Michigan Women's Basketball LIVE

Tip off vs MSU slated for 7pm.  LISTEN LIVE HERE

Showdown in Champaign

Tonight, Michigan (13-3) gets Illinois (14-2) for the second time and it won't be easy.  The Wolverines are a 6.5 point underdog.

Programming Info: The game is on BTN at 8:30 et. with Wayne Larrivee and Shon Morris on the call.  WCBN will have a preview of the game tonight on the DSR (5:15) and reaction tomorrow on the DSR (5:15).  Michigan State @ Penn State precedes the Michigan game at 6:30 on the BTN.  I'll give credit where its due, I am greatly enjoying BTN's coverage of basketball this year.  They are covering more games and I like the 6:30/8:30 doubleheaders.  

***Gus Johnson Alert: Gus will call the Michigan-Penn State game in State College next Tuesday night.

Game #1: Back on January 4, just ten days ago, Michigan defeated Illinois 74-64.  Here's the post game thoughts.  All I will say is that Michigan was the more desperate team in that one, coming off a home loss to Wisconsin, while Illinois had just defeated Purdue on the road in overtime.   

Why Michigan Will Lose: #1- Michigan is playing on the road in front of a very tough environment. The Wolverines have only played two true road games thus far at Maryland and Indiana and neither were pretty.  In fact, if you look at Michigan's total resume, Michigan has seven wins against teams currently ranked below #100 in the RPI. Granted, they do have 3 wins versus top 50 teams (UCLA, Duke and Illinois), but they're still should be some concern over whether Michigan can win consistently in the grind of Big Ten season.  #2- In the first game between the two teams, Zach Gibson was terrific, finishing with 10 points in 17 minutes. Unfortunately, that will not happen tonight.  No further explanation needed.  #3- The matchup of Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale against Zach Novak and DeShawn Sims. I don't mind that Michigan has gone to a small starting lineup, with Novak playing at the 4-position. There are very few teams they will play that have great size and it enables the Wolverines to stretch the defense, leading to open three's or back-door cuts.  However, the one exception is Illinois.  As one of the few teams with size in the front-court in the Big Ten, I would be surprised if Tisdale and Davis fail to exceed the combined 17 points and 8 rebounds they had in the two teams first meeting of the year.  Add to that the sudden disappearance of Jevohn Shepard and Michigan is going to be really dependent on its guards to rebound, namely Harris and Novak.

Why Michigan Will Win: #1- John Beilein has historically had great success when facing a team for the second time in a single season.  In fact, Beilein won three of five of those games last year and is perfect this year (Duke).  I'll take Beilein over Bruce Weber any day of the week. #2- Michigan's bench outplays that of Illinois.  While this may seem highly unlikely, especially considering the fact that role players tend to play better on their home floor, CJ Lee has been playing well lately and Stu Douglass is due for a performance more like what we saw at MSG. Beilein has used Sims and Grady off the bench at different points this year to provide some sort of spark and someone else needs to step up and fill that void.  #3-Big game from DeShawn Sims. In all of Michigan's significant wins this season (UCLA, Duke, Illinois and Northeastern), the Wolverines made a concerted effort to get the ball to Sims inside.  Very much a rhythm player, Michigan must go to DeShawn early and often tonight.  Furthermore, Sims must stay out of foul trouble, in defending Tisdale and/or Davis.

"Super Six": Michigan is now into the heart of Big Ten Conference play and the final six games in January are vital to their tournament chances.  The next six include four road games (Illinois, Penn State, Ohio State and Purdue) and just two games at Crisler (Ohio State and Northwestern). With a back-loaded conference schedule that is much more difficult (Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State, Minnesota twice) and UConn out of conference, Michigan really needs to get 3 wins in their next 6. If we assume wins at home against Ohio State and Northwestern and losses at Purdue and Illinois, Michigan has to find a way to steal a road win from either Penn State or Ohio State, neither of which will be easy.  People have to remember while Michigan is 13-3 right now, it is highly likely they will be well under .500 in their final 15 games. Still, a 6-9 finish would put Michigan at .500 in conference and more than likely into the NCAA tournament. Michigan must protect its home floor, as one slip-up against the likes of Northwestern or Penn State could prove costly.  The depth of the Big Ten will and the weakness of mid-majors will see the Big Ten get six or seven teams into the tournament, meaning one or two of Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State will probably be left out.

Prediction: Michigan has nothing to lose in this one.  Road wins in the Big Ten this year will be hard to come by.  The Wolverines just have to keep it within 10 points at the half and give themselves a chance to steal the game late. I know Michigan has two awfully impressive wins thus far over two teams ranked #4 in the country at the time, but if the Wolverines were to pull this off tonight, it would be the most impressive of all.

Illinois 72 Michigan 60

Michigan Basketball vs Iowa LIVE on YOUCASTR

Tip-off is slated for 11:30am ET.  Listen LIVE here.

Florida: From 2 to 6 Point Favorite, Why?

Over the past 3 weeks, #2 Florida has gradually become more of a favorite, now close to a touchdown over #1 Oklahoma. Usually, "someone knows something" when the line shifts this drastically. In this case, the lack of success of recent Heisman trophy winners in bowl games and the struggles of the Big 12 in this bowl season are the main reasons behind the line movement. Heisman trophy winners have struggled in high-profile games, with the lone exception of Carson Palmer at USC. Think back to Reggie Bush losing to Texas, Jason White falling to USC, and even Tim Tebow losing to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl last year. Also, there is a distinct divide between the coaches, Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer. Stoops has struggled in big games as of late, losing to West Virginia and Boise State as huge favorites in the 2007 and 2008 Fiesta Bowls. Meanwhile, if Urban Meyer wins tonight, he will ascend to the throne of the sport as the top coach, winning 2 out of 3 national championships. While one may still wonder about his future, specifically that out-clause to Notre Dame, Meyer has had more success than Pete Carroll, Bob Stoops, and Mack Brown in the last four years.

While Oklahoma has a record-setting offense, Sooner fans should be concerned about their defense. Overall, the defenses of Big 12 teams have not slowed down opponents in this bowl season and their offenses have not put up the kind of points they did during conference play. For instance, Missouri struggled with Northwestern only winning 30-23 in OT in the Alamo Bowl. Texas Tech was beaten soundly by Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl. Sure, Kansas won the Insight Bowl, but that was against a terrible Minnesota team that likely should not have been invited to a bowl game to begin with. Oklahoma State could not move the ball in 8 of 10 possessions in 2nd half of the Holiday Bowl, losing to heavy underdog Oregon. Finally, Texas was shut down in the Fiesta Bowl, trailing 21-17 to Ohio State with 2 minutes left in the game and gave up a ton of rushing yardage to the Buckeyes. All in all, the prolific offenses of the Big 12 have not put up big numbers in bowl games. Special teams is also a major problem for OU and I guarantee that Oklahoma gives up a special teams TD tonight, either from a kickoff or punt. The presence of the coach (Meyer), the QB (Tebow), and the league (SEC) all point towards Florida tonight. Coverage begins at 7:30pm tonight on the FOX. This is the last year that FOX will broadcast the BCS National Championship game, as coverage for the title game shifts to ABC in 2010.

Prediction: Florida 42 Oklahoma 24

Ahead on WCBN in 2009

Following a 2008 that saw WCBN cover a record-setting Michigan football season (not in a good way) and make our "Trek Across America", 2009 has even more to offer.

Weekly Schedule:

Monday: Extra Points (6-6:30pm)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: Daily Sports Report (5:15-5:30pm)

Friday: Game of the Week (7-10pm)

Michigan Basketball:

Home games broadcast LIVE on 1/11, 1/17, 1/24, 2/5, 2/10, 2/19, 2/26

1 or 2 road games broadcast LIVE (To Be Announced)

LIVE coverage of the Big Ten Tournament from Indianapolis for a 2nd straight year (3/12-3/15)

LIVE coverage of the NCAA Tournament (???)

Michigan Hockey:

Home games broadcast LIVE on 1/9, 1/10, 1/16, 1/23, 1/24, 1/31, 2/7, 2/13, 2/14, 2/28

LIVE coverage of the CCHA tournament (3/6, 3/7, 3/8, 3/13, 3/14, 3/15, 3/20, 3/21)

LIVE coverage of the NCAA Tournament (???)

Michigan Baseball:
Home games broadcast LIVE on 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/25, 3/31, 4/1, 4/3, 4/4, 4/5, 4/7, 4/8, 4/10, 4/11, 4/12, 4/13, 4/14, 4/15, 4/18, 4/21, 4/24, 4/25, 4/26 (Weather Permitting)

LIVE coverage of the first annual Big Ten/Big East Challenge on 2/20, 2/21, and 2/22
LIVE coverage of Michigan's second annual exhibition game against the New York Mets on 3/8

Additional Programming:

Michigan Women's Basketball

Michigan Softball

College Hoops Picks

WCBN's traditional Masters Week

WCBN Trivia

High-profile interviews (To Be Announced)

NFL Playoffs, Super Bowl, NCAA Signing Day, NBA All Star Game, March Madness bubble watch, Australian Open, PGA Tour, etc.

And Much More...

Ohio St. vs. Texas Tonight

Given that the Fiesta Bowl is tonight (8 P.M. ET), I thought this might be an appropriate time to return to an age-old question that has been debated ad nauseam on WCBN. Should Michigan fans root for Texas tonight given their hatred for Ohio St. or, with the Big Ten having only one victory in the bowl season thus far (Shonn Greene over South Carolina), should Michigan fans root for Ohio St. with the hopes that the conference can salvage a semblance of respectability with a win over a top-two Big 12 team?

On a side note, Texas is favored by 9 points tonight, which seems a little steep to me. If you are a non-betting man, like myself, but are intrigued by sports lines, check out CentSports.com -- I was just referred to it and it's an interesting concept. The website gives you ten cents for free (and will always replenish your ten cents if you go "bankrupt") and they will cash you out if you acquire $20 or more by using your Nostradamus-esque powers. Naturally, the site is riddled with advertising banners, which allows the site to make money. So, if you want to be the guy or girl who wins a dollar on a seven-line parlay, have at it.

Huge Weekend for Michigan

#23 Michigan 74 Illinois 64

Let's start with the huge 74-64 win for #23 (for a few more hours until the new poll comes out) Michigan (11-3, 1-1) over Illinois (13-2, 1-1) on Sunday. It was a game that Laval Lucas-Perry said Michigan "needed to win" and they did just that to get to .500 in Big Ten Conference play. If Michigan wants to go dancing, they need to beat tough teams like the Illini on their home court. Illinois came in receiving votes in the polls and with a RPI of #18. With the way they've looked all season, I'd expect them to be around the top 25 at the end of the year.

Michigan trailed by one at the half but battled back and eventually pulled away in the final minutes to earn the ten point win. After playing man-to-man for most of the game against Wisconsin, the Wolverines spent much of the Illinois game in their 1-3-1 zone. While Illinois only turned the ball over eight times, the zone was effective in hiding Michigan's lack of size down low. There were still a few times where Beilein had four guards in the game and Bruce Weber exploited that size advantage for a few easy buckets by his big men but I like Michigan much better defensively in that 1-3-1.

Michigan used a balanced scoring attack as Harris lead the way with 16 but Sims, Perry, Novak, and Gibson also reached double figures. Novak earned his second start of the season and played well in the first half, scoring all of his 11 points on 5-6 shooting, 4-5 from beyond the arc. For those keeping track at home, that makes Novak 8-11 from beyond the arc (or 72.7% if you prefer percentages to fractions as I do) in the two games he's started - I'm disregarding the desperation three that he shot at the end of the Wisconsin game. Novak was neutralized for much of the second half by an Alex Legion elbow that left a trail of blood from the far basket all the way to the tunnel and required six stitches above Novak's left eye (see picture above).

Zach Gibson played above the rim, showing signs of athleticism that caught everybody, including Gibson, off guard. I know Gibson wasn't expecting himself to dunk because he couldn't stick the landing on his first slam, falling straight on his tailbone. Gibson jokes aside, he had a monster game for Michigan with the fast break dunk, a huge block on a Brock layup, a three pointer, then beating Tisdale off the dribble for his second dunk. His three pointer gave Michigan a lead that they would not surrender. The win improved Michigan's RPI 13 slots to #39 while dropping Illinois just one spot to #19. Michigan will next be in action on Wednesday night at 6:30 at Indiana with the game televised on the Big Ten Network. Now, moving on to recruiting...

Michael Chandler Commits to Michigan...and Lousiville?
After the Michigan win over Illinois, they won a verbal commitment from Michael Chandler, a 4-star, #4 ranked 6'10" Center in the 2011 class. This commitment seemed to come out of nowhere so I decided to do a little digging to find out about this Michael Chandler. ESPN's Scouts Inc. grade him at a 96 and said this about him:

If you want to see him play, you better get to the JV game at Lawrence North High School. He runs the floor extremely well, he is active on both ends of the floor and he rebounds very well. He is very coordinated for a kid his size and his age. He oozes with potential and is certain to attract a lot of attention as he gets older and continues to develop as a player.

Did scouts inc really send someone to watch this kid's JV game???

Chandler apparently has offers from Duke, Michigan State, Kansas, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Ohio State, among several others. The strange thing? Of the three recruiting sites I checked out (Rivals, Scout, and ESPN) Scout was the only one that even listed Michigan as a possible interest!

Better yet, tonight Rivals posted their own article saying that Chandler committed to Lousiville today! Scouts and Rivals need to get together and figure out whats going on, or better yet, they need to stop covering high school sophomores in their JV games. Who's willing to put any amount of money that this kid actually puts on a maize and blue jersey in three years?

William Campbell Commits to Michigan...Again
During the third quarter of the Army All-American Game, Cass Tech's 5-star Defensive Tackle Will Campbell announced his commitment to the Wolverines (wait, hadn't he already done this...?) Campbell who seemed to be enjoying the recruitment process way too much faked for the LSU hat before donning the block M. Earlier in the week, Campbell had told the media that Michigan as no longer under consideration...so much for that, I guess. Campbell is the only 5-star in Rich Rod's 2009 class and plays a position where Michigan will be extremely thin next year as the entire Defensive line minus Brandon Graham (if he stays) graduates.

We'll leave you with some WCBN percentages after the weekend's events. Feel free to argue them in the comments section :

• Chance Michigan hoops makes the NCAA tournament: 75%
• Chance Zach Gibson ever has two dunks in a game again: 10%
• Chance Alex Legion's mom hears another prophecy from God about her son's basketball career and Legion transfers to University of Detroit Mercy: 17%
  
• Chance Will Campbell signs with Michigan: 90% (He's supposed to enroll classes and start on Wednesday)
• Chance Michael Chandler ever wears Maize and Blue: 20%
  

For the audio highlights of Michigan's win over Illinois, click HERE

Michigan vs Illinois

Michigan basketball looks to rebound (basketball pun there...get it?) from the Big Ten opening shellacking handed down by Wisconsin last Wednesday at Crisler Arena. Illinois (13-1, 1-0)comes to town after a big overtime win on the road at Purdue. The Illini feasted on a very weak non-conference schedule but a win at Crisler Arena should silence the critics and earn Illinois a spot in the top 25.

The Wolverines face what Laval Lucas-Perry has called a must win, "We're only one game into the league season, but we now have to win Sunday. We have to." While a loss won't eliminate the Wolverines from the Big Dance, it would certainly take away a lot of the momentum created from the big wins over UCLA and Duke. If Michigan wants to make the tournament they need to win home games in conference. Picking up a victory over Illinois would restore some momentum as the young Wolverines make their first road trip of the year to a very weak Indiana team.

--Side Note: How quickly has the Indiana program fallen? After starting 19-1 last season they almost miss the tournament, find out their coach was a cheater, lose pretty much their entire starting lineup, then lose to Northeastern and Lipscomb at home in the same week!--

It will be interesting to see the starting lineup the Beilein goes with after starting both Zach Novak and Stu Douglas for the first time against Wisconsin. Having those two on the court at the same time gave Michigan all sorts of troubles defensively against the bigger and stronger Badger team. Novak proved worthy of the start as he finished with a career-best 20 points and 8 rebounds but Stu Douglas struggled, failing to score a point in 20 minutes of play.

Be sure to tune in as we'll have the call live from Crisler Arena at 12:00. As always, you can hear our broadcast by clicking HERE.

UM-Wisco: Humble Pie

Yesterday's game at Crisler was not pleasant.  Michigan's offense (like the weather outside) had dropped below freezing and those who had turned out for the game were disappointed to see their Wolverines drop the Big Ten opener 73-61.  Wisconsin got off to a hot start, shooting 65% in the first half.  When shown the box score to the first half, one fan in front of our seats told us "Wow... I thought they were shooting a lot higher than that."  Wisconsin had killed the Wolverines momentum, taking the shot clock down to about 3 second on at least 4 possesions and then nailing a three with only a second to spare.  Just to give you an idea of how badly things had gotten: Much of the discussion between reporters/broadcasters centered on how much each of us would give to be covering Michigan Women's Gymnastics in Cancun this week (One person offered their first-born child in exchange for a ticket).  It was one of those games.

Anyways, here are the slices to this post of "Humble Pie"...

Not so Fresh:  Manny Harris struggled mightily all day long, going 3-13 for 9 pts and 6 rebs.  It was very reminiscent of last year's game in the B10 tournament when  Harris had only 4 points and 3 rebounds in a 51-34 Wisconsin blow-out.  Ryan made the necessary adjustments on Harris after he lit-up the Badgers for 26 pts in Madison  early last year. I said it during our broadcast and I'll say it again: Bo Ryan's meticulous coaching style and attention to defense/rebounding are the reasons why he has taken his team to 7 straight tournament appearances.  His teams are always well-disciplined and defend extremely well.  Ryan seemed to have plenty of pins placed in the Manny Harris Voodoo doll yesterday.  It's just a good thing the Wolverines won't see the Badgers again until March.

A Herd without a Shepherd:  I talked to a lot of Michigan students who attended or watched at home last night and 90% of these people asked me the same question: What happened to Jevohn Shepherd?  After starting every game since Duke, Shepherd was taken out of the starting rotation in favor of Zack Novak.  Yes, Novak had a big game... but why not take Douglass out of the line-up in favor of Novak and keep Shepherd (arguably this team's best wing defender)?  UM has been undefeated and has been winning games comfortably (sans Savannah St.) since Shepherd has been a starter.  Shepherd had the quickness to stay with Landry (16 points) and the size to play with Jon Leuer (12 points).   Stay with what works! 

On the other hand, Douglass played 20 minutes for ZERO POINTS, ZERO REBOUNDS, two turnovers and went 0-3 from beyond the arc.  Shepherd played 4 minutes, didn't see the ball, and barely had enough time to break a sweat.  I think this game showed the Twine Twins are better used as interchangable parts than players that can play alongside each other.  This line-up might've worked better if the Twins were two years older, but they are too big of a defensive liablity right now. 

Too little Too late?  I couldn't figure out why Coach Beilein decided to keep Manny Harris AND DeShawn Sims out of the game with just over two minutes left down by 11 points.  It makes perfect sense to take them out if Beilein was going to foul.... but he didn't foul anyone until Michigan 1:37 left in the 2nd!!! Not only that, but down by 11 with two minutes left, Beilein subbed in Stu Douglass and Zack Gibson for LLP and Sims.  Wait...What?!?  What are you doing?!?! This move didn't make much sense, inserting two scorless players for your second and third leading scorers (niether of whom are in any danger of fouling out).  By the way, Douglass is now 3-13 over his last 3 games from 3pt-range, yet has started every game.  I have no idea why he continues to average 20 minutes a game. 

To make things even weirder, Coach Beilein left LLP (the second leading scorer) on the bench until 54 seconds left.  Perry was one of only four players to make a 3 pointer the entire game for Michigan.  Yet, he rides the bench in crunch time in favor of Douglass (who didn't score a single point!), who proceded to turn the ball over and committ a foul in that time.  I don't tend to question Michigan coaches who start 10-2 to begin a season and beat Duke... but what gives?!?Did they believe the game was too far out of hand?  Does Beilein owe Douglass money or something?  I just didn't get understand why some of those coaching moves were made throughout the game.  A lot of that didn't make sense to myself, or five other people sitting with us in press row. 

Attendance was listed as 11,000 but it'll be interesting to see how many people keep coming if Michigan drops the next game to Illinois on Sunday.  Michigan's ticket department was giving a free tickets to the OSU game later this year for every Wisco ticket purchased, so maybe that had something to do with the inflated numbers.  

UM vs.Wisco: The Measuring Stick Game

Hope everyone had a good holiday. After spending time with family, friends, and getting chastized for showing up unannounced to a women's basketball game (more to come on the next post), I feel refreshed and ready to get back to blogging.

The title says it all. This next game is the measuring stick for how the Wolverines have progressed since the Duke game. Wisconsin might not have shot out to the start some people thought they would back in November, but Bo Ryan always puts out a disciplined team. As many people have written (including our friend Brian from MGoBlog), the Wolverines have not played any significant teams in the last 3 weeks. Teams like EMU, Oakland, and FGCU have allowed Michigan's RPI to gradually slide, putting them in an interesting position if the start to their conference season isn't good. If UM gets off to a rocky start, the game against UConn late in the season could become crucial.

Speaking of UConn, the Huskies committed the one huge mistake I was hoping wouldn't take place until AFTER the Wolverines traveled to Storrs: getting blown out at home by a quality team. In last night's game against Georgetown, Greg Monroe introduced himself to NBA Lottery teams by making 7-ft UConn center Hasheem Thabeet look like Manute Bol. Thabeet looked slow and out of place all game as Monroe showcased some nice low post moves and took Thabeet away from the hoop in order to drain 15-ft jumpers at will. Expect Thabeet's draft status to drop like a rock while Monroe just shot himself into the conversation of potential Top 5 picks.

What's this mean for UM? Michigan now doesn't have the element of surprise of being able to go in and hit UConn in the mouth unexpectedly. UConn is a talented and deep team and seemed to underestimate the Hoyas. Jim Calhoun is too good a coach to let that happen again this season. So, the road trip to Storrs might've just got a little harder. The silver lining: Hasheem Thabeet is an awful defender when forced to guard a man outside the paint. All I could think of while watching Monroe hit jumper after jumper was how reminiscent this was of DeShawn Sims against Brian Zoubek of Duke. If Sims can consistently hit the 15-17 ft jumper from the wing, Michigan might not need to worry too much about its RPI after this game.

OK. Back to Wisconsin...

"The Badgers are not who we thought they were"... to say the least. The Badgers come in at 9-3 having lost to every quality team they scheduled (Marquette, Texas, and UConn). Their best win came against Va Tech on a last second hanging-runner to beat the Hookies by 2. While this team is lead by some experienced players (Trevon Hughes, Joe Krabbenhoft, and Marcus Landry) they haven't lived up to their billing as a top 3 team).

"And if ya don't know, now ya know:" DeShawn Sims was named B10 POW this week. Sims hasn't gotten a lot of recognition so far by the mainstream media. I'll assume it's because he is undersized at the center position and the conference has some legitimate centers putting up decent numbers already this season (i.e. Suton of MSU). However, Sims is averaging almost a double-double (17 pts and 9 rebs) while being the first Wolverine in 30 years to post a 20-20 game earlier this month against FGCU. Sims has been nothing short of spectacular for a team who desperately needs a consistent rebounder. While they've shot double digit three point totals in the past couple games (the record setting performance of 16 vs EMU followed by 14 against OU), if those shots don't fall consistantly, Sims' work on the glass becomes far more essential. Look for him to have a distinct advantage in quickness over the lead-footed Krabbenhoft.

Long Distance Defense: This could ultimately decide the game. While Sims and Gibson will try to establish a low-post presence, Michigan needs to do a better job of defending the 3-pt shot against a team that likes the long-line almost as much Beilein. Wisconsin G Jason Bohannon torched Texas for 4-7 beyond the arch in a loss in Madison last week. Bohannon is a lot like Michigan's Douglass and Novak: A young, country boy that can go on a tear if given time and space. Michigan did a good job of defending OU's Eric Kangas (another deep threat) in the first half at the Palace last week, but lost track of him in the 2nd half and Kangas was able to get OU within 6 points in a hurry. Kangas and Blake Cushingberry (aka the Lost Gotti brother...Google it) were able to get wide open looks at ease once Michigan eased up. That can't happen or all five players (yes, even Krabbenhoft) could get on a run from deep.

"It feels good to be back": Michigan finally gained some mainstream media love after Memphis fell out of the Top-25, allowing Michigan to sneak in at 24 (they currently reside at 23 according to the AP poll). ESPN's bracketologist Joe Lunardi put the Wolverines in the field of 64 last week, giving them an 8-seed and facing Maryland in the 1st round. Also, Dana O'Neil wrote a nice piece on the Manny Harris-John Beilein relationship for ESPN.

Myself, Stu, and Rushi will have the call live from Crisler Arena at 2 pm. Click here to listen for what should be a great game. Post-game wrap to follow the game.

MLB Network Launches January 1st

It was only a matter of time, wasn't it?  The MLB becomes the last of the major pro sports leagues to create its own channel. For the most part, unlike what was seen with the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network, the MLB Network will be widely available, as it will appear in more than 50 million homes when it launches.  To Bud Selig's credit, he elected for the cable companies to have a sizable ownership stake in the MLB Network, allowing the channel to be shown on basic cable on Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner, Cox, etc.  The only cable holdouts are AT&T U-Verse and Dish Network.  I happen to think MLB Network will be the most successful of the television speciality channels because of the daily aspect of the game.

On Jan. 1st at 6pm, MLB Network launches with "Hot Stove", featuring special guest World Champion Jimmy Rollins.  The one-hour offseason staple show will be followed by a re-air of the famous Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, where Don Larsen threw a perfect game. Additional programming features 16 World Baseball Classic games in March, 26 Thursday night MLB "Game of the Week" telecasts during the course of the season, and "MLB Tonight" from April-October.  "MLB Tonight" (similar to ESPN's "Baseball Tonight") will air from 6pm until 2am from Monday-Saturday and include live-look ins, analysis and highlights.

On-air personalities include: Matt Vasgersian, Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter, Barry Larkin, Mitch Williams, Dan Plesac, Tom Verducci, Jon Heyman

*There is strong speculation that Bob Costas (NBC/HBO) will join MLB Network in an on-air role. Costas will conduct an interview with Yogi Berra & Don Larsen after the Jan. 1 air of the 1956 World Series.

Michigan 77 NC Central 57: Not Worth It

As expected, Michigan defeated North Carolina Central rather comfortably on Monday night. Manny Harris had 29 points and 16 rebounds, while DeShawn Sims added 17 and LLP 10 points.  NC Central is honestly the worst basketball team I have watched on TV this year.  Still, Michigan led by less than 10 at the half.  Let's not worry about who starts, but Beilein needs to play Grady, LLP, Manny, Novak, and Sims the majority of the minutes.  The 20 point win was the 10th of the season for Michigan, as many as they had for the entire season a year ago.  Remember: at one point Michigan was 5-17 last year; this season the Wolverines are 10-2.  19 games remain on the schedule, eighteen in conference play and one at UConn in February.

Why was the win not worth it?  Despite improving the win total to double digits, Michigan's RPI and SOS plummeted.  The Wolverines RPI is presently 37 and SOS is 89.  Prior to the NC Central game, Michigan had a RPI inside the top 20 and SOS in the top 40.  The NC Central game caused the two numbers to drop due to their own 0-14 record and RPI of 333 (out of 343 Division I teams).  While the strength of the Big Ten and UCLA's continued improvement should enable Michigan's SOS to improve overtime, this one game took a significant toll. There is no question the Wolverines would be better off today with 9 wins and a RPI of 17 than their current ranking.  With Michigan likely to be a NCAA tournament bubble team, their RPI and SOS will have a much greater emphasis than their ranking in the polls (#23 in AP this week). Furthermore, Michigan plays 3 games this week vs. NC Central, Wisconsin and Illinois. Why was there the need to play NC Central on Monday, just 36 hours before a very important and difficult game against Bo Ryan and the Badgers.  Add to that the chance of injury (DeShawn Sims nearly) and you have to question the scheduling of the NC Central game.

What If Scenario: If Michigan goes .500 in Big Ten play (9-9), which is easier said than done, along with a loss at #2 UConn, the Wolverines would be at 19-12.  Add one win and one loss in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and Michigan finishes the year at 20-13.  Assuming their RPI remains inside the top 40, Michigan plays well in their final 10 games, and adds 2 more high-profile wins (either Michigan State, Purdue, UConn, Minnesota, and/or Wisconsin), it is hard for me to imagine Michigan would be left out of the tournament. No other bubble team is going to have 2 non-conference wins (UCLA and Duke) as strong as Michigan.

Up Next: Big Ten opener vs Wisconsin- Wednesday at 2pm 

Michigan vs North Carolina Central

Michigan will host NCCU tonight with tip scheduled for 7:06. To listen to WCBN's coverage of the game click here. The broadcast will also be archived and available for on-demand listening at the same link.

NCCU comes to Crisler sporting an 0-14 record in their second season competing in Division I. With a win tonight, Michigan will equal their total wins from last season (10).

Michigan Ranked #24

It probably took a week or two longer than it should have, but Michigan is ranked 24th in the AP Poll that was released earlier this afternoon.  I continue to disregard the Coaches Poll, where Michigan is 28th, receiving 38 votes.  Believe it or not, five Big Ten teams are ranked: Purdue 10th, Michigan State 11th, Ohio State 15th, Minnesota 23rd and Michigan 24th.  With Wisconsin, Penn State, Northwestern and Illinois also off to good starts in non-conference play, the Big Ten will likely send 5 or 6 teams to the Tournament, an afterthought when the season began.  More importantly, UCLA and Duke (2 teams that Michigan beat) are playing very well right now.  Also, Michigan's RPI has been holding steady at #15 earlier today (12/22).  

Frankly, Michigan has played a pretty uninspired 2nd half tonight against Florida Gulf Coast. After leading by 20 at the half (a half in which DeShawn Sims had 13 rebounds), Michigan managed just 15 points in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half.  A win is a win, I guess, but this was ugly.  To say Michigan relied on the three-point shot is quite an understatement, as they attempted 42 in the game. The Wolverines shot just 23-64 for 35.9% as a team from the field. DeShawn led the way with 20, Grady had 14, LLP 10 and Manny managed just 6 points.  In his much-anticipated return, Reed Baker was 4/12 from the field for 16 points for FGC. 

Final Score: Michigan 76 -Florida Gulf Coast 59

Next up: Michigan vs NC Central on December 29th at 7pm.  A great chance to start 10-2 in what is the final tune-up before Big Ten conference play. 

PROGRAM NOTE: UM-OU Live @ 4pm

Just a reminder that we will have the Michigan-OU game LIVE on our YouCastr site.  Matt Boyer and Mike Silverman will have the call from the Palace of Auburn Hills at 4PM.  To access the game, click on our YouCastr link on the right hand margin of our page.  We hope you'll tune in for what should be a great game.

UM-Oakland Preview: Mid-Major Trap?

Due to the massive amounts of snow that were dumped on Southeast Michigan (and much of the Midwest), I spent most of the day digging my car out from underneath all the powder.  The roads sucked and getting to Crisler on time for the Women's bball match-up was not happening.  However, props to Stu and Kyle or giving us our first Women's Bball experience of the season (To hear this game: Click on the YouCastr link to the right and find the UM-Cincy match-up for all the highlights).

On to the Preview... Oakland University, out of the Summit League, is located in Rochester, MI.  This is their 10th season as a Division 1-A program, making the jump in 1998.  Largely a commuter school, Oakland has employed only one head coach the last quarter century. OU's coach Greg Kampe has been an institution for their Men's Basketball program.  He's been the head man for 24 years and received his 400th victory this season.  While many notable mid-majors have pretty loyal fan bases, Kampe has never able to establish a big following during his tenure. 

Fun Fact: Kampe's father was a O-lineman for the Wolverines 1947 Rose Bowl and National Championship squad.

The Grizzlies' Peak:  Oakland is 7-5 coming off an OT road win against Wisconsin Green-Bay and will begin the 1st of what looks to be their toughest three week stretch of the season. The Grizz are riding a four game win streak, but will need all the momentum they can get for their upcoming slate of games. They will play Michigan, Eastern Mich, and Michigan State next week, with both the Spartans and Wolverines traveling to the Palace for the match-up.  Oakland's biggest win came against Oregon in Eugene earlier this year.  However, this mercurial team has also sustained miserable loses to teams like Iowa and Southern Utah.

Rise and Shine:  The Wolverines are well rested, having had the past week off for final exams.  They beat a weak EMU in a battle in which neither team had their head coach.  However, John Beilein returned to practice this week and looks to pick-up right where his team left off in a 30 point drubbing of the Eagles.  Beilein's team looked good without him, so don't expect the time without their coach to affect the Wolverines too much.

OOOOOOOOO CAN-A-DA!: Well, it took 3 years and 9 games to see the Jevohn Shepard be the player everyone thought he would eventually become.  Shepard played a complete game on both ends of the court.  And his timing couldn't be better: OU's leading scorer, Eric Kangas, is a perimeter scoring threat who can find his own shot coming off screens.  Shepard's defense, length, and athleticism could be used as a shut-down option on Kangas.

Speaking of Shepard: We need to STOP calling this guy Air Canada.  Vince Carter? Sure.  He is Air (Fill in the city name).  That's fine.  Brent Petway? OK.  Air Georgia is fine, because that guy 

did nothing else but dunk.  But let's find a better nickname for Shepard.  Yes, he is athletic and has good jumping ability... but the kid has not dunked on ANYONE yet.  Nor does he have a career defining dunk.  When people are able to say "Oh yeah... that was the game where Shepard dunked on (insert team name here)" we can then bring it back.  

The Twine Twins:  The freshman sharp shooters have been making gradual progress, so I have decided to graduate them to their next nick name. Why? Because at times, it seems like these kids never hit the rim.  While both have played well individually, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass haven't both played well in the same game yet.  When Douglass seems to have played big in games, Novak seems to have disappeared.  Same with Novak (playing well against MD, and Duke) and Douglass vanished.  Could this be the game where we see both come together to play well instead of being interchangeable parts?  If so, Michigan will see their three-point total hit the teens for the second straight game.

Super Sims:  No one has been able to stop DeShawn Sims this season.  He has been the biggest player in the biggest spots or this team.  Manny Harris might be the one with the better scoring average, but Sims has hit the biggest shots (Savannah State) and been the best player in a career defining game (Duke).  He has had to play the 5 spot, and has faced much larger front lines.  OU's front line boasts the 6'10 Dan Waterstadt  and 6'11 Kieth Benson.  Benson leads all Grizzlies with 6 boards a game.  While neither team seems to

emphasize crashing the boards, Michigan will need Sims to stay out of foul trouble early in order to keep OU of the boards. 

Faces in the Crowd:  Expect Michigan fans to show up nicely to this game. While the game is only 5 minutes away from Oakland's Rochester campus, expect alumni and students alike to show up in droves for the Maize and Blue.  

For those not able to make it: FSN will carry the game at 4pm.  Mario Impemba (the Tiger's play-by-play man and Rod Allen's better half on the FSN's baseball coverage) will have the call and does an excellent job in basketball as well.  I'm actually kind of surprised the BTN didn't call Impemba's number as one of their broadcasters for basketball coverage.  I think he'd be a great guy to have as like a B or C team guy behind guys like Gus Johnson and Mike Reghi.

UPDATE:  One big story-line not mentioned in the original post is the primere of Laval Lucas Perry in the Beilein offense.  The reason I haven't written much about it is due to the fact that I don't buy what people are selling about this kid. There is a lot of hype surrounding this guard and there has been for a while.  UMHoops.com has been carrying the storyline for the better part of a week now.  While I think LLP will play a part in the offense, I'm not buying the hype of this kid being a perennial scorer.  Not yet anyway.  I watched him in person when he played at Flint Powers and wasn't overly impressed.  And that was against Catholic School League Teams!  Not to mention, LLP had the benefit of sitting out on the perimeter to hit open jumpers while teams doubled Powers' 7-ft Center Tom Herzog (now with MSU).  While his jump shot was smoothe, I question his ability to get his own shot.  Tomorrow should give people a lot of insight into the type of player he will be and how far he has come in just over a year.

HOWEVER: FSN carries the game on a slight delay.  For unfiltered, LIVE coverage, click the YouCastr link to the right at game time because we will be carrying this game right HERE.  Special Guest broadcaster Mike Silverman (broadcaster for the Daytona Cubs of the Chicago Cubs Single A affiliate) will join me on the call.   

Like the Blog? Got A Comment? E-mail us at goblue232@gmail.com 

Listen: Michigan Women's Basketball LIVE Tonight

Listen to Carly Benson and the Michigan Wolverines take on the Cincinnati Bearcats tonight with WCBN's Stu Zaas on YouCastr.com.

Week 16: NFL Playoffs Scenarios

Week 16 kicked off last night with a comeback win by MVP-to-be Peyton Manning and the Colts over Jacksonville, and while that game cemented the Colts as a playoff team in the AFCs, seven of the 12 playoff spots in the NFL are still up for grabs.

...it'll be six playoff spots available if denver beats buffalo in denver or san diego falls in tampa bay...

With that having been said, Yahoo! has created a "Playoff Scenario Generator" that allows you to pick the winner of each game in Week 16 and Week 17. Click the link above to check out what your team has to do to reach the promised land.

...the saturday night ravens-cowboys game will set a lot of things in motion. the cowboys need to win to hold off the bucs another week before the 'boys-eagles game in a week. a ravens win would allow them to hold off the remnants of the afc east in the race for the final wild card spot in the afc until week 17. and, to make a long story short, the loser of the jets-dolphins game in week 17 will need a ton of help to make the playoffs in the afc, regardless of what happens this week, and the bucs will need to win out and hope that the cowboys lose a game, while the eagles hope that the bucs or falcons slip up, allowing the eagles to control their own destiny. buckle up, folks...

Michigan Defensive Coordinator Shafer Resigns

According to the Detroit Free Press, Scott Shafer has resigned from his post as Michigan defensive coordinator.

...here comes the clamor that rich rodriguez forced shafer out. click the above line to the detroit free press article to read the quotations from both rodriguez and shafer on the split...

Shafer, much maligned in the media throughout the season, led one of the worst Michigan defenses in the school's history. They allowed 28.9 points per game, over 5 points per game more than any Michigan team had in a season since statistics were kept in college football (1936).

Shafer, who had served as a coordinator at Stanford, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois, was billed as an aggressive strategist, but Michigan finished the season with a porous 29 sacks. Many attribute Shafer's poor, and often absent, blitz packages as a primary reason for the 366.92 yards per game allowed by Michigan, who ranked 68th in the nation in total defense.

The 2008 campaign was made worse by the fact that Michigan's defense entered with high expectations, and was projected as the unit which could carry a team running a new offensive system under head coach Rich Rodriguez. The Michigan defensive line returned in full from 2007, alon with Donovan Warren and Morgan Trent at corner back and Obi Ezeh at middle linebacker.

UM-EMU: School's Out

Well, classes aren't out just yet, but with some kids already making the trek home for the holidays, it is time for Wolverine Basketball to start their holiday schedule. First Up: The Ypsilanti Eagles from just down Washtenaw Ave. Eastern Michigan comes in off a 20-pt win over Wayne State at EMU. They are 2-6 with one of those losses coming against Purdue to the tune of a 30 pt drubbing. Purdue beat EMU by 30, but lost to Duke by almost as much. Michigan beat that same Duke team last week. Do the math.

Not good at math? OK, Michigan will win. Easy. Think Ben Cronin, except for the entire second half. Seeing as he is about to be res-shirted, might as well get him 3 months worth of minutes.

(Sidenote: a friend of mine mentioned that Ben Cronin is easily at the top of Beilein's "Wait! Don't Shoot!!!" list. Seeing as he is about to be redshirted, Anthony Wright will go back to taking his rightful place atop this throne).

Flying Dangerously Low: EMU is going through a tough season. Last week, they lost their coach to a school imposed 3 game suspension after he allegedly punched a fan after a loss to UDM. I guess if i realized my team was awful and I lived in Ypsilanti, I'd want to hit someone too. But in all seriousness, what possess a grown man to hit a student? The shame in all this is that it was not captured on film. It would've been the most viral video clip out of Washtenaw Co. since Kevin Borseth's rant.

Bueller....Bueller....Bueller: With everyone going home, the cold weather, and the competition being really poor, I'm interested to see how many people show up to these next four games. Earlier tonight on Game of the Week (every Friday 7-10pm on wcbn.org), I agreed that the Wolverines could come out of this stretch being 10-2 heading into the Big Ten season. If they can do that, they are setting themselves up very nicely for a possible Big Dance invite. Beat UConn on the road and this team could make the tourney by just showing up to each Big Ten game from then on. A big part of the process is getting fans to show up in droves. These next four games are free, but will it be enough for kids to show up? And how many people would you expect to show up to these games, much less the Women's Bball games over break?

I already referenced Borseth and I just referenced his team again so its time to show them some love: Michigan Women's Basketball is cruising right now! Already beaten a couple of ranked teams and putting together a pretty solid season. Carly (Benson) and Co. did pretty well last year and are looking to improve on the NIT run they made last year. Myself and Stu will be broadcasting next Friday's home game vs Cincy and we'll have something up on the state of Women's Basketball shortly after the game).

...Whoa. What just happened? I passed out. Wait, did I just talk about women's hoops on the blog? I need to stop blogging at 3 am.....

Anyways, back to Beilein's team. Michigan should be expected to cruise through these next four games, as none of these teams are expected to be competitive or make the tournament (Oakland, being the only team with an outside chance if they carry the Summit league). Oakland at the Palace might be tough because it is 5 minutes away from their campus. Still, expect the crowd to be 75-25 in Michigan's favor.

To all the students: Good luck with exams, and check back here over the break as we will be giving you recaps and previews to all the games you might miss while on holiday. That's right: We don't have a life so you can enjoy yours by reading Maize and Blog.

If all goes according to plan, each of those games can be heard HERE through the WCBN sports stream or through our YouCastr link to the right.