Author: Drew Montag

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings:

 

Team	Big Ten			Overall
	Wins	Losses	Percent	Wins	Losses	Percent
Michigan State	3	0	1.000	14	2	0.875
Indiana	3	1	0.750	15	1	0.938
Ohio State	3	1	0.750	15	2	0.882
Illinois	3	1	0.750	14	3	0.824
Michigan	3	1	0.750	13	3	0.813
Purdue	3	1	0.750	13	4	0.765
Iowa	2	2	0.500	10	7	0.588
Northwestern	1	2	0.333	11	4	0.733
Wisconsin	1	3	0.250	12	5	0.706
Penn State	1	3	0.250	9	8	0.529
Minnesota	0	4	0.000	12	5	0.706
Nebraska	0	4	0.000	8	7	0.533

Continue reading “Big Ten Report – Week #02 (01/09/2012)”

Happy New Year!

The (#18) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, and they won both of them, to improve their record to 12-2 (2-0 in the Big Ten) on the season, including 7 wins in a row.  On Thursday (12/29/2011) they beat Penn State 71-53, then on Sunday (01/01/2012) they beat Minnesota 61-56.  Both games were in Crisler Arena.  This is a very promising start to the Big Ten schedule.

The Penn State win was easy and convincing, but Minnesota put up quite a fight.  PSU really only has one good player (Tim Frazier), and he got his points, but the rest of the team is pretty weak.  After PSU took an early 5-4 lead, UM went on a quick 7-0 run to go ahead 11-5, and they never trailed again.  The lead got as large as 16 points in the 1^st half, and 22 points in the 2^nd half, before PSU got a little closer (18 points) at the end.  It was an easy win.  Not so in the Minnesota game.  At the first media timeout, Minnesota was up 6-1.  That’s one point in 4+ minutes of “action” for Michigan.  Not good.  Michigan tied the score at 6-6, then again at 11-11, before they finally got their first lead, 13-11, with 9:16 left in the 1^st half.  Once again, Michigan never trailed again, although Minnesota did tie the game at 35-35 in the 2^nd half, and get within one point (57-56) with 2:08 left in the game.  Michigan made some clutch shots and grabbed some crucial rebounds, and managed to hang on for the win.  It was very exciting.

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – Week #10 – 01/02/2012 – A Promising Start”

Happy New Year!

The Big Ten season started last week, and there were some surprising results.

Continue reading “Big Ten Report – Week #01 (01/02/2012)”

The (#20) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game last week, and they won it, to improve their record to 10-2 on the season, including 5 wins in a row.  On Thursday (12/22/2011) they beat Bradley 77-66, in Crisler Arena.  Coming in, Bradley looked to be the final “cupcake” in a series of three cupcakes, but they put up quite a fight.

The final margin of victory looks pretty comfortable, but for first 30 minutes it was a seesaw battle.  Michigan opened up a few small leads in the first half (25-19 with 8:32 to go, 31-26 with 3:45 to go), but Bradley kept coming back, and tied the game (33-33) at halftime, on a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.  The crowd and the Michigan team seemed deflated, and things looked dicey for the second half.  With 18:05 to go in the game, Bradley was ahead (38-36), but that was their last lead.  The game was tied 4 more times, and Michigan never led by more than 3 points until their big run, but once UM pushed the lead past 3 (54-49, with 11:02 to go), it was over.  The Wolverines went from a 52-49 lead with 12:00 left to 71-56 with 6:21 left, a 19-7 run in just over five and a half minutes.  It was a very exciting run, with a couple steals, a couple dunks, and a couple 3-pointers mixed in.  Bradley had been playing with good composure, answering every Michigan basket with one of their own, but once the Michigan run started, they panicked, which cost them the game.

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – Week #09 – 12/26/2011 – A Dangerous Cupcake, And First Trimester Grades”