Michigan Friday: A Sports Knockout

If you're sitting around a table at a bar, having a few drinks with friends and somebody asks:  What would shut down all sports for weeks or months?  I think the answers would include things like War or a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake.   Having a Virus shut down all sports is something out of Hollywood and not something I ever expected.

The billions of dollars that March Madness generates - gone.
Spring Training and Opening Day for MLB - suspended.
A new Spring football league (XFL) that needed more weeks to see if it was going to be a legit business - gone
PGA's Players Championship - gone
Miami was going to open a new stadium on Saturday for its new MLS team - Suspended
Big Ten Tournament - cancelled
Big Ten Baseball - Cancelled
NHL Suspended
NBA Suspended

What happens to Seniors?  X and Teske have played their last games at Michigan.

Michigan Baseball is just getting started and now its not.  Hopefully, they will allow them to play longer into the summer.

Michigan Football's spring practice was set to begin and now its not.  I assume the NCAA will allow them to practice later in the Spring/Early Summer.

A sports TKO.

I don't have the answers but I do agree you have to side with safety.  I just feel really bad for all the college athletes that won't get their Championship Tournaments or seasons back.   Pro sports will go on at some point.




from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/michigan-friday-sports-knockout.html

Michigan Thursday: When the World Ends

The Dave Matthews Band has a famous song called, "When the World Ends".   Watching sports and ESPN last night, that song played in my head.  The Big Ten will remove all fans from its basketball tournaments, same with the NCAA Basketball Tournament.   The NBA has suspended the season after Rudy Gobert got the virus and Michigan Football canceled it's Spring Game/Practice.  

Michigan and OSU has also suspended recruiting on and off campus.

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg went to the hospital and for awhile all Big Ten teams were quarantined last night.  He was found to not have the COVID 19.

There is even talk that they might cancel the entire Big Ten tournament and its questionable at best if Michigan takes the floor against Rutgers at noon today.

Hell, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have the virus but they are in Australia.   I guess this is another example of Tom being quarantined on a Island with Wilson.

Crazy times.

• Saddi Washington seems to be a top candidate for the WMU head coaching role.  Washington played at Western.  

• Modell's Sporting Goods is bankrupt and will close all stores.

• It is expected that Michigan's Football Spring Practice will continue as planned.  

• Don seems to be taking responsibility (in the following quote) when his defense has played poorly in every big game:  “We just need to play the way we’re capable of playing,” Brown said. “Know that sounds like rhetoric, but don’t make the stage too big, and certainly just prepare and play the game the way you’re capable of playing it. Just play at a high level, make sure we’re prepared. Really, the big thing that we’ve done a good job of, we’re building it into our practice schedule. But, stay even-keeled about it, make sure that we’re focused on the task at hand. Technique and fundamentally, we’ve gotta just play the game the way we’re capable of playing. Don’t make the stage too big.”

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/michigan-thursday-when-world-ends.html

Wolverine Wednesday: Manny Being Manny

We haven't had a Manny Harris update in quite awhile.  Manny had 35 points and 9 assists for Hapel Holon BC in Israeli's Pro Winners League.  Love that Manny is still making money on the court still scoring at a high level.

Curtis Blackwell is a content machine, he is now coming out with more NCAA Violations that Mark Dantonio may have initiated including the taping of an opponents practice.  Other allegations include that they paid benefits to recruits parents and tried to recruit other schools players to transfer to East Lansing.    Dear MSU and Mark Dantonio legal team, you better settle and shut this dude up.   Or not and let him continue to throw more gasoline on your tire fire of a program.  I guess we are past the "Pride" stage and now just falling.

• LB Devin Gil has decided to enter the transfer portal, this isn't a surprise.   There are some insider reports that Joey Velazquez is now the #2 OLB (he also plays baseball).   Good Luck to Devin as a grad transfer. 

• Coach B will be doing color on BTN during the Big Ten Tournament.  

• Gronk could head to the WWE, Brady is looking for a job as well.  Could Brady be his manager - Bobby the Brain Brady?

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/wolverine-wednesday-manny-being-manny.html

Michigan Tuesday: Hits The Bullet Points

• Zavier Simpson was named 2nd Team All Big Ten 

• Franz Wagner made the All Big Ten Freshman Team 

• Livers was honorable mentioned

• Former IU QB Patrick Ramsey is transferring to Northwestern 

• Ohio State is changing its name to Online State as all classes will now be online due to the COVID19 Virus. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/michigan-tuesday-hits-bullet-points.html

Inc. Magazine ranks top companies in the Washington Metropolitan region

For the first time, Inc. Magazine has released a list of the most successful businesses around the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. The inaugural ranking features 250 companies throughout the region—including 71 Maryland companies located from Westminster to Chestertown to Lexington Park, Md. 
 

from http://open.maryland.gov/blog/inc-magazine-ranks-top-companies-washington-metropolitan-region/

Michigan Monday: Season Over

Michigan Basketball dropped another road game on Sunday afternoon.   This time to the talented and co-Big Ten Champions Maryland Terrapins.   DD played well off the bench, but that was pretty much it for the Wolverines.   It was the same old story,  X was turning the ball over, Teske was missing low post shots, and the 3 ball wasn't going in.    That was the bad news.

The good news is, the post season will only have neutral site games, which Michigan has excelled at the last few years.   Another fun fact is Michigan's schedule this year was rated the toughest in the country by KenPom.

Iggy where did you go?

After you think about Michigan Basketball's off season, this was a successful year for the program.  Michigan lost Poole, Iggy, Matthews and it's head coach John Beilein in the summer.   In a Big Ten, where Cassius Winston comes back for his senior year at MSU, Iggy heads to NBA as a freshman and ends up playing the entire year in the G-League for a dreadful Knicks organization.

Iggy has played well for the Weschester Knicks and recently had a couple 30+ games while averaging over 20 points per in the G-League.   If he had stayed in Ann Arbor, this team could have probably been a top 10 team.  I guess that is how the ball bounces.

If Michigan can find its shooting, hopefully it can make a deep run in both tournaments.

• MSU, Wisconsin, and Maryland shared the Big Ten regular season title.  

• Michigan plays Rutgers in Indy on Thursday in the 2nd round of the Big Ten Tournament.  If they win, they will play Wisconsin in the 3rd round.   

• Michigan seemed to have made a positive impact on the 3 TE's that were in town this weekend.  TE is a big priority in the 21 class. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/michigan-monday-season-over.html

Michigan Friday: Hat Tip To X and Sleep

Before the game, Michigan had a nice send off to its 2 seniors Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske.   Those two will go down as having the most wins in their Michigan career then any other Wolverine.  Coach B was even in attendance to share the night with the two guys he recruited.

Then the game tipped off and the Wolverines put together another sloppy first half and found themselves up only 4 points at half.  Livers who hit his first 3 of the night had missed 7 consecutive shots prior to half-time.

That changed after the half and Michigan outscored "a dead man walking" Nebraska squad by 20 points.   Michigan still has a lot to fix if they are going to make a run in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.   Before any of that, Michigan has a difficult road game at Maryland this weekend.

Here is what I see:

• Non-consistent offense, Michigan is struggling to find a consistent scorer.   Shooting has been very inconsistent and the 3 ball is not falling.
• Sleep - Everything Teske is doing offensively is away from the basket, I would like to see a few more low post moves towards the basket.  
• X needs to focus on running the offense and getting to the lane, lets not worry about shooting 3's.  
• Livers and Wagner both need to have good nights for Michigan to make any type of run
• The defense needs to be better against the 3 and Teske needs to be in the right position in the low post.  
• Michigan also needs help from the bench.  It could be DD or Davis but they need energy and some spot scoring.  

We know this team can be really good if they are playing well, we also know they can be pretty bad.   Let's hope the neutral site game magic continues.  

• Michigan Football seems to be trending for 4 star 2021 OG Greg Crippen who recently de-committed from ND.  Greg also has offers from Alabama and Ohio State.   Greg plays his high school ball at IMG. 

• Michigan will be hosting 3 TE's from the 2021 class this weekend including 4 stars Brock Bowers and Jack Pugh. 

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/03/michigan-friday-hat-tip-to-x-and-sleep.html