I was pounded last night and this morning with pundits framing this year’s Final Four as the greatest ever, pointing to the unprecedented four #1 seeds, and the AP which understandably had Memphis, North Carolina, UCLA and Kansas in top slots in the final poll. Other experts pointed to the tradition of these schools and their placement in all-time NCAA hoops wins. It’s no doubt an impressive Final Four but I don’t think you can call it the unquestioned strongest field ever. The 1993 Final Four is remembered most for Chris Webber’s timeout, and for folks in Ann Arbor, the fact that Michigan’s existence was wiped from the NCAA and University record books. But comparing it with the 2008 field I think you can argue the 1993 field is as strong if not stronger. First let’s look at the seedings, as that’s what most folks look to when anointing the current group the greatest ever. Yes, all #1 seeds made it and get ready to be reminded of that all week (flashback to Super Bowl XL- it turns out Jerome Bettis is from Detroit). In 1993 you came up just short, with three #1’s (Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina) and a #2 (Kansas). The Kansas nipped Big Ten champ and #1 seed Indiana 83-77 in the Midwest Regional final. So looking…
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WTKA’s ‘Off the Field’ Notes 3-30
A few notes from this mornings installment of WTKA’s Off the Field with John Bacon and Jamie Morris: * Legendary softball coach Carol Hutchins called in from the Purdue campus. She’s a great interview and a solid representative of M athletics. She talked about the recruiting process and stressed that they don’t do a lot of selling to recruits – they let the campus, the program and the atmosphere do the work. One little factoid came out of the conversation as Morris (who works within the athletic department) confirmed that there are over 600 softball season ticket holders compared to 200 for Men’s baseball. Wow. * Michigan Associated Press writer Larry Lage called in as well and talked about a variety of topics including his job, Rich Rodriguez, the upcoming Spring scrimmage. During the interview Morris confirmed that the game will not be open to the public, as best I can tell the first University official to do so. So you’ll need to sneak in to see it and here’s some tips. Lage openly argued that the game should be played at EMU’s Rynearson stadium…Morris did not respond: * Lage went on a limb and predicted that Michigan’s quarterback this season will be Carlos Brown; Morris suggested it would be “a freshman” and made reference to that recruit from Florida…
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Want to Watch the Michigan Spring Game?
UPDATE 4/12/08: Full Spring Game 2008 coverage, click here Of course you do. There’s still no word from Michigan’s official site, but the Saline Reporter is confirming that the 2008 Michigan Spring football game will indeed be played on April 12th at 1:30pm at Saline High School. The game is closed to the public as at best 10,000 fans could squeeze into the site and you’d have to expect crazy demand to get a peek at Coach Rod’s new offense and defense. It looks like it will be televised on the Big Ten Network, but some folks will get a first hand view of the goings on. Per the Reporter: While many members of the Saline athletic department, school system and athletics teams will be able to attend, White said that attendance issues would ultimately be left up to Michigan and the U of M athletic department. Many of you have already racked your noggin on how to get in, perhaps calling in favors with friends in Saline or within the athletic department. Forget any ideas of sneaking in with the equipment truck or waving a clip board as security will be tight. To save you some effort, I took a trip up to Saline and cased the joint. It’ll be interesting to see how the University manages the flow…
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Frozen Four bound: Michigan 2, Clarkson 0
A much needed confidence builder for Billy Sauer stopped all 27 shots as the Wolverines took down Clarkson 2-0 to advance to the Frozen Four. Nice! Hobey Baker finalist Kevin Porter added his fifth goal of the tournament and Aaron Palushaj had the game winner. UPDATE: Looks like we’ll be facing the Irish in Denver. Don’t forget to get your unofficial 2008 Michigan Frozen Four t-shirts and gear:
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Sporting News: Boren’s a whiner
Correct. Full story,
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1978 Ohio State Highlights (YouTube)
Another gem from WolverineHistorian on the YouTube. Don’t miss ABC’s interview with Ricky Leach as he’s being mobbed on the field (in Columbus!): A YouTube viewer asked if this was the game where Woody was punching himself on the sidelines near the end. WH replied: Yes it was. But while looking through the game, I couldn’t find the footage even though I’ve read in articles that it was caught on TV. I’ll have to go back again and see if maybe I missed it. Of course the next game Hayes stopped punching himself and instead punched a Clemson players, effectively ending his career. You can see this clip here. Elsewhere: Don’t miss Michigan Sports Center and The House that Yost Built on the hockey team’s 5-1 over Niagra in Albany. By the way, I caught the beginning of WTKA’s broadcast and Jim Hunt offered up his feelings on the arena in Albany: “and I thought Joe Louis [Arena] was a dump.” Great stuff.
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Sklars interview Rich Rod on Rome (audio)
Fellow Michigan grads (and my classmates) The Sklar Brothers filled in for Jim Rome today and interviewed Rich Rodriguez in the third hour. Here’s the audio from the interview: [display_podcast] Coach Rod talks about the Ann Arbor community, offers his disdain for those lousy, rumor-spreading bloggers [hey!], talks about the challenge his coaches present to players [perhaps a subtle response to the Boren thing] and admits he doesn’t care for River dancing. You may know Jason and Randy Sklar from ESPN’s Cheap Seats or for their cameos on HBO’s Entourage. Or you may have seen them cut in line at Backroom in 1992, getting a greasy slice at 2am. I saw their stand-up act a couple years back and it was hilarious. FWIW: For Sklar fans, a few beauties today: – Made reference to being “haunted by the ghost of Sergio Garcia’s career.” – Mentioned that the plastic-surgery riddled Olympian Bruce Jenner is starting to look like “all my friends’ moms”. – Last time on Rome offered that a friend saw the Philly Fanatic at a bar mitzvah and maintains that the mascot head smelled like “Doritos, Jagermeister, and broken dreams.” UPDATE: Jim Carty spoke to Coach Rod as well and RR directly addressed the Boren comments, from MLive: “Anybody who would make any comment about our values is way…
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Judas!
What? Boren announced he was leaving (fine), then he trashed the new program (not fine) but now the kicker….there’s word out that he might be headed to Ohio State?! What the _! ? Borendict Arnold!! Borendict Arnold Per his old man who played for Bo Schembechler (!) (this is getting worse and worse): “Ohio State would be a good fit for Justin, and that’s why he’s not at Michigan anymore, because Michigan is not the right fit for him,” said Mike Boren, who played under Bo Schembechler in the early 1980s. “I have not talked to Ohio State and I’m not sure about their situation. … But would he go to Ohio State? Yes. The only two schools he seriously considered three years ago were Ohio State and Michigan, and he almost went to Ohio State even then.” Jokes aside, this is a tough one to take if it happens. You know coaches have switched sides (Bo, of course) but to have a player transfer would be a biggie. All this said I’m still more concerned about his ‘eroding family’ shot from last night.