It's Great To Be A Michigan Wolverine!!!

Not Only Is Sparty Mortal, They Might Not Be As Good As Everyone Thought??

I’m still smiling almost 48 hours later.  This was one of the most satisfying college hoops games I believe I’ve seen Michigan play in the last few years.  Why?  Well, on Friday, nobody knew if Wagner was going to play.  Michigan was a 10-point DOG going into Breslin and had just come off a heart-breaker loss at home to the Spoilermakers.  Beilein announced that freshman Livers was going to make his first start in place of Robinson.  (The last time a freshman made his first start at Breslin – Mitch McGary and Michigan literally got run off the court.)

 This game had all the trappings/earmarks/indicators of a Sparty BEATDOWN at Breslin.  Sparty stunk Breslin up on Wednesday night by letting Rutgers back into the game and forcing OT.  Not to mention that Sparty went to Columbus and was embarrassed.  All stuff that Izzo usually finds a way to use as some sort of KITA or Motivation. 

Yeah, I was nervous on Saturday morning thinking I just didn’t want to see a blow-out.   And all the Blow-Out indicators were in the tea-leaves.  Just sitting there.  Sparty was due to erupt in a landslide of points and crippling defense. 

Howeva’!!!  The Michigan Wolverines had some other things coming for Sparty on Saturday!  They weren’t crying and down and out about the robbery of the Spoilers!  Michigan came out playing DEFENSE!!!!  Moe Wagner put 22 layers of tape on that ankle, pain be damned, and said, “Let’s Rock!!!”

Some of the numbers:

Wagner scores 27 points!!

Wagner also made Ward Look SILLY a couple of times!!!  (See Below)

Michigan’s first win at Breslin since 2014!!

With the win, Michigan vs Sparty Hoops record is 8-7 in the last 15!!!

TV Teddy’s team tried their best to “take over” the game blowing the whistle 51 times….Sad.

(That crew should all retire.  I’m tired of TV Teddy)

Until Simpson missed 4 FT’s in a row, late in the game, Michigan had been perfect from the Charity Stripe!

18 Turnovers and 26 points off said turnovers sealed Sparty’s doom…

I didn’t count, but the camera cut to Izzo’s Scowl multiple times at the end of the game.

It was pure delight!!!!

Izzo says he doesn’t hate Michigan – He’s LYING!!!!

Michigan, FINALLY, should be ranked in the Top 25 this week, assuming everyone is paying attention. 

Michigan moved up to 17 In KenPom and has a chance to improve even higher with a win over Maryland tonight (currently sitting at 41 in the KenPom).  (Caution!  I’m not putting the cart before the horse, but Maryland is suffering a lot of injuries right now)

With respect to how bad Sparty is playing right now:  I’m kind of a college hoops junkie at this point and the BTN only feeds that addiction.  Even when they were winning, Sparty was turning the ball over A LOT!!!  Now, the BTN guys were more or less stating that when you have an offense that can generate the kind of points Sparty was putting up early in the season, maybe turnovers are not that big of a deal.  But, eventually, Turnovers ARE A BIG DEAL! 

Sparty’s last three games (loss to suckeyes, OT at home against Rutgers, and loss to Michigan) are the typical early to mid-January slump that Sparty always seems to find itself in.  I’m not completely sure Izzo rights this ship, but I’ve learned never to doubt Izzo. 

That being said, this is going to be a huge task for Izzo moving forward.

Beilein, on the other hand, may have one of the best, youngest teams in the country!  Simpson is proving to be a force at the point and Wagner is proving once again why he’ll be an easy 1^st round pick.  And Livers starting with Robinson off the bench makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE!  Robinson can watch for a few minutes and mentally get into the rhythm of the game and start hitting 3’s as soon as he hits the floor. 

Yes, I’m very optimistic right now and I’m not even going to say what I think the ceiling is for this team.  But if you can play defense (Michigan’s Adjusted Defense (per Kenpom) is 15 right now and climbing) well, let’s just say I like where this season is going.

Michigan just owned a team that 9 days ago was ranked Numero Uno in the country and was ranked 3rd on Saturday. 

OWNED THEM!!!

Yes – I’m optimistic. 

Highlights?  Sure:

All Game Highlights

ANKLE BREAKER!!!

Livers Dunk Off Of Turnover!!!

Games  – Dates – Time – Result - Record

Illinois(H)                  January 6^th               Noon                          WON  79-69              14-3

Purdue (H)                January 9^th               9:00 PM                     Lost    70-69              14-4

Sparty (A)                   January 13^th              Noon                          WON  82-72              15-4

Maryland (H)            January 15^th            6:30 PM

Nebraska (A)             January 18^th              8:00 PM

Rutgers (H)              January 21^st             Noon

Purdue (A)                 January 25^th              7:00 PM

Northwestern (H)    January 29^th            7:00 PM

Minnesota (H)          February 3^rd             2:30 PM

Northwestern (A)      February 6^th              6:00PM

Wiscy (A)                   February 11^th            Noon

Iowa   (H)                   February 14^th           6:30 PM

Suckeyes (H)           February 18^th           1:00 PM

PSU (A)                      February 21^st            7:00 PM

Maryland (A)             February 24^th            Noon

Michigan plays the last game of what is probably the toughest 6 game stretch that they have on their schedule tonight, with only one full day of rest after beating Sparty. 

But, as I mentioned, Maryland is really banged up and won’t have a lot of their offense producing players on the floor.  Maryland will certainly give Michigan their best shot, but right now, I’m not sure that will be enough. 

Man – How much I’d like to have that Purdue game back at this point.

The Golden Gopher Icers Get Swept…

Oh Yeah, I pay attention to Hockey, too!!!

Michigan’s Icers went to the Twin Cities as HUGE UNDERDOGS in this B1G Matchup and came away with a Weekend Sweep!!!

Michigan wins the Mariucci/Renfrew Trophy, which, if you didn’t know, is this:

Beginning in 1993, the Mariucci/Renfrew Trophy was created as an award for the winner of the annual Michigan-Minnesota game or series. The trophy is named after legendary coaches John Mariucci of Minnesota and Al Renfrew of Michigan. With this weekend's sweep, U-M has won the trophy 10 of the 23 times it has been awarded. Coach Renfrew passed away on Nov. 10, 2014, at the age of 89.

How huge was this?  Well, here’s a look at the B1G Hockey Standings:

And let’s just say that if either team had ANY HOPE of making it into the NCAA Tourney, a sweep of this series certainly helped with the loser more than likely looking in from the Cheap Seats…

But there’s always the B1G Tourney winner that gets an auto-bid, so Hope is alive. 

ETC.

How on EARTH does this happen in an NFL Game???  If you didn’t see it, all I can say is it was a classic, final 2 minutes of an NFL game with two teams trading figgies and trying not to leave the other guy with enough time to drive 30-40 yards to get into Field Goal range.  Minnesota was DONE…Except they weren’t!!

Championship Weekend:

Minnesota vs Philly and The Patriots vs. Jacksonville. 

Yeah, I like my pick of the GOAT winning a 6^th Super Bowl ring more and more….