That hurts. Especially at home. And that's the kind of thing that can be a big motivator - or just a big fat pain in the butt.
All game, the Michigan players listened to the chants and taunting rain down on them from the Michigan State fans packed along the top rows of Crisler Arena.
What's worse is that the Michigan fans - who, by the way, were there last night - couldn't top them. They sounded more like the Maize Dazed than the Maize Rage.
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Rick FreemanFreeman of the Press
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To cap it off, Morris Peterson put the exclamation point on Michigan's %$#@! of a night when he threw down an alley-oop feed from Jason Klein - and the crowd erupted.
"I feel for Michigan," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. And he does. He's had this happen before to him.
Three years ago, when the reins of the Michigan State program were still fresh in his hands, Indiana fans came and invaded the Breslin Center, much to Izzo's frustration.
Now, with his second Big Ten title firmly in his back pocket, such incidents don't hurt as much as they did then - or do for Brian Ellerbe now.
"I'm disappointed in our team to no end," Ellerbe said. "We played like we didn't know what to do."
He's wrong of course. He's probably right when he said "nobody played well today."
But he's wrong, his disappointment will end - someday. Whether or not he wins a Big Ten regular-season title, the hurt and the embarrassment created on the Crisler Arena floor will be long gone, banished in a spontaneous celebration and a wash of Gatorade like the one that stained the shoulders of Izzo's jacket last night.
Ellerbe might sound like he's given up on his team, but he hasn't - it's not in the man to do something like that.
But as last night showed convincingly, it's definitely in the fans to give up.
- Rick Freeman can be reached via e-mail at rickfree@umich.edu
RICK
FREEMAN
Freeman of
the Press
02-19-99
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