The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com )or Trey Burke prepared to look past tumultuous off-season Thursday, November 8, 2012 - 7A Hutchins signs 5-year extension By ZACH HELFAND Daily Sports Editor Trey Burke's roller-coaster offseason began drawing head- lines just weeks after the Michi- gan basketball team was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament. First came the reports that he would forgo the final three years of college to enter the NBA Draft. After he decided to return for another season in Ann Arbor, the hype machine began swirl- ing around the basketball pro- gram. By time fall rolled around, some experts were slating No. 5 Michigan as a Final Four pick and Burke was selected as an Associated Press first-team All- American. At some point during that tumultuous offseason,the sopho- more made what Michigan coach John Beilein called "out-of-char- acter decisions" that Burke "now regrets." After being suspended for the Wolverines' exhibition against Northern Michigan, Burke was relieved to finally return to the court in Monday night's 76-48 exhibition victory over Saginaw Valley State. After scoring 16 points and dishing out eight assists in just 21 minutes of action, Burke - speaking to the media for the f first time since the suspension - expressed his readiness to move past what he referred to as a "sit- uation in the summer." He specifically noted how, as a team leader, he handled the situ- ation. "I obviously apologized about the situation, but we moved on from there," Burke said. "I know that with being a leader comes responsibility, and I know that I made a mistake, so like I said, I apologized to 'the team, they a different perspective," he said. "It's going to be pretty hard to guard us this year as long as we make the right play. "I learned we've got options. Last year, the offense was kind of stagnant a lot, and though these are exhibition games ... you can just tell that (we have a lot of options)." With Burke and the rest of the team anxiously awaiting their regular-season opener against Slippery Rock on Friday, Beilein says to look for new wrinkles in Michigan's offense because of his point guard's experience. "We have been experimenting more than we have ever experi- mented," Beilein said. "I think that whatever you do, offensively and defensively, when you've got a point guard back - we had to take our package down a little bit last year and expand it and then we had to take it down for him, now I think that he understands more." Beilein also spoke about hav- ing more flexibility to make in- ALDEN REISS/Daily game adjustments with a veteran ay after being sus- quarterbacking the offense this ichigan last week. year. Burke believes he'll handle sive machine in in-game situations more seam- er the Wildcats. lessly, and will instead turn to cial statement the role of on-court teacher rath- e suspension, er than student. ke had "learned "I'm able to give out instruc- a valuable les- tions and things to the freshmen son" and "will that come in," he said. "Last year, grow from this I was kind of running the play experience." to where I was and not trying But for Burke, to mess it up, or asking (former watching from guard Stu Douglass) what the the bench in play wag, or I might have forgot- a shirt and tie ten the play. taught him "This year, it's kind of natural more than just and I'm able to teach (freshmen) lesson. Caris (LeVert) or Spike coming g from the side- off the bench and tell them what to see that from to do." By COLLEEN Daily Sport The winningest Michigan athletic be around for a wl Michigan softb Hutchins signed a tract extension c that will keep her the softball prod 2017. Hutchins ha: the Wolverine sofi 1983 and became t in 1985. "Coach Hutchins con- tinues to be a tremendous asset to. our athletic depart- ment and University," said Michi- gan Athletic Director Dave Brandon in a press release. leader of young w proven to be one o cessful coaches in collegiate softball. to have her contin both on and off the Hutchins has co 424-4 record as which is the most tory and fourthi tory. Under her it Wolverines were t east of the Missis win an NCAA soft THOMAS they beat UCLA in 2005. The s Writer 2005 season also set five program records, including most wins and t head coach in the first No.1 ranking. s history will Michigan has won 15 Big Ten bile longer. titles, including the past five, and all coach Carol Hutchins herself has won numer- five-year con- ous conference and national an Wednesday coach of the year awards. at the helm of "I continue to be blessed to be gram through the head coach at the University s been a part of of Michigan," Hutchins said in ball staff since a statement. "I am grateful to the head coach Dave Brandon and (Senior Asso- ciate Athletic Director) Bitsy Ritt for their "I continue to continued sup- port of me, my be blessed to be coaching staff and our pro- the head coach gram. They have invested at ... M ichigan." so much in our program and we look for- ward to the She is a great future." 'omen and has On Oct. 19 the University's f the most suc- Board of Regents approved new the history of softball facilities adjacent to the We are excited Wilpon Complex's Alumni Field. ued leadership The Donald R. Shepherd Softball e diamond." Center is expected to cost $4 mil- impiled a 1,251- lion and will be built on the foot- head coach, prints of the old softball facility. in school his- The new center will have in NCAA his- upgraded facilities for the players. nstruction, the and coaches with locker rooms the first school and offices, and will expand the ssippi River to training facilities and meeting ball title, when areas. Sophomore guard Trey Burke returned tothe floor on Mond pended for Michigan's exhibition opener against Northern M all forgave me about it and I told well-oiled offen them it won't happen again. I'm an 83-47 win ove ready to just move forward and In an offi continue to lead this team and regarding the make sure that doesn't happen Beilein said Bur with no one on the team." Without Burke in the lineup, fresh- man point guard Spike Albrecht - who com- mitted to the Wolverines justt Burke had report go pro - led what "With being a leader comes responsibility." two days after an off-the-court edly decided to "Just watchin t looked to be a lines, I was able FOLLOW ON TWITTER It's good for you. @THEBLOCKM Michigan among heavyweights in loaded conference By ERIN LENNON DailySports Writer Technically speaking, every game is anyone's game to win. But when it comes to Big Ten volleyball, the euphemism couldn't be truer. The Big Ten is the strongest conference in the NCAA this season by a landslide. No. 3 Penn State - No. 1 until the end of October - Nebraska, Minne- sota, Ohio State and Purdue are ranked among the top-25 in-the nation. And Penn State, Nebras- ka and Minnesota represent the conference in the top-10 poll as of Nov. 1. Both Michigan and Illinois have also been ranked at times this season. So it only makes sense that Big Ten teams have taken a lik- ing to beating up on one another this season. Even the seemingly invincible offense of Penn State was shut down last week by No. 4 Nebraska. Yet the Fighting Illini, who nearly stole a game from the Nittany Lions in five sets, were swept by the Wolverines in three sets. On Friday night, Michigan, who had also given Penn State a scare at home, defeated the Cornhuskers in yet another five- set thriller. In this conference, there is no formula for victory. "The Big Ten is a great prepa- ration for the NCAA Tourna- ment," said junior outside hitter Lexi Erwin. "We see countless teams that are amazing, that are top-ranked teams. Just being able to be in the conference and play every single weekend, every single night, against a team that's ranked is going to help us out a lot." For Michigan (7-7 Big Ten, 19-9 overall), the difference between a win and a loss in con- ference play has been like a flip of a coin. "We know that the games that we've lost we could have played a lot better," said senior middle blocker Claire McEl- heny. "Whether we would have won (those games) or not,I don't know." Having taken down Nebraska and cruised past Iowa in straight sets, it would appear that the Wolverines are getting hot at the right time. This weekend's results brought a .500 confer- ence record for Michigan and momentum heading into the final six games of the season. The difference over the last five games, according to Michi- gan coach Mark Rosen, has had nothing to do with physical strength. "Confidence is one of those weird things where you can't give it to anybody, you have to earn it," Rosen said. "You have to be in enough situations and you have to earn that right to have that confi- dence, and I'think this team is starting to get that." While both Rosen and his team insist that nothing about their game has changed physi- cally, the stats prove that.Michi- gan volleyball has hit its stride. "We're a young team, and we've known that all year," Rosen said. "We haven't used it as an excuse but it's a reality." Among the young starters are freshman libero Tiffany Morales, middle blocker Krysta- lyn Goode and sophomore setter Lexi Dannemiller. Junior out- side hitter Molly Toon recorded her career-high 25 kills and Dannemiller nearly tied her per- sonal record of 64 assists in the match versus Nebraska. Young- er players and upperclassmen alike have raised the team's kill percentage and kept errors to a minimum. So what's next for the Wolver- ines? "Wisconsin," Rosen said. "We got swept by Wisconsin last year in their place and here, we got beaten by them at their place. We want Wisconsin." Senior forward Jeff Rohrkemper moonlighted at defenseman last Saturday af ter Michigan dropped to five defensemen on the active roster in Marquette. Roh rkemper steps Up on'D By LIZ VUKELICH Daily Sports Writer Last weekend, the Michi- gan hockey team lived out a nightmare when freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba was suspended for a game against Northern Michigan after lay- ing a heavy blow that included contact to the head of a Wildcat defenseman. Had the game been at Yost Ice Arena, the call wouldn't have been as impactful. But on the road, with an already depleted blue line crippled by injuries and the remaining healthy defensemen back in Ann Arbor, it wasn't an ideal situation. Immediately, questions swirled about what Michigan coach Red Berenson would do to fill the gap on the defense's third defensive pairing. Luckily for the 12th-ranked Wolverines, senior forward Jeff Rohrkemper's performance put any pre-game uncertainties to rest. Yes, Rohrkemper a forward, made his debut on the blue line on Saturday, and even though Michigan (1-2-1 CCHA, 3-3-1 overall) walked away from the game with a loss, Berenson took notice of Rohrkemper's adapt- ability. Rohrkemper never really doubted his ability to transition to a different position. "I've played hockey my whole life and watched , defense- men (play) forever," he said. "I thought I could handle it, and I did alright." Berenson spoke highly of Rohrkemper's defensive poten- tial. In fact, he was so certain his senior could handle it that the two didn't even have a con- versation about the switch beforehand. Berenson simply told Rohrkemper his expecta- tions and asked him just one question: "How well can you skate backward?" The question was partly a joke, the hope being that by the time a player reaches the colle- giate level, he's mastered Skat- ing 101. But there was some serious- ness to it too, considering that backward skating is a blue- liner staple, and that before last weekend, Rohrkemper had never played a defensive shift in his entire hockey career. Despite that, playing Rohrkemper on the blue line wasn't really that difficult of a decision to make, Berenson said. "He's got the ingredients (of a defenseman)," Berenson said. "He's smart, he passes the puck well and has good defensive instincts." His linemate, junior Kevin Clare, and the rest of. the for- wards made a point to take spe- cial care of Rohrkemper during his shifts - more attention was paid to screening, covering Rohrkemper's blind spots and playing as defensively as pos- sible to compensate for his inex- perience. But perhaps Rohrkemper's biggest advantage was °the offensive know-how he brought back to the blue line. And now he can bring new defensive knowledge back to the forward corps. "The main thing I took away from it was how much forwards can help defensemen out," Rohrkemper said. "Forwards don't really understand how hard (playing defense) is. It really makes you realize how supporting your defensemen can be really ben- eficial." Rohrkemper still finished out the game with a minus-one plus/minus rating, though he did have a very close look at net. But more importantly than the box score, Rohrkemper earned Berenson's trust to potentially return to the defense in a pinch. Rohrkemper joked that there's no permanent position change actually in the works, but in a season in which defen- semen have been dropping like flies due to injuries, it's reassur- ing to have an extra contingency plan. "He looked like a defense- man," Berenson said. "If we had a guy go down, now I'd feel really comfortable and so would he, knowing he can up there and do that."