Not really fair for him to take all the blame. He deserved to be fired, but he shouldn't have to take the blame for Michigan hiring lame duck coaches in Amaker and Ellerbe, and then the school neglecting its facilities for years.
Fisher set the program back, but for how long it was set back for is not his fault. Just look at OSU. Both their basketball and football programs have been hit with sanctions, and yet they came back pretty quick because they hired good coaches.
It was more like 10 years. We won the BTT in 1998 and then returned to the tournament in 2009.
Fisher can be blamed for the sanctions but to blame a full decade (let alone two) of mediocrity on him is a huge reach. The sanctions weren't that bad - one lost scholarship a year for four years and one year of no postseason. That doesn't explain a decade of missing the tournament. And it's not like the job was a smoking crater that no one wanted. We very nearly hired Rick Pitino in 2001 and did hire Amaker, who was somewhat of a hot name at the time.
Yay 23 year gap between coaches playing eachother again... alright lets go Aztecs!
Damn it CBS...
Fisher and Coach K? They met every year from 1989-90 through 1996-97.
In the NCAA Tournament according to CBS.
Well in Izzo's defense, before last year, every 4-player he'd ever had went to at least one Final Four. He's gotten to at least the Sweet 16 13 out of the 18 times he's been to the tournament. It's really hard to deny the fact that Izzo's teams tend to peak when they get to March.
I hate the guy too, but give the man his due credit.
for ruining my bracket and my weekend. Izzo and Bennett just sent basketball back to the dinosaur era with that game. Now we get to hear how great Izzo is the entire week. Just once I would like to see a ref Tee up Izzo for being on the court. Hopefully, this game will give a good reason to implement a 30 second shot clock. Ahhhh!!
I said the exact same thing as your first sentence.
Meh, UVA was who I always thought they were and I fucked up completely by changing my mind, lol.
Izzo should murder a hobo just to see how the media would spin the hobo as a threat to America and Izzo as the world's greatest hero.
He's a good coach, but god damn does he get ridiculous coverage.
Well there goes another final four team for me.
I've since decided to start drinking and watch Duke / SDSU, as I have Duke here and early on, it looks as if that may just hold unlike my prediction of of Virginia over MSU (in only three brackets though, but god, why did I even do that in any scenario?). I actually didn't realize Steve Fisher was the third oldest coach in Division I basketball now, nor that he turns 70 this week, if I heard correctly. Happy early birthday to him.
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Don't like their chances against a press if they play Louisville.
HARBAUGH
with Harbaugh hiring - there go my saliva glands, Pavlov would be so proud - that we can start battling back in football. I think we've done a pretty decent job as of late in basketball.
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Given that we have Harbaugh (and return the vast majority of our team) in football and have Beilein (and will return the vast majority of our team) in basketball, I think this year really falls into "It's darkest before dawn" territory. We're in great shape in those two sports going forward, even if we weren't this particular school year. We just need to get the succession plan in place in hockey and we're all set.
Towns or Okafor... hmmm...
He's never at the office but I guarantee he'll be in Monday to wave his office-leading Sparty party of a tournament bracket in our noses.
Fighting with a vim. Rah rah blah blah...
MSU is in the easiest bracket almost every single year? Idk maybe I'm the only one but it feels like they are.
MSU's AD, Hollis, is a member of the selection committee.
OSU's AD has also been on there - not sure if he still is. Why the committee is made up of ADs, many of whom have a blatant conflict of interest, I don't understand.
How a #7 seed could possibly play the #10 seed, #2 and #3 seed is beyond me. There should be an investigation. Lets open the whole book up because I bet when we look back at those 12 other Sweet 16s we find similar patterns.
Okafor is pretty damn fun to watch.
He can dribble very well for a big man.
NC State would be a brutal matchup for them. No. Iowa might scorch the nets on them - they're *very* well-coached. Waiting to see Oklahoma to see what I think of them.
I think Sparty would have a great chance against Dayton, if Dayton makes it through the Dayton (I mean Columbus) pod, and might have a good chance against Louisville, who is shooting challenged.
Feels like Brian Dutcher has been the coach in waiting for over 20 years now.
He's paid his dues. The great counterfactual is what would have happened here if he'd gotten the nod instead of Ellerbe, who was Fisher's newly-hired #3 assistant. Dutcher was apparently passed over because he'd been on the staff during the Ed Martin scandal, but he was not named for any violations in the NCAA report.
It sucks to think that we went from having a head coach who won a national championship to one who had a losing record at Loyola of Maryland.
Yeah I read your comment prior to this one. It amazes me how dumb Goss was as AD. Who knows where we could've been if Dutcher was given a shot. Dude was one hell of a recruiter too.
Great. Two games in and the teams I hate won and will probably win. Yay March Madness!
If there's a path, it's someone beating Kentucky for them. Unlikely, but Kentucky can lose.
that's going to be a great game...
Good game so far
Wichita State that is! I like seeing a good coach team beat the high recruit all stars of KU!
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