Pearl Ruined the Kids Pub Today
This whole Tenn mess stole the spotlight away from Vogrich and the rest of Michigan's great day. Michigan got little or no coverage today because every highlight package was of Pearl talking or the Tenn kids saying they quit.
Then all the talking heads(just as Brian predicted) used the distractions as an excuse. Were they distracted when they got out to a 6 pt lead in the 1st 15 minutes?
Weak.
Trust me I think Pearl would much rather have the attention on Michigan...Probably not the person to blame.
Tenn AD ruined it and ESPN/CBS for buying in.
analyst.
has to be one of the worst ADs in the country. Fired Fulmer midseason. Hired Kiffin. Went on the radio yesterday.
Just atrocious.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
"Hired Kiffin"
QED
I think it would be better for this team to fly under the radar a little bit. Trust me, they'll still have tons of time to shine.
March 19th, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
The kids have got to be feeling in the zone after that game.
And usually, there's a reason to worry about complacency when you're feeling that good about yourself. Nothing like a good dose of disrespect to keep their focus razor sharp.
March 19th, 2011 at 12:32 AM ^
Cosign 1000%. I think it's a good thing that nobody in the universe (aside from UM fans) will give us an icicle's chance in hell against Duke. The last thing young teams need is smoke being blown up their asses about how good they are. And even if they get their heads handed to them by Duke, Beilein and staff can use that as a motivational tool for next season.
Patience.
I'm actually giving them a shot. I might be the only person in my office pool that has them beating Duke.
I'm ok with all the focus being on Bruce Pearl, Kyrie Irving, etc. If we beat Duke, we'll have enough attention for a lifetime. For now, let's just keep doing what we're doing.
Darius Morris didn't shoot well, Hardaway didn't play a ton of minutes, neither did Morgan, and we STILL did as well as we did today. That makes me feel pretty good.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^
It's kind of amazing that we led at halftime after Tobias Harris went beast-mode and we played without 2 of our best 4 players. The second half is being explained away by Tennessee "quitting" but honestly, no team gets brutalized that badly unless they're playing a team that's much better than they are.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
They had to have a reason to quit. Its not like they'd just randomly give up unless they were already starting to get owned.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
They were indeed getting owned. Which coach would you rather have making halftime adjustments, Beilein or Pearl?
I don't think this guy's importance can be overstated. Beilein is a great coach, and we've been coming out of the half in excellent form lately but I think a lot of this teams' success is due to BA.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
In response to this quitting crap, teams quit when it is obvious to them that they cannot win the game even at their best. In my opinion, however you slice it, we hung with them early and demoralized them early and often in the 2nd half and they had no answer. 8/9 games are supposed to be relatively even, we won by 30. Bring it on Duke.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
What bullshit. Of course it was because they gave up and Michigan wasn't that good. I wonder what Pearl said to them at the half to make them quit, considering they were only down 4 at the break.
March 18th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
Their AD must have given the speech.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:33 PM ^
"Hey guys...suck it up and play hard or i get fired"
March 18th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
We've got a solid young team who loses no one to graduation, and a couple of solid recruits coming in. The kids are gonna say plenty by themselves.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:02 PM ^
It's probably a more interesting story line to talk about a coach getting fired and NCAA violations...especially when all the talking heads predicted a Tenn win. Besides, so many of our guys had a good game that the CBS and Co. couldn't just highlight the play of one kid and call him a superstar.
It doesn't really matter. We all know that we beat the shit out of Tennessee, not beacause they were "distracted" for the last two days, but because we've become a good team over the course of the entire season.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
so many of our guys had a good game that the CBS and Co. couldn't just highlight the play of one kid and call him a superstar.
This. It was a lot easier to write a cohesive storyline for the game by focusing on the Pearl saga rather than taking about the great team play of a group of Wolverines that, lamentably, almost no one outside of the B1G knows about...yet.
I think the National Media just hates Michigan. And I don't mean just the University, I mean the whole state.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:19 PM ^
If being ignored by the media means UM keeps crushing teams by 30, then I hope they keep saying UM relies on the 1-3-1 and wonder by Cazzie Russell isn't out there.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
I thought Cazzie was hurt. I figured Campy would get his minutes instead.
Pontiac Central rules.
March 19th, 2011 at 12:06 AM ^
He did make an appearance in our 2nd win over MSU.
The reason the press spoke about the battered Pearl is because UM whipped em.... Take the win....
Go Blue!