• Broom! (Goes the Dynamite) Michigan 70, MSU 63

      What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, don’t you think?  Bullets: It has been amazing to witness the young guys, especially Morgan, Hardaway & Morris, maturing and improving since the start of the season.   It’s tangible progress before our eyes so hats off to the entire coaching staff and of course the team.  I actually give some credit to the M fans for the Maize out.  As I like to say, Wolverine fans are really good at “Wear Whatever You Want-Outs” but horrible at Maize-outs.  I thought the place was about 75-ish percent maize which is about as good as you are going to get.  I was a student during the Fab Five era when we used to wait out hours to pile into Crisler and pack the place  It had that feel yesterday. Speaking of the Maize-out: the always sharp-dressed M assistant Bacari Alexander looked sharp in his brown suit, but what do we need to do to get Coach Tweet outfitted in an all-Maize ensemble??  Sharp! Those on Twitter might have seen a barrage of  “HALOL!”.   I’ve been asked by a few folks what it refers to.  It’s a common tag on Coach Alexander’s tweets which I presumed to simply be an emphatic version of “LOL!”.   Sunday morning Bacari confirmed this: I expected the students…

  • Interview: Pete Tiernan of bracketscience.com

    This week I sat down with Pete Tiernan, founder of bracketscience.com, a website with a comprehensive database that allows subscribers to slice and dice historical NCAA tournament data.  Tiernan also provides statistical trends, charts, tips and strategies for busting up your pools. Over the past several years he’s contributed a column to ESPN.com insider$ and in 2009 will be featured at CBSSports.com. Tiernan holds two degrees from Michigan and taught for a while within the English department.   His ties to the M basketball program run deep as his dad, ‘Boom Boom’ Tom Tiernan, laced them up for the Maize & Blue back when they played at Yost Field House in the early 1950s. We met in downtown Saline at the excellent Brecon Grille and over a few pints, he was kind enough to answer questions about Beilein, Michigan, tourney trends, the selection committee and more.  We close with a cool story about his son who played for the Grand Valley State team that shocked Michigan State at Breslin last year.  Enjoy: MVictors: Michigan basketball is becoming relevant again thanks to John Beilein. Let’s cut right to it, how does Beilein’s tournament coaching record stack up? Tiernan: Michigan made a very good choice.   John Beilein is the top overperforming active coach of the modern tournament era. There’s a statistic that I have…

  • Hoosiers Breeze in front of Coaches Carr & Rod

    This is midway through the first half – this is real Made it up to the game last night and it wasn’t as close as the 78-64 final score. – It’s a little frustrating to sit and watch. The offense pretty much looks for an open three and then clanks it off the rim. The good news? It seemed like they were getting good looks at the rim before then tossing the brick. – The highlight of the game was DeShawn Sims’ three-quarter court heave to end the half. The place erupted and that was nice to see. – Newsflash: Eric Gordon is amazing. Michigan kept it relatively close near half because Gordon was on the bench with three fouls. – A few local AA-list celebrities at the game including: * Coach Carr with wife Laurie at mid-court. He got a huge cheer when they showed him on the screen. * Coach Rod with a few new staffers (see pic). Both coaches spent some time with Florida grad and supreme hotness Erin Andrews. * Joe Dumars courtside checking out the talent. * Sam Webb of WTKA. – As far as the arena, it was at best 40% full with large portions of the Maize section empty. Four of us walked up to Crisler without tickets. A few different fans handed…