Sports
8 — Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Putting Band-Aids on 

an open wound

A

ndrew Copp slouches in a 
big blue chair and tosses 
his matching blue hat at 

his feet. He sighs and he smirks, 
peering at the 
floor while 
embodying 
the persona 
of a captain 
who is 
flat-out 
exasperated.

He 

chuckles as 
he reiterates 
the focus of 
this week’s 
practice. Spoiler alert — it’s no 
different from any other week.

“Defense,” Copp said.
He looks up at the ceiling and 

lets out one final sigh.

It’s been that kind of season 

for the 19th-ranked Wolverines. 
It’s been that kind of season that 
punches you hard in the gut 
when you’re flying high after a 
seven-game winning streak. It’s 
been that kind of season that has 
comprised more than one spell of 
disaster.

And now, with one weekend 

left in the regular season, it’s 
shaping up to be that kind of 

season that will be doomed with 
another setback.

Michigan is squirming in 

its position with little time to 
resolve the discomfort. It sits in 
a tie for second place in the Big 
Ten with Minnesota and enters 
its final games on the wrong 
side of the NCAA Tournament 
bubble.

The Wolverines still control 

their own destiny at capturing 
both the conference title and 
a tournament bid, but they’re 
wrestling with the same demon 
— defense — that has slapped 
their backs against the wall for a 
third time this season.

“Everyone knows the 

circumstances,” Copp said. 
“Everyone knows what we need 
to do this weekend.”

The current task at hand is 

shoring up a defense that appears 
to be permanently broken, and 
it’s a task that probably isn’t 
attainable. Michigan’s defense 
has been its Achilles heel all year, 
and the defense has been the 
topic of discussion at practice, 
in team meetings, among the 
Wolverine fanbase and around 
the Big Ten.

It’s been puzzling that the 

defensive effort cannot keep up, 
even remotely, with Michigan’s 
top-ranked offense. Sometimes 
the defensive issues are 
schematic, sometimes they’re 
personnel issues and sometimes 
they’re problems executing.

These three roots of a 

lackluster defense are seldom 
absent from Michigan’s play, 
and that much is worrisome as 
the Wolverines buckle up for the 
most critical stretch of the season.

“Obviously it’s going to 

dictate how our year is looked at, 
basically,” Copp said.

Hearing the term “defense” 

must sound like a broken record, 
but the music won’t stop while 
Michigan coach Red Berenson 
persistently preaches it as the 
Wolverines continuously fail 
to string together consistent 
performances in the defensive 
zone.

Getting a consistent 

60-minute performance has 
even been a protruding issue. 
If they don’t crack the code to 
the mysterious hole in their 
game, they’ll miss the NCAA 
Tournament for the third 
consecutive year — and also the 

third time in the past 25 years.

“Defense is going to be 

what we’ll be focusing on, and 
hopefully we get it figured out,” 
Copp said.

Michigan is left with the 

empty hope that a sound 
defensive performance will pop 
up. Attempts to permanently fix 
the issue haven’t been effective 
all season long.

Michigan hockey has oozed 

excellence for nearly all of 
Berenson’s tenure behind the 
bench, but this team’s defense is 
anything but excellent.

That leaves Berenson 

unsatisfied. He’s a defensive-
minded hockey legend who likes 
a 2-1 victory more than a 7-5 
barnburner.

But his 31st team hasn’t given 

him what he likes. Copp knows 
that. Everyone in the locker 
room knows that. No one knows 
how to fix it, though.

The problem is a tiresome 

one, an issue that has been 
highlighted and underlined 
and circled countless times. If 
something isn’t broken, it’s easy 
to avoid fixing it, but sometimes 
when something is so broken, 

there’s no point in fixing it.

That appears to be the case 

for Michigan. Recurring issues 
such as lapses in defensive-zone 
coverage, failed clearances and an 
inability to break out of its own 
zone are not signs of progress.

Inconsistency does mean 

there have been moments of 
greatness, but they’ve been 
sprinkled out over the course 
of a five-month season. Being 
inconsistent means there’s 
potential, but that potential is 
only sometimes fulfilled.

Occasionally, the Wolverines 

can play defense. Occasionally, 
they cannot play defense. It has 
been a roller coaster of a season, 
and they’ve been on the ride that 
never leaves that dark tunnel. 
Michigan rarely knows the 
direction it’s headed, whether a 
sound defensive performance is 
on the horizon or not.

“I think it’s just something 

we need to go out and prove to 
ourselves,” Copp said, “prove 
that we can be that unbelievably 
skilled, fast, talented team and 
still play rock-solid defense 
and play a 200-foot, two-way 
game, which we’ve shown that 
we’re capable of, but it’s been 

inconsistent.”

Then, Copp picks up his hat 

and saunters out of the room. 
A typically upbeat leader of 
the Michigan hockey program 
appears beaten and battered, and 
that’s because he has been. His 
team has been, too.

The Wolverines aren’t going 

to fix their entire defense before 
this weekend’s crucial home-
and-home series with Michigan 
State. They might pick up some 
pieces and improve in small 
areas, and that might be enough 
to skate by for a weekend.

If it’s not, Michigan will know 

where it fell short. It isn’t going 
to piece together a flawless 
performance. With kinks in the 
armor, the Wolverines have to 
iron out those dents as best as 
they can, even while some aren’t 
reparable.

They’ve scooted by, just 

barely, with a suspect defense all 
year. They’re getting tired of it by 
now, but sometimes you just have 
to let the broken record play on.

Jeremy Summitt can be reached 

at jssumm@umich.edu and on 

Twitter @jeremysummitt.

Beilein, Bielfeldt won’t 
close door on fifth year

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

Over the summer, prior to the 

start of the 2014-15 campaign, 
Michigan men’s basketball coach 
John 
Beilein 
informed 
Max 

Bielfeldt that the coming season 
would be his last at Michigan.

The news didn’t come as a 

surprise. Bielfeldt had two years 
of eligibility remaining after 
redshirting his freshman year, 
but he had played sparingly in the 
past two seasons. His scholarship 
spot 
gave 
Beilein 
recruiting 

flexibility for next year and 
beyond. In every way, the move 
made sense.

Saturday, prior to Michigan’s 

79-69 win over Rutgers, Bielfeldt 
was 
honored 
at 
midcourt 

alongside his parents as the 
Wolverines’ 
lone 
senior. 
He 

received 
numerous 
standing 

ovations from the crowd of 12,357 
at Crisler Center. In his 67th 
college 
appearance, 
Bielfeldt 

even earned his first career start.

But there’s now a chance — 

small as it is — that the pomp and 
circumstance was all for naught. 
Saturday, 
after 
maintaining 

throughout 
the 
season 
that 

Bielfeldt’s status as a senior 
hadn’t changed, Beilein came 
short of closing the book on a fifth 
year at Michigan for the 6-foot-7 
forward in his postgame press 
conference.

“I don’t think anything’s ever 

closed,” Beilein said. “I wanted to 
make sure that we under-promise 
and over-deliver.”

What’s 
most 
important 

to Beilein, it seemed, is due 
diligence.

“I would like him to go out and 

explore some options,” Beilein 
said. “We’ll look at some options 
and decide whether it’s a good 
option (for Bielfeldt) to come 
back.”

On Senior Day, he posted his 

first career double-double after 
starting in place of freshman 
forward 
Ricky 
Doyle, 
who 

emerged early in the season as 
Michigan’s starting big man. 
Bielfeldt even fell to third on the 
depth chart at various points, 
playing whatever minutes Doyle 
and redshirt freshman forward 
Mark Donnal didn’t.

It didn’t faze Bielfeldt, who 

was fully healthy this season for 
the first time in recent memory. 
He had successful hip surgery 
last spring, which brought back 
hops and mobility that had been 
hindered over the years by the 
long-term injury.

“You love the game, but the 

game’s not loving you,” Bielfeldt 
said. “The game’s making it hurt. 
… With me feeling a lot better, 
with me getting the opportunities 
this year, it’s pretty cool.”

As for his plans next season, 

Bielfeldt is as much in the dark as 
anybody else.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” 

Bielfeldt 
said. 
“Family 
and 

friends ask me the same thing 
— I give them the same answer. 
I really don’t know. I just like 
knowing what my options are. 
I’m obviously just going to look 
for options and kinda weigh them 
out.”

The most important question, 

it seems, is whether Michigan 
wants Bielfeldt back. As for 
the 
second-most 
important 

— whether he would enjoy an 
encore in Ann Arbor — Bielfeldt 
took the most diplomatic route 
possible when asked, saying 
Michigan “would definitely be on 
my list.”

“I’ve had great memories, 

great friends here,” Bielfeldt said.

It seems like Max Bielfeldt 

wants back in. And if he 
can replicate even half his 
productivity from Saturday on 
a consistent basis, there’s little 
reason for Beilein, as he said, not 
to “over-deliver.”

When it matters most, 

Sparty still reigns

H

OFFMAN ESTATES, 
Ill. — After watching 
only a minute of both 

Michigan 
and 
Michigan 
State’s press 
conferences, 
it was 
apparent 
which team 
had won 
Thursday’s 
second round 
matchup 
of the 
Big Ten Women’s Basketball 
Tournament.

In one press conference, 

Spartan guards Lexi Gussert 
and Tori Jankoska and forward 
Aerial Powers giggled with each 
question asked. More chuckling 
ensued when Jankoska spilled 
Gatorade all over herself.

Even Michigan State coach 

Suzy Merchant was upbeat and 
cheerful, a huge difference from 
her demeanor a month ago in East 
Lansing, where the Spartans lost 
to the Wolverines, 72-59.

Twenty minutes later, 

Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico, guard Shannon Smith and 
forward Nicole Elmblad walked 
into the press conference room, 
and if it wasn’t apparent who had 
won, the trio made it even more 
obvious who lost.

The room was in stark 

contrast: There wasn’t any 
giggling, no one chuckled over 
spilled Gatorade and Barnes 
Arico was definitely not her 
usual chipper self.

While it was hard at times 

to hear through the solemn 
mumblings, one thing was clear, 
and Barnes Arico summarized it 
perfectly.

“They really played well 

tonight,” Barnes Arico said. 
“They shot the basketball 
extremely well. We didn’t.”

Added Elmblad: 

“Unfortunately, we weren’t hitting 
shots, and they were.”

And that was it. Michigan 

State simply outplayed the 
Wolverines from start to finish.

Once again, Michigan lost its 

shooting touch while it seemed 
that, for most of the game, the 
other team couldn’t miss.

Coming into the matchup, 

the Wolverines had the clear 
advantage after sweeping the 
season series. Not only that, 
but Merchant had just six 
scholarship players on the roster.

But when it mattered the 

most, Michigan State’s players 
stepped up to the plate while 
Michigan couldn’t get anything 
rolling offensively.

Gussert started off the game 

hot, shooting 4-for-4 from 
behind the arc and finishing 
with a game-high 16 points after 
going 1-for-10 last time the two 
teams faced off. Powers, an All-
Big Ten First Team member, was 
her usual self, earning a double-
double with 16 points and 15 
rebounds.

If it wasn’t obvious before 

which team showed up to play, it 
should be now.

“When you’re in situations 

where you win and you stay, or 
you lose and go home, you give 
it your all every single game.” 
Powers said.

Michigan, on the other hand, 

didn’t appear to ever come to 
that realization.

The Wolverines had their 

second-lowest scoring half of the 
season in the first half, scoring 
just 22 points.

And if you thought things 

couldn’t get any worse in the 
second half, man, were you 
wrong.

“One of my assistants said, 

well, our shooting can’t get 
any worse in the second half, 
and actually it did, which is 
incredible,” Barnes Arico said.

The Wolverines shot just 16.7 

percent from the behind the arc 
and 24.3 percent overall in the 
second half. Michigan ended up 
taking a whopping 70 shots, but 
made just 19 of them in the game.

But if you think this is the 

first time Michigan State has 
outplayed Michigan in the Big 
Ten Tournament, you’re also 
mistaken.

In fact, the win marked 

the third consecutive year 
the Spartans had knocked the 
Wolverines out of the Big Ten 
Tournament, and the fifth 
overall. Michigan has never 
beaten Michigan State in the Big 
Ten Tournament.

Two years ago, the squads met 

in the quarterfinals, where the 
Wolverines went without a field 
goal for almost 10 minutes and 
couldn’t recover, dropping the 
game, 62-46.

And last year, the two teams 

met once again in the second 
round. Michigan led for most 
of the game before a furious 
comeback from Michigan State 
allowed the Spartans to come out 
victorious, 61-58.

The fact of the matter is, 

Michigan State has Michigan’s 
number when it has meant the 
most.

And it’s a form of dominance 

that could continue.

Next year, Michigan State will 

return the power trio of Powers, 
Jankoska and Gussert while 
Michigan will lose three key 
players to graduation in Elmblad, 
Smith and Goree.

So next year, if the two 

teams meet again in the Big Ten 
Tournament — and let’s face it, 
with the way things have gone 
the past three years, it could 
happen — someone is going to 
have to step up to the plate for the 
Wolverines.

Maybe it’ll be Flaherty or 

junior guard Madison Ristovski 
or even one of five incoming 
freshmen in a highly touted 
recruiting class.

But whoever she is, she’s going 

need to bring her ‘A’ game.

Because if not, Sparty’s reign 

will continue.

Minh Doan can be reached 

at minhdoan@umich.edu or 

on Twitter @_minhdoan.

JEREMY 
SUMMITT

MINH 
DOAN

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Max Bielfeldt will look at his options after the season to make a decision.

RITA MORRIS/Daily

The Michigan hockey team’s defense has put the Wolverines on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.

