Listen: Highlights of Last Night's Classic at the Joe

A new chapter was added to college hockey's fiercest rivalry last night, as Michigan and Michigan State fought to the finish at Joe Louis Arena. After State took a 4-3 lead with four unanswered goals, Michigan had six minutes to save their season...

Listen to the highlights from WCBN Sports!

Michigan Vs. Iowa

Good afternoon boys and girls! Adam Brewster and I will be liveblogging this afternoon's game between the Wolverines and the Hawkeyes starting at tipoff at 4:35 pm. Can Michigan recover and end their three game losing streak? Follow along to find out:

Laval Lucas Perry and Aaron Fuller each hit layups to close out the game. Michigan wins! 60-46 improving to 11-10 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten. Their next game is Tuesday at 7:00 pm at Northwestern. Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims lead all scorers with 20 apiece. Good evening and Go Blue!!

Manny Harris hit both his free throws to give him 20 points also. Harris and Sims both left the game, and were replaced by Matt Vogrich and Zack Gibson. 58-44 Michigan.

Aaron Fuller hit layups on Iowa's last two possessions to make the score 56-42 with only two minutes remaining.

Before the final TV timeout Aaron Fuller hit a layup, score now 56-38 Michigan with 3:40 left in the game.

John Lickliter drilled a long three. Darius Morris was fouled on the following possession an knocked down both of his free throws. 56-36 Michigan.

Fuller got one of two from the line. 54-33 Michigan.

After Eric May hit a lay up, Zack Novak picked up his fourth foul on the following Iowa possession which will send Aaron Fuller to the line after the TV timeout. 54-32 Michigan.

Iowa's Eric May picked up his fourth foul after tripping Manny Harris. Harris hit both his free throws and has 15 on the game. Aaron Fuller got his ninth point of the half on the following possession. Harris responded with a pull up triple. 54-30 Michigan. 7 minutes remaining.

DeShawn Sims got a rebound off his own miss, giving him 20 points and 10 rebounds for the game. 49-28 Michigan.

Iowa's Eric May ended their scoring drought with a layup. On the following Iowa possession Anthony Wright fouled Aaron Fuller who hit both his free throws. The score now 47-28 Michigan halfway through the second half.

Zack Gibson got an offensive rebound on Manny Harris' missed three and hit the layup to give Michigan a 47-24 lead. Iowa calls timeout with 11:36 remaining in the game.

Harris drilled a pull up triple, increasing Michigan's lead to 21 with the score now 45-24 Michigan. 12:20 left in the half.

DeShawn Sims missed a reverse layup, but grabbed his own rebound, hitting an easy layup to give him 18 points for the game.

Manny Harris drew the foul driving towards the basket and completed the three point play, hitting his free throw. Harris now has ten points.

Aaron Fuller picked up his fourth foul of the game and has since headed to the bench. DeShawn Sims was fouled going up for an offensive board on Stu Douglass's desperation three. Sims went 1-2 at the line.

Iowa's Aaron Fuller has scored Iowa's last five points, all coming in the second half. Making the score 36-22 Michigan at the first TV timeout of the half.

Zack Novak picked up his third foul, giving him more fouls than baskets. Iowa's Aaron fuller his one of two from the line.

Zack Novak drills a long three pointer as the shot clock was expiring to give Michigan a 34-17 lead two minutes into the second half.

Sims got his thirteenth point of the game with an assist from Manny Harris to start second half scoring. Zack Novak picked up his second foul.

Second Half Begins! Laval Lucas-Perry to inbound for the Wolverines to begin the half. Lucas Perry missed a three to start the half and DeShawn Sims was fouled on the offensive rebound.

And Iowa's Eric May throws it down to end the first half, Michigan is up 29-17. High scorer for Michigan is Deshawn Sims with 11 points, for Iowa it's Cully Payne with 4. We'll be back in 15 minutes with the live blog for the second half!

And Manny Harris instead commits his fifth turnover of the game, so with 7.9 seconds left in the game, Iowa will take the last shot of the first half. Iowa has called a timeout to draw a play.

And Michigan takes a timeout with 25.3 seconds remaining to plan as they will have the last shot of the half, barring a turnover. After an Iowa layup and a Zack Novak 3, the score stands at Michigan 29 Iowa 15.

Time out Iowa after a beautiful no look pass from Darius Morris gives Sims a wide-open layup. Michigan now up 26-13 with 1:53 remaining in the first half.

And the 6-9 255 lb. Brennan Cougill drills a three pointer to make the score 24-13 Michigan. 2:10 remaining.

LLP knocks down two free throws to push Michigan's lead to 14 with four minutes remaining.

Manny misses three layups in a row, now 22-10 Michigan with 5 minutes remaining.

Timeout on the floor with 7:12 left, Michigan up 22-5 after a 3 from Manny Harris. Michigan's defense continues to force turnovers with a startling frequency.

8:06 left in the first half, foul against Iowa Aaron Fuller, that's his third foul. 19-5 Michigan.

With 10:34 left in the half, Iowa hits it's first FG: a 3-pointer from Devan Bawinkel. 17-5 Michigan.

A tv timeout with 11:36 left in the half, Michigan up 16-2 after another Douglass 3. Iowa still does not have a field goal.

Blocking foul against Novak, Iowa now at the line. Eric May drills both freethrows to finally put Iowa on the board. 13-2 Michigan with 13 minutes left.

14:44 left, still 9-0 as the Ref's check the monitor to see if Iowa's Matt Gatens hit the rim on his three point attempt. Michigan's defense has been tenacious so far this afternoon.

Michigan up 9-0, layup by Manny a three by Douglass, and another Sims layup. Defense holding up well so far. Timeout Iowa with 16:37 remaining.

Tip won by Michigan, the game has officially begun! Sims takes it in the post for the first basket, assist by Douglass. 19:30 left in the first

Starters are Zack Novak, Stu Douglass, Manny Harris, Laval Lucas-Perry, and Deshawn Sims for Michigan. For Iowa, the starters are Cully Payne, Matt Gatens, Aaron Fuller, Eric May, and Jarryd Cole. Almost tip time here in Crisler!

Ticket Giveaway: Friday Night on GOTW

WCBN will be giving away tickets to Saturday's Michigan - Michigan State hockey game at Joe Louis Arena!

Tune-in to 88.3 FM or WCBN.org on Friday night from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. to play Family Feud against WCBN Sports' expert studio analysts. Call in to the show at 734-763-3500!

Manny Harris Suspension Rumor Mill

Michigan basketball star guard Manny Harris was reinstated today by Coach John Beilein after serving a one-game suspension for an unnamed offense that occurred during practice on Friday. While Harris has officially rejoined his teammates for their showdown with Michigan State at Crisler tomorrow evening - sparing Wolverine fans from what would have been utter humiliation - there has been no official word on what Manny L'Adorable Harris did to deserve sitting out the team's brutal loss to Purdue. WCBN Sports offers their best guesses:

• Harris, enraged when Michael Rosenberg interrogated him about the length of Coach Beilein's practices, punched the hack Free Press "journalist" squarely in the face. Beilein, while impressed by Harris' defense of his honor, was forced to suspend Harris, much to the pleasure of Rosenberg, whose vendetta against all things West Virginia continues to destroy everything beautiful about Michigan.

• Freshman walk-on and Club Trillion member Josh Bartelstein showed up to practice Friday and Manny Harris promptly delivered a roundhouse kick to his face, apparently, for existing. Coach Beilein was overhead laughing, and was seen high-fiving Harris, but out of the fear that Bartelstein's father would pull the $500,000 contribution he made to the program to secure Josh's spot, he decided to suspend Harris for one game.

What a clown.

Beilein applauds Manny doing what everyone else wanted to do.

Got other theories? Post them in the comments. WCBN Sports will continue to follow this breaking story and bring you updated rumors as they develop.

Michigan Hockey vs. Alaska Live on Sports Stream

We are LIVE at Yost for tonight's Hockey game between Michigan and Alaska. Michigan beat the Nanooks 6-0 last night and will look to sweep them for the weekend and extend the current win-streak to 5 games. A win tonight will also move the Wolverines into a tie with Alaska for fourth in the CCHA standings.

Listen Live HERE on WCBN.org's sports stream.

Andrew Seid, Andrew Goddeeris, and Rushi Vyas on the call.

Go Blue!

Coach Rodriguez...Take Notes

January was supposed to be a month to cleanse our souls from the evils of the 2009 Michigan football season--one that began with a quartet of promise and ended in conference contempt. College football has given way to hoops and hockey, although many Michiganders are busy commiserating over the Pistons, Red Wings, and Wolverines. But as the weather turns, I'm left reflecting on a football season gone awry and the prospects for improvement in 2010.

Football's 2009 Big Ten conference is largely reminiscent of basketball's Big Ten conference the preceding season. They came in with relatively low expectations and, by the end of the season, appeared to be a conference on the rise. The bowls have become a huge source of optimism for fans of college football's longest standing conference, with the Big Ten winning its four most prominent bowl games:

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin 20 - Miami (FL) 14

Capital One Bowl: Penn St. 19 - LSU 17

Rose Bowl: Ohio St. 26 - Oregon 17

Orange Bowl: Iowa 24 - Georgia Tech 14

Perhaps most notable about the Big Ten's bowl dominance was the fact that each Big Ten team in the four games listed above was an underdog (Penn St.-LSU was nearly a pick'em game) in Vegas. The Big Ten, by all accounts, vastly exceeded expectations, and nearly went 7-0 in the bowl season (Michigan State led in the fourth quarter against Texas Tech, Northwestern lost in overtime against Auburn, and Minnesota lost by one against Iowa State).

And let's be clear; these games were a clash of styles. Wisconsin beat the athletes at the "U." Ohio St. beat the Pac-10 spread. Iowa took care of a gimmicky, option offense. And maybe--just maybe--while Rich Rodriguez presumably watched the Big Ten compete with the nation's best, the thought crossed the embattled coach's mind that Michigan was doing something right before he got here.

Maybe, just maybe, a team can win in the Big Ten with the type of players used by Lloyd Carr when Michigan thoroughly dismantled Tim Tebow and Florida at the 2008 Capital One Bowl. Maybe, just maybe, throwing out the playbook used by Yost, Crisler, and Schembechler was not the brightest idea. Maybe, just maybe, it was not the best idea to stop recruiting the likes of Chad Henne and Mike Hart--the top-flight NFL prospects whom Michigan could attract with their cold-weather grind-it-out style of play.

The problem with Michigan football fans today is that we are so faithfully devoted to the winged helmet that we are willing to move the bar each year for a coach who has yet to win more than two games in the Big Ten. When he got here, we expected to win the Big Ten in 2010. After a three-win 2008 season, we just wanted to reach a Bowl Game in 2009 and compete with the class of the Big Ten in 2010.

Now, we'd be content with a seven-win season against the likes of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Bowling Green. Now, we simply roll our eyes when Tony Grimes eschews the Wolverines for Maryland, Mississippi, or some school with a warmer climate than Ann Arbor. Now, we hope that our defense couldn't possibly be any worse, even after losing Brandon Graham, Stevie Brown, and Donovan Warren.

Is Rich Rodriguez the best coach for the current Michigan team? Absolutely. Would any available coach win more games for Michigan in 2010 than Rodriguez? Probably not. But that's not my question today, as I reflect on 2009.

Are we building a championship program?

I surely don't think so. And if you don't, after 2 seasons and nearly two complete recruiting classes, it may be time to begin thinking about competing with the rest of the rising Big Ten.

Help WCBN Sports!

WCBN Sports has been using YouCastr as its main audio server this year in order to give listeners an interactive, high-quality broadcasting experience. Unfortunately, YouCastr is changing its service in 2010 and eliminating its free-to-view audio broadcasts; needless to say, WCBN is unwilling to force its listeners to pay for Michigan sports audio.

So, today, we are asking for advice. Do you know of any online audio servers through which we can bring you Michigan sports without charging fees? Please let us know if you have any thoughts.

Thank you,

WCBN Sports

Listen: Michigan v. Ohio State

Tune-in to WCBN Sports today as Michigan takes on the Buckeyes in the home opener of the Big Ten season.

Game: Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Wolverines
Time: 430 PM
Venue: Crisler Arena (Ann Arbor, MI)
Broadcast Link: YouCastr