UMGOBLUE.COM Michigan Wolverine Football & Basketball
By Fans…For Fans Since 1999
Michigan’s improvement depends on the offensive line improving and its ability to run the ball next season.
Spring practice is a difficult time to determine if the offensive line has truly improved, but early reports indicate that Nussmeier has emphasized the running game in a significant way, and players from all position groups are recognizing the change.
Entering this season, Michigan has three critical games on the schedule and plays all three away from Michigan Stadium.
With doubts still lingering from last season’s 1-4 November slide followed by a bowl loss to Kansas State, the team’s early-season matchup with Notre Dame takes on increased significance.
Rankings
Four Big Ten teams are ranked this week, in the final AP poll of the season:
Here are links for the unranked teams:
Results
Here are the results from last week’s games, in the NCAA Tournament, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) :
Tuesday (03/18/2014)
NIT 1st Round: (#1) Minnesota beat (#8) High Point, 88-81
Wednesday (03/19/2014)
NCAA 1st Round, Midwest: (#11) Iowa lost to (#11) Tennessee, 78-65 (overtime)
NIT 1st Round: (#2) Illinois beat (#7) Boston University, 66-62
CBI 1st Round: Penn State beat Hampton, 69-65
Thursday (03/20/2014)
NCAA 2nd Round, South: (#6) Ohio State lost to (#11) Dayton, 60-59
NCAA 2nd Round, East: (#4) Michigan State beat (#11) Delaware, 93-78
NCAA 2nd Round, West: (#2) Wisconsin beat (#15) American, 75-35
NCAA 2nd Round, Midwest: (#2) Michigan beat (#15) Wofford, 57-40
Friday (03/21/2014)
NCAA 2nd Round, West: (#11) Nebraska lost to (#6) Baylor, 74-60
Saturday (03/22/2014)
NCAA 3rd Round, East: (#4) Michigan State beat (#12) Harvard, 80-73
NCAA 3rd Round, West: (#2) Wisconsin beat (#7) Oregon, 85-77
NCAA 3rd Round, Midwest: (#2) Michigan beat (#7) Texas, 79-65
Sunday (03/23/2014)
NIT 2nd Round: (#2) Illinois lost to (#3) Clemson, 50-49
NIT 2nd Round: (#1) Minnesota beat (#4) St. Mary’s (CA), 63-55
At this point, the Big Ten has 5 teams left alive in postseason play: 3 teams left alive in the NCAA Tournament, 1 team left alive in the NIT, and 1 team left alive in the CBI.
The Big Ten’s record in the NCAA Tournament is 6-3, in the NIT it’s 3-1, and in the CBI, it’s 1-0, for a total record of 10-4.
The Upcoming Week
Here are the Big Ten teams left alive in postseason tournaments:
Michigan – NCAA, #2 seed in the Midwest
Michigan State – NCAA, #4 seed in the East
Minnesota – NIT, #1 seed in the Minnesota quadrant
Penn State – CBI (no seeds or regions in the CBI)
Wisconsin – NCAA, #2 seed in the West
Here’s the schedule for this week:
Monday (03/24/2014)
CBI Quarterfinals: Penn State at Siena
Tuesday (03/25/2014)
NIT 3rd Round: (#1) Minnesota vs. (#3) Southern Mississippi
Wednesday (03/26/2014)
CBI Semifinals: Penn State vs. the winner of the Fresno State/Princeton game (if Penn State wins on Monday)
Thursday (03/27/2014)
NCAA 4th Round, West: (#2) Wisconsin vs. (#6) Baylor
Friday (03/28/2014)
NCAA 4th Round, Midwest: (#2) Michigan vs. (#11) Tennessee
NCAA 4th Round, East: (#4) Michigan State vs. (#1) Virginia
Saturday (03/29/2014)
NCAA 5th Round, West: (#2) Wisconsin vs. winner of the (#1) Arizona/(#4) San Diego State game (if Wisconsin wins on Thursday)
Sunday (03/30/2014)
NCAA 5th Round, Midwest: (#2) Michigan vs. winner of the (#4) Louisville/(#8) Kentucky game (if Michigan wins on Friday)
NCAA 5th Round, East: (#4) Michigan State vs. winner of the (#3) Iowa State/(#7) Connecticut game (if Michigan State wins on Friday)
The (#7) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this week in the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee, and they won them both. They were the #2 seed in the Midwest Region. On Thursday (03/20/2014), they beat the #15 seed, Wofford, 57-40, then
on Saturday (03/22/2014), they beat the #7 seed, Texas, 79-65. The 2 wins raise Michigan’s record to 27-8, but more importantly, they put Michigan in the Sweet 16 again, for the 2nd year in a row. That is definitely a big deal.
Michigan was expected to beat Wofford handily, and they did, even though the game wasn’t much to look at. UM didn’t play their “A” game, but they played well enough for long enough to win comfortably. Michigan missed their first 2 shots, and Wofford made their first 2 shots, so it was 4-0 with 18:17 left in the half. Michigan then went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 9-4, with 14:49 to go in the half, and they never trailed again. The Michigan lead got as high as 14 points (30-16) with 2:36 to go, and was still 14 points at halftime (34-20). Wofford fought back hard to open the 2nd half, and got the lead down to 7 points (40-33) with 9:25 to go, but that was as close as they got. UM pushed the lead back up to double figures (45-35, with 6:24 left), and won by 17 points. Not the most impressive win in recent memory, but the golden rule in NCAA Tournament play is “survive and advance”. Just ask all the top-ranked teams that lost in the first round: (#5) VCU, (#6) Ohio State, (#5) Cincinnati, (#5) Oklahoma, (#6) Massachusetts, and (#3) Duke. They would all love an “ugly win”.
Michigan was also expected to beat Texas, but not as easily, and not by as big a margin. Once again, Michigan found themselves down by a few points early (6-3, with 16:40 left in the 1st half), but they tied it at 6-6 in less than a minute, then went ahead for good with a nice 10-0 run. With 13:11 left in the half, they led 13-6, and pushed the lead up to double digits (21-10) with 10:35 to go. They got the lead up to 18 points (30-12) with 7:20 to go, but let Texas creep back a little at halftime (43-30). UM opened the 2nd half strong, and pushed the lead back up to 18 points (53-35) with 16:02 left in the game, then they went stone cold. Texas clawed their way back into the game, and got as close as 6 points (58-52) with 8:00 left in the game. UM finally started scoring again, and pushed the lead back up to a comfortable 16 points (76-60) with 1:05 left, then ran out the clock. This win was a little more impressive than the Wofford win, and it was encouraging to see Michigan play so well during “crunch time”.
Stats? Stats!
In the Wofford game, Michigan didn’t shoot particularly well overall (22-for-46 = 47.8%), but they did shoot 3-pointers pretty well (7-for-17 = 41.2%). They didn’t shoot many free throws, but they hit most of them: 6-for-9 = 66.7%. They won the rebounding battle (31-26), but they lost the turnover battle (11-9). Not very impressive stats for a not very impressive win.
The stats for the Texas game are a little more impressive. Michigan shot pretty well overall (24-for-54 = 44.4%), they shot very well from 3-point range (14-for-28 = 50.0%), and they shot free throws well (17-for-21 = 81.0%). They got hammered on the boards (41-30), but they won the turnover battle (4-9). The big difference was 3-point shooting: UM hit 14 of them, while Texas hit 4 (on 11 attempts).
Individually, 3 Michigan players hit double figures in both games:
Caris LeVert hit double figures (14 points) in the Texas game, but only had 6 points in the Wofford game.
5 other players scored in at least one game, just not in double figures:
Max Bielfeldt, Andrew Dakich, and Sean Lonergan all played in the Wofford game, but didn’t score.
This Week
Michigan plays on in the NCAA Tournament. The next 2 rounds of games (the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8) for the Midwest Region are in Indianapolis. Michigan plays the #11 seed, Tennessee, on Friday (03/28/2014, 7:15 p.m. EDT, CBS). If they win that one, they’ll play the winner of the (#4) Louisville/(#8) Kentucky game on Sunday (03/30/2014, time TBA, CBS) for a trip to the Final Four.
Even though Tennessee is a #11 seed, they must be doing something right, since they won their “First Four” (play-in) game on Wednesday vs. (#11) Iowa, then came back on Friday to beat (#6) Massachusetts, then played again on Sunday to beat (#14) Mercer, the team that had knocked off (#3) Duke. Michigan is going to have to take Tennessee very seriously.
Check back next week to see what happened, and why.
Go Blue!
Thursday was a bad day for two Michigan offensive lineman.
Prior to practice Michigan released a statement that offensive lineman Graham Glasgow was “…suspended for a portion of spring football and will miss the season opener against Appalachian State for a violation of team expectations.”