Category: Featured

The (#22) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, one at home and one on the road, and they won both of them.  On Wednesday (02/08/2012) they beat Nebraska 62-46 on the road, then on Sunday (02/12/2012) they beat Illinois 70-61 in Crisler Arena.  This raises Michigan’s record to 19-7 (9-4 in the Big Ten).  It was nice for Michigan to finally win 2 games in a row, after going W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L in their previous 8 games.

While the win at Nebraska doesn’t sound very impressive, it was a bigger deal than you might think.  Just ask Indiana; they lost at Nebraska back on January 18^th.  Sure, Michigan is a better team, but (as I’ve said many times) it’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten.  And, Michigan didn’t just win at Nebraska, they dominated.  The 1^st half was slow, flat, and boring, and both teams looked miserable, but the 2^nd half was one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen by a Michigan team.  Take away a couple missed shots by the scrubs in garbage time, and UM shot an amazing percentage (16-for-19 = 84.2%).  That’s incredible.

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – Week #16 – 02/13/2012 – A Winning Streak”

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings:

Team	Big Ten			Overall
	Wins	Losses	Percent	Wins	Losses	Percent
#3 Ohio State	9	3	0.750	21	4	0.840
#11 Michigan State	9	3	0.750	20	5	0.800
#22 Michigan	9	4	0.692	19	7	0.731
#21 Wisconsin	8	4	0.667	19	6	0.760
#23 Indiana	7	6	0.538	19	6	0.760
Purdue	6	6	0.500	16	9	0.640
Minnesota	5	7	0.417	17	8	0.680
Illinois	5	7	0.417	16	9	0.640
Northwestern	5	7	0.417	15	9	0.625
Iowa	5	7	0.417	13	12	0.520
Nebraska	3	10	0.231	11	13	0.458
Penn State	3	10	0.231	11	15	0.423

Continue reading “Big Ten Report – Week #07 (02/13/2012)”

The (#23) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, one at home and one on the road, and they won one and lost one.  On Wednesday (02/01/2012) they beat (#20) Indiana 68-56 in Crisler Arena, then on Sunday (02/05/2012) they lost at (#9) Michigan State 64-54.  This brings Michigan’s record to 17-7 (7-4 in the Big Ten).

This was another good news/bad news kind of week.  The good news (obviously) was that UM beat a Top-25 team, and kept their perfect (13-0) record in Crisler Arena.  The bad news was that they got overpowered in the MSU game.  MSU led for the entire game, and UM never really threatened them in the 2^nd half.  The final margin of defeat was reasonable, so UM didn’t get embarrassed, but they didn’t get the win either.  The loss to MSU snaps a nice 3-game winning streak against the Farmers Spartans.

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – Week #15 – 02/06/2012 – Oh Well…”

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings:

Team	Big Ten			Overall
	Wins	Losses	Percent	Wins	Losses	Percent
#3 Ohio State	8	2	0.800	20	3	0.870
#9 Michigan State	7	3	0.700	18	5	0.783
#19 Wisconsin	7	4	0.636	18	6	0.750
#23 Michigan	7	4	0.636	17	7	0.708
#20 Indiana	6	6	0.500	18	6	0.750
Illinois	5	5	0.500	16	7	0.696
Purdue	5	5	0.500	15	8	0.652
Minnesota	5	6	0.455	17	7	0.708
Iowa	5	6	0.455	13	11	0.542
Northwestern	4	6	0.400	14	8	0.636
Nebraska	3	8	0.273	11	11	0.500
Penn State	2	9	0.182	10	14	0.417

Continue reading “Big Ten Report – Week #06 (02/06/2012)”

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team is now halfway through their Big Ten schedule, so it’s time for their “second trimester” grades.  You’ll remember that the first trimester ended after the non-conference portion of the schedule.

At this point, UM’s record is 6-3 in the Big Ten, good for a tie for 3^rd place.  See my weekly Big Ten Report for more details.  6-3 is a good record, and if Michigan could match that record in the 2^nd half of the Big Ten season, they would certainly finish near the top.  However, UM had an easier schedule in the first half of the Big Ten season than they have in the second half.  In the first half, they played 5 games at home, and 4 on the road.  They won all 5 home games, but 3 of those games were against teams in the lower half of the Big Ten standings (Penn State, Minnesota, and Northwestern), and only 2 of them were against “contenders” (Wisconsin and Michigan State).  They didn’t do very well on the road in the first half, going 1-3.  Their one road victory (Purdue) was pretty impressive, and they hung in there against Indiana, but they lost big to Ohio State (understandable) and Iowa (not very impressive).  The second half of their Big Ten schedule is much harder, with only 4 home games, all against “contenders” (Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, and Purdue), and 5 road games.  All road games are tough, but 2 of the road games Michigan has scheduled are tougher: at Michigan State, and at Illinois.  Looking at the second half of Michigan’s Big Ten schedule, they’ll be doing well to go 4-5, beating Illinois and Purdue at home, and Nebraska and Penn State on the road.  Maybe they’ll be able to beat Northwestern on the road.

Anyway, it’s time to look at the second trimester grades:

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – 01/30/2012 – Oops! Forgot The Second Trimester Grades”