8A - Thursday, February 13, 2014
The Michigan Daily - miohigandaily.com
8A - Thursday, February 13, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Daley locks up nation's No. 2 class
Seven recruits,
including No.
12 overall, join
Wolverines
By MINH DOAN
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan coach Chaka Daley
has preached changing the cul-
ture of his team from a good pro-
gram to a Division I powerhouse.
Withthe No.2 recruitingclass
inthenationfor2014,determined
by TopDrawerSoccer.com,
that goal might become more
attainable for the Michigan
men's soccer team.
Wednesday, the Wolverines
welcomed seven freshmen -
four ranked among IMG Acad-
emy's Top 150 players - and one
junior transfer to the program
next season.
The seven freshmen - for-
wards Nathan Kohl and Ahin-
ga Selemani, midfielders Jake
Duska, Tristan Jacob and Hans
Lee, defender Billy Stevens and
goalkeeper Evan Lauro - hail
from five different states (Michi-
gan, Ohio, New York, New Jer-
sey and Minnesota) and one
from a different country (South
Korea). Michigan also welcomes
William Mellors-Blair into the
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Michigan coach Chaka Daley's second recruiting class in Ann Arbor was ranked No. 2 by TopDrawerSoccercom.
program after
two seasons at
Georgia State.
"We're going
in the right
direction with
our culture,"
Daley said.
"Now that our
once-young tal-
ent is now older,
we're bringing
in another group
"Theyc
won't
to h
enviroi
do a better job to make sure the
new guys hit the ground running
on the field a little bit quicker."
Originally from Nottingham,
England, Mellors-Blair trained
at the Manchester United Acad-
emy before signing a profes-
sional contract with Walsall
FC. Mellors-Blair, who's already
enrolled at
the Univer-
c i sity, was
rt1La~iIIy the No. 49
be new recruit when
he entered
ostile Georgia State
and tallied
nnents."' six goals and
12 assists
during his
tenure. Mel-
lors-Blair
will be primarily used as a wing-
er in the Michigan offense.
"(Will) gets the benefit of
being with us early and getting
acclimated with the program,"
Daley said. "He's gotalittle bit of
everything. He's got good pace,
excellent quality, can score goals
and can certainly set up people
as well."
Selemani headlines the
freshman group after playing
for the U.S. U-18 National Team.
The No. 12 recruit Selemani
recently traveled to Spain with
the national team to play for
the Copa Del Atlintico and
competed for the United States
in the 2013 CONCACAF U-17
Championship, scoring one goal.
An Ann Arbor resident,
Selemani ultimately decided not
to venture too far from home
when he made his decision.
Michigan wasn't his first choice
- he was an early verbal commit
to play at Division I power UC
Santa Barbara before changing
his decision to Michigan late in
the recruiting process.
For a team that only scored
1.23 goals per game and lacked a
pure scorer last season, Selemani
will push the team's veteran
forwards for playing time next
season.
"He's a technical, hard-
working center forward who
makes excellent runs," Daley
said. "He's very quick and
dynamic on the ball and will
add some scoring punch to
our offense. He's also going to
stretch defenses and allow our
midfielders to dictate play."
Lauroisthe No. 2goalkeeperin
the 2014 class tut ofthe vaunted
New York Red Bulls Academy
system. Lauro also competed
with Selemani in the 2013
CONCACAF Championship.
While Michigan has a stalwart
in fifth-year senior and captain
goalkeeper Adam Grinwis at
the back, Lauro will battle with
freshman Grant Mattia for the
right to be Grinwis' backup.
Kohl and Stevens round out
the rest of the group ranked in
IMG Academy's Top 150 players.
Six of the seven recruits come
from soccer academies where
they played for highly competi-
tive and well-coached teams
that should prepare the recruits
for the life and schedule of a
college soccer player. Four out
of the seven freshman recruits
will also have time with the U.S.
National team under their belt.
"They've competed with the
best players in the country since
they were 14, 15 years old," Daley
said. "They'll have experience
playing against top players all
around the world in all kinds of
different environments. They
certainly won't be new to hostile
environments which will bode
well for their development."
Coming off of a season where
the Wolverines were bounced
from the first round of the Big
Ten Tournament and did nof",
make the NCAA Tournament,
the new crop of recruits may
be just what Michigan needs
to come back from a lackluster
season.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
'M 'gets rematch
with Nebraska
By LEVFACHER rotation - juniors Hailie Sam-
Daily Sports Writer ple and Emily Cady. Michigan's
undersized starting lineup is
When Siera Thompson ill-equipped to deal with three
shoots well from 3-point range, size-advantaged forwards,
the Michigan women's basket- potentially creating a mis-
ball team usually wins. Unfor- match for 5-foot-11 junior for-
tunately for the Wolverines, ward Nicole Elmblad.
that isn't always a guarantee. Taller forwards like junior
The freshman - guard went Cyesha Goree and senior Val
2-for-3 on Feb. 1 against Driscoll have struggled with
Nebraska, making her the foul trouble at various points
program's all-time leader for this season, which could pose
single-season 3-pointers made a problem if they can't stay
by a freshman. on the equrt. Their ability to
The Cornhuskers, though, play physically in the paint
were completely unfazed by without picking up cheap
the record, draining 11 treys of fouls early on is, by and large,
their own en route to an 84-51 the Wolverines' only chance
victory, by far Michigan's larg- at staying competitive with a
est margin of defeat this year. team that holds an advantage
The Cornhuskers shot 53.3 over them in terms of size,
percent from the field and athleticism and experience.
managed to hold Thompson Despite the on-court dis-
and junior guard Shannon advantages, Michigan finally
Smith - the two leading gets to enjoy the benefit of a
scorers - to 10 points each. But non-taxing travel itinerary this
the difference will be where week. The Wolverines' sched-
the two teams play as Michigan ule, as it has been throughout
returns to Ann Arbor with the season, remains unfor-
redemption on its mind. giving. The rematch with the
Thursday, the Wolverines Cornhuskers is Michigan's
(6-5 Big Ten, 15-9 overall) get second straight contest against
another crack at Nebraska, a ranked opponent - the Wol-
but returns to Crisler Center verines fell to No. 25 Purdue on
haven't always been kind to Sunday, 65-56. Michigan is 1-3
Michigan this season. The against teams in the AP Top 25
Wolverines opened three Big poll this season.
Ten home-and-home series "Our schedule has been
with wins at Wisconsin, Ohio crazy," Barnes Arico said to
State and then-No. 22 Purdue, WTKA.
but only against the Badgers did This week is the first since
Michigan manage to take care the beginning of the semester
of business on its home floor. that the team's travel schedule
"Nebraska plays exception- hasn't forced her players to
ally well at home," said Michi- miss class.
gan coach Kim Barnes Arico Thursday's contest is
to WTKA radio on Tuesday. Michigan's third and final
"They're a great team led by an weeknight home Big Ten
All-American in Jordan Hoop- game this season. In contrast,
er, but her supporting cast is the Wolverines have been
great as well." forced on the road during
Limiting Hooper, a 6-foot- the week five times, and the
2 forward, will be key to the travel hasn't always been easy.
Wolverines' success this time After last week's 70-68 win
around against Nebraska (7-3, at Northwestern, Michigan's
'17-5). She accounted for much team plane didn't land inAnn
of the 31-point margin on Feb. Arbor until after 2 a.m.
1, scoring 25 points on 9-for-13 But it will all seem worth-
shooting. while if it can redeem itself for
The Cornhuskers include a series of rough stretches with
two other 6-footers in their an upset win on Thursday.
to compliment that older group.
A combination of the two groups,
if they hit the ground running,
should nationally acclaim some
success."
After seeing the success
of freshman defenders Rylee
Woods and-Lars Eckenrode, as
well as' un'ortransfer midfielder
Marcos Vigfe, Daley hopes this
incomingclass will also make an
impact early on.
"I think Rylee and Lars grew
as the season went on," Daley
said. "And I think we're trying to
Morgan leads rebounding effort against OSU
(
in
B'
Th
towar
guard
bounc
Bucke
fifth-
Morg
collec
back
Th
the ne
ffensive glass up the rest of the night ahead for
Morgan and the Michigan men's
oosts Michigan basketballteam.
After their first win in
second half of Columbus in 11 years, the
Wolverines flipped the script
road victory from what
happened the
y DANIEL FELDMAN last time the
Daily Sports Writer team took cai
the court.
shot clock wound down After getting enoug
rd zero and freshman outrebounded
I Derrick Walton Jr.'s shot by nine what
ced off the rim. With a against Iowa
eye standing on each side, on Saturday, orga
year senior forward Jordan Michigan
an rose at the basket, reversed its
ted the ball and flipped it
at the hoop.
e attempt didn't fall through
t, but the sequence summed
Offensive rebounds in19 minutes for
Michigan fifth-yearsenior forward Jordan
fortune versus
No. 22 Ohio State on the boards.
"I thought we came in
with great commitment," said
Michigan coach John Beilein,
"and I don't know if we win the
game, but we were going to be in
it for 40 minutes no matter what
the score was.
"But one thing this team can
do is sit and watch film and they
can pick up on things."
Though, statistically
speaking, Michigan's leading
rebounder was Walton -
posting a double-double with 13
points and 10 rebounds - its real
leader on the glass was Morgan.
Collecting eight rebounds,
including six on offense, Mor-
gan provided more than just
his veteran savvy in the tough
road battle, bouncing back from
a one-rebound performance
against the Hawkeyes.
After sitting out almost 10
minutes in the second half, Mor-
gan returned as Michigan's six-
point lead shrunk to one. And
just as before, with his first tip,
Morgan once again found him-
self under the hoop as a Walton
shot came flying in. Unlike in the
first half, the ball didn't hit the
rim. Instead,
with the shot
clock down to
n't say six, Morgan
ab ut caught the
h about airball and
banged it off
Jordan the backboard
for the score.
n did." "I can't say
enough about
what Jordan
Morgan did
on the backboards today with
his offensive rebounds," Beilein
said.
His offensive rebounds didn't
just consist of scoring attempts
on a put-back or tip either. Two
possessions after his initial
offensive rebound, Morgan
found himself again underneath
the basket, though, this time
with four Buckeyes alongside
him in the paint. Morgan bent
his hand as the ball ricocheted
off the rim toward the free-
throw line.
As he continued to fade
backward, his open palm tipped
the ball to a cutting sophomore
forward Glenn Robinson III
who banked in the layup.
Following his putback to
give No. 15 Michigan (10-2 Big
Ten, 18-6 overall) a late three-
point . lead, Morgan found
himself in the position to get the
Wolverines a second chance on
their next possession.
5.4
Rebounds per game for Morgan since
starter Mitch McGary's back surgery.
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Fifth-year senior Jordan Morgan grabbed six offensive rebounds in19 minutes in Michigan's 70-60 win over Ohio State.
This time, it came off a "We had guys in there that game."
missed 3-pointer by sophomore probably shouldn't have been Morgan's last performance
guard Nik Stauskas that Morgan in there, they should have in the regular season against
swatted back to sophomore been back in transition, but we the Buckeyes transcended the
guard Caris LeVert - who came up with some loose balls stat sheet, representative of his
was credited with an offensive and really fought for a lot of tenure at Michigan. He wasn't
rebound. LeVert eventually rebounds that could have went a standout on the box score,
passed the ball to Walton, who either way," Morgan said. "And but a driving force on the court
swished a 3-pointer. that made the difference in the nonetheless.
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