Recent Comments

There are good reasons to go to Alabama, whether we like it or not, and there are good reasons to go to other schools too.  It's a long way to signing day.   

All jokes are not the same because all groups are not identically situated.  Are you really threatened if you hear a joke about white people or men?  (I'm assuming you're a white man - maybe I'm wrong.)  I am a white guy, and I am totally and utterly unthreatened by such jokes because I stand in my white-man shoes at the top of the racial-sexual pyramid...Also, Gee said that you can't trust Catholics (or was it just the ND Catholics?).  Being untrustworthy isn't even a stereotype of Catholics. 

I think the person who put it together had a stroke of some kind.  I'm genuinely worried. 

"We will sometimes slap you on the wrist."

I thought from the video that Hibbert was lampooning the use of "no homo" in the same way that someone says "that's what she said" with the understanding that it's stupid.  Perhaps I'm being too easygoing, but that was my initial reaction...As for calling the media "mother-f*****s," you have to remember that most sports journalists do, in fact, have sex with their mothers. 

He seems wide open.  It seems correct to say that Duke is the leader right now, but I don't think he's anywhere near ready to decide...This is all just from reading UMHoops.   

Having two-thirds of the All Big Ten team is a hell of an accomplishment. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff,_the_Michigan_Wolverine 

From the link: The University of Michigan Athletic Department reports that Biff and Bennie “grew larger and more ferocious,” leading Yost to conclude, "It was obvious that the Michigan mascots had designs on the Michigan men toting them, and those designs were by no means friendly." 

New Balance makes some sneakers in the U.S., but I don't know about basketball/football shoes. 

...as fun as watching robots on an assembly line build a Honda. 

He seems like a nice guy.  That's the most I can say about his ideas for divisions and his understanding of the conference. 

As for Kevon Looney, can you imagine that kid playing the four in Coach Beilein's offense?  I'm going to have to work hard not to think too much about it, as I don't want my hopes dashed if he goes elsewhere. 

It's nice when prospective Michigan players are guys who you'd like no matter their team.  Both football and MBB seem to recruit a lot of said dudes. 

The team's depth needs to be re-stocked. 

...this thread is likely to be political.

Ross and Thompson will help make up for the loss of Thomas, and they'll probably be better defensively than they were this year, b/c Thomas was their worst defender. 

She was about a quarter of the way home to making a good point about about not sweeping on-the-ground issues under the rug with rebranding, but everything unraveled pretty badly when she associated a cartoon dog with sexual assault. I'm also not sure why the kid who was charged with tresspassing while on spring break needed to be mentioned.

It wouldn't have been my pick, but I don't think it was crazy either.  I remember being impressed by him when watching a BYU game this past season. 

Henne used to sometimes overthrow balls well over receivers' heads, especially in his soph. year.  Someone (Brian?) would say that he was throwing to Tacopants, an 8-foot-tall (I think) receiver.  I think Jason Avant was somehow worked into the joke too.

EDIT:  Beaten to the punch...Tacopants was eleven feet tall?  I think we're getting a little carried away here.  It's not like we're talking about Bill Brasky. 

Fwiw, I think you guys are too down on your pick. The guy hasn't played much football, and his best days may well be ahead of him. He also probably appreciates the hell out of this opportunity since he's from Ghana.

EDIT: Never mind.  I, for one, welcome our new Twitter overlords.  

The capitalization is used the same way Oscar Wilde or William Blake would have used it.  I thought that was obvious.   

I'll always remember how excited he was when Trey hit the shot against KU and generally how into games he was on the bench.  He seemed like a good teammate. 

Surely more than a few NBA people would like to see if he can produce like he did in the tournament for a longer stretch. 

That's traditionally made a Beilein offense a Beilein offense, right?

...is what I feel.

Eight-year-olds are going to love those for Halloween. 

EDIT: It's hard to tell what's a joke when it comes to uniforms anymore.

Michigan is going to need more from LeVert and Stauskas than they got this year, though I think there's reason to believe they'll get it.  Irvin will (obviously) be a key piece as well - he could be as good as Gary Harris was this year - and GRIII (knock on wood) could play some minutes at the three too. 

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/mich-m-baskbl-body.html 

...but I hope people see that we don't want to be more like China in terms of our criminal justice system - although we lock up a much higher rate of our population than they do, so maybe there is something to be said for their way...

Burke held a press conference last year too. I'm not optimistic about this, but I don't think the press conference part is important.

We should make a thorough inquiry into how this happened, decide if we can prevent similar acts without sacrificing more than is worth it, and then act accordingly.  There is, though, no point in treating this as any worse than the sum of the injuries and deaths suffered (plenty bad, of course).  We play right into the hands of those who would terrorize us otherwise...I should say here that I used to live in Boston, that I've watched the finish of the Marathon only a few feet from the finish line, and that I've been texting with a worried friend since this happened.  I "get it."  I just don't want us to adopt the posture of a terrorized people.  We can control that. 

I suppose we're hardwired to respond differently to intentional acts than we are to accidents, but I think it's good to imagine our response to a car accident that killed two and injured twenty-something (or whatever the final numbers are) as we respond to this.  We as a society only become victims of terrorism when we allow ourselves to be changed by terror itself. 

It's not surprising given the praise he was getting at the end of the year...I think Michigan's backcourt  can be as good as this year's in 2014 - assuming Irvin is a SG and that he and Walton return for their soph. seasons.  Neither Walton nor Irvin will likely be as good as Burke, of course, but I think Irvin + Walton could be as good as Burke + Hardaway. 

There wouldn't be a logjam until next year, i.e., there won't be space problems unless Trey and co. stick around for 2014...so there won't be problems. 

Here's the thing I can't get past with Tressel:  Your guys are at least mildly involved in a situation that is being investigated by the FBI and that you've been told involves a dangerous drug dealer.  Do you really want the NCAA - the incompetent, corrupt NCAA - sniffing around at that time?  Do you really trust them to have the best interests of student athletes at heart?  I simply can't blame him too much for lying to the NCAA in those circumstances.  The NCAA is a parasite.

That's the last day the NBA will let you declare, though my guess is that everyone will announce before then.

I wasn't saying that you were the average Mgoblogger.  I know better than that.  I was just anticipating attacks from others for defending Tressel. 

I still don't know if I'd ask him if he thinks he got a fair shake, but I don't think that's a terrible idea either.  He might give you a little smile and then say something basically non-responsive.

I'm not sure what else you can do about a bunch of anonymous d*ckheads on the internet. 

I had to laugh when Greg Anthony questioned sitting Burke at halftime by saying that you can trust a point guard not to get into foul trouble.  Greg Anthony's UNLV team lost to Duke in '91 because he - the point guard - got into foul trouble.  

Another note:  Burke thinks he's Allen Iverson?  Uh...yeah...I mean...they both play basketball.

Yeah, I don't see him being all-NBA /the kind of guy who carries a team either. 

First, thanks for everything you've done for the program!  Second, I'm glad that I, as a Doctor of Basketball, can help.  I agree with what Space Coyote said below.  I also think, though, that you can almost certainly improve your game and that you have a very good chance of improving  your draft stock if you stay another year.  I very selfishly want you to stay, though, so that must be weighed when considering my opinion...Regardless of what you do, know that Michigan fans love you and that you can always come to me for life advice. 

Cheers!

Oh - one more tip:  Make sure to floss your teeth at least once a day.  Those things are your best friends!

They busted their asses, and obviously a MBB team does too.  It must be easy to think, "Man, I should at least get paid for doing this."

There's a sort of false deadline in that the NCAA gives players an earlier date but the NBA doesn't require you to declare until the later date, so you really can just wait until that later date to declare, b/c you don't care if you violated the NCAA rule if you're leaving anyway. 

Happening to me too.  Threads also show up as having, say, 20 total posts but 21 new posts.

You have to be happy for them.

You could put [MUST READ] after the current title.  IMHO, everyone needs to read that. 

Everyone should read that.  It's great...Michigan played in an all-time great final last night, a game that may have reminded a lot of people of the beauty of college basketball.  At the beginning of last year, we weren't sure they'd even make the tournament.  Now, in two years, they've won the Big Ten and nearly won the national title. 

...they won five big games!  I would have kissed Kim Jong-un right on the mouth if you'd told me after the Indiana game that Michigan would "only" make it to the final (and play well in it). 

It wasn't that long ago that we were glad just to make the tournament. Now we're frustrated that Michigan isn't national champs.

Where did you see that?

I'm glad they were so gracious, and I'm glad Walton is over six feet.

Next year depends a hell of a lot on what Zeller, Oladipo, Harris, and Payne do.  My message to all of them is that education is overrated and that you may never get another chance to be an NBA player. 

You are part of our tribe, and we love you.

...I think the team is going to survive the loss of Darius Morris after all.*

*This is not a shot at Morris.  I was just thinking the other day how worried we all were when he left. 

I just hope this isn't a distraction. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm3YFFjj5y8 

He half-choked Neil Reed at IU too. 

I remember being grabbed by the jersey and/or shoulder pads and led to another spot on the field.  I have no problem with that because it's instructional (though I think what you do is smart).  The ball-throwing, etc. is simply destructive and demeaning. 

The rims, the dome, and KU's defense and experience all concern me.  What I would tell the players if I was asked (and, oddly, I wasn't) is that they need to be ready to hang tough in a very low-scoring game.  They need to be the team that was intense for 40 minutes in a grind-y game against MSU in AA.  They can't be the team who showed up against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament who seemed to say, "This sucks, and I'm tired." 

This is easily the worst KU offense I've seen in twenty years, but their defense might be the best. This Kansas team is a lot like OSU (on a bad shooting night) or Wisconsin this year (except KU plays great defense without cheating).  And, as Brian says, they get a lot of their buckets on put-backs (Young) and in transition (Releford).

Kansas is very beatable if Michigan plays well - box out(!), play defense like they did against MSU in AA, don't turn the ball over.  KU doesn't generate much offense even on a good night (the occasional Elijah Johnson explosion aside), but they won't let that get them down.  They will do all the little things well and play hard for 40 minutes, and they don't mind winning ugly.  Michigan has to be mentally prepared to play a game in the 50s. 

I've only been filling it in after the games are already over, though.

Oh...yeah.

Meh

They were the better team. IMHO, OSU will have a harder time with Wichita State than they would have against Gonzaga, who is soft. WSU could have won that game by 15 points if the officiating hadn't tightened up so much.

Spike played a great game, and was one hell of a play.  He put the ball right on the money with his off hand...That was great to watch.  I'm really happy for the team.

...screw them.

Not sure how successful I'll be either!  Chances are not great. 

Since I cannot help decide the outcome, I'm going to try to just watch as a fan of basketball and let the cruel gods of the NCAA Tournament do what they will.  This is two of the best coaches in the country going at it. 

That is a great picture.

Well, I love Jalen, but you have to sleep and generally take care of yourself to succeed.

I don't think Knight would have been tolerant of something like that.  He was a bully to a lot of people, but I don't believe he let his players get away with missing classes, much less violent crimes.   

You have to like the implication of what at least two coaches have implied, namely that he's at least as good as Gary Harris (his former teammate). 

First:  Clarett won his suit at trial but lost on appeal (a decision by then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor, no less).

Second:  I don't think you can say that a player who stays an extra year necessarily thinks he's getting more in compensation during that year than he would if he left.  He could just as easily think - and this is my guess - that he'll make more in the long run if he sacrifices in the short run and stays in school.  In other words, he'll get $12 million in the next five years total by staying an extra year and improving his draft stock, whereas he'd get $8 million in the next five years total by leaving now.   

Third:  I don't think Denard's likely salary as an NFL player is helpful when looking at what he was worth to Michigan.  Denard was a very effective and exciting college player (obviously), and the preponderance of No. 16 jerseys at Michigan games (among other things) demonstrates his popularity and commercial appeal as a college player.   

Fourth:  The rookie minimum salary in the NFL in 2012 was $390,000.  This does not count signing bonuses.  A very plausible - even conservative - example what Denard might get in total is what Tony Bergstrom, 95th player in the 2012 NFL draft, received in salary plus signing bonus, which was $516,504.00.  Let's now say that this amount gets taxed in half, leaving our hypothetical Denard with $258,252.00 in net income.  I doubt Michigan gave him that sum in benefits last year.  A quick Google search suggests that there is disagreement on the value of what college football players receive (annoyingly, no one seems to just look at the cost of it all), but I can't find any number anywhere near $258,000 - and that figure is just a baseline b/c it doesn't include any endorsements that Denard will get (remember that he's already got EA in the bag).  It's accordingly hard for me to believe that he was financially better off at Michigan in 2012 than he will be in the NFL in 2013. 

First, the words "morally reprehensible" are not mine.  I've said in a post at least once in the last two days that I don't think the players are receiving "nothing" (I don't think that at all) and that they are in the grand scheme of things very lucky people.  In fact, I think it's fantastic that guys like Denard Robinson can go to Michigan b/c they can play football.  I think this, and I think that Denard is being ripped off at the same time, but I wouldn't want to throw out the baby (scholarship) with the bathwater (total lack of royalties, for example).

Moving on, we can imagine a situation in which people boycotted the NCAA and forced them to change their ways.  I admit that I have not organized such a thing.  It would be good, and I would glady tune out for awhile.

Next, we can imagine a situation in which people stop watching NCAA sports at all, thus causing the players to lose even the benefits they have now.  That seems to be the worst case, and I wouldn't want it to happen.  Yet this is the logical conclusion of what several posters have said, namely that they will not watch college sports again if the players are paid  - b/c they (the posters) would find it somehow dirty.

To recap: 

1.  I think a guy like Denard is received a great benefit - one I'm glad to contribute to - while being exploited at the same time.  It would be like paying Tom Brady $250k.  Is that a lot of money?  Of course!  Would it be a fair amount? No!

2. I am as of yet too lazy and/or incapable to organize an effective boycott of the NCAA.

3. I think that pulling your support from college sports altogether is the worst option, b/c you cost guys what they have now - which, again, is something very good.

You could argue that he wouldn't have had nearly the success he's had with the Pats if he'd been drafted by, say, the Bengals. Yet he makes $20 million (or whatever) per year.  What you're saying has merit, but it doesn't giving college kids a bigger slice of the pie.  

The blog has a decent amount of people who don't want the players - the people who put their bodies on the line for our entertainment - to get their grubby little hands on too much money because...it's distasteful.  I wonder how many of them would tell their brother-in-law - who was a star in his business but paid like he wasn't - to just suck it up for the good of his employer.  None, I imagine, but there is a double standard for the players.

It's not guaranteed, but his non-medical redshit does not preclude a medical redshirt. 

1. We can go back and forth about what it means to be impoverished, but it's good enough for me when people can't afford to fly home for the holidays or when they have no spending money at all. Plenty of college kids are strapped for spending money, sure, but they don't sell jerseys like Denard.....2. You don't see the use that someone starting his life would have for $20k? I don't believe unless you live in the biggest bubble in the world. And my desire for players to get more has nothing to do with a desire to punish administrators. If I understand correctly, I like DB a lot more than you. I want the players to get something closer to what they generate, though, and it's fair to cut other parts of the AD budget to do it. The current NCAA regime - not a plan to give players more - is the false construct. It's only possible through the monopolistic practices of the NCAA. Breaking through those pratices would only get us to where things are supposed to be in this country - where a person's talent earns him what others will pay for it. And yes, this is the right thing to do for players given that this is our political-economic system. They should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors and keep a good chunk of what they earn - no one is going to bail them out later in life if they need it.

...the individuals create (or fail to create) the quality!   That's why school put so much effort into recruiting the Chris Webbers of the world. 

I don't care - at least not in a vacuum - what DB makes per year.  I also realize that current players receive far from nothing and that they are, in the grand scheme of things, very lucky people.  Despite that, I don't think it's fair that a football player at U of M receives $50k (or whatever) in benefits per year when he helps generate a giant mountain of cash that exceeds $50 x 85 by a titanic amount.  I'd like to see him get a larger piece of the pie for his troubles, especially (and here I'm thinking of football in particular) given the possibility of serious injury while playing.  What Denard received in 2012 was seemingly the equivalent of paying Tom Brady $250k to play QB for the Pats.  It was just an unfair amount - or at least it sure seems that way.

Also, I don't think this would kill Ball State, but it admittedly would make the gap between the Michigans and the Ball States of the world bigger.  Why, though, shouldn't Denard get some extra money because the QB of Ball State* won't?    Denard generates more money than the QB of Ball State does, and there is no current reality in college sports that fails to reflect that except the extent to which the two players are compensated (or not) for their efforts.**  CBS certainly wasn't going to put Ball St. on TV in primetime, and EA Sports wasn't going to feature his avatar in a video game advertisement.  Why must the elite players bear the burden of the NCAA's fictional view of things? 

As for your question about the point of a trust fund, I'm sure you know the answer.  You could go back to school, start a new business, buy a car, etc. 

*Though he appears in NCAA Football too, now that I think about it. 

**Well, Denard gets more b/c he goes to Michigan, but the gap in compensation is not as large as the gap in money generated. 

I can already receive healthcare, food, housing, tuition, study materials, tudors, clothes, and even emergency spending money if I'm a student athlete.  Is a trust fund of $20k that's waiting for me when I graduate really that much of a leap? 

Some of the motivation for Title IX was to promote - rather than just allow - women's participation.  Proponents (some, anyway) believed that creating the opportunity to obtain scholarships would lead to more girls participating in sports at the youth and h.s. level, which it likely did. 

Look at the difference the Fab 5 made for Michigan in terms of selling t-shirts and such...I agree that you could take Denard or Miller away and not see much of a drop off right away, but you'd see one eventually.  People will lose interest in the long run if you suck for too long.  Look at how many people jumped off of the Michigan basketball bandwagon between 1994 and 2009. 

The boring answer is probably that likeness and work product are two legally distinct things, but that's just a guess. 

I'm sure Roger is somewhere in that tire fire ready to flirt with Joan as soon as he gets out.

The SEC isn't close to one of the best leagues in the country.  Watch Alabama if you get the chance.  They'd finish 10th in the Big Ten if everything broke right. 

The future of Michigan basketball is very bright, though Brian's above advice to Maryland should none-the-less be followed by all, as the success of the basketball teams will never truly free us from the suffering born of our attachments.

...that you are being exploited too, and I think it's hard to argue that Denard got a fair percentage of the money that he made the university and/or EA Sports, a company to whom something very close to his likeness was sold without his permission.  

The players are already used to generate revenue. Now (some) of them just don't get near what they bring in.

I think this team will benefit from being criticized.  They seem to have struggled with the expecations that come with being a highly ranked favorite.  I hope to see lots of pro-SD St. and pro-VCU stuff all week. 

...if we don't think of SD St. as a creampuff whom Michigan should destroy in its sleep. 

http://www.twincities.com/columnists/ci_19575691?source=rss 

SD St. beat Washington 92-73 last year at Washington, breaking the Huskies' 32-game non-conference home winning streak...I ask my fellow Mgobloggers, for the sake of our collective mental health, not to take this team for granted.   They will no doubt come in fired up but feeling no pressure, like most tournament underdogs, and they have reason to be confident in their abilities. 

Many people have gone from irrational (if understandable) optimism to unwarranted disappointment that resulted from the irrational optimism. The good news is that so many folks care about the basketball team. I think many of them - and this is an obnoxious thing to say - don't remember or know what it's like to root for a high-level program. People don't seem to realize that seasons in which you win every game that you "should" win are few and far between and that relying on freshman - while it can work - is a very shakey proposition.

I think that people lost track of the fact that this was a great class by Michigan's recent standards but not a great class by the standards of Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, Duke, etc.  I can tell you for sure that a Kansas fan wouldn't have seen McGary, Robinson, et al. coming and thought, "We're definitley going to win the league." 

They're a bunch of freshman.  Freshman usually can't play defense, and Michigan plays five of them...Remember when Michigan was an under-talented bunch of scrappy dudes who consistently overacheived?  Like, last year?  Those Stu and Novak teams were Beilein's teams too. 

You caught us...and by "us" I mean "me"...and by "me" I mean "the voices." 

Basketball players coming right out of high school often don't know how to play defense, and it often takes them a while to learn.  Look for freshman who score a lot, and you'll find them easily.  Look for freshman on all-defensive teams, and you'll find shot blockers and usually nobody else. 

No one would watch Big Ten basketball if everyone played like them, and the worst part is that the refs aid and abet their conspiracy to destroy the game of basketball.  Wisconsin's basketball program should be showered with napalm until it's so hot that Madison's atmosphere catches fire.  They must be rooted out like the parasites, ring worms, vampires, maggots that they are. 

Why even have a league if a team like Wisconsin can just shit all over the game of baskeball and win like this?

He's probably over-thinking a lot of things and freezing while he does it, which makes him look like he's loafing.  I think he's he's wasting energy and time by analyzing everything instead of just reacting.  I think we'll see less and less of this as he gets older.