| For more on Michigan football and Michigan basketball, or for more from Sean, check out SB Nation Detroit. |
Tuesday Quick Hits: DeShawn Sims Shares MVP Award with Manny Harris
Share
Leave a Comment- DeShawn Sims was named the basketball team’s MVP during its banquet last night, but he asked to share the award with Manny Harris, just as Harris did with Sims a year ago.
- Eso Akunne is no longer on scholarship. Also, it looks like Ben Cronin will be placed on medical scholarship because of his hip injury, opening up another regular scholarship for the team.
- Kelvin Grady’s status with the basketball team going forward is uncertain, but John Beilein apparently doesn’t think he will be back.
- Once Michigan’s basketball practice facility is built it will try to land the MHSAA state finals, which would be nice since they are held at Breslin Center currently. I imagine that if the state finals were to ever return to Crisler Arena, it would be after the extensive renovations are completed down the road.
- Trey Zeigler is finally going to make an announcement regarding where he will play college basketball sometime next week. If I had to guess I’d say that he picks Central Michigan to play for his dad.
- The Michigan Daily’s Ryan Kartje put together a great piece on Red Berenson.
- Adam Rittenberg interviewed Rich Rodriguez.
- The Big Ten re-upped its deal with the Little Caesars Bowl through 2013. Chances are the matchup will usually feature a MAC and Sun Belt team, though. I say that because the Little Caesars Bowl will get the eighth pick in the Big Ten’s bowl lineup, but since two teams make it to the BCS so often, that probably will be the ninth pick in reality. I don’t expect the Big Ten to be producing that many bowl eligible teams year in and year out, and this bowl didn’t get Big Ten teams very often even when it had the seventh pick.
Monday Quick Hits: Assistants Jerry Dunn, John Mahoney Leave Michigan
- Assistant coaches Jerry Dunn and John Mahoney have left the basketball program. Jeff Meyer, who replaced Dunn as an assistant during the middle of the 2009-10 season, is now permanently an assistant coach.
- The ESPNU 100 for the 2010 basketball recruiting class has been updated. Evan Smotrycz is ranked 85th and Tim Hardaway Jr. is ranked 94th.
- Observations from a couple people who watched Saturday’s football scrimmage were gathered and posted on mgoblog.
- The early forecast for the spring game is a high of 55 degrees and a 30% chance of rain.
- Michigan football players participated in Relay for Life this past weekend.
- The Michigan lacrosse team’s 49-game winning streak was snapped by Colorado on Friday. Michigan rebounded on Sunday by knocking off #2 Colorado State.
- Jordan Taylor pitched a perfect game in the softball team’s 9-0 win over Minnesota on Saturday.
- In case you were wondering, Boston College beat Wisconsin 5-0 to win the national championship in hockey at Ford Field on Saturday. Thanks to a great start to the third period, BC went from leading 1-0 to being up by 4 goals fairly quickly. In a desperate attempt to get back in the game, Wisconsin pulled its goalie with lots of time left, resulting in another BC goal with around four and a half minutes to play.
- A poster on mgoblog put together an early preview of NCAA Football 11.
Friday Quick Hits: Looking Back at the “Michigan Goal”
- ESPN Page 2′s Patrick Hruby put together an absolutely awesome piece on Mike Legg’s lacrosse-style goal from back in the 1996 NCAA tournament. The piece is basically a running commentary of the goal and the history behind it from everybody involved, including Legg, Red Berenson, Marty Turco, and Brendan Morrison, just to name a few. Steve Halko, one of the other people involved in the piece, made a great suggestion for something that should happen at the Big Chill:
HALKO: “We have a big reunion coming up at the Michigan-Michigan State outdoor game in December. I’ll have to speak to people at school and see if they can let Mike shoot that shot before the game.”
That would be awesome.
- I originally wasn’t going to watch the Frozen Four just because I was still bitter over Michigan not being there, but I have to admit, I took in some of the beatdown Boston College gave Miami and it was very entertaining. BC ended up winning 7-1 and will meet Wisconsin in the national championship game. The Badgers won their game over RIT by a score of 8-1, so hopefully Saturday night’s game is actually close.
- Devin Gardner ran for a 60-yard touchdown in practice this week.
- It appears that NCAA Football 11 will feature an ESPN-like broadcast. The previous incarnation of EA Sports’ NCAA Basketball featured both ESPN and CBS, which really upgraded the presentation. The game itself stunk, but at least it looked nice. Hopefully for NCAA Football it looks nice and the game in general is a lot better compared to last year’s version.
Thursday Quick Hits: Spring Game Gets a Sponsor
- PNC Bank is the “presenting sponsor” of the spring game and will specifically sponsor the locker room tours (6:30-8 p.m. on Friday and 7-9:30 a.m. on Saturday) and “Kick for Cash” promotion. Part of the sponsorship money from PNC will go towards the “Michigan football interactive play area at the new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.”
- TomVH has a list of who is visiting for the spring game.
- Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson are apparently pretty even right now at quarterback.
- Kelvin Grady and Terrence Robinson are getting some time at running back.
- Will Heininger has a torn ACL and could miss the entire 2010 season.
- Vladimir Emilien and Jared Van Slyke might return from knee injuries next week.
- Check out mgoblog for a full recap of Tuesday’s practice and press conferences.
- The Michigan Daily profiled Zoltan Mesko.
- The same restrictions implemented at the Ann Arbor Golf & Outing Club last year for football tailgates will not be changed for the 2010 season. Lame.
- Red Berenson did a Q&A with AnnArbor.com.
- The semifinals of the Frozen Four are going to be played at Ford Field later today. I will probably tune in for a bit just to see what the setup looks like, but I’m still way too bitter over Michigan not being there because of a BS call to watch for more than a minute or two.
- After the new basketball practice facility is built and infrastructure work is done on Crisler Arena, Dave Brandon wants to completely renovate Crisler to make it a “modern arena.” Sounds good to me.
- The Sporting Blog remixed this year’s One Shining Moment video with Luther Vandross’ version of the song, and it just makes the whole thing a million times better.
- Evan Turner and five Kentucky players have declared for the NBA Draft.
Tuesday Quick Hits: CBS Wrecks One Shining Moment
- Dave Brandon is against expanding the NCAA tournament.
- How great was that game last night between Duke and Butler? I thought we were going to see an Evan Turner-esque shot at the end, but it was barely missed. Either way, it was definitely an entertaining game and I just thank God that it wasn’t Michigan State playing for a title again.
- Continuing with the NCAA national championship game theme, what was CBS thinking by letting Jennifer Hudson take over One Shining Moment? The new version absolutely sucked, although the song wasn’t quite as bad as the constant shots of Hudson singing during the video, which is supposed to be highlights of the tournament. News flash to CBS: nobody wants to watch Hudson sing; we want to watch highlights of the tournament.
- When Billy Packer was finally canned by CBS, I figured it would be a big improvement for the Final Four broadcast. As it turns out, Clark Kellogg can be equally annoying. Last year I wasn’t all that thrilled with his announcing, but last night and on Saturday he was just really bad. I’m starting to feel the same way about Jim Nantz, too. He’s a great announcer for golf (i.e. the Masters this weekend), but I want some excitement and non-robotic commentating for a game like the one last night. I’m not necessarily saying he has to be as over the top as Gus Johnson can be at times, but at least Gus sounds excited to be there.
- Chad Kolarik made his NHL debut last night.
- WolverineHistorian uploaded a two-part look at the 2003 Michigan-Michigan State game (a.k.a. the Chris Perry Show).
Monday Quick Hits: Red Berenson to Return for One More Year?
- Red Berenson is reportedly going to return next season, but the general consensus is that 2010-11 will be Berenson’s final year as Michigan’s head coach.
- Carl Hagelin won the hockey team’s MVP award.
- There was some serious panic last Friday over the fact that Demar Dorsey’s name could be found on a list of players who signed a LOI for Fort Scott Community College. As it turns out, though, this is merely a backup plan for Dorsey in case he doesn’t qualify.
- Greg Robinson spoke to the media last week and mgoblog has a rundown of what was discussed.
- It appears Michigan Stadium has a new logo (see the bottom right corner of this letter) that incorporates the new brick structures into it. We got a little preview of this when the Big Chill logo was released, but this one features more of the entire stadium rather than just one of the brick structures.
- Construction of the new basketball practice facility will begin after graduation next month.
- Some West Virginia players who were once coached by John Beilein had nothing but good things to say about him in the lead-up to the Final Four. Also, some of those players saw him at dinner last week and spoke with him for the first time since he left WVU.
- Michigan’s women’s tennis team beat Northwestern on Saturday to end the Wildcats’ 81-match winning streak in the Big Ten.
Thursday Quick Hits: Red Berenson Wants Some Answers
- Red Berenson wants answers as to why Michigan’s game-winning goal in overtime was waved off. I think that’s what everyone wants right now. The outcome can’t be changed, but I’d like to hear an explanation from the referee. I mean, the easy explanation is that the officials are morons, but I would like to hear what was going through the ref’s mind and if he feels bad about screwing Michigan over.
- Seniors Steve Kampfer and Chris Summers have signed with their NHL teams and will start out in the AHL.
- The football program has put together a Relay for Life team (they’re doing it in support of Phil Brabbs), and they are auctioning off field passes to the spring game, an autographed football, and “coffee with Coach Carr,” among other things.
- The women’s basketball team lost to Miami (Florida) in the WNIT semifinals last night.
- 50 Michigan athletes were on the winter Academic All-Big Ten team, including Manny Harris and Zack Novak.
- Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany thinks that NCAA tournament expansion is “probable.” All I can say is that expanding the tournament to 96 teams would be an enormous mistake.
Heartbroken: Michigan Loses to Miami 3-2 in Double Overtime
Michigan’s amazing run is over and hopes of playing in the Frozen Four in Detroit are gone after Miami won last night’s Midwest Regional final 3-2 in double overtime. In what was an absolutely thrilling game, both teams had their chances throughout the night and ultimately Miami’s goal early on in double overtime proved to be the difference. Actually, let me correct that. Miami’s goal early on in double overtime proved to be the official difference. The difference in this game should have been a Michigan goal early on in the first overtime. The Wolverines scored, but because another idiotic referee lost sight of the puck, Michigan was yet again screwed over at the hands of an early whistle. The goal didn’t count, and after missing out on plenty of chances during the remainder of the first overtime, Michigan’s season came to an end in the second overtime.
For the first time ever with Shawn Hunwick in net, Michigan was not the first team to score. 12 minutes into the first period, Miami’s Pat Cannone quickly shot the puck by Hunwick off of a pass that came out in front of the net. The power-play goal put the RedHawks on top 1-0, but that lead didn’t hold up for very long.
Only 1:28 later, David Wohlberg fired a wrist shot at Miami goalie Connor Knapp (Cody Reichard, who gave up 5 goals against Michigan in the CCHA semifinals, did not play) and followed his rebound to put the puck in the net. Wohlberg went strong to the net and came away with the puck after the rebound. Knapp couldn’t find the puck at first, and by the time he tried to cover it, Wohlberg was putting it in the right side of the net to tie the game at 1.
Only 49 seconds into the second period, Chad Langlais fired a shot from close to the blue line and scored a power-play goal. The shot may have deflected off of a Miami player, causing it to change direction and go past Knapp. Regardless, the shot was an absolute laser and suddenly Michigan was up 2-1 on the RedHawks.
Just like in the first period for Miami, Michigan’s lead did not hold up for very long. Miami went on a power play and Pat Cannone scored again about two and half minutes after Langlais’ goal. The puck was put on net and found its way underneath Shawn Hunwick’s right leg. Hunwick froze to ensure that the puck didn’t go anywhere, but there was no whistle and Cannone poked it in to tie the game. It was surprising there wasn’t a quick whistle in this situation considering how fast the whistle was blown in the first overtime on Michigan’s goal that should have won the game, but more on that in a second.
During the remainder of the second period and early stages of the third period there wasn’t a lot of action outside of a few chances for Michigan. Twice David Wohlberg was stoned by Connor Knapp on a shorthanded breakaway in the second period, and in the third period the puck nearly went in, but Knapp covered it right near the goal line.
Towards the end of the third period is when the action really picked up. It felt like Miami was on a permanent power play during the latter stages of the period with the way they were playing. Michigan was getting worked, and the constant pressure nearly paid off for the RedHawks with three minutes left in regulation when a shot was lobbed at the net and hit right off the post. The puck bounced right to Shawn Hunwick, allowing him to cover and everyone to take a deep breath. Michigan caught a break during the last minutes of regulation by going on a power play, but it was unable to do anything, as Miami still had complete control of the game. As a result, this game was headed to overtime.
This game should have been over 2:37 into the first overtime. The Michigan team should have poured over their bench to celebrate with Shawn Hunwick. The Michigan fans should have gone nuts and been able to start putting together their Frozen Four plans. On April 8, Michigan should be playing Boston College at Ford Field.
I say should for all of the above-mentioned scenarios because a Michigan goal was waved thanks to one of the incompetent referees that made up an absolutely awful crew. They were terrible for the Bemidji State game, and they were even worse last night, taking away Michigan’s game-winning goal.
Here’s what happened: Carl Hagelin’s speed allowed him to catch up to a loose puck in the Miami zone and quickly skate behind the net for a wraparound. The puck made its way under Connor Knapp, who had absolutely no idea where it was, and right out to Kevin Lynch. Lynch quickly shot it into the open net for what should have been the game-winning goal. Problem is one of the referees blew the play dead a split second before the puck went into the net. Apparently he lost sight of it or thought a Miami player gained possession of it since there was a delayed penalty.
Why the whistle was blown so quickly this time around is beyond me when you consider that Miami’s second goal wouldn’t have counted if they had been that quick in the second period. If there was any consistency, the referee should have waited to make sure the puck was indeed frozen before blowing the whistle. And if it was about Miami gaining possession, then the ref is just as idiotic considering no Miami player had control of the puck. Hell, Knapp was still spinning around trying to find it when the whistle was blown.
All in all it was just a complete and utter screw job by the referees at the worst possible time. They were bad all weekend, especially last night, and all I can say is there’s a special place in hell for John Gravallese and Jeff Bunyon, the incompetent dumb asses who let this game continue when it should have been over.
Despite the awful break, Michigan continued to battle and dominated Miami for the entire overtime. Shots in the overtime were 20-6 in favor of Michigan, and the Wolverines nearly scored again with around seven minutes left when a Matt Rust snap shot hit the crossbar. Unfortunately Michigan just couldn’t score (for a second time), meaning this game was headed to a second overtime.
1:54 into the second overtime, Miami’s Alden Hirschfeld came up with the puck after there was a battle on the sideboards for it and fired a shot that bounced off of Shawn Hunwick’s pad and into the net. Unfortunately this one counted, giving Miami the 3-2 win and trip to Detroit for the Frozen Four. I will give credit to Miami for continuing to battle (they were outshot 57-35!) and playing a hell of a game, because they are a very good team. At the end of the night, though, the story of this game for Michigan fans will be the blown call that took away the Wolverines’ chance to play in a Frozen Four in Detroit. That was the dream from the very beginning of the season, and that was the dream throughout the amazing run this team went on in the last month. Because of a quick whistle, that dream was taken away from Michigan. To say every Michigan player, coach, and fan was heartbroken last night would be an understatement.
As bad as the ending of this season was, this team deserves all of the credit in the world. Considering where this team was a month ago, the fact that they were in position to be a goal away from the Frozen Four is just amazing. With that in mind, I say thank you to the coaches and players (Shawn Hunwick especially, as he played off the charts) for a hell of a run. It’s too bad incompetence prevented it from continuing in Detroit in a couple weeks, but either way, thank you for giving all Michigan fans something to feel good about this last month. It was an unforgettable run and hopefully a momentum-builder for next season.
| « Previous Page | Next Page » |
