Michigan Wolverines Still Playing for Something

With a 0-6 start and no possibility of a postseason berth, the Michigan Wolverines had a horrible start to December. After a tough loss on Dec 7 to non-conference rival Duke, Michigan seemed headed for not only one of its worst seasons in recent memory, but one of its most heartbreaking as well.

The loss to Duke was not just any loss. It came after a string of defeats to St. Bonaventure, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Western Michigan and Central Michigan; teams that the Wolverines normally beat easily, even in a down year.

Losing to Duke could have put the nail in the coffin for the Wolverines, but coach Tommy Amaker and his players have refused to quit or consider this a "lost" season. That's when it all came together and the season's mission became to win despite having no championship within their reach.

Amaker has not had the easiest job ever since he accepted the Michigan coaching position. After leaving Seton Hall after one year, the former Duke All-American and assistant coach to Coach K landed at Michigan and attempted to bring the Wolverines back to their former glory days as one of college basketball's perennial powerhouses.

Adding to Amaker's troubles has been the commotion surrounding his program from the Ed Martin Case, a school booster during the Fab Five Era at Michigan. Martin has been found guilty of having given former All-Americans Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard, among others, hundreds of thousands of dollars, which violates NCAA amateur athletic rules.

During the course of the summer, Final Four banners were removed from Crisler Arena, while Fab Five records were destroyed in Michigan history books. The school itself imposed sanctions on the team's postseason play, banning it from both the NCAA and NIT Tournament for two years. It was an effort to strike before the NCAA, thus weakening the amount of damage.

With these rulings in mind, the Wolverines opened their season with one of their worst starts in school history. But after their embarrassing Duke loss, Michigan rattled off 13 straight wins. During this streak, senior forward LaVell Blanchard has truly blossomed as a leader, becoming a formidable offensive force and scoring nearly 17 points a game.

Unfortunately for Michigan, the team has been overachieving for the last month and had to come back to earth sometime. Despite starting this week atop the Big Ten standings at 6-0, the Wolverines suffered back-to-back losses to No. 14 Illinois and unranked Minnesota. The amazing thing about this team is that it is playing for pride. Regrettably, these players are suffering for the wrong-doings of players who are long since gone, some of whom are living the lifestyle of NBA stars (that's you Chris Webber).



Too many men

In the most bizarre college basketball game in recent memory, Seton Hall defeated Georgetown 93-82 in overtime after a poorly officiated last few seconds of regulation. The mistake happened after Georgetown called a timeout to set up its defense when the score was tied at 72 and there were 12 seconds to go in regulation.

When Seton Hall walked on the court, no one noticed six players came out. Neither coach, none of the bench players, nor any of the eleven other players on the court. Now, we see this all the time on the football field, but on a basketball court with five players per team? Someone should notice that.

With 7 seconds to play, Seton Hall's sixth player, Marcus Toney-El provided the "alley" and Damion Fray brought the "oop." With 6.4 seconds remaining, Gerald Riley of Georgetown drove the ball coast to coast and scored on six defenders to tie the game.

This was yet another chance for the officials to notice that something was off. Regulation play ended in a tie and Seton Hall ended up winning in overtime with only five players on the court this time. Even with numerous challenges and disputes by Georgetown, all the Big East would give them was a "we're sorry."