The (#17) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game last week, and they won it.  On Saturday (02/18/2012) they beat (#6) Ohio State 56-51 in Crisler Arena.  This raises Michigan’s record to 20-7 (10-4 in the Big Ten), and keeps them perfect (15-0) in Crisler Arena this season.  Michigan is now tied with Ohio State for 2^nd place in the Big Ten, one game behind Michigan State.  For more complete details, see my weekly Big Ten Report.

This was a HUGE win.  Personally, I like beating Michigan State more than anything, but this win was even more impressive than Michigan’s win over MSU earlier this season.  For one thing, OSU was ranked higher than MSU was when Michigan beat them, but that’s not all.  This game had more hype than any home game in recent memory, it got Michigan to the all-important 20-win level, and it was important for both teams in the Big Ten title race.  The game was nationally televised on ESPN, and College Game Day broadcast from Crisler all day.  The crowd was big and loud, and the atmosphere was electric.  A situation like that can go one of two ways: either Michigan can come out inspired and play a great game, or they can get distracted by all the hype and the pressure and try too hard.  This was one of the inspired games.  OSU has bigger, better players across the board, and if Michigan didn’t “manage” the game by controlling the tempo, OSU would just grind them down for the victory.  That’s what happened earlier this season, when Michigan played in Columbus.  Not this time.  Michigan got ahead early (6-0 after 3 minutes), and never surrendered the lead.  The lead got down as low as 1 point (17-16 with 7 minutes left in the 1^st half), and as high as 10 points (numerous times, the last time at 42-32 with 11:43 left), but UM never let OSU get the lead, which was crucial.  OSU brought a large contingent of fans, and they were just waiting for something to cheer about, but Michigan kept them quiet.  By the way, as an usher, I’ve got to say that the visiting fans have been very well behaved this season, with the exception of one rude, whiny, crybaby family from Indiana.  Even the normally thuggish MSU fans were decent this year.

Continue reading “Nothing But ‘Net – Week #17 – 02/20/2012 – A HUGE Win”

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings:

Team	Big Ten			Overall
	Wins	Losses	Percent	Wins	Losses	Percent
#7 Michigan State	11	3	0.786	22	5	0.815
#6 Ohio State	10	4	0.714	22	5	0.815
#17 Michigan	10	4	0.714	20	7	0.741
#15 Wisconsin	9	5	0.643	20	7	0.741
#18 Indiana	8	7	0.533	20	7	0.741
Purdue	7	7	0.500	17	10	0.630
Northwestern	6	8	0.429	16	10	0.615
Iowa	6	8	0.429	14	13	0.519
Minnesota	5	9	0.357	17	10	0.630
Illinois	5	9	0.357	16	11	0.593
Nebraska	4	10	0.286	12	13	0.480
Penn State	4	11	0.267	12	16	0.429

Continue reading “Big Ten Report – Week #08 (02/20/2012)”

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…”