Recent Comments

It's always rather interesting to watch the dichotomy of fanbases waiting for draft decisions. On one hand you have people saying that he should come back because he's not good enough to go to the NBA/NFL, but on the other hand they recognize that he's good enough to help their team which is why they really want him to stay.

I'm honetly not sure if Hardaway is good enough to stick in the NBA because I think he does a few things at a "good" level (get to the basket, shoot, defend), but not one thing at an elite level (for Burke I think that'd be quickness, GRIII finishing at the rim, McGary motor). That being said it's probably in his best interest to declare this year because of the aforementioned stigmas attached to 4-year guys. If he does, I'll be appreciatve of all he did for the team (the 2011 20 pt second half against MSU, NBA fire jam perforamce against OSU this year, etc.) and be rooting for him to do awesome at the next level.

Yeah Walker's last game against Syracuse was actually a 33 pt 12 reb 6 stl 5 ast(4 TO) perormance so Triche should probably fact check before making statements like that. It seems players do take after their coach since Boeheim kinda seems like a douche and these statements seem kinda douchey. 

I sank to my knees and started giggling in disbelief (but in a manly way of course) after the shot. After we won,  I was lucky enough to be home alone so I just started sprinting through yelling and acting a fool. This is in contrast to UTL where I literally had to grab a pillow and put it over my mouth because my family was sleeping.

Yes. By a significant margin. Exactly how big a gulf it is depends how we perform in Atlanta.

I think you missed the sarcasm.

Hey you know what? We were darn lucky to have both of those fine men at the University and it's completely unnecessary to tear one down to prop the other up. Oh and the guy with 8 out of the top 10 total offensive performances in school histories is not "fading" any time soon.

Or we're the 4 seed and PSU beat Wisky on a buzzer beater half court 4 pt play that caused Bo Ryan's head to explode (a man can dream can't he?)

I can't generate any hatred towards Penn State for that game. We had a lead and pissed it away, but they won the game fair and square (officiating was just typical away B1G officiating). Wisconsin on the other hand? They can go screw themselves. 

isn't there already a Walking Dead thread right below this one?

While I think it's kind of a dick move to put it how you put it (immediately after a front page post criticizing a specific poster), I do get your point. I think the lack of content has a lot to do with how boring and stable the teams are respectfully. 

As huge as a Big Ten Title race is, it's not nearly as nerve racking and content producing as a bubble team (and I am 100% ok with that). Similarly we spent the offseason of 2009 debating whether to keep RR and the 2010/2011 olfseasons on how/if we could use Denard effectively.  There's not the same divisive topics available this offseason. We pretty much all agree Mattison is awesome and how good we think Devin will be is a matter of degree (I think he'll be honorable mention all-Big Ten, but to each his own).
 

So do the lights in Crisler go out when Horford goes in or is it some sort of weird time shift?

Stauskas and GRIII have been poor in away games not games "away from Crisler". In the preseason NIT tourney (the closest approximation I think of a first weekend of the NCAAs), both played fairly well as I recall.

Ok list me your top ten teams above Michigan. Seriously saying "they're not top 10" isn't just an abstract statement, it means you think there are 10 teams in the country with better resumes/talent levels than Michigan. Despite the recent dip (after a brutal stretch I might add), I don't think there are right now.

Wow. I don't even know where to begin on addressing these. JB is going to make his 4th NCAA appearance in 6 years as Michigan coach. Michigan hadn't gone for a decade prior.  He won a Big Ten Title. Let me say that one more time he WON A BIG TEN TITLE. Something that hadn't been done since 1986, something the Fab Five didnt even accomplish.  If you're saying that improvements can be made, then you're absolutely right. If you're trying to say we need to go in a different direction than Beilein, then I'm sorry to be harsh, but you're being a moron.

I think Houma is from Utah, so he'd be the last one. Could be wrong though, that tends to happen a lot.

I am going to be honest and say I don't have a good feeling about this game. I definitely don't know we're going to lose, but the evidence so far is that the freshmen are in fact freshmen.  By the end of Big Ten season, however, I think they'll be quite seasoned for a long tourney run (which are not played on the road)

I don't see why this news would make you nervous.  It seems like if these guys get the medical RS, then it's more likely that Gardner would also. Of course, this is trying to apply logic to the NCAA which may be a mistake.

Everyone's better at home, but we beat this same Illinois team by double digits in Champaign. We might struggle at elite team's venues, but if we play an average/below avergae Big Ten team, we (usually) destroy them regardless of venue.

Yeah hoping a kid (yes he's a 17 or 18 year old kid) gets his college education messed up because of his sporsts fandom is pretty messed up and not at all ok. I regret that I had but one neg to give you and wish they counted still so you could end up in Bolivia for this.

Imterestingly enough, this team hasn't shown a propensity to overlook anybody. Most of their "slow starts" were against really good teams and the only non-ranked teams to really give us any trouble were Purdue (hitting 35 foot heaves) and Pitt (who I can't figure out if they are good or terrible)

I guess I've always seen recruiting like poker. Sure occasionally a 7-10 hand (3* recruit) will beat pocket aces (5* recruit), but if you consistently get the latter, you're setting yourself up to be pretty successful over the long haul.

Seems bizarre to say that our defense was better last year when all the stats say otherwise. The fact is that most of these types of scouting reports tend to be of the nitpicking variety, but it's always interesting to see.

I think this is a fascinating and well done thought exercise. You've broken it down as well as you can with the best knowledge (recruiting rankings) that the avergae fan has access too.  If I'm the coach, it boils down to if there are any guys left I think can be starters on Big Ten championship teams.  Not that the necessarily are going to reach that level, but that should be the aim. If I feel like a player's floor is a solid special teamer and his ceiling is that starter level, then you pull the trigger and risk not getting guy 18, 19, or 20. If not, then you just reward a deserving walk-on with a scholarship.

I guess I don't see why Bielfeldt can't give a solid 5-7 min contribution every game. He's not gonna be spectacular, but with the weapons around him , he often won't need to be. My concern (not a major one, but that is life as a 19-1 team) is GRIII's minutes. He played 38 last night and without Morgan, we can't go to a two post offense often. I'm worried he's going to wear down over the course of Big Ten play.

If this team isn't dominant enough for you, you are never going to be satisfied.

I think those posters just had 0 for their karma value. If your post doesn't have a moderation tag (normal, under/overrated, funny, etc.) then that number is just your base karma.

I agree that a college team could win, but I still think it'd have to be extreme cases though. For example I think last year's Kentucky team (a historically good college squad) could take last year's Bobcats team (the worst NBA team ever). The difference between basketball and football (I think this was pointed out on Mike and Mike) is that NBA teams typically only use an 8 man or so rotation, so a college squad with 5-6 future NBA players could compete with that. Football on the other hand has 53 NFL players when a team like Alabama might have maybe 11 or 12.

I didn't neg you (and actually agree with you about the inability of the board to credit Urban and typical overreactions to Borges), but when you imply that the staff misses on a ton of key recruits when we're working on back to back top 6 recruiting classes, you sound silly. Additionally, when you make unsubstantiated claims like Hoke tries to force players out who aren't contributing (thereby implying he's being shady), you're going to get a negative response to that.  Additionally, this board does not lose its "sanity" about oversigning, it's a real advantage that combined with other factors is a reason for the SEC's dominance of late.

I think Hardaway's accomplishments are going to be a tad bit underappreciated because he was never the best player on his team (D-Mo, then Burke). That being said he's been the 2nd best player on what will be 3 straight NCAA qualifying squads, including one that won a Big Ten Title. Also I think he's done a fine job stepping into the leadership void left by Novak/Douglass on this squad. 

Don't feel bad. I'm 21 and I didn't get it at first. 

I guess we can agree to disagree. How many busted safety coverages before the SC game can you remember? Or how many long runs? Kovacs played a huge part in our defense usually being pretty good at avoiding giving up the big play. And while I'm optimistic the guys behind them can replace them, it seems a tad premature to say that they will. 

Meh. We're replacing a lot of a parts still. We haven't demonstrated that we can run the ball without Denard and our secondary will be a question mark going into next season (How do we replace Kovacs, can Countess come back, will the other). The best case scenario is definitely a Big Ten championship, but a 9-3 season similiar to this one (replacing Alabama with UConn being the difference) seems more likely. That will set up the 2014 season where we will finally be back to the old Michigan standard of elite talent. 

That's actually not a great example. Last year's Kentucky team tied the record for most wins by a college basketball team and had the #1 and #2 overall picks in the draft.  It also ranked higher (1st vs 3rd) on KenPom than the John Wall unit.

To your larger point, if this team goes sometihng like 14-4 or 15-3 and wins the Big Ten, then it's the best Michigan team since at least the Fab Five. Heck I could argue it's better than that those squads if it accomplishes that.  Results do matter and you are judged by what you do in March, but a 30 game regular season is a better gauge of a team's talent level than a t one and done ourney in a semi filled pro arena. 

The problem with the Billups trade wasn't actually the trade (I do realize that it was time to move on from that core), but rather spending it on subpar FA. The Pistons would have been better off sitting on the money and unintentionally intentionally tanking for a good draft position rather than being just good enough to avoid the prime draft slots.

I thought the Drummond pick was a no brainer. You don't get the chance to get a potential star guy like that at #8 very often so you snap him up when you can. Nonetheless Dumars should still get credit for pulling the trigger there. While I've been pretty consistent on thinking Dumars should go, I can't say with any certainty that there's a better option right now as far as GMs go.

I think Al Borges of OSU is a better one. His ND gameplan didn't include a ton of high risk passes IMO. Denard just didn't execute. Absolutely no excuse for his OSU gameplan.

Hopefully he can get healthy for Big Ten play. While we should have enough firepower to take care of NW without him, road games in the Big Ten are tough enough without losing one of your top guys. I suspect we'll see some combination of Vogrich/Levert taking up his minutes unless Beilein wants to slide GRIII over and play two posts.

If we can't discuss things we don't definitely know, then what's the entire point of this board (outside the Cat pics and Kate Upton gifs)? I think some are really underselling Pitt and that's coloring their view of our non-conference. If you disagree with that assessment of Pitt (as it seems you do), then I can see why you'd think we haven't beaten anybody.

I don't think you understand how non-conference SOS rankings work. That SOS (which the two places I've found have it at 19 and 21 so take that FWIW) is the ranking RIGHT NOW compared to other schools, not a projected one.  While there are a few national contenders ahead of us (Duke, Florida, Louisville), the only Big Ten squad ranked ahead of us on that metric is Minnesota. So we've performed better than pretty much every Big Ten squad (except probably Indiana) against an at best equally strong schedule. I see no reason not to say we're final four contenders.

Maybe if you weren't brain damaged, you'd not know it was jerseys and not jersey's

/BOOM Grammar Nazi'd

While I think we're better than Pitt, I don't think ranking them very slightly ahead of us is particularly egregious. We eeked out a win against them on a neutral court where a couple calls at the end maybe change the outcome. That being said, we're ranked in the top 10 of KenPom and THINKING THAT'S TOO LOW! If I had made that statement two years ago, I would have been called a drity liar and deserved it.

I want to say Brian said we were 4.5 possesions or so away from the national average. Another factor I feel is that we aren't great at forcing TOs. Not terrible or anything, but most teams either turn the ball over more than we do or force more TOs than we do. Still, I can't help thinking that we run about as much as we probably should. We could increase pace, but the extra possesions would probably be Hardaway or Burke forcing shots on one end and us trying to rush back on defense on the other. I don't think that'd actually be to our benefit.

Well one of the names I saw mentioned was a guy who went to my high school and I know is now at UM's Law school so I'm pretty sure this is legit.

All right I'll make this as simple as possible, the Big Ten will not improve as a football conference, unless it hires better coaches. I really don't think that's a stretch of a statement. While coaches with MAC roots can and have been very successful (Meyer, Saban, Hoke, etc.), a Big Ten school probably should see some success at a non-MAC level before deciding to hire them. That is all I am saying.

Thad Matta might be crooked, but he's a successful coach that OSU got from an extremely good program (Xavier). Painter might be the best example of a "MAC" type coach succeding, but he's still a good coach.  Tom Crean came from a major Big East school and Tubby came from Kentucky (though he was probably gonna be forced out at some point).  The point was that it's not merely cyclical, you have to actually hire good coaches to win. Every coach I mentioned (with the exceptioon maybe of Painter) was a major upgrade from the coach each school had in the early to mid 2000s when the Big Ten sucked at basketball.

The Big Ten has been declining as a football power for a long time now. Obviously part of that was us sucking it up during the Rich Rod years, but the difference between the Big Ten and the SEC is pretty stark and has been growing. You can attribute this merely to population shift (which is definitely a contributing factor) or you can see that a league that hires better coaches tends to win more.

The reason La Tech is slightly better than Miami is simply that it's in a better conference. The MAC consistently has shown it's probably the worst league in CFB most years. To be honest, I'm not the one trying to push this argument, but whatever. Show me a coach who has jumped straight from MAC to Big Ten in recent years and been successful. You can say "Urban Meyer coached at Bowling Green", but does he get that job without the stints at Utah and Florida?  I don't necessarily think that you need to poach head coaches from major programs as there are just less of them in College football, but poor HC choices is one of the reasons for the Big Ten's struggles.

I said this last year, but this is the one time I'll be rooting against the Braves. Also it's great to get a true road game against a team that doesn't have great talent to potentially help us down the road.

I remain extremely (probably overly so) optimistic about Gardner next year. He's a former high 4 star recruit who is going into his 3rd year into a system with some experience under his belt. He has displayed the accuracy and arm strength to make almost every throw a college QB needs to make.  The key to his development is improving in reading defenses. He has been slightly late on a good portion of his throws so far and while that worked fine against mediocre talent (Minneosta, Iowa), it was stifled a bit by OSU. I think he'll improve a lot in this area with an offseason/1st team reps and challenge Martinez/Miller for best QB in the B1G next year. 

The top 10 teams nationally in TOP
1. New Mexico (4-9)
2. Rice (6-6)
3. TCU (7-4 pending game vs Oklahoma)
4. Michigan St (6-6)
5. SMU (6-6)
6. Florida (11-1)
7. North Texas (4-8)
8. Ga Tech (6-6)
9. Western Kentucky (7-5)
10. Wisconsin (7-5 pending game vs Nebraska)
 
Now I picked 10 because that's a round number, but I will note ND (12-0...ugh) is at 11.
Also this seems to be a poor year for those at the top of this stat. Most years are half cream puffs and half really good grinding out/MANBALL type teams(Alabama/Stanford/Wisconsin). In essence you CAN win with this style, but it is by no means necessary. Also before picking on Oregon, go find me a more succesful UM period than they've had the past 4-5 years. You'd probably have to go back to the 70s.

You haven't seen Stauskas put in on the floor? He had a really sweet take early in the game yesterday as well as a shot fake, dribble and shoot for a long 2. Sometimes he gets in trouble for getting a little too agressive, but it's easier to teach guys restraint on that vs. teaching them to be more agressive (took Stu 4 years to get to that comfort level)

I don't usually post, "this board is going ot mlive level" type things, but I've had to neg more board posts than ever lately.

This got overused on this blog a couple years ago, but this is a very worthy post to bring it back on.

This is not a great analogy.

Those two came from the same school? That must have been some ridiculous high school team.

Well I don't think he's a poster here, but he is definintely aware of it as it is his facebook status currently.

Apparently some people can't accept these two things are both true:

a) I really, really hope Denard is healthy this week as when healthy he gives the team the best chance to win.

b) I think Devin has done a great job so far and can also be really, really special next year at QB with an offseason of practice in an offense that Borges feels most comfortable calling.

We need the old points system back so we can get this to the +100 it deserves.

Wait you literally died? Does that mean you posted this from beyond the grave? OH GOD THE ZOMBIES ARE COMING AND HAVE GOOD ENOUGH MOTOR FUNCTION TO USE KEYWORDS!!!

I'm just going to say that if you judged Nick Sheridan exclusively off his performance vs Minnesota, you'd not have an accurate baseline of how good he was (obviously Gardner is way better than Sheridan, but still). 

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but if you like NFL type players, you can watch, you know, the NFL. The variety of offensive/defensive schemes in college football is one of the reasons I personally like it better.

Well I challenged my friends that Michigan fans would find SOMETHING to complain about. Seems like that was that our backup QBs play in a downpour, with two dropped passes out of three was supbar. Also I agree about the decision to kick the FG. I think in a normal situation with Denard, we go for it(and we should), but I had zero problems with the decision with a backup in (and I hadn't noticed we had an OL out too).

Did the OT tag fool you? Were you expecting a thread about a different Verlander the same night he threw a complet game shut out to win the series? There are plenty of other sports team fans here (see my avatar for one example), but the majority are Detroit sports fans and would like to occasionally discuss their team.

Probably explains the whole "Tre" nickname.

True. And if you remember that Giants series in 2010 was the same weekend we lost to MSU in football...so yeah not a fun sports weekend. 

Short series are a coin flip(ask my Braves about that in 2000 or 2001 or 2002 or 2003 or 2004 or... well you get the point)  The important thing is (as the Tigers have done) to get a seat at the table. Anytime you have the best hitter and pitcher in baseball you have a puncher's chance. The A's look to be the easier of the two opponents the Tigers could have drawn, but they've been red hot for two solid months. I'll say Tigers in 5 with a masterful JV performance in Game 5. 

As the lone UM student athletes from my high school currently (although I think we have a baseball recruit for next year too Go Knights!), I am extremely excited at seeing Madison play. I went to a couple of her games (one her freshmen year and one in the state title two years ago) and came away extremely impressed even though they lost both games. I don't know much about the other freshmen, but I think she would have been the best shooter on Michigan's team. I do remember she had one shot in the state title game 3 steps behind the 3 point line where I literally jumped out my seat and yelled "JIMMER" 

Well his INTs probably shouldn't factor into that number since it's his running chart that was -2.5. That is actually a very horrible number for Denard and I'd bet one of the worst if not the worst of his career.  You'd want to look at the Henne Chart for his passing grade and Brian even admits the chart doesn't give enough weight to HOW disastorous a throw is, only that it was a bad throw. 

I am literally speechless at this response...

I think this should be mandatory reading for that little douchebag who sits in the row behind me at games yelling about how terrible Denard is. He even yelled we shouldn't be cheering on Denard's 90 degree angle cut and TD run. You can't please some people I guess. 

Not sure, but I doubt they give out the money if the game is stopped early or they do weird running clock rules. 

You no haz it. You are so blinded by RAGE when you see Rodriguez's name that you fail to actually, you know READ what is written. Did you miss the part where he says he's encouraged by Borges long term when he gets his guys? You know the same thing he said about Rodriguez early in 2008/2009? I still don't know why the idea that there will always be a little friction between Borges talents and Denard's is so impossible to believe. The bigger points here was that Denard's accuarcy was encouraging, the offensive lines performance was worrying, and that we maybe should have run Denard a tad more in the firszt half.  

Michigan averaged 4.8 YPP against the best defense they'll face(probably by a significant amount in Bama). To put in perspective, that would have been the best number by a FBS opponent against Bama last year(boy does that Ga Southern game just look weird compared to the other ones) This is also actually a huge improvement over the putird 3.54 YPP averaged agianst Virginia Tech WITH Fitz in the lineup. Bottom Line, we're gonna be fine on offense, whether the front 7 can play better will determine if we can win the Big Ten(personally I think they will) 

Honestly my initial post game reaction was that Denard played better than his stats indicated and that has been borne out. I mean how many other teams have CBs even close to Alabama's level(can only think of MSU...argh). This also makes me feel like ND is WAAAY more beatable especially as not having any TEs will force us to go shotgun and 3/4 wide a lot more. 

So basically Rich Rod (run spread guy) is better than Borges (West Coast guy) at utilizing the ultimate run spread QB. Also Nick Saban is really smart at defense and shuts downs all offenses not lead by Heisman Trophy winning man-children going HAM. I don't really get what everyone is upset about.

Actually if you're going to run Smith that's the proper way to use him. He got 13 carries in a game where Fitz was out. If Fitz is healthy, he maybe runs that 2-3 times a game in addition to his 2 or so catches and great blocking. 

While Denard was absolutely spectacular that game, I'd actually rather have his performance vs OSU. While he wasn't as prolific yards wise, he was much more efficient throwing the ball and the offense put up 40 on OSU (I can't recall the last time UM put up more than that against OSU), 

I'm confused by why the inclusion in the Sugar Bowl would dispute his point. The bottom line is that Michigan hasn't finished the regular season in the top 2 in 15 years while they have finished in the top 4 of the regular season polls twice in the last decade. That means Michigan will probably get more access under the new system than the old one. 

Don't know if you frequent any Braves blogs, but at least on the one I go to, they are obsessed with trying to get Infante back, Probably because the Uggla extension isn't working out too well. 

Yep hilarious joke here guy. Got a regular Dane Cook among us. Almost as funny as Rob Schneider

You know the best part of being in the Big Ten? Even if we lose to Alabama, hell even if we lose every non-conference game, we control our own destiny on going to the Rose Bowl. So we won't be "scraping for the Tupperware Bowl" if we earn our way into the Rose Bowl,

Or he was a walk-on who really loved Michigan football and never expected the perfect storm of events to happen to force him into active duty. I get that 08 sucked as a football season, but I try not to rag on guys who tried their hardest, but were placed in terrible situations by things outside their control. 

Awesome for him. I hope he goes HAM this year and then the Eagles lose 12 games anyway. 

MIKE JONES

I guess I'm just a sucker because while I can't disagree with any of the points you've said, I still view the game as a fairly enjoyable one. The one "glitch" I guess I've run into that's annoying is that occasionally the playcalling screen will freeze and not let me scroll down or choose a play. I usually can fix this by pausing the game and then starting it again, but it's obnoxious. 

Meh. No surprise since Rittenberg basically said he doesn't like Michigan Stadium several times.  If our biggest offseason outrage is being placed lower than we like in a filler beauty contest on ESPN that's trolling for clicks, then we've come an awfully long way in a year. 

But if he shatters it, they'll be nothing for the shooters to bank off of.

I don't know what power you think the MGoBoard has, but if we could affect scholarship offers by popular decision then we probably wouldn't have offered a LS.

While the class competition wasn't great, if the Liggett coach hasn't changed his scheduling philosophy from when I was there('08 grad), then he did see some higher competition during the non-conference portion. Probably doesn't project to a huge immediate impact guy, but hopefully turns into a solid contributor. 

Care to give a reason? I don't think this trade makes the Lakers title favorites or even favorites in the West, but I think it dramatically improves their chances. 

I sincerely hope we avoid the inevitable 25+ comment argument about what being "lucky" in TO margin means. I agree that 9 wins would be a successful season, but I don't see it as undoable. The only home game that really worries me is MSU, so I think we have a decent shot at running the table in Ann Arbor. From there it becomes splitting the games away from home and I think that's doable, especially since ND is quite overrated again this year(I know water is wet, blah blah, blah) 

Also screw the system that says the VT game was a loss. I'm as pro-advanced statistics as they come, but if you change the result of a game, then you're not analyzing what happened, you're playing revisionist history. 

I choose to believe this was such an over the top insult that it actually was meant to mock the Lebron haters. 

As far as Wisky LBs, I don't think that is a change from what we saw last year. State was able to absolutely kill them with Martin coming out of the slot being matched up against either of their LBs and then Oregon did them even worse.  I also agree they'll take a huge step back because Russell Wilson was really, really, good and took that offense from very good to probably top 5 in the country. 

Rich Rodriguez made many poor decisions while coaching here, but I don't thnik this was one of them. The defense wasn't playing that horribly and more importantly, Tate was absolutely gassed. Had he not been, I would have agreed with the decision to go for two, but I didn;t have a problem with that call there. 

Actually, I do think you're TheOnlyOne...

Hmmm...calling this brutal is an understatement.  If basketball had the problem of too few great candidates, it's no suprise football has the opposite considering the number of guys on the team(this also explains why hockey was just right).  
My top 3:

1. Brandon Graham-It's still going to be tough to top him as my favorite Michigan player ever. He might not have come to Michigan knowing what was going to happen, but he stayed his senior year when he didn't have to and he played his heart out. 

2. Lamarr Woodly- Guns don't kill people..etc, etc. That 2006 defense was the most fun I'd ever had watching football until Team 132's squad. May rank slightly below BG because I agree that BG was slightly better. 

3. Mike Hart-It feels criminal to not put a Team 132 guy in this slot, but I can't not put in Hart. I know some people didn't like his trash talk and he didn't beat OSU, but the latter was never really his fault.. You forget just how good he was until you go back and watch a highlight tape. 

To be fair to the guy you replied to, he didn't say TOs would revert to the mean, he said fumble recovery rates.  I think that everyone can agree that there many part of TO margint that aren't random(QB/RB experience, having guys within 1 mile of ball carriers, etc.), but one part that pretty much is consistently random is the rate at which you recover fumbles(which we had an absurdly, unsustainably high % last year).

Considering Darius Morris was drafted AND is still on a NBA roster, his decision actually didn't work out too poorly. Whether he succeeds now will depend on how good he is and that's all you can ask for. 

Basketball is still fist come first serve so it wouldn't be a complete adjustment. And I know exactly what you mean about the camping out. Getting there at 11 the night before and staying all night to get in for Gameday is going to be hard to top as far as experiences at UM (although all sports teams are of course encouraged to try to do so)

Please don't let Martin go to the Saints. I'm not sure I could handle him playing for that franchise. 

It doesn't matter if Boise is 4th, since then they would have to travel to Alabama or somewhere for the game and not actually hosted it.  And unless we have a top 16 of Boise and all MAC/Sun Belt teams, we wouldn't need 16 teams to make that proposal.  The only teams that would need to submit an "alternate" plan would be those with a stadium size below whatever standard(let's say 50k).  Anyone else would just have to plan on having an extra game at their stadium, something that all Pac-12 teams already handle perfectly fine with their conference championship game format. 

Well to be fair the Browns usually do have an empty stadium by late December. 
/full disclosure Falcons Fan
/Yes I know we blow in the Playoffs