Post-Game Notebook: Michigan State

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Huge win for Michigan.  Read the recap below:

Post-Game Notebook: Michigan State

Michigan Facing A Different MSU This Time

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Check out this post:

Michigan Facing A Different MSU This Time

Big Ten Title Projections - Can Wolverines Afford Loss To MSU?

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

I put together a pretty lengthy post breaking down the Big Ten title race.  Read it here:

Big Ten Title Projections - Can Wolverines Afford Loss To MSU?

Michigan vs. MSU - How To Beat The Spartans 101

Photo Credit: Laura Pratt

Check out how to beat MSU:

How To Beat The Spartans 101

Could Michigan Recreate The 'Crossroads Classic' With MSU?

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

For the last few years, a unique event has taken place at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  To those well versed in the NBA, they would know that this is the home of the Indiana Pacers.  The event has featured two non-conference college basketball games between the "top four" programs in the state of Indiana: Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame, and Purdue.  The question for today's post is whether a similar event could be recreated in the state of Michigan.  Let's break it down.

First, what makes this event special and unique?  There are plenty of early season tournaments, neutral site games, and hyped matchups, so why is this different?  The first factor is the event's regional focus.  It is one thing to have a marquee non-conference game or a neutral site game, but in college basketball, they are often located away from home and between teams that often have no history.  For instance, look at Michigan's game against Stanford and the Champions Classic.  Though all the games in both events were intriguing, neither had any regional focus with all the teams playing pretty far from home and none of them faced off teams with any relationship with one another.  Regional focus in scheduling is often the subject of debate, but it is something that makes the Crossroads Classic unique.  The games happen in relatively close proximity to all 4 schools and are between teams that all come from the same state.  This may not necessarily create your #1 vs. #2 matchups, but it should at least excite local fans.

Another factor that makes the Crossroads Classic so intriguing is in its design to create new and interesting games.  As we all know, Indiana and Purdue are both in the Big Ten and are guaranteed to face each other at least once per year.  The event takes this into account and ensures that they cannot play one another.  For some, this may limit the amount of matchups, but this means you are either going to play Butler or Notre Dame every year.  Sure, those teams are not Duke and Kentucky, but those are still big time opponents that typically field a competitive team.  The same can largely be said for Indiana and Purdue, who are both pretty good basketball programs.  Every team plays a different opponent each year and they play an opponent that has at least some quality.

Perception is always a thing of opinion, but it is hard to argue that the Crossroads Classic has not put together some interesting games in its brief history.  Even if it has not been a perfect event, it certainly is an event that deserves some attention and possible attempts to replicate.  This is where this post comes into view.  What about the state of Michigan attempting to recreate the Crossroads Classic?  Maybe it is not the most obvious place out there, but when thinking about it, I think it at least merits discussion.

The first thing would be to determine the teams.  Clearly, the runaway targets in Michigan would be Michigan and Michigan State.  Both have been the class of the state in recent years and frankly have largely dominated basketball within the state for much of college basketball's history.  The clear issue here is that the teams would likely not want to play each other considering they are both members of the Big Ten and are already guaranteed games every year.  This means you have to add at least two other teams from the state.

There are a few options here, but personally, I think the one that jumps out is Detroit.  The Titans may not be what they have been in the past, but they are certainly on the trend upward and made the NCAA Tournament in 2012.  They also just put a player pretty high in the NBA Draft, which is noteworthy.  It would also make for an interesting selection given their ties to Michigan's largest city.

The final selection would be a little more murky.  The team that jumps out would be Oakland, who has built themselves into a pretty solid program.  They certainly are not making it to Final Fours on a regular basis or anything, but they did make the NCAA Tournament in 2005, 2010, and 2011.  The one issue to note is that they have been trending a bit downward recently.  Some would argue Oakland would be a better selection than Detroit and for the most part, their argument would probably be stronger, but the reason I would bump them down to the last slot would simply be due to pull.  I still believe Detroit (fair or not) has more of a national and statewide pull.  Maybe I am wrong, but this is the way I have always perceived it to be in the past.

The other top choices would have to be the three MAC schools located in the state: Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Western Michigan.  Central and Western have each made the NCAA Tournament once in the 2000s and Eastern made it last in 1998.  None of these three have been exactly great in recent years, but once in awhile they do put together a decent team.  Worth noting is that all three of these schools could probably have more of a draw than Detroit and Oakland, especially Central and Western.  Another option of course would be to have three games (one more than the Crossroads Classic) and bring along two of these schools as well.  One problem with this would be that it might make the scheduling even more difficult considering all three of these schools play in the MAC, which means they would likely not want to face each other in a neutral site event.

Maybe this is too positive of an assessment, but I think you could create some fun games for the community out of 4-6 of these schools.  Let's just assume they would select Michigan, MSU, Detroit, Oakland, Central, and Western.  Here are just a few scenarios that could occur:

Scenario #1	Scenario #2	Scenario #3	Scenario #4
Michigan - Detroit	Michigan - Central	Michigan - Western	Michigan - Oakland
MSU - Central	MSU - Western	MSU - Oakland	MSU - Central
Oakland - Western	Oakland - Detroit	Central - Detroit	Detroit - Western

Let's be realistic about these games.  Not one of these matchups could get the kind of national attention that an Indiana vs. Butler or a Purdue vs. Notre Dame type of game would attract.  Maybe once in awhile when one of the small schools puts together a really good team the media would give this event a lot of attention, but in probably 9 out of 10 years, none of these games would be a "marquee" matchup by most people's standards.  However, this does not mean that the event would be a failure.

Take a quick glance at KenPom for your answer.  Outside of Central, all of these teams are still rated in the Top 162.  That may not sound great, but here are some of the teams that are below that rating: Auburn, Houston, Mississippi State, Rutgers, and TCU.  None of these are exactly powerhouses, but all come from BCS level conferences.  The smaller schools that would potentially be in this event may not be Arizona, Duke, or Louisville, but they aren't the worst teams out there either.  Plus, if the games really started to become so uncompetitive that the event lost interest, you could certainly look at adding regional teams to the event like a Toledo or rotating the directional schools and selecting the ones that appeared to be the best teams coming into the year.  You could also cut the event to two games as well, but that may reduce the interest a bit, but something to at least consider.

Along with this, it is also worth noting that a lot of these games would simply be interesting from a local perspective.  Excluding a potential NCAA Tournament matchup, Michigan will play none of the smaller schools this year and MSU will have only played Oakland.  Last year, Michigan played Central, Eastern, and Western and MSU only played Oakland.  In the year before, Michigan only played Oakland and MSU only played Eastern.  In short, Michigan or MSU will typically play one of these smaller schools each year and it often ends up being the same team.

Some may say that number is plenty considering that typically Michigan and MSU win these games, but the truth is that these schools are still going to schedule nobodies to replace them.  Michigan has an insanely tough schedule this year, but still has 5 non-conference opponents that are pushovers.  Personally, I would rather play a Central, Detroit, or Oakland over Holy Cross and UMass Lowell.  Not only is there a better chance to have some connection to the school, but their fans also tend to travel to the games and help create a better atmosphere.  Even if the interest is one-sided, at least the smaller schools would be excited about these games and I'm sure there are plenty of people that think like me about these games.

The other part of this event that could be really interesting are the potential venue choices.  Even if you added a Toledo or something to the mix, all of these schools and their fans would be located in close proximity.  Think about hosting this event at the Palace or Ford Field.  Once again, maybe this is too positive of an assessment, but if you put this event in downtown Detroit, I think you would have a good shot at filling up Ford Field.  Not only do you have Michigan and MSU fans, but you would certainly attract a lot of Detroit and Oakland fans and if you added a Central and Western, you could probably draw even more to the pot.  You could sell tickets to sections based on the schools and make for a pretty fun neutral atmosphere.  Think about Michigan and MSU fans rooting for an Oakland or Detroit to upset their rival.  The smaller schools would have a built in crowd.

Overall, this may be too positive of a look at this event, but it truly would have the potential to offer some interesting games and atmospheres for fans.  We've seen it work in Indiana and with the close proximity of so many schools, why couldn't this work?  Fans are tired of boring non-conference opponents where one team is massively favored over the other.  This would at least be better than those types of games and the schools could still collect revenue from an event like this.  Maybe it is not perfect, but it is a fun to predict what an event like this could look like in the future.

Postgame Thoughts: Michigan at MSU

Bad game. Bad, bad game.  But hey, this picture makes up for it right? If you're brave, postgame thoughts are below:

Postgame Thoughts: Michigan at MSU

Quick Thoughts: Burke And Appling

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

This is one of the biggest games of Michigan's season and one of the most interesting parts of the game will be the matchup between Trey Burke and Keith Appling:

Quick Thoughts: Burke And Appling

How Will The Big Ten Finish?

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

There are going to be a few crazy remaining weeks to decide how the Big Ten finishes.  For a full breakdown, read below:

How Will The Big Ten Finish?

Week 3 Big Ten Update

I'm going to be starting a new recurring post on the blog updating the Big Ten on a regular basis.  Most fans are able to keep up with Michigan and maybe a couple of the other top teams like Indiana, Ohio State, and MSU, but a lot can get lost in between.  As a result, I'm going to post on a weekly basis (hopefully) to keep everyone updated on what's going on around the Big Ten.  Mainly, I'm going to address some of the main events, where the teams stand, and analyze what that means for the conference and Michigan.

I will start with the obvious, the rankings.  Not a lot changed in the most recent set of rankings.  The Big Ten currently has three teams in the Top 5, four in the Top 25, and two teams that are currently receiving votes (#26 & #27).  That is extremely impressive for one conference, especially at the top end.  So far, none of the ranked Big Ten teams has lost since the new set of rankings and only one of the teams receiving votes lost (Minnesota to Duke).  This basically means that the ranking position of the Big Ten teams will largely remain the same.  MSU and Wisconsin might be able to move up with some help, but most of the things will be the same, for now.

Compiled 2012-2013 Big Ten Predictions

Every season comes with a flurry of predictions and rankings and this year is no different.  Right now, the best conference in college basketball is the Big Ten and they have received their fair share of preseason rankings and hype.  Well, everybody wants to know the team that will reign victorious at the end of the season.  It's a difficult challenge, but I'm going to be attempting to predict the Big Ten.  I will undoubtedly be wrong by the end of the season, but here's my best guess:

 Nebraska Cornhuskers--(12th in B1G) This team is going to be horrible.  I'm sorry I have to say it, but it's going to be true.  Will they be horrible by national standards?  No, but they are going to be pummeled by the Big Ten.  The Cornhuskers finished in last place at the end of last year and they've taken significant steps backward from that team.  They not only lost their best players, but they also fired their head coach.  I wouldn't call this a trainwreck because Nebraska is still adjusting to the major challenge of Big Ten basketball, but this is not going to be a pretty year for Nebraska.

 Penn State Nittany Lions--(11th in B1G) This is a team that I think has a chance to develop into a semi decent squad in the coming years.  They are a long way from vying for a Big Ten title, but they have a few pieces to help them get back to respectability.  Point guard Tim Frazier will lead the way again and he should have another big year.  They have a few decent pieces and recruits that should help him out and I definitely like the coaching that has occurred with the Nittany Lions.  They are a team that keeps fighting until the finish and I think they might have a chance at being the Iowa of last season.  Still a doormat to most of the big teams, but they might get an upset here or there.

Recapping Michigan State

Finally, four years of agony and torture has ended. By the hands of Drew Dileo and the leg of Brendan Gibbons, Michigan advanced to 3-0 in the Big Ten and, looking at the bigger picture, won the program's 900th game, the most in college football.

The first thing I will say about this game is I seriously underestimated the ability of Spartan QB Andrew Maxwell. I gave him zero credit and almost looked like a fool for it -- almost. Without the play of Maxwell, Michigan State would not have been in that game.

But moving on.

What's the Dileo? It's been a common theme throughout this season to not really have the same WR step up in back to back weeks, but that's okay as long as the job gets done. This past Saturday, it was Drew Dileo.

Week 8 BCS/AP/Big Ten Rankings

Week 8 is over with, and I think my blood pressure is finally starting to come down. The Paul Bunyan Trophy is home where it belongs after a hard fought Michigan victory over Michigan State. Yes, it was a great game by two very well matched teams, and the  better one prevailed. Drew Dileo had a great game catching passes when they needed to be caught, and Brendan Gibbons and Matt Wile were clutch as well. The Michigan State offense was just as anemic as we previously thought, and Michigan's defense held Le'Veon Bell in check. That's not the only game that was better than advertised--look at Purdue and Ohio State. After leading for much of the game, Purdue knocked out Braxton Miller in the 3rd quarter (symptom free and out of the hospital later that evening) and still lost the game in overtime to their backup QB.

Week 8 Predictions and Notes

It's Friday now, and it's time to focus on one of the bigger games in college football this week, and not our Detroit Tigers going to the World Series (insert big smile here). Michigan currently holds an advantage over Michigan State by a record of 67-32-5 with the last 4 won by MSU. This year, that will change. The tide will turn.

I am confident that after Saturday's matchup that I can spend a year gloating over Sparty fans, and make them long for basketball season---in which we'll beat them there again. Michigan State still has a good defense, but their offense is woefully inept to the point where it's no longer reliable. Dantonio has painted himself into a corner this week by saying the media is at fault by goading him into making anti-Michigan comments. After this game, I'm sure that "evil" alter ego will emerge yet again.

Preview And Prediction: Michigan State

Beat State.

That's the simple slogan making it's way around social media as we near closer to the storied rivalry against Michigan State. And there isn't too much story behind it. The Spartans are at a four game winning streak against the Wolverines, and an upset Saturday in the Big House would give them a school record five straight.

That can't happen, can it?

Well, I guess it just depends on who decided to follow these simple keys to the game.

Michigan

The Wolverines are off to a great start in the Big Ten and, as coach Hoke put it, all of the team's goals are still in tact. Denard Robinson is doing what he wants at will. The defense has been shut down. It's all clicking at the right time.

Michigan State Players To Watch

It's Week 8, and the state championship is upon us once again. Personally, I don't think it could have come at a more opportune time. Michigan State has won the last 4 games, 3 in the RichRod era and last one was in the first year for Brady Hoke. Michigan comes into the game with the higher ranked defense, 3rd ranked pass defense, and a whole lot of demons to exorcise.

I wish I could say Michigan was ranked coming into the game but due to the inherent controversy that is the BCS, they are not. Winning this game could swing the difference towards that aspect. I have gone through a few message boards, and also comments from Spartan friends of mine, and they all are coming to one conclusion. This year will be the one that Michigan reasserts itself in their rightful place in the pecking order. So far MSU is ranked 104th in the nation in scoring points at 21.0 per game but also 14th in the nation at total defense, which is far behind of what I'm sure they want to be.  Don't be fooled by the 4-3 record that MSU has, but rather look deeper into the stats of some players:

Michigan Ranked #5 In Preseason USA Today Poll

The first rankings of the 2012-2013 season have been released and they have been very positive for Michigan.  The Wolverines have been ranked #5 in the preseason poll, which is their highest preseason ranking since 1993.  This means that this is the highest preseason ranking for Michigan basketball since the Fab Five era.  When you're talking about an almost two decade span since this type of ranking, it's a pretty significant achievement for the team and program.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed, even with this type of ranking, but as I discussed in my 2012-2013 Expectations post, there is a lot of hope when a team is ranked in the Top 5.  For instance, four of the teams ranked in the Top 5 last season made it to the Elite Eight.  Really, only one of the teams had a letdown year, but they still had a pretty good record and made it to the NCAA Tournament.  If that's the floor for success, that's a pretty good sign for a program like Michigan that's still somewhat in the building stages.

Michigan Basketball - National Title Contenders?

The hype and excitement continues to build for Michigan basketball.  Magazines, newspapers, websites, and blogs seem to constantly be updating fans with a new ranking system that puts Michigan basketball near the top of the nation.  Last week, I wrote about expectations for this season and about how this may be the highest preseason expectations since the Fab Five at Michigan.  I wanted to continue along similar lines and evaluate whether Michigan will be able to do what the Fab Five could not, win a national championship.

Winning a national championship is no easy task.  Of course, this is blatantly obvious, but it's important to note how tough the NCAA Tournament format makes winning a national championship.  Just look at a few of the nation's elite basketball programs; Kentucky, UCLA, MSU, and Indiana.  Virtually nobody would challenge these programs and their legacies towards college basketball.  However, before last year's championship by Kentucky, it had been over a decade since any of these teams won a national championship.  Yes, some of the powers like Duke, UNC, and UConn won championships during that period, but it's still significant.

Week 6 Big Ten/AP Rankings

Yesterday was a day of upsets, beatdowns, and quirkiness. Florida State, LSU, and Georgia all lost. Michigan is back into the Top 25 after a dominating performance by Denard Robinson over Purdue. Nebraska has fallen out of the poll for the second time this year after a humiliating, blowout loss to Ohio State . Northwestern took a huge fall after losing to Penn State, showing us that their 5-0 record was really just hype.

A few things stood out to me for the Big Ten games yesterday--1. Never count Denard out. Yes, he had a poor performance against Notre Dame  . Yet, after a bye week and knowing he had to take control, he did. Breaking the rushing record for a Big Ten QB was great, but winning  Michigan's first Big Ten game, and doing it on the road was even greater. 2. I think most people are aware that Ohio State is still undefeated, and is still not going to the postseason. The Buckeyes seem to be using this season as a statement, and it's a loud one by Urban Meyer. 3. Michigan State's win over Indiana could be construed as 2 things--they're not as good as anyone thought or, 2. Indiana is getting better. I'm tending to lean more towards the former point. Now onto the poll:

The 5 Toughest Games For 2012 - 2013

Michigan basketball is being projected for one of its best seasons in years.  Not only are expectations sky high, but there are numerous games on the schedule that will pose significant challenges.  Earlier this year, I did a breakdown on the biggest trap games on the schedule.  Those will be important, especially if the team is vying for the Big Ten title, but doing well against the toughest competition could be even more important.  Not only for success in the Big Ten season, but also for the NCAA Tournament because of the impact these games have on seeding.

When I first began to evaluate this topic, I ended up with a list of almost ten games.  Some of these included OSU, Wisconsin, MSU, NC State, and of course, Indiana.  However, I wanted to spotlight the specific games that I thought would be the most difficult to win this year.  One note to make when you look through the list is that I decided to avoid listing teams more than once.  Not only would it make this list kind of boring, but it would be extremely repetitive   If I did decided to do repeats, Indiana would appear twice and MSU would probably appear twice as well.  So, keep that in mind.

Week 5 AP/Big Ten Rankings

Week 5 AP rankings are out, and it shows that yesterday was a big one in college football. Geno Smith and West Virginia survived a shootout against Baylor, racking up over 1,500 yards between the two teams. Smith passed for almost 700 yards and 8 TDs, practically vaulting himself into the front spot of the Heisman trophy race. Louisville survived in a torrential downpour against Southern Mississippi. LSU looked to be quite mortal against the Towson Tigers in a game that the score was a lot closer than just 38-22.

Ohio State shut down Michigan State's vaunted running game, and following the loss against Ohio State, State's defensive coordinator, Pat Narduzzi, made complaints concerning "doctored" game tape from Meyer. Northwestern improved to 5-0, while Minnesota came in undefeated and were exposed against Iowa. Purdue gave up a lot of points against Marshall while Illinois was blown out again versus Penn State, probably giving them the title of worst in the Big Ten next to Indiana. Nebraska had their biggest comeback ever against Wisconsin, setting Wisconsin back to 3-2 on the season. Here's the poll: