Michigan, West Virginia to play in basketball

Submitted by ChalmersE on

John Beilein will take Michigan to Brooklyn December 15th to play his old team, West Virginia.  It's part of a pair of doubleheaders in connection with the opening of the new arena in Brooklyn.

aiglick

March 6th, 2012 at 11:40 AM ^

Very interesting. I'm glad it's not in Morgantown for some reason. They weren't as mad about Beilein and I'm sure they're pretty happy with Huggy but that should be fun for New Yorkers.

My cousins live near there and one of them is a huge basketball (pro) fan. Maybe he'll go and become a Michigan fan.

CLord

March 6th, 2012 at 11:40 AM ^

The bad blood from 4 years ago (from our lifting all their coaches) should be passed by now.  WVU secured Huggins which made losing Beilein a wash in their eyes, and our 3 year RR disaster was punishment enough to allow to move on.

Or maybe I'm projecting a sensibility WVU fans don't possess.  Will be interesting.

Indonacious

March 6th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^

Two kind of related items...



Mitch McGary was 1 of 10 players selected to represent the US vs. the World in the Nike Hoops summit, which is quite a tremendous accomplishment. 

http://www.nikehoopsummit.com/



Also, Mitch and GRIII were both selected to play in the All-American Championship (on different teams) where the rosters are also loaded with talent.



http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1163480.html

Impressive accolades for the 2012 incoming recruits.

justingoblue

March 6th, 2012 at 12:03 PM ^

I watch them play about five times per year, and they're not very consistent in their competition against the top of the BE, and haven't seemed to be since I've followed BE basketball (2008 was the first season). Even with plenty of motivation, I've seen them fold at least once per year.

If we're as good as we should be by then, I don't think we'll have any problems.

Hagen

March 6th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ^

This is a great move.  Brandon, Beilein and co. are continuing to schedule strong out of conference opponenets.  Though not the top tier of the Big East (or future Big12), WVU is still a quality program after Beilein left and currently under Huggins  And being a native New Yorker, I can't wait to see our team next year in person.

tn wolverine

March 6th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^

I'm curious Hagen as to why you don't consider WVU one of the Top Tier Big East (soon Big 12) teams. Were they not in the final 4 just 3 or 4 years ago? Did they not play now #2 Syracuse right to the wire at Syracuse (they take them to OT if not for the blatant missed goaltending)? Did they not win a game or two in last years NCAA Tourney ? I say they are a top tier team most years. They have a top tier coach, good facilities and believe me a huge home court advantage at the WVU coliseum (I'm happy Michigan plays them at a nuetral site). They're as good as it gets. They do Lose "Truck" Bryant and a couple of other starters so They may take awhile to get going, but we'll lose Novak and Douglass so the chemistry at Michigan may take some time to gel also. I guess what I'm saying is we're playing a team that vies for a top 25 ranking most every year. I do think Michigan wins but I expect a very good game against a very respectable opponent. 

oriental andrew

March 6th, 2012 at 12:23 PM ^

A few comments on the press release:

  1. Good to hear them saying the "right" things about Beilein.  Huggins: "We look forward to playing a storied program like Michigan and to play against another ranked team with an outstanding coach in John Beilein, who has built a winner at every school that he has coached during his career" and their AD Luck: "Coach John Beilein did a tremendous job with our basketball program, and his last game as coach of WVU was actually in New York, when he and the Mountaineers won the NIT Championship."
  2. And Beilein about WVU: "I have many fond memories of my time at West Virginia. Facing the Mountaineers and their tremendous coach, Bob Huggins, will give Michigan another opportunity to play against one of the very best teams in college basketball today.”
  3. Standard line, anyone?  Beilein: “Michigan has such a strong alumni base in New York City and surrounding areas..."  Brandon: “We have a great group of alumni in New York and the surrounding areas."  Huggins: “Our alumni base is strong in the New York area..."  Luck: “WVU has a strong following in the New York market, and the game will be special to our alumni base in that area."
  4. More AD-speak:  Brandon: "Playing in Brooklyn presents a unique opportunity for our men’s basketball program. It’s something that our current players are really looking forward to experiencing.” and Luck: "Student-athletes love it when they get a chance to play in a professional venue, and I believe our basketball team will enjoy playing in the new Barclays Center." 

Good stuff...

There's going to be a LOT of blue and yellow in the stands that day!

VermontMichiganFan

March 6th, 2012 at 12:23 PM ^

Michigan vs. WVU and Fordham vs. Princeton Saturdat Dec 15, 2012

Long Island U vs. Seaton Hall and Manhattan vs. South Carolina Saturday Dec 22, 2012

For those too lazy to read the link... Article also says we have never played WVU.... neat

PurpleStuff

March 6th, 2012 at 12:07 PM ^

We won a BCS bowl (our first in a very long time) 4 years after we hired him and have a top-10 team coming back next year.  That isn't the result of "failure". 

The only guy who suffered from the whole deal is Rich Rodriguez.  Your continued anger is dumb and misguided.

Mtruck

March 6th, 2012 at 12:51 PM ^

While I agree that being angry about our football program from 2008-2010 after what happened this season is in fact dumb and misguided, I fail to see how "The only guy who suffered from the whole deal is Rich Rodriguez."  Really?  The guy made millions of dollars while he was here and (not sure of his contract at Arizona) is set to make a great salary at his new job.  Did he suffer some?  Sure, no coach likes to lose.  But he is still doing all right for himself.  How about those border line NFL players who probably didn't get drafted due to the negative views of playing on a losing team?  I think they suffered way more than Rodriguez.

(Clearly I have no factual evidence to back up any players not getting drafted due to the lack of success of the teams they played on, there's no way to know who, if any, would have been had we done better).

PurpleStuff

March 6th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^

That was the low point for the program, and it came before Rodriguez ever coached a game.   He then spent the next three years digging out of that pit and left behind an awesome team with tremendous character.  

The people who blame Rodriguez for our struggles display a basic misunderstanding of how football works.  They were also completely wrong about the direction and overall strength of the program at the time of his departure, yet continue to cling to the belief that only doom and gloom awaited if we didn't kick the guy out the door immediately.  To then continue to be angry at him when all the evidence indicates he did a phenomenal job rebuilding this program and left it far better than he found it, and you got your wish and he's no longer here, is just ridiculous.

jmblue

March 6th, 2012 at 3:17 PM ^

2008-2010 sucked.  We never had to speak of "building a program" before then (at least not in my lifetime).  Fans went from taking annual bowl appearances for granted and expecting top 10 finishes to being owned by Sparty, Illinois and Purdue and scratching and clawing to beat Indiana.  It was awful, and hopefully will never be repeated.

 

PurpleStuff

March 6th, 2012 at 6:00 PM ^

Because our fans were spoiled for a really long time, it makes sense to lose our shit over two losing seasons, blame the guy who had the misfortune to arrive right at the program's low point, fire him for his troubles, and continue to hate him after he's gone for cleaning up the mess and leaving us with a fantastic team whose success we can all attribute to our old friend who we like more anyway.

That sounds reasonable.

El Jeffe

March 6th, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^

Finally, someone brave enough to shine a light on the tragic suffering Rich Rod inflicted on season ticket holders, corporate box denizens, and ordinary Joes watching the game on television while drinking beer and eating buffalo wings. I dunno why everyone keeps prattling on about Haiti and Darfur when we've got suffering right here at home.

Lionsfan

March 6th, 2012 at 11:52 AM ^

Does WVU really hate us anymore? I mean Huggins has been successful enough, and it's not like Beilein has blown anyone out of the water (yet) with his success here. And we got 3 years of pain with RR, while they have a new coach and a BCS win to boot.

Farnn

March 6th, 2012 at 11:58 AM ^

God, I utterly hate the Barclay Center.  I live near there, and it totally screws up the area, the road access and parking available are completely insufficient and the building is ugly.  But, with Michigan coming to NYC, I really want to buy tickets and go to the game.  So torn.

Needs

March 6th, 2012 at 2:32 PM ^

I can't even conceive what the traffic's going to be like when that place opens. Flatbush and Atlantic is a disaster as is.

Anyone who drives to an event there, given all the transit options, is an idiot ... but there are a lot of idiots and it's going to make life miserable for everyone who lives nearby, particularly with all the people who are going to try to avoid the predictably outrageous parking charges trolling the streets of Fort Greene for parking.

bacon1431

March 6th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^

I don't get why people still think there's bad blood b/w Michigan and WVU. The players don't care. None of the WVU players were JB players. They got a hometown guy to coach them. The university president and AD from the RR buyout debacle are now gone and RR is gone as well. The only people that might be sore are fans and it's not in Morgantown.

oriental andrew

March 6th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^

WVU reaction so far:

 

 

Overall, seems like the reactions are positive and the vast majority of WVU fans like Beilein and are excited about the game.  Also excited about the fact they'll be testing themselves against a highly ranked team. 

 

LIZARD4141

March 6th, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^

I was at a conference at State College,  PA.   While watching Michigan play at Purdue in the bar at the conference center/hotel there was a group of WVU fans in there drinking.  They must have been there for some sort of conference as well.  They were upset that the WVU game wasn't on TV and  they were forced to watch the Michigan game.  They were rooting for Purdue.   Here in Pittsburgh there are alot of WVU alumni and they like Michigan as about as much as they like RR.  That being said many of them do seem to take some pride that RR is from WV.  They will criticize him,  but they will kind of stick up for him if a Michigan fan criticizes him.  One WVU fan I know told me that Hoke was winning with RR's players and he doesn't think Hoke is that good of a coach.  I didn't want to argue with the guy because it's important that we are friends because of our work relationship.  I wouldn't under estimate the WVU fanbase negative attitude towards Michigan.  I've heard a couple of them complain about Beilein as well.  They said that they hated how he didn't coach his players to offensive rebound instead had everyone get back on D.  They said his teams didn't play physical and didn't crash the boards.  They say it in a polite way and don't act like jerks,  but I can tell inside they don't want to see Michigan do well.

wolverine77

March 6th, 2012 at 2:54 PM ^

My experiences with their fanbase have been all bad, however this should be a solidly pro-michigan crowd with all the NY alum. Can't wait, I will definitely be there.

ziggolfer

March 6th, 2012 at 7:03 PM ^

Growing up as a Pitt fan, I hate WVU (not as much as PSU mind you).  When Michigan hired Beilein, I was quite pleased given he was able to win with the little talent he had. I thought that Beilein would be able to get the program off the ground using similar talent at Michigan which would help as compete against MSU who has been able to pull better recruits since Magic Johnson (excluding Fab5 which should not count b/c of violations). 



In hindsight, much of what I predicted came true. On the other hand, I was quite dissastified when Michigan hired RR. As a fan of Hoke-ball and old school michigan football, the hire made no sense. I respect RR ability, but it made no sense. While RR's depature from WVU earned him the distaste amongst mountaineer faithfull that Beilein did not endure, I still can't understand why they were so okay with Beilein leaving. RR had them in national championship territory which may have caused such a shock when he left.



It's nice to see both schools agree to play each other given the millions Mary Sue agreed to pay WVU off for stealing RR from them. Cooler heads prevailed here.  I hope to God Michigan wins this game.

BraveWolverine730

March 6th, 2012 at 8:46 PM ^

Maybe my knowledge of 80s Big Ten Basketball is woefully inadequate (not my fault since I hadn't been born yet), but I'm pretty sure UM had a better run than MSU during that run and won the NC in 89. Really MSU's dominance only coincides with the Izzo era. Before then the programs were competitive with UM being slightly better.