The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 8, 2018 — 7
In Northwestern, Michigan also faces history
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team’s fate was set
in stone with four games left
in the 2016-17 season. At 21-5
with a 10-2 Big Ten record, the
Wolverines were set to return to
the NCAA Tournament for the
first time since 2013. Anything
less
than
collapse
would
guarantee as much.
Michigan collapsed.
The
Wolverines
dropped
three
of their last four
games
in
the
regular
season,
then
quietly
bowed
out
of
the
Big
Ten
Tournament with
a loss to Michigan
State. They were
left out of the
NCAA Tournament to their own
surprise — a decision coach Kim
Barnes Arico recently referred
to as a robbery — but Michigan
brought that fate unto itself.
This season, there should
be no such ambiguity heading
into
Selection
Sunday.
The
Wolverines were ranked as high
as 13th in the AP poll last week
with a not-insignificant chance
to win the Big Ten’s regular
season title. They were cruising
to a 20-point win over Purdue on
Thursday that would have put
their record at 20-4 and further
solidified a tournament bid.
Then the Boilermakers scored
the last 16 points of regulation
to tie it, going on to eke out
an overtime win. Michigan
followed that up with a loss
at Rutgers on
Sunday.
Now,
with
four
games
to
go,
the 21st-ranked
Wolverines are
19-6, with an
8-4 conference
record
—
an
uncomfortably
familiar
position for a
program
well-
acquainted with heartbreak.
“(The Purdue game) was
probably the first time all year
where we kind of looked a little
scared,”
Barnes
Arico
told
WTKA on Tuesday. “And (we)
looked different than we had
prior to any other games during
the year. Almost ... afraid to
lose.”
Thursday’s contest against
Northwestern
will
be
a
watershed moment for this team.
It’s a game Michigan should
win — the Wolverines beat the
Wildcats 80-59 at Evanston
Township High School just over
10 days ago. Northwestern sits
near the bottom of the Big Ten
with a 2-8 conference record and
has a negative scoring margin.
In the first meeting between
the
two,
senior
guard
Katelynn
Flaherty
and
junior
center
Hallie
Thome
combined for 52
points,
nearly
outscoring
the
Wildcats
all
by
themselves
and
handily
outdueling
Abi
Scheid
and
Lindsey
Pulliam,
their
two leading scorers. Though
Northwestern’s
leading
rebounder,
Pallas
Kunaiyi-
Akpanah, put up a double-
double, Michigan outrebounded
the Wildcats by 11. Moreover,
the Wolverines pulled down 47
percent of offensive rebounds —
above their 42.4-percent season
average. The result was never in
doubt.
On paper, this game is not
close either. Northwestern hasn’t
magicked itself into a good team
in the past two weeks, losing
its only game since playing
Michigan. Playing on the road
is tougher than playing at home.
The Wolverines beat the Wildcats
by 21 in Evanston. It’s not hard
to do the math and figure out
Michigan
is
the favorite on
Thursday.
And yet, last
season looms.
Though
the
Wolverines
have
been
fairly
secure
in a potential
bid throughout
the year, their
record is worse
than it was at this time in 2017.
That’s in part due to two losses
against top-three teams early in
the season, but a similar end to
the season may bring a similar
fate nonetheless.
“We learned after the Purdue
game when we were up big, we
can never relax,” Barnes Arico
said. “You can never take your
foot off the gas. You have to
play for the entire 40 minutes
and anybody in our league — I
mean, Northwestern’s coming
off a tough loss at Indiana in
overtime. So they’re a team
that’s
playing
well,
that’s
desperate for a win. So everyone
is gonna come in here looking to
knock us off.”
This is as close to a must-win
game as Michigan has had all
year. The margin for error has
evaporated in the last week —
it’s now or never.
“It’s important for us to just
remain positive, take a deep
breath, it’s gonna be ok,” Barnes
Arico said. “Let’s get back to
work, let’s get back to the grind,
and let’s figure out how to get
better because there’s a lot of
season left to be played.”
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico finds her team in a similar position to what it was in last season.
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ preparing for first
tournament of season
Last season, the Michigan
softball team failed to advance
past regionals for only the second
time since 2004.
This Friday, the 18th-ranked
Wolverines kick off their 2018
campaign in Tampa Bay, Fla.,
as they compete in the USF
Wilson-Demarini Tournament.
Michigan will open up the
five-game tournament against
Alabama-Birmingham. However,
the toughest contest of the
weekend will take place Saturday,
as the Wolverines will square off
against No. 2 Florida.
Michigan
coach
Carol
Hutchins is unfazed by the high
level of competition early in the
season.
“It
doesn’t
matter
who
you’re playing,” Hutchins said.
“I don’t focus on who we’re
playing because we just need to
play every game with the same
approach. We worry about what
we do. We control what we can
control which is our effort and
attitude.”
As Hutchins begins her 34th
year at the helm, the Wolverines
look to rebound off of an
abnormal 2017 season which saw
Michigan fall to the Washington
Huskies in the Seattle Regional
championship game.
It will be no easy task, as the
team lost a slew of graduating
seniors — all of whom were
four-year starters. The chain of
leadership continues, however, as
the next group of upperclassmen
steps forward to guide the
team in its quest to erase the
disappointment of last season.
If the Wolverines hope to
return to the level of success to
which the program has become
accustomed, the team will need
contributions from all of its
players.
Michigan’s
incoming
freshman class includes a cluster
of highly-touted prospects. Left-
hander Meghan Beaubien and
utility player Lou Allan — the
No. 6 and No. 8 overall prospects,
respectively,
according
to
FloSoftball — headline the list of
newcomers. The development of
its young players is essential, and
it begins with the leadership of
the more experienced players on
the squad.
“Leadership is not just about
doing things yourself and leading
by example,” Hutchins said. “I
always say it’s your job to show
up and work hard and be great
… And so, what do you need? You
need upperclassmen to say it’s
okay, I went through this too, you
can do it.”
Michigan is returning 16
letterwinners and five starters,
led by senior first baseman and
right-hander Tera Blanco and
junior second baseman Faith
Canfield — both of whom earned
NFCA All-American and All-
Big Ten first team honors last
season.
Last season’s early postseason
exit puts the Wolverines in a
different position to start the
season than in previous years.
Despite this being unfamiliar
territory,
Michigan
doesn’t
necessarily view it as a bad thing.
“There’s not a target on our
back like I think there has been
in the past,” Canfield said. “And
I think that’s a good thing, cause
we’re just going to go out there
and go for it … I think (because
we lost four starters) people have
kind of just written us off a little
bit.”
At 18th, the Wolverines are
beginning
the
season
with
their lowest preseason ranking
throughout the tenure of all of
their current players. Perhaps a
chip on their shoulder is exactly
what this team needs to light a
fire beneath them and propel
them towards what they hope
will be a return to the winning
culture of Michigan softball.
“We re-established culture,”
said senior utility player Aidan
Falk. “We took a step back, and
we really figured out what the
pillars of Michigan softball are
and what’s really important to
our team.”
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
“Everyone is
gonna come in
here looking to
knock us off.”
The Wolverines are again in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament
“It’s important
for us to
just remain
positive.”
SOFTBALL
Becker blossoming into offensive force
Jack Becker’s first collegiate
goal, to put it generously, needed
just a tiny bit of good fortune.
With
Michigan
trailing
Bowling Green, 5-3, in the Great
Lakes Invitational on Jan. 1,
Becker launched a speculative
shot about 90 feet from the
net. Falcons goaltender Ryan
Bednard saw it mid-flight and
easily caught it over his right
shoulder. Then, somehow, the
puck squirted out of his grasp,
falling behind him and across
the plane of the goal.
That splash of luck aside,
Becker’s rise over the past five
weeks has been anything but a
fluke. Since the calendar turned
to 2018, the freshman forward
from
Dellwood,
Minn.
has
scored six goals and recorded
eight points in 11 games, putting
him fourth among all Wolverines
during that timespan.
“He’s probably grown more
than anybody on our team,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“Just his level of skating, his
shot, his passing, everything.”
Despite
only
being
a
freshman, Becker may have
more
history
with
Pearson
than any of his teammates. In
2016, he committed to Michigan
Tech to play for Pearson — then
the Huskies’ head coach. But
last April, Pearson took the
Wolverines’ head coaching job
after six seasons in Houghton.
Becker followed him to Ann
Arbor a month later, becoming
Pearson’s first commitment at
Michigan.
However, this shared history
goes back even farther. As an
assistant coach at Michigan
Tech in the early 1980s, Pearson
recruited “a big kid out of
the iron range of northern
Minnesota”
to
bolster
the
Huskies’
defenseman
corps.
That kid? None other than
Becker’s
father,
Russ,
who
would go on to play 82 games for
the Huskies from 1984 to 1988.
“(Russ was) nowhere near
the player Jack is, so you can
tell him I said that,” Pearson
quipped, before extolling the
elder Becker’s virtues on a
serious note. “Strong character
person,
worked
hard.
Had
limited abilities, but he brought
it every day.”
Thirty years later, Pearson
observes many of those same
attributes in Russ’ son, who
he describes as the “hardest
worker” on his team. Both
Beckers
are
indeed
big
—
Jack’s
listed
measurements
of 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds
match
his
father’s
during
his time at Michigan Tech.
Currently, Pearson noted, Russ
is a successful Minneapolis
businessman
in
charge
of
several construction companies,
and in a similar vein, Pearson
described Jack as a “guy you’d
hire.”
“It’s the intangibles,” Pearson
said. “Anybody can walk into a
rink and see if a guy can skate
or handle the puck or plays
physical, but it’s the intangibles,
all those things that you can’t
measure in a person that really
made Russ who he is, and his
son has all those traits.”
According to Pearson, one of
those traits is Jack’s extreme
responsiveness
to
coaching,
which Pearson believes is one of
the most important reasons why
he has developed to the extent
that he has this season.
“Everything, just he’s really
improved on. And that’s not
by
accident,”
Pearson
said.
“He’s like a sponge, he takes
everything in, he takes it to
heart,
he’s
very
coachable.
Coachability in this day and age
is so important. Just being able
to accept what the coaches are
telling you and trying to put it in
your game, and some players are
more coachable than others.
“And he’s a coach’s dream.
‘Yes sir,’ and ‘what do I need to
do to get better?’ But he’s that
type of person, he’s been raised
that way.”
Last weekend’s series against
Wisconsin was a reflection of
how far Becker has come since
October. While his two goals
against Penn State two weeks
earlier came as a product of
pure size and strength in the
crease, Becker was a dangerous,
all-around offensive anchor of
Michigan’s third and fourth
lines against the Badgers.
On the Wolverines’ third
goal Friday, Becker smoothly
reeled in a stretch pass from
Jake Slaker and cut right down
the wing, hitting the sophomore
forward with a pinpoint return
pass and centering him for a
close-range finish. On their
fourth goal, Becker jumped on
the puck behind the Wisconsin
net and took Badger defenseman
Matthew Freytag out of the play
with a nifty fake pass while
skating back around into the
slot, finishing with a snipe
past goaltender Jack Berry. For
good measure, Becker assisted
on freshman forward Dakota
Raabe’s empty-net clincher and
added a crucial power play goal
Saturday.
“I think maybe it’s just been
more gradual, the chemistry
with our line and just playing
better,” Becker said. “... Pucks
have been going in lately, but
I think that every game I’ve
gotten better and our line’s
gotten better.”
Added
freshman
forward
Michael
Pastujov,
Becker’s
linemate as well as roommate:
“He brings a lot of physicality
and battling in the corners. He
helps get the puck, and he’s also
a really good finisher and he can
make plays.”
It’s easy to see why Becker,
despite being a seventh-round
draft pick of the Boston Bruins
in 2015, might have originally
been overshadowed among the
Wolverines’ class of freshman.
Forwards Pastujov and Josh
Norris as well as defenseman
Quinn Hughes all played for
the prestigious United States
National
Development
Team
Program. Norris was selected
17th overall by the San Jose
Sharks in last June’s NHL Draft,
and Hughes appears likely to be
picked even higher this summer.
Even Raabe was singled out
before the season by Pearson for
his speed and skill.
Becker,
meanwhile,
didn’t
arrive in Ann Arbor with a
similar pedigree. His age — he
turns 21 in June — doesn’t hint
at a wealth of upside a la Norris
or Hughes. His numbers from
junior hockey don’t jump off
the page — a respectable, but
not mind-blowing 28 points in
49 games with the Sioux Falls
Stampede of the USHL last
season. And Becker himself
recognizes that he has room to
grow as a player.
“Just moving your feet and
the speed in the first three
steps are so huge,” Becker said.
“That’s something I just need to
continue to work on, definitely
a work in progress. It’s getting
better, but need to keep working
on it.”
And if he does keep doing just
that? If he keeps improving at
the pace he is now?
“We had an NHL team come
in and tell me they think he’s
our best pro prospect,” Pearson
said. “We’ve got Quinn Hughes
and Josh Norris, and a lot of guys
who I think are going to play at
the next level. For someone to
come in and say that about Jack,
I think is a testament to where
he’s headed and the future that
he has if he continues to grow
and get better.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman forward Jack Becker is following in the footsteps of his father by playing for coach Mel Pearson, and his hard work is paying off in production.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer