Well, This Sucks
Because who doesn’t feel a little bit like the
Penguins from Madagascar right now and I can’t put a highlight clip from this
game in the blog, because, frankly, there really isn’t much of a
highlight reel for Michigan to begin with…
Let’s face it, Michigan has been in a
shooting slump for the last 3 games.
Unfortunately, Michigan’s slumping at a point in their schedule where a
4-5 game winning streak would have been a no-brainer if they were
playing like the team that almost beat Purdue and owned Sparty in January.
There’s always a slump during the season in
Hoops. Always. Not every team has them, but most do. The good teams find another way, either with
defense or somehow slowing the game down or speeding it up, depending on the
opponent.
Michigan started out strong last night and I
thought the slump was over, but then a Livers twisted ankle that sidelined
him for the rest of the game (I hated watching the replay as that has
happened to this guy too many times) and a scoring drought ensued in the 1st
half followed by an almost unwatchable 10-minute stretch in the 2nd
half leads me to believe that the slump isn’t over. Michigan again couldn’t do much at the free throw
line and the Wildcats demonstrated why they are the best free throw shooting
team in the B1G.
Is the Free-Throw coach from the Wildcats available?
I hate to complain about the same things over and
over, so I won’t. But this team needs a
slump bust in a bad way, and they need it soon. There’s too many key games left on the
schedule and a collapse could knock them out of the NCAA Tourney.
Games – Dates – Time – Result - Record
Illinois(H) January
6th Noon WON 79-69 14-3
Purdue
(H) January 9th 9:00 PM Lost 70-69 14-4
Sparty (A) January
13th Noon WON 82-72 15-4
Maryland (H) January
15th 6:30 PM WON 68-67 16-4
Nebraska (A) January 18th 8:00 PM LOST 72-52 16-5
Rutgers
(H) January 21st Noon WON
62-47 17-5
Purdue (A) January 25th 7:00 PM LOST 92-88 17-6
Northwestern
(H) January 29th 7:00 PM WON 58-47 18-6
Minnesota
(H) February 3rd 2:30 PM WON 76-73
(OT) 19-6
Northwestern (A) February 6th 6:00PM LOST 61-52 19-7
Wiscy (A) February 11th Noon
Iowa (H) February
14th 6:30 PM
Suckeyes
(H) February 18th 1:00 PM
PSU (A) February 21st 7:00 PM
Maryland (A) February 24th Noon
5 Games left...I will take 3-2 right
now. 4-1 would be wonderful. 5-0 is out of the question with the way
Michigan is playing right now. Maybe a
noon game this Saturday at Crisler can right the ship.
Tell me if you’ve seen this story
before:
3-Pt. FG% - 22.7%
FG% - 38.6%
Those ain’t numbers that win
basketball games. And you’re not going to win many
games with 52 points…
Again, slumps hopefully don’t
last forever and Michigan finds a way out of this mess…
So About That NCAA Tourney…
Because it’s never too early to
discuss who will probably be in the Final Four and who the sleepers are. First a Look at Lunardi (Who had Michigan as
high as a 7-Seed on Sunday):
FF Projection: Purdue, Villanova, Oklahoma, Auburn I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again: I
will probably have Purdue winning the whole enchilada
this season. Villanova is solid and depending
on seeding, should easily make it to the final weekend. In fact, depending on seeding, a Purdue –
Villanova final isn’t out of the question.
I know, no Blue Bloods in the
Group. But Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina
and Kansas have been playing lousy Basketball and have all recently
lost. Duke lost to the worst team (St.
John’s) in the Beast. Kentucky
lost the series to Tennessee who’s remarkably only a 4-Seed at this
point (I’d have them on at LEAST the 2-Seed Line). I think Tennessee is a pretty talented team. Auburn has some height issues, but they’re
playing great under Pearl. I know WVU swept Oklahoma, but the Big
iiX has figured out how to defend Trae Young.
Everyone else in the Tourney is going to have a very difficult time with
Young, and depending on seeding, they could easily be a FF team.
Could be FF Contenders & Dark
Horses: Virginia, Tennessee, Cincinnati,
Michigan, Arizona, Saint Mary’s, Washington, Nevada
Bennet’s Cavaliers play
SMOTHERING DEFENSE, as usual, but Defense will only get you so far come
Tourney Time. And I'm still pissed they lost to Syracuse a couple of years ago. Tennessee is probably deserving
of a higher seed than they will receive and will be a hard out come Tourney
Time. Cincinnati
is another team that will be a coin flip of a pick when the time comes. I mean, the Bearcats are good, but not good
from the charity stripe and haven’t played a tough schedule. Michigan, if they can correct their shooting
woes, will be formidable and could be a Sweet 16 contender, assuming
they get in. Arizona is a mess and they didn’t win TWO GAMES IN A ROW for the
month of January. Winning 6 in a row isn’t
easier…
Why Didn’t I See THEM Coming: Providence And Vermont
A little bit of a hunch, but they’re
both good teams….
I Should Have Taken Them Further: Sparty, I’ve seen Sparty play their last 3 games
and they are NOT a good defensive team and still turn the ball over way
too much. But that doesn’t mean they can’t
go deep in the Tourney and, Izzo. So I’ll
probably lament the fact that I have them not getting out of the first weekend
(again, depending on seeding) and will be made about the decision.
Uh-Oh. More Dirt On Walton
The Detroit news has a lengthy
investigative article on what REALLY went down in the Bar with Walton and
Ashley Thompson on that fateful evening.
Summary:
It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Walton or the East Lansing PD.
All of the statements would
suggest that something went down and Walton definitely laid more than an open
hand on this woman. She had contusions and abrasions
that were verified by the hospital the next AM. I know, I know… she could have fallen down
the stairs…
ESPN’s report included a phone
call and subsequent 6-hour interview with Thompson.
She said she hadn’t
thought about the case since 2010, until she was contacted by ESPN this fall.
Thompson said she got a call out of the blue from an ESPN reporter, and when
she called her back, the reporter asked her, “Do you know what this is
regarding?”
“I’m guessing it’s about Travis Walton punching me in the face,”
Thompson told the reporter.
An ESPN team eventually flew down to meet with Thompson, interviewing
her for six hours
Due to the fact that there were
eyewitnesses who stated that Walton never touched her (Doubtful) and due to the
fact that there was no surveillance tape available, the charge was plead down to…Wait for
it….This is good:
Littering
It seems the ELPD and prosecuting
attorney pleads a lot of assault cases down to Littering.
“I can affirm that the
plea offer was approved by my supervising attorney and was within our normal
guidelines,” Meyers said in a statement. “Despite that, these were difficult
decisions and I was fully aware that the decisions made by the city attorney’s office
affected both sides.”
Littering, it turns out, has been a common plea-down in East Lansing’s
54B District Court. For example, in numbers provided to The News by Meyers on
Tuesday, he said he worked 52 assault cases between 2014 and 2017. Of those, 34
were pleaded down to the litter charge, or 65 percent; only one ever went to
trial, and got a guilty verdict from a jury.
Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State, said he was surprised to
hear an assault-and-battery could be pleaded down to littering.
“I suspect they chose the most innocuous charge they could that could
get a guilty plea,” Henning said. “I wouldn’t say that’s typical.
Classic. This is going to get really ugly for
Izzo. Remember that Walton was living
with Izzo at the point in time this went down.
If you want to read the entire
article it can be found here.
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