crisler

Seating available [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

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The Question:

The absence of team partisans has been a problem for awhile, and this year especially. What should be done?

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The Responses:

Ace: The lower bowl rarely fills even for big games these days, despite renovations and a decade-long tenure under a great coach whose program plays a fun brand of basketball. I’ve been screaming about expanding the Maize Rage’s courtside section for ages now. They show up earlier and more reliably than townies; they’re louder and more fun; they’ll buy more tickets if they know they have a chance at courtside seats. (Having practically zero shot was a huge deterrent when I was in school.)

There are more issues, but that’s the number one thing for me. When you see the Maize Rage on TV compared to other student sections, it’s a little embarrassing, and that’s not on the Maize Ragers.

It gets extremely frustrating to see them fill several upper bowl sections for big games while townies skip out on lower bowl seats.

They’re also best-equipped to work through the constant excuses I hear for why people don’t show up: bad weather, games too close to dinner, games too late, games too perfectly timed in the evening, etc.

Brian: While I agree that the maize rage should be expanded that takes a huge philosophical leap for the department where something other than the bottom line matters. I thought things would get better with Warde Manuel in charge, and I guess they have. Nobody's trying to put a giant noodle in Michigan stadium or momentarily banning seat cushions.

But I have to admit I'm pretty disappointed that Manuel is just a guy. His tenure at Michigan is a complete blank so far. He has not taken any steps to un-do the damage Brandon wrought, and has continued to maximize ticket revenue at all costs. Without taking a step back there it will remain as it is for all time.

Because it will cost money to make Crisler a better environment.

Ace: I really want someone to show him this:

The staid atmosphere hurts the team. Michigan is 12th in the conference in home-court advantage by KenPom’s rankings.

[How can we incentivize you to hit THE JUMP?]

The kids are alright. [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

The Question:

That was enjoyable. In fact it was probably the biggest win in Crisler since…

Wait this is a history question? We should get Craig Ross to answer!

Oh good call.

You should introduce him though in case people don't recognize the name.

Um they should, but yeah, Craig is a Michigan fan who can probably claim to be the world's biggest Michigan fan by nature of the fact that he's been going to games so long that nobody younger than him remembers half as much, and nobody older than him remembers half as well.

You should plug his books.

I'm pretty sure he'd rather I make old jokes at his expense; a determined soul knows enough to Amazon from here.

Fair enough. The Responses:

David: All right. I sorted through game-by-game schedules and found out the last time Michigan defeated a higher ranked opponent than #3 - like Maryland was on Tuesday- at Crisler Arena was...December 13, 1997. They defeated #1 Duke.

Here is my chart of the top home wins of the Beilein Era. I started going back further...but it got REALLY scary, really quickly.

Year	Opponent	Score
15-16	#3 Maryland	70-67
14-15	#24 OSU	65-57
13-14	#10 Iowa	75-67
13-14	#13 MSU	79-70
12/13	#9 MSU	58-57
11/12	#9 MSU	60-59
11/12	#6 OSU	56-51
8/9	#4 Duke	81-73

Here is a list of 'Almosts'

Year	Opponent	Score
13/14	#1 Arizona	72-70
12/13	#2 Indiana	72-71
10/11	#3 Kansas	67-60 (OT)
10/11	#2 OSU	68-64
9/10	#5 MSU	57-56

Michigan also had a couple of wins over #3s in Madison and East Lansing in the 13-14 season. I did not go through neutral site games.

So, technically, Tuesday's win was probably Michigan's biggest at home since 1997. I will say that the Duke win in 2008 might have been bigger than Tuesday, regardless of rankings. I was still in grad school and had Maize Rage tickets for the previous couple of years. That Duke win really injected some life and belief into the program.  Michigan went on to make the NCAA Tournament that year for the first time in 11 years and that was the game where I remember thinking that perhaps we will be very good again at some point. Plus, we drove to East Lansing right after and beat Michigan State at Munn Ice Arena for the first time in 4 years. It was a good day.

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[After the Jump: Craig Ross answers the question, but only after 6 paragraphs of not answering the question]

Can you guess what was wrong with Herb? Also the copyright to this at the end says "U.M.&M."

Of all the things to despise about the new divisions—like the MSU game being technically more important every year than Ohio State—at least let's admit there's one wonderful benefit: Michigan-Minnesota is back to every year.

The historians like this one because there were some major powers with some major players who went on or ended some major streaks back in the day. But with more than enough annual powers on the schedule these days, I kind of like having this one historically poignant yet presently non-stressful mid-year contest with the people who invented cooking the cheese inside the actual hamburger.

After yet another Hallow's Eve scare, a nice jug of hot cider and Minnesota's safeties are just the thing. Alas, it is not Jug Saturday yet, and there's some things from last week that we need to over again. Like what happens when you lose your 5-star quarterback?

DON'T MISS THESE:

You Get This One Chance. Why is it every time we've got like THE MAN under center, the minute he goes out it's terror central? Not just Denard against Nebraska but the crater when Mallett departed, or the black hole that formed when Henne's arm was removed from its socket against Oregon in 2007, or the feeling in the pit of your stomach when that Buckeye Steinbrenner bought off Drew Henson (right). Enter oakapple, who goes back through recent history to show how the uber recruit tends to both work out and scare off competition. Whyfore wast thou oppos'd to class, bygone son of Forcier?

He hits on some good questions—like the handling of Gardner. But if he looked back further, to the deep recruiting of the time after Bo, he might have seen a different magic.

Gameboy went back over Michigan's 2012 opponents past to pull up percentages for how much better our defense fared against them than their average opponents. Michigan got blown out by Alabama about exactly the same way everyone else did, and we beat UMass the same way everyone else beat on UMass. As for the rest, the defensive performances have one other outlier in Air Force (we did marginally better than Mountain West teams) and otherwise stand as "omigod that was a tough defense" in the memories of everyone else. I fixed his charts to make them more legible so the descriptions may be a bit off.

[After the jump, more spooky things]