8A -- Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8A - Thursday, February 21, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

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Michigan hockey
'Super Fan' Nicholls
rewarded by CCHA

By MATT SLOVIN
ManagingEditor
Mike Nicholls' passion-
ate following of the Michigan
hockey team has brought him
everywhere from Alaska to New
Hampshire.
Now, it's taking the Allen
Park, Mich. native into down-
town Detroit.
Nicholls was named the
CCHA's Super Fan representing
Michigan last week, and he'll be
rewarded with an all-expenses
paid trip to the league playoffs'
finals at Joe Louis Arena on
March 22-24.
Typically, the free trip would
have made him giddy.
But this hasn't been a typical
season for the Michigan hockey
team ("22 years worth of bad
bounces," Nicholls said), which
will enter the CCHA playoffs
on March 8 as one of the confer-
ence's longest shots to make it
to Joe Louis Arena, where the
final four teams compete for the
league's automatic bid to the
NCAA Tournament.
So when he was named Michi-
gan's CCHA Super Fan represen-
tative, Nicholls accepted with a
hint of reluctance.
"I'll go, but it definitely won't
be as interesting without (Michi-
gan) in there," he said.
While the Wolverines' NCAA-
record 22-year NCAA Tourna-
ment appearance run is set to
come to an end in the coming
weeks barring a miracle, so is
another long streak. Nicholls has

been in the stands to see Michi- member of the WCHA. But after
gan play 407 straight times, a the birth of the first of his three
streak that dates back to Jan. 23, kids, he gave the tickets up, only
2004. It'd be even longer, but the to purchase them again in 1996
1972 U-M Dearborn grad missed to spend time with his children.
an exhibition game to go to Pan- Eventually,tNichollstbegan
ama. He expects the run to end making road trips, like the ones
next season with the transition to Sault Ste. Marie and Mar-
quette he said he'll miss so much
when the CCHA dissolves after
this season.
"It won't be "Before I knew it, IShad been
to 100 games in a row, home
as interesting and away," Nicholls said. "My
daughter kept all the programs.
without She put them all together at 100
games, and gave it to me and
M ichigan." got a card signed by (Michigan
coach Red Berenson) and (assis-
tant coach) Billy Powers and the
captains. I just kept going."
to the Big Ten hockey confer- Now, he has binders full of
ence. programs - eight of them, to
"At this point, I'm going to be exact. But this has been the
keep my tickets at home but as hardest season for the 62-year-
far as going to every game, prob- old Nicholls to watch.
ably not," Nicholls said. "Four "You have problems all over,"
hundred is a lot (of games). I had Nicholls said. "Scoring is a prob-
my fun." lem. Defense is a problem. They
It's not just Yost Ice Arena don't seem to jell. When the goal-
where Nicholls has become a ie lets in incredibly easy goals on
fixture - it's every CCHA rink. a terrible shot ... I think the team
Between the home and away just loses its momentum."
games - he's been to Alaska six Now, with both his streak and
times to watch the Wolverines - the team's tournament streak
it's practically a job for Nicholls, nearing their conclusions, Nich-
But he also is retired from Gen- olls is able to be a bit nostalgic.
eral Motors and now captains When asked what his favorite
a passenger boat for Diamond part of the ride has been, he said
Jack's River Tours on the Detroit having his children alongside
River. him at the rink.
Nicholls originally was a "All the games are remark-
season-ticket holder in the late able," Nicholls said.
1970s when Michigan was a

FILC PHOTO/Daily
The men's swimming team will go for its third straight Big Ten championship in Bloomington next week.
'M' looking for next Big Ten crown

By RAJAT KHARE
Daily Sports Writer
Winning isn't easy - especial-
ly in the Big Ten. But nobody has
told the No. 2 Michigan men's
swimming and divingteam that.
The Wolverines will travel
to Bloomington from Feb. 27
to March 2 in search of their
third-straight Big Ten Champi-
onship. And if this season's per-
formance is any indication, the
trophy should be headed back to
Ann Arbor for another year.
"I think we're going in with
some great momentum," said
Michigan coach Mike Bottom.
"We've had some fast meets as
we've moved forward to this
one, and we look at it like we're
just gaining more momentum."
The Wolverines boast a per-
fect 6-0 record against Big Ten
teams, with a 8-0 record overall.
Though the unblemished record
itself is impressive, it's even
more so when the quality of
their opponents and the margin
of victory are factored in.
Against the three Big Ten
teams currently ranked in the
nation's top 15 - No. 8 Indiana,
No. 13 Ohio State and No. 14
Minnesota - Michigan has post-
ed scores of 223-77, 251-75 and

170-124, respectively.
"Our team has gotten stron-
ger every competition," Bottom
said. "Whether the competition
was stronger or not, our team
got stronger."
But needless to say, when
it comes to a Big Ten Champi-
onship meet, regular-season
records become meaningless.
And for a team fostering new-
comers in freshmen Dylan Bosh
and Anders Lie Nielson, adjust-
ing to the meet atmosphere
could be a challenge.
"There is no conference meet
like (Big Ten) in the country,"
Bottom said. "We have the fast-
est conference meet in the coun-
try, depth-wise, and as we've
moved forward throughout the
year, we've told them 'this is
nothing, the next one is going to
be harder, the next one is going
be harder' and so we've pre-
pared them."
But this meet - and the sea-
son really - isn't about the new-
comers. It's about those who are
leaving,
This year's senior class is Bot-
tom's first recruiting class, and
effectively the leaders of this
team.
"Every year you lose a class
and you gain a class, so you

really have a big turnover rate
in the four-year time," Bottom
said. "Every year means a lotto
each team that wins a champi-
onship."
It's a motto he has reiter-
ated throughout the season -
these athletes aren't swimming
for themselves, rather, they're
swimming for each other. And
it's fair to say that this emphasis
has paid off, as the team looks
ahead to its seasongoal: NCAAs.
"In swimming it's easier (to
stay motivated) because you can
look at the times that are being
posted," Bottom said. "They
see that Stanford, Cal, USC and
Texas and Arizona and Auburn
and all of those teams are put-
ting up very fast times and we
know that we are going to face
those teams at NCAAs."
Though on its journey tocom-
peting at the NCAAs Champi-
onships, Michigan cannot take
anything for granted. As far
too many teams have found out,
winning in the Big Ten confer-
ence doesn't come easy.
If the Wolverines are to com-
plete their three-peat in Bloom-
ington, they'll have to do what
they've done all season - com-
pete for each other, one race at
a time.

Post players struggling to find consistency

By FEERETT COOK
aily Sports Editor
It's hard to quantify the loss
of a player like Jordan Morgan,
Michigan basketball's best and
most experienced post player.
The redshirt junior isn't someone
that racks up impressive offensive
statistics, but his presence was
missed immediately after he suf-
fered a right-ankle sprain against
Illinois on Jan. 27.
Michigan coach John Beilein
thought that Morgan would only
be out for a week or so, but the
injury still hasn't fully improved
almost a month later. The cen-
ter's absence has forced two other
Wolverines- redshirtsophomore
Jon Horford and freshman Mitch
McGary - to claim bigger roles,
with varying levels of success.
Without Morgan, Michigan's
lack of consistency in the post
has been more noticeable in

some games than in others, with
the best examples coming over a
recent eight-day stretch.
Beilein has been forced to tin-
ker with his starting lineup with-
out a healthy Morgan, resulting
in three different starting big
men over the last three contests.
Beilein doesn't seem any closer
to finding the right combination,
though, because none of the three
options worked out particularly
well. Until Morgan's ankle is fully
recovered, Beilein will have to
keep tinkering.
Against Wisconsin, Horford
started his fourth straight game,
despite previously struggling to
be dependable in that role. He had
another off performance, tallying
just two points and two rebounds
in seven minutes.
Off the bench, McGary had
one of his most complete perfor-
mances of the season. He scored
12 points and grabbed eight

rebounds while showing off an
improved jump shot in a career-
high 32 minutes on the court.
So the next game, a huge tilt
on the road against then-No. 8
Michigan State, Beilein replaced
the struggling Horford with his
true freshman - McGary's first
career start.
In a hostile Breslin Center,
the results weren't much better.
McGary looked flustered from the
start, committing as many turn-
overs as points scored - four - in
26 minutes while getting beat up
defensively by the Spartans' vet-
eran frontcourt. Off the bench,
Horford and Morgan weren't
much help, combining for one
point and three rebounds.
Their Michigan State counter-
part, senior Derrick Nix, finished
with almost three times as many
points as three Wolverines com-
bined (14), and didn't miss a shot
until there were less than two

minutes remaining in the first
half
This all culminated in a near-
disaster against the worst team in
the Big Ten, Penn State, last Sun-
day. Morgan started his firstgame
since being injured, and while he
didn't seem fully recovered, the
results were still expected to be
better than the previous games.
But in a lazy Sunday of a game,
Michigan got a grand total of zero
points from its post players.
Morgan looked slower and
more tentative than he did before
the injury, especially when trying
to get around screens on defense,
and isn't close to the level he was
at before the Illinois game.
"We are still challenged right
now with Jordan Morgan,"
Beilein said after the game on
Sunday. "(Penn State) is a great
ball-screen team, and they will
run your five men off ball screens
all day lone and Jordan Morgan

cannot do that justyet.
"He's very slow at it, and until
he gets better, that really affects
us."
After the Michigan State game,
Morgan said that he was feeling
"fine," and healthy enough to play,
even though the ankle was clearly
slowing him down.
Before the injury, Morgan
had started 19 games, averaging
almost seven points and a little
over five rebounds in almost 20
minutes per game.
Since the injury? Four games
played (with one game started),
with one point in 22 total minutes.
"We had no idea that Jordan
Morgan would take this long,"
Beilein said. "He wants to play,
he's insisting on playing, he's
insisting on comingto practice, so
you've got to trust him. But when
you watch himmove out there, it's
not happening. He's delayed."
This wouldn't be as big of a deal

if Horford or McGary had taken
advantage of the starting oppor-
tunity, but neither big man has
stepped up.
Plus, the difference between
Morgan and the other two Wol-
verine post players is significantly
different on defense. Without the
defensive-minded Morgan in the
middle of the defense, Michigan
has given up more back cuts and
easy baskets near the hoop then
ever before.
Coincidentally, or maybe not
coincidentally, Michigan has had
its first real slump of the season
since Morgan's injury, losing
three of its last five games. One of
those wins came awfully close to
a loss against Penn State, which
still doesn't have a conference
win.
If Morgan's ankle doesn't
cooperate, then there's a good
chance Michigan's season won't,
either.

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TODD NEEDLE/Daily
Freshman forward Mitch McGary was given the opportunity to start against Michigan State, but looked flustered.

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