AP Photo Many football coaches say you can determine how a game is going to go in the first few minutes.  Just watch the trenches, the pad level, the push…and you’ll have a good idea how things are going to go.   Thankfully that’s not always the case in hoops. The start was a little scary for me.  Clemson starting getting easy lay-ups, dunks, and just looked so much better.  I started wondering if Feinstein was onto something.  Through the first four minutes+ it was very shaky for Old Mich. But then then the guards got a couple good looks from the arc and the defense settled down.  Harris hit a nice three and Clemson started making poor decisions highlighted by that Terrence ‘I think I’m Skiles’ Oglesby who was firing from anywhere below the hash.  (When he was ejected for the elbow I actually felt like that was a loss for Michigan.) The last seven minutes of the game were torture.  I hope that’s just a side effect from our inexperience, and not the system.  I tend to think it’s the former after watching the great Purdue win a few weeks ago.  Most remember the terrible free throw shooting down the stretch in the win over the Boilers, but being a court level, I can tell you we made countless…

Five minutes with John Beilein on WJR with Fab Five,  BO, and Tuesdays with Morrie author and Free Press columnist Mitch Albom: [display_podcast]

Pete Tiernan of bracketscience.com plugged all the key stats of the 65 teams into a spreadsheet, performed his analysis and published the rankings in his multimedia blog ($).  I extracted a few of the Wolverine-relevant categories, again, these are versus the entire NCAA field: Field goal percentage differential versus opponents: Best: Gonzaga (+.120) Worst: Michigan (-.011) Percentage of three-point field goals attempted: Highest: Michigan (.476) Lowest: Washington (.205) Rebounding margin*: Largest: Michigan State (9.9 rpg) Smallest: Michigan (-3.1 rpg) I’m not shocked by any of these stats, but if you handed me just the field goal percentage stat and the rebounding margin before this season, I’d of guessed Michigan would win about 10 games in 2008.  I mean, we shot worse than our opponents and on top of that, we probably didn’t get off as many shots because we didn’t get any rebounds (although I think we do better on the offensive glass because we get some long rebounds). Granted, this is a comparison against the best teams in the country, but still.  Of course when you see the stat on the three point field goals attempted, we make up for our relatively poor shooting because shot for shot, our attempts on average are worth more if they find the net. *If you’re wondering, when Michigan and Michigan State played…

mgoblue.com put up a timeline of coach John Beilein’s day yesterday (HT: MSC).  I got a kick out of the activities just after 4pm as the coach decided to take a hard run at his list of man chores: Elsewhere: UM Hoops has some video from Crisler and a nice photo of the reaction.

From bracketscience.com, a quick compilation of John Beilein’s record in the tournament. And remember that Beilein is listed as the top “upstart” tournament coach (those with 3 or 4 appearances).  Here’s the graphic from CBS Sports.com:

As printed in the Sunday Ann Arbor News, tickets for the Fab Five’s appearance at the Final 4 go on sale this week.  Details: The event, which will be held April 4 at The Soundboard inside the Motor City Casino, will benefit the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. General admission tickets will be sold for a limited time at $60 and VIP access for $100, and can be purchased at Neptix.com beginning Monday. There’s also a contest if you don’t have the means to shell out the $60 (or $100 for you playas).  They’re giving away five sets of tickets to folks who offer up their best memories of the Fab Five, again, details: In conjunction with the event, fans are invited to e-mail their favorite Fab Five memory. Five responses will be chosen to receive two free tickets. Submissions, which are due by March 20, can be e-mailed to fab5event@yahoo.com. Participants must be at least 21 years old to enter. I was in school with these gents, and was a just about every home game (and a few on the road).  My favorite memory?  Probably the Kentucky game in New Orleans. When most U-M fans remember the 1993 Final Four they zero in on Webber’s timeout of course.  Well, the Saturday semi-final game against Jamal Mashburn…

At Schembechler Hall yesterday, Will Johnson threw up the 225lb bench press a ridiculous 47 times to apparently break an NFL combine record in front of NFL scouts. Per mgoblue.com: Defensive tackle Will Johnson turned in the day’s most-impressive performance, wowing the scouts and onlookers with an eye-popping and record-setting 47 reps of 225 pounds. The effort eclipsed anything that has been previously achieved by a Wolverine and broke what was believed to be the NFL Combine record, 42 reps set by former U-M left tackle Jake Long last season. Johnson also clocked 4.9 second in the 40-yard dash. “It was exciting, but my goal was to put up 50 reps,” said Johnson. “I’m really pleased with what I was able to accomplish, though.” “Will’s performance on the bench was amazing,” added Rodriguez. “He showed great effort and determination in setting that record. Will is an intense competitor and a hard-working guy.” Photos are available from the official site here. Looks like some old friends stopped by as well to support the guys.

Photo: Detroit Free Press