A quick dump, twenty minutes after the OT win: I always love the IU vs. Michigan game because of the hoops tradition at the two schools and probably more so because I attended IU for two years at the end of the Knight era. I’ve seen a couple of dozen games at Assembly Hall including a few real beauties. What a classic. I actually missed the first half due to the early start. When I tuned on BTN, they were flashing the first-half stats. All brutal obviously; everything in IU’s favor and Michigan was shooting horribly. After the first few minutes of the second, I saw Michigan firing (and firing, and firing) and missing. A disappointing, two-steps-back loss seemed imminent and I chalked this up to one of the drawbacks of Beilein’s system: we’re going to win some we probably shouldn’t and vice versa. But those M men grinded away, never stopped firing, stepped up the defense and seemed to get open looks constantly. Obviously, a lot of this is on Indiana. While Michigan hit some clutch shots (Sims turnaround jumper in overtime was money), the Hoosiers couldn’t seem to get a hand in the face of most of the threes and rest assured they will be shooting some free throws tomorrow after failing to convert when Michigan nearly collapsed…
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Mini Me keeps the Faith
Thanks to Rosie for sending this along, here’s Verne Troyer aka Mini Me showing that he remains faithful to the Maize and Blue: And for any haters who are thinking that’s a wussy-ass dog, proportionally our man Mini Me has a massive beast on his hands. What’s he supposed to own, a Great Dane? Related: – Celebrity Columnist Wanted: Ann Arbor News won’t use Mini Me in 2008
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Yost should bow to Stoops’ Sooners?
Fielding H. Yost, 1907 team postcards From a post composed by John Fineran of gatorcountry.com: Even Michigan’s legendary coach Fielding Yost might rise from his grave and pay Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and his Sooners their due. Yost, you’ll remember, was the architect of Michigan’s “point-a-minute” team of 1901 that scored 550 points in 660 minutes of football in winning the national championship and the first Rose Bowl. Actually, that’s 0.83 points every 60 seconds, making the offense of Michigan’s Yost toast when compared to Oklahoma, where the points come whistling down the plains. These 2008 Sooners, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford, have scored 702 points in 780 minutes of play this year – 12 regular-season games and the Big 12 Championship – in running up a 12-1 record that has them in the BCS National Championship Game Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium against the potent Florida Gators. Not quite a point-a-minute, mind you. But again, fathom the numbers – 702 points in 780 minutes of play. That’s 0.9 points every 60 seconds. Clearly this isn’t meant to be a deep dive comparison on Yost vs. Stoops– the purpose is to highlight the prolific offense possessed by the Gators’ barrier to another BCS championship. That said, there’s an inaccuracy in those numbers. The Wolverines played 11 games in…
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Bacon Interviews Rodriguez on Inaugural Big Show (audio)
Local author, professor and Michigan athletics historian John U. Bacon launched his new radio program this afternoon on WTKA’s ‘Big Show’. As announced a few weeks ago, Bacs will take the Monday 3-6pm slot on the live local program which rotates hosts throughout the week. He started off with a bang as just a few minutes after taking the air he had Coach Rich Rodriguez on the line. They discussed the rigors of recruiting, how the internet has changed recruiting, on “derecruiting” (getting players adjusted to school and the football program after they’ve been fawned over for years), on the reception he got at Crisler during the Illinois hoops game, on the search for the defensive coordinator (nothing new, although he admitted a factor was the NFL playoffs) and on the defensive scheme he’s looking for, and more. Enjoy: [display_podcast] A couple notes: * I got a chuckle when he and Bacon joked about how coaches rave over the food served the families of recruits. Rodriguez said jokingly, “the tea tastes sweeter”, which is a reference to southern-style iced tea, also called sweet tea (prounounced swate tay) due to (duh) it being loaded with sugar. You’d be hard pressed to find a recruit’s moms serving sweet tea anywhere in these parts anytime but especially this time of year. I’m not…
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Webb Explains Will Campbell’s head (audio)
A great segment of Recruiting Round-up on WTKA this morning. Host Sam Webb broke down the William ‘Big Will’ Campbell recruitment process and revealed some of the inside pool on why Webb and other recruiting gurus weren’t buying Campbell’s declaration that Michigan was off his list last week. Here’s the first five or so minutes where Webb gives you all the goodies and explains: – Campbell’s initial commitment – The reason for Big Will’s decommitment – The rationale behind declaring Michigan was off his list earlier this week – On his mother’s assurance that Michigan was at the top of the list – And, Big Will’s message to Rich Rod and the text he blasted out to his Michigan peeps before the selection: [display_podcast] Summary: – On why he decommitted: There was a coaching change of course, but Webb advises that it was primarily the desire to visit other schools (LSU, for instance, wouldn’t allow a visit if he was committed to Michigan) and his desire to declare on national TV (and pick the hat, etc.) – Why Campbell said Michigan was off his list last week:: “to inject a little bit a intrigue” into the selection. – On why Webb was still confident of Will going to Michigan after those statements: Several things: – Campbell told the Army people…
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Beautiful Hoops; M downs Illini 74-64
What a classic basketball game today as Beilein and hoops recover from the tough Wisconsin loss to get their first conference win, 74-64 over Illinois. It certainly wasn’t a must win, but losing the first two Big Ten games at home would have caused a bit of a shiver. On hand for the game was once again coaches Carr and Rodriguez, each with their wives. BTN color man and Buckeye Jimmy Jackson couldn’t help but admit that he was sorry that Lloyd Carr hung up his whistle, saying as a Buck, Carr was his favorite coach. Some forget that Carr crushed the Buckeyes early in his coaching career and despite the struggles against Tressel was 6-7 lifetime. But he certainly finished on a down note and Jackson’s comment would be excusable if Carr and his wife Laurie weren’t sitting right next to him on the end of the press table. Come on man. But I thought Jackson did a good job for BTN and today, and man, was he awesome at Ohio State. When they panned over to Fab Fiver Jimmy King chilling in the tunnel JJ talked about some of their battles (Ohio State won two during the regular season with Michigan winning in the NCAA tournament). I was at the game at Crisler his senior year and Jackson…
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Witnessing Horrific History at Lambeau
As we conclude Wildcard weekend today, I thought I’d offer one back look at the miserable Lions. A friend of mine, Paul, made the trek to Green Bay last weekend to witness a bit of history as Detroit failed to prevent what’s widely considered the worst season in pro sports history. I asked him to send me a few takes and photos from the trip, enjoy: We didn’t have any issue getting tickets, but because every game at Lambeau is sold out for years to come we had to go to StubHub. We bought very nice seats that had a $62/face for $106. We drove in for the game and it was a mess getting to the stadium. It took us an hour to travel the last five miles. As far as the tailgating environment, they have a bunch of special tents set up around the stadium and around Brett Favre’s steakhouse. There were folks tailgating where they parked but they really don’t have large parking lots around the stadium. It was a lot of car dealership lots, truck stops, car pool areas, and malls. Lambeau looks like they took Spartan Stadium except it’s painted yellow instead of white. Similar press box, ramps, scoreboard. They really don’t have any advertising inside the stadium except for on the scoreboard. The…
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Big Will Style – Campbell Headed to Ann Arbor
Just announced – dig it: Update: Sam Webb explains what was going on with the commitment, decommitment, not going to Michigan, and finally, commitment ping pong.