Out like a lamb

Basketball season divided into three different parts

SOUTH BEND - One late-January evening in Iowa City, LaVell Blanchard floated outside, received a routine pass and drained a routine 3-pointer.

It gave Michigan a 41-29 lead over Iowa on the road, and with a 12-3 record entering the game, the Wolverines had every right to feel good about themselves.

It would be one of the last moments of this season that they would enjoy.

The Hawkeyes stormed back to beat them that night, and all of a sudden, Michigan had lost seven in a row, it had lost Jamal Crawford, and the 1999-2000 season became one for the naysayers.

Brian Ellerbe said Monday that the 29-game schedule has taken its toll on his freshmen. "It's like three different seasons," he said, comparing the college game to high school.

In a way, it has been three different seasons for the Wolverines - only not in the right order. By winning their first six games and staying close to Duke, the Excitement phase kicked into high gear. Losing seven in a row signalled the Back-to-Earth phase.

Finishing the season the way Michigan did, mostly beating the teams it was supposed to beat and dropping games to more experienced clubs, represents the Expected phase.

Had circumstances - both Crawford-related and others - been different for the Wolverines, the perception would be much different right now.

Rather than backing into the postseason and backing out, Michigan would have won a game or two in one of the two tournaments, been eliminated and then headed into the offseason with the theme that it's the team of the future.

Instead, they must shield themselves from talk that the program is headed downward and that their coach won't be around much longer.

The offseason is the best medicine for this program. Most off-the-court wounds should heal - although the two games remaining on Crawford's suspension will prompt a revival of media attention come November when the new season begins. Also, a permanent athletic director should be in place by the time Michigan takes the court, and department stability will be on the way.

The on-court performance will undoubtedly improve, if for no reason other than Michigan's promotion to a sophomore-based team, instead of a freshman-based team. The Big Ten loses quite a few talented seniors, and the Wolverines will benefit from minimal graduation losses.

About the only void Ellerbe needs to fill is in the post. The Wolverines are a dominant big man away from returning to past glories. Unless Ellerbe finds a reasonable-quality junior-college post player this year, or 7-foot Tyson Chandler skips a grade and enrolls at Michigan in the fall, the Wolverines will have to survive down low in 2000-01 with what's currently on the roster.

Nevertheless, this program is not as far away as some think. Most are just disillusioned with the fact that, despite being warned, this group really wasn't the next Fab Five.

- Chris Duprey can be reached via e-mail at cduprey@umich.edu.

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily

This basketball season looked up in mid-January, but Gavin Groninger and the rest of the upstart Wolverines fell back to earth in the season's second half. The tumultuous campaign ended with a 10-point loss at Notre Dame last night.