More good news: 2 other sports capture championships today; 1 nearing an NC

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

What a day January 18, 2014 was for Michigan athletics.

Let's recap the day:

  • Men's Basketball wins a road game against a top-5 for the first time in 50 years. Oh yeah, it is also the highest ranked team Michigan has beaten on the road EVER.
  • Women's Basketball wins again, staying in 2nd place in the B1G by pounding illinois at Crisler earlier at Noon, 69-60. Score did not reflect the game at all.
  • Men's Tennis opened the season with two strong victories over WMU and Toledo by scores of 5-2 and 6-1 respectively.
  • Water Polo opened their season at 1-1 today, winning their opener over Iona 15-6 at Canham.
  • The top-ranked, defending NCAA Champion Men's Gymnastics had a HUGE come-from-behind performance, leapfrogging the buckeyes and illinois for the Windy City Invitational Championship.
  • The top-ranked, defending NCAA Champion Men's Swimming & Diving team won the SMU Classic in Dallas. This was the only event they didn't win last year-
  • And last but not least, the Michigan Dance team (now sponsored by the athletic department apparently per WTKA podcast), has made the UDA National Championship tomorrow afternoon.

Michigan Dance Team ‏@umichdance 1h

We are heading to tomorrow's jazz FINALS!! #GoBlue #udanationals14

MGoBoard
Other
dance
men's gymnastics
Men's Swimming

Raoul

January 18th, 2014 at 11:15 PM ^

Women's Basketball wins again, staying in 2nd place in the B1G by pounding illinois at Crisler earlier at Noon, 69-60. Score did not reflect the game at all.

Sorry to have to quibble about such a positive post, but this is a completely incorrect characterization of the women's hoops game. Michigan didn't play particularly well against an Illinios team that is probably the worst team in the conference. Illinois was up early before Michigan went on a nice run to take a decent lead. Michigan never trailed after that, but the Illini came back at least a couple more times to cut the Wolverines lead to a small margin. In fact, with less than 6 minutes to go, Illinois cut Michigan's lead to just 6. This was hardly a "pounding."

It was basically a solid home win against a lesser team. Michigan is now 5-1 in the Big Ten, 13-5 overall, and they may sneak into the top 25 when the polls come out on Monday.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

Wolverine Devotee

January 18th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^

Had to listen on the radio due to BTN shitting the bed with their failed TV feed. Later on it sounded like Michigan was kicking butt and illinois mounted a comeback but couldn't get over the hump. So it was probably just my emotion getting the better of me in the OP. But a win is a win so it's all good.

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

Raoul

January 19th, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^

Correction to my post above. Michigan is now 4-1 in the Big Ten—not 5-1. Sorry about that. They are 4-1 in the conference for just the 3rd time in program history. The other two times were last season and 1999-2000.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

Michigasling

January 18th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^

Michigan was competing against 4 Big Ten teams who are all ranked in the top 10 nationally (plus host UIC), and they competed without their star, defending US and NCAA champ Sam Mikulak.  Don't think he was injured, perhaps just letting some other guys get experience.  [This is pure speculation.  That's what happens when you can only follow with live scoring updates.  If someone knows more, please post.  Can't seem him in the picture above...]  Whatever the reason for his absence, deep as they are, they pulled it out.

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

Michigasling

January 19th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^

Went to bed before the summary went up and my Google search was fruitless. 

But this may explain why I picked up a quirky headline from The Malaysian Sun about world gymnastics championships.  (Was actually the lead to an AP article from SI, but from Anaheim?  Further research required to see why the Americans are training in China when their team is scheduled for today's prelims.  I'm awake now, so I volunteer.)   

EDIT:  Worlds are in Nanning in October.  Have no idea what current championship referred to above.  Pix in post below.  Didn't want them squashed further in this here reply. 

BONUS:  while searching, found this on-line documentary about our own Stacey Ervin (also on national team, though not [yet] in the competition group) posted on front page of the US Gym site:

http://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=13382&prog=h

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

Raoul

January 19th, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^

One other note I found was that Mikulak will have to miss Michigan's March 1 OSU Invitational meet in Columbus. According to this, he has accepted an invitation "to represent the United States at the 2014 AT&T American Cup, scheduled for Saturday, March 1, 2014, at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum Complex."

The AT&T American Cup, the most prestigious international gymnastics invitational held in the United States and an International Gymnastics Federation World Cup event, features top male and female all-around gymnasts from around the world.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

Michigasling

January 19th, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^

Disappointing, but a hard invite for him to turn down.  The two US women invited were 1 and 2 in the Olympic all-around, and Sam was the only U.S. male even competing in the Olympic men's all-around and so far the only man named for this competition, "a second to be named later."  The other men on the US team did well in individual events, so the coaches must be waiting to see who besides Sam can be consistent enough for the all-around.  [The men have more events than the women, so it's extremely difficult to be competitive on all six, and healthy enough in all body parts to be able to try.] 

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

Prince Lover

January 19th, 2014 at 3:10 AM ^

Representing our university well. Hail hail!! And seriously, the Olympics? Country over school?!? Some people are all about "me" these days..... Edit: Based on the downvote, I realize I should have been more blatant with my sarcasm

Joined: 07/01/2013

MGoPoints: 13070

OMG Shirtless

January 19th, 2014 at 5:16 AM ^

If had a couple more drinks tonight, I would have started an OFFICIAL Wolverine Devotee Appreciation Thread.  I enjoy your posts about the non-revenue sports or whatever you want to call them.

Joined: 08/16/2009

MGoPoints: 1435

Michigasling

January 19th, 2014 at 10:49 AM ^

Yup.  There he is.  Back row, 5th from the right.  The team is training with the Chinese team in Beijing [LINK].

Michigan Assistant Coach Xiao Yuan is there too, part of the US staff. And while they were in the neighborhood...

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

Spunky

January 19th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^

Speaking of WBB, does anyone know if Amani Burke is a Michigan lean? She seems awesome, like her brother. Last week, Amani made a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to put Eastmoor ahead, followed by two free throws to seal the win. I'd love to see coach Barnes Arico add her to the 2016 team.

Anyway, congrats to all of these great student-athletes.  

Joined: 09/12/2012

MGoPoints: 2393

Raoul

January 19th, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^

I've heard very little about her recruiting, so it's impossible to say if she's a Michigan lean or not. For what's it's worth, I've seen her on a list of top 25 players in Ohio for the 2016 class, but she hasn't really been on the national radar. Also, Michigan's 2016 class seems likely to be on the smaller side and they already have one commit, so there may be only a couple more spaces left.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957