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Baseball Commit: Adam Robinson
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Adam is a very gritty player with great speed and some pop in his bat […] He is a very competitive athlete and we are excited to have him join our family and compete with us.
That's Michigan coach Rich Maloney informing us of a new baseball recruit, Adam Robinson; let the never ending comparisons to David Eckstein begin. GRRIIIITTT.
Jokes aside, Robinson, a left fielder and leadoff hitter for Glenbrook North in GlenNorthbrook, IL is a very solid pick up for the Wolverines. He's entering his 3rd year on the varsity team on a very good program in the state of Illinois. Last season, his team made it all the way to the 4A Regional Championship.
As far as the scouts are concerned, Prep Baseball Report does it best in Illinois, listing him first in their 2010 top prospects from the state:
A top-level athlete, Robinson is clearly one of the quickest prospects in the Class of 2010. Physically strong and compact, Robinson ran an event-best 6.76 60 and a 4.32 home-to-first time from the right side. At the plate, Robinson has gap-to-gap power, extremely quick hands and a compact swing. His athleticism translates well in the outfield as well, as he moves fluidly and takes excellent routs to the baseball.
Adam has approximately 40 steals in two seasons, which translates to about 1 per game. That's more impressive than it sounds. That speed and athleticism have him as a two sport athlete as he also is the starting running back for the football team, pictured below.
Robinson also has a solid summer league pedigree. This last summer was spent with Top Tier's 17 and under squad that won the CABA World Series. Their coach on the team and program:
"We've had 25 kids get drafted over the past six years, and we pride ourselves on giving kids an opportunity to play at the next level," said Top Tier 17-U American coach Todd Fine. "But from a team standpoint, the CABA World Series title was the biggest win in the history of the program."
That sounds promising. As far as early playing time, I don't think Robinson makes the starting lineup too quickly. We'll first have to see how much longer Ryan LaMarre is still on campus before we can start projecting the outfield two years down the road.
This makes 5 in the recruiting class already for Coach Maloney. I reviewed the other four early signings previously. The class has two outfielders, so I doubt we see too many more. By the time we get the full list of enrollees, I imagine we'll see a couple more pitchers and another corner infielder.
2032
A Brush fire warms but then too it kills.
The Gemenids were the highlight of '31. The middle of December J-Bo in his pained reading rictus got through to the Prior: "There will be meteors. A shower, even, a glorious show for those ain't got cable."
The Prior, by then wizened and intent mostly on the phantom pains emanating from the Roh Stump, nodded mechanically in the way he'd come to. His eyes, yellow when they had a color to speak of were clear later when J-Bo dragged the Prior on top of the overpass. Ragtag and toothless their neighbors oohed and like owls moved necks but not heads and a flipper babby wearing a Scarlett jumper made up-chuck.
J-Bo, in rolls and wrinkles like that babby, a thousand pounds heavier, looked longinly on his partner. The prior said: "J-Bo, I declare our downfall, and the volcano that done swallowed CBus, and all my trials through gout and whatnot, up to and including the botched peener-surgery that tooked old Coach Tre hisself..." The Prior studied his duct-tape loafer. "Well, J, I say that the whole of that sufferin', all our travail, it's abound to be done in '32. I feel the good times, and I smell the iron blood of RichRod near.
Middle of January and the Prior and J-Bo were down to a rancid twizzler and a bouillon cube between them and cold starvation. Before a flatscreen in a storefront, air raid horns all around but snuggled tight their dotted eyes saw RichRod and a press conference. "He's close, Prior." J-Bo cupped one of Prior's cheeks, and not since '09 had that glint he'd seen in the latter's eyes.
"Oh yes, he's close." They kissed.
...to be continued...
The Gemenids were the highlight of '31. The middle of December J-Bo in his pained reading rictus got through to the Prior: "There will be meteors. A shower, even, a glorious show for those ain't got cable."
The Prior, by then wizened and intent mostly on the phantom pains emanating from the Roh Stump, nodded mechanically in the way he'd come to. His eyes, yellow when they had a color to speak of were clear later when J-Bo dragged the Prior on top of the overpass. Ragtag and toothless their neighbors oohed and like owls moved necks but not heads and a flipper babby wearing a Scarlett jumper made up-chuck.
J-Bo, in rolls and wrinkles like that babby, a thousand pounds heavier, looked longinly on his partner. The prior said: "J-Bo, I declare our downfall, and the volcano that done swallowed CBus, and all my trials through gout and whatnot, up to and including the botched peener-surgery that tooked old Coach Tre hisself..." The Prior studied his duct-tape loafer. "Well, J, I say that the whole of that sufferin', all our travail, it's abound to be done in '32. I feel the good times, and I smell the iron blood of RichRod near.
Middle of January and the Prior and J-Bo were down to a rancid twizzler and a bouillon cube between them and cold starvation. Before a flatscreen in a storefront, air raid horns all around but snuggled tight their dotted eyes saw RichRod and a press conference. "He's close, Prior." J-Bo cupped one of Prior's cheeks, and not since '09 had that glint he'd seen in the latter's eyes.
"Oh yes, he's close." They kissed.
...to be continued...
Littlest Elf out the box version of a big 14
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This started as a comment but ended up a diary...
Conference Name: The Ginormous 14 Team Composition: The 11 teams of the Big Ten are "grandfathered" in and 3 other teams are offered a seat at the table when the 14 rings of power are forged in the fires of mount doom (say, columbus, OH) Say, the 3 upstarts to invite first are ND, Pitt, and Okie State. If these teams opt out, substitute others that help expand the conference's power in desirable ways (ie., expand it's geographic size while keeping a midwestern rust/corn belt identity, are academically and financially good additions to the federation, etc). Rivals:
Each team would have 2 rivalry games that would occur every year and these would be ironed out before the inaugural season of the confernence taking into account mainly historical and geographic factors in deciding who gets who. So, Michigan's rivals would end up being Ohio St and Mich St and since these teams would probably mutually select each other and they are all full member teams. As a second example, Okie State would have less say in this process as a new team and might end up with Indiana and Iowa as rival based mainly on geography in this case. Conference rivalries would be reviewed by the league's brass every 4 years and teams who are looking to change this up would have some say in getting this done.
The Draw:
A preseason midsummer draw would determine 2 divisions each year ala FIFA's way of organizing the world cup except all members are equal regardless of rankings, history, or geography. Once Group A and Group B's members are determined, the schedule would be organized such that each team plays the 6 members of it's group, 2 members of the other group, and 3 non-conference games that would always take place prior to the onset of a team's conference schedule (no exceptions). For rivals not placed in the same group, they would automatically be slated to play each other as an "other group" game with home field alternating from the previous year. Games would be set up as randomly as possible while ensuring that each team has equal numbers of home games each year and is basically even head to head within each 4 year span. The Season: Stage 1: 3 non-conference games of the team's choosing Stage 2: 8 pre-determined inter-conference games from the draw Stage 3: The Championship Game and Conference Tournament Finale Games --The top teams from Group A and B as determined only by Stage 2 play at a predetermined neutral site with the undisputed conference championship at stake. --The rest of the teams get a random draw for their twelf game and a coin flip determines the home field. Only matches that did not occur during Stage 2 would be permitted to avoid rematches during this draw. There would be an off week between Stages 2&3 for obvious logistic reasons. Stage 4: The postseason plays out as usual and the overall records and total "body of work" would determine who the BCS wanted to send where, so that it would be possible for a team other than the Stage 3 conference champ to be the #1 team if non-conference and stage 2 records sway voters in favor of another strong team in the conference. ...and if the score is tied at the end of the games, it goes to penalty kicks or a syrup drinking contest.
Conference Name: The Ginormous 14 Team Composition: The 11 teams of the Big Ten are "grandfathered" in and 3 other teams are offered a seat at the table when the 14 rings of power are forged in the fires of mount doom (say, columbus, OH) Say, the 3 upstarts to invite first are ND, Pitt, and Okie State. If these teams opt out, substitute others that help expand the conference's power in desirable ways (ie., expand it's geographic size while keeping a midwestern rust/corn belt identity, are academically and financially good additions to the federation, etc). Rivals:
Each team would have 2 rivalry games that would occur every year and these would be ironed out before the inaugural season of the confernence taking into account mainly historical and geographic factors in deciding who gets who. So, Michigan's rivals would end up being Ohio St and Mich St and since these teams would probably mutually select each other and they are all full member teams. As a second example, Okie State would have less say in this process as a new team and might end up with Indiana and Iowa as rival based mainly on geography in this case. Conference rivalries would be reviewed by the league's brass every 4 years and teams who are looking to change this up would have some say in getting this done.
The Draw:
A preseason midsummer draw would determine 2 divisions each year ala FIFA's way of organizing the world cup except all members are equal regardless of rankings, history, or geography. Once Group A and Group B's members are determined, the schedule would be organized such that each team plays the 6 members of it's group, 2 members of the other group, and 3 non-conference games that would always take place prior to the onset of a team's conference schedule (no exceptions). For rivals not placed in the same group, they would automatically be slated to play each other as an "other group" game with home field alternating from the previous year. Games would be set up as randomly as possible while ensuring that each team has equal numbers of home games each year and is basically even head to head within each 4 year span. The Season: Stage 1: 3 non-conference games of the team's choosing Stage 2: 8 pre-determined inter-conference games from the draw Stage 3: The Championship Game and Conference Tournament Finale Games --The top teams from Group A and B as determined only by Stage 2 play at a predetermined neutral site with the undisputed conference championship at stake. --The rest of the teams get a random draw for their twelf game and a coin flip determines the home field. Only matches that did not occur during Stage 2 would be permitted to avoid rematches during this draw. There would be an off week between Stages 2&3 for obvious logistic reasons. Stage 4: The postseason plays out as usual and the overall records and total "body of work" would determine who the BCS wanted to send where, so that it would be possible for a team other than the Stage 3 conference champ to be the #1 team if non-conference and stage 2 records sway voters in favor of another strong team in the conference. ...and if the score is tied at the end of the games, it goes to penalty kicks or a syrup drinking contest.
The Roller Coaster of Michigan Basketball
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I don't do the diary thing often so as not to take space from those who are better at it, but I have what I think is at least better than average insight having played basketball on a somewhat organized level and as someone who has helped coach the game and wishes to do so in the future. The mgocommunity response will dictate whether this becomes more than a "once in a great while" thing or if I decide to break things down more consistently in the future. Now that I feel better about that disclaimer, on to the meat of the diary which will be broken down into two parts: The Michigan Defense and then Manny Harris. Keep in mind these observations may be old news and obviously wouldn't take a genius to figure out.
The Michigan Defense
There have been a lot of complaints from Michigan fans regarding John Beilein, his recruiting (won't cover this today), his coaching style, that he doesn't adjust enough and the fact that he seems to favor offense over defense (people complain similarly about Rich Rodriguez). I believe that last part in particular to be a myth. Let's explore coach Beilein's preference defensively before I jump to this year's results (this part will be obvious to those who have watched college basketball a long time).
Coach Beilein prefers to play man to man except after a made bucket in which he will switch to a 1-3-1 trap. He has also occasionally thrown a 2-3 defense into the mix (he did this more often before Michigan, probably because he didn't think his kids were quick enough to play man to man consistently). In fact, while John Beilein's offenses have been consistently excellent in offensive efficiency, his defensive schemes are arguably just as creative. But like everything in sports, creativity doesn't mean anything if things aren't executed properly and/or a team gets predictable.
In terms of this year, I have made comments here and there on game recaps as well as on the board that Michigan's defense has improved significantly. To give evidence of this, I'd like to compare the FG% from the first 10 games to the last 6, excluding cupcakes (Northern Michigan, Houston Baptist, Arkansas PB, Detroit, and Coppin State). After that, I'll share my observations of what I've seen done differently from a defensive standpoint.
Over the first 10 games Michigan played 6 legitimate opponents and those opponents shot 50% on average! That is atrocious put bluntly.
Over the last 6 games of which the last five have been legit (conference play), those opponents have shot 42.6%.
That's a significant drop and one reason why I think Michigan can still have a decent year, although it will definitely be an uphill battle.
Now I'm well aware that anyone can compare these numbers and reach a simple conclusion when obviously it's more complicated than just FG%. Michigan hasn't been blowing opponents away with the improved defense, and part of that may be the team practicing defense more heavily recently since they have been significantly less efficient offensively. I may cover the offense in general later, but for now I'll just pass along my observations on the change in defensive strategy.
In the first 10 games of the season, Michigan was playing man to man with the usual 1-3-1 trap after a made bucket and only a little had they sprinkled the 2-3 in the mix. Their man to man was atrocious, and I'm being generous. They weren't pressuring ball handlers well and the help side was often non-existent. When they happened to get on even a little bit of a roll offensively, they would throw the 1-3-1 out there and it actually was often worse than their man to man defense.
I'd like to interject here and say that in high school one of our main rivals played a 1-3-1 trap. The goal of this defense is to get into passing lanes and trap every corner. Michigan's problems with this defense have been at the top of the defense. They weren't trapping aggressively enough and because of that there was a lot of space in the gaps of the defense for open shots or lay ups. I'd like to mention that this defense worked much better last year.
So what has improved lately? Coach Beilein has reeled in the 1-3-1 trap for the most part (except for a few possessions a game) and played man to man almost exclusively. They've still had some trouble with the help side, but they are pressuring the ball much better as well as limiting open shots. I would speculate that coach Beilein has emphasized the defense a lot more in practice as well as simplifying the defense (something my high school coach did as well). I am of the opinion that coach Beilein isn't the problem with the inconsistency of our team because I have seen numerous adjustments in all facets of the game just this season. Now on to a brief observation on Manny.
Manny Harris
To be honest, as I was watching the Indiana game last night, my opinion of Mr. Harris seemed to change frequently throughout the game as it has all season (to clarify, I'm referring to his play and not him as a person). In my opinion, he has the most potential and talent on the team. The problem is that he doesn't seem to play hard all the time and his mental errors have proven to be killer at times. If he isn't dominating off the dribble, he seems to get lost too easily.
Let me elaborate a bit on that last point; It was noticeable the change in fluidity of the offense when Harris was benched for Vogrich last night, so the greater question might be what was Vogrich doing differently? I would answer by simply saying: hustle. Vogrich cuts as hard as he can and moves much better without the ball, and because of that finds himself making plays where Manny almost never has.
Manny can sometimes clog the offense by just "hanging around" the wing or by dribbling into trouble and I've rarely seen him cut hard to the bucket this season. I may sound a little harsh, but Coach Beilein has actually adjusted the offense to accommodate his skills. In Beilein's core system the ball will rarely touch the floor, but with Manny and Sims there have been a lot more isolation, pick and roll, and post up plays. I'm glad he did because it would have been stubborn not to, and as a result Manny has been able to take over games.
In terms of the future, I think Manny will need to develop better habits in some of the gritty aspects of the game. Whether he's vocal or not his teammates view him as a leader and his play is contagious. The key to the season is to keep up the defense they've played lately and getting their offense back to the efficiency they had at the beginning of the season (basically less turnovers).
Well, hopefully this wasn't a waste of space and let me know if I can evaluate other topics surrounding basketball in the future. At least I enjoyed it.
The Michigan Defense
There have been a lot of complaints from Michigan fans regarding John Beilein, his recruiting (won't cover this today), his coaching style, that he doesn't adjust enough and the fact that he seems to favor offense over defense (people complain similarly about Rich Rodriguez). I believe that last part in particular to be a myth. Let's explore coach Beilein's preference defensively before I jump to this year's results (this part will be obvious to those who have watched college basketball a long time).
Coach Beilein prefers to play man to man except after a made bucket in which he will switch to a 1-3-1 trap. He has also occasionally thrown a 2-3 defense into the mix (he did this more often before Michigan, probably because he didn't think his kids were quick enough to play man to man consistently). In fact, while John Beilein's offenses have been consistently excellent in offensive efficiency, his defensive schemes are arguably just as creative. But like everything in sports, creativity doesn't mean anything if things aren't executed properly and/or a team gets predictable.
In terms of this year, I have made comments here and there on game recaps as well as on the board that Michigan's defense has improved significantly. To give evidence of this, I'd like to compare the FG% from the first 10 games to the last 6, excluding cupcakes (Northern Michigan, Houston Baptist, Arkansas PB, Detroit, and Coppin State). After that, I'll share my observations of what I've seen done differently from a defensive standpoint.
Over the first 10 games Michigan played 6 legitimate opponents and those opponents shot 50% on average! That is atrocious put bluntly.
Over the last 6 games of which the last five have been legit (conference play), those opponents have shot 42.6%.
That's a significant drop and one reason why I think Michigan can still have a decent year, although it will definitely be an uphill battle.
Now I'm well aware that anyone can compare these numbers and reach a simple conclusion when obviously it's more complicated than just FG%. Michigan hasn't been blowing opponents away with the improved defense, and part of that may be the team practicing defense more heavily recently since they have been significantly less efficient offensively. I may cover the offense in general later, but for now I'll just pass along my observations on the change in defensive strategy.
In the first 10 games of the season, Michigan was playing man to man with the usual 1-3-1 trap after a made bucket and only a little had they sprinkled the 2-3 in the mix. Their man to man was atrocious, and I'm being generous. They weren't pressuring ball handlers well and the help side was often non-existent. When they happened to get on even a little bit of a roll offensively, they would throw the 1-3-1 out there and it actually was often worse than their man to man defense.
I'd like to interject here and say that in high school one of our main rivals played a 1-3-1 trap. The goal of this defense is to get into passing lanes and trap every corner. Michigan's problems with this defense have been at the top of the defense. They weren't trapping aggressively enough and because of that there was a lot of space in the gaps of the defense for open shots or lay ups. I'd like to mention that this defense worked much better last year.
So what has improved lately? Coach Beilein has reeled in the 1-3-1 trap for the most part (except for a few possessions a game) and played man to man almost exclusively. They've still had some trouble with the help side, but they are pressuring the ball much better as well as limiting open shots. I would speculate that coach Beilein has emphasized the defense a lot more in practice as well as simplifying the defense (something my high school coach did as well). I am of the opinion that coach Beilein isn't the problem with the inconsistency of our team because I have seen numerous adjustments in all facets of the game just this season. Now on to a brief observation on Manny.
Manny Harris
To be honest, as I was watching the Indiana game last night, my opinion of Mr. Harris seemed to change frequently throughout the game as it has all season (to clarify, I'm referring to his play and not him as a person). In my opinion, he has the most potential and talent on the team. The problem is that he doesn't seem to play hard all the time and his mental errors have proven to be killer at times. If he isn't dominating off the dribble, he seems to get lost too easily.
Let me elaborate a bit on that last point; It was noticeable the change in fluidity of the offense when Harris was benched for Vogrich last night, so the greater question might be what was Vogrich doing differently? I would answer by simply saying: hustle. Vogrich cuts as hard as he can and moves much better without the ball, and because of that finds himself making plays where Manny almost never has.
Manny can sometimes clog the offense by just "hanging around" the wing or by dribbling into trouble and I've rarely seen him cut hard to the bucket this season. I may sound a little harsh, but Coach Beilein has actually adjusted the offense to accommodate his skills. In Beilein's core system the ball will rarely touch the floor, but with Manny and Sims there have been a lot more isolation, pick and roll, and post up plays. I'm glad he did because it would have been stubborn not to, and as a result Manny has been able to take over games.
In terms of the future, I think Manny will need to develop better habits in some of the gritty aspects of the game. Whether he's vocal or not his teammates view him as a leader and his play is contagious. The key to the season is to keep up the defense they've played lately and getting their offense back to the efficiency they had at the beginning of the season (basically less turnovers).
Well, hopefully this wasn't a waste of space and let me know if I can evaluate other topics surrounding basketball in the future. At least I enjoyed it.
Wild Card Weekend = Michigan Weekend
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Undoubtedly this has been written about elsewhere, but since I am too lazy to google for it, instead I bring it to your attention myself. What am I talking about? Well, the fact that the weekend of pro football brought so many familiar faces onto the TV that it made me wonder: are there an unusually high number of Michigan players on playoff football teams?
The Real Sir Charles
The answer, as Lee Corso might blurt out while having an on-air stroke, is
"Mrgharaaw", by which he would mean "Yes!"
"Not so fast, my fribealllgn.... burp."
Using this very handy pro football reference site (which allows you to download CSV files of all rosters), I downloaded the rosters of the weekends' eight wild-card teams, and then "analyzed" them to find the following breakdown of which schools the players on the active rosters went to. Here "analyze" means "ran a few python scripts which spit out some numbers, most of which are probably wrong".
The big answer: Michigan dominates. Indeed, they come in #1 across those eight rosters, beating out USC and LSU by two players. The top "10" teams, with lots of ties (and the number of players on the rosters, in parentheses) are:
The Michigan players on these rosters, by the way, are:
As you can also see from this list, most of the players were guys who saw the field plenty on Saturday and Sunday. You can also see: not much reason to root for Dallas.
If you group by conference, however, some of the more usual suspects pop to the top of the list, alas:
Why does the Big Ten fair so poorly in this one? Well, as you can see above, Michigan, OSU, and Michigan State (surprisingly?) held up their end of the bargain. It is really one school in particular that failed us: Penn State, with only 2 players on these rosters. Of course, the sample size is small, but it makes one wonder about Penn State's success at placing players in the NFL. Only a more thorough study of all NFL rosters over the years would paint a more accurate picture.
Don't "Go to Penn State"
The Real Sir Charles
The answer, as Lee Corso might blurt out while having an on-air stroke, is
"Mrgharaaw", by which he would mean "Yes!"
"Not so fast, my fribealllgn.... burp."
Using this very handy pro football reference site (which allows you to download CSV files of all rosters), I downloaded the rosters of the weekends' eight wild-card teams, and then "analyzed" them to find the following breakdown of which schools the players on the active rosters went to. Here "analyze" means "ran a few python scripts which spit out some numbers, most of which are probably wrong".
The big answer: Michigan dominates. Indeed, they come in #1 across those eight rosters, beating out USC and LSU by two players. The top "10" teams, with lots of ties (and the number of players on the rosters, in parentheses) are:
- 1. Michigan (14 players!)
- 2. LSU (12)
- 2. USC (12)
- 4. Ohio State (11)
- 5. Miami (10)
- 6. Notre Dame (9)
- 7. Florida State (7)
- 7. Georgia (7)
- 7. Michigan State (7)
- 10. Alabama (6)
- 10. Arkansas (6)
- 10. Auburn (6)
- 10. Boston College (6)
- 10. Colorado (6)
- 10. Nebraska (6)
- 10. Oregon (6)
- 10. Tennessee (6)
- 10. Texas (6)
- 10. UCLA (6)
The Michigan players on these rosters, by the way, are:
- Arizona: Alan Branch, Steve Breaston, Gabe Watson
- Baltimore: Prescott Burgess
- Cincinnati: Leon Hall, Dhani Jones, Morgan Trent
- Dallas: None
- Green Bay: Charles Woodson
- New England: Tom Brady, Pierre Woods
- New York Jets: Braylon Edwards, Jay Feely, David Harris
- Philly Eagles: Jason Avant
As you can also see from this list, most of the players were guys who saw the field plenty on Saturday and Sunday. You can also see: not much reason to root for Dallas.
If you group by conference, however, some of the more usual suspects pop to the top of the list, alas:
- SEC (57)
- PAC-10 (50)
- ACC (47)
- Big Ten (45)
- Big 12 (39)
- Big East (25)
Why does the Big Ten fair so poorly in this one? Well, as you can see above, Michigan, OSU, and Michigan State (surprisingly?) held up their end of the bargain. It is really one school in particular that failed us: Penn State, with only 2 players on these rosters. Of course, the sample size is small, but it makes one wonder about Penn State's success at placing players in the NFL. Only a more thorough study of all NFL rosters over the years would paint a more accurate picture.
Don't "Go to Penn State"
One 14 Team Conference to Rule Them All
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This was originally intended as a response to the_white_tiger's Big 14 diary, but it grew into this and I figured that I might as well make it as its own thing. Besides, this way I get to use a Rich Text Editor, rather than try to remember all the html tags that I wanted to use, as I forgot most of them over time...which is kind of pathetic now that I think of it...
First of all, I sincerely doubt am pretty much willing to completely discount the possibility that the Big Ten will expand to 14 teams. However, it is an interesting exercise to consider the possibility, particularly when the alternative would be to do the physics homework I have due tomorrow. Anyway, here we go:
Current conventional wisdom considers adding Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Missouri, etc. (i.e. an array of palatable choices) to the Big Ten. No group of three here could even hope to better the Big Ten financially, because these schools cannot generate enough revenue collectively to improve the financial situation of the Big Ten. This is not to say that an individual school wouldn't be able to do so. With the exception of Rutgers, who doesn't produce a lot of revenue, despite their proximity to New York, and would become an instant doormat in every important sport, each school on that list has the potential to benefit the Big Ten financially. Every school would likely add something in television revenue and a Big Ten championship game could be a huge moneymaker. In fact, if the Big Ten does expand, it is possible that they may consider putting the game on the Big Ten Network, which would suck to watch but would either make the network more profitable or allow them to drive up the price that another network (likely ESPN/ABC) would have to pay to televise the game. This means that the addition of one school adds some television revenue and the revenue of a championship game. However, any school in addition to a 12th school would only add television revenue in their market, which would almost certainly cause the Big Ten member schools to lose revenue.
Now, if the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams, the move would have to include several major schools, not unlike the ACC bringing in Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. In fact, if the Big Ten were to attempt to expand east, it is likely that at least some (or even all) of those schools would be recruited. However, I think that if the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams they would most likely move west. This thought is not based on some whimsical geographic notion, but rather because I have three specific teams in mind.
This is where it gets interesting. If the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams, I believe the best move is to poach Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. These teams would be more likely to leave the Big 12 as a group, because it would allow them to maintain some rivalries (most notably Kansas and Missouri), increase their revenue, and join a conference that is much more prestigious than being in the Big 12 North. Meanwhile, the Big Ten might be able to increase their TV revenue by adding a larger geographic footprint (Kansas and Nebraska aren't much from a revenue standpoint, but Missouri would be a nice addition*), and the addition of a national football power in Nebraska and a national basketball power in Kansas would allow the Big Ten to sign much larger television contracts. Also, from a competitive standpoint, this move would make the Big Ten stronger in football and much stronger in basketball.
Obviously, this is not remotely likely to happen. The financial uncertainty and legal problems that this type of move would cause would be a huge risk for a conference that doesn't need to take it and universities who stand to potentially lose a lot of money. That said, it is a fun idea to think about, particularly when you consider how much havoc this would cause (bye, bye Big 12...cackle cackle).
Not well thought out fun with divisions in the new 14 team Big Ten (note, I am assuming nine conference games with one game reserved as a permanent inter-divisional rivalry):
North
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Northwestern
South
Penn State
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Permanent Rivalries
Michigan-Nebraska
Michigan State-Indiana
Ohio State-Penn State
Wisconsin-Purdue
Minnesota-Kansas
Iowa-Missouri
Northwestern-Illinois
Note: I considered leaving out permanent rivalries because outside of Northwestern-Illinois (and OSU-PSU to an extent), none seemed that important. However, I decided that it would be worthwhile to do them as an exercise. My methodology to making them was to prioritize current rivalries first (MSU-Indiana, OSU-PSU, and Northwestern-Illinois), then match the remaining teams as best I could. I put Michigan and Nebraska together because of the historical success of both programs, although it also makes a lot of sense to put Iowa and Nebraska together (it could be called the Corn Bowl, a trophy game in which the winner gets a golden corn...).
First of all, I sincerely doubt am pretty much willing to completely discount the possibility that the Big Ten will expand to 14 teams. However, it is an interesting exercise to consider the possibility, particularly when the alternative would be to do the physics homework I have due tomorrow. Anyway, here we go:
Current conventional wisdom considers adding Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Missouri, etc. (i.e. an array of palatable choices) to the Big Ten. No group of three here could even hope to better the Big Ten financially, because these schools cannot generate enough revenue collectively to improve the financial situation of the Big Ten. This is not to say that an individual school wouldn't be able to do so. With the exception of Rutgers, who doesn't produce a lot of revenue, despite their proximity to New York, and would become an instant doormat in every important sport, each school on that list has the potential to benefit the Big Ten financially. Every school would likely add something in television revenue and a Big Ten championship game could be a huge moneymaker. In fact, if the Big Ten does expand, it is possible that they may consider putting the game on the Big Ten Network, which would suck to watch but would either make the network more profitable or allow them to drive up the price that another network (likely ESPN/ABC) would have to pay to televise the game. This means that the addition of one school adds some television revenue and the revenue of a championship game. However, any school in addition to a 12th school would only add television revenue in their market, which would almost certainly cause the Big Ten member schools to lose revenue.
Now, if the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams, the move would have to include several major schools, not unlike the ACC bringing in Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. In fact, if the Big Ten were to attempt to expand east, it is likely that at least some (or even all) of those schools would be recruited. However, I think that if the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams they would most likely move west. This thought is not based on some whimsical geographic notion, but rather because I have three specific teams in mind.
This is where it gets interesting. If the Big Ten were to expand to 14 teams, I believe the best move is to poach Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. These teams would be more likely to leave the Big 12 as a group, because it would allow them to maintain some rivalries (most notably Kansas and Missouri), increase their revenue, and join a conference that is much more prestigious than being in the Big 12 North. Meanwhile, the Big Ten might be able to increase their TV revenue by adding a larger geographic footprint (Kansas and Nebraska aren't much from a revenue standpoint, but Missouri would be a nice addition*), and the addition of a national football power in Nebraska and a national basketball power in Kansas would allow the Big Ten to sign much larger television contracts. Also, from a competitive standpoint, this move would make the Big Ten stronger in football and much stronger in basketball.
Obviously, this is not remotely likely to happen. The financial uncertainty and legal problems that this type of move would cause would be a huge risk for a conference that doesn't need to take it and universities who stand to potentially lose a lot of money. That said, it is a fun idea to think about, particularly when you consider how much havoc this would cause (bye, bye Big 12...cackle cackle).
Not well thought out fun with divisions in the new 14 team Big Ten (note, I am assuming nine conference games with one game reserved as a permanent inter-divisional rivalry):
North
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Northwestern
South
Penn State
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Permanent Rivalries
Michigan-Nebraska
Michigan State-Indiana
Ohio State-Penn State
Wisconsin-Purdue
Minnesota-Kansas
Iowa-Missouri
Northwestern-Illinois
Note: I considered leaving out permanent rivalries because outside of Northwestern-Illinois (and OSU-PSU to an extent), none seemed that important. However, I decided that it would be worthwhile to do them as an exercise. My methodology to making them was to prioritize current rivalries first (MSU-Indiana, OSU-PSU, and Northwestern-Illinois), then match the remaining teams as best I could. I put Michigan and Nebraska together because of the historical success of both programs, although it also makes a lot of sense to put Iowa and Nebraska together (it could be called the Corn Bowl, a trophy game in which the winner gets a golden corn...).
