The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 26; 2014 -- 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 7A
Nova blocks '
FC
Friends don't let friends make fools of themselves.
Friendship inf ilm
By JAKE LOURIM
Daily Sports Editor
NEW YORK - Villanova
attacked, and Michigan
countered.
Then MICHIGAN 55
Michigan VILLANOVA 60
attacked,
and Villanova countered. With
30 seconds left, they found
themselves in a one-point game,
and it wasn't clear which attack
came first.
But it was Villanova's that
came last - a stone-cold block
of sophomore forward Zak Irvin
at the rim with four seconds left
to help lead the Wildcats to a
60-55 win in the Legends Classic
championship game Monday
night.
Villanova took its first lead
in more than 10 minutes with
forward JayVaughn Pinkston's
dunk with 1:09 to play, but
Michigan had an answer when
junior guard Caris LeVert drove
for a layup with 50 seconds left.
The Wildcats retook the lead
with Pinkston's jumper with 13
seconds to go. And then it came
down to Michigan junior guard
Cn-r ^lhr-'+ nn-th+haQP1-n
with 7.8 seconds to play
Albrecht found Irvin wide
open under the basket, but
Pinkston rose up and blocked
him.
"They had three or four of
those rim-protecting type of
plays today, three big blocks
where I think we had really
good leverage," said Michigan
coach John Beilein. "We had the
basket,buttheir guys came out of
nowhere to take it away from us."
Villanova guard Ryan
Arcidiacono hit two free throws
with four seconds left, and
Michigan senior forward Max
Bielfeldt overthrew the ensuing
inbounds pass to allow the
Wildcats to ice the game.
Early in the second half,
nothing came easily for
Michigan. First, it got trapped in
the corner with 17:25 left, so the
Wolverines called timeout. Then,
freshman forward Kameron
Chatman couldn't get the ball
in, so Michigan called timeout
again. And even then, it almost.
turned the ball over, as Villanova
tipped the inbounds pass out of
bounds.
"When it was 33-20 - actually,
at +t -a nd o 'bP irm hlf -
sensed at that time we had doubts
whether we could win the game,"
Beilein said. "I'm really proud of
how their spirit changed."
Michigan's big men - usually
either Bielfeldt, redshirt
freshman Mark Donnal or
freshman Ricky Doyle - gave
away five of its seven first-half
turnovers. Sophomore guards
Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak
Irvin had trouble shooting early
on, going a combined 2-for-li
before the break. "In the first
half, they really did a good job
defensively, getting into us a
little bit and trying to take us
out of what we wanted to do,"
Albrecht said. "But at halftime,
we made some adjustments,
and I thought we were running
the offense really good in the
second half."
After LeVerthit two 3-pointers
in a one-minute span, Michigan
led, 20-18, with seven minutes
left in the first half. Those would
be the last points it would get
before the break.
All that mattered, though,
were the last points of the second
half. Those went to Villanova.
And for the first time all night,
+he Wnhra -'- arlna --uo
There's much to
learn about bonding
in 'Frances Ha'
ByANDREW MCCLURE
Daily Arts Writer
It's that wave of warmth that
washes over you when you spot
them unexpectedly. Or that smile
you can't refuse as your front
teeth peelback the curtain ofyour
lips.-It's friends, man.
As our clickbait generation
bungles through isn't-there-an-
app-for-this Xerox printers and
boss subservience during our
"yo-pro" years, the one thing we
shouldn't discard is having good,
bulletproof friendships. Longtime
SNL stalwart Ana Gasteyer surely
putitbest:A friendissomeoneyou
can be weird with. And that's why
Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha" is
the best, most realized friendship
movie in the better part of three
decades. (Because digging back
further would make me an
anachronistic, boomer-thinking
hipster, right kids?)
But let's first pay homage to a
couple predecessors that also got
it right.
Based on a novella by Stephen
King, Rob Reiner's 1986 "Stand
by Me" likely didn't jar audiences
then as it does me now. What
seems so (pathetically) foreign
to me is the sheer amount of
touching, of rough-housing, that
goes on between the little punks
onscreen. There's overwhelming
science contending that touching
another person accelerates
and amplifies bond-building. I
couldn't help but recall, back in
middle school, my best buddy's
big bro blowing a gasket when,
unbeknownst to me, my leg
touched his for, like, five seconds
uninterrupted. That's the culture
we live in now - one that claims
"Siri wouldn't ever touch my
leg!" And that's why this film
packs a huge punch. Just four
dusty denim-wearing explorer-
boys searching for a dead body,
peregrinating across deep wood,
prairie and stream. No Google
Maps, just a clean haircut and
unabashed brotherly love. It
makes me wish I used my bike
more and not that fucking Razor
scooter.
I hope everyone currently
has a friend whom they, at some
earlier time, hated. Be it their
cooler clothes, cooler mom, or
their inexplicable magnetism for
the other sex, you wanted them
deleted. Maybe from a distance,
maybe in a confrontation. No
film better portrayed this envy-
turned-enchantment than Pixar's
1995 "Toy Story." Woody and Buzz
were engineered to be homies:
both possessed demonstrable
leadership traits and killed the
ladies with a scything wit. In the
beginning, though, they're both
at fault: Woody is a human who
feels emotions like jealousy, and
Buzz is the outsider with inchoate
emotional IQ. That these two
ultimately link together teaches
us that friendship can arise from
disharmony, as long as you look
up from the screen in time to see
the potential. It makes me want
to tell strangers that I actually
sleep with a stuffed Boo from
"Monsters Inc." Every night.
I could go on and engross you
in my musings on "Wizard of Oz,"
"Mean Girls" and "The Trip" but,
at the end of the day, this isn't
some genteel New Yorker piece
people pretend to have read. Let's
get to the main event, then.
Our leading lady, a poor and
open-book dancer named Frances
(played with bravura by Greta
Gerwig, "Greenberg") is not a real
dancer. She hesitates to tell others
she dances for a living, "because
I don't really do it." She is the
11th man on a dance company
whose impresario has no room
for naive, little Frances - who,
by the way, is well into her mid-
twenties. There is, however, one
thing that buoys her from the
heavyweights of pennilessness
and dancing dreams quashed:
Sophie, her best friend (played
with enviable charm by Mickey
Sumner, "Girl Most Likely").
Sophie and Frances, together,
embody everything any person
wants to share with another: the
liberty to be foolish.
From the way Sophie
maternally cradles Frances as
she tells her "The Story of Us,"
their idyllic life scenario in which
Frances is an estimable dancer,
to their all-hands, hair-pulling
wrestling match in Central Park,
the two form a youthful synergy.
Imagine your best friendship's
top moments - the times your
wild side won't soon forget
and your shy side might regret.
Frances and Sophie share these
vulnerable, fuck 'ern memories all
the time because they make each
other braver, more willing to risk
ephemeral shame to strangers
whose opinions, in their minds,
don't matter. That, my friends, is
what friends do.
The best friendship flicks
declare that your friends should
make you want to be a weirder
person, explore weirder spaces,
try weirder stuff.
Hunter S. Thompson once said,
"When the going gets weird, the
weird turn pro." So, friends, sip
the Kool-Aid and I'll see you on
the other side.
ALIUSON FARRAND/Daily
Villanova took advantage of its size inside when Michigan's big men, Ricky Doyle and Mark Donnal, got into foultrouble.
Mattison1 still1 backs Hoke
It could be a problem if you still
think museums are boring..
ByGRACE HAMILTON
Daily Arts Writer
There is something about
the silence, the slow walking,
the pacing security officers
and endless hallways in many
museums that repel children. Still
working on acquiring the virtue of
patience, most cannot understand
the solitary intimacy of having
a relationship with a painting,
sculpture, artifact or any other
inanimate mass of material.
My own relationship with
museums followed a predictable
series of phases. Before the age of
sevenor so, it wastorture. I did not
realize my fortune growing up in
New York City, rich with craft, a
museum itself of world-wide art.
A fieldtrip to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art did little to capture
my interest. Guided worksheets
and treasure hunts at the Brooklyn
Museum were motivated mainly
by a race to the free chocolate milk
atlunchtime.
The next turning point I can
remember was my two-week
family vacation to Sicily during
December of 2004 - I was eight.
We rented a car and traveled
through four cities, living out
my parents' guidebook fantasies.
Of course, this turned out to be
an average of three museums or
historical sites a day. I have to
believe this would be tiring for
anyone.
I whined, I cried, I complained
about the "rock piles" we drove
miles to see, rock piles like the
Temple of Concord in Agrigento
which appeared later in my
textbooks and lecture slides. I was
a buzzkill. That being said, despite
my nagging and with some time,
some of the things began to gain a
little allure.
Jewelry over a thousand years
old, vases with strange paintings
on the side, cooking tools. My
imagination was stronger than
my patience, and I had begun to
see the fun in dreaming about
the past. I tap-danced in a theater
at Taormina with hundreds of
imaginary patrons watching on.
By the time I had studied
Ancient Rome in sixth grade,
and took our next big vacation
there the same year, I had
abandoned the complaints. It
was amazing: I asked questions,
read the tour books and stayed
with the artwork. Three years
later, I spent 15 minutes with a
painting in Paris by Hieronymus
Bosch, a fifteenth century painter
from the Netherlands, known
for his intricate, fantastical and
frighteningly bizarre work.
By the end of high school, I
occasionally used off days to
explore New York's famous
museums I had neglected as a
child.
In my English class about
Horror, an extra credit assignment
was offered to check out several
paintings at UMMA, a collection
specifically put together for our
course. In a class of about 35, I'd
say no more than five made the
trip. And I have to admit, without
a good excuse, myself included.
What does this say about my
generation's appreciation for
museums? It seems as though
our childhood aversions are hard
to overcome in our later years.
Let's be honest, we're hardly able
to sit through movies anymore
without the pausing and starting
again. What do we expect from
any millennials left with two
hours and no cell phone in the
UMMA?
Though this may appear to be
an overly cynical concern, it is one
worth considering. How can we
change this trajectory? How can
this kind oflearningbe introduced
into classes? An appreciation for
museums ensures that learning
doesn't stop the second the class
period ends, when we graduate
from college or after we get a job.
There is always more to be seen,
more histories to be opened up,
more piles of rock to stand on.
And it certainly does not need to
involve travel or spending.
I'm no expert: I have no
exceptional interpretativeabilities,
knowledgeofarthistory,orspecial
artistic talents myself (my brother
the architect got them). But I do
have curiosity, I have imagination
and, regardless of my patience, I
have appreciation. These faculties
aren't so hard to come by. So go
explore, take a trip to the museum
and see what you can do without a
hand dragging you along.
By GREG GARNO
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan football coach Brady
Hoke and defensive coordinator
Greg Mattison are close friends.
They always have been, really.
The two, as strange as it is,
used to wrestle each other while
coaching at Western Michigan.
They had spent years together
before Hoke brought Mattison to
Ann Arbor in 2011.
And even in a year full of
distractions and struggles,
the pair remains close during
practices and games.
Tuesday, junior linebacker Joe
Bolden said of their relationship,
"Imagine your best friend."
Fifth-year senior linebacker
Jake Ryan added: "You can
just tell, when they come in the
meeting room, they can just joke
around with each other, but they
can also be serious."
So as Hoke faces criticism over
his job and the speculation swirls
faster than
the Michigan
wind,
Mattison has You do:
been the first how lu1
to come to the W
head coach's a
defense. He ar
has been there
before, but
Monday, he
laid out his most extensive list of
reasons for support of what Hoke
has done for the program.
But not all of his arguments
hold up, based on the results
they've produced.
"Well, first of all, because
the way he put together these
players," Mattison said. "I believe
our seniors are 100 percent -100
percent graduation rate. Now, I'm
not being sarcastic. This is what
they told me when I came from
the NFL back to college, that this
is what you're supposed to be
doing."
Yes, under Hoke, the
Wolverines have improved their
graduation rate, but his tenure
has also seen 10 off-the-field
incidents in which players have
had arun-in with the law.
"Second thing, I've been with a
lot of head coaches, this guy here
truly, truly takes kids from down
here to here," he said, motioning
his hands from below the podium
to above it. "I'll tell you, if you
don't believe anything I've ever
said, just look at what's coming
back. I mean, look at what we
came in with, and look at what's
comingback. Mygoodness.
"I mean, I can'go on and on,
and these are all the young kids
that you say, 'Why do you get
excited about coaching?' Because
these are the young kids that
we've seen as puppies."
Mattison cited players such
as redshirt sophomore defensive
lineman Chris Wormley, a 280-
pound basketball player who
became "a 300-pound man,"
according to Mattison. There's
Willie Henry, who was a raw
talent out of high school, now
playing as
one of the
Wolverines'
n't know best defensive
linemen.
Cky you There are
k yJ also instances
iere. of recruits who
have struggled,
- including
redshirt
sophomore Terry Richardson, a
touted defensive back who hasn't
seen the field. Fifth-year senior
quarterback Devin Gardner
hasn't played like the star he
was projected to be. And junior
linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone
has made just two tackles this
season after playing in the Under
Armour All-America game in
high school.
"If you saw what we do in
recruiting," Mattison said, "when
you recruit a kid, you're really his
parent, and you're saying to them,
'Please give him to me, and I
promise you, when he's done, I'm
going to give him back to you as a
great student. He's going to have
his degree, and he's also going to
be a great football player."
The 2015 recruiting class
hasn't fully embraced that
sentiment. The Wolverines
have lost seven verbal commits
from that group, leaving five
remaining as the season comes
to a close.
Lastyear's recruitingclasswas
the seventh-best in the nation,
featuring the No. 2 player in the
nation, defensive back Jabrill
Peppers. Andthe 2012 class was
ranked sixth.
And as for what happens after
players leave AnnArbor?
"How many guys have been
drafted here?" Mattison said.
"When I was here five years ago,
I mean, it was seven (or) eight a
year. Now, somebody said, 'Well,
you don't develop 'em.' Develop
them? You'll see development.
When I talk to these pro people
right now and they start saying,
'Who's that kid? Who's that
kid?' Well, these are the guys we
recruited."
It was just this year the
Wolverines had a player taken
in the opening round of the NFL
Draft for the first time since 2010.
Michigan hasn't had more than
three players drafted since 2008,
before the Rodriguez era.
And yet, the season will be
judged heavily on Hoke's 5-6
record before Ohio State, and
the possibility of missing out on
a bowl game for the first time
since 2010.
"He's a winner," Mattison said.
"He's won everywhere he's been.
The guy's a winner. Now what's
the timetable? We win our first
year? How'd that happen? Man.
I don't know. Something right
happened. Now, was it loaded
that first year? What, we have
two guys drafted? That wasn't
a mirage. That was Brady Hoke
who did that. I mean, let's be
really, really honest.
"I've done this a longtime. I've
been with a lot of head coaches.
I've seen a lot of them. You don't
know htW lucky you are here."