The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com j September 30, 2013 By DANIEL WASSERMAN Daily Sports Editor In the midst of its Final Four run to cap last season, the Michigan men's basketball team began branding itself as Team 96, celebrating what was thought to be the 96th year of the basketball program. That was until, "we discov- ered there was a year in 1909 that we did have a team," Michi- gan coach John Beilein said, laughing, at his Friday press conference to open the 2013-14 season. Historical discrepancies aside, Team 96's - or is it 97 now? - point guard and consen- sus National Player of the Year Trey Burke is gone. The biggest question mark in deciding whether Team 98 will cement its own floor general legacy rests in nearly every in the hands "Thischmeaningful of freshman S ange minute the point guard is so Wolverines Derrick Wal- good played last ton Jr. overall." year. Until foul And while trouble side- his back- lined Burke up, Spike for most of the National Cham- Albrecht, certainly entrenched pionship's first half, he was the himself in Michigan lore with a heroic 17-point half in place of Burke, it's unlikely that the sharp-shooting sophomore has the physical tools to be a sea- son-long starter on a Wolverine squad with enough talent to jus- tify top-10 expectations. Fortunately for Michigan, a new rule was implemented this year giving coaches six addi- tional practices over the course of two added-weeks-to the front LLUSTRATION BY AMY MACKENS of the preseason. The move couldn't come at a better time for Beilein and his staff in their attempt to accli- mate Walton to the college game before the tough non-confer- ence slate kicks off in November. "This change is so good over- all," Beilein said. "It's a whole different dynamic because of the amount of time that we can See BASKETBALL, Rage 3B Offensive woes continue in Big Ten opener By MINH DOAN Northwestern team. For theDaily "We were the better team," said Michigan coach Chaka On a rare night in which the Daley. "We had the more quality Michigan band and cheer teams chances." came out to support the men's Michigan had an almost soccer team play its Big Ten perfect start early in the game opener against No. 7 North- when sophomore forward western (1-0-0 Big Ten, 7-1-0 James Murphy rifled a shot in overall), the Wolverines could the fourth minute from the left do no better than a 2-0 loss. edge of the six-yard box. From After a the angle of the crowd, it looked tough tie N-WESTERN 2 as if it had gone in. Celebration on Tues- MICHIGAN 0 and cheering ensued. But to the day at home crowd's dismay, Murphy's Oakland, in which Michigan shot hit the outside netting of had 16 shots with only five on the goal. target, the script was mostly The Wolverines continued to the same Saturday night as the dominate possession in the first Wolverines (0-1-0, 2-3-3) out- half, but, Northwestern was the shot the Wildcats 15-5 but could first and only team to.increase only muster five on goal. While their goal tally. Michigan lamented its shooting The Wildcats' first goal was woes, Northwestern capitalized off a free-kick set piece taken on its few chances, putting two by midfielder Brandon Medina. in the net off four shots on goal. As the ball was played into the "We're putting a lot of pres- box, it missed every player's sure on ourselves because the head and took a bounce outside goals are not coming, but our the six-yard box before tucking performance is there," said itself into the far-left corner of senior forward Fabio Pereira. the goal, just away from the out- "We outplayed (Northwestern) stretched arm of redshirt junior for 90 minutes today." goalie Adam Grinwis. Unlike Tuesday when Oak- "It's a free kick, guys run land dominated possession, the across it, and it just skipped Wolverines moved the ball with through," Daley said. speed and precision and domi- The talented freshman Medi- nated possession over a top-10 See GOALLESS, Page 3B Sophomore midfielder Cassie Collins had one of just five Michigan shots on goal in Sunday's 1-0 loss to Minnesota. Michigan can't find back of the net over weekend By BRAD WHIPPLE For the Daily In soc- cer, out- WISCONSIN 0 shooting MICHIGAN 0 an oppo- nent does MINNESOTA 1 not nec- MICHIGAN 0 essar- ily guarantee a victory. To win, those shots need to cross a white line, a fact that the Michigan women's soccer team was harsh- ly made aware of this weekend. "(Statistically), Michigan was by far the better team today," said Michigan head coach Greg Ryan. "But you gotta hit the net." After playing on the road for its last two games, the No. 13 Michigan women's soccer team returned to Ann Arbor this weekend for a two-game homes- tand. The Wolverines opened Big Ten play on Friday against No.18 Wisconsin before matching up against unranked Minnesota on Sunday. Friday night's game between the Wolverines (1-1-1 Big Ten, 7-2-1 overall) and the Badgers (2-0-1, 8-1-2) ended in a scoreless tie, and the Wolverines' inability to score came back to hurt them in a 1-0 loss to Minnesota on Sunday. The closest Michigan came to finding the net against Wis- consin on Friday was in the 17th minute when freshman forward Madisson Lewis rocketed one into the upper net, but the shot found the hands of Badger goalie Genevieve Richard. Senior for- ward Nkem Ezurike also had a close shot in the 61st minute to See SHUTOUTS, Page 3B MISPLACED $ In an athletic department overflowing with revenue, is the money really going to the right places? SportsMonday column: Page 2B ROADBLOCK It was a rough 24 hours for the volleyball team in its first Big Ten road test of the year, losing to Ohio State and Penn State. Page 3B