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

I saw this first in the Ann Arbor News, then got the direct quote from The Washington Post. Pundit and writer John Feinstein is pretty sick of the talk of the Big Ten getting 7 or 8 bids: “If the Big Ten gets eight bids, the selection committee should be disbanded,” the Washington Post’s John Feinstein told me Thursday. “The committee should be ashamed of itself if the Big Ten gets eight. The Big Ten deserve two bids.” Strong words. Granted the whole thing is a bit of a house of cards as two-thirds of the season is played against one’s own conference, but certainly there’s enough data (including head-to-head) to compare these teams and the strength of the conferences. Two teams from the Big Ten? Take one of the last few Big Ten teams that’ll likely get in–Michigan. Throw out the conference record as Feinstein might do. Losses at Maryland (barely), at Connecticut (barely) and in New York against Duke. Wins in the rematch with Duke and on the road against UCLA. Minnesota, a team probably slotted below Michigan, beat likely #1 seed Louisville. How has the Big Ten not demonstrated its worthiness? Is he pinning this on Michigan State’s struggle at the Palace Ford Field against North Carolina? If I’m Feinstein, I’d direct my guns at the idea…

They had to win, they knew it, and left no wiggle room.  The blow-out win over Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament has to put Michigan into the NCAA tournament.   Sims and Harris and company took it right to the Hawkeyes, making great decisions with the ball and hitting some really nice shots.  It’s the best they’ve looked all year and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  This also wipes away any sting of the Harris benching for the overtime loss at Iowa.  M fans of the world surrender…and hand the keys back to Beilein. So is it a 10 seed?  If they lose tomorrow to Illinois that seems be the right slot.  If they move on past the Illini who knows, maybe a 9? If they do get the 10 seed, that’ll be familiar ground for Beilein.  In his 4 tournament appearances his average seed is exactly ten, this according to Pete Tiernan’s bracketscience.com.  More importantly, Beilein’s had a lot of success in that position as he’s the top performing NCAA tournament coach against seed expectation (minimum 4 appearances), edging out former Michigan coach Steve Fisher:   At the time of our interview Michigan was slotted to be around a 9 or 10 seed.  I asked Pete if getting an 8 or 9…

Forget about the ships! Here’s the straight dope from UM Hoops.com: BTT Game 1: Michigan vs. Iowa Preview

Let's go back to 1929 and the game between Michigan and Minnesota that season.  Up for auction is a medal attached to a pin, celebrating the November 16, 1929 homecoming battle that took place in Minneapolis.  Here’s a look

If you watched Sunday’s broadcast of the North Carolina-Duke game, you might have noticed a familiar face behind the bench.  Seated in the prime seats was none other than Juwan ‘Big Nook’ Howard of your Fab Five.  I’m not sure exactly why he was there, but he plays for the Charlotte Bobcats so it wasn’t much of a trip to get there. The CBS cameras panned to someone else but the unmistakable mug of Juwan was in clear sight: Howard knows these teams pretty well of course, playing (and losing) in the NCAA finals to Duke as freshman then to North Carolina as sophomores.  I was at the latter, sitting about 20 rows behind the bench as UNC’s Donald Williams rained down threes the whole game and Chris Webber painfully called the timeout. If you are staring blankly at the Big Nook reference, it was Juwan’s nickname (at least in college).  I don’t know if he got it at Michigan or before, but it’s what they used to flash on the Crisler scoreboard during introductions and when the big fella made a nice play. They worked up scoreboard aliases for the rest of the Fab Five too, thanks to Rosey and Sarin for bringing these back: Jalen Rose was “Jinx” Jimmy King was “Jim-Jam” Chris Webber was “Truth” Ray Jackson…