The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"Let's face it," Dakich said. "When you come home in the Big Ten, you anticipate that, 'We're going to get this figured out, we're going to get it right,' when you've had the kind of success that Michigan and John have had. "Then it goes south on you … you could see, in the Indiana game, they got it taken from them. Some- body said, 'Well, we lost confidence.' Maybe you did, but you also got it taken from you. Indiana just took it." Then the Spartans scorched the nets like they were shooting into a trampoline cage, and the Wolverines were plunged into the sort of "oh no, not again" feeling they'd desperately wanted to avoid. "Damn, they hit 10 threes in the first half," Dakich marveled. "I don't care who you are — if they hit 10 threes in a half, you're going to get your ass beat." When a team shoots like that, Da- kich noted, sometimes you just have to shrug and move on. To him, the Indiana game carried more concern because of the way U-M found itself stifled after getting out to a double- digit lead. "Against Indiana, Michigan got off to a good start," he said. "You look at it from a purely basketball stand- point and it's what can Michigan do to turn this around? In that game, there really wasn't anything. That's what scares you as a coach. "You never want to think that somebody can just lock you down. You never want to think you're not able to stop them. But once in a while it happens to you. It doesn't happen that much to John. It happened much more to me than him, but that's the concerning one." MORE THAN LEVERT Izzo pointed out after MSU's win that Beilein wasn't about to offer any excuses, so he'd do it for the Michi- gan coach. He indicated he's been Head coach John Beilein admitted his team can't compete with the Big Ten's elite squads until it gets healthy. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN