Same old Crisler, same old team

Saturday night, Crisler Arena felt the same as it always has.

Brian Dutcher sat on the Michigan bench as an assistant coach, screaming instructions at the players on the floor, as he has for the past 10 seasons.

The stands in the House That Cazzie Built remained half-full - on par with the level of support normally seen at Crisler.

And, as if to maintain consistency, Michigan blew a significant lead late in the game, losing to an inferior team.

Michigan, which held an 11-point lead with 10:28 to play, collapsed down the stretch, succumbing to Western Michigan, 68-63.

SARA STILLMAN/DAILY Louis Bullock shields the ball from a Western Michigan defender. Bullock had a poor day from the field, and the Broncos beat the Wolverines, 68-63.

But does anyone care?

Robert Traylor, despite an intense effort that netted 22 points, entered the interview room downtrodden, but hardly dismayed.

"They stepped up their game a notch or two," Traylor said in reference to the final 10-minute stretch, when the Broncos surged to the victory.

That's right, they didn't just surge into the lead, but into the win, responding to the 11-point deficit with a 13-2 run.

Traylor's statement, while entirely accurate, is only half of what should be expected from Michigan. Why didn't the Wolverines step their game up a notch or two?

Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe was hardly any more help in trying to determine the cause of the collapse.

"We didn't play well," he said while calmly answering questions. "You expect them to be scrappy, and they had two guys who played very well."

If that extra effort on Western's part was expected, then why wasn't Michigan prepared? For that matter, where was the Wolverines' extra effort?

Their pressure defense sat in a blue sport jacket on the Michigan bench - in the person of Travis Conlan.

But the problem was not Conlan's absence - he's out for a month with a broken wrist. That only magnified a larger issue - the lack of hustle.

Maybe the Wolverines believed that this game was in the bag before it began.

Michigan, ranked 20th in the coaches' poll before the loss, is a program of national prominence that draws recruits from the far reaches of the nation. Western Michigan isn't even a team that draws attention within the state, and has to fight for recruits with its Mid-American Conference brethren for the Wolverines' leftovers.

But Saturday, that was all forgotten as Michigan left its own gym - in its first game no less - physically, if not mentally, defeated.

"They went at all of our guys," Ellerbe said. "We didn't execute."

Michigan possessed an advantage before stepping on the court - at least in Western Michigan coach Bob Donewald's eyes.

The Broncos' coach, whose previous Crisler experience was as a Bobby Knight assistant at Indiana, considered the Michigan mystique a factor.

Before the game, "I thought of all the great players who have played in this arena," Donewald said.

But he hesitated to share his thoughts with his team - not that the Broncos would have cared.

The intense focus Western displayed kept them in the game throughout the nip-and-tuck first half. While Michigan maintained a slight two-point lead at the break, the margin was inconsequential - for as in most college basketball games, the last 10 minutes were the pivotal stretch.

So Michigan should not have been surprised when Saddi Washington led the Broncos back from the 11-point deficit.

In a scene emblematic of the difference one player can make, Washington chipped away at Michigan's margin. Unlike the Wolverines, the 6-foot-3 guard knew when the game was on the line.

"I looked up at the clock and we were down three," he said. "When I looked up again, it was 55-55.

"Zero-zero - time to play ball."

But Washington's time had already come, as he scored 13 points to vault the Broncos into the lead. From then on, it was easy for Western. Washington forced a steal, hit a 3-pointer and left Michigan on the losing end in the opener.

Washington's 33-point outing was the highest individual total against Michigan in nine years.

And yet Washington emerged unfazed by the performance.

"I don't feel the pressure," he said. "I was confident in my shot and my teammates found me. It was feeling good every time."

While Washington's stroke consistently found the bottom of the net, Louis Bullock's did not.

Bullock, Michigan's leading returning scorer, managed just one field goal and no 3-pointers on 1-of-9 shooting.

One would expect Bullock to be concerned about his performance, right?

Hardly.

The junior sharpshooter said the misses didn't affect his decision to keep the ball flying from the perimeter.

"Shooting has a lot to do with confidence," he said. "I have a lot of confidence. That won't stop me from shooting."

Which begs the question: Why was Bullock the one shooting?

All indications would point to Traylor on the inside as the catalyst for the Wolverines in a tight game. And yet his only points in the last 14 minutes came on two tip-ins and a couple of free throws.

The only possible explanation - Traylor's seven turnovers - is quickly negated when his size advantage is considered.

The Michigan center - one of the largest players in the nation at 6-foot-9, 300 pounds - is large enough to give the Western frontcourt a bear hug, let alone dunk over it repeatedly. The Broncos countered with three players, all of whom were 6-foot-7 and none of whom weighed in at more than 223.

So where was the Tractor and why didn't he have the ball in crunch time?

Ellerbe maintained the Wolverines "put the ball inside an awful lot" according to the bench statistics. Unfortunately for Michigan, the post touches didn't result in points, and the Wolverines went home with the loss.

Too many mistakes (24 turnovers) handed the game to the Broncos. The first game left too many questions about play on the floor - especially in a game that Michigan should have dominated.

And only one question was appropriate following the Wolverines' collapse: Where was the NIT banner?

11-17-97