romping if surprising (she was 8-1 in a field of nine) debut winne

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- As successful as Michigan has been under John Beilein, the Wolverines have also become a bit predictable.Theyll shoot well from the perimeter, and theyre an unselfish team thats difficult to guard because of their superior precision and spacing. On defense, they avoid fouling and dont force many turnovers -- and their opponents are often all too comfortable at that end of the court.This season, Beilein is hoping to correct some of those defensive problems.New assistant Billy Donlon, who joined the Michigan staff this offseason after a six-year run as head coach at Wright State, is the man Beilein is turning to for defensive expertise. The Wolverines barely made the NCAA Tournament last season but return plenty of experience -- and they could certainly take a big step forward in 2016-17 if Donlon can help them become a stingier group.I am giving him a lot of responsibility, Beilein said at media day Monday. My eye, and the detail that we do in offense, I think hes got a similar eye for defense, and were trying to combine that without confusing everybody.When Michigan reached the NCAA title game in 2013, the Wolverines ranked No. 1 in the nation in KenPom.coms offensive efficiency stat. They were No. 3 the following season, when they went to the Elite Eight.Defensively, its been a different story. Michigan was 88th in 2014, 99th in 2015 and 95th last season. Thats bad enough to be a real problem in seasons when the offense is merely good and not outstanding.You cant really move the offensive needle, Donlon said. I think the players are wanting to also move the defensive needle some, and I think they recognize if we do that, what could happen.Michigan is rarely aggressive on the offensive boards, and its defensive problems have only fueled the criticism that comes with being more of a finesse team.We know people like to call us soft, senior Zak Irvin said. It is a mindset to be tough. Weve got to do the gritty things, and were working on that each day.One of the trademarks of Michigans defense has been a lack of fouling. Many coaches would be happy with that, but its fair to wonder if the Wolverines have been operating at too much of an extreme. Michigan averaged 15.5 fouls a game last season. Donlons Wright State team averaged 22.Could Michigan benefit from a little more aggressiveness on defense, even if it leads to more fouls?You look at some of our guys stats, some guys didnt average two fouls a game, so thats a little bit too cautious, Beilein said. Somehow weve got to take Bills defense where they fouled more, and still stay out of the one-and-one and still keep our best players on the floor.Beileins program isnt about to undergo any sort of overhaul. His accomplishments at Michigan include the Final Four in 2013, as well as Big Ten titles in 2012 and 2014. But the last couple seasons have been more of a struggle, thanks in part to injuries to some key players. The Wolverines missed the NCAA Tournament in 2015 and were eliminated in the round of 64 last year.He had to shake up his staff a bit this offseason because Bacari Alexander was hired to lead the Detroit Titans and Wisconsin-Milwaukee hired LaVall Jordan.In Donlon, Beilein hopes hes found someone who can help the Wolverines in an area where theyve been lacking.He is a head coach that is now as the assistant coach, Beilein said. Hes got a lot of the head coach qualities already, where hes strong with his command. ... I can tell by our kids eyes, they are learning from him, they love listening to him.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem. Cheap Senators Jerseys China . The move comes after the Canadiens were approached by the Buffalo Sabres for permission to speak to Dudley - a former Sabres player and head coach. "The Sabres called for permission and I appreciate that, Im flattered, Dudley told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. http://www.cheapsenatorsjerseys.com/ .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. Cheap Ottawa Senators Jerseys . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Cheap Adidas Senators Jerseys . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. As noted in this space last week about the strongly run Breeders Cup Juvenile by Classic Empire and Not This Time, there is much optimism for this years class of 2-year-old males. More encouraging signs came Saturday in stakes victories from Mastery and Gunnevera.Mastery, a most eye-catching debut winner at Santa Anita just two weeks before the Breeders Cup, won the Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar, a springboard to the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity on Dec. 10. Mastery was supposed to win the Bob Hope. He was 1-5. So it says something about Mastery that he also managed to impress.Mastery absolutely toyed with runner-up California Diamond through the stretch run of the Bob Hope. The official win margin was 1-1/4 lengths, but it would have been significantly larger if Mastery had been asked to run. The thing that was most striking about the stretch run of the Bob Hope, however, was the contrasting profiles of the two protagonists.California Diamond might not be the second coming of Hindoo, but he had seven starts before Saturday; he won five, four of which were stakes, including three straight stakes scores. California Diamond had all the seasoning that Mastery lacked, and yet Mastery performed through the stretch as though hes been doing this racing thing forever.If there is one caveat regarding Masterys victory Saturday, it was that the pace he set was slow -- in fact, the slowest of the five main-track races on the Del Mar card -- and by a significant margin. But there are a couple of points that might mitigate the slow fractions. For one, even though he was in front, Mastery still shut himself off, which I take as a strong indicator that he will successfully rate off the early lead.The other consideration is how Mastery finished. If he didnt finish well after that slow pace, then there wouldnt be nearly as much to get excited about. But Mastery went his seventh and final furlong in 11.61 seconds, which is fast, and strongly suggests stretching out will be no issue for him.Gunneveras win in the Delta Downs Jackpot was more of an in your face performance. He lagged early off a fairly strong but contested pace, and overwhelmed his field with a move at least five wide on the far turn that eventually carried him to the lead and then on to a near six-length romp.Gunneveras Delta Jackpot was flashy, but it is important to put his effort in some context. Gunnevera was the only member of the 10-horse field to have won a graded stakes race (he won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in August), and he was also the only one in the field to have prior Grade 1 stakes experience (he finished fiftth in Keenelands Breeders Futurity in his most recent outing).ddddddddddddThat said, one of the several things to like about Classic Empire even before he won the Breeders Cup Juvenile is he won the Breeders Futurity despite stretching out to two turns for the first time in his first representative start in three months; Im not counting his Hopeful appearance, when he wheeled coming out of the gate as the favorite as a representative outing. It should be noted that Gunnevera was in a similar position when he ran in the Breeders Futurity.The Breeders Futurity was Gunneveras first start in two months, and it was also his first start around two turns. He wasnt able to overcome those hurdles the way Classic Empire did. Gunnevera was put to a heavy drive on the far turn at Keeneland, yet he gave a little ground and position through the Breeders Futurity stretch run. But while that says Gunnevera has quite a bit of improving to do before he can be considered on the same level as Classic Empire, the outing in the Breeders Futurity worked perfectly for Gunnevera in the context of the Delta Jackpot.Unfortunately, the 2-year-old filly division this year hasnt been as compelling as the juvenile males has been, but that may begin to change after the smashing victory from Shanes Girlfriend in the Delta Downs Princess Stakes one race before the Jackpot.Shanes Girlfriend, a romping if surprising (she was 8-1 in a field of nine) debut winner at Santa Anita late last month, shipped and stretched out for the Princess, and ran off to score by just over 13 lengths. Now, it must be noted that there was not one graded stakes winner among the nine opponents she crushed Saturday, yet I still feel Shanes Girlfriend upstaged Gunnevera.The Princess was run at a mile, the Jackpot was at 1 1/16 miles; thats close enough to make pace comparisons. When you do, youll find the Princesss pace was faster to the first quarter (23.06 to 23.18) and substantially faster to the three-quarter mark (1:11.71 to 1:12.52). Shanes Girlfriend did what she did being right on top of that faster early pace, a pace that was actually the strongest sustained pace (emphasis on the word sustained) all day at Delta, and all day at Delta Saturday was 11 races.And for the record, Shanes Girlfriend completed her mile in 1:37.98. Gunnevera got his mile in 1:38.64. Yes, I know Gunnevera had another sixteenth to go after that mile split, but he certainly wasnt speeding up late, even if he was drawing away. ' ' '