Oct. 13, 2009

• Audio Quotes: John Beilein | Senior DeShawn Sims | Junior Manny Harris | Sophomore Zack Novak
• Photo Gallery

So much for your typical media day. When University of Michigan basketball head coach John Beilein invites the media for a glimpse into his team, he does just that. He wants the people covering his team to be well-informed and taken care of...but to do that, he decided that he would show them what the Wolverines are all about. By making the media do what they do.

The media in attendance at today's annual event were made to participate in seven drills, the same as the players. If the players do not achieve certain benchmarks, it is back to the track for them. With today's participants, the standards were lowered a bit. And there really was no punishment. Unless complete and utter embarrassment in front of the Michigan basketball team and their peers are considered punishment.

Coach Beilein tried to work his instructional magic at the beginning, explaining each station and what was expected. There were five ball-handling stations, with another two opportunities to show off what kind of shooting prowess each person had. Everyone was divided into groups of three and participated in the following:

1) Wraps [55 in 30 seconds]
Wrap basketball around waist

2) Hikes [40 in 30 seconds]
Basketball between knees, drop ball. Catch back, catch front

3) Pretzels [40 in 30 seconds]
Basketball between knees, one hand front, one hand back (rotate hands)

4) Behind the Back Dribbles [55 in 30 seconds]
Basketball dribbling behind back

5) 2-Ball Mikan Drill [Make 15 in 20 seconds]
Facing basket, catch and lay-up with one hand

6) Tennis Ball Dribble
Dribble basketball in one hand, tossing tennis ball with other; Player must dribble five times before catching tennis ball

7) Three-point Shooting
Make 10 three-pointers in 1:00 minute

For a group that can certainly cover a team, it was a different story when it was their turn to show their stuff. Ball control was nowhere to be found. Speed was lacking. There were more bricks laid than the new façade of Michigan Stadium. Insert funny joke about un-athletic middle-aged people here.

"I lifted weights all day, so my shot was off because I was a little sore," Michigan Sports Television's Doug Karsch said of his performance. "I think that I maybe I should do what Kelvin Grady did and try a different sport. Maybe if they do this for golf. If there is a cannonball team here at Michigan, jump off a diving board, I think I could do that. Competitive eating, I would do that. Other than that, it was pretty much an abysmal failure.

"I need to work on not coming next year because I think the players are going to lose respect," he continued. "We are going to ask questions and they won't respect us."

"I don't think I had a strong station," Angelique Chengelis said. "Once we switched to a women's ball, I thought that helped. I really liked the pretzel, even though it was the scariest named one. I was worried about that. I liked the tennis ball. I thought that was alright, but I only got to three or four.

"I need to never play basketball again; I think is really what I need to do," was Chengelis' instant analysis. "I think that would spare a lot of humiliation for me."

AnnArbor.com's Mike Rothstein could not wait for the activities to be done. "The resting interview one right here was my best one (stations). That was much tougher than you think."

"I tried it a little bit so I knew that I was going to fail going in," Rothstein said of his preparation. "I am not a three-point shooter; I have more of a mid-range game.

"This is now officially embarrassing. It was fun, and I had a good time doing it. I sufficiently embarrassed myself so now I can move on with my life."

They can all move on with their lives and continue to follow the Wolverines. Behind the scenes, of course.