Member for

10 years 5 months
Points
68.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
I agree that it has been one way or the other

It seems like each game is wildly different- either nothing is a foul or almost any contact is.  A combined 47 fouls in the Nebraska- Baylor game is crazy.  Only 30 in the OSU-Dayton game.  That is an inane swing. Just depends on the officials mood. 

Soapbox- this is why for the NCAA tournament there should be at least one additional ref and maybe two. I've seen so many missed calls. Not all of them are gamechangers, but every foul hurts differently for each team. 

20 combined fouls

20 combined fouls in just over 15 minutes. To say this game has been called tightly is an understatement.  Really hurts Nebraska more than Baylor.  

 

Sidenote- Baylor uniforms remind me of Oregon- when did Baylor acquire the Highlighter color on their uniforms? 

Not to speak for OP

But Title IX is a huge issue. You pay your QB $100,000/ year? Now you are required by federal law to provide female atheltes an additional $100,000. All marketing provided to male athletes must be available to female athletes.

 Say FB player salaries are around 1 million for all 85 players, basketball another 500k,  that's another $1.5 million you have to pay out per year. For Michigan that's not a big deal, for EMU it's crushing, for Purdue it is certainly complicating. 

Marketing image= payment

If player marketing is allowed, you run into the same issue as directly paying players. Big schools will create player marketing divisions and schools will wine and dine potential players during their visits with promises of $$$ while small schools will have no hope of competing.  

Any form of payment will crush the competitive levels that exist. Michigan can compete as one of the 20 top schools in that form, but good luck scheduling anyone meaningful ever again.   You think playing MAC schools is painful now? Just wait until the top 30 programs can pay/market their players- MAC schools will be even worse, and Small Big Ten Schools will be almost just as bad- forget about competitive minnesota, Purdue, Iowa.   

If you want better scheduling, you should be against player compensation. You should be in favor of NCAA reform that allows better medical testing, transfers, supporting walk-ons, etc. Those are areas that would improve player life without endangering the fragility of college sports. 

Syracuse chances

Syracuse had 6 shots by my count and missed them all. One of the crazier finishes I have seen. None were even close. Syracuse out of the running to pass Michigan. 

Agreed

And very unevenly. Partly due to the nature of dead-ball timeouts, but you often get 6 minutes of play,(commercial) followed by 3 30 second segments(3 commercials), then another 6 minute segment (commercial), then the end of the game is usually at least 3 commercials in the last 2 minutes.    Not sure there is a way to fix that.

 

The gophers are getting killed.    Going to be uncomfortable on Sunday for their fans. Still think they make it given the weak bubble and the extra four spots (thanks first round). 

Revenge for Nebrasketball tomorrow

We will avenge you Nebrasketball!   Can't believe they blew this game. Potentially huge loss for Nebraska.  They just ran out of steam. 

Same deal

Had the same issue. Luckly I could watch the second half to realize the DVR was off and catch the second half. It was a crazy game, so still worth watching even if you know the result. Just don't be too upset with our shooting. 

Same deal

Had the same issue. Luckly I ould watch the second half to realize the DVR was off and catch the second half. It was a crazy game, so still worth watching even if you know the result. Just don't be too upset with our shooting. 

Offense

The Offense bothered me more than the defense. That was the expected defense we've seen almost all year. To go almost scoreless for 10 minutes (3 baskets in 11 minutes- 2 threes and the morgan lay up plus 1 FT) was terrifying. 

1:40 CBS

1:40 CBS.  Semi's have a different schedule than Quarters.  

Interesting

Some of those are actually pretty surprising. Thought Miami, Denver,  St. Louis, and Seattle would be bigger.  Really tells you how big Detroit used to be that it is still middle of the pack for NFL cities. 

Not yet

Detroit has a population around 700,000. Buffalo New York is around 260,000 and shrinking. New Orleans is around 370,000. There are probably a few others lower than or around Detroit.

I really doubt there are even 680,000 in Detroit proper anymore though... 

Double

Double Post

Well played

Well played pun Turd.  If the Shockers do get shocked, then I think there is a real possibility IF we win out, Which seems impossible.  

I just think that Michigan doesn't control whether it gets a one seed, rather the other teams would have to fall back to us. That was more my point.  An undefeated Witchita State is way ahead of 6 loss Michigan by virtue of the outrage that would transpire otherwise.    If they lose, could be close. 

Interesting possibility

If we win out regular season and Tourney we would be 28-6. There is no way we wouldn't be a 2 seed in that scenario. I think the bad losses Charlotte(neutral) and Indiana (road) would keep us from getting the one seed because of the number of losses. Additionally this is a pretty strong year for 1 seeds- there is no way Wichita, Arizona, or Syracuse are losing a one seed at this point, So we would have to be ahead of that fourth team, Florida, and I don't think we have much claim to that spot even if we win out.  

Is it possible in other years that such a record could be a one seed? Maybe if there was a year of total parity with few great top teams. This year we still have two undefeated and a one-loss team that has looked great. and Florida who plays in an awful SEC such that they only have 3-4 hard games a year. 

Like the lineup card

LIke the new formatting of the lineup card. Very informative and easy to read at a glance. I also totally understand the SIMBIHHAT, but it needs a better acronym IMO. I am frequently thinking in games that I hate whenever Gary Harris shoots a 3 because they are always a good shot, but love when Denzel Valentine shoots one.   

 

Maybe add PPG and RPG into the lineup card? ORTG? it's hard to pick and choose which stats are important. 

Interesting

Interesting that they predict us as BIG champs(share or outright depending on MSU result), but still a 4. I assume that if we pick up a win or 2 in the BIG tourney we could get up to a 3 seed. Win both the league and the tourney and there is no way we are not a 2 seed. Seems pretty close to accurate.

 

I think if we go 5-4 we get a 4 seed, but any better than that results in a 3 seed probably. Obviously there is some wiggle depending on who the wins and losses are. 

Excellent work

Though painful, this really does encapsulate this past season.   I will throw out one more cliche: The inches we need are all around us. How many of those plays are one second too late or one inch too short.  We push through these failures and we will get that extra inch to make those great Michigan plays.  If Woodson has one less inch he misses that interception. If Denard is one step too slow he gets tackled on most of those runs.  With the parity of modern college football, you can improve enough to go from 3-9 to national championship game.   We just gotta see how we measure up this season. 

Be careful what you wish for

Whether or not this is a good thing or bad thing for these particular student-athletes (it probably is) there is a non-insignificant chance this collapses college sports down to an unwatchable level and is replaced by a more secure semi-pro league unattached to universities. This is bad for just about everyone.  

 

I'm not a college athlete so  I can't say whether this huge risk is worth it or not. it is clear the universities should be stepping up more for former athletes and paying for medical costs.  There should be a way to solve this problem without blowing up the system and hoping it falls back down to the earth neatly, but I'm not sure the establishment is concerned with "reasonable" approaches to any change. 

As I said

I agree, he should have said no comment.  Is this a firable offense? Should he be mandated to attend a sexual misconduct policy? that's not my call nor yours.  I think more the latter than the former.

 

I'm sure he's going to get plenty of flak for this and it will be a black eye on both the university and the program.  This will be a big story and only a few people know the facts.  If he did it, then he is a scumbag no question.  

FERPA might have something to do Hoke's comments

The university can not comment on students academic records without their consent. 

 

Likely university lawyers were following the law by instructing Hoke to not discuss what happened.  The correct response was no comment, but he said something he thought was innocous. Not excusing Hoke's response, but I have a hard time believing Hoke was lying to cover something up. 

 

The Daily article stands for itself and sheds light on the sexual misconduct policy and how the recent changes likely led to the university re-investigation. 

 

I commend the former OSCR worker for his insights, but remind him that the policy has changed very recently- http://www.michigandaily.com/news/university-adopts-new-sexual-miscondu… from September 2, 2013.  Obviously, whether the investigation should have started again in 2011 or 2013 is a different and maybe more legitimate question.  If the policy was changed in September, then November is a typical investigation and Gibbons was held out of any team activity once a determination was made. 

That over and back call

Seemed fishy at the time.  This replay makes it crystal clear.  I just love Morgan's reactions now when he gets a BS foul on him. First surprise, then anger, then laughter with clapping. Almost every time in that exact order. He is just a joy to watch as a basketball player. Even more fun because he is 1 million years old.

One can only dream what college basketball would be like if players all had to stay in school. Next years lineup- Senior Trey Burke, Junior Nik Stauskas, Jr Caris Levert/Soph Zak Irvin, Jr. GR3, Jr. Mitch McGary. That team would crush.

Mostly agree

I don't know that Robinson and Stauskas "won't" cool off, which seems plausible. No one would begrudge Nik for cooling off sometime, and Robinson hasn't been able to light up the scoresheet as the go-to-scorer much in his career.

I do agree that either Morgan or Horford, will have a good game. I love how this staff is playing the hot hand between the two-headed center.  Morgan has really impressed me with his consistency the last few games, and Horford seems due to have a big game. Neither seem like the type to be rattled by a raucous Breslin crowd either.

I also agree that IF Michigan wins (which I still don't put above a 30% chance), then they would be the favorite to win at least a share of the Big Ten. The champ of this league will have 4-5 losses in conference. By beating Iowa, Wisconsin, and MSU, we will survive a tie with either of those teams meaning we would need 5-6 to not claim a share if any of those 3 end up on top. (thank you so much OSU for falling apart)  If you look at the rest of our schedule, and if we win this game, I would be hard pressed to find 5 more likely losses. Even getting one win of the big 4 game stretch would be enough to endure an "upset" to a lower ranked team.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves, and focus on beating State. Should be a fun one. 

Freep gonna Freep

They are obviously drumming up hits. That said, I would still be surprised to win at the Breslin. (though I have already been pleasantly surprised twice this week) 

 

Gary Harris and Keith Appling will be playing out of their minds on Saturday and you can bet Izzo is drumming up the "underdog" label for this game.  Expect at least one hot game out of a bench player. Probably Kaminski shooting like 50% on 3's for like 15 points.  That could be enough to beat Michigan.

 

I also fully expect awful officiating with a late call turning momentum in favor of the Spartans.  That said, if we keep up the hot streak, we can beat just about anybody.  Should be exciting. 

Assembly Halls

Does this mean the B1G went from two Assembly Halls to 0? Illinois just renamed their arena to the "State Farm Center". Is that worse or better than this? 

The Utah game

I realize you might be more knowledgeable about Utah than most, but a home game against 5-7 Utah is not one of the brutal games in 2014.  I think 9 wins has to be a floor. If we lose more than that we will have been massively upset.   If we get a good bowl draw, 10 wins seems like a reasonable expectation. 

 

Honestly playing at Utah in 2015 is a legitimately hard game perhaps on par with at Notre Dame next year. I have heard they have a substantial home field advantage. 

Reply to Misterpage

Shawn Crable. I was at that game and I will never forget it.  When can we get instant classics to go our way?

They chose never.

Huge game-saving tackle when it looked like Wildcat(pun intended) QB was going to score a long TD run.  Too bad that Big Blue lost to MSU. 

Still bitter about the 2011 Gator Bowl

Go (the real) BIg Blue! Beat the bulldogs! Now or never last drive. 

Thanks

I appreciate your work as well! I was wondering this very question on Sunday so it was good to see someone confirm my thoughts. 

I still think the season will be made or broken on Nov. 2nd.  If we can stop the run, we stand a real chance to make it to Indy. 

Not as pessimistic as you think

Scenario 3 while true, is more pessimistic than needed. Perhaps a Fourth Scenario is needed for the following situation:

  • Michigan loses to MSU, but wins out.
  • MSU loses to Nebraska and one other game (say @NW)
  • Nebraska beats MSU, but loses to Michigan and one other team (@ PSU, or Iowa)

This situation would send Michigan to Indianapolis as well by virtue aof a three way tie. This scenario may be considered (slightly) unlikely due to the possibility that Nebraska loses to both PSU and Iowa, which would drop them out of the three-way tie and MSU would own the tiebreaker.  This scenario works just as well if we lose to Nebraska and reverse the two. 

Lets hope we don't lose to MSU, but if we do, we don't need them to lose 3 games, so long as one of their future loses is to Nebraska, who also ends up with 2 loses. That being said- Go BLUE BEAT THE SPARTANS!