While I'd like to believe this, it doesn't explain Chyra Evans' entrance (she's Australian). Hers is even more perplexing given that she is already an entrenched starter whose main competition for PT (Cam Williams) was the first player to enter the portal this offseason. She has a guaranteed starting position and can't benefit from NIL anyway.
Okay, this one makes no sense to me. She pushed her way to up to like 6th-7th in the rotation by year-end as a true freshman. Her offensive production was going to need work, but she looked to have serious defensive upside. I mean, they even put her on Caitlin Clark.
Bummer! Wasn't she dinged up for a lot of the year? I thought that was a major reason for the lack of PT in the middle of the season. I was really excited to see a couple years from her.
One thing's for sure: next year's team is going to look very different. Assuming none of the players in the portal return, no more players enter the portal (didn't the window just close?), and Whitney Sollom doesn't get invited to use her COVID shirt, the remaining players from this year's team will be (starters bolded):
Macy Brown
Laila Phelia
Jordan Hobbs
Greta Kampschroeder
Alyssa Crockett
Chyra Evans
Taylor Woodson
They have five incoming freshmen, so I believe that leaves two scholarship spots that could be filled via the portal.
This is an ignorant and uninformed comment. Most people who follow the team closely would agree that these results are basically right in line with expectations for this year: finish somewhere in the 5th-6th range in the conference, make the tournament, and hopefully win a first-round game.
Laila had a career high against Ohio State earlier this year. She has since eclipsed that twice and has had eleven 20+ point games this year. Ohio State’s two lowest scoring outputs of the season were against Michigan, who handed then one of only five losses this year.
Are there a few games I wish they would have been able to win? Sure. That’s sports.
Agreed re: Crockett as well. I think she can be a really good piece on this team going forward if she sticks around. She seems like the kind of player that can go anywhere from the 2-4 spot as needed. I feel like she hasn't played with as much confidence this year as she did as a freshman last year, but some of that is likely due to the pressure you feel to do something when you're not getting many minutes. Over the entire course of her career so far, she seems like a very smart player who doesn't make mistakes or give the ball away.
Even if she tops out as a heady, high-floor, low-ceiling player when all is said and done, I think she has plenty to offer this program and hope she sticks around. It probably doesn't help that she's the only one left from her 2-person recruiting class and that Taylor Woodson seems to be eating up the minutes she got last year.
FWIW, Taylor Woodson looks like she has all of the makings of a very good defender.
Good win! They took care of the ball and played great defense. I would like to think they're safely in at this point, but a win tonight would certainly cement it.
Were you at all surprised that -- unless I missed it -- Greta didn't even get in until the final minute along with Sollom and Brown? I mean, I'm certainly at the point where I think you take Lauren Hansen off the court as little as possible, but I was surprised she never even got in until that point. Her PT has dropped off considerably this year. Have to wonder if she might be a transfer risk.
Also, loved seeing Elissa Brett take three (!!!) charges yesterday. This team does such a good job moving their feet on defense.
Agreed. I thought the first one was even worse than the second. They had no answer for her, and it really hurt to have to staple her to the bench.
It's interesting how they seem to use her and Evans differently in the same spots. It was pretty clear they wanted the work the ball to the middle of the floor all night; they were constantly getting the ball to the mid post.
While Cam would generally make a strong move to the basket, Evans' first, second, and sometimes third looks when she got the ball in that spot were always to pass. It makes me wonder if she has been coached to pass first out of that spot for some particular reason. She has pretty good footwork as well and, while she doesn't have the baby hook that Cam has when her back is to the basket, she has good enough footwork to often get a good look. I'm wondering if that's just a player difference or if they're being coached to handle their looks in the paint differently.
JPL, just wanted to say thanks for doing this throughout the season!
I sort of took the unofficial "give the updates on the women's team" mantle last season in the UMHoops forum, but just didn't have it in me to do the same thing this year. Unfortunately, the women's hoops thread over there has been a shell of what it was the past couple seasons. Super thankful for you doing this for every game. It can be really hard to find good coverage for the ladies.
Really hoping that they soundly beat Purdue on Sunday and can get a win in the BTT. Even if they run into the OSU buzzsaw again afterward, I think those two things might be enough to get them in the field.
I have never skied, but I attempted to snowboard once at age 19. I was fairly athletic and a lean 5’9” and 140 pounds. I never even made it down the hill the first time.
After falling several times on the bunny hill, I figured, “If I’m going to fall anyway, I might as well do it on the actual hill.” I fell a LOT.
At one point, I finally got going with some speed, tried to turn, wiped, fell on my shoulder, and snapped my collarbone. Never made it past the halfway point of the slope. First and last time I tried to snowboard.
I think the ladies played exceptionally well last night. Even Clark herself said "we need to play better defense" heading into halftime. They ate Iowa up in the paint. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep Iowa from just blazing the nets. When a team is shooting over 50% from range on such high volume and some of those are 35-footers, you just have to shrug and say "oh well, not our night." Kate Martin went 4/5 from range. Molly Davis went 2/2 and had one that that bounced about four feet up off the rim and fell right through. That's when it was abundantly clear that it just wasn't going to be Michigan's night.
I am also so over the Caitlin Clark show. She's incredible -- and she should be celebrated -- but last night was so over-the-top on the broadcast. We missed multiple live plays in the game while watching Clark drink water on the sidelines. They came back from a review break to talk about Clark, taking quite a while to explain what the actual result of the review was.
And they let Clark get away with a lot last night. I was thrilled when they finally called her for an offensive foul. On a corner three a few possessions before that, she got open by putting two hands in Phelia's chest to push off and then use the screen. A couple plays later there was a loose ball that she and Chrya Evans were going for and she visibly pulled on Chyra's arm to pull her away from the loose ball; no call. And while I understand that they're not going to call it, you cannot bring the ball to a stop in your hand and take two hop steps with the same foot to get into a shot. That is not a gather step; that is not jump stop. That is a travel, but it never gets called (Laila does this, too, FWIW).
And then she whines so. much. She was complaining about the forearm she put in Taylor Woodson's chin like it didn't happen. She wanted a foul on a layup that was just straight-up good defense by (I think) Greta. And when Elise Stuck drew a good charge foul late in the game, all the broadcast could do is blather on (and, to be fair, I like Megan McKeown) about how "she's such a team player that she even gets upset when calls go against her teammates" as Clark jawed at the officials from the bench. It was just all very over-the-top, and I knew it would be.
As a dad of a daughter who loves basketball and has loved watching Caitlin Clark, I'm happy that she has done so well, and it's great to see arenas packed for women's basketball. That said, I'm more than ready for her to move on. May she have a great WNBA career, but I'm ready to no longer see her on the opposing sideline. Last night was even a turning point for my 11 year-old daughter who has loved watching her. She was pretty much over it all and was upset that she was getting away with so much.
In other officiating notes, there was also a clear charge taken early on in the game by Brett that went totally uncalled (although I don't think the offensive player was Clark in that case). And, of course, the absurd call that Chyra Evans had a foot in-bounds when inbounding the ball after a made basket. Did they show a replay? Of course not. If you roll it back and watch it yourself, it wasn't even close to being the correct call. I could not believe that call.
On the positive side, Jordan Hobbs had a great night. They had 6 ladies score in double figures. Chyra worked her tail off on the offensive glass. Taylor Woodson has really worked herself into some very meaningful and productive minutes, including quite a few where she was guarding Clark last night and doing so pretty effectively for a true freshman guarding the all-time scoring leader.
The final PPP ended up being surprisingly low: 0.97. I thought Michigan moved the ball well and got just about anything they wanted in the paint. At least for the first half, they were trading blows (2s for 3s, unfortunately) with Iowa and keeping it close. Given the way Iowa bombed away from three, the fact that this was a 4-point game at one point late in the second quarter was incredible and a testament to the girls' unwillingness to give up.
They had 14 turnovers (again, at least one of those was extremely incorrect) to Iowa's 12, and played them very evenly there. Elissa Brett had a rough game, as did Alyssa Crockett.
Truthfully, I feel like last night was pretty close to the ideal (realistic) result. That game drew a ton of viewers, and I'm sure the committee was watching as well. What they saw from Michigan was a team that played hard and for much of the game kept pace with a team shooting a ridiculous percentage from range despite doing almost all of their damage in the paint. As far as "quality losses" go, this one was encouraging to me.
I really hope they can pull out a win this weekend vs. MSU. If they do that and win the games against the bottom of the conference, I think they can end up in the field of 68.
That one hurts and could end up being the reason they miss the tournament. The two teams were situated right next to each other in the HHS rankings. You can't drop games at home against those teams when you're already in Last Four In status.
Their remaining games are not going to do them any favors, either, with trips to both Iowa City and Columbus that you would expect to be big losses. They really can't afford to lose any of the other remaining games: Rutgers (H), MSU (H), Northwestern (A), Purdue (H).
Do you find it at all baffling how little Alyssa Crockett has played this year? I worry about her being a transfer risk. She was the #48 overall player in her class and is a solid player who can move between the 3 and 4 spots. She's a decent rebounder, good defender, good passer, provides outside shooting, and rarely makes mistakes. Her minutes as of today are essentially half of what she played last year (168 to 320), and yet in that time she still has come close to matching her points (40 to 48), rebounds (31 to 34), assists (15 to 19), and blocks (7 to 8) from last year and isn't far behind on steals (11 to 16), either. In other words, her minutes have been more efficient, but she is playing less. I don't see her as being someone you build the team around, but she seems like she could be a high-floor, low-risk stalwart type that will give you a really good game here and there.
I guess I would expect she will see a significant uptick in playing time next year with Hansen, Brett, Cam Williams, Stuck, and Sollom gone. Next year you're going to have Phelia, Hobbs, and Evans starting with someone to slot into the 1 and 4 spots. The 4 spot will either likely be Taylor Williams , Crockett, or Taylor Woodson, with one of the three also being the first off the bench. It just feels like Taylor Woodson is the one taking the minutes that would more likely have been Crockett's which says something about something since she's a true freshman.
I mean, there were similar things posted before any of them left. And I agreed with them at that point, too.
I think it's fair to say that -- in quite a few ways -- 2023 was the end of an era. Whether Michigan won the whole thing or not -- even before the season started -- it felt to me like it was going to be much less fun to follow what this sport has become starting in 2024. This just made it that much sweeter and easier to ride off into the sunset.
Am I going to watch? Yes. Am I going to wear Michigan gear? Yes. Am I going to be anywhere near as invested in it as I have been up to this point? No. So much of what I have loved about CFB for years has been soured by the changes over the last several years, and the offseason between 2023 and 2024 is the point where it all jumps the shark.
I think it's always hard to read how vibes affect play accurately, but it definitely felt like Brett leaving the floor was the turning point.
On the other hand, I don't know that you can fully attribute the 4th quarter to that happening. Minnesota just shot out of their minds in that quarter. I don't know how if having Brett on the court or removing the bad vibes does much to change that; sometimes that stuff just happens. Last year, Rikki Harris (OSU) -- who shot 23% from 3 and averaged 6.6 ppg on the season -- went 3/4 from 3 and put up 23 points against Michigan. Sometimes it just be like that.
Regarding Brett's injury, I didn't think what happened looked all that bad live, but she was very clearly in a lot of pain, needed to be helped off, and went straight to the locker room in a wheelchair. She's averaging 23 mpg and 9 points, is a good defender, and is currently shooting 44% from 3. She would be a significant loss, and I would feel so bad for her given that she's a grad student and any sort of season-ending injury would be it for her college career.
I did find it interesting that KBA went with Taylor Woodson down the stretch. She took a couple shots which didn't look all that great, but she doesn't seem totally lost when she's out there despite being a freshman. That's a good sign.
It was great! I still think that the Maryland game in February 2021 (I think?) season is the best crowd I’ve been a part of for the women’s games, but today was a good one!
Wish they could get that kind of crowd regularly. We’re season ticket holders but are 2-2.5 hours away and because my daughter is younger we can only make weekend games so we only get to a handful per year.
Bums me out that KBA has built the program into an annual 20+-win team and is recruiting at the highest level in program history but they still can usually only scrape together 2K fans for home games.
Am I wrong, or did the ladies play a sort of 1-3-1 matchup zone for most of the game? They dared OSU to shoot over it, and luckily OSU did not shoot well. Thank God Taylor Mikesell is gone or that could have been a real gambit!
Cam Williams not only fouled out, but she did so in less than 11 minutes. Her fouls/40 is 3.9; fouls/40 for Evans is 4.2. They're going to need to find some ways to shrink those numbers.
Last year they were at 4.9 and 6.9 (!), respectively, so hopefully that continues to trend downward.
I do think that Evans is going to supplant Williams going forward, even if it's not immediately apparent. She's a more versatile player with higher upside. Even the fact that she took two (and made one) three yesterday shows that she can help them space the floor. I also think she's a pretty decent passer.
Also, really need Laila's shot to come back. She's got the lowest 2P% on the team and only Macy Brown has a worse 3P% right now. She has the most minutes and usage on the team, so they're really going to need water to find its level again in terms of her shooting. Right now, she is basically mirroring her freshman year in terms of shooting and turnover numbers.
This was a great game for the ladies -- the complete antithesis of the Toledo game. They went into a tough gym, took care of the ball, and shot the lights out. They also rebounded very well.
HerHoopStats (essentially, KenPom for women) had Illinois at #26 and Michigan at something like #38 before the game, so Illinois was definitely the favorite here. FWIW, Michigan was right around #25 before the Toledo (#90ish) game. They're back up to #27 after the win.
All of that aside, this was a good win for the women. They went on the road in conference against a good (not great) team -- after an extremely tough road loss earlier in the week -- and gave them the business.
Right now, Iowa (4), IU (10), OSU (12), MSU (14), and Nebraska (21) are all ahead of Michigan on HHS with Maryland and Illinois not far behind. The conference is strong again this year, so any conference road wins -- especially against that middle tier -- are going to be resume boosters. They only have two conference road games this year that aren't against top 50 teams (Rutgers and Northwestern). The other games are Iowa, IU, OSU, MSU, Nebraska, and Penn State. They miss three of the bottom five teams (Purdue, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).
Side note: my family made the drive to see the game. I hadn't been to the State Farm Center/Assembly Hall in 15 years; they've made some really nice improvements. It feels less like a concrete monolith. Michigan could take some notes for Crisler.
I actually really like how clean the presentation is for the Streamable embeds. It looks great. I hated the way YouTube would pull up suggestions every time you paused the video. You couldn't get a full still image where you paused unless you dismissed that.
I do miss the opportunity to slow down the playback, but I'm more than happy to trade that off for how clean the Streamable embed looks.
Woof. Toledo beat Michigan soundly and earned it from start to finish. They passed, cut into the lane, attacked closeouts, and shot well. If there was any leftover doubt that it was just not going to be Michigan’s night, two banked threes and a prayer of a layup falling for and and-1 erased it all.
Foul trouble forced a number of disjointed lineups for Michigan. It felt like none of Phelia/Hobbs/Kampschroeder could get the offense moving when subbed into the 1 spot for Hansen. The team just never got going on either end of the floor. With the exception of some nice paint moves from Williams/Williams/Evans, they couldn’t generate anything consistently on offense. They just seemed shellshocked and flat.
Gotta regroup and hope to steal one in Champaign on Sunday.
We were there as well. Great home crowd. Announcer said it was the first sellout in Toledo women’s history. The coach took the mic after the game to thank the crowd for showing up like they did. And they really did.
There were some really extended bench lineup minutes tonight, and those lineups had much better +/- numbers.
I was using this game to do some testing with a scorekeeping app for my daughter's team. I only kept score for the first half, but the bench lineups were much better in the first half.
Brett/Brown/Crockett/Woodson/Stuck (all bench) were +6
Brett/Brown/Crockett/Woodson/Evans (all bench) were +5
Brett/Hansen/Hobbs/Sollom/Stuck (Hobbs, Hansen + bench) were +4
Brown/Hobbs/Kampschroeder/Crockett/Evans (Hobbs + bench) were +5
Brown/Phelia/Kampschroeder/Crockett/Stuck (Phelia + bench) were +3
Brown/Kampschroeder/Crockett/Woodson/Stuck (all bench) were +1
Starting line up was -3. Woof.
Phelia was +1.
Crockett was +22 in 10 minutes in the first half. She had a very good game.
Macy Brown was also +22 in 10 minutes in the first half.
Brett was +15, Evans was +14, and Woodson was +12.
Altogether, starters played 25 of 100 available minutes in the first half, but the score was still 50-28 at halftime.
Random thoughts:
I'm starting to like Hansen at the 1 spot. She seems to have a good handle on the ball, doesn't get rattled, and if you push her on ball too much she is not afraid to (and is able to) get to the rim for a layup.
Sollom has to hit those layups. She missed a few, and one them robbed Greta of a heck of an assist. Sollom does continue to be a good passer out of the post, though, and found Greta for a cutting reverse layup later to make up for it.
The stadium has been so empty. I know these are games against nobodies, but it bums me out that the success KBA has had has not translated to more butts in the stadium on a consistent basis. Personally, we're 2-2.5 hours away and can only make a handful of games each year (and never on weeknights). We haven't been able to make any yet this year, but we're hoping to catch some soon.
I didn't get to see either game this weekend, but I did see the box score and found it very interesting how tight the rotation was for yesterday's game. Seeing Greta and Macy Brown only get like 4 minutes between them was surprising. I guess we got a glimpse of what it will look like when KBA feels she needs to shorten the bench.
I think Cam Williams has all of the tools be a really good player -- footwork, timing, hustle, pedigree -- but it just hasn't come together yet. I always wonder if the fact that she gets yanked quickly makes it a mental thing for her where she's just always looking over her shoulder (makes me think of Eli Brooks) and that as a result she just can't ever establish a rhythm. As a result, she always seems to top out at 20ish mpg.
Last year, she was a starter the entire season in name but not minutes. Chyra Evans at a lot of minutes, and that gap only widened as the year went on. I much of the same this year, but I really hope it all comes together for Williams this season.
I would absolutely expect this team to be a tournament team. Probably right around #5 in a very, very good conference. Iowa (#7 in HerHoopStats ratings which is essentially KenPom for the women) and IU (#9) will be the top of the conference with Ohio State (#19) nipping at their heels. Currently, MSU is #11 and ahead of Ohio State, which I did not expect. And Maryland (#43) is always a good team. So somewhere in the 4-6 range in the conference. FYI, Michigan is currently #24 in those ratings.
Laila Phelia will be 2nd team all-Big Ten at worst. Outside of that, there probably isn't anyone on the team making better than HR, but they have a group of very solid players. I feel like this is a deep team of good players with only one great player. They're still going to struggle with the talent at Iowa, IU, and Ohio State.
I would expect they'll get a BTT bye -- but not a double bye -- and, depending on how a few games fall and who they draw in the tournament (e.g., hopefully not getting an LSU team on fire in the second round), that they could still be a Sweet 16 team. That's likely ceiling for this year.
Solid win for the ladies! Saw a lot of it, but haven't gotten to go back and watch the whole thing yet. Thanks as always for posting this!
It was great to see Chyra Evans and Elissa Brett play. I continue to believe that Evans is going to be really good. I did notice that she had a folded towel (maybe with ice in it) on her left leg whenever she was on the bench, though. Any idea if that's related to whatever kept her out of the first two games?
On the flip side, bummer that Elise Stuck was in a boot. :(
It feels to me like there is a growing amount of data that Whitney Sollom is going to be a very solid passer out of the post. She has a little bit of Hunter Dickinson's ability to see over the defense and find someone with a very good pass. Her rebounding is encouraging as well. As you mentioned, she had a great look that didn't fall, but she stuck with it and put it right back up for an easy bucket.
I still have no idea how the minutes are going to shake out. There is currently one great player and then a lot of good players. It seems the starters are pretty well set. I expect that Cam Williams will continue to be one of the first people subbed, so a post backup will get in first. And Macy Brown will come off the bench as the backup PG to be the 7th or 8th. Alyssa Crockett has been like the 10th person to get in this year, but she played plenty of meaningful minutes last year and showed again last night that she's no slouch.
I seriously wonder if KBA rolls close to 12 deep every game. I just don't see anyone yet on the sideline who doesn't bring something to the table and deserve minutes most nights.
I thought Sollom not only rebounded well but looked like she could be a nice piece as a passer out of the post. She had a couple nice finds.
Any idea what's going on with Chyra Evans? She's going to probably get 20 mpg once she returns as well? I tracked PT between her and Cam Williams last year and throughout the course of the year Williams' minutes shrunk a bit while Evans' minutes increased steadily (when she was healthy). Throwing Sollom and Taylor Williams into the mix makes that even more interesting.
I agree that I have no idea what the rotation or minutes look like come conference play. I'm surprised Crockett has been the 10th person in, but -- to your point -- I'm not sure who you put her in ahead of yet. Maybe Woodson, but that's probably it. I guess that's good for depth, but bad for PT.
KBA has tried the three-guard lineup with Brown/Phelia/Kampschroeder in both games so far. I don't know that it has been particularly effective or ineffective, but I've found it interesting.
The 1-2-2 press has been very successful so far. That's a good tool to have and deploy when you want to disrupt the flow of the game.
The defense concerns me because it feels like they're getting blown by off the dribble way too early against the likes of meh competition. The B1G has some really solid guard. Hansen in particular has gotten beat off the dribble numerous times.
You might have been a bit more bull-ish on the defense than I was. Seemed like they got beat off the dribble and on ball screens more often than in the past. Some of that might be new pieces trying to gel together, but I remember seeing Hansen get beat multiple times.
Chyra Evans being in street clothes is not ideal.
One thing I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be hesitancy from any player to score. Lots of players were very aggressive on offense.
I agree with bacon: the turnovers are just baked-in at this point. Far, far too many passes deflected, stolen, or outright overthrown.
This board has become insufferable at times. The replies in this thread confirm that this message board is no different than any other team’s message board, whatever people want to believe
Can we grow up already with the 3rd base/soft/Cryin’ Day/excuses/snow/flu references and all of the other internet tough guy antics? It makes this board so much less enjoyable than it used to be, and frankly it’s embarrassing.
Michigan is likely going to be favored in that game, but it will by no means be a cakewalk or a guaranteed win. Ohio State is an elite team, even if their offense has taken a step back from past years. By any metric, they are elite. And they are as motivated as ever to beat Michigan. All of the chest pounding by fans here is going to be real embarrassing if Michigan doesn’t come out on top this year.
Edit: since I started this post, it does appear that the quality of the thread as a whole has improved substantially. Still tired of a lot of this stuff, but at least this thread got better.
I appreciate you posting the rules for discussion here and reasonably discussing what they have to say. +1 internet (and MGo) points to you.
I agree with you that in this scenario JJ is a defenseless player according to that language. That requirement is certainly satisfied.
This rule defines targeting as occurring when "a player takes aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with forcible contact that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball." I think an argument can be made that this was a rough football play but not one that goes beyond making a legal tackle.
By the most black-and-white definition of "leaving the feet," Powers did so.
I think the "to attack an opponent by upward and forward thrust of the body" part of the rule is debatable in this play.
He left his feet by a few inches but does not even leave the ground until after he has already made contact with JJ.
I think one can reasonably argue it was purely to avoid the guy about to slide under him. If you watch his body follow-through as he spins around to his left, he is very clearly trying to avoid the player coming under him with his movement.
The rule states "A player leaving their feet to attack ... to make forcible contact in the head or neck area." While it may not be intentional, I think the rule here is ambiguous enough to allow for "intent" to come into play. The reason Powers left his feet can very well be attributed to the player coming at his feet. I don't think it was so that he could intentionally go after the head/neck area. He was aiming at JJ's chest/shoulders with his hands.
I still disagree that Powers led with the crown of the helmet. To me, it looks like he led with his face mask which was caught by JJ's body and pulled down which makes it look like he led with it. You can see his helmet snap right back up -- and even rebound upward from being pulled down -- immediately afterward.
At the end of the day, I definitely agree JJ met the criteria to be a defenseless player here. While I still find ambiguity in the definitions of targeting itself, I can see the arguments to be made for it. That said, the "When in question, it is a foul" part of the rule is enough for this to be targeting penalty to be called on the field and confirmed in a quick review.
I don't think I have any problem with the suspension being overturned after it was reviewed. While the officials on the field and in the booth had limited time to be able to make the determination, the officiating office had much more time to break it down and compare to the letter of the law. I don't disagree with their decision, but I can understand why others would. I'd like to think that reasonable minds can disagree on this which was my initial reason for posting.
Defenders hands are out, his head is as straight-up as it can be while he's leaning forward on the front of his feet to avoid the defender coming at his feet. He has not left the ground, his head is at chest/shoulder pad level, and he is ready to push JJ's chest with his hands.
A split second later, JJ is helmet-to-helmet with him as gravity does its thing. The defender's face mask hits the shoulder pad first and then caroms into the helmet.
I'll probably get negged to oblivion for this, but I agreed with McAulay live on the broadcast and still agree with it after watching the replay several times.
The defender leads with his hands and pushes JJ. Because JJ is getting flipped from under by the low defender, his head is a moving target and the defender ends up getting him in the head because of it. But his first contact is a push to to JJs chest with his hands. His helmet hits the shoulder pad and then hits the head because JJ is falling wildly (because, of course, he had been tackled/was trying to avoid a tackle down low). It was still awful to watch live, and I'm so glad JJ is okay; I don't think it was targeting.
I also know that McAulay is getting dumped on because so many of the calls went against what he said they should be on the broadcast, but I think he was right on most of them. You don't get to be a Super Bowl official by being a bad official. The officials on the field for a Michigan-ECU game are going to be a lower caliber than that for sure.
The fact that someone mentioned below that half of the calls ECU sent in were deemed to be incorrect calls vindicates him on much of that. On the illegal forward pass, literally everyone on my Twitter timeline was like "yeah, that's an illegal forward pass." I think the only reason it stood was that they just didn't have the angle they needed (or VAR) to definitively say "every last bit of his body was beyond the LOS." If the call on the field was the reverse, I think it still stands because trying to review that without a perfect angle is always going to be tough.
I'm not trying to white knight for Terry McAulay or for the ECU defender at all. I just feel like I often see the board chase away dissenting opinions to the point where anyone who disagrees just doesn't even bother posting for fear of being negged.
Alex out here catching strays just because he's younger. Although I'm not going to lie: I hope this becomes an ongoing and ever-evolving shtick this entire season. So far, so good.
Haloscan was the completely unmoderated comments section that served as the equivalent of the board.
There was no board; there were no diaries. There were people just indiscriminately having one long, scrolling, non-threaded conversation on every post.
New post? Now we move the discussion over to the comments section of that one. It was the wild west and glorious. And you could change your name at any time which introduced some very interesting problems at times.
I might be in the minority -- and I have no horse in this race -- but it sure looks to me like Sabonis fell hard on his back and was immediately reacting to that pain. I thought he was semi-consciously bringing his arms up to cover his face because of the pain (a thing people certainly do) and/or because he wanted to avoid getting stepped on while on the ground. His eyes are closed the entire time.
I don't see anything intentional about what he did. I think Green's leg just happened to get caught up between his arms as he reacted to the pain of falling awkwardly on his back. And then Green did what he did.
It's possible I'm way off base or there's more context I'm not aware of, but I was surprised I hadn't at least seen anyone else mention that possibility.
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While I'd like to believe this, it doesn't explain Chyra Evans' entrance (she's Australian). Hers is even more perplexing given that she is already an entrenched starter whose main competition for PT (Cam Williams) was the first player to enter the portal this offseason. She has a guaranteed starting position and can't benefit from NIL anyway.
Same. :(
Cosign 100%.
Okay, this one makes no sense to me. She pushed her way to up to like 6th-7th in the rotation by year-end as a true freshman. Her offensive production was going to need work, but she looked to have serious defensive upside. I mean, they even put her on Caitlin Clark.
Perfect title, and a link was provided. Well done, internet stranger!
Bummer! Wasn't she dinged up for a lot of the year? I thought that was a major reason for the lack of PT in the middle of the season. I was really excited to see a couple years from her.
One thing's for sure: next year's team is going to look very different. Assuming none of the players in the portal return, no more players enter the portal (didn't the window just close?), and Whitney Sollom doesn't get invited to use her COVID shirt, the remaining players from this year's team will be (starters bolded):
They have five incoming freshmen, so I believe that leaves two scholarship spots that could be filled via the portal.
This is an ignorant and uninformed comment. Most people who follow the team closely would agree that these results are basically right in line with expectations for this year: finish somewhere in the 5th-6th range in the conference, make the tournament, and hopefully win a first-round game.
Laila had a career high against Ohio State earlier this year. She has since eclipsed that twice and has had eleven 20+ point games this year. Ohio State’s two lowest scoring outputs of the season were against Michigan, who handed then one of only five losses this year.
Are there a few games I wish they would have been able to win? Sure. That’s sports.
Agreed re: Crockett as well. I think she can be a really good piece on this team going forward if she sticks around. She seems like the kind of player that can go anywhere from the 2-4 spot as needed. I feel like she hasn't played with as much confidence this year as she did as a freshman last year, but some of that is likely due to the pressure you feel to do something when you're not getting many minutes. Over the entire course of her career so far, she seems like a very smart player who doesn't make mistakes or give the ball away.
Even if she tops out as a heady, high-floor, low-ceiling player when all is said and done, I think she has plenty to offer this program and hope she sticks around. It probably doesn't help that she's the only one left from her 2-person recruiting class and that Taylor Woodson seems to be eating up the minutes she got last year.
FWIW, Taylor Woodson looks like she has all of the makings of a very good defender.
Good win! They took care of the ball and played great defense. I would like to think they're safely in at this point, but a win tonight would certainly cement it.
Were you at all surprised that -- unless I missed it -- Greta didn't even get in until the final minute along with Sollom and Brown? I mean, I'm certainly at the point where I think you take Lauren Hansen off the court as little as possible, but I was surprised she never even got in until that point. Her PT has dropped off considerably this year. Have to wonder if she might be a transfer risk.
Also, loved seeing Elissa Brett take three (!!!) charges yesterday. This team does such a good job moving their feet on defense.
Agreed. I thought the first one was even worse than the second. They had no answer for her, and it really hurt to have to staple her to the bench.
It's interesting how they seem to use her and Evans differently in the same spots. It was pretty clear they wanted the work the ball to the middle of the floor all night; they were constantly getting the ball to the mid post.
While Cam would generally make a strong move to the basket, Evans' first, second, and sometimes third looks when she got the ball in that spot were always to pass. It makes me wonder if she has been coached to pass first out of that spot for some particular reason. She has pretty good footwork as well and, while she doesn't have the baby hook that Cam has when her back is to the basket, she has good enough footwork to often get a good look. I'm wondering if that's just a player difference or if they're being coached to handle their looks in the paint differently.
Perfect response.
JPL, just wanted to say thanks for doing this throughout the season!
I sort of took the unofficial "give the updates on the women's team" mantle last season in the UMHoops forum, but just didn't have it in me to do the same thing this year. Unfortunately, the women's hoops thread over there has been a shell of what it was the past couple seasons. Super thankful for you doing this for every game. It can be really hard to find good coverage for the ladies.
Really hoping that they soundly beat Purdue on Sunday and can get a win in the BTT. Even if they run into the OSU buzzsaw again afterward, I think those two things might be enough to get them in the field.
I have never skied, but I attempted to snowboard once at age 19. I was fairly athletic and a lean 5’9” and 140 pounds. I never even made it down the hill the first time.
After falling several times on the bunny hill, I figured, “If I’m going to fall anyway, I might as well do it on the actual hill.” I fell a LOT.
At one point, I finally got going with some speed, tried to turn, wiped, fell on my shoulder, and snapped my collarbone. Never made it past the halfway point of the slope. First and last time I tried to snowboard.
I think the ladies played exceptionally well last night. Even Clark herself said "we need to play better defense" heading into halftime. They ate Iowa up in the paint. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep Iowa from just blazing the nets. When a team is shooting over 50% from range on such high volume and some of those are 35-footers, you just have to shrug and say "oh well, not our night." Kate Martin went 4/5 from range. Molly Davis went 2/2 and had one that that bounced about four feet up off the rim and fell right through. That's when it was abundantly clear that it just wasn't going to be Michigan's night.
I am also so over the Caitlin Clark show. She's incredible -- and she should be celebrated -- but last night was so over-the-top on the broadcast. We missed multiple live plays in the game while watching Clark drink water on the sidelines. They came back from a review break to talk about Clark, taking quite a while to explain what the actual result of the review was.
And they let Clark get away with a lot last night. I was thrilled when they finally called her for an offensive foul. On a corner three a few possessions before that, she got open by putting two hands in Phelia's chest to push off and then use the screen. A couple plays later there was a loose ball that she and Chrya Evans were going for and she visibly pulled on Chyra's arm to pull her away from the loose ball; no call. And while I understand that they're not going to call it, you cannot bring the ball to a stop in your hand and take two hop steps with the same foot to get into a shot. That is not a gather step; that is not jump stop. That is a travel, but it never gets called (Laila does this, too, FWIW).
And then she whines so. much. She was complaining about the forearm she put in Taylor Woodson's chin like it didn't happen. She wanted a foul on a layup that was just straight-up good defense by (I think) Greta. And when Elise Stuck drew a good charge foul late in the game, all the broadcast could do is blather on (and, to be fair, I like Megan McKeown) about how "she's such a team player that she even gets upset when calls go against her teammates" as Clark jawed at the officials from the bench. It was just all very over-the-top, and I knew it would be.
As a dad of a daughter who loves basketball and has loved watching Caitlin Clark, I'm happy that she has done so well, and it's great to see arenas packed for women's basketball. That said, I'm more than ready for her to move on. May she have a great WNBA career, but I'm ready to no longer see her on the opposing sideline. Last night was even a turning point for my 11 year-old daughter who has loved watching her. She was pretty much over it all and was upset that she was getting away with so much.
In other officiating notes, there was also a clear charge taken early on in the game by Brett that went totally uncalled (although I don't think the offensive player was Clark in that case). And, of course, the absurd call that Chyra Evans had a foot in-bounds when inbounding the ball after a made basket. Did they show a replay? Of course not. If you roll it back and watch it yourself, it wasn't even close to being the correct call. I could not believe that call.
On the positive side, Jordan Hobbs had a great night. They had 6 ladies score in double figures. Chyra worked her tail off on the offensive glass. Taylor Woodson has really worked herself into some very meaningful and productive minutes, including quite a few where she was guarding Clark last night and doing so pretty effectively for a true freshman guarding the all-time scoring leader.
The final PPP ended up being surprisingly low: 0.97. I thought Michigan moved the ball well and got just about anything they wanted in the paint. At least for the first half, they were trading blows (2s for 3s, unfortunately) with Iowa and keeping it close. Given the way Iowa bombed away from three, the fact that this was a 4-point game at one point late in the second quarter was incredible and a testament to the girls' unwillingness to give up.
They had 14 turnovers (again, at least one of those was extremely incorrect) to Iowa's 12, and played them very evenly there. Elissa Brett had a rough game, as did Alyssa Crockett.
Truthfully, I feel like last night was pretty close to the ideal (realistic) result. That game drew a ton of viewers, and I'm sure the committee was watching as well. What they saw from Michigan was a team that played hard and for much of the game kept pace with a team shooting a ridiculous percentage from range despite doing almost all of their damage in the paint. As far as "quality losses" go, this one was encouraging to me.
I really hope they can pull out a win this weekend vs. MSU. If they do that and win the games against the bottom of the conference, I think they can end up in the field of 68.
That one hurts and could end up being the reason they miss the tournament. The two teams were situated right next to each other in the HHS rankings. You can't drop games at home against those teams when you're already in Last Four In status.
Their remaining games are not going to do them any favors, either, with trips to both Iowa City and Columbus that you would expect to be big losses. They really can't afford to lose any of the other remaining games: Rutgers (H), MSU (H), Northwestern (A), Purdue (H).
Do you find it at all baffling how little Alyssa Crockett has played this year? I worry about her being a transfer risk. She was the #48 overall player in her class and is a solid player who can move between the 3 and 4 spots. She's a decent rebounder, good defender, good passer, provides outside shooting, and rarely makes mistakes. Her minutes as of today are essentially half of what she played last year (168 to 320), and yet in that time she still has come close to matching her points (40 to 48), rebounds (31 to 34), assists (15 to 19), and blocks (7 to 8) from last year and isn't far behind on steals (11 to 16), either. In other words, her minutes have been more efficient, but she is playing less. I don't see her as being someone you build the team around, but she seems like she could be a high-floor, low-risk stalwart type that will give you a really good game here and there.
I guess I would expect she will see a significant uptick in playing time next year with Hansen, Brett, Cam Williams, Stuck, and Sollom gone. Next year you're going to have Phelia, Hobbs, and Evans starting with someone to slot into the 1 and 4 spots. The 4 spot will either likely be Taylor Williams , Crockett, or Taylor Woodson, with one of the three also being the first off the bench. It just feels like Taylor Woodson is the one taking the minutes that would more likely have been Crockett's which says something about something since she's a true freshman.
I mean, there were similar things posted before any of them left. And I agreed with them at that point, too.
I think it's fair to say that -- in quite a few ways -- 2023 was the end of an era. Whether Michigan won the whole thing or not -- even before the season started -- it felt to me like it was going to be much less fun to follow what this sport has become starting in 2024. This just made it that much sweeter and easier to ride off into the sunset.
Am I going to watch? Yes. Am I going to wear Michigan gear? Yes. Am I going to be anywhere near as invested in it as I have been up to this point? No. So much of what I have loved about CFB for years has been soured by the changes over the last several years, and the offseason between 2023 and 2024 is the point where it all jumps the shark.
Absolutely with you on this.
Perfect post. Well done.
Goshdangit, this is spectacular. Well done.
Have always appreciated your presence here, SRK!
Hello! Been here daily since 2005. Username matches my Haloscan handle from back in the day.
I think it's always hard to read how vibes affect play accurately, but it definitely felt like Brett leaving the floor was the turning point.
On the other hand, I don't know that you can fully attribute the 4th quarter to that happening. Minnesota just shot out of their minds in that quarter. I don't know how if having Brett on the court or removing the bad vibes does much to change that; sometimes that stuff just happens. Last year, Rikki Harris (OSU) -- who shot 23% from 3 and averaged 6.6 ppg on the season -- went 3/4 from 3 and put up 23 points against Michigan. Sometimes it just be like that.
Regarding Brett's injury, I didn't think what happened looked all that bad live, but she was very clearly in a lot of pain, needed to be helped off, and went straight to the locker room in a wheelchair. She's averaging 23 mpg and 9 points, is a good defender, and is currently shooting 44% from 3. She would be a significant loss, and I would feel so bad for her given that she's a grad student and any sort of season-ending injury would be it for her college career.
I did find it interesting that KBA went with Taylor Woodson down the stretch. She took a couple shots which didn't look all that great, but she doesn't seem totally lost when she's out there despite being a freshman. That's a good sign.
It was great! I still think that the Maryland game in February 2021 (I think?) season is the best crowd I’ve been a part of for the women’s games, but today was a good one!
Wish they could get that kind of crowd regularly. We’re season ticket holders but are 2-2.5 hours away and because my daughter is younger we can only make weekend games so we only get to a handful per year.
Bums me out that KBA has built the program into an annual 20+-win team and is recruiting at the highest level in program history but they still can usually only scrape together 2K fans for home games.
Am I wrong, or did the ladies play a sort of 1-3-1 matchup zone for most of the game? They dared OSU to shoot over it, and luckily OSU did not shoot well. Thank God Taylor Mikesell is gone or that could have been a real gambit!
Cam Williams not only fouled out, but she did so in less than 11 minutes. Her fouls/40 is 3.9; fouls/40 for Evans is 4.2. They're going to need to find some ways to shrink those numbers.
Last year they were at 4.9 and 6.9 (!), respectively, so hopefully that continues to trend downward.
I do think that Evans is going to supplant Williams going forward, even if it's not immediately apparent. She's a more versatile player with higher upside. Even the fact that she took two (and made one) three yesterday shows that she can help them space the floor. I also think she's a pretty decent passer.
Also, really need Laila's shot to come back. She's got the lowest 2P% on the team and only Macy Brown has a worse 3P% right now. She has the most minutes and usage on the team, so they're really going to need water to find its level again in terms of her shooting. Right now, she is basically mirroring her freshman year in terms of shooting and turnover numbers.
Wedgie is definitely a thing!
This was a great game for the ladies -- the complete antithesis of the Toledo game. They went into a tough gym, took care of the ball, and shot the lights out. They also rebounded very well.
HerHoopStats (essentially, KenPom for women) had Illinois at #26 and Michigan at something like #38 before the game, so Illinois was definitely the favorite here. FWIW, Michigan was right around #25 before the Toledo (#90ish) game. They're back up to #27 after the win.
All of that aside, this was a good win for the women. They went on the road in conference against a good (not great) team -- after an extremely tough road loss earlier in the week -- and gave them the business.
Right now, Iowa (4), IU (10), OSU (12), MSU (14), and Nebraska (21) are all ahead of Michigan on HHS with Maryland and Illinois not far behind. The conference is strong again this year, so any conference road wins -- especially against that middle tier -- are going to be resume boosters. They only have two conference road games this year that aren't against top 50 teams (Rutgers and Northwestern). The other games are Iowa, IU, OSU, MSU, Nebraska, and Penn State. They miss three of the bottom five teams (Purdue, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).
Side note: my family made the drive to see the game. I hadn't been to the State Farm Center/Assembly Hall in 15 years; they've made some really nice improvements. It feels less like a concrete monolith. Michigan could take some notes for Crisler.
I actually really like how clean the presentation is for the Streamable embeds. It looks great. I hated the way YouTube would pull up suggestions every time you paused the video. You couldn't get a full still image where you paused unless you dismissed that.
I do miss the opportunity to slow down the playback, but I'm more than happy to trade that off for how clean the Streamable embed looks.
Woof. Toledo beat Michigan soundly and earned it from start to finish. They passed, cut into the lane, attacked closeouts, and shot well. If there was any leftover doubt that it was just not going to be Michigan’s night, two banked threes and a prayer of a layup falling for and and-1 erased it all.
Foul trouble forced a number of disjointed lineups for Michigan. It felt like none of Phelia/Hobbs/Kampschroeder could get the offense moving when subbed into the 1 spot for Hansen. The team just never got going on either end of the floor. With the exception of some nice paint moves from Williams/Williams/Evans, they couldn’t generate anything consistently on offense. They just seemed shellshocked and flat.
Gotta regroup and hope to steal one in Champaign on Sunday.
We were there as well. Great home crowd. Announcer said it was the first sellout in Toledo women’s history. The coach took the mic after the game to thank the crowd for showing up like they did. And they really did.
Thanks as always for the good write-up!
There were some really extended bench lineup minutes tonight, and those lineups had much better +/- numbers.
I was using this game to do some testing with a scorekeeping app for my daughter's team. I only kept score for the first half, but the bench lineups were much better in the first half.
Random thoughts:
I didn't get to see either game this weekend, but I did see the box score and found it very interesting how tight the rotation was for yesterday's game. Seeing Greta and Macy Brown only get like 4 minutes between them was surprising. I guess we got a glimpse of what it will look like when KBA feels she needs to shorten the bench.
I think Cam Williams has all of the tools be a really good player -- footwork, timing, hustle, pedigree -- but it just hasn't come together yet. I always wonder if the fact that she gets yanked quickly makes it a mental thing for her where she's just always looking over her shoulder (makes me think of Eli Brooks) and that as a result she just can't ever establish a rhythm. As a result, she always seems to top out at 20ish mpg.
Last year, she was a starter the entire season in name but not minutes. Chyra Evans at a lot of minutes, and that gap only widened as the year went on. I much of the same this year, but I really hope it all comes together for Williams this season.
I would absolutely expect this team to be a tournament team. Probably right around #5 in a very, very good conference. Iowa (#7 in HerHoopStats ratings which is essentially KenPom for the women) and IU (#9) will be the top of the conference with Ohio State (#19) nipping at their heels. Currently, MSU is #11 and ahead of Ohio State, which I did not expect. And Maryland (#43) is always a good team. So somewhere in the 4-6 range in the conference. FYI, Michigan is currently #24 in those ratings.
Laila Phelia will be 2nd team all-Big Ten at worst. Outside of that, there probably isn't anyone on the team making better than HR, but they have a group of very solid players. I feel like this is a deep team of good players with only one great player. They're still going to struggle with the talent at Iowa, IU, and Ohio State.
I would expect they'll get a BTT bye -- but not a double bye -- and, depending on how a few games fall and who they draw in the tournament (e.g., hopefully not getting an LSU team on fire in the second round), that they could still be a Sweet 16 team. That's likely ceiling for this year.
I feel like injury information for the women's team is so difficult to come by.
Solid win for the ladies! Saw a lot of it, but haven't gotten to go back and watch the whole thing yet. Thanks as always for posting this!
It was great to see Chyra Evans and Elissa Brett play. I continue to believe that Evans is going to be really good. I did notice that she had a folded towel (maybe with ice in it) on her left leg whenever she was on the bench, though. Any idea if that's related to whatever kept her out of the first two games?
On the flip side, bummer that Elise Stuck was in a boot. :(
It feels to me like there is a growing amount of data that Whitney Sollom is going to be a very solid passer out of the post. She has a little bit of Hunter Dickinson's ability to see over the defense and find someone with a very good pass. Her rebounding is encouraging as well. As you mentioned, she had a great look that didn't fall, but she stuck with it and put it right back up for an easy bucket.
I still have no idea how the minutes are going to shake out. There is currently one great player and then a lot of good players. It seems the starters are pretty well set. I expect that Cam Williams will continue to be one of the first people subbed, so a post backup will get in first. And Macy Brown will come off the bench as the backup PG to be the 7th or 8th. Alyssa Crockett has been like the 10th person to get in this year, but she played plenty of meaningful minutes last year and showed again last night that she's no slouch.
I seriously wonder if KBA rolls close to 12 deep every game. I just don't see anyone yet on the sideline who doesn't bring something to the table and deserve minutes most nights.
You might have been a bit more bull-ish on the defense than I was. Seemed like they got beat off the dribble and on ball screens more often than in the past. Some of that might be new pieces trying to gel together, but I remember seeing Hansen get beat multiple times.
Chyra Evans being in street clothes is not ideal.
One thing I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be hesitancy from any player to score. Lots of players were very aggressive on offense.
I agree with bacon: the turnovers are just baked-in at this point. Far, far too many passes deflected, stolen, or outright overthrown.
This board has become insufferable at times. The replies in this thread confirm that this message board is no different than any other team’s message board, whatever people want to believe
Can we grow up already with the 3rd base/soft/Cryin’ Day/excuses/snow/flu references and all of the other internet tough guy antics? It makes this board so much less enjoyable than it used to be, and frankly it’s embarrassing.
Michigan is likely going to be favored in that game, but it will by no means be a cakewalk or a guaranteed win. Ohio State is an elite team, even if their offense has taken a step back from past years. By any metric, they are elite. And they are as motivated as ever to beat Michigan. All of the chest pounding by fans here is going to be real embarrassing if Michigan doesn’t come out on top this year.
Edit: since I started this post, it does appear that the quality of the thread as a whole has improved substantially. Still tired of a lot of this stuff, but at least this thread got better.
HEIKO!!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/16l21qy/deion_sanders_was_asked_if_his_son_shilo_who/
(edit: deleted, responded to the wrong reply)
I appreciate you posting the rules for discussion here and reasonably discussing what they have to say. +1 internet (and MGo) points to you.
At the end of the day, I definitely agree JJ met the criteria to be a defenseless player here. While I still find ambiguity in the definitions of targeting itself, I can see the arguments to be made for it. That said, the "When in question, it is a foul" part of the rule is enough for this to be targeting penalty to be called on the field and confirmed in a quick review.
I don't think I have any problem with the suspension being overturned after it was reviewed. While the officials on the field and in the booth had limited time to be able to make the determination, the officiating office had much more time to break it down and compare to the letter of the law. I don't disagree with their decision, but I can understand why others would. I'd like to think that reasonable minds can disagree on this which was my initial reason for posting.
Appreciate the measured, reasoned discourse!
This is a split second before the hit:
Defenders hands are out, his head is as straight-up as it can be while he's leaning forward on the front of his feet to avoid the defender coming at his feet. He has not left the ground, his head is at chest/shoulder pad level, and he is ready to push JJ's chest with his hands.
A split second later, JJ is helmet-to-helmet with him as gravity does its thing. The defender's face mask hits the shoulder pad first and then caroms into the helmet.
I'll probably get negged to oblivion for this, but I agreed with McAulay live on the broadcast and still agree with it after watching the replay several times.
The defender leads with his hands and pushes JJ. Because JJ is getting flipped from under by the low defender, his head is a moving target and the defender ends up getting him in the head because of it. But his first contact is a push to to JJs chest with his hands. His helmet hits the shoulder pad and then hits the head because JJ is falling wildly (because, of course, he had been tackled/was trying to avoid a tackle down low). It was still awful to watch live, and I'm so glad JJ is okay; I don't think it was targeting.
I also know that McAulay is getting dumped on because so many of the calls went against what he said they should be on the broadcast, but I think he was right on most of them. You don't get to be a Super Bowl official by being a bad official. The officials on the field for a Michigan-ECU game are going to be a lower caliber than that for sure.
The fact that someone mentioned below that half of the calls ECU sent in were deemed to be incorrect calls vindicates him on much of that. On the illegal forward pass, literally everyone on my Twitter timeline was like "yeah, that's an illegal forward pass." I think the only reason it stood was that they just didn't have the angle they needed (or VAR) to definitively say "every last bit of his body was beyond the LOS." If the call on the field was the reverse, I think it still stands because trying to review that without a perfect angle is always going to be tough.
I'm not trying to white knight for Terry McAulay or for the ECU defender at all. I just feel like I often see the board chase away dissenting opinions to the point where anyone who disagrees just doesn't even bother posting for fear of being negged.
Alex out here catching strays just because he's younger. Although I'm not going to lie: I hope this becomes an ongoing and ever-evolving shtick this entire season. So far, so good.
Anyone else get -2 on Alex's math? It's been a long week for the guys! Or we're just really, really, REALLY confident this is a win.
I was waiting for a WLA reference!
Haloscan was the completely unmoderated comments section that served as the equivalent of the board.
There was no board; there were no diaries. There were people just indiscriminately having one long, scrolling, non-threaded conversation on every post.
New post? Now we move the discussion over to the comments section of that one. It was the wild west and glorious. And you could change your name at any time which introduced some very interesting problems at times.
Those were the days. When we thought The Year of Infinite Pain was going 7-5.
Haloscan...only the OGs would get an Al Groh Mafia reference.
Logged in to upvote (and twitch involuntarily).
I might be in the minority -- and I have no horse in this race -- but it sure looks to me like Sabonis fell hard on his back and was immediately reacting to that pain. I thought he was semi-consciously bringing his arms up to cover his face because of the pain (a thing people certainly do) and/or because he wanted to avoid getting stepped on while on the ground. His eyes are closed the entire time.
I don't see anything intentional about what he did. I think Green's leg just happened to get caught up between his arms as he reacted to the pain of falling awkwardly on his back. And then Green did what he did.
It's possible I'm way off base or there's more context I'm not aware of, but I was surprised I hadn't at least seen anyone else mention that possibility.