Recent Comments

freshmen games were the worst.  do you let them play and hack each other to death?  or call it close, where eventually, every player fouls out?

i have a few iowa friends and i told them at the beginning of the year that they would just miss the big dance; similar to northwestern the past few years.

that said, i thought minny would be a sleeper and picked them to finish 3rd in the BIG.  so i'm not always right.  thanks tubby.

it could simply mean that 25% of the students missed at least one game; not necessarily 25% missing each game.  similarly, 50% could be late to at least one game.  i really doubt 50% were late every game.  i attended all but one game this past year.

it was common for a few rows near the top in the corner to be unfilled, but i don't think that represents 25% of the student seats.

my rule change would be to disallow any handchecking outside of the 3 pt circle.

I don't mind allowing big guys to lean on each other in the paint. contact there should be allowed.

but allowing defensive players to drive their forearms into the ribcage of the point guard 40 feet from the basket has got to change. defenders can literally push point guards away from the center of the court w/o penalty.

i also like the 30 sec shot clock rule, if it is coupled with a rule i noted above. it would reward good defense w/o all the BS mugging.

no coneys until one opened on the northside (Leo's).  same family ownership as detroit area.  it failed after less than two years.  i couldn't believe it with the large mich population here.  they had a liquor license though, which probably ate into their margin.  i doubt many ordered beer/drinks while at Leo's.

i loved it though.  very quick service and reasonably priced.  hope another opens up soon.

ryan injured his knee his senior year of high school. so a redshirt was likely anyway.

i think there could be a debate. it depends on how the season is going. if the season is going ok and jake is at or near 100% by the sparty game on nov 2, i would play him. otherwise, it makes more sense to redshirt him.

really?  GRIII could have bigger upside but THJ has proven to be much more valuable this year.  I would expect his 2013-14 scoring to improve significantly next year if he stays.  He's a legit #1 scoring option.  I'm not so sure about GRIII. 

the good news is that our incoming freshmen could easily start right away if needed.

uh, coke came in to face morneau and doumit to end the game monday after benoit pitched to willingham (a righty).  yes, coke had a very good 10 IP in the post season last year.  but i place much more emphasis on the 200+ IP he's had in relief over his career.

leyland actually played the matchups correctly on monday.  he failed today.

you managed the bullpen assbackwards.  he had benoit face lefties like mauer and morneau (luckily no damage) in the eighth.  Then he has coke face two righties in the ninth and loses.  coke should have pitched the eighth and benoit or dotel the ninth.  this one is on leyland.

can't forget about that guy in '89

bill carmody is available.  minny could do a lot worse.  imagine carmody's team with some nba talent on it.

two guys on him yet he still sees GRIII for the a alley oop!

quit shooting the fucking ball!!!...unless its a layup.

why do have to fumble every damn pass now!

3 crappy possessions in a row.

you better have someone guard that little white guy in the corner!  just a thought.

yet another miss.  0-5 now.

every time i see him on the court for sparty getting manhandled i'm so glad JB lost out on him, cuz we likely wouldn't have landed the big puppy.

the guys you mention are great closers and saved tons of games.  but how many games were lost in the 7th and 8th innings for those teams?  when mgrs bring in their #2 or #3 relief pitcher in a jam in the 7th or 8th only to blow the game.  meanwhile, the hoffmans, riveras, kimbrels sit their idle in the bull pen.

the theory is that it's better to bring in your ace in a jam in the 7th or 8th and let the #2 or #3 guy close out the game with a 2 or 3 run lead and no one on base.

leyland, kind of unwittingly fell into this in 2006 when he used his most dominant guy (zumaya) to pitch out of jams and jones collected the easy saves.

has the best low post skill for our current bigs.  but still not very good.  if he develops that little jump hook on a consistent basis, his playing time could increase dramatically. 

Better be a leader in the 2nd half.

In the bobby bowden sense. Dont ask don't tell. He facilitated the environment.

I'm getting tired of this excuse. Hell I could run a lot more at 19 than 25. They just ran into the quagmire called big 10 hoops, especially on the road.

i can't believe a team this talented finished 10th in the nation.

/s

we had trouble for a few minutes against the psu press.  other than that, we've had no trouble all year long.

we have 4 starters that can handle the ball the ball a bit.  plus they will have size and athleticism advantage.  that is key to breaking the press and getting easy dunks.

big ten wins the past two years:

26 - msu and osu

25 - UM, IU

24 - wisky

18- purdue

so we finally get to the top of the BIG and are a tip in from consecutive BIG titles and people question the coach's ability and/or direction of the program.  and if IU loses its 4 key players, UM will likely be the favorites to win the BIG next year along with msu.

for being such an athletic kid, GRIII gets caught flat-footed on rebounds possibly more than anyone i've ever seen.  he just seems to be in a daze so much of the time.  and he actually busted his ass in the first half but the second half back to being lethargic.

Likely platoons with dirks unless they have a last minute acquisition.

if GRIII goes up strong with both hands, the hack on the shoulder wouldn't have jarred the ball loose.  he was going to a one-handed jam.  that's a huge problem with this team, nobody takes it up strong.

even just to provide token pressure if they get the rebound.  make them burn some clock getting the ball up the court.

it's one of a few things i disagree with JB about.  he never presses at the end of the game with the lead to burn clock.

and his dumb 2 foul first half rule.  mclimans one minute of action cost us.  and guess what, neither morgan nor mcgary or horford fouled out.

job on the line.  un fucking believable.

please press them

fuck you ref!!!!

take it to the hole and slam the damn thing.  why turn into a midget when you have the ball?

a turnaround fadeaway 3.  the game is gonna turn for the worse quickly with shot selection like that.

you!

as far as the refs go.  reminds me of the 2nd round ncaa game against oklahoma.

most 3s are uncontested, otherwise they wouldn't be taken.  2-32 is just pure bad shooting.  or lucky for msu.

he got an offensive rebound while laying on the ground.  that's how bad wisconsin is tonite.  i will give him credit for calling the TO though.  i wish our guys would do that more often when in trouble. 

those are set shots. 

i've already seen at least 4 3pt shots hit the backboard first in this game.  do these guys practice shooting at all anymore?

10-6 msu.  12 min left in 1H.

pussy attempt on an easy layup

keady finally ran out of the black shoe polish for his hair.

is one of the best big guys i've seen at helping up top.  he gets more steals at/near the 3 pt line for a big guy that i know.  his low post D and rebounding needs significant work though.

mcgary, you are not good at setting picks.  sit please.  bring morgan back in.

still leaving his man on D way too early on the help.

played 40 min last nite.  perhaps even 4-5 min of bielfeldt each half could have made GRIII better or fresher during the minutes he played, if it was a fatigue issue.  but he obviously "wasn't getting after it".

we don't have many upperclassmen because cronin had a career ending injury, douglas and novak had to play as true freshmen, smotrycz transferred and DMo left early.  that leaves hardaway, morgan, mclimans and vogrich.  vogrich is another story, i really thought he would become a better version of stu douglas.  not so much.

how often do GRIII and stauskus take a charge? hardaway, morgan and mcgary do.  even levert tries to take more charges and he hardly plays.

i give burke a bit of a pass on D, since he has to shoulder so much of the load on offense.  that said, he turns it up a notch every now and then and generally makes a few good plays on D each game.

if the idea is that GRIII and stauskus are wearing down, especially late in games, then i say bench them more.  especially GRIII.  why does he play the most minutes? imo, he's the least effective starter we have.

that's the big question.  i can't speak for off the court, but the past several games, especially on D, makes me question that remark.

isn't evan eschmeyer still playing for northwestern...or maybe he's just injured now too.

they happen.  bad shooting nights happen.  but to see losses pile up due to lack of hustle or intensity is disappointing.  those qualities should show up in every game, if the team has character. 

GRlll getting owned by marshall on both ends is the consistent problem. I will never understand why he plays near 40 min, especially against psu.

i remember barry switzer bitching up a storm over this.  then proceeded to have his perceived #1 okla team get pasted in his bowl game.

i highly doubt that, given their recent defections.

...and no rapes...this week.

you're kidding right?  so Jud Heathcoate's 20 years there and the nat'l title with kelser and magic wasn't historic?  Jud also won 3 big ten titles and had numerous tourny appearances. but you probably weren't born yet, but hey.

played 33 min.  i don't think that's overplaying him.  i do recall one of the earlier games when he played 40 min and was ineffective.

that said, bielfeldt could play 3 min per half to spell him; like spike does for burke.  just don't make those substitutions at the same time please.

but in general we drove the basket more this game.  GRIII got hacked several times around the rim; to go along with his 4 alley oop dunks.  stauskus got fouled a few times around the basket too.

rotates on D a helluva lot better than our other bigs.  many more layups are being made in recent weeks.

is a foul magnet

horford mugged that guy, but i will take it.

no doubt about it.  i guarantee the alley oop to him was a point of emphasis in practice this week.

is waking up.  keep it up dude.

the team is playing the perimiter way to hard for a team that can't shoot, imo, leading to way too may drives and cuts to the basket.

set up the alley oop buzzer shot.

it should be embarrassing if they can't guard them man to man.

the plague has spread from GRIII to stauskus.  becoming a major liability on both ends of the court.

i wish someone else would help him out a bit.

those last two shots by hardaway and mcgary were terrible with that much time on the shot clock.

there's some D.

cannot make bunnies. unreal.

i've always thought the spike rule was stupid.  for years i've been saying they should just have a timeout-like signal.  so after a play, the offense could signal the ref, then just have some time (ie. 10 sec) run off the clock. then the clock would stop until the snap.  this whole running up the field, waiting for the O and D to get set, then spike the ball seems silly to me.

It depend s on him. If he c omes back to a viable scorer we are hard to stop. If he is useless we are oretty easy to stop.

i will just take a win against penn st at this point.  it's like when i play a par 3 course in order to get my confidence back in my golf game.

team hitchhike home.  to lose is one thing. but to not give any effort is complete bullshit.

in Dec.  wasn't he ranked the #9 player in the upcoming nba draft. hahahahahaha.

can't even do basic things like pass and dribble anymore. 

gets beat down the court.  fucking hustle.

ok here come the 25 ft prayers.  we may lose by 30.

seriously!  mcgary and morgan the two guys up top?  shocking! bad pass turnover.

even he is letting it get to him.  head out of ass please.

have a combined 1 rebound yet we are getting killed on the boards.  wtf?

keep him on the damn bench.  he just stands there on watches sparty get rebounds.  at least bielfeld will fight a bit.

so much for trying to cut it under 10 with burke on the bench.

absolutely pathetic, no heart, hustle or desire.  where's that novak guy???

play some D.

5 on 3 and you stop and hold the ball.  then mcgary with another TO.  horrible.

so you can obliterate the shooter as long as you get a piece of the ball.  what a horseshit comment.

piss poor D by stauskus.  at least he hit a 3.

out please.  does nothing on either end anymore.

lord how grueling that must be for an 18 year old.

it's mindboggling not having a horford or mcgary or GRIII on the inbounds passer.  there's no way he can make that pass with a guy in his face.  that coupled with levert's stupidity allowed the miracle to happen.

his 5 min of play this game was huge.  in a negative way.  missed all of his shots.  and gave up the key 3s.

nice job buddy.  can't check that dude??

calling stauskus...

horrible coaching there beilein.  remember osu.  fuck!!!!