Weekend Roundup: Big Ten Meetings Edition 7-30-12

My god it's nearly August.  Jet plane for Jerry's World leaves in less than a month.  Game with defending national champion in 32 days.  Whoa.​

Here's what happened across the internets while you pondered how much it would cost to actually become Batman:​

• ​AnnArbor.com takes a look at Michigan's new roster, which now includes the incoming freshmen.  Of note, everybody is fully embracing the Gittleson plan, packing on pounds and no doubt getting slower, namely Jibreel Black and Craig Roh.  We are about to Lloyd the shit out of this team.  Soon after its release, Mgoblog took that roster and analyzed it like it was their job...which I guess it is.   You wish your job was that cool.
• Denard comes out of games for injuries.  You've seen it.  I've seen it.  His style of play makes it an inevitability.  So it's a good idea to have a good back up.  We have a serviceable one whose abilities have yet to be tapped...and we've decided that he needs to get time at wide receiver.  I guess we've got to appease him before Shane Morris gets here and forces him to switch positions in the name of pro-style philosophies., but does it make sense for THIS season?  Anyway, the Freep says he's busy adjusting to his role.
• From ESPN...Brady speaks at Big Ten Media Days about being the preseason Big Ten favorite, moving Roh and Black, and Will Campbell's abs.
• ​Denard Robinson, whose 3229 rushing yards is just 667 shy of Randle El's Big Ten QB record, spoke at the Big Ten media days.  
• Black Shoe Diaries covers the six top recruits that have decided to reaffirm their verbals to Penn State.  I sympathize ​with what the Penn State blogosphere is going through...it sucks and its not your fault it sucks.  I also appreciate the fact that this is good news for Penn State right now.  I also want to be clear that these six kids will not be signing with Penn State in February.  You'd have to be bat shit crazy to sign up for four years of no bowls, a team short on scholarship athletes, and no ability (short of a fifth year of eligibility) to reap any benefits of your efforts.
• Urban Meyer's camp "Friday Night Lights" debuted in Columbus this weekend.  From the sound of the Eleven Warriors recap, it was a resounding success, and it gave onlookers a chance to gaze upon the horseshoe's new scoreboard and new and louder music.  And the scoreboard wars continue....​
• Boiled Sports presents 2012's pivotal Boilermakers, players that are going to need to step up to get them the success they pine for, which is apparently 8 wins.​
• Derrick Walton, who is about a year from his arrival at Michigan, lead his AAU team to the Adidas Super 64 Championship in Las Vegas on Sunday, and was named the tournament MVP.  UMHoops has more.
• Iowa has beaten Michigan three times in a row, a first in the series that dates back to 1900.  No player our team has beaten Iowa.​..or Michigan State for that matter.  Damn you Rodriguez Years!  Anyway, Hawk Central reminds you of your Hawkeye problem.
• For all things recruiting, you need yourself some UM BBQ.  Maize and Brew covers the event in great detail.​
• People in glass houses are occasionally allowed to throw stones.  So, despite this...I still take great pleasure in this.​  Maybe if Brady and Urban get together they can universally decide not to have their players miss playing time in a closed door meeting.  That way, nobody can talk shit about the other, and Fitz can start in Texas.
• AnnArbor.com covers Brady Hoke's proficiency in night games.  3-0 last year....9-0 in that Ball State miracle year.  Good news considering the schedule is skewed toward the latter part of the day on Saturdays this fall.​
• They're going to let students into the Big House to watch the Cowboys Classic on the big screens.  Very cool.  Good luck keeping the alcohol out of there on a Saturday night on welcome weekend.​
• Jalen Rose will join ESPN College Gameday...the hoops version...this fall along with Bruce Pearl.
• Eleven Warriors doesn't exactly pine for Shane Morris, but they certainly do pine for there own version of this recruiting recruit.​

Pictures From Michigan vs. Purdue (Hoops Home Finale)

Not What We Expected: Purdue 75, Michigan 61

Not planning on dwelling on this, and I hope the fellas don't either.  

With the student body out of town, and likely knee deep in tequilla, the crowd was dull and lifeless.  Michigan's start, which had Purdue leading 12-2 before Godfather even got his popcorn, didn't help things much.  Michigan didn't have it Saturday night, Purdue did.  My un-basketball-educated perspective?  In Michigan's delicate balancing act of choosing between trying to establish position through screen and rolls to the inside, and chucking it from three, they seemed to make the wrong move each time down court.  When we went to the inside, three Purdue players were waiting to converge on the ball.  When we rotated around the perimeter, there seemed to be a double team at every stop.  Trey Burke had a lot of difficulty penetrating, to a level I haven't seen since the game at Ohio State.  It felt like they shut him down, but that just goes to show you the expectations we have for our fab freshman...he still had 12 points and 4 assists.  Tim Hardaway was 5-7 from the floor when inside the arc, but 0-6 from three.  He and Trey both had 4 turnovers, but a couple of Tim's stood out to me as particularly frustrating during that dreadfully paced first half.

But it wasn't Michigan's offense that lost the game on Saturday night, it was the defense.  Purdue scored 43 points in the second half, which I believe is above the Big Ten average for most full games.  Purdue consistently beat Michigan's defenders to the hoop.  Everything looked like a mismatch.  Too many mistakes, too many open 3's, and the pair of late game daggers from Hummel...game over.

Michigan ends the home slate at 15-1.  Not perfect, but still impressive.  Unfortunately, this not-so-great-on-the-road Michigan team will be playing out the season and post-season in arenas not named Crisler.  Michigan needs to concentrate on finishing off these remaining two road games in a proper fashion, grabbing some momentum heading into the Big Ten tournament.  They've got a couple of extra days of rest this week before heading to Champaign on Thursday, where they will face a wounded Illini team...heavily wounded.  Going into tonight's game against Iowa, Illinois has lost 9 of their last 10, including a 23 point loss to Nebraska.  Then it's just two-days off before heading to Sandusky-ville for the regular season finale.

Michigan needs significant help to grab a share of the regular season Big Ten title.  Ohio State needs to lose either vs. Wisconsin tonight, or at Northwestern on the 29th.  They then need to beat Michigan Agricultural College in the season finale.  MAC needs to lose at Indiana on the 28th, then obviously lose to OSU on March 4th.  Longshot?  Yep.  Impossible?  Nope.

Other Purdue reactions across the internets:  Indianapolis Star gloats, USA Today has pretty colors, UMHoops breaks it down proper-like.

Go Blue!

Purdue Quick Hits

Jersey neck hole too big, or head too small?  

My first Michigan basketball game was Michigan vs. Purdue...but it was Chris Webber vs. Glen Robinson.  I remember that it was like an NBA game, and I remember that Johnny Cleveland was there, eating Zingerman's (and a sauerkraut and corned beef reuben) for the first time.  I think this story makes me old, but I've got that little kid feeling today as a couple of would-be role players turned heroes will be taking the court at the "house they rebuilt" for the last time.  Maybe ten years from now I will remember that today featured Trey Burke and Robbie Hummel...Michigan's amazing freshman...and a guy that was a freshman back when Gene Keady had a full head of hair.  

Things to know before you go....

• Michigan beat Purdue by 2 in West Lafayette.
• Partying to hard?  Purdue is short a guy, as Kelsey Barlow was removed from the program. Good bench scorer.  You never can tell what kind of effect this will have....rallying cry for a desperate team, or another nail in the coffin in one of Purdue's less than remarkable seasons?
• DJ Byrd is back from his suspension, and is one of those guys that comes off of the bench and rains threes....which is something that we always seem to be susceptible to.
• Hummel has been hot in his last 4 games.
• Purdue needs this win for NCAA tourney posterity.
• Michigan needs this win to go undefeated at home for the first time in 35 years, and to stay within a win of the Big Ten championship.

Be there...6pm...BTN.

Go Blue!

Purdue Pics