That Sound You Just Heard....

...was a majority of Indiana Hoosier-ans stomping their collective foot down screaming, “Screw Tom Crean!  This sucks!  We NEVER lose to Michigan at HOME!  FIRE CREAN!!!”

And Wagner doesn’t even bother to give Crean a hand when he bowls him over immediately after draining a 3 right in front of him in the 1^st half!!!

In all fairness to Crean and Wagner:  Wagner hit him out of bounds and the area the coaches have to “work” the floor is notoriously small at Assembly Hall.  Still…Priceless.  Should get 2 extra points for that in a game.  4 if you knock down Izzo….But I digress….

Indiana is not good right now and Michigan can play decent (not great) basketball and still win a game.  And this was a big game….Road win in Assembly has only happened about 3 times in 20 seasons.  

Michigan has shown dramatic improvement over a week ago.  In fact, Michigan tried to gift the game away in the late 1^st half/early 2^nd half when they went nearly 10 minutes without scoring a point…Didn’t matter.  IU couldn’t play its way out of a wet paper bag right now and is a shell of the team that somehow beat Kansas by hanging 100 on them and also beat North Carolina.  (That was this season, right?)  Michigan’s D held IU to 25 first half points…..

I know Indiana has been hit with the injury bug.  It happens to everybody.  Crean has not found a good way to get his young players up to the B1G Level of play that you need if you want to survive in this league.

Which, in a way, it was kind of insulting (but who cares, right?) that the “early look” at the top 16 teams in the bracket didn’t include a B1G Team anywhere.  None to be seen.  Wiscy and Purdue don’t matter, nationally… But Butler is a 4-seed?  REALLY???

Actually, it’s perfect.  Whoever from the B1G gets in will have chips on their shoulders and will be scratching and clawin’ to prove everyone on the committee wrong. 

So, let’s get down to the brass tacks: 

Opponent     Location       Date   Day and Time          Result

Indiana          Home             1-26    Thursday, 9:15        90-60 Blow-Out

Sparty             Away              1-29    Sunday, 1:00            70-62 Loss

Suckeyes     Home             2-4      Saturday, 6:00         70-66 Loss

Sparty            Home             2-7      Tuesday, 9:00         86-57 BLOW-OUT

Indiana          Away              2-12    Sunday, 1:00              75-63 SWEEP OF IU!!!!

Wiscy             Home             2-16    Thursday, 7:00

Minnesota     Away              2-19    Sunday, 7:00           

Rutgers          Away              2-22    Wednesday, 6:30    

Purdue          Home             2-25    Saturday, 4:00

Northwestern Away             3-1      Wednesday, 7:00

Nebraska       Away              3-5      Sunday, 8:00

So, whatever.  Lunardi has 7 B1G teams in.  Wiscy was a 3-Seed and Purdue a 5-Seed, but that may change with Purdue’s win over IU. And last week, Michigan was in the “Next 4 Out”.  I suspect Indiana and MSU fall out this week and Michigan moves up to “First 4 Out” or even gets in as a 12-seed play-in game (which is where Lunardi had IU until its two losses to Purdue and Michigan).  I’m not sure Sparty’s win over Iowa keeps them in the last 4 in…but it might. 

Michigan has a shot at 4 teams that are currently above them in the B1G rankings that are considered “tournament teams” and a 3-1 or even a 2-2 record against those 4 with victories in the other 2 games would look pretty good on the resume.  Really Good.  But they can’t go 1-3 against Wiscy, Purdue, Minnesota and Northwestern.  (I know – you read that right – Northwestern is looking like a lock for the NCAA at this point.)

Thursday is a “Big Game” in Ann Arbor! 

SCARY Idle College Football Thought

As you may (or may not) have heard, Steve Sarkisian, the former Washington-USC-Drinking Champion/Head Coach was working on the Alabama coaching staff as an advisor for the 2016 season.  And was also the O-coordinator for the NC Game against Clemson.  (Great trivia question:  Who was the only O-coordinator to have a losing record in NC games at Bama?)  I believed Sarkisian’s hiring was due to the fact that Kiffin and the Troll had finally gotten on each other’s last nerve and Satan was firing Kiffin at the end of the season unless he got a job elsewhere, anyway, and he wanted Sarkisian in there to see how the process at Bama worked and to see if he was a fit….

Of course, the 49er’s had already hired the Offensive Coordinator from the Superbowl loser, Atlanta’s Kyle (Let’s Pass the ball when 3 points wins the game) Shanahan, after unceremoniously firing Chip Kelly after 1 season.    And because the Falcons current head coach (Quinn) had worked with Sarkisian in a prior life, it made sense for Sarkisian to not have to be part of the Satan shit-show.   Which can sometimes be the O-coordinator/Satan situation on the sideline…

Of course, of course…Dismissed 49er’s head Coach Chip Kelly is receiving paychecks to the tune of about $5M annually from the Eagles and 49er’s and would probably be pretty easy to get.  Assuming Chip would work with Satan, which like, NO WAY….AmIRite?

Only problem with that logic:  Turns out Nick and Chip are buddies and Chip was actually at a couple of practices last year before the NC Game giving some pointers and advice on offense….

The scariest thought I could have would be a Satan-Kelly combination on the same sideline.  I’m not saying it’d be forever, but for a single season….Jeeez….

And people wonder why I don’t sleep at night…

Additional NOTE:   Shannahan must be some special kind of stupid….I get you strike when the iron is hot in the NFL.  But the 49er’s (Jed York) have to be setting a record for dysfunctionality with the firing of Harbaugh, Tumsola, and Kelly, (two of those firings arguably being the 2 of the most prolific coaches in football, actively coaching).  I thought Kelly made a bad decision going there with a GM that was being shown the door, but the Eagles didn’t leave him many options.   I’m not sure what happened that was so bad that York figured he had to throw the baby out with the bathwater…And now the 49ers have hired a former player with ABSOLUTELY NO GM Experience, John Lynch…

Yeah…watching the 49ers ought to be fun for the next several seasons….