2B — April 1, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
F
or the 103rd time in a
row, the Michigan men’s
basketball team’s season
ended.
Such is
the futility of
sports. But,
hey, you never
know. Maybe
the 104th sea-
son will never
end.
In the
meantime,
now begins
the weird
space in time after a sports sea-
son ends in which people don’t
really know what to do with
themselves.
That’s why I’m here. I’ve spent
the last few days brainstorming
things you can look forward to in
the next few weeks and months
that will get you through this
trying time.
(Note: Liverpool is going to
win the Premier League, which
I will spend the next month
agonizing over, but I realize that
isn’t applicable to everybody, so I
left it out.)
Here’s what I came up with!
The Final Four
Basketball isn’t over, despite
Michigan fans’ current feeling of
emptiness.
And, even better, Wolverine
fans likely have a rooting interest
now that Michi-
gan State beat
Duke.
Even if that
isn’t the case for
everybody, there
should be some
elite games, and
even if you don’t
like basketball,
you can at least
drink beer and
watch with
friends or whatever you like to
do. Yippee!
Baseball season is starting
Like it or not, there is not a
single sport on Earth that takes
up as much time as baseball.
Even for all its faults, every
baseball game takes at least three
hours, and you can waste the
next six months watching that
stuff.
Sure, the Detroit Tigers are
seemingly in tank mode, but
other teams are good. Join a
fantasy league! Buy in! At the
very least, you can bide your time
until football season by research-
ing Avisail Garcia and Kole Cal-
houn’s respective slash lines and
deciding who warrants a start.
The Michigan football team
has a new offensive coordina-
tor
Despite your feeling of emp-
tiness that accompanies the
Wolverines’ exit from the NCAA
Tournament, there may be some
great silver lining down the road.
Michigan hired Josh Gattis to
lead its offense this season, and
if his #SpeedInSpace promises
are to be believed, the Wolver-
ines could have an exciting, new
offensive look this season.
Maybe that spells the end
of Michigan’s drought against
Ohio State and the long-awaited
return to national prominence.
Maybe it doesn’t.
Either way, this time before
the football season is at least
good for some hope. So look at
those recruiting boards! Map
out how badly the Wolverines
will have to beat
Middle Tennes-
see State for you
to feel good about
things!
Game of
Thrones is
returning
(This section
has a spoiler
warning, but if
you aren’t caught
up by now then
what are you even doing?)
Alright, we’ll get away from
sports for a bit and move to
something that everyone alive
enjoys.
Game of Thrones returns on
April 14!
Who will sit atop the Iron
Throne? Will
Cersei meet the
fate we’re all
hoping for? Will
Arya check all the
names off her list?
Will there be vio-
lence and death?
The answer is
that I don’t know
(except for the last
question, to which
the answer is most
definitely yes). But the point is
that the questions don’t matter.
You’re going to watch it, and
you’re going to love it no matter
what they throw out there.
I’m going to graduate
I don’t want to jinx it, I guess,
but I’m currently on track to
graduate this
semester.
I realize this
has absolutely
nothing to do
with any of you
readers, but I
figure there are
two ways of
looking at this:
1) You don’t
care about me at
all, and you’re
actually quite annoyed that I
wrote this and that you’ve read
this far. In this case, the posi-
tive is that I will be gone when I
graduate, and you won’t feel obli-
gated to read my articles with the
hope that I’ll give some sort of
insight about Michigan sports.
2) You are my mother — the
only person I can definitely say is
both reading this and cares deep-
ly for my well-being. In this case,
the positive is that you won’t
have to pay my college tuition for
much longer.
In either scenario, my Venmo
is at the bottom of the article. I
will consider quitting The Daily
harder for every dollar I earn.
Miscellaneous
There’s probably going to be
some good music released this
summer. That should be cool.
You might meet the love of
your life in the near future. Per-
haps you’ve already done that,
and you think you’re better than
me.
If that — along with the other
reasons — isn’t good enough for
you, at least the Earth might
cease to exist as we know it.
The cause could be anything.
Climate change, the reversal of
the magnetic poles, nuclear war-
fare. It’s a scary world out there.
So when you think about it,
the Wolverines’ loss in the Tour-
nament doesn’t really matter
that much. There’s always a light
— or a great eternal darkness —
at the end of the tunnel.
Persak can be reached
at mdpers@umich.edu, on
Twitter @MikeDPersak or on
SportsMonday Column: What to look forward to now
MIKE
PERSAK
Michigan breezes past UC Irvine
Matthew Whitaker landed
firmly on his feet and didn’t
move an inch. The senior let
out a yell and pumped his fist
before moving to celebrate
his stuck dismount from the
still rings with his teammates
on the No. 3 Michigan men’s
gymnastics team.
Two rotations later, Whitaker
once again completed a routine
— this time on the parallel
bars — with his feet glued to
the floor. This time, when his
teammates swarmed him to
celebrate
his
performance,
there was an extra level of
emotion.
It was the final regular-
season routine of Whitaker’s
career with the Wolverines.
His
career-
high
score
of
14.150
on
the
parallel bars won
the event and was
one of his two
podium finishes
in
Michigan’s
Senior
Day
meet
against
No. 18 UIC. The
Wolverines won,
406.200-367.750.
“(Whitaker)
really
came
through today,” said Michigan
coach Kurt Golder. “I’m very,
very happy for him. He has
trouble sometimes. He lets
the nerves get to him — or the
nerves get to him. I don’t think
he does it voluntarily. But yeah,
I’m very happy that he handled
the situation today.”
Coming into Saturday’s meet
against the Flames, Golder
intended to give all eight of the
Wolverines’ graduating seniors
a chance to compete one last
time. Some of them, including
Whitaker,
do
so
relatively
sparingly,
but
against
the
Flames, Golder knew he had the
ability to be flexible with his
lineup.
UIC’s high score this season
is 370.300 — more than 40
points below Michigan’s best
mark of 413.900.
“They’re not the strongest
team we meet,” Golder said.
“We like to use that so that if we
want to experiment with a new
routine, we can. We’re not going
against Oklahoma or Illinois or
one of the powers. And then
that way we can also get our
seniors in, too. Your senior class
isn’t
always
your strongest
lineup,
so
it
serves
that
purpose
as
well.”
In
the
Wolverines’
win,
seven
of
the
eight
seniors
competed
and
six
of
them
earned spots on the podium. In
total, Michigan earned the top
three placings on all six events
and UIC’s lone podium finish
came in the all-around.
But despite the large margin
of
victory,
the
Wolverines found
difficulty in at
least one or two
routines on every
event.
Golder prefers
his team to have
major
mistakes,
such as a fall, at
most two times
in a single meet.
Saturday, though,
Michigan
had
five
major
mistakes.
Senior Emyre Cole missed
the Wolverines’ three previous
meets as a result of a violation
of team rules, and his time away
from competition was evident in
his up-and-down performance.
He fell dismounting from the
still rings and again attempting
a release move on high bar.
But Cole also turned in a
score of 14.650 on vault and won
the event, in addition to placing
second on floor and in the all-
around.
“Pretty
good,
but
not
perfect,” Golder said of Cole’s
performance. “Maybe not in
quite good enough shape yet.
He got ready as best he could
when you’re not competing, but
competing and doing it in the
gym are different things.”
Just as Cole was imperfect,
so was Michigan. The Big Ten
Championships
loom
next
week, and the Wolverines will
look to win the meet for the first
time since 2014 when they won
both the Big Ten and NCAA
Championships. After making
mistakes
on
more
routines
than usual against UIC, the
pressure is on
for
Michigan
to improve.
But
Golder
prefers it that
way.
“I
would
rather that we
don’t have the
perfect
meet,
but
kinda
close,
and
I
think
that’s
what we were,” Golder said. “I
think it’s better that way than
to have the perfect meet today
and go into Big Tens thinking
you’re all that. Better to have a
little pressure on, a little more
concern.”
Wolverines adjust to spring racing
BELLEVILLE — While the
No. 9 Michigan rowing team
had success this fall at regattas
like Head of the Charles, in
this weekend’s season opener
against Yale and Harvard, the
Wolverines faced a new beast
entirely: the spring race.
In the fall, the rowers race
between four and six kilometers,
while spring races are almost
always two kilometers. This
change affects practically every
aspect of the race from the very
first stroke.
The officials called the start
in Saturday’s 1V8 race against
Yale, and both boats were off.
Sophomore coxswain Charlotte
Powers called out the starting
sequence, followed by the high
strokes — an element unique
to spring racing that Michigan
began practicing earlier this
week.
While
Powers
felt
good
about her boat’s start, Yale still
managed to inch out ahead
within the first 30 seconds.
“We did a great job executing
(the start) today but I think we
need to continue working on
staying internal,” said senior
Kathryn Grotto. “Not focusing
on what other boats are doing
and just rowing our own race.”
Yale maintained its marginal
lead as the boats passed the 1000
meter mark, but the Wolverines
weren’t giving up.
“Our game plan going in was
to stay really composed through
the first 1500 (meters),” Grotto
said. “And then, once we get to
500 left, we’re just going to see
where we’re at on the other boat
and just do whatever we have to
do.”
With 500 meters to go, Powers
decided it was time for her boat
to make a move.
A smile broke over her face
as she reflected on those last
500 meters, in which Michigan
attempted a sprint for the first
time this year. This risk paid
off as it walked back on Yale,
crossing the finish line first by
less than a second.
“We were down the whole
race and we, as a boat, at the
last 500 decided we were going
to try to stop them from moving
up anymore,” Powers said. “We
just inched into them. We have
the tiniest, best stroke ever,
(freshman) Jess Schoonbee, and
I just kept telling her to take the
rate up every couple of strokes
and she responded every time
and, so we came in through the
line at a 42 (strokes per minute).”
Not only are the rowers
adjusting
to
the
inherent
differences of spring racing —
like the start and the sprint — but
also to a new lineup. While many
of the 1V8 raced together at the
Head of the Charles in the fall,
Michigan coach Mark Rothstein
made a couple of changes,
including putting Schoonbee in
the stroke seat.
Although Schoonbee is the
only freshman in the 1V8, as
stroke seat, she is responsible for
setting the pace for the rest of the
boat. While in the fall, rowers
typically race between 26 and 30
strokes per minute, during spring
racing, the rate is ratcheted up to
anywhere from 32 to 38 strokes
per minute — even higher during
the sprint. This increase puts
pressure on the eight seat to find
the perfect balance between
speed and control as they move
up the slide.
This weekend, Schoonbee did
just that.
“(Schoonbee) did great — very
composed,” Rothstein said. “I
thought the whole boat rowed
a really composed race. We got
down, but there was no panic.”
Rothstein believes it was that
calm and composure that carried
Michigan from the start, through
the thousand, into the last 500
meters — ultimately past the
finish line first.
If this race is any indication,
the Wolverines won’t have any
trouble with the adjustment.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan rowing team competed successfully in its first spring race beating Yale and Harvard this weekend.
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Matthew Whitaker completed the last regular-season routine of his career.
If we want to
experiment
with a new
routine, we can.
I would rather
that we don’t
have that
perfect meet.
NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
The Michigan basketball season may be over, but Mike Persak has several reasons why that doesn’t mean your enjoyment has to end with its season.
Liverpool is
going to win
the Premier
League ...
I’m currently
on track to
graduate this
semester.