| For more on Michigan football and Michigan basketball, or for more from Sean, check out SB Nation Detroit. |
Monday Quick Hits: More Big Chill News
Share
Leave a Comment- Close to 96,000 tickets have now been sold to The Big Chill. It’s only a matter of time until the ticket counter goes over 100,000.
- Michigan is going to wear throwback jerseys from the 1940s in The Big Chill game against Michigan State. (Lots more about the game can be found in a great article at Athletic Business. Hat tip to The Blog That Yost Built.)
- Three high school hockey games are going to be played at Michigan Stadium on December 5, six days before Michigan and Michigan State hit the ice.
- The CCHA has essentially adopted the Big Ten basketball tournament’s setup for its playoffs since it will only have 11 teams starting next season. Like the BTT, five teams will receive a first-round bye. The 4 and 5 seeds will be scheduled to play each other from the beginning of the playoffs, but they won’t have to do the series until the second week of action.
- Brandon Graham (pictured here with fellow senior DeShawn Sims) graduated and met President Obama, who spoke at Michigan’s commencement, on Saturday.
- Donovan Warren, who is going to play free safety for the Jets, is blaming the NFL’s Draft Advisory Board for his decision to leave Michigan a year early only to go undrafted.
- Anthony Wright’s basketball career at Michigan may be over, but with another year of eligibility left, he may play for one more season at a Division II or NAIA school.
- Michigan’s lacrosse team is the top overall seed in the MCLA tournament.
Friday Quick Hits: NCAA Tournament Expansion Approved
- Jalen Rose wants to become a college basketball coach at some point in the future.
- NCAA tournament expansion to 68 teams was approved on Thursday.
- The USA Today put together a great story on DeShawn Sims.
- The Utah basketball game at Crisler Arena is going to be the weekend of The Big Chill, meaning it will probably be scheduled for Sunday, December 12. Kansas is also going to play at Crisler Arena next season, but a specific date hasn’t been reported yet for that game.
- Just an FYI, President Obama’s commencement speech at Michigan Stadium tomorrow will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com.
- Notre Dame wants to remain independent in football, but some Big East coaches want the conference to tell Notre Dame to essentially go all in with its membership or get lost.
Football Quick Hits: Catching Up on Everything
- Michigan’s game at Penn State on October 30 is going to be at night.
- Brandon Graham was selected with the 13th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft last week by the Philadelphia Eagles, which traded up to get him. Zoltan Mesko was picked by the Patriots in the fifth round and Stevie Brown went to the Raiders at the end of the seventh round.
- The three players mentioned above were the only ones from Michigan drafted, meaning Donovan Warren really shouldn’t have decided to skip his senior season to go pro. Just like Ernest Shazor, he left a year early only to go undrafted. He did sign with the Jets as an undrafted free agent, which is a pretty good team to end up with, but another year in college would have helped his stock big time.
- In other undrafted free agent news, Greg Mathews and Brandon Minor signed with the Bears, Mark Ortmann ended up with the Panthers, David Moosman joined a few other former Michigan players in Arizona with the Cardinals, Carlos Brown got a deal with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, and Marques Slocum, who left Michigan in 2008, signed with the Redskins.
- The Free Press recapped what Graham’s draft night was like.
- Maize n Brew interviewed Zoltan Mesko, and it is a must read.
- Dave Brandon recently said this about Michigan’s current scoreboards at the Big House:
“The reality is those scoreboards are old. They’re old technology and they’re old. I’ve already looked at sketches as to what that might look at and one of the scenarios could add a few seats.”
Brandon also reiterated that construction of the new basketball practice facility will begin as soon as President Obama leaves town following this weekend’s commencement. Also, while there may be advertising in Michigan Stadium for the spring game and The Big Chill, things will be different for normal football games, as Brandon understands the tradition of no ads in the Big House.
- Rivals interviewed Elliott Mealer.
- Troy Woolfolk, who has a split personality named T-Wolf, didn’t play in the spring game because a Devin Gardner pass in practice broke his pinky finger, causing the bone to go through the skin.
- The Toledo Blade interviewed Mike Barwis.
- Jamie Morris no longer is employed by the Michigan athletic department.
- TomVH interviewed Demetrius Hart’s mom shortly after the spring game. Hart and his mother visited Ann Arbor for the spring game, and he will be back next month for the BBQ at the Big House, where there’s a chance he could commit to Michigan.
- Braylon Edwards is going to host a charity basketball game at Crisler Arena on June 19.
- Chris Perry was arrested last week after getting into a fight with his cousin. His mother is fighting cancer again, which is said to be the cause of tensions in his family.
- Boubacar Cissoko allegedly attempted to rob a cab driver earlier this month and stole money from two deliverymen last month. Some people just never learn.
- Northwestern is going to play a football game at Wrigley Field.
- The NCAA approved the Dallas Football Classic and Pinstripe Bowl, bringing the total number of bowl games to 35 for the next four years.
Hockey Quick Hits: Big Chill Eclipses 90,000 Tickets Sold Mark
- The official website of The Big Chill at the Big House launched last week, and one of its features is to keep track of how many tickets have been sold to the event. Before tickets went on sale to the public a week ago today, more than 60,000 tickets had already been sold. Now, just one week later, more than 90,000 tickets have been sold, meaning that old attendance record the Cold War set (74,544) looks like it will be absolutely demolished this December.
- Arby’s is the presenting sponsor of The Big Chill at the Big House. I wonder if we will get free curly fries if somebody scores a hat trick.
- Dave Brandon wants this event to be more than just a hockey game, and some of the other activities that could go along with The Big Chill include “parties, tailgates, player reunions and public skating sessions as well as an alumni game.” Sounds like this will be a good way to have some fun before finals start up.
Basketball Quick Hits: Michigan Hires Bacari Alexander
- Michigan has hired Bacari Alexander to be one of the basketball program’s assistant coaches. Alexander was previously an assistant at Western Michigan, and John Beilein made it pretty clear why he made this hire:
“He has strong roots in Michigan and significant recruiting experience both here and in neighboring states,” added Beilein. “He is a passionate teacher with strong communication skills. Bacari is a former post player and has a proven ability in the development of big men at the college level. With our young front court, that was an important factor in my final selection. I look forward to Bacari’s immediate and very positive impact on the growth of our program.”
Alexander, who was named the best dressed college assistant coach and winner of the Fashionable 4 (seriously), joins Jeff Meyer and Mike Jackson as John Beilein’s assistant coaches.
- Alexander was a Harlem Globetrotter for a couple years, and Michael Rothstein of AnnArbor.com chatted with him about that experience.
- One of the rumored candidates for the job that Alexander ended up taking was IPFW’s Dane Fife, who opted to stay where he is. It’s not known if he was ever officially offered by Michigan, but he was definitely one of the hot names for the job.
- The NCAA tournament is going to expand, but only to 68 teams rather than 96. The much smaller expansion comes along with a new 14-year deal between the NCAA and CBS/Turner Broadcasting that will allow every tournament game to be shown live on TV (on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV). Not only is this a great deal when you consider that every game will be on TV, but also because the tournament is only getting three more teams rather than 31, which really would have wrecked the mystique of March Madness in my mind. Three more teams, which will only add three more play-in games, is fine by me.
- 2010 recruit Isaiah Sykes was offered by Michigan but is going to take a couple other visits before making a final decision.
- UM Hoops scouted a number of recruits at the King James Classic.
Miscellaneous Quick Hits: Men’s Gymnastics Wins National Title
- Michigan’s men’s gymnastics team won a national title back on April 16. This was the athletic department’s first varsity national title since the softball team won one back in 2005, and it was the men’s gymnastics team’s fourth in their history.
- Michigan’s women’s tennis team clinched a Big Ten title this past weekend by finishing off their perfect conference record with wins over Illinois and Indiana. Michigan finished the season with 14 straight wins and is ranked in the top 5 in the entire country.
- The softball team is rolling right now. Jordan Taylor threw another perfect game last week against Penn State, and since then Michigan has won two more games to up its winning streak to 16 straight victories.
- WTKA’s Mott radio-a-thon on May 14 is going to feature former football players and coaches on the air all day long.
- Although Nike wasn’t able to change Michigan State’s logo due to the enormous (and understandable) backlash, it did change all of MSU’s jerseys, and boy are they ugly. Not only did Nike eliminate MSU’s classic cursive logo for hockey and the well-known “STATE” script for basketball, but it also revamped the football jerseys, which look like they belong in the AFL. I don’t know what’s worse, the jersey designs in general or the fact that bronze is now one of MSU’s colors. This kind of crap is exactly why I’m glad Michigan is no longer a Nike school. It’s not like Nike would have been allowed to touch the home football jersey, but some of the Swoosh’s ideas are just plain dumb, as evidenced by the overhaul of MSU’s look.
- Ugly jerseys or not, this slightly adjusted picture on MGoBoard from MSU’s football unveiling is just hilarious.
- The NCAA’s new president is going to be Washington’s Mark A. Emmert.
Big Ten Expansion Quick Hits: Talk of 14 or 16 Teams Heats Up
- Big Ten expansion talk has been heating up in the last couple of weeks on blogs and message boards because there was a report of an “accelerated timetable.” That turned out to not be true and was refuted by Jim Delaney, but Big Ten expansion is still a hot topic because it looks certain that at least a few teams will be added rather than just one. Some even think the conference could expand to 16 teams, which would completely change the landscape of college sports. I personally have been against going that big and would much rather just add Notre Dame and call it a day. I suppose if each team is a big name then it would be worth it, but maybe this is all just to scare ND into accepting an invite because if they don’t, the Big East could be a goner, which would screw them over in every sport outside of hockey and football. We’ll see, I guess.
- Dave Brandon doesn’t really care how big the conference gets, but he made one thing clear: “Anybody who comes up with a proposal that said Michigan shouldn’t play Ohio State should be institutionalized.” Amen.
- Adam Rittenberg put together a post breaking down how the process of voting on Big Ten expansion works.
- Frank the Tank, who has been all over potential Big Ten expansion, broke down what TV value possible new members would bring to the conference. His current prediction for a 16-team conference is that Notre Dame, Nebraska, Missouri, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers would be added, which would make sense geographically and would open up the Big Ten to a number of new markets. More than anything, it would effectively destroy the Big 12 and Big East, completely turning the college sports world upside down.
- Brian Kelly doesn’t want Notre Dame to join a conference for football.
- Joe Paterno wants the Big Ten to add three teams to get up to 14 total.
- If the Big Ten dramatically expands, the SEC could be next in line to add new teams.
Quick Programming Note
Between finals and covering the NFL Draft for Pride of Detroit, I’ve been absolutely swamped for the last week or so and haven’t had time for MSC. Well, the good news is I’m done with finals and I’m on the verge of escaping the draft bubble, meaning new content is coming. My plan to get all caught up is to do a few quick hits posts on a variety of topics, including Big Ten expansion, football, hockey, and basketball. That way I can run through all of the news I’ve missed and keep it organized so it’s not just one big post. So look out for those posts later tonight and throughout the day on Wednesday.
| « Previous Page | Next Page » |
