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Glen Mason!

Minnesota is a classic example of thinking you can actually do better and getting rid of the best coach you have had in a long time.  Mason's success got that stadium built and then he never had a chance to coach in it.  Kill seems like a decent guy, but part of me thinks Minnesota should pay for giving Mason the shaft.

Hope that Burke is starting

Hope that Burke is starting day one because Stu is just a stop gap point guard for a few minutes a game.  Hate to heap more pressure on a freshman's shoulders, but Michigan needs him to play well or it could be a dissapointing season.

 

By the way how is Morris doing with the Lakers?  Have not seen any stats in the papers on him.

Standards!

Actually I think there are some of us on this board that are over 20 years old and remember when you had to be really good to turn pro early.  Having one decent year, being a 3rd team all conference player did not constitute being ready for the pro's.  You might want to be able to make a jump shot and go to your left before you think about it.  If can not get drafted in the first round and what might have been the worst draft of all-time (which is saying someting these days) then you might want to stay in school.  I guess those standards are too high!

Who knows if it was bad advice?

Getting drafted in the 2nd round means nothing, especially in a draft where no one knows half of the players and there is no talent in it.  Great decision by Morris!

Is Morris going to issue an apology to us Michigan fans that called him an idiot for leaving early?  Since what we said proved to be right and should have gone back to school for another year to improve his game.  The sad part about this story is that choices like this are what is killing both the college and pro game. 

 

 

State got every bounce to go

State got every bounce to go their way last year and they did not have to play OSU.  The bad luck comment referred that they just happened to have their best year in decades at the same time OSU and Wisconsin had good years.  I think State will be solid this year and years to come, but there is no way they are repeating last year's record anytime soon.  My point was that things are never as bad as they seem and never as good as they seem(see Ohio St.) . State's defense was not good in 2009, especially the secondary, and they did a 180 last year.  Why can't Michigan do the same? 

MSU!

I am not saying that Michigan will be in a BCS bowl this year, but what where State's expectations last year coming off a 6-7 year?  They would have been in a BCS bowl with their 11-1 record if not for the bad luck having having 2 other teams with huge fan bases with the same record in their conference.  Despite their defense last year, Michigan has as good if not better talent than State had a year ago.

Everyone is a victim!

Whitlock and many others in the media make a living by picturing everyone as a victim, including athletes playing big time football.  Coming from someone who played D-2 football in college, I would have given my right you know what, to be good enough to run out under the Go-Blue banner.  These athletes are fortunate for having the ability to do what they do.

 

This whole notion that these players are some how victims is a joke.  You are only a victim when you allow yourself to be.  To me guys like Whitlock just add to the self-entitlement society that we have now and they breed the Terrelle Pryors of the world.

 

The facts are that the majority of athletic programs are not rolling in dough and are actually cutting sports.  Start cutting the Title 9 sports and all the others that do not bring in a dime to pay the players of the  couple of sports that do make money, then you would really hear the howling from the Whitlocks of the world.

There is the problem with today's basketball!

With your support of Morris's idiotic decision you have stated eveything that is wrong with todays game.  Go pro early before the scouts can really see you can not play.  Have one nice year and leave your current program high & dry.  Makes sense!

 

This whole thing is a joke and if you think that Morris is a border line lottery pick (despite how bad basketball is today), then maybe Stu Douglass should go pro too!   Morris had a nice year, but he has major flaws in his game and is not that athletic to play point guard in the NBA.  As bad as this year's draft maybe, Morris will be a second round pick at best and then what, after there might not even be a season this year. 

 

 

 

 

Classic example of why basketball sucks!

These stupid decisions by guys that have no business going pro early, is why we watch a championship game that is like watching grass grow this year.  If the kid was sure fire lottery pick, I would wish him the best of luck.  He might not even get drafted and the NBA might not even have a season next year.  Brilliant!

 

I think Morris deserves all flack he is getting for this insane decision.  Is there anyone on this board old enough to remember when you actually had to be really good to go pro early?  Now as soon as some kid shows a little potential, the kid is gone before the pro's find out he can not play.  Not only as a Michigan fan, but as someone that loves basketball, these decisions are killing the game.

 

How about being able to shoot and use your left hand before leaving school early.  The kid is not even that athletic.  Wake up!

The Chief!

Not only did the Celtics draft McHale, but they got Robert Parrish in the trade with Golden State.  Not a bad trade for Joe Barely Cares.

How the Celtics got their main starting 5 of the 80's is amazing.  In addition to drafting Bird a year ahead of time and the trade with Golden St.  They drafted Danny Ainge in the second round because he was playing baseball for the Blue Jays and had no intention of playing in the NBA.  Then they got Dennis Johnson from the Suns for Rick Roby because Johnson had some drug and personal issues.

Red Auerbach should have been arrested for theft, with those moves.

 

 

Relationships!

My guess is that he would have been more cozy with his relationship to the new coaches if he was running with the first team and not buried on the depth chart.   If a player is going to a school based on his relationship to one coach then he going for the wrong reason.  It was no big shock when he signed that the coaching staff was on the hot seat, especially a defense staff that oversaw the worst defenses in Michigan history.

 

 

What to do with the OSU Situation!

While it is enjoyable to watch what is happening in Columbus for any Michigan fan.  I think we should just shut up and get out of the way while the whole thing collapes.  Their arrogance over the last number of years in beating Michigan, will be their downfall. 

Lets be real!

I think the majority of sports fans agree that women deserve every right to play sports, but lets stop the bull that they can compete on the same field as men.  I went to a D-2 school in Michigan and two of top women basketball players of all time at the school would play pick up games with us.  Among a bunch of guys who played high school basketball, those women could not even guard the worst player on the court and were lucky to get a shot off.  It is not bias, just fact!

 

This whole debate is funny!  The same people, like the elites at the N.Y. Times, are the ones complaining that these big time college athletes are victims and should get paid.  Then on the other hand they are complaining about football numbers, which are paying for all these non-revenue Title 9 sports.  Maybe they will suggest a tax on the real successful programs to help those programs less fortunate.  That is the way we are headed in this country anyway.  You can't have a free market were people actually choose what sports they care about!

Michigan Player?

It is hard to get excited about a guy that played 17 games at the school.  He was Brian Ellerbe's best recruit though?

Borges seems like a smart guy?

This is a classic example of the insanity of the internet.  Here you have Brian who has coached how many years in college football?  Questioning a coach who has been a successful offensive coach for years and we have yet to see them run one play in a regular season game yet.   I repeat they have not played a game yet!  I say again they have not played a game yet.

2011 will be much the same offensively as 2008?  Really!  Do you really think they are going to show exactly what they are going to do in a spring game?   Ten starters coming back is not better than one starter coming back, no matter what offense you are running?

 

I have said before, all Brian is doing is setting himself up to say I told you so after a poor performance this year.  I guess Hoke should have signed him to be the offensive coordinator.

 

 

Comparison!

Kalin Lucas was player of the year in the conference his sophmore year, led his team to the final four and a way better player than Morris is at this time, but stayed in school.  So it makes perfect sense that Morris would go pro and sit at the end of someone's bench for 3 years while he develops, if he even makes the league.

The fact that he is even considering the NBA!

Is a joke.  Even Shurna from Northwestern is looking at the NBA.  I remember when you actually had to be really good to even consider leaving school early for the NBA.  The Morris situation is exactly what is killing both college and pro basketball.   The kid is a nice kid and has worked hard to improve, but he has no business even thinking about the NBA at this point in his career after one decent season.  Work on your jump shot and your left hand, then start thinking about going pro.

Not to use State as an example!

But Dantonio said it when he took the job, that it is tough to play good defense when you are practicing against a spread offense everyday. It gets back to being tough everyday in practice. T.O.P. is not everything, but when your defense is no good to start and you do not have the ball very long and you leave them on the field all day, big plays tend to start happening.  Just a fact!

Former players!

I agree with RVB and that those guys should support the current players no matter what they think of the coach.  On the other hand these guys are not fans like that rest of us like Brian states in his article.  These guys built the program and they are not normal fans, what they say does matter and how they feel, right or wrong about the direction of the program does matter.  Of course if RR would have won, many of those feeings would not have mattered, but in the end he did not win.

Skepticism and optimism!

No one is talking about being a cheerleader, but there is a big difference between questioning if Hoke should have bee hired and ripping on offensive system that has not even played a game yet.  That is not constructive and plain stupid.  Like I said previously, it seems to me that all these bloggers are doing is setting themselves up to look like some sort of genius's when Michigan losses.  They sound like they should be coaching instead of coaches that have been in college football for years.

Negativity!

Is there because Brian is making assumptions even though Brady Hoke has yet to coach one game yet at Michigan.  This is the kind of crap that we do not need in our fan base.  Sure it is fine to second guess and debate what they should have done, but I repeat they have not even played a game yet.  All Brian and some others on this board are doing is setting themselves up as "I told you so" when Michigan loses their first game.  I am sorry, but I would highly doubt if most of these know it alls on this board have ever played a down of football in their lives.  They sound like some stat geeks that sit at their computer all day.

Looking at the positive!

These criminals are better off at MSU than playing basketball at K-Zoo central.  Their coach sat a starter and 2 key reserves for the title game for being late for a curfew.  Heck at State they would make you team captain for that.

RR and Pryor!

This whole story about this advisor to Pryor just reinforces one of RR's biggest blunders as head coach at Michigan.  To put all your eggs into getting this kid and having no real back up plan for QB in the first year was a huge mistake.  The more that comes out, Pryor was not worth the trouble.

Say what?

When healthy Lucas is not a great athlete and does not have a great first step?  I must have been watching a different player these last 4 years.  While he is not the biggest guy, when he is healthy he has game changing speed. Also, Lucas is a way better shooter than Morris is right now.  Another example why this topic of Morris going pro is a joke.  He had a nice sophmore year, but is hardly an elite player as this point in his career.  Lucas was player of the year in the conference his sophmore year and led his team to the final four and did not go pro.

And Jim Tressel did not know anything either!

Fisher did not know anything?  Come on!  You are the head coach of a major basketball program and you do not know that who this Ed Martin is or that your players are driving around in $35,000 vehicles.  It is his job to know.  He hired Perry Watson and everything that came along with him.  This is not about kids getting in trouble at a bar some night, this about players taking thousands of dollars illegally.

 

Watch the movie "Blue Chips" and will see that Nick Nolte's character is Steve Fisher.  A coach under tremendous pressure to win and he just steps back and says "I do not care how the players get, just let them come."  Bacon's article is right on and Fisher has never been a man to set up to admit what he did.

One of the greats!

Beckmann is one of the great annoucers in Michigan history and I find myself turning the T.V. down to listen to him.  It is interesting that people on this forum have a problem with his political views and being associated with the university.  Fine lets kick everyone associated with the university out of it that is a political acivist.  Guaranteed that 90% of them are on the opposite end of the spectrum than Frank.  Where were all these people when we had that self proclaimed huge liberal in Tommy Amacker coaching the team?

What is the color of the sky in your world?

Fisher was too naive?  That is the problem all Michigan fans have with him, is that he is a liar.  If we are going to call Tressel a liar, then Fisher is right in front of him.  He has never come clean about what he did at Michigan, just like Webber and left the program in ruin.  That is the truth, not blaming anyone.  If Fisher did not know what was going on or who Ed Martin was, than he is the stupidiest coach in the country.

Very Funny!

It seems everyone on this site including the smarter than everyone Brian has a problem with Beckmann's political views.   Proof that it easier to be a liberal and act like you really care about everyone, than it is being a conservative.  Goes back to the old saying; "If you are 20 and not a liberal, you do not have a heart."  "If you are over 40 and not a conservative you do not have a brain."  Wait to you get out of our educational system for a few years guys and out in the real world.

Not to hate on Stu!

But what team where you watching this year when stating that he does not turn the ball over?  He had 2 turnovers sunday in the first 2 minutes of the game.  He barely gets the ball up court against pressure all the time.  I cringe every time he drives baseline and gets up in the air with no place to go.  He is what he is!  A limted player that is trying his best, but clearly not a Big Ten caliber player.

 

Again with Novak at the 4.  Yes, it worked ok this year, but I thought the idea was to get better.  Duke outboarded Michigan 2-1 sunday, besides the numerous easy lobs inside for bunnys.  If Novak was able to get that last rebound before it went out of bounds sunday, we might be talking about playing Arizona and not about next year right now.  God love him and he has a place in the line up, but Michigan has to go bigger next year.

Improvement?

If Douglass is going to log as many minutes as you say I do not see that as a good thing for the team.  This year he might have been the best on the ball defender, that does not mean next he is going to be and others will not step up their defense.  Douglass is the logical canidate to take a huge hit in minutes.  He will not be the only ball handler besiders Morris.  Also, he is almost invisible offensively (when he is not turning the ball over) and taking him out of the line up they can go bigger.  Which means that Smotryz plays the 4 and Novak goes to the 3.  They got killed on the boards on sunday and many other games, so now that all the big men are a year older they can have nice rotation at the 4 and 5 spots.  This years line up worked for the most part, but it should not be the line up going forward.

 

 

No!

It is called being realistic and old enough to remember that there was a time when you had to be really good to be a first round pick in the NBA.  Morris made tremendous improvement, but did you see where he can consistently make a jump shot?  Did you see where he can go to his left?  Oh! that is right, you can worry about developing those in the NBA these days.

 

Point is that I can not believe that this subject is really even an issue.  Than again with the state of basketball these days, maybe I can.

Say what?

If defenses have to account for Douglass they do a pretty good job of it because most games you barely notice he is on the floor, except for his turnovers.  Also, he might be one of the best defenders this past year on a team full of freshman, but that should change next year.  I see him as a bit role player next year with Burke helping out with the ballhandling and subbing for Morris.

This is why the NBA is a joke!

A number of years ago there would not even be a thought of a kid like Morris going pro at this point in his career.  He is no where near being ready to contribute at the NBA level, he needs to develop a jump shot and be able to go to his left.  Not only are the guys leaving early ruining pro basketball, they are also ruining the college game.

Novak should not be the 4!

Besides inexperience, 2 of the biggest weaknesses of this team was size/rebounding (which got exploited yesterday) and other ball handlers beside Morris.  Whatever advantage going small gave you, they gave up way more in a size disadvantage than was gained by going small.   Proof was Novak not securing a rebound that led to Duke's last bucket.

 

Smotryz should start at the 4, move Novak to the 3 and Hardaway to the 2.  You would have a nice 4 man rotation with the bigs at the 4 and 5 spot, Christian can sub for Novak at the 3 or put Vogrich or Douglass in at the 2 and move Hardaway to sub at the 3 to give Novak a blow.  Then you have Burke to give Morris a blow.  The bigger loser of minutes is Douglass.  The guy might defend a little, but  he can not get his shot off, is an iffy ballhandler at best and makes little difference at either end.  Whatever Douglass brings you this year, by next year others will be to more than make up for that.

 

As for Beilein, his best teams at WV  had bigger guys to space the floor, not having to put 4 guards in the line up.  Also, with a bigger more athletic line up he can use the 1-3-1 more effective.  God love Novak, but they need a bigger line up on the floor next year.

Michigan's offense!

Sounds like we should not even watch the games next season and just let Brian tell us how things are going to happen.  How many times does Borges have to say he is going to use DR's talents?  Last I checked the offense from last year had alot of yards and points, but there is alot of room for improvement, especially in the red zone against quality opponents.  I also do not know why he dimisses the bootleg.  If they are able to run downhill, the bootleg is going to be a huge weapon by the goal line.  If nothing else Brian sets himself up to second guess anything that goes wrong next year and I am sure tell us how he would do things differently.

Everyone is a victim!

Webber was from a middle class family (his mom was a teacher and his dad worked at GM) get your facts straight and quite making him out to be the poster child for explotation of big time atletics.  Again Webber did not have to go to Michigan, he did not have to take money illegally, he did not have to lie to a grand jury about it, he did have to sit back all these years and not stand up like a man to take responsibility for it like adults do.  Last I checked he is not 19 anymore!

 

Question for you Woodsen 2.  If the Chris Webber's of the world are getting screwed and should get paid as you say.  How much do you pay the back up point guard on the women's basketball team or the swimmer or the 3rd baseman on the women's softball or the back up left tackle at Central Michigan or the wrestler or the lacrosse players, etc, etc.?  Are all these players getting taking advantage of by having a scholarship?  You like making victims out of people, while lets just pay the players in the sports people care about and do away with Title 9.  What would you say then?

 

Lie?

What would you call about never telling the truth about knowing who Ed Martin was?  Even in that documentary Fisher and his assistants act like they knew nothing.  Just like Perry Watson did not know how all those great basketball players just happened to end up at Detroit Southwest while he was coaching.  As a major college coach it is your job to know who Ed Martin is and why he is spending all this time around your program.

 

I do agree that Fisher was like Nick Nolte's character in the movie Blue Chips.  In that he was under pressure to win and then made a deal with the devil, that said basically let the players come and I do not care how you do it.

By taking, I mean the damage

By taking, I mean the damage he has done to the university in past years.  His image was forever damaged by his own actions.  Even today he should have choosen to be a part of the documentary even though you would not be able to believe a word he said.  Today he could call a press conference and set the record straight on what he did and knew.  What we do know is that he lied to grand jury, we alsl know he has never set the record straight and always blamed someone else.  Alot of people do dumb stuff at 19, but Webber is 38 now and it is time to be a man and own up to his own actions. 

Similarities!

Between Tressel and Fisher is that they are both liars.  If Fisher did not know who Ed Martin was and his relationship with some of his players, he is either stupid or a liar.  To this day Fisher has never come clean about what happened under his watch at Michigan and he acts like Sargent Shultz from Hogan's Heroes.  He sees nothing, knows nothing, etc.  The fact that he left the Michigan program in shambles for years and now he is hailed at San Diego St. as some hero is maddening!

Webber is liar!

Even if he did participate, how could you believe a word he would say about it?  He has lied about everything since day one on this whole episode.  He lied to grand jury, but was lucky enough that the chief witness died (Ed Martin)  right before the trial.  I support Brandon's insistent that he apologize before anything is done on the matter.  He is not a victim, nobody stuck a guy to his head that made him go the University of Michigan and nobody forced him into taking the money.  He has taking far more from the university in the past number of years than he ever contributed in his 2 years on campus.

Chris Webber!

First get your facts straight about him.  He was not from a poor background, he had 2 working parents at home and went to Country Day.  He is not Jalen Rose or Juwan Howard from the hood and as the movie said that always bothered him.

 

Also, please stop making a victim out of him or everyone else that plays college sports.  He did not have to go to the University of Michigan and he did not have to take money.  He did not have to lie to a grand jury, he did not have to lie to university or the fan base.  If Webber would have come clean about this from the start and wrote a check to the university  (walking around money for an NBA star) for what he took this would have been all forgotten.

 

Finally, you mention about how much money Michigan made off of Webber.  Can we put a dollar amount on the damage Webber's actions have done to the basketball program?  Unless you were born yesterday and not lived through the past 15 years, how can quantify the damage his actions have done to the university.  He needs to step up and be a man and admit what he did.

Every Level!

It seems to me that Rich Rod won at every level and had a better resume than any current Big Ten coach.  Hindsight is 20/20 and nobody thought a coach from Youngstown St. would do what the Vest has done at OSU.

You rip on Hoke for winning

You rip on Hoke for winning in the MAC and Mountain West, but the Vest's record at a lower division is better indicator that he would win in the Big Ten?  Way to talk out of both sides of your mouth.  The Vest was not OSU's first choice, Bo Ryan was hired at Wisconsin and all the fans wanted the big name in Rick Majerus, Iowa hired Ferentz and everyone said who, Michigan St. fans were not jumping for joy when Izzo was promoted and most of them thought it was status quo of the Jud regime, etc., etc.

Hoke!



We can all debate if it was a good hire or not, but the calender says February and they have not even played a game yet.  Also, it sounds like Windycityblue and others wanted a combination of Bill Cowher as head coach, Jon Gruden as OC and Rex Ryan as DC.  Then they would be happy!

 

First tell me any current coach in the Big Ten right now, that had some great resume before they were hired that would tell you that he is going to be a success?  Also, taking a program that did not have winning season since 1998 and taking them to nine wins in 2 years does not impress you?

 

As for Denard, you must of been one of the same people last year that said they should move him to a slot guy after one season.  The kid has started one year!  I repeat one year!  Borges has stated that he is going to use his talents and I would hope Denard would improve on his passing, etc.  The program is bigger than one guy.

 

As for Hoke's press conference, what did you want?  Maybe they should have just hired Bill Clinton who could B.S. all day long.  The press conference was great and so was Hoke's passion for Michigan. 

 

With recruiting, they are plenty of great players in the Midwest, how is Ohio St. doing these days with mostly players from Ohio?  I think Hoke knows that he needs to reach out to other states for players and did so by getting 2 guys from Texas at the last second.

 

Last thought, go root for another team!  I am so tired of these so-called fans that if they don't hire Vince Lombardi, they rip on the new coach before he has even coached a game.  Maybe you should coach, you seem like your smarter than Hoke and know more about football them him.

Ed Martin!

Steve Fisher is supposed to know who Ed Martin is and why he is spending all this time around the program.   Just read an article about Fisher on ESPN and he is still lying about not doing anything wrong.  As for making Perry Watson the coach, there is a reason that Watson never got a big time job.  The guy could coach and he would get the players to come, just don't ask how he is doing it? 

Steve Fisher!

 

If you are too young to remember who he was watch the movie "Blue Chips" and you will see exactly what happened to Fisher.

 

When Fisher took over the lax program under Bill Freider and after winning the NC, he tried to do the right thing and institute some discipline.  The next year was a dissappointment ending in a blow out loss to Loyola Maramount in the tournament.  The next year was a very down year and with not having  much success on the recruiting trail Fisher was starting to feel the heat.  Then the number one recruit in the country, Erk Montross from Indiana, whose grandfather played at Michigan,  his father played at Michigan, his mother went to Michigan, his sister was going to Michigan, decided to go to North Carolina, the wolves were at the door.  Fisher then made a choice, like Nick Nolte in Blue Chips, that he did not care how the players got there, just let them come.  He hired Perry Watson and the rest is history.

 

To this day Fisher (like Chris Webber) has never owned up to his part in the damage they did to the Michigan basketball program.  If Steve Fisher did not know what was going on and had no clue who Ed Martin was, he is either a liar or the stupidest coach in the country.

 

 

Hoke!

Who knows how the Hoke era will turn out, but looking at his records at his two previous stops to coaching at Michigan is like comparing apples to oranges.  Yourself and Brian who wrote this article would  seem to have only been happy if Michigan hired Bill Cowher as their head coach, Jon Gruden as the offensive coordinator and Bill Parcells as their defensive coordinator.  Hoke does have more D-1 wins than all but one current Big Ten coach (Jerry Kill) before he got his current job.