• Nothing But ‘Net – Week #17 – 02/20/2012 – A HUGE Win

    No comments yetPosted in Basketball, FeaturedFeb 19, 2012

    The (#17) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game last week, and they won it.  On Saturday (02/18/2012) they beat (#6) Ohio State 56-51 in Crisler Arena.  This raises Michigan’s record to 20-7 (10-4 in the Big Ten), and keeps them perfect (15-0) in Crisler Arena this season.  Michigan is now tied with Ohio State for 2nd place in the Big Ten, one game behind Michigan State.  For more complete details, see my weekly Big Ten Report.

    This was a HUGE win.  Personally, I like beating Michigan State more than anything, but this win was even more impressive than Michigan’s win over MSU earlier this season.  For one thing, OSU was ranked higher than MSU was when Michigan beat them, but that’s not all.  This game had more hype than any home game in recent memory, it got Michigan to the all-important 20-win level, and it was important for both teams in the Big Ten title race.  The game was nationally televised on ESPN, and College Game Day broadcast from Crisler all day.  The crowd was big and loud, and the atmosphere was electric.  A situation like that can go one of two ways: either Michigan can come out inspired and play a great game, or they can get distracted by all the hype and the pressure and try too hard.  This was one of the inspired games.  OSU has bigger, better players across the board, and if Michigan didn’t “manage” the game by controlling the tempo, OSU would just grind them down for the victory.  That’s what happened earlier this season, when Michigan played in Columbus.  Not this time.  Michigan got ahead early (6-0 after 3 minutes), and never surrendered the lead.  The lead got down as low as 1 point (17-16 with 7 minutes left in the 1st half), and as high as 10 points (numerous times, the last time at 42-32 with 11:43 left), but UM never let OSU get the lead, which was crucial.  OSU brought a large contingent of fans, and they were just waiting for something to cheer about, but Michigan kept them quiet.  By the way, as an usher, I’ve got to say that the visiting fans have been very well behaved this season, with the exception of one rude, whiny, crybaby family from Indiana.  Even the normally thuggish MSU fans were decent this year.

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    Drew Montag

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  • Big Ten Report – Week #08 (02/20/2012)

    No comments yetPosted in Basketball, FeaturedFeb 19, 2012

    Standings

    Here are the current Big Ten standings:

    Team

    Big Ten

    Overall

    Wins

    Losses

    Percent

    Wins

    Losses

    Percent
    #7 Michigan State

    11

    3

    0.786

    22

    5

    0.815
    #6 Ohio State

    10

    4

    0.714

    22

    5

    0.815
    #17 Michigan

    10

    4

    0.714

    20

    7

    0.741
    #15 Wisconsin

    9

    5

    0.643

    20

    7

    0.741
    #18 Indiana

    8

    7

    0.533

    20

    7

    0.741
    Purdue

    7

    7

    0.500

    17

    10

    0.630
    Northwestern

    6

    8

    0.429

    16

    10

    0.615
    Iowa

    6

    8

    0.429

    14

    13

    0.519
    Minnesota

    5

    9

    0.357

    17

    10

    0.630
    Illinois

    5

    9

    0.357

    16

    11

    0.593
    Nebraska

    4

    10

    0.286

    12

    13

    0.480
    Penn State

    4

    11

    0.267

    12

    16

    0.429
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  • Nothing But ‘Net – Week #16 – 02/13/2012 – A Winning Streak

    No comments yetPosted in Basketball, FeaturedFeb 12, 2012

    The (#22) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, one at home and one on the road, and they won both of them.  On Wednesday (02/08/2012) they beat Nebraska 62-46 on the road, then on Sunday (02/12/2012) they beat Illinois 70-61 in Crisler Arena.  This raises Michigan’s record to 19-7 (9-4 in the Big Ten).  It was nice for Michigan to finally win 2 games in a row, after going W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L in their previous 8 games.

    While the win at Nebraska doesn’t sound very impressive, it was a bigger deal than you might think.  Just ask Indiana; they lost at Nebraska back on January 18th.  Sure, Michigan is a better team, but (as I’ve said many times) it’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten.  And, Michigan didn’t just win at Nebraska, they dominated.  The 1st half was slow, flat, and boring, and both teams looked miserable, but the 2nd half was one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen by a Michigan team.  Take away a couple missed shots by the scrubs in garbage time, and UM shot an amazing percentage (16-for-19 = 84.2%).  That’s incredible.

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  • Big Ten Report – Week #07 (02/13/2012)

    No comments yetPosted in Basketball, FeaturedFeb 12, 2012

    Standings

    Here are the current Big Ten standings:

    Team

    Big Ten

    Overall

    Wins

    Losses

    Percent

    Wins

    Losses

    Percent
    #3 Ohio State

    9

    3

    0.750

    21

    4

    0.840
    #11 Michigan State

    9

    3

    0.750

    20

    5

    0.800
    #22 Michigan

    9

    4

    0.692

    19

    7

    0.731
    #21 Wisconsin

    8

    4

    0.667

    19

    6

    0.760
    #23 Indiana

    7

    6

    0.538

    19

    6

    0.760
    Purdue

    6

    6

    0.500

    16

    9

    0.640
    Minnesota

    5

    7

    0.417

    17

    8

    0.680
    Illinois

    5

    7

    0.417

    16

    9

    0.640
    Northwestern

    5

    7

    0.417

    15

    9

    0.625
    Iowa

    5

    7

    0.417

    13

    12

    0.520
    Nebraska

    3

    10

    0.231

    11

    13

    0.458
    Penn State

    3

    10

    0.231

    11

    15

    0.423
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  • Nothing But ‘Net – Week #15 – 02/06/2012 – Oh Well…

    Comments OffPosted in Basketball, FeaturedFeb 5, 2012

    The (#23) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, one at home and one on the road, and they won one and lost one.  On Wednesday (02/01/2012) they beat (#20) Indiana 68-56 in Crisler Arena, then on Sunday (02/05/2012) they lost at (#9) Michigan State 64-54.  This brings Michigan’s record to 17-7 (7-4 in the Big Ten).

    This was another good news/bad news kind of week.  The good news (obviously) was that UM beat a Top-25 team, and kept their perfect (13-0) record in Crisler Arena.  The bad news was that they got overpowered in the MSU game.  MSU led for the entire game, and UM never really threatened them in the 2nd half.  The final margin of defeat was reasonable, so UM didn’t get embarrassed, but they didn’t get the win either.  The loss to MSU snaps a nice 3-game winning streak against the Farmers Spartans.

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