Recently, I have been asked why I hate or dislike our little brother from East Lansing, and also I am just getting really sick of Sparty fans complaining about this football season.
So where I grew up the in-state rival between us and State was more heated than us vs Ohio, and even us vs the golden domers. The little farm town was full of farm boys and Sparty lovers. I also grew up showing steers in 4-H, as you can imagine there are not many Michigan fans in that hobby. So I constantly was mocked for liking Michigan, and received phone calls after any Michigan loss in football or loss to Sparty in any sport.
I know there are a ton of "Wal-mart Wolverines" out there, but I was surrounded by Spartan slappies that had no affiliations with the school or any knowledge of anything related to sports. They just felt the connection to MSU because of the ag school. My very first Michigan football game happened to be the Braylon take over against MSU. I was invited by a former MSU softball player who wanted to invite me because she was convinced ole Lion's standout Drew Stanton would lead her beloved Sparty to victory. She wanted to go to the Big House to celebrate with her Spartan brethren, and rub it in my face at the same time. As you probably know, Braylon had one of the best games that a Michigan receiver ever had. It was a glorious game. So I have lived with these confused souls all of my life, and I dont like most of what Spartan fans stand for (love for Dantonio because he hates Michigan, I think he could go 1-11 and beat us and never lose his job, disregard to their national leading amount of personal fouls against Michigan, I could go on and on).
That takes me to my current annoyance with the Sparty lovers. I keep reading different articles all week about how Michigan State will get the shaft for the second year in a row because if they lose the B1G championship game, it appears they will drop from the Rose Bowl to the Outback, and we will be headed to the Sugar Bowl. But I think I can say this with the support of most Michigan fans, that I would gladly trade spots with MSU right now. Because the goal of most B1G teams is the Rose Bowl, the Grand Daddy of them all, the greatest bowl ever, etc, etc... The only way to get to this game in the current B1G format is to go to the championship game to win one last game. We have no chance of making the Rose Bowl this year, or winning the conference, but State does. So if they are more worried about us making a BCS bowl and them getting the shaft again then focusing on their game this weekend I would trade them in an instant. I would love to be watching my team play one more game, to be pumped up for one more week, knowing that there is a chance we could lose and our bowl outcome would be affected. In reality I would trade the Sugar Bowl over a chance at the Rose Bowl. Just the chance is all fans can ask for. Why are Spartan fans already counting on them losing and us going to a better bowl game? Why do they care about us more than looking forward to the first B1G championship game? I dont understand it. Also, at this point MSU should also be hoping we do make a BCS bowl game. Lets say Wisconsin wins the game on Saturday and go to the Rose Bowl, but Michigan finishes ranked number 15 in the BCS. We would not be eligible for the Sugar Bowl. The Capital One Bowl gets the first pick of the remaining B1G teams, and taking a 2 loss Michigan is the most attractive left. The Florida bowls have already shown a ton of interest in bringing Nebraska there for the first time, so they would slip to the Outback Bowl. The Gator Bowl has its matchup of Florida v Ohio. This leaves the Insight Bowl, which is a pre-New Year's bowl. Hah, talk about getting the shaft. Sorry Sparty, but I think you would rather be in the Outback in my opinion. But, maybe you could actually win the Insight Bowl... maybe. I never would think that going to the conference championship game would be such a burden. I guess we can only hope that Michigan can take this problem off of their hands for the next long while.
Poor Sparty.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Congratulations Pt. 2
Our very own Coach Brady Hoke found out that he won the coach of the year in the B1G from both the media and coaches. He is the first Michigan coach to win B1G coach of the year since Gary Moeller in the early 90s.
This also gives the Hokenator 3 coach of the years in the past 4 years, and all of them from different conferences (MAC 2008, MWC 2010, and B1G in 2011). I dont think he will be winning this award in another conference anytime soon. But this is quite an accomplishment for a first year coach taking over an underwhelming 7-5 football team and program in disarray. Brady also beat out rival Sparty leader or gatherer of criminals... which ever title you prefer.
Let's hope this is a first coaching award of many for our very own double pointing leader.
Congrats Coach!
This also gives the Hokenator 3 coach of the years in the past 4 years, and all of them from different conferences (MAC 2008, MWC 2010, and B1G in 2011). I dont think he will be winning this award in another conference anytime soon. But this is quite an accomplishment for a first year coach taking over an underwhelming 7-5 football team and program in disarray. Brady also beat out rival Sparty leader or gatherer of criminals... which ever title you prefer.
Let's hope this is a first coaching award of many for our very own double pointing leader.
Congrats Coach!
OT: Rich Rod
There are a few reports coming out today from Arizona that state one of the main reasons the defensive guru took the Wildcat position was that the AD guaranteed him that they would schedule Michigan within 3 years. This seems like a crazy objective to guarantee, this is not like PS3 NCAA football where you can schedule almost anyone any year. It requires an agreement from the other school's AD and usually coach.
I get that Dave Brandon likes scheduling non-conference games that will get some national appeal (Bama, App St rematch, UMass rematch, Air Force, etc) but I am not sure how I feel about scheduling our old coach who was ran out of town by Big Blue nation. I admit, I thought RR should get fired even if he won the bowl game. I was sick of watching decent athletes fall into a blackhole and be blamed for being terrible on defense. I wanted Lloyd Carr back, I wanted consistency... even if that means traditional and boring. Funny what 3 years does to you. I dont think Brandon will agree to a home and home series with Arizona (going to the west coast for a non-conference game would be pretty tough). And if I was the Arizona AD I wouldnt do this if it was a one year game at the Big House.
I personally don't want to see RR back in our stadium anytime soon. I think there are other teams from real conferences that would love to play us, why schedule someone who will come in with a chip on his shoulder and a win at all costs attitude in a non-rivalry game.
I get that Dave Brandon likes scheduling non-conference games that will get some national appeal (Bama, App St rematch, UMass rematch, Air Force, etc) but I am not sure how I feel about scheduling our old coach who was ran out of town by Big Blue nation. I admit, I thought RR should get fired even if he won the bowl game. I was sick of watching decent athletes fall into a blackhole and be blamed for being terrible on defense. I wanted Lloyd Carr back, I wanted consistency... even if that means traditional and boring. Funny what 3 years does to you. I dont think Brandon will agree to a home and home series with Arizona (going to the west coast for a non-conference game would be pretty tough). And if I was the Arizona AD I wouldnt do this if it was a one year game at the Big House.
I personally don't want to see RR back in our stadium anytime soon. I think there are other teams from real conferences that would love to play us, why schedule someone who will come in with a chip on his shoulder and a win at all costs attitude in a non-rivalry game.
Game 7 Recap: 5-2... UGLY!
I am not sure where to even start about last night's game. There are two positive things that I can think of resulting from the game. 1. I am glad we did not play Wake Forest (worst team in ACC) because I am sure we would have lost to them, which would have hurt our resume a lot more than UVA. 2. I am glad we didnt play UNC, because they might have scored 80 by halftime and it might have been one of the biggest margins of defeats since those years of playing Duke and losing by 60. I guess there might even be a 3rd positive, we might have just watched us play the worst possible game from this Michigan team and they were a few breaks away from keeping the score within 5 against a probable tournament team.
So we got the standard positives out of the way, I will take a few minutes to analyze what actually happened last night. I am still frustrated and annoyed at how bad a team I thought was a legit top 12 in the country performed last night. We all know they played terribly, and most of us know the main reasons. So there is no reason for me to go on and on.
FOUL TROUBLE killed us again. In my preview one of the biggest matchups was Jordan Morgan v Mike Scott. But Michigan game out and tried to defend him with a slow, unathletic gump of a dude that cant keep his hands straight up when he plays defense. So he gets whistled almost every time he plays post defense. Of course I am talking about the one and only Smot. He is so frustrating to watch, he was having his best offensive game of the year but then complimented it with one of his worst defensive performances. He racked up 5 fouls in incredible time.. maybe we wanted to play hack-a-Cavalier with just Smot. Since Horford looks weak and useless on the court most of the time, we were stuck with our back up power forward guarding a first team all-ACC-er. This is our 6'3" linebacker of Zak Novak. Mike Scott is the exact type that Novak cannot match up with at all. Scott was able to shoot over him, also able to see the court for WIDE OPEN cross court passes for easy jump shots, rebound over him, and to make matters even worse... Scott was also quicker than Novak. That made for a great outing for Mike Scott (18 points and double digit rebounds). Lets move on to our second key matchup, Tim Hardaway and Harris for UVA. Tim wanted to call on his inner-Smot by picking up 2 first half fouls in 4 minutes. Then Beilein was forced to sit him until halftime (questionable since Hardaway usually finishes with 2 fouls for games). He was held to 5 points because once he came back in he was so far out of any sort of rhythm that most shots were forced. Meanwhile, Harris was able to camp out at the 3 point line and have shooting practice since we wanted to see if a team could shoot better than Duke against us. Our defense proved that they can allow even a bad shooting team to have career games. This is going to be great watching us try to defend Sullinger. So the key matchups for the game were heavily in favor of the Cavaliers.
Why else did we lose? We outfouled Virginia 20-12, and got out scored from the free throw line by 13 from the free throw line (4-7 vs 17-22). Also, we got outrebounded by one of the worst rebounding teams in the country. We outrebounded Duke, Memphis, and UCLA, but get outrebounded by a team that never crashes the offensive glass to stop the fast break. Somehow we found ways to give up offensive rebounds, especially out of the 1-3-1. These two stats might be the main factors for the loss.
I hope this team was still tired from Hawaii, because they are going to have to play better on the road to finish with a winning B1G record. (B1G schedule and team preview will be coming soon).
Also, since this is my blog, I will keep complaining... I have had enough of Stu Douglass playing so much. As a senior I would expect one of the "leaders" to run the offense that he has been in for 4 years better, and to take better shots. How many half court threes can the dude take in one game. Yes, he made one of them, but does that give him the green light to shoot and miss 3 more? I dont think it should. Also, the moron doesn't understand the concept of boxing out anyone on the defensive end. 2 of UVA's offensive boards were from Stu not putting his body into his man (it led to 5 points). He has been struggling with that all year, I just havent mentioned much since they have won or played well until last night. As much as he can make a few shots for us, he needs to improve on the little things to see the floor as much as he does. Everyone knows how much I like Trey Burke so far this year, but last night he had so many bad turnovers. He finally looked like a freshman last night to me, maybe it was the good defense or being on the road. How many times can you try to dribble behind your back when you are inside the 3 point line. People will sag to stop dribble penetration and will be there to steal the ball when you are careless with it. He will need to improve holding onto the ball when B1G time comes around. Also, he struggled to run any sort of offense for most of the game, we were forced to take fade away shots from all over the court. We didnt try to attack the pick and roll much or get Morgan involved in the offense.
I could go on and on. I hope last night was just a bad game from a tired young team (like Duke too losing by 21 to Ohio). But I do not like losing, especially when we dont play well. So hopefully we will see some improvement as the 5-2 cagers head home to take on baby Michigan State... I mean Iowa St on Saturday!
Go Blue!
So we got the standard positives out of the way, I will take a few minutes to analyze what actually happened last night. I am still frustrated and annoyed at how bad a team I thought was a legit top 12 in the country performed last night. We all know they played terribly, and most of us know the main reasons. So there is no reason for me to go on and on.
FOUL TROUBLE killed us again. In my preview one of the biggest matchups was Jordan Morgan v Mike Scott. But Michigan game out and tried to defend him with a slow, unathletic gump of a dude that cant keep his hands straight up when he plays defense. So he gets whistled almost every time he plays post defense. Of course I am talking about the one and only Smot. He is so frustrating to watch, he was having his best offensive game of the year but then complimented it with one of his worst defensive performances. He racked up 5 fouls in incredible time.. maybe we wanted to play hack-a-Cavalier with just Smot. Since Horford looks weak and useless on the court most of the time, we were stuck with our back up power forward guarding a first team all-ACC-er. This is our 6'3" linebacker of Zak Novak. Mike Scott is the exact type that Novak cannot match up with at all. Scott was able to shoot over him, also able to see the court for WIDE OPEN cross court passes for easy jump shots, rebound over him, and to make matters even worse... Scott was also quicker than Novak. That made for a great outing for Mike Scott (18 points and double digit rebounds). Lets move on to our second key matchup, Tim Hardaway and Harris for UVA. Tim wanted to call on his inner-Smot by picking up 2 first half fouls in 4 minutes. Then Beilein was forced to sit him until halftime (questionable since Hardaway usually finishes with 2 fouls for games). He was held to 5 points because once he came back in he was so far out of any sort of rhythm that most shots were forced. Meanwhile, Harris was able to camp out at the 3 point line and have shooting practice since we wanted to see if a team could shoot better than Duke against us. Our defense proved that they can allow even a bad shooting team to have career games. This is going to be great watching us try to defend Sullinger. So the key matchups for the game were heavily in favor of the Cavaliers.
Why else did we lose? We outfouled Virginia 20-12, and got out scored from the free throw line by 13 from the free throw line (4-7 vs 17-22). Also, we got outrebounded by one of the worst rebounding teams in the country. We outrebounded Duke, Memphis, and UCLA, but get outrebounded by a team that never crashes the offensive glass to stop the fast break. Somehow we found ways to give up offensive rebounds, especially out of the 1-3-1. These two stats might be the main factors for the loss.
I hope this team was still tired from Hawaii, because they are going to have to play better on the road to finish with a winning B1G record. (B1G schedule and team preview will be coming soon).
Also, since this is my blog, I will keep complaining... I have had enough of Stu Douglass playing so much. As a senior I would expect one of the "leaders" to run the offense that he has been in for 4 years better, and to take better shots. How many half court threes can the dude take in one game. Yes, he made one of them, but does that give him the green light to shoot and miss 3 more? I dont think it should. Also, the moron doesn't understand the concept of boxing out anyone on the defensive end. 2 of UVA's offensive boards were from Stu not putting his body into his man (it led to 5 points). He has been struggling with that all year, I just havent mentioned much since they have won or played well until last night. As much as he can make a few shots for us, he needs to improve on the little things to see the floor as much as he does. Everyone knows how much I like Trey Burke so far this year, but last night he had so many bad turnovers. He finally looked like a freshman last night to me, maybe it was the good defense or being on the road. How many times can you try to dribble behind your back when you are inside the 3 point line. People will sag to stop dribble penetration and will be there to steal the ball when you are careless with it. He will need to improve holding onto the ball when B1G time comes around. Also, he struggled to run any sort of offense for most of the game, we were forced to take fade away shots from all over the court. We didnt try to attack the pick and roll much or get Morgan involved in the offense.
I could go on and on. I hope last night was just a bad game from a tired young team (like Duke too losing by 21 to Ohio). But I do not like losing, especially when we dont play well. So hopefully we will see some improvement as the 5-2 cagers head home to take on baby Michigan State... I mean Iowa St on Saturday!
Go Blue!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Michigan Ball Game 7 preview: 5-1 Virginia
Michigan basketball takes the court again tonight in their first true road test of the season against an improving 5-1 Virginia. We will get to see how this team looks after 3 games in 3 days in Hawaii, and if they are fully rested now. Also, it will be a good road test for this young team. We will need to win games like this to avoid being on the bubble at the end of the season.
While Virginia is 5-1 so far this season, they have not played a team as talented as Michigan yet. Their lone loss came to an average at best TCU team. Tonight's game will be Virginia's toughest non-conference test, and will be a major inidicator if they get into the NCAA tournament come March.
The Cavaliers are led by 6'9" power forward Mike Scott, he is averaging about 15 points and 10 rebounds a game. He will be a very tough matchup for our frontcourt players, and I expect all 3 regulars in our rotation to have some foul problems while trying to guard Scott. They have a 6'6" sophomore guard in Joe Harris who is a very streaker shooter. When he is making shots, this team can be very tough to defend and stop. Their point guard is 5'11" Jontel Evans. He is not a top tier point guard like Michigan saw in Austin Rivers or Joe Jackson, but he is a more than capable distributor who can get to double digits in points on occassion. Also, Virginia is more concerned about not giving up fast break points, that we should control defensive rebounds. Virginia will almost never crash the hoop to get an offensive board. Look for someone to have close to 10 rebounds by the end of the game. Honestly, Virginia is not extremely overwhelming offensively like teams we have already played this year, but where they win games is on the defensive end of the court.
The Cavalier coach, Tony Bennett, is still relatively new to Charlotte after turning around Washington St. Most people compare his styles to our very own John Beilein. While Virginia will not run a 1-3-1 zone tonight, they will always run a man-zone defense. It might be one of the most complicated and difficult defenses in the nation to gameplan against. Virginia's defense is rated number 9 in the nation currently, and they have held 2 opponents already below 40 points. They will play aggressive man defense on the ball, and the other 4 players will sag 2-5 steps away from their guy. This allows them to pack in the middle of the key, which will limit the amount of backscreens and dribble penetration Michigan will be allowed to do. The big men will front our frontcourt to deny any low post passes, and they will almost never allow someone to get around them on the baseline. It will be a very tough test for us to get to 65-70 points. It will be important to take care of the ball and value every possession. Also, early 3 point shots might appear open for our shooters, but the defender will quickly close the gap. Virginia wants us to launch some quick threes against them, but we cannot fall into this trap. We need to try to run our offense, try to attack with back cuts/ screens to open up good 3 point looks.
Key matchup: There are really two big matchups in tonight's game. The first is Jordam Morgan vs Mike Scott. Morgan had a great Mauii tournament, and he needs to continue that success tonight. Mostly on the defensive end of the floor. If Virginia struggles to get Scott going offensively it could be a long game for the Cavaliers. He is their first and second option. It will be important for Smot and Morgan to stay out of foul trouble and stay on the floor. They need to limit stupid/lazy fouls (Smot), and continually work to keep Scott out of the paint. If our frontcourt continues to struggle with fouls, this game will be a lot closer than it really should be. Also, Morgan needs to make Scott play defense, which will hopefully wear him down so he either commits some bad fouls, affects his offense, or even if he has to sit on the bench. The other key matchup for Big Blue to walk away with the win will be Hardaway vs Harris. Harris is a shooter, and we cannot let him get into a rhythm. Hardaway will have to limit his open looks, while also being more aggressive in the first half offensively. Look for Hardaway to score close to 20 again, but if he gives up 13-18 points to Harris it will not be a success for Tim.
Prediction: Virginia will play us more like a B1G team than anyone has this year, this will be a good road test for this Michigan team. While this win is not as necessary as if they went 1-2 in Hawaii, it is one that will look good at the end of the year and could mean us getting a 5 seed instead of a 6. The key number tonight is 70. If we score 70 we should win the game. If we somehow give up 70 to a below average offense, it will be a long night and we most likely will not come home 6-1. I think our team is playing very well together right now, and they seem focused on something more than just getting into the tourney. I expect us to come out with high intensity and to eventually win this game tonight. 68-59 Michigan.
Go Blue!
While Virginia is 5-1 so far this season, they have not played a team as talented as Michigan yet. Their lone loss came to an average at best TCU team. Tonight's game will be Virginia's toughest non-conference test, and will be a major inidicator if they get into the NCAA tournament come March.
The Cavaliers are led by 6'9" power forward Mike Scott, he is averaging about 15 points and 10 rebounds a game. He will be a very tough matchup for our frontcourt players, and I expect all 3 regulars in our rotation to have some foul problems while trying to guard Scott. They have a 6'6" sophomore guard in Joe Harris who is a very streaker shooter. When he is making shots, this team can be very tough to defend and stop. Their point guard is 5'11" Jontel Evans. He is not a top tier point guard like Michigan saw in Austin Rivers or Joe Jackson, but he is a more than capable distributor who can get to double digits in points on occassion. Also, Virginia is more concerned about not giving up fast break points, that we should control defensive rebounds. Virginia will almost never crash the hoop to get an offensive board. Look for someone to have close to 10 rebounds by the end of the game. Honestly, Virginia is not extremely overwhelming offensively like teams we have already played this year, but where they win games is on the defensive end of the court.
The Cavalier coach, Tony Bennett, is still relatively new to Charlotte after turning around Washington St. Most people compare his styles to our very own John Beilein. While Virginia will not run a 1-3-1 zone tonight, they will always run a man-zone defense. It might be one of the most complicated and difficult defenses in the nation to gameplan against. Virginia's defense is rated number 9 in the nation currently, and they have held 2 opponents already below 40 points. They will play aggressive man defense on the ball, and the other 4 players will sag 2-5 steps away from their guy. This allows them to pack in the middle of the key, which will limit the amount of backscreens and dribble penetration Michigan will be allowed to do. The big men will front our frontcourt to deny any low post passes, and they will almost never allow someone to get around them on the baseline. It will be a very tough test for us to get to 65-70 points. It will be important to take care of the ball and value every possession. Also, early 3 point shots might appear open for our shooters, but the defender will quickly close the gap. Virginia wants us to launch some quick threes against them, but we cannot fall into this trap. We need to try to run our offense, try to attack with back cuts/ screens to open up good 3 point looks.
Key matchup: There are really two big matchups in tonight's game. The first is Jordam Morgan vs Mike Scott. Morgan had a great Mauii tournament, and he needs to continue that success tonight. Mostly on the defensive end of the floor. If Virginia struggles to get Scott going offensively it could be a long game for the Cavaliers. He is their first and second option. It will be important for Smot and Morgan to stay out of foul trouble and stay on the floor. They need to limit stupid/lazy fouls (Smot), and continually work to keep Scott out of the paint. If our frontcourt continues to struggle with fouls, this game will be a lot closer than it really should be. Also, Morgan needs to make Scott play defense, which will hopefully wear him down so he either commits some bad fouls, affects his offense, or even if he has to sit on the bench. The other key matchup for Big Blue to walk away with the win will be Hardaway vs Harris. Harris is a shooter, and we cannot let him get into a rhythm. Hardaway will have to limit his open looks, while also being more aggressive in the first half offensively. Look for Hardaway to score close to 20 again, but if he gives up 13-18 points to Harris it will not be a success for Tim.
Prediction: Virginia will play us more like a B1G team than anyone has this year, this will be a good road test for this Michigan team. While this win is not as necessary as if they went 1-2 in Hawaii, it is one that will look good at the end of the year and could mean us getting a 5 seed instead of a 6. The key number tonight is 70. If we score 70 we should win the game. If we somehow give up 70 to a below average offense, it will be a long night and we most likely will not come home 6-1. I think our team is playing very well together right now, and they seem focused on something more than just getting into the tourney. I expect us to come out with high intensity and to eventually win this game tonight. 68-59 Michigan.
Go Blue!
Football recruiting update & Congratulations
Let's start with the congratulations... David Molk the starting center for the Michigan football team was awarded with the honor of the best offensive lineman in the B1G. He was absolutely outstanding this year, and led a very valuable line. He is a great leader of this football team, and will hopefully find success in the NFL somewhere. Also, he should rack up a few more honors this year, like All-American. It will be tough replacing him next year, especially when our first game is against Saban's Crimson Elephants.
Recruiting updates: Michigan has 3 or 4 available spots for this already amazing recruiting class. The only desperate position is wide receiver. Michigan is in the running for 3 highly rated receivers at this point with the leader being Stephon Diggs (a high school teammate of Blake Countess). He is a 5 star recruit whose interest in Big Blue continues to increase. We were just listed in his top 8, with some jokes of schools in there. It will most likely come down to Michigan vs Oklahoma. Oklahoma has their sights on a different receiver prospect, and if they land him. Diggs should commit to Michigan. The other 2 possibilities are no slouches either, both picking up 4 star praise. It will be great to land at least one of these guys (2 if we take 4 more recruits).
Brionte Dunn got the chance to talk to his new coach (The Whiner) yesterday, and from all of the reports it looks like he doesnt want to play in a spread system. Urban never had a 1,000 yard rusher in his time at Florida and Brionte has dreams to be an NFL running back. He would be the featured back in our system, most likely as a redshirt sophomore while seeing time as a redshirt freshman. His cousin (Dymonte Thomas a 2013 very highly rated recruit for U-M) has been quoted as saying Brionte wants to play in a pro style offense. A lot of the current recruits have been contacting Brionte to get him to commit to Michigan. It looks like this could be a very good possibility in the near future since he was in attendance for the Nebraska and Ohio games. Dunn is one of the top rated running backs, with a 5 star rated on most sites. This would be a huge recruit.
There are multiple offensive lineman who are still interested in Michigan, and all of them are very highly rated as well. Joshua Garnett just listed us in his final two schools, and he should be deciding soon. There is also the 5 star Jordan Diamond who was very interested in Michigan, but recently has cooled on becoming a Wolverine. Apparently his mom did not like Michigan or some stupid rumor like that. It looks like he will most likely go to the SEC. Finall, there is Zach Banner another top OL prospect who has kept his recruiting pretty low key so far. He seems to like Michigan a lot, but it looks like he could be staying closer to home in the Pac12 (USC or Stanford). At one point it looked like Michigan could land all 3 of these guys, but at this point 1 would be a great addition for the 2012 class.
Defensive Back: Yuri Wright has shown an increase in interest for the past few months now. He is listed as a 5 star recruit who was a Michigan fan growing up. It looks like he is between Rutgers and Michigan. I am not sure why a 5 star defensive back would want to go to Rutgers, but I am not the high school senior. He is planning on committing at the Army All-American game in January, so we have a while to wait. With Michigan in more of the national media recently with their good season and great finish and potential BCS bowl, this cant be a bad thing. I am assuming if we still have an open slot in January, Yuri Wright will be coming to Ann Arbor (maybe I am just hoping too).
Michigan is in a great position to get 3 more 5 star recruits, and 1 high 4 star. If this actually happens, look for Michigan to have the highest rated recruting class in the nation because of depth and quality.
Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine!
Recruiting updates: Michigan has 3 or 4 available spots for this already amazing recruiting class. The only desperate position is wide receiver. Michigan is in the running for 3 highly rated receivers at this point with the leader being Stephon Diggs (a high school teammate of Blake Countess). He is a 5 star recruit whose interest in Big Blue continues to increase. We were just listed in his top 8, with some jokes of schools in there. It will most likely come down to Michigan vs Oklahoma. Oklahoma has their sights on a different receiver prospect, and if they land him. Diggs should commit to Michigan. The other 2 possibilities are no slouches either, both picking up 4 star praise. It will be great to land at least one of these guys (2 if we take 4 more recruits).
Brionte Dunn got the chance to talk to his new coach (The Whiner) yesterday, and from all of the reports it looks like he doesnt want to play in a spread system. Urban never had a 1,000 yard rusher in his time at Florida and Brionte has dreams to be an NFL running back. He would be the featured back in our system, most likely as a redshirt sophomore while seeing time as a redshirt freshman. His cousin (Dymonte Thomas a 2013 very highly rated recruit for U-M) has been quoted as saying Brionte wants to play in a pro style offense. A lot of the current recruits have been contacting Brionte to get him to commit to Michigan. It looks like this could be a very good possibility in the near future since he was in attendance for the Nebraska and Ohio games. Dunn is one of the top rated running backs, with a 5 star rated on most sites. This would be a huge recruit.
There are multiple offensive lineman who are still interested in Michigan, and all of them are very highly rated as well. Joshua Garnett just listed us in his final two schools, and he should be deciding soon. There is also the 5 star Jordan Diamond who was very interested in Michigan, but recently has cooled on becoming a Wolverine. Apparently his mom did not like Michigan or some stupid rumor like that. It looks like he will most likely go to the SEC. Finall, there is Zach Banner another top OL prospect who has kept his recruiting pretty low key so far. He seems to like Michigan a lot, but it looks like he could be staying closer to home in the Pac12 (USC or Stanford). At one point it looked like Michigan could land all 3 of these guys, but at this point 1 would be a great addition for the 2012 class.
Defensive Back: Yuri Wright has shown an increase in interest for the past few months now. He is listed as a 5 star recruit who was a Michigan fan growing up. It looks like he is between Rutgers and Michigan. I am not sure why a 5 star defensive back would want to go to Rutgers, but I am not the high school senior. He is planning on committing at the Army All-American game in January, so we have a while to wait. With Michigan in more of the national media recently with their good season and great finish and potential BCS bowl, this cant be a bad thing. I am assuming if we still have an open slot in January, Yuri Wright will be coming to Ann Arbor (maybe I am just hoping too).
Michigan is in a great position to get 3 more 5 star recruits, and 1 high 4 star. If this actually happens, look for Michigan to have the highest rated recruting class in the nation because of depth and quality.
Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine!
Monday, November 28, 2011
BCS = slight panic attack
Many of you received texts from me in panic mode about a potential two loss Michigan team not getting a chance to play in a BCS game because of some crazy rules and rankings. I was also shocked that we dropped to number 16 in the polls.
As I looked at last weeks rankings more, I realized that us dropping to 16 was to be expected... since people enjoyed the Wisconsin beat down of then 19 ranked Penn St. That win gives them more of a boost than our win vs Ohio. Actually I think the Penn St game was looked at by the BCS as their best win of the year.
It still sucks going into this last weekend needing teams in front of us to lose for us to have a chance at the top 14. If we do not make the top 14, the choices for BCS games gets pretty thin. Assuming every higher rated team wins this next week (except Sparty because I cannot imagine a world where Sparty green fills half of the Rose Bowl) and we are still number 15. This leaves Bama, Stanford, Boise St and Kansas St as realistic at large possibilities. If we are number 15, a 3 loss Oklahoma and MSU would still be ahead of us... and who would want them in a marquee game? Bama is a lock for the championship game, Stanford should be going to the Fiesta, and the last open slot in the Sugar bowl is left for either Boise or Kansas St... whew they are real attractive for ratings. A Houston v Boise BCS game. While appealing to some, winning this game does not prove anything about that team. People want/ need to see a non-AQ team play against a big named school. That leaves Kansas St with their nursing home resident head coach. Honestly, I think most people would rather see Boise play Houston than Kansas St.
After calming down some, and looking at the numbers and likely scenarios. LSU should roll over Georgia to win the SEC. Oregon might score 100 vs a terrible UCLA team in the Pac12 final. Ok St should beat Oklahoma, and with them having this past weekend off. This game will be their first since their only loss of the year, and they will need this win to be the most impressive win of their season. If able, look for Ok St to keep passing even late in th game to make the final as lopsided as possible. It is their only hope of making the championship game. VaTech plays a completely different Clemson team than the one they lost to earlier in the season. I would be surprised if it is even close the second time around. Houston plays Souther Miss, and they should hold serve for a 13-0 season. Boise plays UNLV which shouldnt even be close. Kansas St plays Iowa St who just got smoked by Oklahoma. This game could be interesting, and if Kansas St loses, it guarantees us a BCS game... but at this point it looks unlikely. Then there is the B1G final. I predicted Wisconsin to rip apart Sparty the first time they played, and it was going well for the first few drives,then Bielema tried to outcoach himself again (he might be the worst big game coach... just look at how they played against TCU). I dont see it happening again. Wisconsin is the better team period. If they both play their best game, MSU shouldnt be within 14 points of the Badgers. I think Bielema will want revenge, and he still wants Monte Ball to catch Barry's old touchdown record of 39. Look for the Badgers to run up the score this time around and win by 20+. If this does happen, then a blowout loss for either of the B1G teams should be enough to drop them below our Fighting Hoke's.
The BCS game predictions look the same as last weekend, with us playing Houston January 3rd in the Sugar Bowl. Oregon v Wisconsin in the greatest bowl ever. Bama v LSU 2.0. Ok. St v Stanford in the guacamole bowl. and the battle of the worst conferences Va Tech v WVU in the Orange. If these are the matchups 4 of the bowls look to be really exciting, with 1 unwatchable game. Which should be good for the fans if they do pair up the ACC vs the Big LEast, instead of them playing 2 teams that win by 100 points combined. Should be exciting!
As I looked at last weeks rankings more, I realized that us dropping to 16 was to be expected... since people enjoyed the Wisconsin beat down of then 19 ranked Penn St. That win gives them more of a boost than our win vs Ohio. Actually I think the Penn St game was looked at by the BCS as their best win of the year.
It still sucks going into this last weekend needing teams in front of us to lose for us to have a chance at the top 14. If we do not make the top 14, the choices for BCS games gets pretty thin. Assuming every higher rated team wins this next week (except Sparty because I cannot imagine a world where Sparty green fills half of the Rose Bowl) and we are still number 15. This leaves Bama, Stanford, Boise St and Kansas St as realistic at large possibilities. If we are number 15, a 3 loss Oklahoma and MSU would still be ahead of us... and who would want them in a marquee game? Bama is a lock for the championship game, Stanford should be going to the Fiesta, and the last open slot in the Sugar bowl is left for either Boise or Kansas St... whew they are real attractive for ratings. A Houston v Boise BCS game. While appealing to some, winning this game does not prove anything about that team. People want/ need to see a non-AQ team play against a big named school. That leaves Kansas St with their nursing home resident head coach. Honestly, I think most people would rather see Boise play Houston than Kansas St.
After calming down some, and looking at the numbers and likely scenarios. LSU should roll over Georgia to win the SEC. Oregon might score 100 vs a terrible UCLA team in the Pac12 final. Ok St should beat Oklahoma, and with them having this past weekend off. This game will be their first since their only loss of the year, and they will need this win to be the most impressive win of their season. If able, look for Ok St to keep passing even late in th game to make the final as lopsided as possible. It is their only hope of making the championship game. VaTech plays a completely different Clemson team than the one they lost to earlier in the season. I would be surprised if it is even close the second time around. Houston plays Souther Miss, and they should hold serve for a 13-0 season. Boise plays UNLV which shouldnt even be close. Kansas St plays Iowa St who just got smoked by Oklahoma. This game could be interesting, and if Kansas St loses, it guarantees us a BCS game... but at this point it looks unlikely. Then there is the B1G final. I predicted Wisconsin to rip apart Sparty the first time they played, and it was going well for the first few drives,then Bielema tried to outcoach himself again (he might be the worst big game coach... just look at how they played against TCU). I dont see it happening again. Wisconsin is the better team period. If they both play their best game, MSU shouldnt be within 14 points of the Badgers. I think Bielema will want revenge, and he still wants Monte Ball to catch Barry's old touchdown record of 39. Look for the Badgers to run up the score this time around and win by 20+. If this does happen, then a blowout loss for either of the B1G teams should be enough to drop them below our Fighting Hoke's.
The BCS game predictions look the same as last weekend, with us playing Houston January 3rd in the Sugar Bowl. Oregon v Wisconsin in the greatest bowl ever. Bama v LSU 2.0. Ok. St v Stanford in the guacamole bowl. and the battle of the worst conferences Va Tech v WVU in the Orange. If these are the matchups 4 of the bowls look to be really exciting, with 1 unwatchable game. Which should be good for the fans if they do pair up the ACC vs the Big LEast, instead of them playing 2 teams that win by 100 points combined. Should be exciting!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
10-2 and WE BEAT OHIO!!!!!!!!
I want to scream and jump and scream some more! After a too-close of a game, we finally beat Ohio. Yes, you read that right, Michigan beat Ohio. First time since 2003. Can we start our own streak vs the stinky nuts now? Before I get to the analysis, I want to say congrats to all of the seniors on the team. The have perservered through more than most college football players, and I am so impressed with them this whole season. This win was for them!
Now, I need to be a little critical here. How the eff do we let an inept offense score 34 against us? They only scored more than that in 1 game this season (against Akron, who Western beat 68-19 yesterday). Our defense looked terrible today, in almost all phases. The DLine was not as productive as I thought they would be against a lesser offensive line, the linebackers looked non-existent for most of the day, and the secondary... umm... what happened since the last two weeks?
I figured we would use Desmond Morgan as QB spy for most of the game, and I thought he would struggle. I was not expecting as much difficulty. Morgan consistently found someone to be blocked by, and to let Miller past him to the first down marker. Ohio ran the ball on most 3rd and mediums (4-7 yards) with QB draws and we didnt recognize it or make adjustments. The other linebackers were invisible most of the game, didnt "feel" any of them.
The defensive line made some big plays throughout the game, but overall they were not as productive as I was expecting. Mike Martin was able to get off of some double teams to make some big stops in the first half, but Ohio seemed to make some changes to control him in the second. RVB looked great at times as well. Craig Roh looked average, but got burned on some edge contain throughout the game and allowed Miller to have some big gains. He did draw the holding in the end zone, but that was the extent of his success today.
The secondary.... where do I even start? They looked like we traded our coverage with last year's. Countess looked like a freshman and got burned over and over on the double move routes. Woolfolk looked so bad that he got benched at halftime on senior day. His replacement, Gordon, picked up where Troy left off. And JT Floyd looked like same old cornerback from last year. How does a receiver get 5 yards open down the sideline on a hail mary play when we are up by 6 with 1 minute left? Why do you bite on the out route? How do you let someone behind you? Where was the safety coverage? Ohio had 2 of their biggest plays of the season in the first half, and it was set up by terrible coverage. Ugh, so painful to watch.
Ohio had been averaging less than 23 points a game, and they had 24 at the half. Our defense looked so bad for most of the game. I thought the game was over once got the 10 point lead 37-27, but our defense had other plans... lets give up a touchdown in about a minute of real time.
Ugh, I need to talk about something positive... Denard might have had his best game of is career today, definitely best B1G game. He played at near perfection for most of the game. He ran hard and made decisive cuts, threw some great passes and were helped out by some good catches and coverage. Minus the one standard turnover, he looked incredible. Fitz also looked great running the ball. He ran hard and fell forward almost every carry. Our ability to run the ball was what won the game for us. The offensive line also played very well. Omameh had some great guard pulls to spring Denard for some first down runs. Lewan pancaked his guy quite often, and Molk just destroyed some fools. The receivers also looked good too, Odoms and Hemingway had great final games in the Big House. It might have been one of our best offensive performances of the year, and if we didnt have it we wouldnt have beat the lowly stinky nuts.
Michigan just couldnt pull away at any point of the game to seal the victory and run away with the game... up 16-7 coming off of the safety we let Ohio back into the game with some terrible defense. Up 30-24 we cant get a first down on 3rd and 3 (after a terrible play call to throw a 20 yard down and out pass, when we needed 3), Hagerup didnt want to win by too much, so he decided to drop the snap. Then up by 10 again, 37-27 we couldnt even start thinking about stopping any sort of offense.
And the lame duck coach must have had some sort of deal worked out with the refs, since I have no idea how you can overturn Fitz's lone td run at the end of the game. One camera showed him over the line, and the other view showed him short. Both cameras were looking at the goaline on an angle, so how do you over turn that call? No idea. Then the next play, since when is it ok that there is 2 penalties applied on one play. A hold will negate anything that happens after the penalty. A late hit in the end zone after a touchdown, results in 15 yards applied on the kick off not another 15 yards added to the hold. I am still confused about the call, because I have never seen that happen before. I want to hear the reasoning for it, but it almost moved us from inches away to out of field goal position to let Ohio tie with a field goal. Also, on the play that Hoke challenged on the 3rd down, Posey pushed him out of bounds a clear yard before the marker yet the play was not overturned because of not enough video evidence. So I am glad that the refs werent a reason to use for a loss today like they were against Iowa.
But we won, Ding Dong the streak is dead, and so is Fickell, and we are going BCS-bowling!
Go Blue!!!!
Now, I need to be a little critical here. How the eff do we let an inept offense score 34 against us? They only scored more than that in 1 game this season (against Akron, who Western beat 68-19 yesterday). Our defense looked terrible today, in almost all phases. The DLine was not as productive as I thought they would be against a lesser offensive line, the linebackers looked non-existent for most of the day, and the secondary... umm... what happened since the last two weeks?
I figured we would use Desmond Morgan as QB spy for most of the game, and I thought he would struggle. I was not expecting as much difficulty. Morgan consistently found someone to be blocked by, and to let Miller past him to the first down marker. Ohio ran the ball on most 3rd and mediums (4-7 yards) with QB draws and we didnt recognize it or make adjustments. The other linebackers were invisible most of the game, didnt "feel" any of them.
The defensive line made some big plays throughout the game, but overall they were not as productive as I was expecting. Mike Martin was able to get off of some double teams to make some big stops in the first half, but Ohio seemed to make some changes to control him in the second. RVB looked great at times as well. Craig Roh looked average, but got burned on some edge contain throughout the game and allowed Miller to have some big gains. He did draw the holding in the end zone, but that was the extent of his success today.
The secondary.... where do I even start? They looked like we traded our coverage with last year's. Countess looked like a freshman and got burned over and over on the double move routes. Woolfolk looked so bad that he got benched at halftime on senior day. His replacement, Gordon, picked up where Troy left off. And JT Floyd looked like same old cornerback from last year. How does a receiver get 5 yards open down the sideline on a hail mary play when we are up by 6 with 1 minute left? Why do you bite on the out route? How do you let someone behind you? Where was the safety coverage? Ohio had 2 of their biggest plays of the season in the first half, and it was set up by terrible coverage. Ugh, so painful to watch.
Ohio had been averaging less than 23 points a game, and they had 24 at the half. Our defense looked so bad for most of the game. I thought the game was over once got the 10 point lead 37-27, but our defense had other plans... lets give up a touchdown in about a minute of real time.
Ugh, I need to talk about something positive... Denard might have had his best game of is career today, definitely best B1G game. He played at near perfection for most of the game. He ran hard and made decisive cuts, threw some great passes and were helped out by some good catches and coverage. Minus the one standard turnover, he looked incredible. Fitz also looked great running the ball. He ran hard and fell forward almost every carry. Our ability to run the ball was what won the game for us. The offensive line also played very well. Omameh had some great guard pulls to spring Denard for some first down runs. Lewan pancaked his guy quite often, and Molk just destroyed some fools. The receivers also looked good too, Odoms and Hemingway had great final games in the Big House. It might have been one of our best offensive performances of the year, and if we didnt have it we wouldnt have beat the lowly stinky nuts.
Michigan just couldnt pull away at any point of the game to seal the victory and run away with the game... up 16-7 coming off of the safety we let Ohio back into the game with some terrible defense. Up 30-24 we cant get a first down on 3rd and 3 (after a terrible play call to throw a 20 yard down and out pass, when we needed 3), Hagerup didnt want to win by too much, so he decided to drop the snap. Then up by 10 again, 37-27 we couldnt even start thinking about stopping any sort of offense.
And the lame duck coach must have had some sort of deal worked out with the refs, since I have no idea how you can overturn Fitz's lone td run at the end of the game. One camera showed him over the line, and the other view showed him short. Both cameras were looking at the goaline on an angle, so how do you over turn that call? No idea. Then the next play, since when is it ok that there is 2 penalties applied on one play. A hold will negate anything that happens after the penalty. A late hit in the end zone after a touchdown, results in 15 yards applied on the kick off not another 15 yards added to the hold. I am still confused about the call, because I have never seen that happen before. I want to hear the reasoning for it, but it almost moved us from inches away to out of field goal position to let Ohio tie with a field goal. Also, on the play that Hoke challenged on the 3rd down, Posey pushed him out of bounds a clear yard before the marker yet the play was not overturned because of not enough video evidence. So I am glad that the refs werent a reason to use for a loss today like they were against Iowa.
But we won, Ding Dong the streak is dead, and so is Fickell, and we are going BCS-bowling!
Go Blue!!!!
The Game: Preview
After my rant about how much the Lions upset me yesterday, I thought I would move on to something that has been making me excited since the minute the scoreboard read zeroes against the Corn people... The 2011 version of The Game!
Lets take a look at tomorrow's matchup. Ohio has actually been pretty bad at times this year (losing to Miami, Purdue, blowing a big lead at Nebraska), but have looked pretty good at times as well (beating Wisconsin, first half at Nebraska). One thing is known: Ohio wants to run the football. They will do whatever they can to keep Braxton Miller out of predictable throwing downs.
Ohio rush offense vs Big Blue rush defense: Like I said earlier, Ohio wants to run the ball. If they are having success look for them to only throw a handful of times (In the win against the fighting Zookers they only threw 3 times). They will run the ball with Dan "Boom" Herron between the tackles, and use Jordan Hall as their homerun hitter to get to the outside or be their featured back to catch passes out of the backfield. But Braxton Miller is their leading rusher so far this year. He makes some good reads and runs the zone option pretty well for a true freshman. He has rushed for over 100 yards on multiple games this season. He has the ability to make many people miss in the backfield and make something out of nothing. He will be rushed most of the day by Mike Martin, RVB, and Jake Ryan. The way our defensive line has been playing lately, I will be surprised if the Bucknuts have much success running the ball against this scary DLine. If they do, look for the game to be closer and low scoring. The key here will be how much pressure our front 4 can get on Miller with out rushing a linebacker. Also, we need to keep a linebacker in there to spy on Miller. It will be a tough assignment for Desmond Morgan if he is the spy. Advantage: Push
Ohio pass offense vs the once swiss cheese secondary: Braxton Miller is not a high quality passer. He will be in time, but as a freshman he struggles. His arm strength is a little below average, and his accuracy needs improvement. One thing he does do very well though is scramble in the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield on his receivers. Our cornerbacks will have to cover for a lot longer than they are used to. Miller might be able to find some open receivers if Martin and company cannot wrap up well tomorrow. Devier Posey is their only homerun threat, but he will be playing in only his second game. So the timing with Miller might be off still. If Braxton Miller is beating us with his arm tomorrow, our luck in The Game might not be changing this year. Advantage: Michigan. I am looking for the seniors on defense to have huge games, Martin and RVB have been unblockable lately. Look for Michigan to get 3-4 sacks, and 2-3 pass breakups.
Michigan rush offense vs Ohio's rush defense: Our offensive line continues to improve with the new system, this is a scary thing for Ohio's front 4. The Bucknut's defense is the strength of the team, it is basically first to 20 points (something went wrong if Ohio scores 30). Penn St rushed for 239 yards last week with a 6.1 average. Penn St cannot throw the ball, so Ohio loaded the box with 8 and still got smoked. Look for Big Blue to do the same thing tomorrow. Denard only needs 50+ yards to get to 1,000 for the season, and Fitz can get there with a big game as well. Look for Denard to have similar success as last week (80 yards and a few scores), and Fitz to continue to roll with another 100 yard game. Advantage: Michigan
Michigan pass offense vs Ohio's pass defense. The only thing that worries me about this matchup is Denard's knack for throwing at least one interception a game. If he is not looking good tomorrow, he could have another 3 INT game. I think our receivers can get some separation from the Ohio secondary, but Denard doesnt care when he throws picks, he will throw a receiver into coverage (instead of throw him open). It is hard for me to think that Denard will have a clean sheet gme, so watch for the one or two terrible throws. If Ohio can capitalize on these mistakes, then they can stay in the game. Advantage: Ohio because of Denard's accuracy issues. If Denard doesn't throw an interception, then look for Michigan to roll the Bucknuts.
Special Teams: Hah, please... what the heck are these? Hopefully the game does not come down to a field goal because they have a kicker and we have a guy that likes to think he is a kicker. He has been a lot better than last year, but he hasnt had to make a pressure kick this year. Hagerup has not been as good as he was last year, but has still been above average. Kick return game is a big advantage toward Ohio, so we will need to keep the returns within the 30 to keep the field position advantage. Advantge: Ohio (but look for us to score TD's, to not make this a factor)
Coaching: Just wanted to throw this in there to get a chuckle. Brady "Hope for the future" Hoke vs Lame Duck Fickell. Hoke will coach circles around this moron, so that will be enjoyable. Look for Ohio to parade Urban Whiner out there after the game. Maybe he will even be on the sidelines to try to even out the mismatch.
Prediction: I can't believe I am even doing this in Hoke's first year, but Big Blue sends the seniors out on a high note. Meeechigan 31 Ohio 10. Go Blue, beat the stinky nuts.
Lets take a look at tomorrow's matchup. Ohio has actually been pretty bad at times this year (losing to Miami, Purdue, blowing a big lead at Nebraska), but have looked pretty good at times as well (beating Wisconsin, first half at Nebraska). One thing is known: Ohio wants to run the football. They will do whatever they can to keep Braxton Miller out of predictable throwing downs.
Ohio rush offense vs Big Blue rush defense: Like I said earlier, Ohio wants to run the ball. If they are having success look for them to only throw a handful of times (In the win against the fighting Zookers they only threw 3 times). They will run the ball with Dan "Boom" Herron between the tackles, and use Jordan Hall as their homerun hitter to get to the outside or be their featured back to catch passes out of the backfield. But Braxton Miller is their leading rusher so far this year. He makes some good reads and runs the zone option pretty well for a true freshman. He has rushed for over 100 yards on multiple games this season. He has the ability to make many people miss in the backfield and make something out of nothing. He will be rushed most of the day by Mike Martin, RVB, and Jake Ryan. The way our defensive line has been playing lately, I will be surprised if the Bucknuts have much success running the ball against this scary DLine. If they do, look for the game to be closer and low scoring. The key here will be how much pressure our front 4 can get on Miller with out rushing a linebacker. Also, we need to keep a linebacker in there to spy on Miller. It will be a tough assignment for Desmond Morgan if he is the spy. Advantage: Push
Ohio pass offense vs the once swiss cheese secondary: Braxton Miller is not a high quality passer. He will be in time, but as a freshman he struggles. His arm strength is a little below average, and his accuracy needs improvement. One thing he does do very well though is scramble in the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield on his receivers. Our cornerbacks will have to cover for a lot longer than they are used to. Miller might be able to find some open receivers if Martin and company cannot wrap up well tomorrow. Devier Posey is their only homerun threat, but he will be playing in only his second game. So the timing with Miller might be off still. If Braxton Miller is beating us with his arm tomorrow, our luck in The Game might not be changing this year. Advantage: Michigan. I am looking for the seniors on defense to have huge games, Martin and RVB have been unblockable lately. Look for Michigan to get 3-4 sacks, and 2-3 pass breakups.
Michigan rush offense vs Ohio's rush defense: Our offensive line continues to improve with the new system, this is a scary thing for Ohio's front 4. The Bucknut's defense is the strength of the team, it is basically first to 20 points (something went wrong if Ohio scores 30). Penn St rushed for 239 yards last week with a 6.1 average. Penn St cannot throw the ball, so Ohio loaded the box with 8 and still got smoked. Look for Big Blue to do the same thing tomorrow. Denard only needs 50+ yards to get to 1,000 for the season, and Fitz can get there with a big game as well. Look for Denard to have similar success as last week (80 yards and a few scores), and Fitz to continue to roll with another 100 yard game. Advantage: Michigan
Michigan pass offense vs Ohio's pass defense. The only thing that worries me about this matchup is Denard's knack for throwing at least one interception a game. If he is not looking good tomorrow, he could have another 3 INT game. I think our receivers can get some separation from the Ohio secondary, but Denard doesnt care when he throws picks, he will throw a receiver into coverage (instead of throw him open). It is hard for me to think that Denard will have a clean sheet gme, so watch for the one or two terrible throws. If Ohio can capitalize on these mistakes, then they can stay in the game. Advantage: Ohio because of Denard's accuracy issues. If Denard doesn't throw an interception, then look for Michigan to roll the Bucknuts.
Special Teams: Hah, please... what the heck are these? Hopefully the game does not come down to a field goal because they have a kicker and we have a guy that likes to think he is a kicker. He has been a lot better than last year, but he hasnt had to make a pressure kick this year. Hagerup has not been as good as he was last year, but has still been above average. Kick return game is a big advantage toward Ohio, so we will need to keep the returns within the 30 to keep the field position advantage. Advantge: Ohio (but look for us to score TD's, to not make this a factor)
Coaching: Just wanted to throw this in there to get a chuckle. Brady "Hope for the future" Hoke vs Lame Duck Fickell. Hoke will coach circles around this moron, so that will be enjoyable. Look for Ohio to parade Urban Whiner out there after the game. Maybe he will even be on the sidelines to try to even out the mismatch.
Prediction: I can't believe I am even doing this in Hoke's first year, but Big Blue sends the seniors out on a high note. Meeechigan 31 Ohio 10. Go Blue, beat the stinky nuts.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Green Bay game recap: WTF?!?
The final score was not reflective of how close the game really was yesterday. The Lions only ended up losing 27-15, but the last 7 came in garbage time.
The Lions held the Pack to 86 total yards in the first half (Rodgers only 65), and a bad turnover by Stafford and pass interference in th end zone set up the lone score. The Lions defense could not be playing better, only giving up 7 points to the best offense in the NFL. The offense had been letting them down. We were outgaining the cheeseheads 218 to 86, but had 77 yards of penalties (mostly on the offensive line). Stafford threw one bad interception, Hanson missed his second field goal, and one of our holding penalties took us out of field goal range on a separate drive.
Then the 2nd half started (The Lions are a 2nd half team right? Most people were hopeful). Green Bay started with the ball and marched down our throats, looking like the team that is poised for back to back Super Bowl trophies. But our redzone defense held them in check on 3rd and goal from the 3. It will only be 10-0, in a game that should be 10-6. Then, like you, I saw the little yellow block on the scoreboard indicating a penalty. I immediately thought it was on us, and probably a roughing the passer on Suh. But then I was OUTRAGED at what I saw on replay. Our very own Ndamukong Suh stuffing the center's head into the turf, then stomping on his bicep as he tried to get up. The ref immediately ejected Suh from the game, and the penalty gave the Pack a new set of downs inside the 2. The game was over then. Yes, Stafford looked terrible again with 2 more interceptions, yes our secondary looked like swiss cheese because of injuries, yes our 15th running back of the season was also injured... this ended any hopes of the Lions coming back. It broke any momentum we had from the 3rd down stop, and swung the game to Green Bay. I haven't been vulgar in my posts yet, but I am sorry... what the hell was Suh thinking at that moment? I mean come on, you can't stuff the dude's head into the ground then curb stomp his bicep and think I am just trying to get up. If you know me, you know that Suh might be my favorite Lion of all time... and he is in his second year. You know that I will live with his angry demeanor, his violent hits, a stupid penalty here and there, the fines, the view of dirtiest player in the game, because he is "changing the view of the Detroit Lions as a team you cannot take lightly" But I cannot excuse yesterday. It was a Sparty like infraction, one where I cannot overlook or reason why he did it. I have rarely seen a dumber play. How stupid can you be?!? We stopped them on 3rd and goal, we were going to hold the Pack to a field goal. We are still in the game. I will not make any excuses for this moronic move, and I now fully agree that Suh is indeed the dirtiest (and dumbest) player in the NFL. I cannot root for someone who does that crap. It is criminal. The other thing that is so frustrating, is even though he was ejected from yesterday and screwed us over yesterday on a national stage, there is NO WAY that he sees the field this next week against the Saints, also on national tv. The Monday night game was great for Detroit, and the Lion's image. Yesterday it took a huge step backwards. I usually don't care this much about an NFL game, but I am still pissed at what I saw yesterday. It was complete garbage, the same reason I was so pissed after watching Michigan fall victim to the felony acts of Sparty. Suh needs to sit in front of his teammates and apologize for his actions, and apologize for not being able to finish the game, and for not playing next week to help this team make the playoff push. I could go on and on about that crap, but I need to continue.
Outside of that monstrosity, the Lions might have had the worst luck possibly yesterday. Already playing their 6th safety of the year, Delmas gets injured in the first half. I have not heard any news on the severity of it. Also, our best corner back of the group of average defensive backs goes out with a knee injury. We had to settly with Rasheed Davis (a receiver) coming in to try to cover reg Jennings (only one of the best WR's in the league). Then the often injured Kevin Smith re-injures his knee early in the game when he was having a lot of success catching and running the ball out of the backfield. I think in the 2nd half some lucky fans even got to play defensive back for us. What a joke. On the long touchdown pass late in the game, our cornerback looked like JT Floyd of last year (not even in the same zip code on a standard 1 move route). If the Lions are going to have a chance to have a winning season they are going to need to get these guys back on the field quickly.
The Lion's offense looked great in the first half when Stafford was able to check down to Kevin Smith, but after the Packers made adjustments at half time, he looked rattled and tried forcing a lot of throws. We need Kevin Smith back asap!
Also, I know Clay Matthews is incredible. But he just overpowered anyone who tried to block him (except Morris the few times he actually picked up the blitz). He lined up opposite of Cherilus and just blew him up. Cherilus only outweighs him by 75 pounds. Useless. The Manimal just blew around Pettigrew when he tried his luck. Backus was called for a hold. It was the type of destruction you want to see from our defensive line.
All in all it was a terrible game to be a Lions fan, and I hope that The Game will be more enjoyable.
Only 20 hours! Go Blue!
The Lions held the Pack to 86 total yards in the first half (Rodgers only 65), and a bad turnover by Stafford and pass interference in th end zone set up the lone score. The Lions defense could not be playing better, only giving up 7 points to the best offense in the NFL. The offense had been letting them down. We were outgaining the cheeseheads 218 to 86, but had 77 yards of penalties (mostly on the offensive line). Stafford threw one bad interception, Hanson missed his second field goal, and one of our holding penalties took us out of field goal range on a separate drive.
Then the 2nd half started (The Lions are a 2nd half team right? Most people were hopeful). Green Bay started with the ball and marched down our throats, looking like the team that is poised for back to back Super Bowl trophies. But our redzone defense held them in check on 3rd and goal from the 3. It will only be 10-0, in a game that should be 10-6. Then, like you, I saw the little yellow block on the scoreboard indicating a penalty. I immediately thought it was on us, and probably a roughing the passer on Suh. But then I was OUTRAGED at what I saw on replay. Our very own Ndamukong Suh stuffing the center's head into the turf, then stomping on his bicep as he tried to get up. The ref immediately ejected Suh from the game, and the penalty gave the Pack a new set of downs inside the 2. The game was over then. Yes, Stafford looked terrible again with 2 more interceptions, yes our secondary looked like swiss cheese because of injuries, yes our 15th running back of the season was also injured... this ended any hopes of the Lions coming back. It broke any momentum we had from the 3rd down stop, and swung the game to Green Bay. I haven't been vulgar in my posts yet, but I am sorry... what the hell was Suh thinking at that moment? I mean come on, you can't stuff the dude's head into the ground then curb stomp his bicep and think I am just trying to get up. If you know me, you know that Suh might be my favorite Lion of all time... and he is in his second year. You know that I will live with his angry demeanor, his violent hits, a stupid penalty here and there, the fines, the view of dirtiest player in the game, because he is "changing the view of the Detroit Lions as a team you cannot take lightly" But I cannot excuse yesterday. It was a Sparty like infraction, one where I cannot overlook or reason why he did it. I have rarely seen a dumber play. How stupid can you be?!? We stopped them on 3rd and goal, we were going to hold the Pack to a field goal. We are still in the game. I will not make any excuses for this moronic move, and I now fully agree that Suh is indeed the dirtiest (and dumbest) player in the NFL. I cannot root for someone who does that crap. It is criminal. The other thing that is so frustrating, is even though he was ejected from yesterday and screwed us over yesterday on a national stage, there is NO WAY that he sees the field this next week against the Saints, also on national tv. The Monday night game was great for Detroit, and the Lion's image. Yesterday it took a huge step backwards. I usually don't care this much about an NFL game, but I am still pissed at what I saw yesterday. It was complete garbage, the same reason I was so pissed after watching Michigan fall victim to the felony acts of Sparty. Suh needs to sit in front of his teammates and apologize for his actions, and apologize for not being able to finish the game, and for not playing next week to help this team make the playoff push. I could go on and on about that crap, but I need to continue.
Outside of that monstrosity, the Lions might have had the worst luck possibly yesterday. Already playing their 6th safety of the year, Delmas gets injured in the first half. I have not heard any news on the severity of it. Also, our best corner back of the group of average defensive backs goes out with a knee injury. We had to settly with Rasheed Davis (a receiver) coming in to try to cover reg Jennings (only one of the best WR's in the league). Then the often injured Kevin Smith re-injures his knee early in the game when he was having a lot of success catching and running the ball out of the backfield. I think in the 2nd half some lucky fans even got to play defensive back for us. What a joke. On the long touchdown pass late in the game, our cornerback looked like JT Floyd of last year (not even in the same zip code on a standard 1 move route). If the Lions are going to have a chance to have a winning season they are going to need to get these guys back on the field quickly.
The Lion's offense looked great in the first half when Stafford was able to check down to Kevin Smith, but after the Packers made adjustments at half time, he looked rattled and tried forcing a lot of throws. We need Kevin Smith back asap!
Also, I know Clay Matthews is incredible. But he just overpowered anyone who tried to block him (except Morris the few times he actually picked up the blitz). He lined up opposite of Cherilus and just blew him up. Cherilus only outweighs him by 75 pounds. Useless. The Manimal just blew around Pettigrew when he tried his luck. Backus was called for a hold. It was the type of destruction you want to see from our defensive line.
All in all it was a terrible game to be a Lions fan, and I hope that The Game will be more enjoyable.
Only 20 hours! Go Blue!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
5-1 & 3rd place at Maui Invitational
Just a warning, tonight's post will not be as detailed as past posts since internet connection is pretty spotty here in Gobles.
Well, it was a successful trip to Hawaii for the men's basketball team, returning home 2-1 after playing 3 pretty good games in 3 days, which they wont have to do until the B1G tourney.
Tonight's game was a pretty underwhelming 16 point win. UCLA looked very bad at times tonight, and we should have beat them by close to 30. It was probably a good thing that we played them on the 3rd night though, since they are not very good.
The things that Michigan needs to work on: boxing out on the defensive end of the foor. While Michigan still won the rebounding battle overall, they gave up way to many 2nd chance opportunities, leading to 25 2nd chance points for UCLA! 25 points! They still only scored 63 points! Even though Tim had 20 points againt tonight, I feel like Michigan loses him at times. I don't know if Hardaway needs to becom more aggressive and go and get the ball, or if there needs to be more plays called for him when we need a bucket. Our bigs did not play their best game tonight, Morgan seemed to be on the floor for about 3 minutes tonight because of foul trouble, Smot is a head case, and Horford plays too weak too much. It will be nice having another solid body down low next year with McGary.
The parts of the game that I was impressed with: Our overall defense seemed to be pretty good for the most part of the game. Like I said, we gave up 25 points on 2nd chances which means our regular defense gave up only 38 points! Novak was very aggressive tonight on the offensive end of the floor, and when he contributes we are very tough to beat. Hardaway looks un-guardable for long stretches of time. He scored 20 points while making it look easy. He got to the hoop at will, whether it was off back screens, ball screen and dribble drives, or transition lay ups. While I love it when he knocks down a three, it will be very important for this team if he can continue to get easy lay-ups to get him going. Trey Burke just looks like the complete floor general for this team, tonight was his 6 career college game. It will be a ton of fun to watch him grow and get better throughout this year. Horford scoring his career high in points (12 all in the first half) was big for momentum, but I would like to see his hands get stronger and for him to play with more aggression.
What does this mean moving forward? Well I will admit that I was pretty nervous of going 1-2 down in Hawaii, with a win vs Chaminade, and for it to feel like a repeat of 2 years ago. I am happy to say that I was wrong. This team looks hungry for something more than just a tournament appearance. These two wins will go a long way for us to be solidly in the NCAA tourney and not on the bubble. With Beilein's teams historically getting better over the course of a season, I have a feeling we are in for something special this year. I fully believe that this team is a legit top 12 team right now, so improving on that would be impressive. The big men need to keep working on their foul problems, Hardaway needs to continue to use his athleticism and strength to get to the hoop for easy shots, the bench needs to continue to provide key minutes, Burke needs to continue to grow as a leader and catalyst for the team, and the 1-3-1 zone needs to keep improving.
I would not be surprised to see our ranking stay around 15 or even go up a few spots after this week in Hawaii. Tuesday's game at Virginia will be a big test for this team not to come out flat and have a let down against a very beatable team. It will be our first true road game, and road wins are always important. With Beilein at the helm, I would be surprised to see it happen.
Good win for Michigan, only 62 hours left until Ohio!
Go Blue today and always!
Well, it was a successful trip to Hawaii for the men's basketball team, returning home 2-1 after playing 3 pretty good games in 3 days, which they wont have to do until the B1G tourney.
Tonight's game was a pretty underwhelming 16 point win. UCLA looked very bad at times tonight, and we should have beat them by close to 30. It was probably a good thing that we played them on the 3rd night though, since they are not very good.
The things that Michigan needs to work on: boxing out on the defensive end of the foor. While Michigan still won the rebounding battle overall, they gave up way to many 2nd chance opportunities, leading to 25 2nd chance points for UCLA! 25 points! They still only scored 63 points! Even though Tim had 20 points againt tonight, I feel like Michigan loses him at times. I don't know if Hardaway needs to becom more aggressive and go and get the ball, or if there needs to be more plays called for him when we need a bucket. Our bigs did not play their best game tonight, Morgan seemed to be on the floor for about 3 minutes tonight because of foul trouble, Smot is a head case, and Horford plays too weak too much. It will be nice having another solid body down low next year with McGary.
The parts of the game that I was impressed with: Our overall defense seemed to be pretty good for the most part of the game. Like I said, we gave up 25 points on 2nd chances which means our regular defense gave up only 38 points! Novak was very aggressive tonight on the offensive end of the floor, and when he contributes we are very tough to beat. Hardaway looks un-guardable for long stretches of time. He scored 20 points while making it look easy. He got to the hoop at will, whether it was off back screens, ball screen and dribble drives, or transition lay ups. While I love it when he knocks down a three, it will be very important for this team if he can continue to get easy lay-ups to get him going. Trey Burke just looks like the complete floor general for this team, tonight was his 6 career college game. It will be a ton of fun to watch him grow and get better throughout this year. Horford scoring his career high in points (12 all in the first half) was big for momentum, but I would like to see his hands get stronger and for him to play with more aggression.
What does this mean moving forward? Well I will admit that I was pretty nervous of going 1-2 down in Hawaii, with a win vs Chaminade, and for it to feel like a repeat of 2 years ago. I am happy to say that I was wrong. This team looks hungry for something more than just a tournament appearance. These two wins will go a long way for us to be solidly in the NCAA tourney and not on the bubble. With Beilein's teams historically getting better over the course of a season, I have a feeling we are in for something special this year. I fully believe that this team is a legit top 12 team right now, so improving on that would be impressive. The big men need to keep working on their foul problems, Hardaway needs to continue to use his athleticism and strength to get to the hoop for easy shots, the bench needs to continue to provide key minutes, Burke needs to continue to grow as a leader and catalyst for the team, and the 1-3-1 zone needs to keep improving.
I would not be surprised to see our ranking stay around 15 or even go up a few spots after this week in Hawaii. Tuesday's game at Virginia will be a big test for this team not to come out flat and have a let down against a very beatable team. It will be our first true road game, and road wins are always important. With Beilein at the helm, I would be surprised to see it happen.
Good win for Michigan, only 62 hours left until Ohio!
Go Blue today and always!
Turkey Day Tradition Preview
Tomorrow is the big day, Detroit (7-3) vs Green Bay (10-0) at Ford Field startng at 12:30pm. The Packers are looking like a lock to be the NFC #1 seed, while Detroit is still fighting for a playoff spot. The last time the Pack played in Detroit, the Fearsome Foursome up front knocked this year's MVP out with a concussion and Detroit won 7-3. I think tomorrow will be a little higher scoring.
Green Bay's offense has been on the same page for almost 16 straight games. Rodgers has thrown 31 TDs in 10 games compared to just 4 interceptions. Hopefully Stafford doesn't match that total in the first quarter. One of the weaknesses of this team though is being able to protect the QB. They are breaking in 2 new linemen, and Rodgers has been sacked more through 10 games than he has in any other season. This weakness plays into the Lions biggest strength. Green Bay has a group of very athletic receivers that will challenge the Lion secondary more than any other team has this year.
Green Bay's defense has been getting better throughout the year, but one thing they have been good at for 2 seasons is creating turnovers. Their secondary plays very aggressively, which will result in some big plays but also some forced fumbles or jumped routes/ interceptions. Stafford will need to use his check downs a lot tomorrow to get consistent pick ups on 1st and 2nd down. Green Bay's Linebacking unit is one of the best in the NFL, they are very athletic, sure tacklers, and intense blitzers. Our offensive line will struggle a lot with all of Dom Caper's different blitz packages. Their defensive line is their "weakest" link of their defensive unit, but it is still above average. BJ Raji will have to be double teamed by our interior line almost every play.
If the Lions are going to move the ball against Green Bay, Kevin Smith is going to have to have another big game running and catching passes out of the backfield. It will also be exciting to see how the Pack try to cover Megatron. Last year they put Charles Woodson on him, and he did a great job at times, but Calvin was able to get open a few times down the field. I know Calvin Johnson didn't get into the endzone last weekend, and the Lions still won the game. I don't think this will happen again. I think Calvin will score 2 td's. Also, during the Monday night game Ford Field was rocking, causing 9 false start penalties by the Bears. How will the Pack handle the noise? I think the Lions play their best complete game of the season tomorrow, but I don't know if that is good enough to beat the reigning Super Bowl champions. I want the Lions to win tomorrow, but it has been a while since I have seen the Lions win on Thanksgiving Day. My prediction is GB 31 - DET 27
Go Blue (70 hours and counting)
Green Bay's offense has been on the same page for almost 16 straight games. Rodgers has thrown 31 TDs in 10 games compared to just 4 interceptions. Hopefully Stafford doesn't match that total in the first quarter. One of the weaknesses of this team though is being able to protect the QB. They are breaking in 2 new linemen, and Rodgers has been sacked more through 10 games than he has in any other season. This weakness plays into the Lions biggest strength. Green Bay has a group of very athletic receivers that will challenge the Lion secondary more than any other team has this year.
Green Bay's defense has been getting better throughout the year, but one thing they have been good at for 2 seasons is creating turnovers. Their secondary plays very aggressively, which will result in some big plays but also some forced fumbles or jumped routes/ interceptions. Stafford will need to use his check downs a lot tomorrow to get consistent pick ups on 1st and 2nd down. Green Bay's Linebacking unit is one of the best in the NFL, they are very athletic, sure tacklers, and intense blitzers. Our offensive line will struggle a lot with all of Dom Caper's different blitz packages. Their defensive line is their "weakest" link of their defensive unit, but it is still above average. BJ Raji will have to be double teamed by our interior line almost every play.
If the Lions are going to move the ball against Green Bay, Kevin Smith is going to have to have another big game running and catching passes out of the backfield. It will also be exciting to see how the Pack try to cover Megatron. Last year they put Charles Woodson on him, and he did a great job at times, but Calvin was able to get open a few times down the field. I know Calvin Johnson didn't get into the endzone last weekend, and the Lions still won the game. I don't think this will happen again. I think Calvin will score 2 td's. Also, during the Monday night game Ford Field was rocking, causing 9 false start penalties by the Bears. How will the Pack handle the noise? I think the Lions play their best complete game of the season tomorrow, but I don't know if that is good enough to beat the reigning Super Bowl champions. I want the Lions to win tomorrow, but it has been a while since I have seen the Lions win on Thanksgiving Day. My prediction is GB 31 - DET 27
Go Blue (70 hours and counting)
Game 6 preview: UCLA
After 2 hard fought games for the Big Blue basketball team, they are left with a third game that will determine the success of the Maui trip for the squad. It comes tonight against UCLA. The name is more intimidating than anything with the Bruins. They are currently 1-3, with the only win coming against Chaminade (the Division II host school of the Maui). So far they have lost at home to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee by 20, then in the Maui against Kansas. This is the type of game that Michigan needs to win if they don't want to be on the bubble come next March.
UCLA is led on offense by senior guard Jerime Anderson who averages almost 14 points a game, which is what Trey Burke has been putting up. They also have their very own Derrick Nix in a truck named Josh Smith (he is listed at 6'10" 305 lbs... this is about the same as when Shaq was listed at 310 lbs... hah.) He actually has some decent footwork and can rebound well, but he can only play about 15-20 mintes a game with either foul troubles or because he is 6'10" 400 lbs. They do not have as much offensive firepower as Memphis or Duke, but it does not mean we can let up on defense. They have a few players who can shoot the 3 ball pretty well, and like we saw last night... if a team shoots 60% from the big boy line they will always be tough to beat.
On defense UCLA under Ben Howland usually likes to play a pressure man to man defense. But they are not as athletic as previous teams, so it is possible that they drop into a 2-3 zone at times to protect Josh Smith or to not get burned by our quick guards. UCLA has been known to throw some full court press as well, but Memphis tried on Monday and it did not work for them, so I am not expecting that to work tonight either.
Key matchup: Tyler Lamb vs Tim Hardaway. As we saw last night, when Tim goes this team goes. So in the first half when he chose to take a nap, our offense looked pretty anemic. Then the second half came and we scored 53 points (19 from Tim). When he is being aggressive on the offensive end of the floor this team plays with a lot more confidence and is very difficult to defend and beat. Tyler Lamb will have to play defense each time down the floor, which can take away from his offensive energy. Also, Tim will have to make sure that Lamb does not get a lot of open shots to get into a rhythm.
It is hard for me to pick against Michigan in this game becase UCLA has under performed all season this far. But this game has a sort of trap feel to it. We have played 2 highly rated teams in 2 days, these are easy to get hyped up for even if you are a little physically tired. How will our young team respond to playing 3 nights in a row against a team that they should beat? I have a fear that we might come out a little flat (whether that is for 5 minutes or the first half), but I trust Beilein to get his team motivated and turned around before it gets out of hand. Michigan 65 UCLA 58.
UCLA is led on offense by senior guard Jerime Anderson who averages almost 14 points a game, which is what Trey Burke has been putting up. They also have their very own Derrick Nix in a truck named Josh Smith (he is listed at 6'10" 305 lbs... this is about the same as when Shaq was listed at 310 lbs... hah.) He actually has some decent footwork and can rebound well, but he can only play about 15-20 mintes a game with either foul troubles or because he is 6'10" 400 lbs. They do not have as much offensive firepower as Memphis or Duke, but it does not mean we can let up on defense. They have a few players who can shoot the 3 ball pretty well, and like we saw last night... if a team shoots 60% from the big boy line they will always be tough to beat.
On defense UCLA under Ben Howland usually likes to play a pressure man to man defense. But they are not as athletic as previous teams, so it is possible that they drop into a 2-3 zone at times to protect Josh Smith or to not get burned by our quick guards. UCLA has been known to throw some full court press as well, but Memphis tried on Monday and it did not work for them, so I am not expecting that to work tonight either.
Key matchup: Tyler Lamb vs Tim Hardaway. As we saw last night, when Tim goes this team goes. So in the first half when he chose to take a nap, our offense looked pretty anemic. Then the second half came and we scored 53 points (19 from Tim). When he is being aggressive on the offensive end of the floor this team plays with a lot more confidence and is very difficult to defend and beat. Tyler Lamb will have to play defense each time down the floor, which can take away from his offensive energy. Also, Tim will have to make sure that Lamb does not get a lot of open shots to get into a rhythm.
It is hard for me to pick against Michigan in this game becase UCLA has under performed all season this far. But this game has a sort of trap feel to it. We have played 2 highly rated teams in 2 days, these are easy to get hyped up for even if you are a little physically tired. How will our young team respond to playing 3 nights in a row against a team that they should beat? I have a fear that we might come out a little flat (whether that is for 5 minutes or the first half), but I trust Beilein to get his team motivated and turned around before it gets out of hand. Michigan 65 UCLA 58.
76 hours and counting....
We are right in the middle of Ohio week here and I am getting more and more excited for The Game on Saturday at Noon. This year we are lucky to have some great lead in entertainment to the Ohio v Michigan game: 3 games on national tv for our basketball program (it will be a very successful trip if they can find enough energy to beat a down UCLA team - preview to come), two Lions games during the week, and a top 3 matchup on Friday afternoon to basically determine the SEC West.
Luke "I am the definition of lame duck" Fickell made some comments yesterday about The Game not being about talent, but about passion. Wait, huh? I am pretty sure Ohio did not take us out back the past 3 years because we lacked passion. We didn't lose the 1 v 2 game of the century because that team didnt have passion. The comments sound like a coach wanting to say something to pump his team up because he even thinks they have less talent than the Michigan team for the first time in maybe 6 years. But last time I checked Ohio is still pretty talented, and maybe even more so on the defensive side of the ball. I cannot see an Ohio team coming into the Big House and not playing with passion (Fickell might be bad, but he isn't John Cooper).
It is a shame that The Game has lost some of its national importance, but I have a hard time thinking that Ohio will be down for too long, no matter who they hire. And Michigan is honestly a pretty average team playing in a pretty weak conference this year, but with the importance Coach Hoke puts on The Game it can only become more relevant to the entire nation (not just to the worst state ever and the mitten).
Switching gears a little, since I am going home to Gobles soon and internet is beyond slow, I probably won't be able to blog much in the few days coming. Lets look at important college football games of the weekend.
B1G: Penn St v Wisconsin. The winner gets to go to Indy to take on Sparty. Personally I want Wisconsin to dump truck the criminals in the 2nd time around, so I want Wisconsin to win this game and go to the Rose Bowl. I can't accept MSU in Pasadena in my lifetime. Please. Neither affect our chance for an at large BCS game.
Golden Domers v the Stanford fighting Lucks: So while I hate ND, an ND win would all but eliminate a 2 loss Stanford (losers of 2 of 3) from an at large BCS game and all but guarantees us (assuming we win). Also, the ND win makes our win over them look better and I think it will help our BCS rankings.
LSU - Arkansas: Well we will not jump the loser in the standings, so that doesnt help us. Also I believe that LSU is the best team in the nation, so with the current crappy bowl system I hope they dont have an off day and not get a chance to play for a title. If LSU loses, the BCS becomes an absolute joke.
Oklahoma v Iowa St: Well Iowa St just beat Ok St and probably ruined their title chances, we can be rooting for them again because any Oklahoma loss will eliminate them from the BCS picture. Worry if they beat Ok St next weekend to finish with 2 losses, they might get picked ahead of us... maybe.
SCar v Clemson: This game doesnt really matter to anyone or anything since SCar is eliminated in the SEC and Clemson is already in the ACC championship game. But SCar is still rated higher than Michigan in the BCS, so if they lose a 3rd game we can expect to jump them in the standings. The higher we get by the end of next weekend the better chance we have of making a BCS game.
Va Tech v Virginia: VaTech is rated number 5, so I dont know how far they will fall if they lose. But if they do lose, they will not be in the ACC championship game.. so a 2 loss Va Tech becomes in the running for an at large BCS game (I think we look more attractive at this pont, but still it is another team to compete against)
Until later....Go Blue!!!
Luke "I am the definition of lame duck" Fickell made some comments yesterday about The Game not being about talent, but about passion. Wait, huh? I am pretty sure Ohio did not take us out back the past 3 years because we lacked passion. We didn't lose the 1 v 2 game of the century because that team didnt have passion. The comments sound like a coach wanting to say something to pump his team up because he even thinks they have less talent than the Michigan team for the first time in maybe 6 years. But last time I checked Ohio is still pretty talented, and maybe even more so on the defensive side of the ball. I cannot see an Ohio team coming into the Big House and not playing with passion (Fickell might be bad, but he isn't John Cooper).
It is a shame that The Game has lost some of its national importance, but I have a hard time thinking that Ohio will be down for too long, no matter who they hire. And Michigan is honestly a pretty average team playing in a pretty weak conference this year, but with the importance Coach Hoke puts on The Game it can only become more relevant to the entire nation (not just to the worst state ever and the mitten).
Switching gears a little, since I am going home to Gobles soon and internet is beyond slow, I probably won't be able to blog much in the few days coming. Lets look at important college football games of the weekend.
B1G: Penn St v Wisconsin. The winner gets to go to Indy to take on Sparty. Personally I want Wisconsin to dump truck the criminals in the 2nd time around, so I want Wisconsin to win this game and go to the Rose Bowl. I can't accept MSU in Pasadena in my lifetime. Please. Neither affect our chance for an at large BCS game.
Golden Domers v the Stanford fighting Lucks: So while I hate ND, an ND win would all but eliminate a 2 loss Stanford (losers of 2 of 3) from an at large BCS game and all but guarantees us (assuming we win). Also, the ND win makes our win over them look better and I think it will help our BCS rankings.
LSU - Arkansas: Well we will not jump the loser in the standings, so that doesnt help us. Also I believe that LSU is the best team in the nation, so with the current crappy bowl system I hope they dont have an off day and not get a chance to play for a title. If LSU loses, the BCS becomes an absolute joke.
Oklahoma v Iowa St: Well Iowa St just beat Ok St and probably ruined their title chances, we can be rooting for them again because any Oklahoma loss will eliminate them from the BCS picture. Worry if they beat Ok St next weekend to finish with 2 losses, they might get picked ahead of us... maybe.
SCar v Clemson: This game doesnt really matter to anyone or anything since SCar is eliminated in the SEC and Clemson is already in the ACC championship game. But SCar is still rated higher than Michigan in the BCS, so if they lose a 3rd game we can expect to jump them in the standings. The higher we get by the end of next weekend the better chance we have of making a BCS game.
Va Tech v Virginia: VaTech is rated number 5, so I dont know how far they will fall if they lose. But if they do lose, they will not be in the ACC championship game.. so a 2 loss Va Tech becomes in the running for an at large BCS game (I think we look more attractive at this pont, but still it is another team to compete against)
Until later....Go Blue!!!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
4-1
Well if Duke is a legitimate top 5 or 6 teams in the nation, then Michigan is a legitimate top 10 team. I thought Duke could not have played any better tonight, and the game came down to a few possessions here or there. Coach K probably has not seen this team shoot better in most practices, and yet Michigan was close enough to make the game interesting.
Let's start with the positive... where did things go right? Well people we have found our point guard of the future. All I can say is wow! Trey Burke 17 points 9 assists 3 rebounds. How about we compare this to Sir Austin "my dad's famous so give me respect" Rivers 20 points 3 assists 4 rebounds. Rivers has one more rebound while being 5 inches taller than our new found star. Rivers also made 4 free throws at the end of the game to get to 20 points. I would argue that Burke's numbers meant more to his team than Rivers even. Did our point guard just out play the number 1 recruit in the nation? I say yes. Our big men are looking very good so far in the young season. Smot (when he can stay on the floor) looked very aggressive and more athletic than his counterpart Kelly. If we could have gotten a few more minutes out of him, the game could have been a lot different. Morgan has gotten back to the level of play as last year 12 points 6 rebounds. He is very active on both ends of the floor and I think equalized Mason Plumtree's activity (9 points 5 rebounds!!!) Hardaway's 2nd half was pretty incredible. You can tell when he flips the switch to want to take over the game, and he did for the most part but we fell into too big of a hole to come back. 19 points all in the 2nd half against an "incredible Duke defense." If they really are that good, then watch out B1G. Also the turnovers. We started with 5 turnovers in the first 4 minutes, and we ended with 8. 8 turnovers for an entire game is incredible, but how bout 3 in 36 minutes! Trey has fit in very nicely! Oh and, don't look now, but the team that couldnt rebound if they were playing 21 last year has now outrebounded 2 top ten teams in 2 days!
On to the negative... Where to start. I will start on the defensive end of the floor. While Vogrich played great defense yesterday against Memphis, he looked terrible in his limited role tonight. How does an unathletic kid think he can stop a drive into the paint when his ONLY assignment is to guard the 3 point line. He gave up 3 wide open long ball looks, and while luckily only 2 fell... I mean come on dude. Smot's foul trouble, he has not learned much from last year. The first foul was terrible along with his 4th. He cannot act out of frustration after giving up a turnover and commit a foul 80 feet from the hoop. It will drive a coach crazy. And how the heck do we let Duke's two set shooters beat us by making 7-12 threes. Even if we make them dribble the ball and they drive into the lane for an easy layup.. the eliminates 7 points. Also, we let Ryan Kelly beat us again just like last year in the NCAA tournament. He finished with 17! Yes that is right, a kid that is less athletic than Smot, slower than me, and you can see the steam coming out of his ears when he tries to think about his next move. He scored 17 points against us. The cat can do one thing. Shoot. He can shoot free throws (90% shooter) and set shots anywhere. How can he beat us again? Even though we won the rebounding battle tonight, we gave up 2 offensive rebounds off of missed free throws that resulted in 5 2nd chance points.... seriously? Beilein might have some less hair on that already shiny head for tomorrows game. Tim's first half was beyond frustrating. I am not sure if he expected to have Austin Rivers covering him or what, but he looked out of it during the first half. Rivers is not a prominent defender, and Hardaway has an easy 3 inches on him. I would have liked to see Tim establish himself on the low block to get some easy baskets.. kinda like he did late in the 2nd half to get an easy lay up. Tim was 0-6 in the half and only 2 of those shots were open looks that should have gone in. When you are in a slump shooting, you need to get somewhere on the floor to get some easy looks (drive to the hoop to draw some fouls and free throws, post up on the low block). I was disappointed with his intensity in the first half. Also, during the first half Michigan did not run its standard offense well or at all at times. They settled for random shots or long 3 pointers. When they got down 11-2, and then made their comeback they began running set plays and getting easy buckets. But basically Michigan's basketball team starts and ends with defense, when we can get some rebounds, turnovers, etc it sets up our offense perfectly to run some set plays or get easy transition baskets. And 82 points is not played good defense.
Tomorrow will be a big test for this team, how do you respond to a hard fought loss? How does this team play after 3 straight days of tough basketball? It would be a HUGE success to come back to AA 5-1. If this happens, I think we might have a pretty special team this year. One that is better than most expected.
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!!
Let's start with the positive... where did things go right? Well people we have found our point guard of the future. All I can say is wow! Trey Burke 17 points 9 assists 3 rebounds. How about we compare this to Sir Austin "my dad's famous so give me respect" Rivers 20 points 3 assists 4 rebounds. Rivers has one more rebound while being 5 inches taller than our new found star. Rivers also made 4 free throws at the end of the game to get to 20 points. I would argue that Burke's numbers meant more to his team than Rivers even. Did our point guard just out play the number 1 recruit in the nation? I say yes. Our big men are looking very good so far in the young season. Smot (when he can stay on the floor) looked very aggressive and more athletic than his counterpart Kelly. If we could have gotten a few more minutes out of him, the game could have been a lot different. Morgan has gotten back to the level of play as last year 12 points 6 rebounds. He is very active on both ends of the floor and I think equalized Mason Plumtree's activity (9 points 5 rebounds!!!) Hardaway's 2nd half was pretty incredible. You can tell when he flips the switch to want to take over the game, and he did for the most part but we fell into too big of a hole to come back. 19 points all in the 2nd half against an "incredible Duke defense." If they really are that good, then watch out B1G. Also the turnovers. We started with 5 turnovers in the first 4 minutes, and we ended with 8. 8 turnovers for an entire game is incredible, but how bout 3 in 36 minutes! Trey has fit in very nicely! Oh and, don't look now, but the team that couldnt rebound if they were playing 21 last year has now outrebounded 2 top ten teams in 2 days!
On to the negative... Where to start. I will start on the defensive end of the floor. While Vogrich played great defense yesterday against Memphis, he looked terrible in his limited role tonight. How does an unathletic kid think he can stop a drive into the paint when his ONLY assignment is to guard the 3 point line. He gave up 3 wide open long ball looks, and while luckily only 2 fell... I mean come on dude. Smot's foul trouble, he has not learned much from last year. The first foul was terrible along with his 4th. He cannot act out of frustration after giving up a turnover and commit a foul 80 feet from the hoop. It will drive a coach crazy. And how the heck do we let Duke's two set shooters beat us by making 7-12 threes. Even if we make them dribble the ball and they drive into the lane for an easy layup.. the eliminates 7 points. Also, we let Ryan Kelly beat us again just like last year in the NCAA tournament. He finished with 17! Yes that is right, a kid that is less athletic than Smot, slower than me, and you can see the steam coming out of his ears when he tries to think about his next move. He scored 17 points against us. The cat can do one thing. Shoot. He can shoot free throws (90% shooter) and set shots anywhere. How can he beat us again? Even though we won the rebounding battle tonight, we gave up 2 offensive rebounds off of missed free throws that resulted in 5 2nd chance points.... seriously? Beilein might have some less hair on that already shiny head for tomorrows game. Tim's first half was beyond frustrating. I am not sure if he expected to have Austin Rivers covering him or what, but he looked out of it during the first half. Rivers is not a prominent defender, and Hardaway has an easy 3 inches on him. I would have liked to see Tim establish himself on the low block to get some easy baskets.. kinda like he did late in the 2nd half to get an easy lay up. Tim was 0-6 in the half and only 2 of those shots were open looks that should have gone in. When you are in a slump shooting, you need to get somewhere on the floor to get some easy looks (drive to the hoop to draw some fouls and free throws, post up on the low block). I was disappointed with his intensity in the first half. Also, during the first half Michigan did not run its standard offense well or at all at times. They settled for random shots or long 3 pointers. When they got down 11-2, and then made their comeback they began running set plays and getting easy buckets. But basically Michigan's basketball team starts and ends with defense, when we can get some rebounds, turnovers, etc it sets up our offense perfectly to run some set plays or get easy transition baskets. And 82 points is not played good defense.
Tomorrow will be a big test for this team, how do you respond to a hard fought loss? How does this team play after 3 straight days of tough basketball? It would be a HUGE success to come back to AA 5-1. If this happens, I think we might have a pretty special team this year. One that is better than most expected.
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!!
Urban Meyer to OSU?!?
Apparently it is all but official that Urban Meyer will be headed to Columbus next year to coach Ohio. Maybe Kirk Herbstreit will make an official announcement, and the deal will breakdown... I know Luke Fickell has not done a good job this year with a pretty talented Ohio team, but I feel like he deserves a little better treatment. I guess the bottom line is that college football is a business and universities will do whatever they can to better the program without regards to individuals.
Even though Urban Meyer said that he would not be coaching next year because of health problems and enjoying working for the 4 letter network, still here he is becoming the new head Bucknut.
I am not sure how I feel about his hire, it is easily the obvious choice for Ohio (like Jim Harbaugh or Les Miles), and most Ohio fans think it is guaranteed to get them back to national prominence. But I remember after hired Rich Rod, and many fans thought the innovative offense would make us a top tier program again. Look forward 3 years and most would agree that they would like to forget those 3 years of Michigan football. It is hard to judge a coach before he even coaches his players in his first game.
I can't imagine the NCAA to give up on these sanctions against Ohio, so it will be interesting to see what Meyer can do with stricter rules, limits, and a more watchful eye from the university, the few good boosters, and the NCAA. If NCAA follows through in implementing some harsh punishment, it would be impressive if Meyer can get to 8 or 9 wins a year.
Meyer is known for his recruiting ability, and with the hot bed in Florida he made a dynasty of great athletes. I am curious to see who he will get to be his defensive coordinator, since our very own Mattison helped make the Florida defenses as scary as the current LSUs or Alabamas. Also, how many current Michigan recruits will switch to Ohio? Will Brionte Dunn stay committed there or after his good trip to AA this past weekend, will he come here? How about Se'Von Pittman who committed to MSU, will OSU offer him now?
I know for one thing that hiring Urban Meyer does not affect this weekend's game, and we still need to take care of business on Saturday. But I am excited to watch the Hoke - Meyer rivalry play out in years to come.
Until next time... Go Blue!!
Even though Urban Meyer said that he would not be coaching next year because of health problems and enjoying working for the 4 letter network, still here he is becoming the new head Bucknut.
I am not sure how I feel about his hire, it is easily the obvious choice for Ohio (like Jim Harbaugh or Les Miles), and most Ohio fans think it is guaranteed to get them back to national prominence. But I remember after hired Rich Rod, and many fans thought the innovative offense would make us a top tier program again. Look forward 3 years and most would agree that they would like to forget those 3 years of Michigan football. It is hard to judge a coach before he even coaches his players in his first game.
I can't imagine the NCAA to give up on these sanctions against Ohio, so it will be interesting to see what Meyer can do with stricter rules, limits, and a more watchful eye from the university, the few good boosters, and the NCAA. If NCAA follows through in implementing some harsh punishment, it would be impressive if Meyer can get to 8 or 9 wins a year.
Meyer is known for his recruiting ability, and with the hot bed in Florida he made a dynasty of great athletes. I am curious to see who he will get to be his defensive coordinator, since our very own Mattison helped make the Florida defenses as scary as the current LSUs or Alabamas. Also, how many current Michigan recruits will switch to Ohio? Will Brionte Dunn stay committed there or after his good trip to AA this past weekend, will he come here? How about Se'Von Pittman who committed to MSU, will OSU offer him now?
I know for one thing that hiring Urban Meyer does not affect this weekend's game, and we still need to take care of business on Saturday. But I am excited to watch the Hoke - Meyer rivalry play out in years to come.
Until next time... Go Blue!!
Things I like more than Ohio....
I saw this posted on a friends facebook status this morning, and I thought I would it was a funny idea.
Things I like more than Ohio....
1. Papercuts
2. Infections
3. Stuffy noses
4. Chrysler (if you know me... you know this is pretty incredible).
What about you?
Things I like more than Ohio....
1. Papercuts
2. Infections
3. Stuffy noses
4. Chrysler (if you know me... you know this is pretty incredible).
What about you?
Game 5 Preview: Duke
Greetings from the lovely nation of hockey and the maple leaf. I am currently on a plant visit to Essex, Canada. So, while I have a few minutes at lunch I figured I would talk about some more Michigan basketball.
Like expected Duke cruised to a 10 point win last night, and the outcome was in hand for most of the 2nd half. They finished on an 8-0 run to end the first half, and never was challenged again.
Many people hate Duke for various reasons (always win, coach = rat, arrogance that pisses off our arrogant fan base, get top recruits, etc.. etc). But, I have had a chance to meet Coach K and listen to him talk about basketball to a room full of high school coaches, and the dude knows his stuff. I was very impressed with some of his views and ideas about defense and motivation. One of the things that I respect the most from Coach K is his ability to win despite what type of players he has. Yes, Duke always has a lot of talent, but not always the same kind of talent. Look back to the 1999 season when Elton Brand is tearing up college basketball. Duke played an inside-out system where the offense completely went through Elton. Fast forward just two short years and Duke is on top of college basketball again, but this time with Jay Williams leading the team as the point guard. One can argue that it doesn't matter the players on the floor if they are all 5 star talent, but I argue that you don't see Memphis or Kentucky really winning anything that matters in college basketball with all 5 star talent because they are not team oriented. On a small sample size, we saw what a team focused group does to a I focused team yesterday in Michigan v Memphis. It is the main reason why some teas are NCAA second weekend mainstays. So, now that I have given Coach K his most deserved respect (he currently has 904 career wins, first all time), I can begin to break down tonights game.
Was I the only one who got sick of the announcers constantly talking about how fast and good Memphis was, then when the final was not in doubt any longer they began to switch thei gears to say oh yea, Michigan has a basketball team too.. I thought this was just practice for Memphis v Duke. Then I think they talked about how Duke has never lost in the Maui, and showed their fans and team more in our game than our bench or fans. Blah. Sorry for the rant, I get sick of it. Anywho... lets jump into some analyzing.
Duke has a trio of giant brothers, also known as the Plum-trees. I couldn't imagine feeding all three of those kids in high school. The youngest one is a freshman, and will be redshirting, so we only have to wory about Miles and Mason. Mason is definitely the more talented on of the pair, but we will hear multiple times about how Miles has 5% body fat because that makes you a great basketball player. They have the 6'11" Dirk wann-be in Kelly, who if you remember seemed to never miss during last year's tourney game. But the team is led by their depth at the guard position. Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins are great shooters, and definitely have the green light to pull the trigger from wherever, whenever. Duke's biggest weapon though might be Austin Rivers (#1 recruit on most sites). He really is the only player for Duke that wants to get to the rim and has the strength and quickness to do so. Duke is not an extremely deep team either, so keep an eye on their foul problems as well. Duke likes to run a base man to man defense where one of the Plumlees will be around the rim for the rebound or blocked shot. They will not be as aggressive as Memphis was, but their wings will be susceptible to the back cut still. On offense, they like to push the tempo off of a rebound. This is where Mason Plumlee is so good, he will pull down rebounds with high efficiciency and start the fast break with a long outlet to a guard. Then, he will beat the opponent's big down the floor for a bucket in transition or a follow up rebound off a 3 point attempt. When in a half court set, Duke's offense is pretty standard, but they run it to perfection. The bigs will set lots of screens to get the shooters open off the pass, or Austin Rivers moving toward the basket with the ball. They will not use inside as much as I think they should, but they recognize mismatches well. So if Mason feels confident against Smot, Morgan, Horford, etc then look for Rivers to feed him the ball on the block for a hook shot. He has pretty good footwork, and is very athletic for how big he is.
What does this mean for us? The key to slowing down Duke's high tempo/ high efficiency offense is limiting the Plumlee long outlet pass to start the transition offense. If we keep Duke in a half court game, it can become very winable. While in our half court defense, I think Beilein will be hesitant to use the zone since Duke shoots so well from 3 (3 players shoot close to 50%). But in order to keep them guessing and uncomfortable, he will need to mix in some different looks. Again Trey Burke will have to guard well, stay out of foul trouble and keep Austin Rivers in front of him. I am excited to see how Austin Rivers plays defense on Trey because he showed some good speed and quickness yesterday vs a very fast guard. Also, if we can rebound with the same intensity as yesterday I think we will be very hard to beat. But, we are known for getting outrebounded, especially by bigger stronger teams (like Duke). If we can draw even with them in rebouds I think this game will be very close. On offense, we need to test Duke's depth. I think we should keep our bigs moving and setting ball screens to force Duke's bigs to play defense 25 feet from the hoop (It is tough for bigs to play defense in space). Like I said earlier, while Duke's wings can shoot lights out, they are not the same defensively as they were last year with Singler and Smith. Look for Hardaway to have another good game (if he doesn't, dont expect this game to go our way). Also, look for Trey Burke to expose Austin Rivers lack of defense with some hard drives to the hoop. Stu and Zak need to knock down the shots that are given to them at a higher rate than yesterday. It will be a good sign as well if we can keep our best bigs on the floor (Morgan and Smot), since they are a tough to defend.
This is getting long.. so quickly the key matchup is what I mentioned earlier: Michigan bigs vs Duke's bigs (especially Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly). If we can win this battle (fouls, points, rebounds) we should win the game. Also look for Trey to be aggressive again, since he knows how highly rated Rivers was... and I think Trey will want to make a statement.
Prediction: Well I thought Memphis would win last night, and I was joyfully wrong. So, lets try that again. Duke is the more talented team, but they are young and I dont think they are a top 5 team. I expect this game to be close, unless something goes horribly wrong (injury, ejection, foul trouble on our guards). I am not expecting us to have a +14 rebounding edge again, but I think we can be close to even. I think Duke will get hot from 3 at some point and win 68-62. But again, I can't root against us. So Michigan 71 - Duke 65.
Go Blue!
Like expected Duke cruised to a 10 point win last night, and the outcome was in hand for most of the 2nd half. They finished on an 8-0 run to end the first half, and never was challenged again.
Many people hate Duke for various reasons (always win, coach = rat, arrogance that pisses off our arrogant fan base, get top recruits, etc.. etc). But, I have had a chance to meet Coach K and listen to him talk about basketball to a room full of high school coaches, and the dude knows his stuff. I was very impressed with some of his views and ideas about defense and motivation. One of the things that I respect the most from Coach K is his ability to win despite what type of players he has. Yes, Duke always has a lot of talent, but not always the same kind of talent. Look back to the 1999 season when Elton Brand is tearing up college basketball. Duke played an inside-out system where the offense completely went through Elton. Fast forward just two short years and Duke is on top of college basketball again, but this time with Jay Williams leading the team as the point guard. One can argue that it doesn't matter the players on the floor if they are all 5 star talent, but I argue that you don't see Memphis or Kentucky really winning anything that matters in college basketball with all 5 star talent because they are not team oriented. On a small sample size, we saw what a team focused group does to a I focused team yesterday in Michigan v Memphis. It is the main reason why some teas are NCAA second weekend mainstays. So, now that I have given Coach K his most deserved respect (he currently has 904 career wins, first all time), I can begin to break down tonights game.
Was I the only one who got sick of the announcers constantly talking about how fast and good Memphis was, then when the final was not in doubt any longer they began to switch thei gears to say oh yea, Michigan has a basketball team too.. I thought this was just practice for Memphis v Duke. Then I think they talked about how Duke has never lost in the Maui, and showed their fans and team more in our game than our bench or fans. Blah. Sorry for the rant, I get sick of it. Anywho... lets jump into some analyzing.
Duke has a trio of giant brothers, also known as the Plum-trees. I couldn't imagine feeding all three of those kids in high school. The youngest one is a freshman, and will be redshirting, so we only have to wory about Miles and Mason. Mason is definitely the more talented on of the pair, but we will hear multiple times about how Miles has 5% body fat because that makes you a great basketball player. They have the 6'11" Dirk wann-be in Kelly, who if you remember seemed to never miss during last year's tourney game. But the team is led by their depth at the guard position. Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins are great shooters, and definitely have the green light to pull the trigger from wherever, whenever. Duke's biggest weapon though might be Austin Rivers (#1 recruit on most sites). He really is the only player for Duke that wants to get to the rim and has the strength and quickness to do so. Duke is not an extremely deep team either, so keep an eye on their foul problems as well. Duke likes to run a base man to man defense where one of the Plumlees will be around the rim for the rebound or blocked shot. They will not be as aggressive as Memphis was, but their wings will be susceptible to the back cut still. On offense, they like to push the tempo off of a rebound. This is where Mason Plumlee is so good, he will pull down rebounds with high efficiciency and start the fast break with a long outlet to a guard. Then, he will beat the opponent's big down the floor for a bucket in transition or a follow up rebound off a 3 point attempt. When in a half court set, Duke's offense is pretty standard, but they run it to perfection. The bigs will set lots of screens to get the shooters open off the pass, or Austin Rivers moving toward the basket with the ball. They will not use inside as much as I think they should, but they recognize mismatches well. So if Mason feels confident against Smot, Morgan, Horford, etc then look for Rivers to feed him the ball on the block for a hook shot. He has pretty good footwork, and is very athletic for how big he is.
What does this mean for us? The key to slowing down Duke's high tempo/ high efficiency offense is limiting the Plumlee long outlet pass to start the transition offense. If we keep Duke in a half court game, it can become very winable. While in our half court defense, I think Beilein will be hesitant to use the zone since Duke shoots so well from 3 (3 players shoot close to 50%). But in order to keep them guessing and uncomfortable, he will need to mix in some different looks. Again Trey Burke will have to guard well, stay out of foul trouble and keep Austin Rivers in front of him. I am excited to see how Austin Rivers plays defense on Trey because he showed some good speed and quickness yesterday vs a very fast guard. Also, if we can rebound with the same intensity as yesterday I think we will be very hard to beat. But, we are known for getting outrebounded, especially by bigger stronger teams (like Duke). If we can draw even with them in rebouds I think this game will be very close. On offense, we need to test Duke's depth. I think we should keep our bigs moving and setting ball screens to force Duke's bigs to play defense 25 feet from the hoop (It is tough for bigs to play defense in space). Like I said earlier, while Duke's wings can shoot lights out, they are not the same defensively as they were last year with Singler and Smith. Look for Hardaway to have another good game (if he doesn't, dont expect this game to go our way). Also, look for Trey Burke to expose Austin Rivers lack of defense with some hard drives to the hoop. Stu and Zak need to knock down the shots that are given to them at a higher rate than yesterday. It will be a good sign as well if we can keep our best bigs on the floor (Morgan and Smot), since they are a tough to defend.
This is getting long.. so quickly the key matchup is what I mentioned earlier: Michigan bigs vs Duke's bigs (especially Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly). If we can win this battle (fouls, points, rebounds) we should win the game. Also look for Trey to be aggressive again, since he knows how highly rated Rivers was... and I think Trey will want to make a statement.
Prediction: Well I thought Memphis would win last night, and I was joyfully wrong. So, lets try that again. Duke is the more talented team, but they are young and I dont think they are a top 5 team. I expect this game to be close, unless something goes horribly wrong (injury, ejection, foul trouble on our guards). I am not expecting us to have a +14 rebounding edge again, but I think we can be close to even. I think Duke will get hot from 3 at some point and win 68-62. But again, I can't root against us. So Michigan 71 - Duke 65.
Go Blue!
Monday, November 21, 2011
OT
Today has been a busy day in the sports world..
Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher since 1986 to win the Cy Young and the MVP in one year. The AL awards voters finally got a regular season award right this year after snubbing the Tigers of 3 Silver Slugger awards, Manager of the Year, and 2 possible Gold Gloves. JV had one of the best years of a starting pitcher in the past 20 years. I was lucky enough to get to see him pitch a few times this past year and was definitely impressed. But, where does JV go from here?
Arizona hired the Michigan fan favorite: Rich Rod today. I figured he would end up in the Pac-12, one of the only big conferences where a 45-40 final is considered a defensive struggle since the losing team had to punt once. He might do pretty well there actually. I am glad we won't have to see him on our sidelines or on CBS as an analyst anytime soon (maybe an analyst in 3 years?)
Sid (Cindy) the Kid is back in action tonight for the most hated Pittsburgh Penguins. Apparently he scored, and now us Wings fans will have someone to hate again! All is right in the NHL.
Urban Whiner went from not being interested in coaching again next year on Saturday to now Ohio will most likely crown him the leader of the criminals and truck drivers the moment the clock reads 00:00 on Saturday in the Big House. I am surprised he wants to take over a program where more crap keeps coming out every week, and should have at least 2 years of post season bans and scholarship reductions. So in a few more years they will begin finding new ways of paying their players down in the ole C-bus. During the Whiner's time in Florida, he was the head of a program that saw over 30 players arrested, and this does not include complaints or "incidents." This number more than doubles the next closest program during this short time span (2nd on the list also is from the SEC... coincidence?)
Jay Cutler had season ending thumb surgery today, which immediately increases the Lions chances to make the playoffs. He is lucky he was still walking after some of the shots the Lions' D-Line had on him last weekend. Anyway, I am glad we don't have to play that mediocre team from the Windy City again.
On a serious, and sad note, the Oklahoma St. family held a service for the Women's basketball coach and assistant coach who died last Friday in a plane crash while on a recruiting trip. Only a few short years ago there was a plane crash that killed 10 people involved with Ok. St's men's basketball team. That would be terrible for the team and the entire university. I couldn't imagine this tragedy happening here in AA, let alone twice. Also, during a tailgate before the Harvard - Yale game a moving van hit some tailgaters. One person died on the scene and another is in series condition. As much as this past weekend was incredible for those of us in Michigan, but it was a very sad day for others around the sporting world.
Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher since 1986 to win the Cy Young and the MVP in one year. The AL awards voters finally got a regular season award right this year after snubbing the Tigers of 3 Silver Slugger awards, Manager of the Year, and 2 possible Gold Gloves. JV had one of the best years of a starting pitcher in the past 20 years. I was lucky enough to get to see him pitch a few times this past year and was definitely impressed. But, where does JV go from here?
Arizona hired the Michigan fan favorite: Rich Rod today. I figured he would end up in the Pac-12, one of the only big conferences where a 45-40 final is considered a defensive struggle since the losing team had to punt once. He might do pretty well there actually. I am glad we won't have to see him on our sidelines or on CBS as an analyst anytime soon (maybe an analyst in 3 years?)
Sid (Cindy) the Kid is back in action tonight for the most hated Pittsburgh Penguins. Apparently he scored, and now us Wings fans will have someone to hate again! All is right in the NHL.
Urban Whiner went from not being interested in coaching again next year on Saturday to now Ohio will most likely crown him the leader of the criminals and truck drivers the moment the clock reads 00:00 on Saturday in the Big House. I am surprised he wants to take over a program where more crap keeps coming out every week, and should have at least 2 years of post season bans and scholarship reductions. So in a few more years they will begin finding new ways of paying their players down in the ole C-bus. During the Whiner's time in Florida, he was the head of a program that saw over 30 players arrested, and this does not include complaints or "incidents." This number more than doubles the next closest program during this short time span (2nd on the list also is from the SEC... coincidence?)
Jay Cutler had season ending thumb surgery today, which immediately increases the Lions chances to make the playoffs. He is lucky he was still walking after some of the shots the Lions' D-Line had on him last weekend. Anyway, I am glad we don't have to play that mediocre team from the Windy City again.
On a serious, and sad note, the Oklahoma St. family held a service for the Women's basketball coach and assistant coach who died last Friday in a plane crash while on a recruiting trip. Only a few short years ago there was a plane crash that killed 10 people involved with Ok. St's men's basketball team. That would be terrible for the team and the entire university. I couldn't imagine this tragedy happening here in AA, let alone twice. Also, during a tailgate before the Harvard - Yale game a moving van hit some tailgaters. One person died on the scene and another is in series condition. As much as this past weekend was incredible for those of us in Michigan, but it was a very sad day for others around the sporting world.
Game 4 recap: 4-0!!
Even though I have seen this Michigan team do some pretty amazing things in the past year, this win still impressed me quite a bit! Today's game was by far the best this team has looked all year on offense and defense.
Michigan looked dominant at times on the defensive end of the floor. Will Barton, a future first round NBA draft pick was held to 9 points! Michigan switched defenses 3 times during the game. For most of the first half we ran a straight man to man defense with a lot of held to pack the middle of the floor to stop the dribble drive. During this time Michigan went up 18-9, mainly on hot shooting to start the game. But Memphis came right back to take the lead towards the end of the first. At this time was a great coaching decision to switch to the 1-3-1. If ran right, it is a perfect defense to equal the playing field against a more athletic team. Memphis looked confused and terribly coached while trying to score points. The stiff defense during this time allowed the Wolverines to get a 6 point lead at the half. During the 2nd half we saw more of the third defense of the day, the 2-3 zone. This is the standard zone run by many coaches at all levels, and perfected by Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. This allows the defense to automatically pack the middle of the paint, and forces the offense to stay on the perimeter which worked well today since Memphis shot 4-21 from 3 today. This was the best rebounding effort out of a zone I have seen a Michigan team have in the past few years (+14 rebounding margin), and it came against a team that crashes the offensive glass. We also drew a lot of charges (there were actually a few more but the refs didnt want to favor us too much I guess). I hope we can keep the same effort and intensity in our game tomorrow night at 7pm.
The offense finally opened the playbook more than it had all season so far. Most people's main complaint with Beilein's offensive system is that teams tend to live and die by the 3 point shot. In reality, this is the secondary objective of the offense. The main point is to keep all 5 players moving on the floor in hopes to open up easy shots. This movement likes to use the back cut, and if this is used effectively it needs an athletic wing player. Enter: Tim Hardaway Jr. This offense is the perfect countermeasure to the Memphis defensive scheme. They are arrogantly aggressive, which will work against some teams. Against a team that uses a hard back cut, it leaves the rim wide open for lay-ups. This is why we were able to get an 18-9 point lead early, and the main reason we were able to win in the end. For one of the first games in his short career, Tim did not force many (if any) shots, since lay-ups and open jumpers were open most of the game. The big men were very active, setting good ball screens and rolling hard to the front of the rim where they were able to get some easy baskets. Then on top of all of this, we were able to hit some clutch 3 pointers. It is the first time we have scored 70 this year, and it came against a top 10 team.
Koehn's dude: Although Hardaway led the team in scoring and had 7 rebounds, I have to go with Trey Burke. This might be because I respect good point guard play more than most, but oh well... my blog, my choice. Trey Burke had 14 points (should have been 17, since he missed his last 3 free throws), 4 assists, and only 3 turn overs. While these numbers are not going to win him the Naismith, these are the numbers that we have to get out of our point guard. And to have them come from Trey as a true freshman is even bigger. He controlled the tempo very well throughout the game, and kept Memphis out of their comfort zone. He played great perimeter defense in the man to man and 2-3 zone,while picking up the bottom of the 1-3-1 like he has been in the system for a few years. He drew a few charges, and avoided a few on the offensive end. Also, his basketball IQ really impressed me during the middle of the 2nd half when the Memphis center had 4 fouls, Trey went right at him trying to draw his 5th foul. I cant wait to watch our star freshman against Duke's tomorrow (I am assuming they win). Their key player is true freshman Austin Rivers, high school player of the year last year. It should be a good challenge, and very fun to watch!
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!
Michigan looked dominant at times on the defensive end of the floor. Will Barton, a future first round NBA draft pick was held to 9 points! Michigan switched defenses 3 times during the game. For most of the first half we ran a straight man to man defense with a lot of held to pack the middle of the floor to stop the dribble drive. During this time Michigan went up 18-9, mainly on hot shooting to start the game. But Memphis came right back to take the lead towards the end of the first. At this time was a great coaching decision to switch to the 1-3-1. If ran right, it is a perfect defense to equal the playing field against a more athletic team. Memphis looked confused and terribly coached while trying to score points. The stiff defense during this time allowed the Wolverines to get a 6 point lead at the half. During the 2nd half we saw more of the third defense of the day, the 2-3 zone. This is the standard zone run by many coaches at all levels, and perfected by Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. This allows the defense to automatically pack the middle of the paint, and forces the offense to stay on the perimeter which worked well today since Memphis shot 4-21 from 3 today. This was the best rebounding effort out of a zone I have seen a Michigan team have in the past few years (+14 rebounding margin), and it came against a team that crashes the offensive glass. We also drew a lot of charges (there were actually a few more but the refs didnt want to favor us too much I guess). I hope we can keep the same effort and intensity in our game tomorrow night at 7pm.
The offense finally opened the playbook more than it had all season so far. Most people's main complaint with Beilein's offensive system is that teams tend to live and die by the 3 point shot. In reality, this is the secondary objective of the offense. The main point is to keep all 5 players moving on the floor in hopes to open up easy shots. This movement likes to use the back cut, and if this is used effectively it needs an athletic wing player. Enter: Tim Hardaway Jr. This offense is the perfect countermeasure to the Memphis defensive scheme. They are arrogantly aggressive, which will work against some teams. Against a team that uses a hard back cut, it leaves the rim wide open for lay-ups. This is why we were able to get an 18-9 point lead early, and the main reason we were able to win in the end. For one of the first games in his short career, Tim did not force many (if any) shots, since lay-ups and open jumpers were open most of the game. The big men were very active, setting good ball screens and rolling hard to the front of the rim where they were able to get some easy baskets. Then on top of all of this, we were able to hit some clutch 3 pointers. It is the first time we have scored 70 this year, and it came against a top 10 team.
Koehn's dude: Although Hardaway led the team in scoring and had 7 rebounds, I have to go with Trey Burke. This might be because I respect good point guard play more than most, but oh well... my blog, my choice. Trey Burke had 14 points (should have been 17, since he missed his last 3 free throws), 4 assists, and only 3 turn overs. While these numbers are not going to win him the Naismith, these are the numbers that we have to get out of our point guard. And to have them come from Trey as a true freshman is even bigger. He controlled the tempo very well throughout the game, and kept Memphis out of their comfort zone. He played great perimeter defense in the man to man and 2-3 zone,while picking up the bottom of the 1-3-1 like he has been in the system for a few years. He drew a few charges, and avoided a few on the offensive end. Also, his basketball IQ really impressed me during the middle of the 2nd half when the Memphis center had 4 fouls, Trey went right at him trying to draw his 5th foul. I cant wait to watch our star freshman against Duke's tomorrow (I am assuming they win). Their key player is true freshman Austin Rivers, high school player of the year last year. It should be a good challenge, and very fun to watch!
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!
Game 4 Preview: Memphis
Our Michigan Wolverine basketball team faces its first true test of this young season against one of the most athletic teams in the nation. Michigan is now 3-0, all home games vs very weak schools where we never looked consistent or comfortable. Memphis is 1-0 with a win against Belmont (who is one of the smaller schools who will make noise in the tournament again this year). Even though we have 3 wins compared to the Tiger's 1, that 1 win is more impressive than all 3 of ours. So, basically all of the chips are against us, and even though we are only rated a few spots below Memphis... this game has a feeling of us vs Duke in last years NCAA tournament. Lets jump into the preview:
Memphis is an up tempo team that would like to score 300 points in a game if they could (97 in the first game). They have a crazy athletic back court led by sophomore Will Barton. He is a high volume scorer that is capable of putting up around 25 points. With the quick pace of the Tigers offense, it allows Barton to drive to the hoop as much as he wants and this results in many trips to the free throw line. Another tough matchup in this game is against the 6'9" Wesley Witherspoon, he plays guard and forward and might be there best shooter (8-8 in game 1, 3-3 from Beilein land), he also is Memphis' best rebounder. It will be very important to keep him off of the offensive glass. The Tigers' coach is very young and is following in his mentors footsteps of collecting as many one-and-done players as possible. This results in a ton of young talent. I dont expect Memphis to make the Final Four when the real tournament comes along because I think they will make too many mistakes. This year's Memphis team will lose Barton to the NBA, Witherspoon graduating, and the crazy talented freshman Adonis Thomas.
After writing all of that, it is tough to see how many teams can match up with this quick scoring machine, especially our team which is still filled with quite a few slow gumpy dudes. But actually, Coach Beilein's style of play is EXACTLY the type that can compete with a run and gun team. The only way to beat a team like this is to slow down their pace of play. It is the easiest way to get Memphis uncomfortable and out of a rythm. Michigan would like a game in the 50s, while Memphis just wants to outscore you. Another part of the run and gun style, especially with young players, is turnovers. Memphis will be susceptible to many turnovers and "freshman mistakes," while a Beilein coached team is usually in the top 10 of turnover difference and total turnovers by the end of the year (this was even true in seasons where he lost a lot of games). The key for our success today will be to make all of those turnovers count for easy points on our end. I am guessing Memphis will end up with 15-20 turnovers, and from these we need to average about 1.5 points per TO (20-30 points).
Key matchup: The battle of the young guards... Trey Burke vs Will Barton. Barton is easily more talented and NBA ready than Burke at this point, but Burke is the one that will need to control the tempo of the entire game. If Trey can limit his turnovers against this high pressure defensive team, our offensive efficiency will go up and we will get some open jump shots. It will be important to keep Barton on the perimeter, since he is a drive first player and his shot is not as developed as some. Keeping Barton from the paint will also keep him from the line. Burke also has to stretch the Memphis defense like he has all season by knocking down his open looks. We will be pretty competitive if Burke and Barton cancel each other out in terms of points, so that will most likely mean Barton only scores 13 (10 below his average). The other key matchup is Smot vs Witherspoon. Smot cant come close to guarding this cat man to man, but he can box him out. If Smot can control the boards like a player his size should be doing, we can limit the 2nd chance points for Memphis.
Prediction: On paper it looks like this Michigan team is outmatched at every position on the floor, and while that might be true I have seen this team do near impossible things last year. Michigan might need to drop into their standard 1-3-1 zone often to keep Memphis from getting to the rim off the dribble, if this happens the important part is rebounding out of the zone which Michigan struggles to do at times. I am expecting (or hoping) for Burke to have a huge game (13 points, 6 assists, most importantly 2 TO's, while limiting the Memphis guards to under 20 points). It will be interesting to see how Memphis defends the pick and roll offense, and I think they will be overly aggressive, leaving us with some easy buckets. While in reality Memphis will likely pull away with a 68-60 win... I have to root for my Maize and Blue to come out on top with a 63-61 victory thanks to Timmy Jr hitting a huge 3 to win it. That would be nice!
Well enjoy the first week day of Ohio week, please do all you can to throw away any red, wear maize, or prepare yourselves for victory on Saturday.
Until then Go Blue!
Memphis is an up tempo team that would like to score 300 points in a game if they could (97 in the first game). They have a crazy athletic back court led by sophomore Will Barton. He is a high volume scorer that is capable of putting up around 25 points. With the quick pace of the Tigers offense, it allows Barton to drive to the hoop as much as he wants and this results in many trips to the free throw line. Another tough matchup in this game is against the 6'9" Wesley Witherspoon, he plays guard and forward and might be there best shooter (8-8 in game 1, 3-3 from Beilein land), he also is Memphis' best rebounder. It will be very important to keep him off of the offensive glass. The Tigers' coach is very young and is following in his mentors footsteps of collecting as many one-and-done players as possible. This results in a ton of young talent. I dont expect Memphis to make the Final Four when the real tournament comes along because I think they will make too many mistakes. This year's Memphis team will lose Barton to the NBA, Witherspoon graduating, and the crazy talented freshman Adonis Thomas.
After writing all of that, it is tough to see how many teams can match up with this quick scoring machine, especially our team which is still filled with quite a few slow gumpy dudes. But actually, Coach Beilein's style of play is EXACTLY the type that can compete with a run and gun team. The only way to beat a team like this is to slow down their pace of play. It is the easiest way to get Memphis uncomfortable and out of a rythm. Michigan would like a game in the 50s, while Memphis just wants to outscore you. Another part of the run and gun style, especially with young players, is turnovers. Memphis will be susceptible to many turnovers and "freshman mistakes," while a Beilein coached team is usually in the top 10 of turnover difference and total turnovers by the end of the year (this was even true in seasons where he lost a lot of games). The key for our success today will be to make all of those turnovers count for easy points on our end. I am guessing Memphis will end up with 15-20 turnovers, and from these we need to average about 1.5 points per TO (20-30 points).
Key matchup: The battle of the young guards... Trey Burke vs Will Barton. Barton is easily more talented and NBA ready than Burke at this point, but Burke is the one that will need to control the tempo of the entire game. If Trey can limit his turnovers against this high pressure defensive team, our offensive efficiency will go up and we will get some open jump shots. It will be important to keep Barton on the perimeter, since he is a drive first player and his shot is not as developed as some. Keeping Barton from the paint will also keep him from the line. Burke also has to stretch the Memphis defense like he has all season by knocking down his open looks. We will be pretty competitive if Burke and Barton cancel each other out in terms of points, so that will most likely mean Barton only scores 13 (10 below his average). The other key matchup is Smot vs Witherspoon. Smot cant come close to guarding this cat man to man, but he can box him out. If Smot can control the boards like a player his size should be doing, we can limit the 2nd chance points for Memphis.
Prediction: On paper it looks like this Michigan team is outmatched at every position on the floor, and while that might be true I have seen this team do near impossible things last year. Michigan might need to drop into their standard 1-3-1 zone often to keep Memphis from getting to the rim off the dribble, if this happens the important part is rebounding out of the zone which Michigan struggles to do at times. I am expecting (or hoping) for Burke to have a huge game (13 points, 6 assists, most importantly 2 TO's, while limiting the Memphis guards to under 20 points). It will be interesting to see how Memphis defends the pick and roll offense, and I think they will be overly aggressive, leaving us with some easy buckets. While in reality Memphis will likely pull away with a 68-60 win... I have to root for my Maize and Blue to come out on top with a 63-61 victory thanks to Timmy Jr hitting a huge 3 to win it. That would be nice!
Well enjoy the first week day of Ohio week, please do all you can to throw away any red, wear maize, or prepare yourselves for victory on Saturday.
Until then Go Blue!
Michigan Basketball!
So while I am still learning a lot about the little intricacies about football, I think I have a pretty good understanding of basketball (being the son of a legendary Gobles basketball coach and wanting to eventually be a high school/ college coach one day). That being said, basketball is my favorite sport to play and college/ high school basketball is one of my favorites to watch and analyze. Luckily for me the Michigan's basketball team is in the middle of turning around a program that has been hit with major sanctions, a few inept coaches, and a in-state rival becoming a national powerhouse.
I will begin with a little look at last year before jumping into the current men's team. Before the year began last year I predicted the team would win 12-15 games. They lost the two biggest scoring options (also the two biggest attitude problems), they were still breaking in a sophomore point guard, and had questions at every positon. I totally underestimated the affect of getting rid of most of the negative attitudes in the program. The team was led by two junior Indiana guards who were in the 3rd year of the rebuilding program, and who would probably not be starters or even in the 12 man rotation at most other B1G schools. The held the very young inexperienced team together after beginning conference play near last place. After losing 6 games in a row and starting 1-6 in the B1G they rallied around Zak Novak and Tim Hardaway Jr and finished playing some of the best basketball in the conference and nation. They finished 8-3 to close out the regular season, swept MSU for the first time in what seemed like forever, and clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament with a first round win over Illinois. Most everyone knows the story after that....
Bring on the 2011-2012 basketball season, where the arguably the most valuable player to his team in the conference left early for the NBA and again we are breaking in a young talented point guard. The heart of the team is still alive and kicking though with everyone else returning from last year's surprise 2nd round appearance in the big tourney. There has been a lot of offseason hype around Michigan basketball for the first time in most people's memories. The recruiting class coming in next year is an across the board top 5 pull, student ticket demand has soared, and the team is rated in the top 20 to begin the season. Things are looking up. I have had a chance to go to 2 games this year already and I have honestly been pretty underwhelmed with the level of play so far. In the exhibition game against Wayne St it seemed more like practice time for Coach Beilein who tried to mix and match different line ups to feel comfortable with one. Only 4 players scored in the game, and won by single digits. Fast forward to game number 3 where we played Western Illinois, and at times the offense looked more in-sync but defensively the team looked sluggish and lazy at times. We let a bad team that starts 3 freshman hang around all game, and we never will pulled away like I was expecting. I want to just think that the players were looking forward to their trip to Hawaii, or if Western Illinois played their best game of the season. But some things really upset me about the team's performance.
Today we play a top 10 team in Memphis, a team that might be the most athletic in the nation, a team that we do not match up well against at all. I think at this point it will be hard to expect a victory later today, but I am expecting Coach Beilein to outcoach the youngster sitting at the other bench, and that advantage I am hoping is enough to keep the game close throughout. If you can keep the game in reach for 35 minutes, anything can happen in the last 5.
Later today I hope to write up a quick game preview before the 3pm tip..
Raising the speed limit on Michigan sports, I am Justin Koehn, Go Blue.
***Thank you again Phil for the sign off recommendations, I will try some of them out and see how they feel***
I will begin with a little look at last year before jumping into the current men's team. Before the year began last year I predicted the team would win 12-15 games. They lost the two biggest scoring options (also the two biggest attitude problems), they were still breaking in a sophomore point guard, and had questions at every positon. I totally underestimated the affect of getting rid of most of the negative attitudes in the program. The team was led by two junior Indiana guards who were in the 3rd year of the rebuilding program, and who would probably not be starters or even in the 12 man rotation at most other B1G schools. The held the very young inexperienced team together after beginning conference play near last place. After losing 6 games in a row and starting 1-6 in the B1G they rallied around Zak Novak and Tim Hardaway Jr and finished playing some of the best basketball in the conference and nation. They finished 8-3 to close out the regular season, swept MSU for the first time in what seemed like forever, and clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament with a first round win over Illinois. Most everyone knows the story after that....
Bring on the 2011-2012 basketball season, where the arguably the most valuable player to his team in the conference left early for the NBA and again we are breaking in a young talented point guard. The heart of the team is still alive and kicking though with everyone else returning from last year's surprise 2nd round appearance in the big tourney. There has been a lot of offseason hype around Michigan basketball for the first time in most people's memories. The recruiting class coming in next year is an across the board top 5 pull, student ticket demand has soared, and the team is rated in the top 20 to begin the season. Things are looking up. I have had a chance to go to 2 games this year already and I have honestly been pretty underwhelmed with the level of play so far. In the exhibition game against Wayne St it seemed more like practice time for Coach Beilein who tried to mix and match different line ups to feel comfortable with one. Only 4 players scored in the game, and won by single digits. Fast forward to game number 3 where we played Western Illinois, and at times the offense looked more in-sync but defensively the team looked sluggish and lazy at times. We let a bad team that starts 3 freshman hang around all game, and we never will pulled away like I was expecting. I want to just think that the players were looking forward to their trip to Hawaii, or if Western Illinois played their best game of the season. But some things really upset me about the team's performance.
Today we play a top 10 team in Memphis, a team that might be the most athletic in the nation, a team that we do not match up well against at all. I think at this point it will be hard to expect a victory later today, but I am expecting Coach Beilein to outcoach the youngster sitting at the other bench, and that advantage I am hoping is enough to keep the game close throughout. If you can keep the game in reach for 35 minutes, anything can happen in the last 5.
Later today I hope to write up a quick game preview before the 3pm tip..
Raising the speed limit on Michigan sports, I am Justin Koehn, Go Blue.
***Thank you again Phil for the sign off recommendations, I will try some of them out and see how they feel***
Sunday, November 20, 2011
BCS chaos (like promised)
This weekend it seemed like most top ten teams wanted to rebel against the BCS to push a playoff system through. 4 of the ten teams found all sorts of ways to lose their chance for a bunch of computers and "unbiased" people to pair them up against some team from the SEC to play for a National Championship.
One exciting thing about this weekend though was that if Michigan finds a way to beat Ohio next week, we should clinch a spot in a BCS bowl game (most likely the Orange Bowl vs the ACC champ).
At this point I am assuming LSU and Bama win out, securing a rematch for the National Championship game. Even though Oregon choked against USC, they should still win the Pac-12 and clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl against the B1G champ. After Oklahoma pulled a Notre Dame, Ok. St has clinched the Big 12 and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. That leaves a crappy ACC and Big East team for the Orange and Sugar Bowls. Of the 3 remaining at large bids, one is reserved for the highest rated of Houston or Boise St. The last two places will be chosen from a 2 loss ACC team, a 2 loss Kansas St team, a 1 loss Stanford team, and a 2 loss Michigan team.
I can't see the BCS taking a 2nd ACC team, when they just aren't very good. A one loss Stanford team will be a big TV draw thanks to Andrew Luck, but Stanford fans do not travel well at all. They did not use over 50% of their tickets allotted for the Orange Bowl last year. Michigan has to be an intriguing choice with the Denard factor and a first year coach. Since we havent been to a BCS game since the Rose Bowl in 2007, I would imagine we would be a very popular choice.
But, this discussion can only happen if we take care of business in ur next game vs Ohio.
Let's Go Blue, Beat OSU!!!
One exciting thing about this weekend though was that if Michigan finds a way to beat Ohio next week, we should clinch a spot in a BCS bowl game (most likely the Orange Bowl vs the ACC champ).
At this point I am assuming LSU and Bama win out, securing a rematch for the National Championship game. Even though Oregon choked against USC, they should still win the Pac-12 and clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl against the B1G champ. After Oklahoma pulled a Notre Dame, Ok. St has clinched the Big 12 and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. That leaves a crappy ACC and Big East team for the Orange and Sugar Bowls. Of the 3 remaining at large bids, one is reserved for the highest rated of Houston or Boise St. The last two places will be chosen from a 2 loss ACC team, a 2 loss Kansas St team, a 1 loss Stanford team, and a 2 loss Michigan team.
I can't see the BCS taking a 2nd ACC team, when they just aren't very good. A one loss Stanford team will be a big TV draw thanks to Andrew Luck, but Stanford fans do not travel well at all. They did not use over 50% of their tickets allotted for the Orange Bowl last year. Michigan has to be an intriguing choice with the Denard factor and a first year coach. Since we havent been to a BCS game since the Rose Bowl in 2007, I would imagine we would be a very popular choice.
But, this discussion can only happen if we take care of business in ur next game vs Ohio.
Let's Go Blue, Beat OSU!!!
Michigan Football
So yesterday the Michigan football team played the Cornhuskers in a welcome to the Big House/ B1G game. Honestly, before the game I was expecting a very close, hard hitting game that would go down to the wire. I thought most Michigan fans were over-hyped after playing pretty badly against a horrible Illinois team while still beating them easily.
I thought the game against Nebraska would have a 14-10 halftime score, which wasn't too far off. But, the second half was extremely enjoyable. The Michigan defense showed that its dominating effort against Illinois was not a fluke, and Al Borges finally looks comfortable calling plays with Denard as the QB. The special teams even looked pretty good. It seems like this team is peaking at the perfect time.
I was really impressed with both of the lines again yesterday. I actually think Molk and Martin have a decent chance at getting some All-American votes. Also, Denard looked comfortable in the pocket and for the first time since the Minnesota game, decisive while running the ball. It is amazing how much the same team can improve from last year, and also from the beginning of this season. I was very excited for Brady Hoke to take over the team back in January, but I would have never thought the improvements would be this drastic this fast: 2011 team on the verge of a BCS bowl berth (more on this later) and a top 5 recruiting class for 2012.
I thought that yesterday's game vs. Nebraska was the best football game a Michigan team has played since the 2008 Capital One Bowl.
What does this mean moving forward: It is officially Ohio week, and it was pretty cool to see how excited Coach Hoke was when he was finally able to talk about the game next Saturday. Even though it has been 7 years since we have been the truck drivers and criminals from the worst state ever and I can barely remember the joy of beating them... I think this year is setting up perfectly for Hoke's first of many wins against those people down there. The seniors on this team are 0-7 vs State and Ohio, I dont think there has ever been a class that went 0-8. The seniors on this team have been through so much controversy, turmoil, and have perservered through it as "Michigan Men." This weekend will the fans turn to honor them, and I would imagine the cheers are going to be VERY loud. Meanwhile, Ohio is coming off of 2 straight losses and have looked terrible in doing so. Their defense is pretty tough, but their offense is anemic. I think the only way they hang around next week is if we have some bad turnovers (which Denard has been capable of providing) which result in touchdowns for Ohio's defense. I am interested in seeing how the M faithful turn out for this weekend's game seeing how it is Thanksgiving weekend and many students will be at home. Could it be a repeat of the 2007 OSU game where Ohio-ans filled what seemed like a majority of the stadium? I hope not.
Anyways, this week is going to be one of the best of the year, and I am looking forward to it.
***Since this is supposed to be my version of a radio show, I will need a signature sign off. I will take any suggestions, but for now:***
"This is Michigan for God sake" & Go Blue.
I thought the game against Nebraska would have a 14-10 halftime score, which wasn't too far off. But, the second half was extremely enjoyable. The Michigan defense showed that its dominating effort against Illinois was not a fluke, and Al Borges finally looks comfortable calling plays with Denard as the QB. The special teams even looked pretty good. It seems like this team is peaking at the perfect time.
I was really impressed with both of the lines again yesterday. I actually think Molk and Martin have a decent chance at getting some All-American votes. Also, Denard looked comfortable in the pocket and for the first time since the Minnesota game, decisive while running the ball. It is amazing how much the same team can improve from last year, and also from the beginning of this season. I was very excited for Brady Hoke to take over the team back in January, but I would have never thought the improvements would be this drastic this fast: 2011 team on the verge of a BCS bowl berth (more on this later) and a top 5 recruiting class for 2012.
I thought that yesterday's game vs. Nebraska was the best football game a Michigan team has played since the 2008 Capital One Bowl.
What does this mean moving forward: It is officially Ohio week, and it was pretty cool to see how excited Coach Hoke was when he was finally able to talk about the game next Saturday. Even though it has been 7 years since we have been the truck drivers and criminals from the worst state ever and I can barely remember the joy of beating them... I think this year is setting up perfectly for Hoke's first of many wins against those people down there. The seniors on this team are 0-7 vs State and Ohio, I dont think there has ever been a class that went 0-8. The seniors on this team have been through so much controversy, turmoil, and have perservered through it as "Michigan Men." This weekend will the fans turn to honor them, and I would imagine the cheers are going to be VERY loud. Meanwhile, Ohio is coming off of 2 straight losses and have looked terrible in doing so. Their defense is pretty tough, but their offense is anemic. I think the only way they hang around next week is if we have some bad turnovers (which Denard has been capable of providing) which result in touchdowns for Ohio's defense. I am interested in seeing how the M faithful turn out for this weekend's game seeing how it is Thanksgiving weekend and many students will be at home. Could it be a repeat of the 2007 OSU game where Ohio-ans filled what seemed like a majority of the stadium? I hope not.
Anyways, this week is going to be one of the best of the year, and I am looking forward to it.
***Since this is supposed to be my version of a radio show, I will need a signature sign off. I will take any suggestions, but for now:***
"This is Michigan for God sake" & Go Blue.
Intro to blogging
Hello all,
A few weeks ago a friend told me that I should have my own sports talk radio show, named Koehn's Lane. I thought the name was amazing, but I had no way to actually get on the radio. So, sitting here watching the Lions on a Sunday afternoon I decided to just create a blog where I can speak my mind about all of my sports opinions since my wife gets bored after a few minutes of listening to me. I hope people can enjoy my thoughts, and if not well at least my opinions won't be just swirling around in my head any more.
A few weeks ago a friend told me that I should have my own sports talk radio show, named Koehn's Lane. I thought the name was amazing, but I had no way to actually get on the radio. So, sitting here watching the Lions on a Sunday afternoon I decided to just create a blog where I can speak my mind about all of my sports opinions since my wife gets bored after a few minutes of listening to me. I hope people can enjoy my thoughts, and if not well at least my opinions won't be just swirling around in my head any more.
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