D4 COLLEGES
Georgetown vs. Appalachian State
When: Noon.Where: Verizon Center. TV: ESPNU. Outlook: After nearly a month of participating in practice but sitting on the bench in a business suit for games, touted freshman Moses Ayegba could make his debut as the No. 9 Hoyas (8-1) aim to bounce back from Thursday’s loss at Temple. Ayegba was ruled ineligible Nov. 12 by the NCAA for the first nine games after accepting a plane ticket purchased by someone outside of his family. Although it’s unclear how much playing time he’ll receive against Appalachian State (3-3), the 6-foot-9 Nigerian is expected to eventually bolster a rotation of Julian Vaughn, Henry Sims and Nate Lubick in the post. Georgetown’s primary challenge in the teams’ first-ever meeting will be slowing Mountaineers guard Donald Sims, the nation’s second-leading scorer at 27 points per game. The John Thompson III Foundation encourages fans to bring children’s books to the game in support of EverybodyWins, a local nonprofit that promotes literacy. —Tarik El-Bashir
Virginia Tech vs. Penn State
When: 1 p.m.Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Outlook: The Hokies (4-4) hope to end a three-game slide Sunday when they host Penn State (7-2). Though it is still early in the season and three of Virginia Tech’s defeats came to teams currently ranked in the top 25, the Hokies have lost much of their room for error in terms of making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. Only one ranked team— No. 1 Duke—remains on their schedule. Coach Seth Greenberg spent this past week going “back to basics” with his team. The Hokies could certainly improve their scoring; they’re averaging just 56 points per game in the last four contests and haven’t scored more than 30 points in a half during that time. Only guard Malcolm Delaney and forward Jeff Allen are averaging double figures in points.
6
MORE COVERAGE Go to
washingtonpost.com/sports for
more on the Hokies’ attempts to save their season.
—Mark Giannotto LOCALBOXSCORES
JAMESMADISON78, RADFORD57
James Madison (7-3) Hitchens 3-6 0-0 8, Bowles 2-4 1-4 5, Goins 3-11 3-6 9, Wells 3-8 2-2 10, Moore 1-1 2-2 4, Diouf 6-10 3-5 19, Semenov 2-7 0-1 4, Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Louis 1-4 2-4 5, McGaughey 1-3 1-2 4, Jackson 1-3 3-4 6, Flores 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-60 17-30 78. Radford (2-7) Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Robinson 1-4 4-7 7, Faulkner 2-5 2-2 6, Edwards 2-5 2-3 6, Cerrah 1-4 3-5 5, J. Smith 2-6 4-6 9, Sonmez 2-7 0-0 5, Dickerson 1-2 0-0 2, Spagnolo 1-4 0-0 2, B. Smith 3-6 5-6 12, Abele 1-2 1-2 3, Curry 0-0 0-0 0, Winegarner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 21-31 57. Halftime: James Madison 37-20. Three-point goals: James Madison 11-28 (Diouf 4-6, Hitchens 2-4, Wells 2-6, Jackson 1-2, McGaughey 1-3, Louis 1-4, Semenov 0-3), Radford 4-14 (B. Smith 1-2, Robinson 1-2, Sonmez 1-3, J. Smith 1-3, Dickerson 0-1, Mitchell 0-1, Faulkner 0-2). Fouled out: Cerrah, Flores. Rebounds: James Madison 48 (Goins 13), Radford 32 (Spagnolo 6). Assists: James Madison 19 (Louis, Moore 4), Radford 6 (Faulkner, J. Smith 2). Total fouls: James Madison 25, Radford 22. A: 1,140.
GEORGEMASON84, LIBERTY54
George Mason (8-2) Hancock 4-7 2-2 12, Morrison 2-4 0-0 4, Pearson 7-8 0-0 16, Long 7-12 0-2 16, Cornelius 3-7 2-2 8, Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 1-1 0-0 2, Arledge 2-2 0-0 4, Vaughns 3-5 1-2 9, Tate 2-5 4-4 9, Whack 1-1 0-0 2, Armistead 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 33-55 9-12 84. Liberty (6-5) Burrus 1-4 0-1 2, Gordon 4-8 4-5 12, Minaya 2-6 2-3 6, Brown3-9 1-2 7, Je. Sanders 4-7 4-4 12, Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer 0-0 0-0 0, Hoyt 0-0 0-0 0, Vander Pol 2-4 1-4 5, Jo. Sanders 3-9 1-2 10, McMasters 0-0 0-0 0,Ogukwe0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 13-21 54. Halftime: George Mason 48-26. Three-point goals: George Mason 9-21 (Pearson 2-2, Vaughns 2-3, Hancock 2-4, Long 2-5, Tate 1-3, Cornelius 0-4), Liberty 3-12 (Jo. Sanders 3-8, Minaya 0-1, Gordon 0-3). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: George Mason 30 (Long 8), Liberty 28 (Brown 7). Assists: George Mason 16 (Hancock 4), Liberty 9 (Je. Sanders 5). Total fouls: George Mason 20, Liberty 18. A: 2,747.
LOYOLA,MD.65,MOUNT
ST.MARY’S,MD.42
Mount St. Mary's, Md. (3-7) Atupem 3-10 0-0 6, Jackson 1-2 2-2 4, Castellanos 1-5 2-2 4, Norfleet 2-12 0-1 5, Golladay 3-7 2-2 8, Wells 0-1 0-0 0, Trice 2-10 0-0 5, Barber 1-3 0-0 2, Thompson 4-9 0-2 8. Totals 17-59 6-9 42. Loyola, Md. (4-5) Walker 7-10 5-6 22, Etherly 7-7 3-5 17, Cormier 0-2 0-0 0, Barney 4-11 2-3 10, Olson 3-8 0-0 8,Drummond0-2 0-0 0, Hall 0-2 2-2 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Brooks 0-1 2-4 2, Rudolph 2-4 0-0 4, Wandrusch 0-0 0-0 0, Onyiuke 0-0 0-0 0, Wiegand 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-47 14-20 65. Halftime: Loyola, Md. 34-23. Three-point goals: Mount St. Mary’s, Md. 2-13 (Trice 1-6, Norfleet 1-6, Castellanos 0-1), Loyola, Md. 5-11 (Walker 3-3, Olson 2-4, Rudolph 0-1, Hall 0-1, Barney 0-2). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Mount St. Mary’s, Md. 28 (Thompson 8), Loyola, Md. 40 (Walker 10). Assists: Mount St. Mary’s, Md. 9 (Norfleet 5), Loyola, Md. 14 (Rudolph 6). Total fouls: Mount St. Mary’s, Md. 15, Loyola, Md. 14. A: 1,422.
TOWSON86,UMBC77
Towson (3-5) Philmore 6-9 4-5 16, Dupree 6-12 5-9 17, Polk 3-8 4-4 11, Morris 2-4 5-6 10, Franklin 4-12 4-4 15, Brown 2-7 0-0 5, Conner 1-1 4-4 6,Gumbs3-4 0-0 6. Totals 27-57 26-32 86. Umbc (0-9) Satchell 3-3 1-3 7, Fry 3-6 0-2 6, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, De La Rosa 9-18 4-6 23, King 2-5 3-4 9, Wertz 4-8 1-2 11, Plummer 0-3 0-0 0, Neller 3-8 0-0 9, Jolicoeur 3-3 2-3 8. Totals 29-58 11-20 77. Halftime: UMBC 38-33. Three-point goals: Towson 6-15 (Franklin 3-7, Morris 1-2, Polk 1-3, Brown 1-3), UMBC 8-18 (Neller 3-8, Wertz 2-3, King 2-4, De La Rosa 1-3). Fouled out: Fry. Rebounds: Towson 42 (Dupree 11), UMBC 25 (Satchell 7). Assists: Towson 12 (Morris 5), UMBC14 (De La Rosa 10). Total fouls: Towson 16,UMBC 23. Technical foul: Franklin. Ejected_. Ejections_Joli- coeur. A: 1,952.
WOMEN
NO.11GEORGETOWN81, RIDER54
Georgetown (8-3) Crawford 7-11 5-7 19, McBride 1-1 0-0 2, Wright 2-5 0-0 6, Rodgers 4-14 0-0 11, McNutt 3-9 0-0 7, White 3-4 1-1 7, Wilson 0-2 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Powell 4-6 0-0 8, Reese 0-2 0-0 0, Roche 6-9 0-0 14,Moore3-4 1-1 7. Totals 33-67 7-9 81. Rider (0-8) C. Brown 0-2 1-2 1,Homan3-8 2-5 8, Lightbourne 2-6 1-3 7, Varnadore 0-2 0-0 0, D. Brown 3-5 1-2 8, Hall 4-8 2-2 10, Heller 3-6 4-4 13, Mehmedovic 0-0 0-0 0, McKenzie 1-6 4-4 7. Totals 16-43 15-22 54. Halftime:Georgetown39-31. Three-point goals: George- town 8-24 (Rodgers 3-11, Roche 2-3, Wright 2-4, McNutt 1-6), Rider 7-15 (Heller 3-6, Lightbourne 2-6, D. Brown 1-1, McKenzie 1-2). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Georgetown 40 (Rodgers 7), Rider 26 (Homan 13). Assists: Georgetown 22 (Roche, Wright 5), Rider 10 (Heller 4). Total fouls: Georgetown 22, Rider 14. A: 313.
EZ SU
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Falcons are flying high, but still belowradar GM Dimitroff, Coach Smith, quarterback Ryan have meshed to put Atlanta at an NFC-best 10-2 BY AMY SHIPLEY
atlanta—Around the Atlanta Falcons’ state-of-the-art, wood- paneled training complex, the primary architects of the fran- chise’s recent renaissance are known by schoolboy nicknames — “T.D.”, “Smitty,” and “Matty Ice.”Thethree share a disdain for egomaniacs, grim-faced leader- ship and a lack of preparation, and quite strategically pepper their long workdays with ready smiles, warm handshakes and open-door policies. They have jointly led what has
been a three-year transforma- tion from disgraced franchise to model organization that, enter- ing Sunday’smeeting against the Carolina Panthers, boasts a 10-2 record, the best in the NFC. “T.D.” isThomasDimitroff, the
Falcons’ 44-year-old general manager, a slim-waisted, moun- tain-biking maven who wanders through the team offices with tousled brown hair peeking out from under a Falcons visor. Dim- itroff prefers workout clothes to dress shirtsandtiesandseemsas delighted to discuss the recre- ational hiking and riding trail he personally helped dig—literally, with a shovel in his hands — around the training complex in the offseason as the team’s rise from NFL doormat. Within months of being lured
out of the New England Patriots’ college scouting office byFalcons owner Arthur Blank in January 2008, Dimitroff hired a virtually unknown defensive coordinator to be his coach — even Mike Smith’s wife calls him “Smitty”— and with theNo. 3 overall pick in the draft selected Boston College star quarterback Matt Ryan, known as “Matty Ice” since his high school days in Philadelphia. Andthen the trio of rookies set
out together to change the cul- ture of what had been a histori- cally weak franchise, applying principles popular in many busi- nesses but uncommon in some corners of the tight-lipped, bolt- ed-door, hyper-professional NFL. It’s been a breathtaking adventure that resulted in three straight winning seasons begin- ning with a surprise playoff ap- pearance in 2008. Before the trio’s arrival, the Falcons hadn’t posted a winning record in con- secutive seasons in the team’s 42-year history. This season, after an injury-
plagued 2009, the Falcons have been among the class of the NFC. “We wanted to be a very com-
municative organization,” Smith said. “If you don’t have commu- nication and interaction, you’re destined not to have success.” Smith “is keeping it real, coaching hard, and also under- standing that — and I really
PIERRE DUCHARME /REUTERS QuarterbackMattRyan, left, and wide receiver Roddy White are leaders of the Falcons’ offense.
believe this—this also has to be an enjoyable journey to be pro- ductive,” Dimitroff said. Dimitroff admitted choosing
Smith over a host of other quali- fied candidates as much for his personal-relations savvy as his football acumen, which by all accounts is razor-sharp, and Smith confessed that his first priority after signing his con- tract was to introduce himself to every single member of the team’s staff. A few months later, he pulled Ryan into his expan- sive office overlooking the team’s practice fields, sat him down in a cozy leather chair and told him: “You’re going to be the starting quarterback, but you don’t have to do anything different than you’ve done your entire athletic career—just like I’mnot going to do anything different as a coach.” Ryan, who is 19-1 in home
games and has thrown 21 touch- downs and seven interceptions this season, recalled the positive energy Smith brought to the squad in the summer of 2008, less than a year after a 4-12 debacle of a season in which then-Falcons quarterback Mi- chael Vick had been sentenced to jail on animal cruelty charges, and Coach Bobby Petrino quit with three games remaining. “It’s been fun since I’ve been
downhere,”Ryan said. “Fromthe moment [Smith] stepped into the locker room. . . . it was posi- tive, it was energetic, and we’ve tried to take advantage of that. . . . Everyone wants to win badly and it starts with him.His drive, his spirit, filter into the locker room. He has a great pulse on this team, and he’s a great guy, too.”
Smith’s high energy has gotten
the best of him a few times, and his players chuckle when re- minded. He pulled up lame with a strained hamstring in the team’s opener against Pittsburgh after sprinting toward a referee to call a late timeout. (“Smitty needs to do a little stretching before games,” linebacker Curtis Lofton said with a grin. “His muscles are a little tight.”) Last November, he was fined $15,000 after accosting former Falcon DeAngelo Hall on the Atlanta’s sideline during a 31-17 victory over the Redskins after Hall had been flagged for a late hit on Ryan. “A lot of coaches in the league
say they got your back,” Lofton said. “When it comes down to it, some don’t. “With Coach Smitty, when he
says he got your back, he means it.”
Smith doesn’t get upset often, according to Fox analyst and former Baltimore Ravens Coach Brian Billick, but when he does, you can’t miss it. Billick, Smith’s brother-in-law and former boss when Smith was a defensive coach in Baltimore, said Smith’s white hair accenctuates his rap- idly reddening face in moments
“We wanted to be a . . .
communicative organization.”
—Mike Smith, third-year head coach of the Falcons and a former defensive coach in Baltimore before being hired by Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff
COLLEGES At Michigan, outdoor hockey warms fans’ hearts
Record crowd of 113,411 watches Wolverines dominate Spartans, 5-0
BY MATT RENNIE
ann arbor, mich.—You never know what you’ll see from the 96th row of a hockey crowd, but among the most surprising pos- sibilities might be the puck. “Oh, you can see just fine,”
Becky Karakash said Saturday from the top row of Michigan Stadium. “From up here, it’s kind of good because you can actually see plays develop better.” Ninety-six rows below and an-
other 65 yards or so to center ice, the Michigan hockey team beat Michigan State, 5-0, in front of 113,411, the largest crowd in hockey history. Hours before the game, camp-
fires blazed throughout the park- ing lots near the stadium, with many fans turning to liquid re- freshments for additional warmth. Footballs flew through the air, but those games of catch took place alongside impromptu hockeygames,wheretennis balls served as pucks and overturned trash barrels as goals. Inside the stadium, fans bat-
ted beach balls, performed the Wave, chanted, danced and sang along with theMichigan march- ing band. An eight-mph wind blew steadily throughout, mak- ing the 41-degree temperature at faceoff feel like 34, but most fans seemed well-prepared. “Layers. Lots of layers,” said
Joanna Kastely, standing next to Karakash in the stadium’s high- est reaches. As one might expect of the
man who charged money for 96th-row seats to a hockey game,
of distress, creating the impres- sion of “an alarm going off.” Dimitroff said Smith, who
claimed NFL Coach of the Year honors in 2008, intuitively un- derstands when to lean on his guys, when to ease off, when to throw an arm around a shoulder. “He never browbeats these
players,” Dimitroff said. “But when it’s time to turn it on, when Mike Smith gets that red tint in his complexion and starts bark- ing out commands, the entire football fieldgoes silent. I love it.” Smith returns the respect to
his boss,whosesavvy in selecting young talent might be surpassed only by his willingness to listen to input from those around him. The pair spent hours together constructing a team philosophy in which they would build through the draft — focusing on offense in 2008, defensive needs in ’09 and a mix of the two this year—while spending judicious- ly on a few well-chosen veteran acquisitions each offseason, not only to supplement the team’s talent but also to infuse the lock- erroomwith seasoned good guys to help lead all the youth. The first free agent Dimitroff
landed was Michael Turner, La- Dainian Tomlinson’s understudy in San Diego; in his third season in Atlanta, Turner is sixth-best in the league with 1,062 rushing yards. A year later, Dimitroff traded
for veteran tight end Tony Gon- zalez, who quickly became a fa- vorite target ofRyan; this season, he is fourth among NFL tight ends with 54 catches. In the ’08 draft, Dimitroff not only got Ryan, but also starting left tackle SamBaker; Lofton; left endKroy Biermann and free safety Thom-
as DeCoud. “I really believe it was very
good thatMike Smith and Icame in as a neophyte general manag- er and head coach, learning to- gether,” Dimitroff said. “We didn’t have one of us with 10 years in the business, proselytiz- ing to the other as we tried to kick this off. It was very benefi- cial to both of us.” Three years after the arrival of
the key pieces of the organiza- tion, the Falcons don’t feel so young anymore. They have turned the ball over fewer times than anyone else in the NFC (12), and lead the league in fewest penalties (48), fourth-quarter scoring differential (97-44) and third-down conversion percent- age (48.1) — all categories that hint at a mature, disciplined team, not a wild, young one. At the very center of the achieve- ments is Ryan, who has led the team to seven victories when the Falcons have trailed in the fourth quarter. “We’re young, for sure, but
with that said, we’re experi- enced,” Ryan said. “We’ve got a lot of guys with only three or four years in the league who have been playing every snap for three or four years.” There’s one area the team feels
like it hasn’t quite arrived: in national stature. The Falcons’ close finishes this season have led some to question whether they are a powerhouse — or just lucky. “We’re not one of the high-pro-
file teams in the league,” said wide receiver Roddy White, who is second in the NFL with 91 receptions. “I’mpretty sure if the Dallas Cowboys were 10-2, they’d be the talk of the town.We’re the Falcons; we are what we are.” Dimitroff and Smith aren’t lobbying for national recogni- tion. They’re happy to continue with the same strategies they’ve employed since their first days together, knocking off one small milestone at a time, determined to earn every sliver of respect they get. In his office adorned with a high-tech stationary road cycle, Dimitroff didn’t want to so muchastouchadiscussion of the Super Bowl. It is just about the only issue
that will silence him. “We never mention ‘S.B.’ — I
even struggle to say the word now,” he said. “It’s counterintui- tive to me to talk about it. We have many, many goals, grandi- ose expectations for this team, but they’re all internal and they’re all sequential.” And they will all be achieved,
he said, through steady hard work. “This is a building,” Dimitroff
said, “that is, quite honestly, de- void of entitlement.”
shipleya@washpost.com
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010
CARLOS OSORIO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Michigan Stadium hosted the biggest house in hockey history. Tickets went on sale April 21; byMay 6, more than 100,000 had been sold.
Michigan Athletic Director Da- vid Brandon doesn’t lack for con- fidence. Brandon, 58, was chair- man and CEO of Domino’s Pizza before taking his current job earlier this year,andhe tookover the marketing of the event with one goal in mind: “If we were going to take this on,” he said in a phone interview earlier this week, “we wanted to make sure we had the largest crowd ever to watch a hockey game anywhere.” That didn’t prove to be a prob-
lem. Tickets wentonsale April 21 at $15 apiece; by May 6, public saleswerehalted aftermorethan 100,000 had been purchased.
Gordon “Red” Berenson, an all-American atMichigan in 1961 and ’62 before a 17-year career in the NHL, took over as coach of the program in 1984, when such an event would have been un- thinkable.WinnerofmoreNCAA hockey championships than any other school,Michigan had qual- ified for the NCAA tournament just once since 1965. Yost Ice Arena was suffering from ne- glect, and not until Berenson’s sixth season did the Wolverines draw more than 100,000 fans in an entire season. All this past week, Berenson tried to maintain focus, but
when the official attendance was announced in the third period, the 71-year-old coach clapped his hands behind the Michigan bench, and afterward, he was still beaming. “Pretty good show, eh?” said
Berenson, whose teams have been to the past 20 NCAA tour- naments . “For hockey to come in here and have an event like this, it’s really special.” Few fans traveled farther for
Saturday’s game than the friends and family of Michigan senior captain CarlHagelin. The group of 20 who made the 4,135-mile trek from Sodertalje,
Sweden, was easy to spot amid the throng, sporting bright yel- low jerseys with “Sweden” em- blazoned in capital letters across the front and “Hagelin” and his jerseynumber12 across the back. Hagelin made the trip worth-
while for his family by scoring Michigan’s third goal 12 minutes 12 seconds into the second peri- od and its fourth 8:57 into the third. “I think we all got goose
bumps when we sawCoach clap- ping” after the attendance was announced, Hagelin said. “It felt great to be part of history.”
renniem@washpost.com
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