Joe Buck Joins HBO

Earlier this week, word broke that Bob Costas was leaving HBO after 8 years to join MLB Network. HBO moved quickly to replace Costas and today signed Joe Buck of FOX Sports to a multi-year contract. Buck will begin at HBO in May and will host a show in a live town hall format four times a year, similar to "Costas Now" in 2008.  Good hire for HBO.

Mock Rock X

Playing a sport at U of M allows kids to show-off their athletic skills on one of the biggest "stages" in sports... a Big Ten stage. However, tonight was a chance for the student body at Michigan to see student-athlete classmates show off their skills on an actual stage. Mock Rock (the annual variety show put on by Michigan's athletic teams) has been a tradition at Michigan over the past decade, but I was only able to experience my first one this year. There should be highlights and interviews of the event up on MGoBlue and Wolverine Sports Magazine in a couple days. But before then, here was my take on the event.

Initial Impressions: Having performed in one variety show myself (Greek Week 2007 at Michigan), I know how hard it is to get up on stage and do something out of one's element. While my dancing career was short lived (my team didn't place and I haven't done anything like it since), I enjoyed it and was looking forward to a good show. The night got off to a rocky start when the two co-chairs (Cody Waters of Wrestling and Laura Dunn of Rowing) stumbled through the intro. It was a 15 minute intro that only should have taken 5 minutes. Having covered both these sports (and these two athletes), I knew it'd be an interesting introduction to begin with but I hadn't expected the awkward pauses after each sentence. Both are pretty talkative, and good with a microphone in front of them, so it was a fast recovery. In fairness, it's not easy to throw an event like this so props to them.

The Judges and MC:
Desmond Howard: Howard did much better than I expected him to in hosting the event. He played to the crowd, had some great jokes ("If Bill Martin offered me Rich Rod's salary, I'd leave me wife! To hell with West Virginia! I'd leave my wife!"), and had good chemistry with the judges. One interesting thing to note: Howard had more wardrobe changes than a Madonna concert. Seriously! The guy wore 5 different shirts (not including the leather jacket and hat he wore to begin the show) in just over 2 hours. There has to be a Man-Law written about this if there already isn't one..

Jimmy King- Fab Five member and color-commentator for U of M Basketball Radio, King was just like he is when he does games: funny, had plenty to say, and was a little awkward at times. Example: After he gave the Women's Swim team their score (7 out of 10), King said they weren't very "loose" and their act might've been better performed after having "a couple drinks." He also said the best thing he liked about the dance team were their 'risque' doll-house outfits. Way to keep it PG, Jimmy.

Interesting side note: Both Howard and King alluded to the Fab Five a number of times and King said that they would be back at Michigan "this year." I don't know how much truth there is to that as it was said in a off-the-cuff manner, but I wish they would have flashed a split screen of Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman on the stage's projection screens when King said this. The pale expressions would've been priceless! However, with King judging a U of M event and Jalen Rose getting his own day last year, it has got to make you wonder about what King said....

Marcia Pankratz: I attended this event with Stu and not even 15 minutes into the show I turned to him and said, "I can't believe I'm going to graduate and not have a chance to interview this coach!" She was great and rivaled King for some of the best jokes from the judges pannel. Pankratz had a somewhat dry sense of humor, but it really worked well for the event. She took teams to task when she saw a lack-luster act and even poked fun at the performing team's coaches if an act was really outrageous. Her only 10 out of 10 was for her Field Hockey girls, but I guess that was expected. She seems like someone I'd have an easy time playing for. Good luck to her going forward.

Peter Vanderkaay: The gold medalist from Beijing has always been percieved as having a very professional personality about him and tonight was no different. The Rochester Hills native was pretty critical and even penalized the Men's Soccer team (one of the better acts) for having done an act that he remembered from before most of the soccer players even attended this school! He also didn't bite on the homage to Phelps from Women's Soccer when one of their members dressed in a Michigan swimsuit with 8 gold medals and did the Phelps' "arm flap" that he does before he takes his mark. PVK was also very gracious to the special guest judge (a 12 year old named Katie who is raising money for her own cancer foundation).

The Acts: All-in-all, the acts were about average. With so much time spent practicing their respective sports, I didn't expect a whole lot. But the top acts were all pretty good. Here were my top three:

1. Marching Band: "Single Larry": This skit was great, but I don't know how to count them amongst the actual teams because the stuff they did with their dance and pre-recorded sound bites were things they do every week for football games...only with instruments in hand. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining and had a lot going on. It was about a geek (Larry) learning dance moves to attract women. The dances and idea were top-notch.
2. Men's Lacrosse: "Workin' for the Weekend: Look at the non-varsity sport groups taking the top two spots! This team parodied the famous SNL skit where Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley compete for the spot as a Chippendale's dancer. The whole team dressed like the dancers, but the "finalists" nailed the final part of the act. The two guys who performed in the Sawyze/Farley roles were great. It was fantastic, and the guy who played Farley should get the MVP award for the competition.
   
3. Men's Soccer: "In Synch": This skit started out with the guys doing synchronized swimming moves behind a blue tarp so as to give the illusion they were really swimming. The second part was a traditional dance routine where four guys dressed like the dancers from the group Jabbawockeez (i.e. the dudes with the masks on the new Gatorade commercials). The routine didn't really have much fluidity to it, and they always depend on Cam Cameron break dancing to get them through their recent skits. But I thought the synchro-swim idea was pure genius and by far, the most creative use of props with the blue tarp, and pink swim caps.
   

The crowd was mostly comprised of student athletes supporting their teammates, and unenthusiastic fraternity/sorority kids who were attending in order to earn "Greek Week" points for their teams. The crowd energy could have been better, but it was good to see the money spent on tickets going to a good cause. If you like Michigan sports, I'd recommend seeing the show if you get the chance next February if you've never been to one.

Breaking News: Gus Johnson at Crisler Thursday

The Big Ten Network team of Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson with Mike Hall as the sideline reporter will call the Michigan-Penn State game at Crisler Arena on Thursday night at 7pm.  Gus called the Michigan-Penn State game in State College last month. It is the first time I can remember that Gus will broadcast a game from Crisler. Get ready for a ton of "RISE and FIRE's!"

Other Broadcasting News: Bob Costas officially signed with MLB Network today as an on-air contributor and a play-by-play voice for select games. Costas anchored MLB Network's re-broadcast of Don Larsen's perfect game on January 1st. Costas remains in his position with NBC as the Olympics and Football Night in America studio host, but will no longer work for HBO in any capacity. Great hire for MLB Network that gives the channel wide-ranging credibility.

Extra Points Archive: 2/2/09

Topics include a recap of Super Bowl XLIII and poor officiating calls in the Michigan-Notre Dame hockey game and Michigan-Purdue basketball game.

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Michigan @ Purdue Archive

Click below to LISTEN to WCBN's call of Michigan basketball at Purdue from West Lafayette, IN on Saturday.

1st Half

2nd Half

Michigan Hoops: Reason for Optimism

Sure, it doesn't look good.  Michigan is 1-5 in its last six games and two games under .500 in the Big Ten for the first time all year.  That 10-2 start seems like a long time ago. If the Big Ten conference tournament started today, Michigan would face Wisconsin in the opening round with Michigan State looming in the next round.  Yet, in my judgement, Michigan needs ONLY 4 more wins to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in decade.  A 8-10 finish in the Big Ten would put the Wolverines on the bubble, but I project their RPI and non-conference wins would put them in.  With the weakness of other "BCS" conferences (Big 12, Pac 10 and SEC) and mid-major leagues (MVC, A-10), I think the Big Ten will get 7 teams in to the NCAA tournament. Let's dissect the remaining schedule:

2/5: Penn State- A must-win, plain and simple.  Going through multiple scenarios, I failed to find one where Michigan makes the Tournament without first beating PSU.  Like when the Wolverines played Northwestern a couple weeks ago, Michigan gets a Penn State coming off their first ever win in East Lansing on on Sunday. While Penn State has been the surprise team in the Big Ten this year, I think it is too much to ask that they win consecutive games on the road in the state of Michigan.  The Wolverines are the more desperate team and will win, in a similar fashion to the Northwestern game.

Projection: WIN

2/7: @ UConn- The lone non-conference game remaining on the schedule is one in which Michigan has nothing to lose, as their RPI will rise win or loss.  The size of UConn with Thabeet is a major problem and I'd be surprised if Michigan was competitive, especially if now #1 UConn loses to Louisville tonight.

Projection: LOSS

2/10: Michigan State- In the unbalanced Big Ten basketball schedule, rivalry games are not protected and therefore Michigan gets MSU only once and on their home floor.  MSU is a legitimate top ten team and final four contender and will probably out-rebound Michigan by a 2-1 margin.  That being said, I think Michigan will keep it close before MSU pulls away late.

Projection: LOSS

2/15:  @ Northwestern- NW has been playing as well as anyone in the conference since mid-January. NW, OSU, Wisconsin and Michigan are likely battling for 2 NCAA spots.  While I'm still not sold if NW is a tournament team, I expect huge games from Craig Moore and Kevin Coble in this win and a 8 point NW win.

Projection: LOSS

2/19: Minnesota- While the Gophers have size with Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson down-low, with the exception of the Wisconsin game, they have been a prototypical Big Ten team, winning big at home and losing by a large margin away from home. Michigan cannot afford any more home losses if they are to make the tournament and I think they'll squeak out a huge win over Tubby Smith and Minnesota right before spring break.

Projection: WIN

2/22: @ Iowa- Like the PSU game this week, this game at Iowa is a must-win for the Wolverines tournament chances. With the backloaded conference schedule and the difficulty of the remaining home games, Michigan has to win at least 1 on the road.  This is certainly their best chance, even though the Wolverines will play a much better and healthier team (with Cyrus Tate) than they saw at Crisler 3 weeks ago.  Michigan by 4 in OT.

Projection: WIN

2/26: Purdue- It won't help that this game is over spring break, but Michigan-Purdue will still attract a large crowd. I think Manny will be fired up to play Purdue again following his ejection in West Lafayette this past weekend. While this win would certainly constitute an upset, Michigan is certainly going to need a few to get into the Tournament. Michigan by 5.

Projection: WIN

3/1: @ Wisconsin- As poor as Wisconsin is playing right now (3-6) and as well as Michigan played at the Kohl Center last year (only lost by two), I don't like the matchup for the Wolverines, especially with Jon Leuer coming off the bench.  Easy win for Wisconsin.

Projection: LOSS

3/8: @ Minnesota- This game could have great meaning for Minnesota, in terms of Big Ten tournament seeding.  I would be shocked if Michigan would win at Minnesota on Senior Day. Minnesota by a comfortable dozen.

Projection: LOSS

Overall, through my calculations, I have Michigan going 4-5 in their final nine games and finishing the year at 18-13 (8-10), a record likely good enough to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.  The 4 most important remaining games on the schedule are Penn State, Minnesota, @ Iowa and @ Northwestern.  Michigan MUST win 3 of those 4. Certainly, it will be interesting to see how things play out over the final month of the season. Stay tuned...

UM-Purdue: Hello, Middle-of-Nowhere USA

Here is the incident. I go into detail why this was a terrible call in the previous post. I don't know which is more annoying: Chris Kramer's flop, or the girl from palestra.net in this video:



Aside from the terrible on-camera open, the fact the incident isn't shown, and the over-all annoying, condescending quality of this girl's voice, notice how Kramer doesn't seem to have a scratch on him. In the press conference, his face looks brand new. Where's the blood? Stitches? Evidence that he was even touched?! This just speaks to the fact that Manny shouldn't have gotten tossed.

Side note: Props to Patrick Beilein these past two games. He has been the guy to usher off both Manny Harris and Zack Novak after they were thrown out in their respective games. Patrick went to put his arm around Harris' waist in the huddle while the officials reviewed the incident. Right then I knew Harris was done. The police escorted Harris off the court with Beilein yesterday, but at OSU Beilein was the only line of defense between Novak and the Buckeye slappies. Leave it to OSU to give no police protection to a Michigan player.

Here are some more notables:

OHHH, CANADA: Jevohn Shepherd was tied as the leading scorer (10 pts.) for U of M in the game. The guy who played virtually no minutes since December FINALLY gets the chance to play after I've been clamoring for this change for weeks...Coach Beilein must read my blog.

The argument is to play the freshman (Novak and Douglass) in place of Shepherd. I disagree with this. Shepherd has just shown he can score, is a very athletic defender, and can provide more size on the glass. Play him. He's given the coaching staff no reason not to (as far as we know).

Air out of the balloon: When Harris left, this team looked like they had just watched their family pet get run over by a car. The Boilermakers went on tear, outscoring the Maize and Blue 42-23 in the second half. To be leading at the half, without Novak, was a great accomplishment. But asking this team to do for another half, without Manny Harris, is asking too much. There was very little offensive production: Sims only getting 10, Shepherd 10, and Puls 6....wait, PULS?!?! Yeah, Eric Puls is your third leading scorer for this game. Just over 3 minutes of playing time, 2 for 3 for 6 points. Excuse me, I have some drinking to do...

Home Court Advantage: If you ever get the chance to see a basketball game at Mackey Arena, I highly suggest you go. This was provided the Boilermakers with a huge advantage. The students are stacked on top of each other in the same way they are at the Big House. The stadium isn't very big, the bleacher seating inside gives off the illusion that the crowd is rising straight toward the ceiling. When Kramer hit the floor, got back up, and then starting waving his arms to the crowd, I swear the stadium was shaking. It was louder than any arena in the Big Ten and these people love their basketball. Having one of the best home courts is one of the reasons why I think Purdue has been able to have so much success of later.

Evidence to this point: Michigan came into the game shooting close to 78% from the free throw line as a team. That led the Big Ten. In the Purdue game, they shot 53%. Why? Most of the free throw attempts came in the second half, when Michigan was shooting at the basket right in front the student section. Putting the black-shirted "Paint Crew" behind the hoop was genius. It was like shooting into a black abyss. Combine that with the fact that the students are right on top of the court (the same way volleyball fans are at Cliff Keen Arena at U of M) and it's a very intimidating place to play.

UM-Purdue: The Flop heard round the World

This was a game that Michigan could have won.
It was a game Michigan needed.
Yet, as the Wolverines were up by three just minutes into the 2nd half, the bottom fell out on the upset bid when Chris Kramer hit the deck on a Manny Harris elbow.

Harris deserved to have a foul called. Swinging your your body with your elbows out is like baiting a ref to call a foul. But clearing space is a legal thing to do. Zack Novak deserved what he got with an obviously intentional elbow and the suspension that came with it vs. OSU. But there is no way Manny should have been thrown out. He made a basketball move. If Kramer hadn't acted like he had be blown away in a Tarantino movie, I don't think Manny would have been tossed.

Calling someone out for faking an injury, or embellishing, is a double edged sword. You want to argue that Kramer took a dive to get Manny tossed? OK. But some could argue that what we saw last weekend with Steve Kampfer (having played this week after the MSU incident) could be something along the same lines. How can a guy act like he was hit by a bus and then come back a week later?

The difference with Kampfer and Kramer was that Kampfer seeked additional medical treatment. He took a stick to the head (twice) after nearly dying from a head injury just a few months back. He wasn't ready to come back out and play and needed further attention after the incident. After lying on the ground for two minutes, Kramer hops up and starts waving his arms to get the crowd fired up. Five minutes after that, he is back on the floor with a mask ready to play. Both these athletes lay prone on the playing surface this past week, but only one had a reason too.

This was a game Michigan needed. And, even more sadly, could be seen as the one that got away come March.

Michigan-Purdue LIVE from Mackey Arena

Listen LIVE as WCBN completes its Journey Through the Midwest in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Game of the Week Archive: 1/30/09

1st hour: Michigan Basketball

2nd hour: Interview w/ Richard Deitsch (SI)

3rd hour: Family Feud: Super Bowl Edition

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Michigan Hoops @ Ohio State Archive

Our Journey Through the Midwest got off to a rough start last night in Columbus.  Click below to re-live the misery in-full.

1st 8 minutes

End of 1st half

2nd Half

WCBN will have LIVE coverage of Michigan-Purdue from West Lafayette, IN this Saturday at 1pm.

Maize and Blog Mixer

We are almost a month into 2009, but here is something that will hopefully catch on here at Maize & Blog. It's called "The Mixer." Every week, we will bring you a grab bag of stories and links from the recent days and weeks, much of it pretaining to U of M Sports... and some just for fun. Anyways, if you have anything you wanted posted, e-mail us at goblue232@gmail.com.

The Mixer:

I'm not really in the mood to discuss Michigan's play against OSU just yet. I'll save that for tomorrow with our Purdue preview. In the meantime, here is a great Fab Five package done by ESPN and posted by none other than Jalen Rose. Little known fact about Rose: He posts EVERYTHING he does on TV to YouTube. Seriously. Everytime that guy is on TV, he cuts the footage and posts it. I'm sure we haven't seen our last clip from Jalen TV.

Even LeBron loves himself some Fab Five.

How many tries does it take for MSU's Alyssa Dehaan (6'9) to dunk a basketball? Apparently more than a digital camera is able to showcase on one memory card....

(...sigh) Oh, Little Brother. Obviously, she's got a long way to go to hit Candace Parker territory.

Behind the Scenes at Yost: The Detroit News gives readers a great look inside a day at Yost. This is a great photo journalistic piece by John Greilick and is worth watching if you've ever been to Yost.

MGoBlue Clip of the Week: Doug Karsch interviews new Defenisve Coordinator Greg Robinson. I wasn't sold on him coming in, but he's gotten good reviews from people in football. Here's his first interview as a Wolverine.

Featured Guest: Later this week on "Game of the Week," Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch will be in to talk with us. He covers Olympic sports, as well as is the main writer detailing what goes on in the sports media world. Here is a little background to get you set for Friday.

Extra Points Archive: 1/26/09

The WCBN crew recaps the weekend in sports.  Topics include: Michigan-Michigan State hockey, Michigan-Northwestern basketball and the WWE Royal Rumble.  LISTEN HERE!!!

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Journey Through the Midwest

Two months ago, WCBN made its Trek Across America to broadcast Michigan basketball games at Madison Square Garden in NYC and the Michigan-Ohio State football game in Columbus.  This week WCBN returns to road with the Michigan basketball team for its Journey Through the Midwest.  On Wednesday night, WCBN will be on-hand for the LIVE call of Michigan-Ohio State in Columbus at 6:30.  Then, our journey concludes in West Lafayette at Mackey Arena on Saturday to watch the Wolverines tangle with Purdue LIVE at 1:00.  Two games in two cities over four days that will greatly influence Michigan's NCAA Tournament chances.  Listen to our journey all week long LIVE on the WCBN Sports Stream.

Extra Points & Game of the Week Archives: 1/19, 1/24

To listen, click on link and use the ID and password below:

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GOTW: 1/24/09

Hour 1: Michigan Hoops, UM-MSU 1st Period

Hour 2: Australian Open, UM-MSU 2nd Period

Hour 3: "Family Feud": NHL All Star Edition, UM-MSU 3rd Period

EP: 1/19/09

LISTEN HERE: NFL Recap, Michigan Basketball & Hockey Review

Barwis owes WVU 50,000

Looks like Coach Rich Rodriguez isn't the only guy that owes WVU some cash. 

Michigan Strength and Conditioning coach Mike Barwis reportedly owes 50,000 dollars to his former employer under a damages clause in his contract.  The AP picked up this story early this morning although it hasn't gotten much publicity yet.  If people remember, Rodriguez also ended up owing WVU money due to his departure midway through his own contract with the Mountaineers.

For more on this story, click here.

Free Fallin'

I was so distraught after seeing the Wolverines lose in Happy Valley last night that I decided not to post a "post game report." Thank God for the Inauguration festivities because I don't think this game was watched by as many viewers as a normal Tuesday night game. The fewer people who witness that game, the better. Michigan, for the second straight game, came out flat in the second half and pounded the self-destruct button. The Wolverines are on a slide, losing their last three in convincing fashion. Penn State was supposed to be a game the Wolverines could use to build some momentum. Well, that didn't happen... but at least they have Northwestern coming up right?

Wait....NU just beat MSU in East Lansing for the first time since 1984. Granted, the Wildcats got a little lucky on a night F Kevin Coble couldn't miss, banked in three pointers, and went for 31 points. Two of the Wildcat starters had NO POINTS. I can't decide what kind of team MSU is going to put on the floor week to week, but give credit to the Wildcats for playing well. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Wolverines are catching NU at the wrong time.

The Wolverines are sliding but here are a few things I feel like they could do to right the ship:

Play Jevohn Shepherd: Or at least tell fans why this kid continues to ride the pine in favor of two freshman when you need a stop. Granted, Novak has really come on lately with his rebounding and Douglass found his touch against OSU. But not giving Shepherd meaningful minutes will only hamper this team defensively. A guy with his athletic ability should not be riding the bench when your team has struggled to play good on-the-ball defense.  His length would help in the zone as well.

Go to the rack:  More points in the paint is what this team needs.  Steve Lavin did a great job in last nights OSU-UI game of illustrating the importance of hitting the "sweet spot" in the zone in order to get points in the point.  Michigan didn't do that against OSU and it cost them a potential win.  Even against PSU, Michigan has relied too much on the jump shot and not enough on working the ball inside/getting to the rim.  Manny Harris did plenty of this early in the season and its time we see more of this heading into NU and OSU next week.

Find an identity or rotation:  I'm not sure this is exactly the root of the problem, but it is now January, and the Wolverines still don't seem to have a sense of a set rotation.  This might be due to John Beilein's preference to not have one, and he might believe in not having one, but it seems like this team hasn't found what works well for them.  Championship teams (or in this case just good teams) usually have the ability to do one or two things far better than their opponent in order to win.  With the Wolverines, it has been 3-point shooting so far this season.  But if the long  shots aren't falling, the Wolverines seem to lose focus and not have a real solid back-up plan.

Quick hits: This is kind of old but Michigan announced their new practice facility that we had reported last April (Props to Stu).  I initially doubted this, but give all the credit to AD Bill Martin for following through on this and doing it quickly.  The press release said private donations accounted for some of the funding.  I haven't been able to find out if Jalen Rose's name is on that list, but hopefully more to come on this later.

Battle for 7th Place: Michigan @ Penn State

A weekend of missed opportunities in sports, from Michigan basketball to Michigan hockey to the Eagles.  On Tuesday, Michigan (13-5, 3-3) travels to State College to take on much-improved Penn State (14-5, 3-3).

Programming Info: The game is on BTN at 9:00 et. on Tuesday night with Gus Johnson and Tim McCormick on the call.  WCBN will have a preview the game on the Tuesday DSR (5:15) and full recap on Wednesday (5:15).

Michigan-Ohio State Recap: Man, I have bad feeling Michigan is going to want to have the final 8 minutes of that game back at the end of the season.  Outside of Manny Harris and Stu Douglass, the Wolverines again struggled to find any sort of offensive production, especially from Sims and LLP. With the depth and talent of the Big Ten, you must win your conference games at home, especially a game you lead by 4 points with 7:45 to go. Now, Michigan has already dropped two and will have to steal a couple to finish at .500 (9-9).

Why Michigan Will Win: #1-Manny Harris is playing more like a 1st team all-conference player in the last few games, scoring more than 20 points in the last two games. He seems to be forcing things less and letting the offense come to him. #2-Lack of size from Penn State, Michigan has struggled most against talented 4 and 5-men from other teams. Think Tisdale, Mullens, Zoubek, Aboya, etc. Zach Novak has been a tremendous job of rebounding at the power-forward position and should keep that up against Penn State.  #3-PSU's weak resume.  While PSU is even with Michigan currently in the Big Ten standings, their RPI is more than 40 spots lower.  Their only decent non-conference win was on the road against Georgia Tech, a team that will finish at the bottom of the ACC. In conference, PSU's 3 wins are over Indiana, Northwestern and a Purdue team playing without 2 of its starters: Hummel and Kramer.

Why Michigan Will Lose: #1-DeShawn Sims has been MIA the last 2 games. After shooting 3-14 at Illinois, Sims was just 4 of 13 versus Ohio State.  Add to his offensive struggles the dominating performances of Tisdale and Mullens and I think its safe to say that DeShawn's NBA draft stock has taken quite a hit.  Again, as I have said often, Sims has played well and been a primary focus of the offense in Michigan's key wins (Duke, Illinois and Northeastern). Sims must play better on both ends of the floor if the Wolverines want to be competitive.      #2-Playing on the road, the Wolverines have played in 3 true road road games this year and lost each, really only playing for 20 minutes.  Michigan played a solid 1st half at Illinois and Maryland, along with terrific 2nd half at Indiana, but were nowhere to be found in the other half of the game. #3-Talor Battle, the 2nd leading scorer in the Big Ten (18.6 ppg) scored 28pts and 13rbs against Michigan last year. Michigan has struggled more with opposing big-men this year than guards, but still need to make sure their 1-3-1 zone extends out to cover Battle, a very good 3-point shooter.

"Super Six": Michigan is in the midst of an important 6-game stretch in the Big Ten and has not started well (0-2).  Before the Illinois game last week, I thought Michigan needed to get 3 wins and now they will be lucky to win 2.  With 3 road games in the next 4, Michigan must beat Northwestern at home on Saturday night and hope to win at Penn State and/or Ohio State.  I would be shocked if Michigan could win on the road in West Lafayette.  In a week that saw Minnesota win at Wisconsin and Illinois nearly win in East Lansing, the top six teams in the Big Ten have shown they can win on the road, something Michigan is yet to display.  I can pretty confidently say that the Big Ten will get 6 teams into the NCAA tournament, but the question remains of whether they will take a 7th (either Michigan or Penn State). With only Iowa and Northwestern remaining as easier road games heading forward, the Penn State game is as close to a "must win" as you are going to get in January.

Prediction: Michigan is facing as much adversity as they have all season to this point, coming off two straight defeats.  While every road game in the Big Ten this year will be difficult, I think the Wolverines will steal a huge one in State College and begin to right the ship. 

Michigan 67 Penn State 62

1883 Days

....That's how long its been since Michigan beat OSU in Football.  The number was spray-painted on a bed sheet and waved in the waining minutes of the 65-58 loss to the Buckeyes.  It was a sign that was displayed proudly during tonight's game by OSU's fans that had made the trip.  These same fans stayed well past the final buzzer, singing "Carmen, Ohio" and spelling the four letters that sting in ears of Wolverine fans.  On the same day that Michigan lost to OSU in "The Dual" (Michigan's head-to-head competition with OSU at the indoor track building) and then proceeded to lose to the Buckeyes in Baskteball, the sign and the singing were a reminder of how this year has gone for Wolverine athletics.

As for the actual game....This game probably would have been a lot more lopsided than the final score showcased if OSU hadn't gotten a bad case of ADD and strayed from the gameplan.  Here's a few questions this game left up in the air:

Why did Thad Matta take his foot off the gas?  Matta made a great move my inserting Dallas Lauderdale and BJ Mullens into the line-up at the same time around the 10 minute mark in the first half.  The Wolverines went to the 1-3-1 zone, playing Gibson with four guards (Harris, Douglass, Grady, and LLP).  The Buckeyes then went on a run, throwing three  quick offensive series consisting of alley-oops and drop-pass dunks to both Lauderdale and Mullens.  Then, Matta stopped going down low and totally went away from that strategy.  In fact, Lauderdale only played 8 minutes in the second half, after playing 13 in the first, getting four points and leading the team in rebounds (4 boards).  Thad Matta let Michigan back into this game and might have changed the course of this game had he gone with a bigger line-up.

Where has Stu Douglass been?  Stu Douglass returned to the sharp-shooter we saw earlier in the year, scoring 12 points from beyond the arc.  He still took one or two ill-advised threes, but otherwise played nicely and within the offense.  Welcome back.

Why did Manny quit going to the rim?  Harris drove to the hoop three times in the first 5 minutes, getting fouls on two of the attempts.  This strategy was working well through the game.  But after there was a no call during the first four minutes of the 2nd half on one of his drives, this strategy stopped.  Manny did the same thing in the Wisconsin game: He got discouraged and it threw him off his game.  This has to change if the Wolverines are to be successful against teams that decide to throw the zone at U of M.

Is this the end of Michigan's newest streak in the rankings? Yes

Are the next two against PSU and NU must wins? Definitely

Where do we go from here? Michigan needs to regroup and put this week behind them.  DeShawn Sims needs to become more assertive in the offense and needs to find his shot.  If he and Manny can get back on track (along with the emergence on Zack Novak this past week with his hustle plays and rebounding) Michigan should put themselves in good position going into the last week of January.

 

Michigan vs Ohio State LIVE at 7:50pm ET

Huge game between Michigan (13-4) and Ohio State (12-3).  Our coverage begins at 7:50pm, with the tip-off slated for 8:06pm ET.  We will also have halftime coverage of the 1989 National Championship team being recognized on the 20-year anniversary of their title.  LISTEN HERE!!!