Brandon Graham took home Senior Bowl MVP honors with two sacks and a forced fumble.
The normal basketball recap will be a bit abbreviated today, because, in the interest of full disclosure, my friends and I left the game with about ten minutes left when it was clear that Iowa had attempted to sneak a D-II team into Crisler Arena dressed as the Hawkeye basketball team. Instead, I’ll give my thoughts on an interesting weekend of Michigan sports.
After a week of practices that turned a lot of heads in the NFL, Brandon Graham earned MVP honors in the Senior Bowl with five tackles, two sacks, one TFL and a forced fumble. The week began with Graham projected as a late first/early second-round NFL draft pick, but his outstanding week has almost certainly solidified him as a first-round pick and one of the top defensive players available. I think Graham had to overcome the (patently false) perception that he was a decent player on a bad defense, and he exceeded the expectations of everyone who hadn’t seen him play at Michigan to show that he is, simply, a great football player. The only thing holding Graham back is his size — at 6′1, 263 pounds, Graham could be either an undersized 4-3 defensive end or a big, pass-rushing 3-4 outside linebacker. Personally, I think his future is with his hand on the ground, but a lot depends on what team grabs him in the draft. Either way, Graham showed this week that he is one of the elite prospects in the draft this season.
Yeah, the Iowa game was about that easy.
In basketball, Michigan beat Iowa 60-46 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate. I’m really not sure how much can be taken away from this one — Iowa is now 2-7 in the Big Ten, with their wins coming against Penn State (winless in conference play) and Indiana (3-5). Michigan scored the game’s first 13 points, held Iowa scoreless for nearly seven minutes, and kept the Hawkeyes without a field goal until almost ten minutes had elapsed. We spent half the game joking that Iowa guard John Lickliter — son of head coach Todd Lickliter — looked like he had been given his spot on the team as a Bar Mitzvah gift. It was one of those games.
DeShawn Sims carried the scoring load early, and finished with 20 points (on 9-18 shooting) and 12 rebounds (including nine offensive boards), as nobody on the Hawkeyes could really check him on the block. Manny Harris also finished with 20 points, but that number is deceiving — most of his points came in the second half, and he shot only 6-16 from the field and turned the ball over six times.
Other than that, it was your standard performance on offense from the Wolverines: nobody else finished with more than six points (Douglass and Novak), the team shot poorly (36.2% from the field, 26.9% from three) but came up with a lot of their own misses (15 offensive rebounds out of 27 missed shots), and the only consistent offense came when Harris and Sims were creating for themselves. Michigan dominated on the defensive end, however, holding Iowa to just 17-55 shooting and allowing just nine offensive rebounds, which allowed the Wolverines to rout the Hawkeyes.
One final thought on the game: Zack Novak was in foul trouble for most of the game, finishing with four fouls, and when he was replaced by Anthony Wright it really showed on both ends of the floor. On offense, Novak gets his hand on seemingly every miss that comes into his area, and even if he doesn’t pull down the offensive rebound he makes the defense work to get the ball back. Wright tends to hang out by the three-point line and occasionally throw up a brick. On defense, Novak has solid positioning and displays the same tenacity that makes him a great offensive rebounder for his size. Wright appeared lost on defense and doesn’t rebound as well as Novak despite a considerable height advantage. In short, let’s hope Novak stays out of foul trouble from now on — this team can’t afford losing him against a competent opponent.
I was actually able to catch both hockey games against MSU, as this was the rare weekend when both Michigan hockey games were televised. Michigan salvaged a split, losing 3-2 on Friday at Munn and taking a wild 5-4 decision Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena, but the team was robbed of a chance for a sweep thanks to a very untimely whistle in the opener (from TBTYB):
So now Michigan has a man-advantage with just over two minutes to go and a chance to pull off a huge comeback on the road. Just after the penalty expired, Chris Brown was standing in the slot. The puck hit him and bounced down, through the legs of Drew Palmisano, and into the net. Like, straight through the legs of Palmisano. We’re not talking pinballing. We’re not talking the puck died between his legs but was still loose and someone jammed it in. It hit Chris Brown, bounced down, went right through Palmisano into the net.
Shegos somehow missed this and blew the play dead within milliseconds of the puck going underneath Palmisano. The whistle may not have gone until the puck was in the net (I’m not sure), but thanks to the most retarded rule in sports–the play is dead when it’s dead in the referee’s mind, not when he blows the whistle–you can’t review it.
That’s a missed call. You can see from the behind-the-net cam that the puck was never even remotely covered. And the guy who is widely considered the best ref in the conference–as if that’s not like saying someone is the prettiest ugly girl (by the way, there were options in the crowd tonight….for as many good-looking girls as there are supposed to be at Michigan State, they must have found every fug in the bunch during the crowd shots tonight….holy buckets)–completely blew it.
The same “intent to whistle” bull has cost the Red Wings a couple games this season as well, so sadly I wasn’t even remotely surprised when the goal was waived off. It was a terrible call, and I don’t want to exonerate Shegos in any way, but that rule is a black eye for hockey at every level it’s enforced — one of these day someone is going to get sick of answering angry emails and actually change the damn thing, and I hope that day comes as soon as possible. The controversy of the third period overshadowed a completely lackluster effort from the Wolverines — they couldn’t get any sort of offensive rush into the zone or set up a power play until the game was nearly out of reach. The goal that put MSU up 3-0 was vintage Bryan Hogan of the worst kind, a juicy rebound on a routine shot that was hammered home by (argh) Corey Tropp.
Saturday’s game was just crazy. Michigan appeared to put the game out of reach with three goals in the first period — A.J. Treais drove the net hard and knocked home a rebound to get the first goal, Chris Summers netted a laser from the point for the second, and Brian Lebler’s wrister gave Michigan a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Then State scored four unanswered goals. Michigan gave up an inexcusable shorthanded tally at the beginning of the second period, and Hogan allowed another rebound goal halfway through the period to cut the lead to one. State tied the game up just 50 seconds into the third period, and I think I speak for all Michigan fans when I say that I was resigned to a loss at that point. When Dean Chelios netted the go-ahead goal with a little under seven minutes to go, I almost shut off the TV. When Michigan took a penalty shortly afterward, I almost threw the remote through the TV, which probably would have been an effective way of permanently shutting it off.
Good thing I didn’t. On a seemingly innocuous play in the Spartan zone, Carl Hagelin made a great effort to force a turnover and took two shots on Drew Palmisano. The second shot bounced off to the side, where Matt Rust was able to hammer home the rebound. Just two minutes later, Chris Brown refused to budge from the side of the net, and whacked home the game-winner past both Palmisano and a Spartan defenseman on a great, gritty play.
This weekend’s series was a microcosm of the season for Michigan: very inconsistent play, a lot of chances, some soft goals allowed, and a weekend split. The Wolverines now are in great danger of missing the NCAA Tournament — Brian thinks Michigan probably needs to win eight of nine (or, of course, take the CCHA Tournament) to get a spot in the tourney. With Michigan’s shaky goaltending situation, I don’t really see that happening.
Goalie Bryan Hogan will have to stay healthy for Michigan to live up to lofty preseason expectations.
After a pair of exhibition victories this past weekend, Michigan’s hockey team is set to open the regular season on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska. In preparation for the season, I fired a few questions at Michael Spath, who covers Michigan hockey for The Wolverine.
AA: What do you think the greatest strength of this team will be? Weakness?
MS: The greatest strength should be the defense. When you bring back two seniors in Chris Summers and Steve Kampfer who have played a ton, and you bring back juniors in Tristin Llewellyn and Chad Langlais and a pair of sophomores in Brandon Burlon and Greg Pateryn you’ve got six experienced guys who are all very talented. Summers could be the best defenseman in the CCHA. Generally he hasn’t gotten that kind of respect yet — he wasn’t voted first- or second-team all-conference before the year began — but you watch him play and he’s got everything you want. He’s a great skater, he understands the offensive game, has a good shot and ability around the net, and in the defensive zone he’s just a stud. I really like our defense. Even on nights when we’re playing top teams we should be letting up less than 25 shots a game.
The goalie is pretty good too – Bryan Hogan, a junior. He has some experience now that he’s played an entire year and has some postseason experience. The forwards, you know, I think it’s hard to do a weakness for Michigan, but if you’re looking at it I don’t think they have a lot of proven scorers – Louis Caporusso scored 25 goals last year but I think he had 18 in the first half of the year and really faded down the stretch. They have a lot of guys like Matt Rust and Carl Hagelin and David Wohlberg and Robbie Czarnik that they’re counting on to have their best seasons. That’s a Red mantra that you have to have a better season than the year before, and if those guys do, they’ll be just fine offensively. But if they don’t, and they give you what they’ve been giving you the last couple years, the offense, against some of the better teams, just might not be there.
AA: How concerned are you about the backup goaltending situation? Do you think Bryan Hogan can shoulder the load if Berenson needs him to play 40+ games?
MS: Well, the fact of the matter is, until the last couple years a single goalie played 40 games for Michigan every year. Al Montoya did it for four years, Josh Blackburn did it for four years before him, Marty Turco did it for four years before him, and Steve Shields did it for four years before him. It’s funny how quickly things change. For the longest time people gave Red a hard time because he had a single #1 goalie and that’s who he played, and then a couple years ago Noah Ruden and Billy Sauer started when Sauer was a freshman and split time, and then Sauer started his sophomore year, in his junior year he split time a little bit with Bryan Hogan, and his senior year Hogan and him split the entire first half of the season. If they need Hogan to play 40 games, and he has no health concerns, then absolutely that’s fine and he’ll do well in that role.
I am concerned about the backup goalie. I have nothing against Shawn Hunwick, but a walk-on that has appeared in one career game going into his senior year doesn’t give you confidence that if he gets thrown in there for any extended period of time beyond maybe one game or one weekend if it’s an emergency – that could very quickly be Michigan’s undoing. You talk about a weakness, if Hogan gets hurt and he’s going to miss more than a weekend, you’ve got yourself a serious problem.
AA: How will Michigan replace the playmaking ability of Aaron Palushaj? Do you think Louie Caporusso will be as productive without his departed linemate?
MS: You know, it’s interesting, because I asked that question to Louie specifically, and Louie came back and actually looked this up: he said that outside of the first half of the season, he actually didn’t play with Aaron that much, and he didn’t really play with him a ton in the first half. He played with him for about a ten-game stretch, and during that ten games Louie had, I think, about eight goals, but other than that he didn’t play with him very much. Louie actually played quite a bit with Matt Rust and Carl Hagelin on the second line.
In terms of replacing him, you know, every year there’s a guy, or two guys, or three guys that they lose that are a big deal that you look at the roster and you go, where are the points going to come from? Two years ago, they lost Kevin Porter and Max Pacioretty and Chad Kolarik, all off the first line. You lose your whole first line, and you go, who’s going to step up? Well, Palushaj and Caporusso stepped up. This year you lose Palushaj, and you say, who’s going to step up? Well, maybe those guys we talked about. Maybe Matt Rust steps up. Carl Hagelin had four goals over the weekend. That was exhibition games, but maybe he’s the guy scores 20 goals this year. Maybe Robbie Czarnik, I want to say he had three goals a year ago, but maybe he gets 10 or 15 goals. Maybe Brian Lebler steps up. There’s always going to be a guy who steps into that role, so I’m not really that worried about it. It’s just going to be if it’s one guy, or maybe three or four guys that are just doing a little bit more.
AA: It always seems like Michigan has one or two players who just come from out of nowhere and have really productive years. Which guy or guys do you see having a breakout season this year?
MS: I think Czarnik could have a breakout year. Like I said, he only scored three goals last year, but that was way below what he’s capable of. He’s probably a guy who, if he gets off to a hot start like his classmate David Wohlberg does, he probably scores 15 goals and 15 assists. Those are the kind of numbers that he should put up this year at least. He’s a very skilled forward, great skating, great hands, he can do a lot of things offensively. He needs to have a big year.
Brian Lebler is a person they keep on talking about. He’s a senior, a big body, he scored seven goals last year and he came on towards the second half of the year. He could have a good year, and kind of do what David Rohlfs did. David Rohlfs was a good plays and then had a huge senior year, scored close to 20 goals. Lebler, I don’t think he’d get 20, but he could get 15 to 18 and have a really good senior year.
The other player that I really like is Greg Pateryn, the sophomore defenseman. He came in, and he had only played one year in juniors out of high school, and he was clearly overwhelmed early, but by December he was playing really well and he was playing really well in January when Mark Mitera came back and pushed him out of the lineup. He’s very physical, and has got the body type – 6-2, 220 pounds – that can just be punishing as a defenseman. He seems to have realized the speed of the game and has caught up to that. If he can do a better job in terms of his skating and in terms of being in the right spot at the right time, I think he’ll have a really good sophomore year.
AA: What freshmen do you see stepping and playing a big role for the team this year?
MS: Chris Brown, because he’s a power forward, and those guys usually end up on a good line – a few years ago Pacioretty was on Porter and Kolarik’s line. I think he has a good chance of ending up on Caporusso’s line, or maybe with Rust, and being that powerful left or right winger that clears room in front of the net and benefits from playing with a playmaking center. I like Chris Brown a lot.
Then A.J. Treais, I kind of counted him out as a guy who was too small – he’s only about 5-8 – but Michigan has had great players before that were shorter. T.J. Hensick was 5-8, Mike Comrie was 5-8, Mike Cammalleri was only 5-10 or so. I think Treais can come in and be the center on the third line and produce 20 points or more this year too. So, those are the two guys that I look to this year the most.
AA: Michigan was tabbed as the top team in the CCHA by both the media and the coaches. Where do you see this team finishing, and do you see them as a Frozen Four-caliber squad?
MS: Well, they absolutely have Frozen Four potential. Two years ago, they went to the Frozen Four, and they won the CCHA championship and the tournament championship, and I think this team can be better than that team. I think they have all the pieces in place that they need. I think the defense is fantastic, the goalie will very good, and the forwards – even though that’s a little bit of a concern – I think they’ll rise up. I would say this: I would be very disappointed, with the Frozen Four in Detroit this year, if Michigan wasn’t playing in the Frozen Four. There are a couple other really good teams out there, and certainly within the conference Notre Dame and Miami are going to be pretty special, but I really think this team has it all and should be in that position.
The same goes for the conference as well. Notre Dame and Miami are going to be Michigan’s biggest competition, and somebody usually comes out of the blue and challenges a little bit. Those are going to be good teams, Michigan is a very good team. I think they play Miami four times, so they’ll have an opportunity to beat those guys. But yeah, I really like this team a lot. I think they’ll be playing for the national title, that’s actually my prediction. I don’t know if they’ll win it, because a lot of things depend, but I think they’ll be playing for the national title at the end of the year.
Dammit. MGoBlog already beat me to the "pimpin' is easy" line. (Photo via MVictors)
Football:
eBay Watch: Harmon Jitterbugs with Joan & Jinx (1941) — MVictors — Don’t ask me how Greg manages to find all these great eBay auctions … I think he might secretly be selling all this stuff himself in some diabolical plan to get traffic. Dammit Greg, it’s working. The above photo, depicting Tom Harmon during the filming of the 1941 film Harmon on Michigan, is available for auction until July 20. Nobody has bid yet. Do your thing, Michigan fans.
Recapping RichRod, Pt. 2 — Wolverine Liberation Army — chitownblue forges on with his review of Year One of the RichRod Era, looking at game strategy, maintaining tradition, handling the media, and “avoiding a potty-mouth”. Again, scores are done via molotov cocktails.
U-M’s Nick Sheridan primed for competition — Detroit News — Agree to … ha, just kidding. This is really a great read from Angelique Chengelis. Despite hoping we don’t have to put him out on the football field again, I have the utmost respect for Nick Sheridan. I can’t imagine how much crap he took last year when he got tossed into the starting role, and now he is an afterthought behind two true freshmen, but he still handles himself with a ton of class. I really hope he ends up coaching here when his playing career is over.
Ranking my favorite Big Ten stadiums — ESPN.com — Adam Rittenberg, um, ranks the Big Ten stadiums. Michigan Stadium comes in fifth, and the main knock is the lack of noise. Hopefully we’ll end up a little higher after the renovations, both because they make the stadium look damn impressive, and because they’ll supposedly hold more noise in. We can only hope.
Custom Covers — Spawn of MZone — For the video gamers out there, Spawn of MZone has posted a Brandon Minor custom cover for NCAA ‘10, as well as a link to other Michigan covers. These look great, so if you want to show your school spirit with your game cover, head over there.
Camp Report: LeBron James Skills Academy/King City Classic — SlamOnline — Gotta scroll down a bit, but somewhere in there you’ll find praise for both Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims for their performances in the same camp as above. Is it too early to get excited for basketball season? [HT: MGoBlog via UMHoops]
Hockey:
Michigan pipeline continues for Coyotes — The Arizona Republic — Via MGoBlog, it sounds like the Phoenix Coyotes expect incoming freshman Chris Brown to leave school early. An in, GM Don Maloney said he’d be “stunned” if Brown stayed all four years. To his credit, Brown says he’s planning on staying in school “right now”, but that quote offers little comfort. Enjoy him while you can.
The Maize Rage will me much larger next year. And more ragin'. Definitely more ragin'
Football:
No. 46 Michigan — Rivals.com — Rivals’ Tom Dienhart gives his rundown of the Wolverines as they come in No. 46 in Rivals’ Top 120 Countdown. I can’t say my expectations are much higher than that right now, so this seems to fall in line with a realistic outlook on the season.
2009 Opponent Preview: Wisconsin — Varsity Blue — New fat running back, same old Badgers. We’ll see if Bielema adjusts to losses on both lines, as Wisconsin seems to return practically everything else.
Recapping Rich Rod, Part 1 — Wolverine Liberation Army — Chitownblue over at the always-entertaining (and quirky, to say the least) WLA gives his take on Year One of the RichRod era. Once you get through the Stalin references (seriously), there’s really good stuff in here. Also, you have to love any ratings that are measured in Molotov Cocktails.
Catching Up With Drew Dileo — UMGoBlog — A quick interview with 2010 slot commit Drew Dileo, plus some nice video of him as a sophomore.
Basketball:
Maize Rage is getting Larger — MVictors — Student ticket sales for basketball have more than quadrupled since last season, and Greg over at MVictors loves it, as well as the school’s decision to make student seating first-come, first-serve. I’m one of those new season ticket holders, and I’m excited for a louder, more electric atmosphere in Crisler next season. Winning will do that to a place. So will more college students.
Hockey:
Three Players Selected; Omaha to the WCHA — The Blog That Yost Built — Three future Wolverines — Chris Brown, Kevin Lynch, and Mac Bennett — were selected in the NHL Draft. Yost Built pulls together links to commentary on the three, plus gives their take on UNO leaving the CCHA. My take, in two words: that’s crappy.
Other Sports:
Pictures of Michigan’s new digs — MFlowBlue — Michigan’s leading lacrosse blog puts together a nice slide show of the new athletic complex.
M-Den = M-Done?? — Spawn of M Zone — M Den gets outbid by eSports for the rights to be Michigan’s official merchandising partner. Get your certified, official gear over at www.mgoblueshop.com now.
Punter Zoltan Mesko was named to NationalChamps.net's preseason All-America first team
Football:
2009 Preseason All-Americans — NationalChamps.net — Zoltan Mesko is your preseason first team punter, although I hope we see far less of him this year than in 2008. Brandon Graham was named honorable mention. (HT: The Daily)
Michigan football season-ticket sales are down, but by how much? — Detroit Free Press — Bad economy + 3-9 season + broke students = less student ticket sales. Don’t expect the stadium to be any less full though: 10,000 people are on the season ticket wait list, and with Notre Dame, Penn State, and Ohio State on the home slate in 2009 (and an improved Michigan team to boot) we can all still expect to be crammed into our seats with little room for elbows, hot dogs, sodas, or fresh air. Which is a good thing, I think.
Before they were stars: How top picks graded out as preps — SI.com — SI takes a look at the Rivals rankings of their 2009 NFL Draft mock first round. If you think the star ratings are bogus, you might want to reconsider after checking out the piece: this year’s crop averages 3.59 stars, even including outlier Clay Matthews (a no-star walk-on).
Chasing Blanchard and Davis — MVictors — Greg from MVictors takes a look at the Wolverines’ battles with Army’s famed running back duo in the wake of Doc Blanchard’s death. Great photos and some real interesting stuff on Fritz Crisler and the platoon system.
Jake Long on ESPN’s First Take:
Basketball:
Gabriel Richard’s Eso Akunne named 2009 Ann Arbor News Player of the Year — Ann Arbor News — Akunne is a preferred walk-on for Michigan next season, and put up some pretty impressive numbers (21.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists per game). The 6-3 guard could be a diamond in the rough for Michigan, who looked past his small school background and saw big time potential.
Hockey:
US Takes Gold at World U18s — The Blog That Yost Built — Big time performances from future Wolverines, especially goaltender Jack Campbell (now officially dubbed “JMFC” by TBTYB), whose tournament numbers were straight mind-blowing (4-0-0, 0.75 GAA, .967 save %, 2 shutouts, no even strength goals allowed). Get that man on campus, STAT. Kevin Lynch (5-5-10, +9) also had an outstanding tournament, and fellow recruits Chris Brown, A.J. Treais and Jon Merrill all finished with positive +/- ratings.
"When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing."
- Bo Schembechler
“I ask no man to make a sacrifice. On the contrary! We ask
him to do the opposite. To live clean, come clean, think clean.
That he stop doing all the things that destroy him physically,
mentally and morally, and begin doing all the things that make him keener, finer and more competent" - Fielding Yost
“People come up to me and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m not sorry because I received the greatest thing from the University of Michigan anyone can receive: a degree.” - Zia Combs
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