Unverified Voracity Sells You Gold Coins Comment Count

Brian

Oh, I'm an idiot. WCBN's fundraising drive lasts until March 20th, which is… um… four days ago. I said I'd give them a plug. This is it. Their online donation form is still up, though, so this isn't completely useless.

Pads! OH MY GOD IT'S SPRING PRACTICE VIDEO

Excellent savvy on the part of the athletic department to defuse any panic about Michigan wearing white pants this fall. Someone in the department has learned about the internet.

The Wolverine Blog has some spring practice content up, with five guys with the most to lose and most to gain. Maize and Blue Nation has had "whispers come across his desk" that may be random unreliable internet stuff but include reassuring comments like "Craig Roh three point stance" and "Thomas Gordon seeming competent at safety."

Think about that bit: Thomas Gordon seems like the most likely of what will be three or four moved linebackers to be a competent free safety due to his size, speed, and high school position. He was a strongside linebacker last year. Cam Gordon is a strapping guy headed for 230 pounds everyone thought would play linebacker even when he was a receiver. He started at free safety. This year we might (will probably?) see those guys switch positions.

/shakes fist at sky

The second-dumbest thing. Apparently I'm not done with people who say stupid things about Jalen Rose, but what am I supposed to do when Jason Whitlock writes this?

And if it’s clear Rose and Jimmy King were speaking in past tense, there would’ve been no need for Rose to send Hill and Jay Williams tweets before the documentary aired explaining that’s how the Fab Five felt 20 years ago.

Or it was clear but since it was not explicit Rose made it so before the damn thing ever came out, for all the good that did. Whitlock then goes on with his usual condescending What Ails Black Folk crusade because that's what he does. Here's Dave Zirin at the Nation—high up on the list of websites I never thought I'd have cause to link to on MGoBlog—annihilating Whitlock*.

Meanwhile, Frank Beckmann should drop the "mann" from his last name:

Beckmann

I love that Jack Sharp looks like he could be Purdue's head coach. I don't love that a guy closely associated with the University is essentially Glenn Beck.

*[This is not an endorsement of the Nation's opinion on anything other than Jason Whitlock. I still remember that back in the day the most ludicrously communist Daily columnist during my time as an undergrad got a coveted internship there that he used to write more ludicrously communist pieces. It is a silly place.]

Bah, Burlon. Brandon Burlon's strep infection/bad reaction to antibiotics is probably going to knock him out for the entire weekend. Red's already said playing Friday is out of the question and this doesn't sound like he's going to be able to go at all:

Burlon — out of the lineup for both games this past weekend at Joe Louis Arena — has been plagued by an “inflamed esophagus,” according to Michigan coach Red Berenson.

The junior defenseman has been in and out of the hospital since last Monday when he came down with strep throat. He’s had trouble eating solid food and has lost about 15 pounds over the past week.

Also in that article: Shawn Hunwick is having a mid-life crisis because he never wants to leave Michigan. His first action is taking a fifth year. Suggestion: master's degree. It worked for me.

Gotta collect 'em all. Ray Vinopal's transfer destination is Pitt, which is indeed closer to home—it's about an hour—and also features a bunch of Michigan's former coaches, including his position coach. Because this is a Michigan safety we're talking about he will become an All-American now that he's free from the clutches of Angry Michigan Safety-Hating God.

Guh. You don't even need to know what SDPI is to know this is true:

big10c

/shakes fist at Greg Robinson hire
/also 3-3-5 installation
/actually hasn't stopped shaking fist since January 2nd

HT: Blutarsky.

Even more hockey recruiting. The United States of Hockey checked out a recent NTDP game and reports back on goalie John Gibson, amongst others:

John Gibson: The big goaltender looks like a pro goalie when he plays. He takes up so much net whether he’s standing up or on his knees. During the shootout, when he came out to challenge, I think the net basically disappeared. When I say the moves Gaudreau and Girgensons put on Gibson were nasty, I mean… just filthy. The big guy made 35 saves, including several key stops late.

I asked one of the team staffers if Gibson was excited about his season and his commitment to Michigan. The reply, “Gibby doesn’t get excited about much of anything.”

So Gibson is the exact opposite of Shawn Hunwick. Warning: don't read the bits on Rocco Grimaldi. They will make you sad he is headed for North Dakota.

Kenpom is the bible. Pete Thamel's NYT article on how accepted Kenpom is amongst college basketball coaches makes me wonder what it will take for halftime statistics to feature offensive rebounding percentage. The brilliant/frustrating thing about tempo-free numbers is that they're stupidly easy to explain (with the admittedly vast exception of "offensive rating"): we took this number, and then we divided it by something. This allows coaches to say things like this:

“I’m not a math geek,” said the George Mason assistant coach Chris Caputo, who does all of the team’s scouting reports. “But it gives me a quick statistical synopsis of who they are before we watch tape and personnel. What do they do well? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Where do their points come from? It’s a snapshot of relevant statistics.”

No football or baseball coach that confesses he looks at advanced metrics would start off his statement "I'm not a math geek," or at least they'd obviously be lying. With Kenpom it's plausible Caputo just knows how to divide.

The frustrating part about all this is how stubborn the broadcasting establishment is about incorporating this stuff. I'm tired of seeing "FG%" next to "three pointers" and trying to figure out on the fly what each team's percentage on twos is.

Ain't nobody there. Mmmm fluffy headline:

Brady Hoke reaffirms Wolverines' love for recruiting from Detroit

I'll take that over "Darius Morris can't be sure he's returning to Michigan State" any day, though. The Hoke Media 180 continues unabated. Let's hope it's as important as the media thinks it is.

Etc.: Northwestern won't be adding D-I hockey either. Notre Dame seems to be preparing for life without Michael Floyd. Minnesota and Wisconsin nonconference schedule issues. Derek Dooley gets a "year zero," which seems fair but makes me think about Nick Sheridan. The Hoover Street Rag has fired up its annual hockey tournament preview. Yost Built on the BTHC—FWIW, I doubt that both Alaska schools will end up in the same conference because I don't think you can exempt four games up there, thus depriving them of their main enticement.

Comments

Ziff72

March 24th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

I think that statistic holds up to the eye test.  I thought OSU and Wis were better than MSU and the rest fell pretty much how you would think.  The only thing that maybe needs to be adjusted is that the Big Ten does not play a balanced schedule.  I think there needs to be a factor for how tough your schedule was compared to the others and maybe throw out games against the bottom teams in each category.  The Illini ranking was inflated due to our game against them and their ability to bludgeon the dregs of the conference. MSU avoiding OSU was huge. Iowa played a gauntlet etc...

st barth

March 24th, 2011 at 1:39 PM ^

Beckmann is an ass.

And maybe somebody should inform Cowhoke™ that everyone is moving out of Detroit and soon there will be no one left to recruit.  Or maybe he finds the wide-open plains of the east side to good grazing.  Urban farming!  Detroit is the new Iowa!  Manball!!!!

Bando Calrissian

March 24th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^

The sad part is, if you listen to Beckmann's radio show, those comments pretty much play directly to his base.  As a person decidedly -not- in that base groupthink, I just try to ignore everything Beckmann that isn't "TOUCHDOWN MIICCCH-IGAN!"

kvnryn

March 24th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^

I think we're closer than Brian makes it sound to tempo-free statistics breaking into "mainstream" commentary, especially in basketball. Several weeks ago, ESPN hired Dean Oliver as "director, production analytics" (Source). Dean Oliver is basically the godfather of advanced statistical analysis in basketball and author of Basketball on Paper. I learned about Oliver because Pomeroy relied heavily on his work back when he (Pomeroy) started the blog (and still does).

PRod

March 24th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^

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.

GBOD79

March 24th, 2011 at 2:29 PM ^

"Wait to you get out of our educational system for a few years guys and out in the real world. "

 

Sounds like you need to get out of your "real world" and back in the classroom.

chitownblue2

March 24th, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^

A large number of posters here, Brian included, see college more than 10 years past in the rear-view window, and I still fail to see the "wisdom" of referring to Jalen Rose as a racist.

Or is trying to shoe-horn a somewhat unrelated post about Michigan basketball into an incredibly tired, hackneyed maxim something that comes with even GREATER age?

Maybe, rather than smugly assuring yourself that your world-view is correct, some of us actually gain an appreciation of the validity of opinions other than our owns as we age - because not doing so seems, to me, like you're acting like a fuckin' baby.

chitownblue2

March 24th, 2011 at 3:12 PM ^

Because a joke picture I loaded onto MGoBlog consistent with the theme of a humor website I write for is an accurate encapsulation of my worldview.

You guys really don't look past the surface, do you?

umumum

March 24th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^

What the f*** do they, save perhaps Chris, have to apologize for?  Four of them have not been implicated in any wrongdoing.  Oh it must be the two fun-filled years of basketball they gave us.

P.S.--I now see some of those who wrote those nice notes to the Fab 5 while they were here.

MH20

March 24th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^

I don't have a problem with whatever the hell Frank Beckmann's political views are.  I do, however, have a huge problem with his idiotic and ignorant statements about the Fab Five.  Calling Jalen Rose a racist?!  His comments were all about CLASS STANDING, NOT RACIAL STANDING.  How in the hell is it that hard to understand this?

CLASS STANDING.  C-L-A-S-S.

 

If I were the Michigan AD, I would be telling Frank to STFU about his views on such things, and just call the fucking football games.

BRCE

March 25th, 2011 at 3:34 AM ^

No, Beckmann's politics are a problem.

It's not like it would reasonable to have a problem with our play-by-play man because, behind closed doors, he has some pretty hardcore politcally conservative views. In that case, I agree it's who cares. Because it would be behind closed doors.

It's quite another when our play-by-play man's day job is to get paid to spout off those hardcore politically conservative views. He is a public figure as our play-by-play voice AND as a right-winged pundit. These recent comments just highlight the problem of having a guy like this in your family. We shouldn't be in business with Beckmann any longer. Fire his ass.

 

umumum

March 24th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^

than his abject stupidity--which Beckmann confirms once again.  The issues raised by the ESPN piece are simply far too nuanced for Frank to understand.  I'll take the likes of Jalen and company as "Michigan men" over Frank's make-believe version any day.

htownwolverine

March 24th, 2011 at 5:54 PM ^

Your response to the post is quite perplexing, maybe you should go back and get some more of that education.

1. Brian had an * stating his non endorsement of any Nation material except blasting Whitlock.

2. Comparing hip hop hating scared white guys to Glenn Beck is pretty much equivalent.

3. If you think Glenn Beck represents conversatives or anything related to well, reality, then you can go suck Ayn Rand's tit.

4. Last time I checked not all old people are conservatives just like most trailer trash living rednecks are not liberals.

hfgjfgjfgddc

March 30th, 2011 at 10:16 AM ^

 
 
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