson spent part of his Valen- tine's Day watching the Rangers play the Bruins and was inspired. "One night,, I was watch- ing Carl (Hagelin) play with the Rangers," Berenson said. "(Rang- ers coach) John Tortorella, he made it very clear, he said 'If you don't block 'blank' shots, you don't 'blank' play. Period.' And that was a message for the whole team. And that's how I feel. I didn't like blocking shots, but you can learn how to do it." According to Berenson, there are three parts to blocking a shot: skill, timing and will. Some players have the skill. Berenson lists senior forward Luke Glendening, senior defen- seman Greg Pateryn, sophomore forward Derek DeBlois and junior forward Kevin Lynch among the team's best blockers. Next, the timing: The plastic pucks in practice have evolved to regular pucks, and Michigan now regularly runs a blocking drill during practices. Two players move the puck at the blue line, and two other skaters have to block the puck before it's put on net. Finally, the will. A few weeks ago, the team watched what fifth- year senior goalie Shawn Hun- wick called a "little highlight tape of missed blocks that led to goals." And Berenson has continued to drive the message home. In his post-game speech to his play- ers after the Notre Dame series, Berenson praised his shot block- ers, later noting that Pateryn took MARENEt t LCASuS/Dily s to Bowling Green in late February. a particularly painful shot off the arm. And just in case that wasn't enough, he also had a doozy of a story up his sleeve. "I told them the story of Al Arbour," said Berenson, referring to his former teammate on the St. Louis Blues. "This was the days of no helmets, and he wore glasses during the games. And Bobby Hull would come down the wing - and Bobby Hull had the best shot in the league - and he would rear back and he would rip it. And Al Arbour would go down with the glasses on, and he would block that shot. "Between periods, they would take his shin pad off and they would stitch up his shins ... And so he'd go back out, and Hull would come down again, and Arbour would go down. And we would all be on the bench just flinching for him. And nobody would every say a wrong word about Al Arbour. "And so I'm telling them: if he could block shots wearing glasses, you could sure as hell block shots wearing a full facemask and the equipment you've got on." If you are Weighing your career options, consider this: US. News & World Report places pharmacy on its short list of Best Careers - and ranks the University of fU U Michigan College of Pharmacy one of the best in the nation.