Queue the throwing elbows/bad player montage. Seriously though, he seemed out of it against the Badgers and I wonder if there is some relation here.

crapola. sounds like a practice fight maybe?

Looks like a 20 point win for Purdue then.

This going to be fun to watch. And by “fun,” I mean embarrassing.

Vogrich time

honestly.. I am kind of interested to see how the team responds.. and then very interested to see how manny responds in his return.. hopefully against michigan state.

Holy christ. Do I really have to start drinking already?

why does michigan have such a habit of benching key players in key games?
see:
2/22/09, Manny benched in OT at Iowa (Loss 70-60)
10/10/09, Tate benched on final drive at Iowa (Loss 30-28)
Today, Manny benched at Purdue (???)

Hopefully we won’t lose by 20. While I thought prior to this news that Michigan would hang around because of Harris and Simms and make it close, now I just can’t see that happening. Who’s going to fill in successfully? Ant Wright? Please, those threes against UConn were just a flash in the pan. Matt Vogrich? A freshman worth maybe two three pointers a no defense. This game could get ugly and Purdue will win by a minimum of 15 points.

The team will respond by laying an egg. They are fragile at the best of times, take out one of the two best players on the team and this is a recipe for disaster.

I hope this is legit. Manny seems like a fine kid and I wouldn’t be surprised if having to carry the team week after week is becoming a source of frustration to him.

How can anyone possibly be defending Manny right now. He needs to grow up, doesn’t hustle on the defensive side of the court, is extremely selfish, this suspension doesn’t surprise me one bit. Frankly, kudos to Coach Beilein for not catering to his star player and taking disciplinary action. The kid is one of the most talented athletes in the nation but has absolutely no work ethic and expects everything to be handed to him. I expect this suspension is due more to built up frustration by Beilein and the result of numerous bouts of insubordination with the “unsportsmanlike conduct” being the tipping point. Hopefully this is a wake up call to Manny and he will realize that, while talent will get him far, he needs to grow up to turn the corner into a superstar.

wow…pretty harsh jlc…so u absolutely know all the facts about this huh? you see the big picture, know everything that goes on in practice, key in on manny every defensive posession? Because honestly, it does not surprise me that a very talented 20 year old kid, who is called on to do everything for a team that is not quite there yet mentally or skill wise, would have an issue or two during 4 years at a school..

Drew – Yes.

It will probably be a loss today but they hung with Wisconsin despite Mannys “absence”. So this might be much different. I’m sure Vogrich can shoot 4-15 or whatever Mannys final stats were. This just hurts Mannys draft stock more. I hope he turns it around.

The good news is we will see how mentally tough this team truly is. Things look bad but if Purdue doesn’t jump out ahead right away things may be all right. The longer they can hang the more confidence they will get. The benching last year worked out all right.

Faith.

We don’t know what happened so we can’t really say much about who is to blame. All we can say for certain is that we’re going to lose.

It’s unsurprising that Manny is selfish considering how little consistency/reliability his team members demonstrate. The stars of other talent-poor teams tend to be ball hogs, too. Like Hazell on Seton Hall.

I think this sends a bad message to potential star recruits. Let’s not be holier-than-thou idealists here (the last recourse of many a UM fan): if we don’t pamper them, some school will. And then that school will beat us.

That said, if he punched Beilein, bench him.

Don’t pay twice. A loss isn’t a loss until 40 minutes of basketball have been played.

Whatever, this is way too over reaching. Dont start him, make him run steps at 6:00 in the morning for a week but handle it in a way that doesnt hurt the rest of the team!..How does Deshawn Sims come out in this situation, did he do anything to lose any chance of winning a tournament resume game? No, this puts way too much burden on the rest of the players!!! Did he storm a fraternity with a gang of players? WTF…UM recruiting is garbage already but these type of things will solidify no elite players coming here.

This is just icing on the cake for a disappointing season. Manny gains nothing from returning next year and Sims is gone. Looks like we’ll be rebuilding for many years to come.

JLC lol a little extreme? One’s hate shouldnt make him jump off the deep end. I would hope you knew something we all dont, but I truly believe your just talking out your backside. Anyways kiss any hopes of Manny returning for his senior season away. I have no clue what happened, but there are not to many guys (good or bad) who will accept this as a growing moment when they are the “star”. The worst possible news we could of got, ill check the boards later for a game update cause I most definitely am not watching this

On the bright side ESPN will not have the excuse to continuously play footage of the “elbow incident”.

Go Blue – we don’t have a tournament resume. We left that at Disney World in Orlando!

Patrick a win today and we would be in very good position with many quality games ahead. Were you actually saying there is no way UM can get in the tournament?

Lol’ing @Patrick

Go Blue – a very good position? A win today would put us at 11-8 and we have shown all year we can’t win consistently. Assuming we need 18 or 19 wins before the B10 tournament to be in consideration, please tell me where you see 7 or 8 wins in our remaining games?

Go Blue: you’re right. We need to think about the big picture. Not about teaching Harris a life lesson. We were a very marginal tournament team, but without Manny we are basically somewhere between Dartmouth and Pine Bluff. This will hurt Sims, it will hurt our recruiting, and it could seal Manny’s departure. Great leadership, JB.

Go Blue…Really…so throw out ethics to bring in high level talent? I’m putting my support with JB if Manny deserved to be benched then he should be if he’s a star or the guy that sits on the end of the bench. I still think it should be a good game. For you people that said Manny has been carrying this team lately…thats all Sims. Don’t complain about how are you going to do this to the team. Maybe the leadership of the team should have seen this comming. Obviosly I don’t know what happened but don’t make assumptions and blame JB.

hate to say it, but we are going to get annihilated today.

we’ll all get to see just how dependent this team is on manny, even when he’s not scoring

bluejays – how are you gonna call out beilein when you don’t even know what happened?

Ethics..lol..I have pointed out other punishments which would actually be harder on Manny than the suspension. The difference is the team would not have to suffer along with him. No one is calling for no discipline its the type that is in question.

read my post in the game preview… give feedback.

“JB”: As I said, if it was an utterly jaw-dropping incident, benching would be the only course of action. But if not, as Go Blue points out, there are ways of constructively disciplining the player without punishing the whole team. (And this, I might add, is a fragile team whose recruiting prospects are equally fragile.)

here this isn’t much but I found this on BTN.com:

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/mbasketball/story.asp?list_id=47&story_id=3382830

We were going to lose anyway, this way we get to at least see what Vogrich can really do.

I’m kind of surprised how many people are condemning Beilein for this with no knowledge of what actually happened. I think those of us who have been paying attention have noticed that something hasn’t been right with Manny, particularly in the last game. I’m not going to bash him, but there are times lately that he has looked “out of it”. So this doesn’t come as a total shock to me. I defer to Beilein’s judgement that this is best for both Manny and the future of the program. I can’t help but remember the widespread condemnation of Beilein for benching Manny in the Iowa game last year. We all know how that worked out.

We lost in OT? (kidding, kind of)

U got to be Fnin kidding me Beilein. Thanks for turning me off for today’s game. Id rather not see us lose easily by 25+

I feel the reason people are dismayed by what Beilein has done is they feel it makes him look bad in recruiting. He already has the image of a bad recruiter who doesn’t run an NBA-style offense, now not only are people going to think he can’t recruit talent, but that he doesn’t respect talent.

How anyone can comment on whether this discipline is right or not is beyond me. No one knows what happenned and if it is something that has been recurring time and time again. Further to bring up the potential impact this could have on recruits is ludicrous. That would be a great way to run a program. Hey why not give these kids some money to come play as well or a car. Why do the coaches even make them go to classes, that seems pretty silly. Afterall there are plenty of five star recruits out there that would love to go to a school where all they have to do is play basketball.

I also dont see how you can say that this is Beilein punishing the team by suspending Manny. If anything, and assuming that punishment was warranted, this is all on Manny for hurting the team. They were his actions, that broke team rules or at least violated the basic code of conduct for a player, and now he has to pay the price.

not lookin as good as pre season looked for tournament teams. Looks like were gonna get 6 teams tops. Minny just blew a chance against Mich st.

Respect talent? I really cant believe some of these comments. These are not professional players. They are college kids. They are not bigger than the team or the program or the University. They dont get respect just because they are talented and some guy on Rivals gave them five stars. They have to earn that respect. Not just from their coach but from their teammates.

I think UM tried it once with a coach that deferred to talent and let his players do just about anything they wanted. As I recall that didnt turn out so well.

Program is a complete disaster. Thought the Amaker years were bad, recruiting is laying the groundwork for years of lower level b10 finishes.I believe we will not see two players with the talent of Sims and Manny in the Michigan program until we are past the Beilien era. Beilien is overmatched in B10 coaching.Since Beilein showed up we have lost Detroit and therefore have no recruiting base in the state. Last year was the blip on the radar, this year the most disapointing team in the country.Next year look for us to be the skinniest, most unathletic team in the B10. Get used to it.

Ya i get all of that but do u want to see us play Purdue without Harris. Save it when we gotta play Iowa

Get this coach out of here!!!!!!!!! What a f-ing disaster Dumblein is

I support Beilein for having the balls to make this decision. Unless you want a team full of Kevin Gaines’, Maurice Searight’s, Josh Moore’s, etc, , you put your foot down now, even if it means sitting your star player for a crucial game. I guarantee the person hurt by this the most, besides Manny, is Beilein himself.

But…the guy has won everywhere he’s been…with some “skinniest, most unathletic” teams. Heaven forbid he should try to build character in some 18-21 year olds.
: / : / : / : / : /

I;m with you Tweeter. All I know is JB is the leader of this program and attained that position based on a long track record. I don’t believe there is anyone on this board with the same kind of credentials that would qualify them to question this move of discipline. Apparently some of us still haven’t learned we are responsible for our own decisions and actions.

I am not at all sure that some of his recruits are even MAC level. But since he is a genius I am sure we have nothing to be concerned about. Next year when he has his team of recruits I’m sure we will be calling him coach Beinius.

It’s funny that some people are taking the stance that this is evidence that Beilein is a bad coach. That’s some pretty warped thinking. It’s obvious that some posters on here are not too interested in integrity. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Do I want to see us play Purdue without Harris, obviously not. I want to see this team win every freakin game. But I dont want to see it happen at the expense of doing the right thing and what is best overall for the program. I don’t think you can look at it and say, “ok, well, we gotta suspend Harris sometime. Lets find a game that we can win without him.” If you are going to suspend him, you suspend him. Regardless of who you play next.

Ted, I would like to ask you candidly if you would rather have Amaker rather than Beilein. I will tell you one thing. I love the fact that Beilein benched Manny today because it shows you that you are not bigger than the team. I would take this coach that we have now than the former one because he can actually coach. Amaker was not a coach, he was a recruiter that couldn’t produce any of his players. With Beilein here you can already see Novak, Douglas, and even Manny get better. Now I understand that this season is somewhat of an upsetting year in more ways than one. But the fact remains that Beilein provides Michigan with a coach who is all about the team.

“The team, the team, the team” was the mantra for another Michigan team and it seemed to work.

If the only way this team can win for the next 12 games is to kiss Manny Harris’ a**, then this season is lost anyway. He isn’t all that – at least not yet anyway. Maybe playing a game without him that they were going to lose anyway will help strengthen the rest of the team for when he comes back.

Everyone would love to recruit and get the top players in the country, but let’s think about something. In the ’90′s UM had 3 #1 recruits. Webber (and Co.) made the program a lot of money, but personally, I’d rather see the banners still hanging in Crisler. Jerod Ward? He was exciting, right? Answer: No. Remember the John Wall-type splash Lavall Blanchard made? Yeah, me neither.

2.5 years to turn around a program that was miserable for 10+ years? That’s what you give the guy? Ridiculous.

West Virginia really took a step back efter Beilien left. Not about suspending Manny,my question is why after three years does any player not know his limits with the coach. Bigger question is where are the recruits to take up the slack.

I AM SICK OF THESE FING FAIR WEATHER FANS. TED… STFU.
a fan will stay with there team through thick and thin. I agree 100% with what beilein did. In a way I am also excited for the class of 07 (mannys class) to leave to see what happens when its all beileins players. you can criticize me for that but what ever.

Why should there be any tolerance for unsportsman like conduct – by any player – in practice or a game? What limit to that conduct should have Beilein made Harris aware of?

Wow, have the trolls returned or are people collectively losing their heads? It’s amazing that anyone can comment without having any idea what happened.

Ted – Your reasoning ability is on par with jihadist 4 year old

I’ve got plenty of thoughts on this one but I’ll save them for later. I am actually mildly intrigued to see how this team reacts to playing without Manny.

It is important to remember that we have no idea what happened, probably never will.

Let’s try to keep discussion here as civil as we can though and at least avoid name calling.

Yeah, UM dumps 5 million a year into its basketball program is to “build character” in a tiny handful of taller-than-average “18-21 year olds.”

I think good coaches build character AND notch W’s, tournament berths, and exciting Detroit recruits. I hate how the prevailing UM trope that all successful college coaches are basically moral sleazebags, whereas JB is cut of some holy cloth and must not be questioned. Maybe Stu Douglass has more character than Jon Diebler, maybe not. There’s zero way of assessing it in such a way as to take pride in it. But Diebler can drain threes on command, whereas Douglass/Vogrich/Novak cannot, unless the stars are aligned in a certain way over Ann Arbor — that takes a kind of character, no?

Manny is frustrated. If Manny had gone to a better program, he would have better NBA prospects today. Benching him lowers his stock even further. Hence the message this sends to Zeigler et al.

these anti-beilein comments are the most bandwagon pathetic crap ever. you are the fans that give michigan fans a bad name.

bluejay – you want us to take your recruiting analysis seriously when yesterday you’re admitting that you thought trey was a white german, but now you realize we really need him cuz he’s not white? man, we should get you on our recruiting board.

hate to say it, but is tom izzo a bad coach? he did the same thing with kalin lucas this year.

Took out some trash… If you are banned and think it’s unfair, email me and we can discuss it

This season has been a disspointment TO DATE. It is not over yet. All the people who are talking about the future need to take a chill pill and watch the rest of this season before making any judgements. This team still has time to make a statement. Also OSU, Alabama, Marquette, Connecticut wins equals jump in Michigan’s RPI, SOS.

Ted-Amaker beat us, yes, but Coach B had Amaker’s recruits and Amaker had someone else’s recruits. As a teacher and coach, I respect Coach B’s decision…do you think he wants to lose, he is teaching more than just basketball and I am sure Manny’s parents would want him disciplined if needed. If Manny is msart enough to realize he was wrong, he will suck it up and come out with a vengence against Sparty…I would prefer beating msu of Purdue.

OSU running a 1-3-1?

Could Manny’s absence potentially mean Vogrich will step up? He could certainly provide a spark if he knocks down some 3′s. Maybe making this game closer than it should be. More thoughts here…

http://www.sextingtigerwoods.com/2010/matt-vogrich-your-time-has-come/

We don’t know what happened, but it makes for a fun discussion, don’t it?

To me, this appears to be a decision that took some serious stones. On the cusp of a completely ruined season and you bench your star for an enormously important game? Come on! That’s bad ass. I love it. JB is my man more than ever. No doubt other head coaches will take notice and, I’d think, be impressed by JB’s stones. (Hopefully one head coach in particular, whose kid happens to be our number one recruiting target.) Lavin, on the other hand, might not get it.

I wish RMK was doing the game.

Dylan,

thank you for running a blog that isn’t full of the garbage that some people want to post.

Now off to the game to catch the players warmup. I am really disappointed I won’t get to see the crowd’s reaction to Manny

I think JB and Amaker are both good coaches. I would rather have Amaker going forward though. He’s got it figured out over at Harvard it looks like.

[...] UPDATE: Manny Harris has been suspended. Unsportsmanlike conduct in practice. Commence doling out odds on who got sucker punched [...]

Michigan fans are the most impatient bunch ever. It’s very clear that the team overachieved last year which is a direct result of great coaching. This year we are underachieving a bit but not as much as I think people make it out to be. It’s painfully obvious that we don’t have the talent to merit a pre-season #15 ranking.

I don’t have much doubt that Manny deserved to be suspended today. In any sport no one player is bigger than the team and good coaches realize that. Manny needed to be suspended today and how he reacts and plays going forward is 100% up to Manny Harris.

part of me wants to me to see us get annhilated right out of the gym to show how terrible this team is withough harris.

Mike, then part of you is not a fan of Michigan.

I think they will suprise us a little bit. Well.. I hope.

Go Blue! give em a fight, what i would give to see Novak thrown down a dunk over Kramer and just stand over him…

tough loss for OSU.

yea its just so dam frustrating watching Michigan football and basketball last few years

What are your alls thoughts? novak at the 3 sims at 4 gibson at 5? or will it be wright or vogrich starting?

I would guess Morris starts and Stu or LLP plays the three.

Wow. Some of you people are unbelievable. Look at JB’s track record. I think it’s pretty impressive, mainly because he WINS EVERYWHERE HE GOES. I’m glad some of you want to bash on him for not letting his star get away with anything he wants. If you want to root for programs who let their kids do whatever they want w/out suspension just because they are “too good” to bench, maybe you should consider following Callipari at Kentucky, until he destroys them just like Memphis.

Thank you Dylan. I think Ted’s spelling alone warranted him being banned. To the game….I am not prediciting a win by any means, but I think this team comes out with something to prove and makes the game a lot closer than most would think. Go Blue!!!

wow… anthony wright

Reading these comments is absolutely disgusting (for the most part).

Let’s go boys. Shock the world!

Sims is going to the NBA.

Sims just putting his D and his B’s all in Johnson’s face.

Where would we be right know if Sims had played in the post all year? Him floating earlier this year really hurt us.

Monster

Agreed, Giddings. Relax, people. The program has been a disappointment this year, agreed. Let’s give JB some time and see what happens over the next 2-3 years without freaking out.

@Patrick
Word. He really screwed us by waiting till now to assert himself. But Jesus can he be good when he plays this hard. Scary good

Wait, if your Purdue dont you want to force everyone else to shoot the ball and take Sims out of the game? It appears their strategy is to let Sims wear himself down by taking every shot.

RMK IS calling the game!

I wish I had a dozen wings and some two hearted.

judging by the start, i think if peedi drops 75, we might have a shot.

I just wanted to say that JB’s offense is garbage. Being a former college hooper myself I know this offense is weak and its not a good fit for big ten play. When the ball is outsigde the arc 90% of the time your players become more of a threat to turn it over than to make easy buckets. These 3 foot passes are garbage and not needed. Get some big men and post your players up. Pick off the ball and play like men. This offense is for ladies at Princeton. By the way with this offense no blue chippers will come to the great UOFM..Just the Stus of this world. Its like a jr higher in a mens league..

Peedi came to play. He obviously isn’t going to beat Purdue by himself but he has been tremendous in Big Ten play. Michigans defense is MIa though

Kind of disheartening that Peedi has been so dominant on offense but we can’t get a stop (or rebound when we do get a stop) on defense.

Hopefully Purdue will start to collapse their D to stop the inside game from Deshawn and Stu and Zack will each hit 5 threes to lead us to victory…

Deshawn Sims turning into a superstar over the last few games. I am proud of this guy.

Make sure to check Hart is on the score sheet!

You know what, I’m starting to agree on the whole JB offense. With Manny gone, wtf are we gonna do?

Nevermind that Manny is gone, who will score when Sims has to take a break?

Well part of it is an adjustment. THese guys are used to playing the role of spot up shooters and passers, and letting Manny/sims do the creating. Now they have to adjust and become more play makers. Its not going to happen in one day, but hopefully over the course of an offseason, they start to develope more of that creativity.

How many turnover do we have in these stupid handoff passes? Simms is playing great though..

So who else is excited for next year? Haha yikes. I hate life

Next year will be worse than this year.

I wont question Beilein on the suspension of Manny, but why did he have to suspend our defense too? I mean jees, this is far too easy for Purdue.

With or without Manny, Purdue is just a better team. Their execution has been flawless.

Welp, it’s going to get ugly. D Sims vs Purdue….why am I still watching?

AO, can you tell me where you played please? You clearly don’t understand the offense that Beilein runs. Yes, it is perimeter-based, but it also emphasizes not turning the ball over, which we usually do very well, while you said we turn the ball over too much.

Hey, at least next year they won’t have to deal with expectations. They seem to always do the opposite of what we expect, so who knows.

Let’s give some credit to Purdue today also. They look as crisp as any opponent we’ve played this year. They’re hitting all of their open jumpers and just flat out taking care of business. I do hate their rat-style perimeter defense though, I wish refs called more fouls like the last one.

Why must Beilein continue to play Ant Wright? I don’t care that we lack size, he lacks skill and pisses me off everytime he’s on the court.

Stu looks lost out there. The defense hasn’t showed up yet either. Not a very spirited effort so far. We are not a good enough team to not go all out, all game, every game.

I seriously feel sorry for Peedi. He looks like the only person that actually showed up today.

How many of the guys on the bench probably wish they were back in Ann Arbor with Manny?

Im sorry but you Beilein apologists are missing the point. Look at that bunch of non athletic, non shooting mac level players we have. Wake up, skilled players do not want to play for this guy in this system. How many recruiting classes of nothing will it take before you all realize the obvious? Seriously look at these guys, they look like guys playing in my church league not Big Ten basketball players..lol

they really look like they care about rebounding the basketball

Who says “lolz”?

Well that didnt go as planned. The offense struggled which is to be expected, but the defense and rebounding have been the real issue. Purdue is getting layups and then getting O rebounds when they miss. We really needed that Uconn mentality today, and its just not there. On the flip side, hopefully the second half provides a good opportunity for guys to get more comfortable attacking versus pressure.

11 year old girls texting from the mall, maxwell.

Purdue scoring 1.5 points per possession. Shooting 60%. Rebounding over 60% of their missed shots. Michigan turning it over on 30% of their possessions.

Uhm, none of that is very good to say the least….

I am a lifelong diehard UM fan and Amaker needed to go because he couldnt coach. Beilein needs to go because he cant recruit and frankly im not sure about his coaching. We need to bring in someone who can lock down Detroit as far as recruits and yet someone with some coaching ability. I dont know who but maybe someone from Izzos staff might work?

Yeah, we need a coach who can pull in Detroit talent like Carlton Brundidge.

Not surprised about the defense and rebounding today. It has nothing to do with lack of “effort”. It’s simply the fact that 4 guards work because Manny rebounds like a PF, so without him we are getting killed on the glass. And although Manny is not a lock-down defender, he is a MUCH better defender then Wright and Vogrich.

Locking down Detroit wouldn’t have done any good for the two classes that Beilein has recruited. JB’s arrival in Ann Arbor coincided with two of the worst recruiting classes for Detroit and the state of Michigan in recent memory.

Actually someone who can bring in guys like Manny, Deshawn, Lucas and Summers who are all talented and athletic! You obviously have not seen Brundidge play,hes not fast, nor athletic and hes a tweener.

Great. Now we just need to have players like that available in this state to go after. Ziegler is along those lines, and we’re in as good of shape as anybody for him. Hardaway is athletic and long as well. You have to remember that next year’s freshman class is going to be the first class Michigan has signed after an NCAA Tournament appearance since the 1999 freshman class.

Team discipline and long term integrity vs. being practical and winning games in the present is never an easy decision or fixable via a cookie cutter solution. Nor is it something an outsider can fully appreciate (which doesn’t necessarily preclude our permission to comment and speculate). I think MSU fans have thought a lot about this too, lately.

Hardaway will fit right in since he has no jumper. Do you seriously believe Ziegler is going to come to UM over MSU and Duke? Ill hold my breath on that

I disagree intrpdtrvlr, I think it is an extremely easy decision.

Seriously, Hardaway has no jumper? I hope you were being sarcastic… the guy is averaging like 40 points and hitting 5 or 6 threes per game.

Go Blue where have u seen these players play. I have not seen either in person, so its tough to fully comment. but from the videos I have seen brundidge is very athletic, he is jus smallish. He is well put together but probably only 5’11. He really is a two guard stuck in a point guards body, but the guy can flat out score and rebound for his size.

Hardaway makes a living on his jumper. He reminds me of a longer, more athletic matt vogrich.

Hope the Beilien apologists are enjoying the preview for next years team (minus Sims). Looks like it could be an embarrasing debacle. Do you think by the third year we should see aspects of the game we can hang our hats on, like defense, rebounding, offensive scheme,shooting, effort. I have no idea what we emphasize. We are kids(outside of Sims) playing in a mens league.

Tweeter Johnson is right!

huh, bird?

how bad is this team going to be for the next 2-3 years….its going to be a long struggle to get michigan back to consistency and this year might ruin beileins recruiting bigger names for the next few years as well…………………how can one player be so crucial to this teams ability……..so sad to watch and realize that the next few years are going to be brutal

ZRL – I agree, definitely missing his presence on the boards and Wright is just not a suitable replacement on D.

MR – I don’t understand? How is this next years team? 4-6 players who we will play next year aren’t playing today…

lol I agree with Bird Johnson!

I dont see how we can expect much of the two redshirts if they cant contribute to this team.I dont look for the two freshmen to replce Sims and manny. Horford sounds like a project and we are not going to get Ziegler.

I have to say, knowing that we’re out of this game, it has been pretty entertaining watching us the last 10 or so minutes. You can tell it’s irritating Painter and the Purdue fans. Vogrich’s shot with 1 on the shot clock was pretty cool haha.

MR – How did a team with all these “kids” go to the second round of the tournament last year?

MR – I’m sure you’re well aware that Morgan redshirted due to injury. He and McLimans will no doubt play next year. Of course we won’t have individual players that are equal to Manny and Sims, but hopefully we can make up for it with a handful of players and one big recruit. I think you would agree this team has shown a lack of some form of intangible like heart, mental toughness, etc., which has resulted in a disappointing and underachieving season. So if we can make up ground in that area, I think our team next year could definitely be at least as good as this team. And if you are still watching, we don’t look too bad with Vogrich and Morris running the show.

Great effort in the second half guys. Lets carry this over to MSU with or without Manny.

I’m pretty sure we would not have gotten to the second round last year without Sims and Harris. I hope Morgan pans out but he was not a 4 or 5 star type recruit. We have to recruit a couple high level types to complement these role players.

anyone wondering if the manny suspension and the grady story are somehow linked? of course, this is all speculation, but perhaps the writing was on the wall regarding manny going away for a game (or two or the rest of the season?) and Coach B looked to the one guy in the university that knows his system (even though his defense is suspect at best)?

I found myself pleasantly surprised with Michigan’s second half effort; nobody seemed to give up, especially Novak. Really makes you wonder what would’ve happened with Manny in the game…

Now it’s time to carry that effort into the MSU game and try to get Manny back.

MR- I don’t think you’re being totally unreasonable. No program can succeed with continued recruiting classes like we had in 08, but I think the 09 class is certainly better than 08, and 10 looks better than 09. And 11 could be the best yet. But my main point is that you can’t look at this game and say this is a preview of next year’s team, it’s just not true.

Well that was weird, couldn’t type for a bit there – is there a limit on how often you can post? I agree with Tweeter Johnson, that was a great way to end the game – I don’t know how much it means in the long run but it was nice to see us not quit and get the deficit down to 10. Novak had a great half, though I’m not sure why we completely stopped going to Sims down low. It seemed like we actually had a decent game shooting from 3, on a game we weren’t in (figures).

Beating MSU Tuesday would be awesome, but I don’t think it’ll happen. Also, we aren’t going to make the tournament this year (even if Manny comes back for MSU) so we should all probably accept that now and save ourselves the heartache later when we’re like 1 win short of making it. We might get close but we won’t make it.

MR, you want 4 or 5 star recruits to replace the production of Harris and Sims (both 4 stars themselves)? By the way, you can’t tell me that Darius or even Matt “don’t deserve their rankings” because they aren’t averaging 15ppg this year – Deshawn hardly ever played his freshman year, and when he did, he had trouble even hitting the rim.

Darius Morris – 4 star
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Darius-Morris-67844

Matt Vogrich – 4 star
http://saintlouis.scout.com/a.z?s=437&p=8&c=1&nid=3427845

Evan Smotrycz – 4 star
http://rivals.yahoo.com/notredame/basketball/recruiting/player-Evan-Smotrycz-73383

(possibly) Trey Zeigler – 4 star
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Trey-Zeigler-54919

And to everyone, please stop it with the “no way we’re getting Zeigler” stuff. That’s just straight up pessimism, let’s give Beilein a fair shot and not give up on a recruit (who, from all indications so far, is as likely to pick us as any other school) just because you think he’s “too good to want to play for Beilein”.

Sorry, forgot to add:

Carlton Brundidge – 4 star
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Carlton-Brundidge-75866

Nice 2nd half, several players became more aggressive while the team stay poised. Hopefully that can be carried forward when Manny returns, so he and Sims will get more help (which certainly has been a problem). In reference to a post (about 137 or so back) recruits who will see the suspendsion of a star as a negative are the ones we don’t want. The coach has to be in charge.

eddie, the Grady talk was initiated on Kelvin’s side, not by the coaching staff trying to convince him to come back.

Some of you guys are such a joke. You’re not excited about the offense? Look at the efficiency #’s from kenpom when he got his guys to run his offense at WV (12th in 2006, 13th in 2007). But hey, what you observe trumps statistics, right? Let me guess, BT is stronger than the BE. Like there’s a different rule book for BT ball.

Next year you get probably 4 true freshman, along with Morgan and McLimans. aka depth. This season, there’s probably 6-7 guys who belong out there on the court at the D1 level. Next year… 10 or more.

Snyder on the Grady situation:
http://www.freep.com/article/20100123/SPORTS06/100123021/1054/Kelvin-Grady-could-rejoin-U-M-hoops-this-week

Now that it’s hit the media, I’d say that’s a pretty good sign that it’s going to happen. I assume he would stay on a football scholarship, right?

and Go Blue, you say Hardaway can’t shoot? Care to provide evidence for that. I believe you and all, but maybe others don’t. If you have tape or even stats of his shooting, maybe you can change others opinions. Same with your analysis of Brundidge. What do you know that the recruiting services don’t?

One word on recruiting. There is a big range in the 4-star recruit category. Sims and Harris were fairly close to being 5 stars, while players at the bottom of the 4-star spectrum tend to be more hit or miss. I do agree that Beilein’s recruiting (according to the ratings sites) has improved each of his three years. The only thing I’m waiting for him to do is to land that top-30/40 type recruit. Smotrycz (52* by rivals) and Brundidge (37* by ESPN) are the best recruits he’s gotten so far.

*Those ratings are the highest any of the sites have them.

Efficiency numbers are just that… how efficient the offense runs. That was a response to people that say “the offense is weak”. If you look at them, when JB gets the parts he wants, the offense runs well. Now this year isn’t going optimally. By looking at the past, we can assume that he will return to those numbers. Please let’s try to argue logically here.

Pitcher A: 17-8 4.07 era
Pitcher B: 13-12 3.45 era

Which pitcher had the better season? Wins aren’t everything. Variance happens. Efficiency #’s are for losers? Well I can bet you the teams at the end of the tournament have high efficiency #’s.

Ted – You just bring nothing to this discussion. Can’t you at least give some sort of support for your argument other than it looks like we will go to the NIT this year? Is that seriously your criteria for firing a coach? Do you have another coach in mind that you’d like to swallow up the remainder of Beilein’s contract for? Say we get this coach of yours, what do you envision for our program?

You can’t just demand Rose Bowls and NCAA tourneys every year because you are a Michigan “fan”. That sense of false entitlement belongs in South Bend.

Ted, you’d probably be an awful poker player. Because QJ has cracked AA a few times, it must be a better hand. Stats drive wins. The people/teams will win more games consistently. Ever hear of variance… look it up! Why can’t we use examples from his days from WVU? It’s still the game of basketball, similar strength of opponents, similar system he’s operating with… and that’s been proven to work with him as the coach. So one year it doesn’t and you decide to fire him. Just like losing with pocket ace’s… guess you shouldn’t play them at all huh. Because variance happens. This year is just like a downswing.

Exactly maxwell… what is Ted’s plan exactly. If you do fire Beilein, which coach would you want and have a chance at getting?

We missed our chance at Sean Miller (sigh).

it’s dissappointing that this is the product we’re getting in year 3

Jamie Dixon, Jay Wright, Matt Painter… do you really think those coaches would downgrade to Michigan.

Seriously… what coaches would you guys want?

It’s not about pay, Ted. Jay’s recruited arguably a top 2 combined class for 09-10. Why would he leave that situation. IMO, the only way he can go up from the job at Nova is to one of the top 6 schools. Why would Dixon move from Pitt? He’s got a young team that’s playing well this year. In the next few years, maybe that team could finally make it to the FF. He wouldn’t go to Arizona, so why would one think he comes to Michigan?

If manny punched a coach or teammate in practice then he deserved to be suspended, BUT if the genius Beilein suspended him for anything short of then that then I could careless if Mr. Ethics is coaching this team in the future. If it was minor (to us) but major(to Beilein) then thats his problem. At the end of the day, basketball is a machine and you dont get W’s with proper ethics!(not saying lets be crooked) With proper ethics you get fired when there aren’t results! We couldnt of benched him, or sat him for a half? I cant wait to find out what was the violation, I just hope it was another one of his brilliant lessons.

Man, you people are lame. You aren’t fans, you’re frontrunners.

Guys we wouldn’t have won today even with Manny. Purdue found their early season groove in the 2nd half at Illinois and today (at least for the first 30 minutes) they looked as sharp as they have all year. It would have been a bonus to steal one of the last two road games – it was clear from the start that Wisco was the better opportunity because they were missing Leuer and had won a few more games than expected so they were due for a loss. Purdue is clearly one of the top 2 teams in the league and there was no way they’d lose 4 of 5 games, especially playing on their home floor on national TV.

With a loss likely either way, I’d much rather see Beilein send Manny a strong message like he did last year at Iowa (and hopefully get his mind right for the MSU game, which is much more important and winnable) than watch Beilein lose control of his team because he’s afraid to bench his star player.

Giddings I agree. I am thankful Beilein is our coach despite this disappointing season. I believe you have to do things the right way-”victory without honor is not victory”

Ted, UM aint getting any of those coaches right now. Why would any of them leave where they are to go to UM. I think this is part of the problem with some of the fans. They believe that UM can get anything they want.

This program is not good enough, and has not been good enough for some time, to just go out and get whatever it wants. Whether that is a coach or a recruit. The facilities at UM for basketball are an absolute joke. That part is finally being addressed with the new practice facility and Crisler upgrades soon after, but that is a big factor for recruits.

The view of the program itself in terms of basketball is not a good one nationally. Sure people remember the fab five, but they also remember the last fifteen years of nothingness. Which do you think weighs heavier on a recruits mind? A couple years of success in the early nineties, or, fifteen years where most recruits could not even tell you a player that played at the school.

This program needs major, major overhauls in order to win at a high level. Step one was getting everything back to doing it the right way. Amaker did that. Step two is winning consistently. Beilein has begun to do that. Step three is improving the facilities. Step four is getting to the tournament consistently. Step five is landing some top ten type recruits. Step six is winning nationally.

As you can see we are a long ways away from accomplishing these types of goals. Its not going to happen overnight, unless you are willing to hire the type of coach who is going to do it all the wrong way and risk an SMU type ban from the NCAA. The process is working. Progress is being made. The great thing about Beilein, and why he is the perfect guy for this job right now, is that he has shown that he can take teams without a great deal of talent and win.

Ted, I think you need to chill with the negativity. Beilein got us to the tournament for the first time in 11 years last year, and yes this season has been a disappointment, but I think it’s pretty absurd to say we’re “going no where, fast”. Whether we would’ve have won this game with Manny…probably not, but I point back to the Wisconsin game – when you can’t finish games like that, you’re not going to make the tourney.

Also – did you see UCONN beat Texas? How the heck did we beat that team??

I wanna see whoever was talking up Diebler explain their colossal embarrassment in the 2nd half vs. West Virginia. It must be awfully tough for the Buckeyes to dribble with both hands around their neck!

Texas refuses to play defense. Thad Matta recruits like a pro but coaches like a mid-major. Roy Williams, Bill Self, John Calipari are like 95% recruiter, 5% coach.

The real frustration comes from one place and one place only: MSU. Face it, guys. Tom Izzo is THE best coach in America, and its not even close. Nobody does more with less, nobody does more with more either. And for better or worse, that’s what we have to live with right down the road.

Beilein can coach, and if you you look carefully enough, he can recruit as well. So far this year he’s had a problem with keeping his bigs healthy but that hardly means he can’t recruit.

That being said, that MSU home game is our season. We need to defend home court, deal MSU its first conference loss, and its one of the 8 games we need to make the tournament. MSU won but they didn’t look incredible. We still need an answer to Delvon Roe, but if Manny’s willing to get on the same page, I think we still have a shot. We’re still playing some of the better basketball of the season right now.

Interesting batch of comments. To summarize:
1. Beilein is an idiot because he benched Harris under circumstances no one knows in any detail.
2. He should be fired because he can’t recruit Detroit.
3. Next year we’ll be skinny and unathletic and won’t get players of the caliber of Harris and Sims any time during the Beilein era.
4. Hardaway has no shot.
5. A pitcher with a higher ERA is better than one with lower if he wins more games, because the offensive production of his teammates that caused the wins somehow means his pitching was better. (I’m glad someone used the poker analogy.)

These comments are just childish tantrums. It’s hard to imagine how anyone or anything could ever please the people who made them.
Generally, I’m seeing people making unfounded predictions about how dismal this program is going to be for the next 4-6 years. I’ve said it before, if we don’t get Zeigler, next year figures to be brutal, assuming Harris leaves. But beyond that, all we know is we already have a few solid recruits coming–we don’t know how well Morris and Morgan and Vogrich will develop or how many other great recruits we’ll be getting. What has happened under Beilein thus far can’t be considered a clear indication of what will happen down the road. I do wish things were running more smoothly–most of the team is presently in their second year of his system and there are such gaping holes in defense, etc. It could be more the system than personnel, or one way or another, the problem *could* go unfixed. But his track-record is good, so I think one can’t condemn him without more non-NCAA tourn. seasons. Last year should’ve been enough to silence people hunting his head so fast.

Why don’t you people go cheer for Kentucky? Wow, you can crap all over a team that just lost @ the fifteenth best team in the nation by ten points without their best players? You people make me nauseous to cheer for this school

Very good posts, Tweeter and AG. A lot of the complaining about the program is rooted in ignorance. For example, the guy who named four coaches who are in much better situations than UofM, and he thinks we could get them. This program is not going to go from a 10-year NCAA drought to making the tournament every year just like that. They are in it for the long haul with Beilein and that is probably the right way to do it.

I don’t think Izzo is #1 in the country, but he’s certainly top 10. In the last few years, he seems to have found a really nice balance in recruiting, getting talented players who still stay four years. I think their program is in the best shape it’s been in since the Cleaves days. It may actually be a blessing that Beilein recruits a different type of player than Izzo does, because it would be very tough to compete with him right now.

I guess I can understand some people’s saying that Michigan needs to go the Alabama route and drop a boatload of cash on a coach with an established reputation. But think about it, Minnesota did that with Tubby Smith (you could argue that they hired a no-name football coach to save the money to make a run at him) and he’s recruited athletes but that still doesn’t mean they’ve had success.

Beilein has failed in a big way so far this year. Still time to salvage something, but it’s not looking good right now.

anybody happen to catch UCONN knock off Texas? might seem to be something to that….

Thank you D for taking out the trash. Fair weather fans are the worst thing in Ann Arbor. Ted couldant even spell correctly! Ha Thank you D for taking out the trash. Fair weather fans are the worst thing in Ann Arbor. Ted couldn’t even spell correctly! Ha As for JB, the mans record speaks for himself! Beilein is the only active collegiate coach to have achieved 20-win seasons at four different levels He has been recognized as Coach of the Year four times: in 1981 at Erie Community College, in 1988 at LeMoyne, in 1994 at Canisius, and in 1998 at Richmond.[5] In addition, Beilein is one of only seven coaches in history (along with Lefty Driesell, Jim Harrick, Lon Kruger, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Eddie Sutton) to have taken four different schools to the NCAA Men’s Division I dance There ted if you can still log on to our posts. I love Manny, but I RESPECT our staff. If he deserved the punishment, then so be it. It will make him a better player and man.

One thing I hate about UM fans is if you have an opinion, then you arent a fan. Get off ya high horse. I grew up with respectable UM basketball! Thats all I want, I want dunks, athletes, guys I can follow to the next level. That is what UM use to be, under this new regime some people question if UM will get back there. OF COURSE it’s gonna take time, but I do question if Belein is that guy or is he a stop gap? He came in to sort of clean up the mess, that Amaker began to clean up. He finishes the job, but another coach possibly takes it to the next level? Look at WVU with Huggins, Belein leaves and smooth/slick/crooked Bobby comes in and recruits top talent to WVU? Side note: Fisher is doing a heck of a job at SDSU also, that team is 10 times more athletic then this UM team. I also understand he needs pieces for his puzzle but point blank we get out everything’d by every team in the big 10 not named Iowa. Dont know where im going with this, but we need some difference makers not system players. He needs the Manny type players to come here. I would feel 10 times better if Casey Prather was in the fold with this class, he has that athleticism that they are in dire need of right now.

PS: we didnt lose by 10, we got demolished today. Purdue took the foot off the pedal late, but please stop using the moral victory crap

I hope it wasn’t that bad, so we can get him back for the MSU game.

Everyone is welcome to their opinion Jay. I think the problem people on this board are the ones that come on here and just bash, bash, bash with out substantiating anything. Then when they are questioned about it, they do not respond with anything except another bash. Those people are clearly not fans, and if they think they are fans, they need their heads examined.

You can question whether Beilein is the right guy or not to take this program to the elite level of college basketball all you want. In fact, I dont think he will get us to the elite level. But the reason I think so, or not so, is because he will retire before he has time to.

There are/were coaches out there that could have been hired to come here, and would have brought in some top recruits here and there, but they also would have brought in problems. Problems like more sanctions and instability. The great coaches out there, and I think Beilein is one of the great coaches out there, but the great coaches with a championship track record and no issues, were/are not coming to UM. The program is just not at that stage to attract some of the guys that people really want.

Beilein is a coach, that knows what he is doing. Is good at what he is doing. Is going to do it the right way. And is going to be succesful at doing that way. Now his success may ultimately be only a few deep runs in the tourney and perhaps a conference title. But right now I will take that. If you dont like the way that his teams play, then tough. Sorry. That’s the way its going to be for the next six years at least. But guess what, he is a good enough coach that if the right talent is here, he will tweak what he does to those players. All you have to do is talk to David Merritt about how he tweaked things to adjust to the different strengths of guys last season as the year went on. He might not love the same type of player that you love, but he loves winning and he is going to work his ass off to do so.

I think you answer your own issue as well, when you say that he needs the Manny type player to come here a la Casey Prather. If I remember correctly he recruited that guy pretty damn hard. He knows what he needs to win, and he is doing everything he can to go get it, short of selling the program out to do so (thank God).

Beilein will get this program to the next step, or even the step beyond that, he might not reach the following step, but damnit this program will be something when he leaves. Right now, despite what some of these commenters think, this program is nothing.

PS: what exactly has Fisher done at SDSU. They made the tourney like four years ago and lost first round, but beyond that? Have they even beaten anyone out of conference?

On another note, I apologize to all Umhoops.com commenters and readers of the comments for my extremely lengthy posts. I often times find that I have blackedout and dont even remember writing them. I seriously try to keep them short, but when the words flow you just have to let them flow.

I’ve watched SDSU this season. They have athleticism and NOTHING ELSE. They have got to be THE ABSOLUTE WORST road team this season. They got EXTERMINATED by a weak, rebuilding St. Mary’s team earlier this year and blew a sizeable lead at UNLV.

In fact, a lot of these “elite” coaches bring in athleticism and nothing else. You get inconsistent shooting, god awful free throw shooting, and guys who don’t think they have to play defense.

Maybe we should make a run at Steve Alford, eh Jay and Ted? So he can bring in guys like Herb Pope, JR Giddens, Tyler Smith, and Patrick Beverely?

I think Beilein will build a decent program in the time he has, but someday I’d like to find a young guy with ties to the program who can make kids from Michigan excited to come here (cough, Jalen, cough).

Good post Tweeter, we as fans have to stop questioning every descision our coaches make. Im sure alot of us have read the tings manny has said about the respect he has for J.B. I would just expect us as fans to have that same respect. J.B came here to win and to rebuild this schools program. I feel he will do that, or at the very least work his butt off to try and do that. Im not trying to bash anyone on this board but we as fans of the school with the greatist tradiitions in collage athletics need to be behind our coaches and stand by the descisions they make. Manny is a good kid, and this I feel this will make him a better kid. I would be suprized if any of us actually beleive coach B is going to sacrifice a big conference game just to prove a point. We are off right now, the D isant there, were not shooting well and were not getting the bench scoring we need. Sims cant carry this team on his back. (WE ALL SAW THE GAME IN MADISON) Hopefully we can turn things around in the last part of our season. GO BLUE

Jay – I think there’s a huge difference between (a) asking will Beilein ever be able to build an elite program at Michigan and will he ever be able to truly recruit on par with Izzo vs. (b) we should fire him now but I also have no alternative solution to present that’s better.

But even as far as comment (a) goes: how can anyone judge that at this point? It’s ludicrous. If you just step back and look at this objectively what you see is a coach with a proven track record, highly respected amongst all coaches not just for his ethics but his x and o’s, and he did in 2 years (with a team nobody thought had a chance at the NCAA) what we couldn’t do since we cheated. He is already proving he can bring in talent so I think that’s a pretty weak argument. He has had a disappointing season thus far, but that’s hardly reason to throw in the towel. Give him a chance, let him see what he can do and if it doesn’t work we’ll try again. It’s just not as easy as some people want it to be.

the only thing I find frustrating is why did Novak have to wait until a game we were guaransheed to lose to throw in a couple shots. Jesus, give us a few layups at wiscy and this loss does not matter one bit.

gpsimms i was just about to comment on that as well. Novak hits like three or four threes and finishes his layups today. all he had to do was contribute somewhat in madison and we would have gotten the W. Oh well.
Like what all of the reasonable posters on here are saying I think its funny how fast everyone forgets last year. Coach Beilein knows what he is doing and this year we had unreasonable expectations (even though we havent played well anyway). so just give him a few years at least before bashing him. Especially with the manny situation; i think he knows what he is doing and what is best for UM (see Iowa game last year). if manny plays tuesday maybe he will have a fire lit under him and lead us to a win.
Dylans scenario said that we had to have either the Purdue game or the Sparty game so obviously we need the win tuesday. itll be a sellout so hopefully we can come out and play with the competitive edge we had against UConn and come away with a win. If manny doesnt play then we wont.
I just would like to see consistent improvement with the entire team (especially the younger guys) and build for next year. If we can put a winning streak together and make a run at the bubble that would be nice.

Go Blue!

I dont know if i should feel shocked that we only lost by 10 here, but man that first half really just showed what Michigan basketball is about. Without both Harris and Simms on the floor this team has no chance of winning. I mean how long did it take for someone besides Simms to score?

Kelvin Grady is officially back on the basketball roster. He’ll be on the scout team to simulate guards who is very quick. Kelvin Grady will still play football.

Well, reading these posts was an entertaining night-cap to say the least(paired well with scotch). To keep things in perspective, remember that we are in the midst of an extremely tough 3 game conference stretch. Any reasonable expectation would have been to win 1 of 3 during this stretch. Beat unbeaten Sparty on Tuesday makes losing on the road to Wisco and Purdon’t irrelevant.

When I was in college people rarely if ever talked about firing coaches. Dunno if it’s driven by talk radio or an obsession bordering on madness among fans, but I’m always floored by the way people rant so wildly; can a bunch of kids losing possibly make you THAT bitter? Beilein is no doubt disappointed by his team’s shooting, which with minor improvement would have M in the hunt for a tourney spot. But crikeys, people–you’re calling for his head by virtue of what superior related insight and lifetime experience YOU possess? Do you have any idea what disruption is entailed by bringing in a new person?

What I learned from participating in athletics that fans too often forget is that it’s about failing endlessly–daily, weekly, monthly in order to improve yourself and your team. Players handle losing much better than fans; they’ve done it a million times to get where they are. You have to be willing to fail in order to grow. Ten bazillion fans all expecting their team to win every game or lynch their coaches is a recipe for stupid. Get outside and shoot a few, remind yourself how hard it is to put that thing in the whole from 20-30 feet; come back when you’re feeling better.

We aren’t even going to make the NIT.

Jay,

Fischer? Huggins?

Do you realize what you’re asking for? I’m startled that people pine for the days of Michigan basketball that left the program in ruins an still, to this day, represents the single greatest blight against the University. Do you want to win so badly that you sell the school’s soul in the process? That’s what Fischer DID. He gave tickets and access to a bookie who OWNED his players. Don’t forget that.

He doesn’t care. The ends justify the means, baby! Hang that banner — until they take it away, anyway….

I don’t think its fair to claim that what we saw yesterday was “the future without Harris and Sims.” After all, next season we’ll actually have players not playing out of position like a real center and a real 4. If Horford commits even better. I don’t know if Hardaway can play the 3 but from what I hear he seems to be roughly Manny’s size.

Its definitely not fair to say that the team out there yesterday is the future. As you mentioned AG2 we will have at least four players who did not play yesterday. Plus the team will have actually played together and prepared to play together. Yesterday, they had a pregame shoot around to get ready to play without Harris.

Dylan – is there a chance of assigning numbers that automatically come up with the post? I’m an old non-tech guy so I really don’t know if that is a reasonable idea. Going back and trying to find something is inconvenient when there are 200+ post. Also, I hope you are delighted to see this many entries.

Michigan will be fine on Tuesday, especially if they get Manny Harris back. You got to give them credit for taking Purdues lead down to 10 at Mackey Arena. I think it shows that this team has grown. I mean with Harris they lost by 14 to Marquette and 16 to Utah. It goes without saying that Purdue is a lot better than those 2 team.

The Uconn also looks like a better win,since they just beat the #1 team in the country.

Michigan basketball video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXBuHvg9BVU

Chitown blue I aint asking to get put on probation, but I dont know what point you are making with either coach and their new destination. My point was more of a question, as in is Beilein just the guy to put the program back on the map of credibility while another coach comes in and takes that next step. For instance WVU was a good program when Belein was there, when Huggins took over it became a top 15 type of program. It became a place where McDonalds all americans go to play.

Also people stop saying UM only loss to Purdue by 10 without Manny. O PLEASE! Purdue crushed them, and they did fight to keep it respectable but at the end of the game the foot was off the gas for Purdue people. Dont use that final score as a moral victory cause the game was not that close at all

Chitownblue, I agree with everything you say. However, you have to keep in mind that for many fans of Michigan basketball who did not go to the university, they don’t give a crap if a coach reflects poorly on the university. They are fans of the basketball team, not fans of the university.

Harrumph.

I would strongly dispute that WVU is a top-15 program. I don’t even think this year’s team is a top-15 team. A lot of people are assuming that Huggins will take the team further than Beilein did, but I don’t think that is necessarily a given. With Beilein’s lottery pick recruit he took them to the Sweet 16, last year they lost in the first round. In his latter years at Cincinnati, his teams were notorious for early tournament exits.

Penn State up ten with 15 left at Wisconsin. Will history repeat?

Yep. Wisconsin 14-0 run cuts the lead from 16 to 2 with 8 mins left.

“For instance WVU was a good program when Belein was there, when Huggins took over it became a top 15 type of program. It became a place where McDonalds all americans go to play.”

Jay – when did Huggins get them to the elite 8, like Beilein? I missed that.

Easy, ZRL. I didn’t go to the university, but I do care about the university and not just about the football and basketball teams. I’m so sick in the head, I anxiously wait each year for Time magazines list of top universities.

I’m going to be sick. Wisconsin turned a 16 pt deficit into a 7 point lead in less than 10 minutes. Ed Hightower ruins another game.

AG2 – it’s a safe bet that either Hightower or Jim Burr will be the lead official on Tuesday. I’d prefer Hightower – seems to always give the home team an advantage. Jim Burr just seems to hate us even when we are at home.

I’m still on the road, goin home tonight after the Colts game. So no post game yet, probably posted tomorrow morning, but I’ll weigh in on Manny, Grady, Purdue, MSU, etc etc. Lots to talk about.

Wondering how much this season’s difficulties
is effected by Jerry Dunn being on personal leave.

You said it, Giddings. If I recall correctly, Burr has openly said he thinks Michigan basketball is a joke.

Hope this site doesn’t turn into Mlive. There’s been a lot of knowledgeable and interesting posting here since it got up and running. Mgoblog has been run down by the ranters, too.

Agreed, Mattski. The number of idiot postings has been alarming. There’s nothing wrong with a negative opinion, but what good does the extreme bashing do? If you are unhappy with Beilein, that’s fine, but the repeated “Beilein sucks! We suck! We’re a joke!” posts get pretty old. I mean, what’s the point. Let’s try to at least act intelligent around here.

I think to be fair to all of us intelligent and thoughtful posters on here, the people that just rant and rave about Beilein or UMs problems are a very small minority. Most people on here get it even if they disagree on some issues.

for what it’s worth, central michigan has picked it up, 4-1 and first place in the MAC

[...] Manny Harris Out Versus Purdue | UM Hoops.comDon’t have any details because I’m on the road but Manny Harris will not suit up today for Michigan due to disciplinary reasons. Reason: “unsportsmanlike conduct” in Friday’s practice. … Read more [...]

Ha JB I was checking on them yesterday too. I think we agree that it’s better for us if they do well, which would keep Ernie Zeigler at CMU and not send him to an attractive high major as an assistant coach (where Trey could follow). If it comes down to us and CMU I’d feel much better about our chances.

Of course if they win the MAC and go on a cinderella run to the Sweet 16 or something…

yeah, i think it’s a really good thing for us if cmu does well, i don’t think they’ll do too well for our purposes. also, iowa might knock off iu here. this makes me realize what a dogfight the big ten is gonna be. after purdue and msu, teams #3-9 are all 4-3 or 3-4. if only we can knock off msu…

I like Michigan’s chances against MSU, providing Manny Harris is back.
Wish I could be there.

I dont know whats going to be more painful for michigan fans to watch in the next 2-3 years. Watchin the Wolverines struggle in football with Rich Rod when they should of stayed with Carr or watchin beilien bring in unathletic shooters who can’t shoot.

mike – I think it will be listening to people who pretend to know what they are talking about.

Maxwell’s Demon – LMFAO. So true.

Random question but what does everyone think will be the spartan fan turnout for Tuesday’s game? One of my buddies (spartan fan) claims that they are going to have similar numbers to the 1999 game at Crisler. If any of you were there for that game, it sucked. I honestly have no idea what the turnout will be, it seems like there have not been very many away fans at our games but we have only played a couple in conference so far.

I’m sure it will be sizeable, Tweeter, but no way will it be like the 1999 game or any others from the dark years. I think it will be similar to the last few years if not slightly less, since 1) we have such a better student representation now, 2) the increased U-M fan interest in the team before the season led to more ticket sales of Big Ten packs, etc (I don’t think there was a public sale of single-game MSU tickets this year) and 3) it’s an early game on a weeknight.

Hopefully we’ll keep them quiet like we did with the Buckeyes earlier this month.

mike thats funny… im pretty sure carr retired so they needed a new coach anyway.

Tweeter – I don’t remember what year it was, pre-Horton I think, but I can remember a game where they had us outnumbered 2:1 and ended the game with a very loud “we own Crisler” chant. Nothing can be worse than that.

yea Max pretty sure that was 1999. I dont remember the “we own crisler” chant. But I remember getting to the game about twenty mintues before tip, and as soon as I walked thru the doors on into the concourse, all I could hear was Go school color 1, Go school color 2. It was pretty much all UM fans in the lower bowl, but the entire upper bowl seemed like it was spartan.

Last year it was not bad, there were spartan fans there, but they were not that loud or noticeable until the end of the game when UM fans started to leave. The only reason I brought it up was because of what my friend is claiming and the fact that the upper bowl has been pretty sparse this year particularly behind the baskets.

Got tired really quick with the Go green Go white chants last year. Gave me a big time headache.I’ll be there the whole game win, lose or forfeit.
Go Blue! Beat MSU!

There will be a sizeable Spartan contingent again this year. Whether you’re aware of it or not, it’s a point of emphasis among the Spartan faithful to take away Michigan’s home court advantage. The UMich ticket office has tried over the past few years to restrict the amount of single game tickets falling into enemy (Spartan) hands, but thanks to Stubhub and other online ticket exchanges it’s easier than ever to get your hands on them.

As usual, we will be representing in the impenetrable dark void that is Crisler’s upper bowl. It should be an entertaining game, but I’d suggest you leave your ski masks at home.

[...] and he let them down. He’s shooting just 23 of 68 (33.8%) over his last five games. He was suspended for an incident in practice. In short, it hasn’t been the best stretch for Manny [...]

This is an awesome blog here! I just bookmarked it.

I’ve got a poker fan page over at Facebook. If you wanted to see: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poker-Players-Only/136818223026737