Monthly Archive for March, 2008Page 4 of 4

Josh Moore’s Long Journey

Published
by
Dylan
on March 3, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 10 Comments

Moore and QueenFormer Michigan center Josh Moore is still playing ball and recently has come into the national media spotlight. If you need a quick recap of the Josh Moore story this ESPN.com article is a good place to start. If that picture of Moore and Queen doesn’t bring back nightmares I don’t know what else would.

Moore was recently featured on an NPR segment as well as in the Wall Street Journal. Moore played some professional ball in Iran and now is back with the Clippers’ D-League squad. Over the course of his long strange journey he of course has started a blog. The Wall Street Journal article has lots to say about the culture in Iran as well as international basketball. However Moore also has plenty to say about the Michigan athletic department in his blog. Of course Moore was ready to weigh in on the Tommy Amaker cheating allegations from the New York Times (along with an OSU football YouTube video).

While we are on the subject of college basketball…….Michigan’s men’s basketball program is honestly somewhat of an enigma, even since the days of Glenn Rice, my former teammate, they have been accused of flagrant NCAA violations, with the most popular being the money in the cake story that every Michigan athlete has heard. Like many other recruits I was duped and off balance from my first day in Ann Arbor. I was sold a history that was paid for or fairytale and that wasn’t fair. Sometimes I wish I was better prepared to take the previous year of basketball off before attending Michigan, but then again I thought I would get an opportunity to catch up. Oblivious to me, we had a coach that was on the hot seat and desperate to win, and my opportunity to catch up consisted of six games.

Moore clearly feels that he did not get a clear shot at Michigan, which I suppose is fair. Even though the academic issues surrounding Moore’s career are plentiful he never really did get a shot on the court. Then again he was brought in with an era of Ellerbee that can be described as nothing short of a nightmare. Whether it was Avery Queen sneaking out in the Virgin Islands getting wasted before a game or Kevin Gaines drunken wrestling in the middle of Telegraph. It is safe to say a house cleaning was necessary. Moore goes on:

The biggest mistake I ever made in my life was attending the scandal filled, divided, cesspool known as the University of Michigan and I have no problem with publicly saying that.

Moore in Clippers UniformMoore has plenty of thoughts and brings up some interesting points. While they have flaws of their own Moore’s blog is worth a read for any Michigan fan that wants to reminisce about the glory gloomy days of the Ellerbee era or even just get Moore’s opinions on the Rich Rodriguez hire. Maybe it will make you feel a little better about this years painful season.

Poll question/Predictions: What ex-Michigan-Beilein-refugee player will be talking about getting a raw deal at Michigan 5 years down the road?

10 Comments

Calling All Students

Published
by
Dylan
on March 3, 2008
in 2007-2008 Season
. 2 Comments

Please come to Crisler this Sunday at 4pm for the last home game of the year. There are free tickets for all students when you use this voucher with your M-card. It should be a fun game and there is really no reason not to be there. The fact that we are giving away free student tickets for the last home game of the year says everything that anyone needs to know about ticket sales this year. Hopefully we can avoid a complete invasion by the Paint Crew, but if Minnesota could own Crisler I wouldn’t be suprised if the Paint Crew does either. Especially playing for a share of the Big Ten Title.

On a side note, the Maize Rage is working to get free tickets next year for all students. This would be a huge boost to try and keep a struggling student section alive.

2 Comments

Cronin and Henninger Finally Beat Proctor

Published
by
Dylan
on March 2, 2008
in Ben Cronin and Recruits
. 9 Comments

Ben Cronin in Sectional ChampionshipAfter losing to Proctor six games in a row, Henninger’s fate looked bleak headed into today’s sectional final. The pre-game hype was evident with local Syracuse writers predicting an “instant classic“. Henninger’s only two losses this year were to Proctor but this time around Henninger got the last laugh with the 57-41 victory (as Tommy Amaker would say, it’s hard to beat a team three times). Cronin had 10 points and 16 rebounds for Henninger. Syracuse bound (football) Proctor star Deandre Preaster had a game high 21 points but it was not enough. It was definetely a big win for Henninger, and individually for Ben. In his interview after Henninger’s last win Cronin said that he wanted to play Proctor because he needed to beat them and he got it done. Congrats Ben, Henninger advanced to play in the regional finals next Saturday. Watch video of the game from WTVH here (Click ‘Watch the Story’).

9 Comments

Game 27: Michigan @ Penn State: Post Game

Published
by
Dylan
on March 2, 2008
in 2007-2008 Season
. 20 Comments

Another player posts his career high against Michigan. It’s been a problem all year, whether it is Rice, Leuer, Grant,Coble, Moore, McKenzie or Battle they all do it the same way: rain three pointers on the Michigan defense. You don’t win games in the BigTen when you allow your opponents to shoot 55% from deep in a game (box score).

Snyder says Michigan didn’t fold like teams of old because they cut it to 6 late, however I would argue that giving up a 15-0 run on 5 three pointers is pretty reminiscent of recent teams.

Manny played great, the comfort he is starting to get with his three point shot is encouraging. Sure he makes some bad decisions but as I have said all year long without him this team would be nothing. Manny had a career high 29 points and knocked down 5 out of 11 triples.

Grady is also starting to come together, he has started consistently making the three point jumper when left open and looked good yesterday. However it must be noted that his terrible entry pass led to the start of the 15-0 PSU run. Gibson also showed flashes in the first half with some very nice moves to the hoop and one big dunk. But then only ended up playing 13 minutes for the game, not sure what Beilein was thinking here.

DeShawn Sims and Ant Wright have packed it in. They combined for 1-15 (0-10 3pfg) shooting yesterday while only scraping together 9 rebounds in 60 combined minutes. Not to mention their backups Ron Coleman and Jevohn Shepherd don’t provide much more. The wing is such a huge problem (even moving Manny there next year) that it almost makes me want to take two more in 08. If Michigan goes as DeShawn goes, that explains why we keep losing.

Beilein got his first technical in the first half. Didn’t really see what he did but it was after a loose ball foul on Ekpe going after an offensive board. Michigan has shot a school record 657 threes, however making 207 is only good for third in school history.

Another tough loss, hopefully Michigan can play spoiler next weekend against the Boilermakers. It’s a shame to see the momentum they had build up get wasted away by tough losses at Minnesota, against Northwestern and at Penn State.

20 Comments

Game 27: Michigan @ Penn State: Pre-Game

Published
by
Dylan
on March 1, 2008
in 2007-2008 Season
. 21 Comments

Michigan is looking to bounce back after last weeks embarrassing home loss to Northwestern. The rest will surely help, the team looked to have very tired legs after playing 3 games in 6 days. The last Penn State win started Michigan’s late season positive momentum and made Beilein’s squad appear to be headed the right direction. A win at Penn State is Michigan’s last chance for a series sweep against any other teams in the Big Ten, it also is a chance to move up in the conference standings. Michigan is currently in a three way tie with Penn State and Iowa with 5 wins.

Penn State recently scrapped out a big home victory against Iowa which came down to the final seconds and has proven to be a formidable team at home with wins against MSU, Iowa and Illinois. The fact remains that this is a depleted Penn State team without Claxton, not to mention a banged up Cornely. The threats in the backcourt are Pringle and Battle, both of whom scored in doubt digits last game.

Michigan won the last contest by out shooting Penn State, one of the few times that has happened all year. Michigan shot 54% to Penn States 36% (box score). Anthony Wright, DeShawn and Manny had solid games for Michigan although the turnover/assist numbers from the first meeting are a bit scary. Manny had 1 assist to 5 turnovers and the team as a whole had 11 assists and 14 turnovers.

UMHoops Prediction: Michigan 66 - Penn State 64 — The Wolverine domination of Penn State continues. Let’s hear the predictions.

Also just a tip, Tigers tickets went on sale today and were tough to get. As always try StubHub for your Tigers tickets. These coupon codes will give you $20 off as well (hat tip DTW).

WEL03081 - $20 off - Expires 4/10/2008
WEL03082 - $20 off - Expires 4/17/2008
WEL04081 - $20 off - Expires 5/15/2008
WEL04082 - $20 off - Expires 5/22/2008

21 Comments

Douglass Leads Carmel Past Hamilton Southeastern

Published
by
Dylan
on March 1, 2008
in Recruits and Stuart Douglass
. 1 Comment

Stuart Douglass and the Carmel Greyhounds advanced to the sectional final with a 77-60 win over Hamilton Southeastern. Douglass led all scorers with 19 points on 7 of 15 shooting (5 of 10 3 point) including a fast break dunk as the third quarter ran out. Carmel’s next game is the sectional final against Noblesville Monday at 7pm.

At the end of the third, Carmel scored uncontested baskets on back-to-back turnovers. Moore laid in two of his 16 points, then a few seconds later, the Michigan-bound Douglass came up with a loose ball and just beat the buzzer for a breakaway dunk. Carmel had an 11-point cushion.

We were all yelling, ‘Shoot it!’ ” Galloway said. “Knowing Stu, we thought he would try a 3.”
Said Douglass, a senior who had a game-high 19 points, “I looked up and saw 2.9 seconds left and knew I could make it.”

Moore, who had 16 points and 10 assists, needled Douglass. “That thunderous dunk?” he said. “I’ve seen better from Stu. I give it about a four.”

1 Comment