They'll probably put them in London so they can have 9 am games. What - are you gonna go to church and eat breakfast and open presents and have a nice Xmas morning with your family when you can be watching the Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals?!!? What are you some kind of pussy?
The NFL is horrible and shameless and won't stop until there are wall to wall games - on every channel and streaming platform. And they'll want you to watch every one.
Yeah, I fel like Maryland really redeemed themselves after what I thought was kind of a stinky season that was - honestly - undeserving of a bid. They finished w signature W's against Syracuse (not vintage Syracuse), Princeton and Penn State, but ultimately I feel like they werent that impressive? Army should've got their spot but this def vindicates the cmte.
That's brutal, Wichita, I'm sorry. I know you were excited about this game. Lacrosse is soon - and in fact, already is - starting outgrow the rinky-dink stadiums that have been hosting games (Denver's stadium is 2,000 capacity). And what I love about lacrosse games is that at most places you can pay like max $20, pay no fees and sit where you want and get a great experience. I'm sorry Denver did you dirty like that.
Sorry for the weird formatting at the top there and I also apologize for the dearth of other - content, pics, links, highlghts etc., not quite as in-depth as I would've liked. I've been crazy busy lately!
I should also add that Denver is one of the last few powerhouse (blue blood?) programs Michigan has yet to face. In a gutsy move years ago they coaxed coaching legend Bill Tierney (Saban/K-ish) away from Princeton with a massive contract and it paid off with a national championship in 2015. Since then they've been a consistent presence in the top 10-15 before Tierney retired last year. They're led by first year coach Matt Brown and were at one point ranked #1 this year and put up W's against Hopkins, G'town and Cornell. They're definitely good.
Umm, what the f--- did I just watch? Indy Pete, thanks for starting the new thread and bumping this! But...wtf?
I have a weird theory that my stupid luck is awarding Michigan somehow (and the Knicks for that matter) because I've had a lot of (innocuous) stupid shit go wrong lately (ie, I have to go back io DC tmrw to get my credit card). But I don't mind! DONT BOTHER ME NONE.
So psyched they made it. GONNA BE A FUN TOURNAMENT - GO BLUE!!!
Also - I assumed M needs the AQ to get in but a W over JHU who was #2 in the polls might be enough for an at-large now? Maybe if they lose a tough OT game or something? The metrics seem to like their strength of schedule and strength of record so [Jim Carrey-you're-telling-me-there's-a-chance dot gif] ?
Unfortunately, Army lost in their conf tournament last night and other at large bids could go up in smoke if Villanova and others win upsets in their tournament. So that hurts the at-large argument for M.
You're right - Penn State better make it, they certainly deserve it, especially after last night's dismantling of Maryland. In the last few weeks of the season I was thinking that PSU, Maryland and JHU are in and the last question is: Can Michigan be that 4th B1G team? If they beat just one of either Rutgers or Harvard I would say, they're in but an at-large still looks unlikely even w/ a win over #2 last night. Penn State is definitely a strong team and Saturday should be a good game. If Michigan can play like that again they can definitely win though.
CRUZ: THanks for putting this together! I've been insanely busy at work but I managed to catch some of the game last night but thanks for posting. I'm wondering if its good luck that I didn't get a chance to preview it haha.
Yeah it's terrible. Hopkins had 10,000+ sellout vs Maryland today, Syracuse had 8,000+ vs Virginia today and Army-Navy had 10,000+ last weekend. I mean, those are rivalry games in nice weather but those numbers are nothing to sniff at. I wonder what attendance would be like if they played just a few more weeks and pushed the championship to mid-June. I would almost rather see them get rid of the conference tournaments and just expand the NCAA tournament.
Yeah that was crazy. Seconds before he picked it up, I was like 'Taylor get in the goal!!!' But that was a great GB and clear, memorable hustle play to ice the game.
Much improved performance, nerve-wracking finish aside. They got lots of goals from their middies and Taylor seemed to have his best game in a while. Defense also seemed to go to a zone at times(?) that seemed to slow down and confuse the Buckeyes. The aforementioned Big Tasty didn't have a great game, which is a nice break for this team. But, like basketball, just seeing the ball go in can really help shooters. Hopefully that's what they needed and they can hit some shots next week and beyond.
Some other things. The women are ranked #4 right now! And they play #1 Northwestern tomorrow! At noon on BTN!
It's weird that this is the last regular season game. Weather is goregeous here on the east coast but college lacrosse is so tied to having the FInal Four on Memorial Day weekend (and stupid conf tourneys) that now that it's nice, the season is already over. Notre Dame, currently ranked #1 and has a number of sellouts, has only 11 games on its schedule this season. There's no way their lacrosse team should be playing fewer games than its football team. That's ridiculous. College lacrosse is so weird and stupid and can't get out of its own way.
I've tried not to act too snobby at myself but I've come to the conclusion that I legitimately like watching sports. And I (obviously) think college lacrosse is a great product. My list would like pretty similar: college football and the NCAA tournament are some of the great American sports traditions. And I love the Olympics and the World Cup as well, but I think there are a lot of other great college sports out there like you said. I really got into women's hoops this year and B1G women's volleyball is a really great product.
Yeah, really tough game. But Penn State is a good, strong team so it's not the worst L. But, still they're trending in the wrong direction. Box score tells another bizarre story: Wietfeldt dominated faceoffs and Michigan won the turnover and groundball battles and only gave up one penalty. But, they only had 8 goals on 54 shots - 14%. Looks like Fracyon was in the zone and stuffed 19 Michigan shots which is really impressive. Michigan went 0-4 on man-ups and Ronda was the only midfielder to score.
I'm excited that Brown got some playing time at least. He took 5 shots and didn't score. But I saw one highlight that was exactly what I was talking about: he made a hard move, the defense adjusted, he moved the ball and it ended up with Tiernan who took a great shot that clanged off the crossbar. Just keep doing that and the shots will fall.
Yeah. he had a pretty superb night. He was great. On the other end - Ross Scott's run of 3 straight goals in the first half was really impressive. Those were incredible shots; on the move, impeccably placed and with speed. Taylor had little chance.
Michigan has run into some hot goalies: UVA's Nunes, ND's Entenman and JHU's Ierlan; but I'm wondering how much of that is Michigan's poor shooting making them look good. The bad news is that PSU and OSU also have great goalkeepers. A 2nd half hat trick from John Morgan (what a good strong American name and I'm sure a fine young man) helped Michigan keep pace.
I'm also a little distressed that Justin Brown has been phased out of the offense lately. I don't know if he's dealing w/ an injury or if he's in the coaches' doghouse but he was key down the stretch last year. He has a decent outside shot - not the greatest placement but he definitely puts some stank on it - but he hasn't seemed to play at all lately. They've been getting little to no offense from the midfield, but Brown's speed can be a problem because he gets the defense to move, which is incredibly valuable, especially if you have a deadly crease attackman like Tiernan.
Beating Penn State would be a quality win and then a victory over the Buckeyes would bring them to 3-2 in the conference, which is nothing to sniff at. Another win or two in the tournament could help them make a strong case. But, there is no margin for error now.
THEY DID IT!!! Big Win! What a redemption game for Taylor! Great effort from him. 1-0 in the B1G is huge going forward. Take care of business at Hopkins next week! GO BLUE!!
Some sloppy play in there but overall 1000x better than last week. The def middies are doing much better and seem to be playing tighter and more physical on the ball. The d-men and LSMs - ROberts, Van Wees, Whitney and Stanzel have all made some good plays so far. And Michigan is causing Maryland a lot of trouble on the ride. Hopefully they can come away with the big win. GO BLUE!!
Is it me - or - does it seem like there are zero good coaches out there these days? Especially young ones. I don't know if there is a single coach in college football or basketball under 50 that you'd be like: that guy is going to win a championship one day. It's rough out there.
Only 2 lacrosse sickos joining in?! That was some of my best work!
Anyway, that was a complete disaster. I'm glad I went to the Maryland game and didn't stay home to watch this one. That game was a disappointment too (the B1G has an absolutely dismal record vs the ACC this year) but the weather was perfect, there was a great crowd and they actually sell pretty good beer.
Michigan got out to an early lead and then finished the first quarter 3-3 and I thought we had a good one on our hands. And then...11 of the next 12 goals were scored by ND. Michigan turned the ball over (10(!) by the 10 minute mark in the 2nd qtr.) repeatedly got lost on defense and couldn't get any stops. Taylor had an extremely rough day in goal, recording only 7 saves compared to 17 goals against in just 3 quarters. At one point, ND scored on like 5 or 6 consecutive shots. The D didn't provide him much help, getting beat on picks and either sliding when they didn't need to or not sliding at all. They also didn't create a lot of turnovers and Taylor wasn't making saves so they basically had no transition opportunities all game.
All in all, an absolutely brutal performance. Hopefully they can put it behind them, clean up their play and win some B1G games.
I really want to clip some of Harvard's goals from the other day and do a sort of defense 'film room' section but maybe I'll do that in the diaries if I ever get around to it.
I'm such a sicko these days that I'm seriously considering going to the Maryland-Virginia game, which is unfortunately on at the same time as this one. It's really nice here and that game should be a knock-down-drag-out brawl because those teams hate each other. Could be a big crowd and fun atmosphere.
Final 13-11 Harvard. Seems like they were chasing all game, down 4-5 for most of it. They cut it to 2 a few times in the 2nd but Harvard responded. And it seemed like the two teams were stuck on 13-11 for the last several minutes of the game so Michigan just couldn't quite complete the comeback.
This would've done a lot for the tournament resume but they're not out of it yet. Still opportunities for quality wins out there. And they can redeem themselves by knocking off ND next week. GO BLUE.
I wish I had the patience to look it up but Craig Ross had a really interesting piece on the state of higher education in the 1890s(?). At that point, Harvard and Michigan were the two largest universities in the country, and of course, football powerhouses. While Harvard was still exclusively focused on admitting its Old Money legacies and the sons of titans of industry, President Angell was innovating by democratizing higher ed. And Michigan was educating the best and brightest students from all backgrounds. And actually, football played an important role in engaging successful alumni who wanted to help the program and university. Very interesting.
Clark had 11 in the first half I think. She's a great shooter and savvy all-around scorer but her passing is fantastic. She doesn't get enough credit for that I think.
3-goal burst right out of halftime gave Michigan a nice cushion and they went on to win by five, 13-8. GOOD WIN. It's very possible Delaware will find themselves in the tournament again this year. Now they get another chance for a strong resume-buidling W when they play Harvard at home next weekend. GO BLUE!!
1. The Living Daylights (great song too). Goldfinger right behind, From Russia w Love is probably the best one, I have several close honorable mentions as well.
Great 2nd half after a sluggish 1st. Shot much better and Wietfeldt was great on F/Os. I really like Tiernan - he's a real crafty finisher/old school crease man. All round much better half to avoid the upset (albeit vs a dangerous opponent). Back up the coast to face Delaware on Saturday. Only gets tougher from here - GO BLUE!
J'ville up 8-6 at half. Haven't been able to watch very closely but from what I've seen it looks like they're just not finishing. And on offense they're getting caught ball-watching and not sliding well.
A few shots I've seen seem to reflect a return to their bad old habits. They have to do a bettem thjob of changing the levels at which they shoot. Far too often they'll shoot high-to-high, low-to-low and telegraph where it's going. Goalies are like major league hitters now. they're so good that 95mph doesn't phase them anymore. A
Michigan is down 3 now and Jv is going on a man-up. There's no need to panic but they have to clean it up fairly quickly. This is extremely trap-gamey.
Sorry- forgot to add some context: I have no idea why the game is being played at DCD. I'm guessing they have a fieldhouse there? Also, game will be streaming on the BTN Ocho so it's probably inaccessible for most of us.
While I'm here I might as well make a plug for my annual rant...Michigan has its own lacrosse facility (outdoors) and used to play games in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse (indoors) before the renovations made it unusable for hosting lacrosse games. But, then they built a lacrosse-only stadium which cost a few million dollars. And yet they're playing today's game indoors in Detroit because it's February, because I'm guessing the weather is awful. So they only really have 4 true home games and don't play a home game after April 7th, when the weather is still pretty awful. What are we even doing here? This all seems so stupid to me. College lacrosse needs to get its shit together.
No one is talking about 'de-arming' America. We didn't use to have this problem. We can get senseless gun deaths in line with other developed nations and get back to where it used to be. And I believe we can do that without violating the 2nd amendment. It just requires a little bit of willpower.
I'm in favor of the 2A and also strong, smart gun laws (also - I think most people that means confiscation which is not how those types of laws work).
Also - I'm not trying to be a dick, but try this thought exercise (I think I may have heard somewhere but I may have made it up?):
- Put two strangers in a locked room together, no one gets out, no one comes in. Just two people in a room with maybe a table and chairs. Who gets shot?
- Now, add a gun. Put a loaded pistol on the table. Now, who gets shot? Ideally no one. Could be either. Could be both.
- Now, add a second gun. Again, who gets shot? Hopefully, they're getting along and no one gets shot. Even if they're not, hopefully they are responsible enough not to shoot the other person.
- Then add a third person. Three people, two guns. Then another gun. Then another person. More people and more guns and so on and so on.
It's a little raw but I think it illustrates how an increased number of guns just adds to the permutations of what could happen. We have to try and make sure that dangerous people in that room aren't getting their hands on the gun(s). Because we're in that room too.
Northern Ireland was essentially at war with what many citizens believed to be an oppressive, foreign, occupying force. That's wartime so it's a bit different (also a lot of arms that ended up in the hands of the IRA came from the States).
Honolulu, this is outstanding. Let's make mgoblog the go-to spot for in-depth lacrosse coverage just like Brian, Seth & Co. do for every other sport!
Anyway...gahhhh, this game. So, first of all, it's frustrating M still gives up a lot of goals on simple pick plays. They gave up a few goals and other open looks on picks that they were somehow unprepared for. Defending a pick is simple. You do one of three things 1) switch 2) get through/over/under or 3) hard double. Option #3 isn't really a thing in basketball, but back in the day our policy on the rare pick would be that both defenders attack the ballcarrier and go all out for the strip. Too often, it seems like Michigan's on-ball defender gets stuck on the screen while the other defender stands there. Like hoops, you have to communicate and even decide beforehand what you're going to do. They also gifted UVA a goal when Michigan's man subbed off but UVA's LSM didn't, leaving them w/ a temporary man advantage. He just shot and scored. They have to cut down on cheap goals which were a problem early last year.
As for M's offense, they kind of forced Boehm into that creator role but that's not really his game. He's a crafty all-around player but if they wanted him to drive and dish they really needed to pick those huge defenders off of him and have him go against a shortstick. Sometimes, defending a guy who is much smaller than you is actually really difficult. While Boehm is quick and shifty, he doesn't have topline blazing speed like Millon and he's kind of scrawny so he was unable to muscle in close and cause problems for the defender. As a result, the d-men were much bigger AND could run with him which caused M a lot of problems. Still, they scored 11 goals and created a lot good looks on that incredible defense (UVA's goalie was incredible), which I think is promising?
Michigan just got no bounces at all. They had that broken-stick goal and another one in which Millon's shot went off a d-man's leg and in (don't worry, he still thinks he's hot shit though). And poor Cathal Roberts couldn't get a call to save his life. UVA's 7th goal came because Millon was holding him on the crease and he couldn't get free to slide up and cover #28; I was sitting on that end it and it sure looked like interference to me. And the same ref missed consecutive endline calls when Roberts hustled to the spot first but gave it to the Cavaliers. The latter led to their 14th goal; Roberts AND Taylor were closer to it when it went out. UVA got the quick restart and a goal.
Sounds crazy but there was a lot to like in this game. New pieces seem like excellent additions, esp. Roberts, Pederson and Tiernan. Plus, they won't play another team with that much of a size advantage the rest of the season. And they probably won't get such bad luck and atrocious officiating again. It's unlikely such a nightmarish game will repeat in the future. And it also seems like they really put it together and took it out on Canisius today!
I've been a huge Juwan fan and am hoping for a Juwan-aissance for Michigan hoops. But, man, it has gone really wrong lately. I don't think all of this can be attributed to losing Beilein's players and admissions troubles, but that certainly accounts for some of it. But, Coach Howard just seems different. I think he's a much better coach than this and he's shown that here. He probably gets a pass for his heart surgery but this season is extremely bad. And I think he's been dealing with some really difficult personal stuff since his best friend and then a close cousin (like a brother) passed away in 2021 (I remember rumors that Harbaugh was going through personal problems in 2020 that may have affected the on-field performance. I don't know if that's the case here, but anyway...)
I've said it in other posts, but it bears repeating: Burnett and Nkamhoua did not sign up for this. They are good players - so is Dug - and Williams is having his best season in a M uniform and Reed and Tschetter are coming along. That's a decent core that most coaches could do a lot with (I think Beilein would have these guys on the bubble at least, certainly better than 8 Ws). This team is so weird - but it certainly has ability (over the years, we've seen terrible teams at Michigan and around the BigTen and this is not one of those teams). And its poor performance is on the head coach. I'm not surprised at those luck stats. You have to find a way to make your own luck and win close games.
It's really disappointing and the most difficult thing - and maybe their biggest problem - is the lack of focus, heart and effort. Never thought that would be a problem with a Juwan Howard-coached team. Nevertheless, I think he's a natural-born coach and a brilliant offensive mind. However, it might be better suited to the pros where he doesn't have to deal with the heaps of bullshit that head coaches have to deal with in college basketball now.
Yeah, I can't get into it most years. I kinda like some of the dudes on the 9ers and the exposure of Mahomes/Kelce/Reid has really worn on me. But, this is not a particulary interesting game and even the halftime show is very meh to me. I can't stand the vast majority of the ads. But I turned it on bc what else is there to do? Actually, one year the game bored my girlfriend and I so much we turned on 90 Day Fiancee in like the 2nd quarter haha.
But. don't be fooled - the NFL wants you to think this overload of bullshit is the most important thing in the world. Don't let them.
Also: HOT TIP: If you're ever out of town this weekend, the Super Bowl is a great time to be on the road. A few years ago, I did NY to DC and Phila to DC and the roads were empty, made record time.
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It's funny how ubiquitous the NFL is compared to MLB though. Baseball almost hides their game; its almost as if they don't want people to watch.
They'll probably put them in London so they can have 9 am games. What - are you gonna go to church and eat breakfast and open presents and have a nice Xmas morning with your family when you can be watching the Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals?!!? What are you some kind of pussy?
The NFL is horrible and shameless and won't stop until there are wall to wall games - on every channel and streaming platform. And they'll want you to watch every one.
Yeah, I fel like Maryland really redeemed themselves after what I thought was kind of a stinky season that was - honestly - undeserving of a bid. They finished w signature W's against Syracuse (not vintage Syracuse), Princeton and Penn State, but ultimately I feel like they werent that impressive? Army should've got their spot but this def vindicates the cmte.
That's brutal, Wichita, I'm sorry. I know you were excited about this game. Lacrosse is soon - and in fact, already is - starting outgrow the rinky-dink stadiums that have been hosting games (Denver's stadium is 2,000 capacity). And what I love about lacrosse games is that at most places you can pay like max $20, pay no fees and sit where you want and get a great experience. I'm sorry Denver did you dirty like that.
Sorry for the weird formatting at the top there and I also apologize for the dearth of other - content, pics, links, highlghts etc., not quite as in-depth as I would've liked. I've been crazy busy lately!
I should also add that Denver is one of the last few powerhouse (blue blood?) programs Michigan has yet to face. In a gutsy move years ago they coaxed coaching legend Bill Tierney (Saban/K-ish) away from Princeton with a massive contract and it paid off with a national championship in 2015. Since then they've been a consistent presence in the top 10-15 before Tierney retired last year. They're led by first year coach Matt Brown and were at one point ranked #1 this year and put up W's against Hopkins, G'town and Cornell. They're definitely good.
This is outstanding! Fascinating. I've been clamoring for a lot more Justin Brown all season and I think he can have a great tourney!
RIP, impressive American hero.
ALso - forgot to mention: BBBBWWWWWWWAAAAHHHHHHAAAAHHHHHHAAAHAHAH
Umm, what the f--- did I just watch? Indy Pete, thanks for starting the new thread and bumping this! But...wtf?
I have a weird theory that my stupid luck is awarding Michigan somehow (and the Knicks for that matter) because I've had a lot of (innocuous) stupid shit go wrong lately (ie, I have to go back io DC tmrw to get my credit card). But I don't mind! DONT BOTHER ME NONE.
So psyched they made it. GONNA BE A FUN TOURNAMENT - GO BLUE!!!
Also - I assumed M needs the AQ to get in but a W over JHU who was #2 in the polls might be enough for an at-large now? Maybe if they lose a tough OT game or something? The metrics seem to like their strength of schedule and strength of record so [Jim Carrey-you're-telling-me-there's-a-chance dot gif] ?
Unfortunately, Army lost in their conf tournament last night and other at large bids could go up in smoke if Villanova and others win upsets in their tournament. So that hurts the at-large argument for M.
You're right - Penn State better make it, they certainly deserve it, especially after last night's dismantling of Maryland. In the last few weeks of the season I was thinking that PSU, Maryland and JHU are in and the last question is: Can Michigan be that 4th B1G team? If they beat just one of either Rutgers or Harvard I would say, they're in but an at-large still looks unlikely even w/ a win over #2 last night. Penn State is definitely a strong team and Saturday should be a good game. If Michigan can play like that again they can definitely win though.
CRUZ: THanks for putting this together! I've been insanely busy at work but I managed to catch some of the game last night but thanks for posting. I'm wondering if its good luck that I didn't get a chance to preview it haha.
Looks like its 7-5 M at half.
Yeah it's terrible. Hopkins had 10,000+ sellout vs Maryland today, Syracuse had 8,000+ vs Virginia today and Army-Navy had 10,000+ last weekend. I mean, those are rivalry games in nice weather but those numbers are nothing to sniff at. I wonder what attendance would be like if they played just a few more weeks and pushed the championship to mid-June. I would almost rather see them get rid of the conference tournaments and just expand the NCAA tournament.
Yeah that was crazy. Seconds before he picked it up, I was like 'Taylor get in the goal!!!' But that was a great GB and clear, memorable hustle play to ice the game.
Much improved performance, nerve-wracking finish aside. They got lots of goals from their middies and Taylor seemed to have his best game in a while. Defense also seemed to go to a zone at times(?) that seemed to slow down and confuse the Buckeyes. The aforementioned Big Tasty didn't have a great game, which is a nice break for this team. But, like basketball, just seeing the ball go in can really help shooters. Hopefully that's what they needed and they can hit some shots next week and beyond.
Some other things. The women are ranked #4 right now! And they play #1 Northwestern tomorrow! At noon on BTN!
It's weird that this is the last regular season game. Weather is goregeous here on the east coast but college lacrosse is so tied to having the FInal Four on Memorial Day weekend (and stupid conf tourneys) that now that it's nice, the season is already over. Notre Dame, currently ranked #1 and has a number of sellouts, has only 11 games on its schedule this season. There's no way their lacrosse team should be playing fewer games than its football team. That's ridiculous. College lacrosse is so weird and stupid and can't get out of its own way.
I've tried not to act too snobby at myself but I've come to the conclusion that I legitimately like watching sports. And I (obviously) think college lacrosse is a great product. My list would like pretty similar: college football and the NCAA tournament are some of the great American sports traditions. And I love the Olympics and the World Cup as well, but I think there are a lot of other great college sports out there like you said. I really got into women's hoops this year and B1G women's volleyball is a really great product.
Yeah, really tough game. But Penn State is a good, strong team so it's not the worst L. But, still they're trending in the wrong direction. Box score tells another bizarre story: Wietfeldt dominated faceoffs and Michigan won the turnover and groundball battles and only gave up one penalty. But, they only had 8 goals on 54 shots - 14%. Looks like Fracyon was in the zone and stuffed 19 Michigan shots which is really impressive. Michigan went 0-4 on man-ups and Ronda was the only midfielder to score.
I'm excited that Brown got some playing time at least. He took 5 shots and didn't score. But I saw one highlight that was exactly what I was talking about: he made a hard move, the defense adjusted, he moved the ball and it ended up with Tiernan who took a great shot that clanged off the crossbar. Just keep doing that and the shots will fall.
It's AQ or bust now though.
My Simpsons bit from Frinkiac didn't work!
Yeah. he had a pretty superb night. He was great. On the other end - Ross Scott's run of 3 straight goals in the first half was really impressive. Those were incredible shots; on the move, impeccably placed and with speed. Taylor had little chance.
Michigan has run into some hot goalies: UVA's Nunes, ND's Entenman and JHU's Ierlan; but I'm wondering how much of that is Michigan's poor shooting making them look good. The bad news is that PSU and OSU also have great goalkeepers. A 2nd half hat trick from John Morgan (what a good strong American name and I'm sure a fine young man) helped Michigan keep pace.
I'm also a little distressed that Justin Brown has been phased out of the offense lately. I don't know if he's dealing w/ an injury or if he's in the coaches' doghouse but he was key down the stretch last year. He has a decent outside shot - not the greatest placement but he definitely puts some stank on it - but he hasn't seemed to play at all lately. They've been getting little to no offense from the midfield, but Brown's speed can be a problem because he gets the defense to move, which is incredibly valuable, especially if you have a deadly crease attackman like Tiernan.
Beating Penn State would be a quality win and then a victory over the Buckeyes would bring them to 3-2 in the conference, which is nothing to sniff at. Another win or two in the tournament could help them make a strong case. But, there is no margin for error now.
All out of Simpsons bits but this always applicable...
Homer: sports, sports, sports - YouTube
WHoa! Go get 'em ladies! GO BLUE!!!
THEY DID IT!!! Big Win! What a redemption game for Taylor! Great effort from him. 1-0 in the B1G is huge going forward. Take care of business at Hopkins next week! GO BLUE!!
Some sloppy play in there but overall 1000x better than last week. The def middies are doing much better and seem to be playing tighter and more physical on the ball. The d-men and LSMs - ROberts, Van Wees, Whitney and Stanzel have all made some good plays so far. And Michigan is causing Maryland a lot of trouble on the ride. Hopefully they can come away with the big win. GO BLUE!!
They could've very easily gone with "Juwan Gone" or "Howard's End", come on Daily.
Is it me - or - does it seem like there are zero good coaches out there these days? Especially young ones. I don't know if there is a single coach in college football or basketball under 50 that you'd be like: that guy is going to win a championship one day. It's rough out there.
Only 2 lacrosse sickos joining in?! That was some of my best work!
Anyway, that was a complete disaster. I'm glad I went to the Maryland game and didn't stay home to watch this one. That game was a disappointment too (the B1G has an absolutely dismal record vs the ACC this year) but the weather was perfect, there was a great crowd and they actually sell pretty good beer.
Michigan got out to an early lead and then finished the first quarter 3-3 and I thought we had a good one on our hands. And then...11 of the next 12 goals were scored by ND. Michigan turned the ball over (10(!) by the 10 minute mark in the 2nd qtr.) repeatedly got lost on defense and couldn't get any stops. Taylor had an extremely rough day in goal, recording only 7 saves compared to 17 goals against in just 3 quarters. At one point, ND scored on like 5 or 6 consecutive shots. The D didn't provide him much help, getting beat on picks and either sliding when they didn't need to or not sliding at all. They also didn't create a lot of turnovers and Taylor wasn't making saves so they basically had no transition opportunities all game.
All in all, an absolutely brutal performance. Hopefully they can put it behind them, clean up their play and win some B1G games.
I really want to clip some of Harvard's goals from the other day and do a sort of defense 'film room' section but maybe I'll do that in the diaries if I ever get around to it.
I'm such a sicko these days that I'm seriously considering going to the Maryland-Virginia game, which is unfortunately on at the same time as this one. It's really nice here and that game should be a knock-down-drag-out brawl because those teams hate each other. Could be a big crowd and fun atmosphere.
Final 13-11 Harvard. Seems like they were chasing all game, down 4-5 for most of it. They cut it to 2 a few times in the 2nd but Harvard responded. And it seemed like the two teams were stuck on 13-11 for the last several minutes of the game so Michigan just couldn't quite complete the comeback.
This would've done a lot for the tournament resume but they're not out of it yet. Still opportunities for quality wins out there. And they can redeem themselves by knocking off ND next week. GO BLUE.
13-11 H in the 4th now. Seems like a real dogfight and M has been clawing back.
10-6 Harvard in the 3rd. Hopefully they can put together a good second half game plan and take control.
I wish I had the patience to look it up but Craig Ross had a really interesting piece on the state of higher education in the 1890s(?). At that point, Harvard and Michigan were the two largest universities in the country, and of course, football powerhouses. While Harvard was still exclusively focused on admitting its Old Money legacies and the sons of titans of industry, President Angell was innovating by democratizing higher ed. And Michigan was educating the best and brightest students from all backgrounds. And actually, football played an important role in engaging successful alumni who wanted to help the program and university. Very interesting.
Yes - I forgot to mention they're ranked 13th. They held steady at 13 from last week while there was a lot of movement in front and behind them.
Clark had 11 in the first half I think. She's a great shooter and savvy all-around scorer but her passing is fantastic. She doesn't get enough credit for that I think.
I forgot to add this, v important...
No Livers?!?!
3-goal burst right out of halftime gave Michigan a nice cushion and they went on to win by five, 13-8. GOOD WIN. It's very possible Delaware will find themselves in the tournament again this year. Now they get another chance for a strong resume-buidling W when they play Harvard at home next weekend. GO BLUE!!
Kind of hard to see but yes, it looks like they do?
Looks like Boehm has a few goals so far and thus recording his 199th and 200th career points!
Tiernan has a few as well, on some really good-looking shots.
6-5 M at half according to twitter.
It's on this? https://my.flosports.tv/partner/caa?utm_campaign=caa&utm_medium=partner…;
1. The Living Daylights (great song too). Goldfinger right behind, From Russia w Love is probably the best one, I have several close honorable mentions as well.
2. Batman
3. Nicholson's Joker.
4. No response, don't know enough to answer.
Great 2nd half after a sluggish 1st. Shot much better and Wietfeldt was great on F/Os. I really like Tiernan - he's a real crafty finisher/old school crease man. All round much better half to avoid the upset (albeit vs a dangerous opponent). Back up the coast to face Delaware on Saturday. Only gets tougher from here - GO BLUE!
J'ville up 8-6 at half. Haven't been able to watch very closely but from what I've seen it looks like they're just not finishing. And on offense they're getting caught ball-watching and not sliding well.
A few shots I've seen seem to reflect a return to their bad old habits. They have to do a bettem thjob of changing the levels at which they shoot. Far too often they'll shoot high-to-high, low-to-low and telegraph where it's going. Goalies are like major league hitters now. they're so good that 95mph doesn't phase them anymore. A
Michigan is down 3 now and Jv is going on a man-up. There's no need to panic but they have to clean it up fairly quickly. This is extremely trap-gamey.
Sorry- forgot to add some context: I have no idea why the game is being played at DCD. I'm guessing they have a fieldhouse there? Also, game will be streaming on the BTN Ocho so it's probably inaccessible for most of us.
While I'm here I might as well make a plug for my annual rant...Michigan has its own lacrosse facility (outdoors) and used to play games in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse (indoors) before the renovations made it unusable for hosting lacrosse games. But, then they built a lacrosse-only stadium which cost a few million dollars. And yet they're playing today's game indoors in Detroit because it's February, because I'm guessing the weather is awful. So they only really have 4 true home games and don't play a home game after April 7th, when the weather is still pretty awful. What are we even doing here? This all seems so stupid to me. College lacrosse needs to get its shit together.
No one is talking about 'de-arming' America. We didn't use to have this problem. We can get senseless gun deaths in line with other developed nations and get back to where it used to be. And I believe we can do that without violating the 2nd amendment. It just requires a little bit of willpower.
I'm in favor of the 2A and also strong, smart gun laws (also - I think most people that means confiscation which is not how those types of laws work).
Also - I'm not trying to be a dick, but try this thought exercise (I think I may have heard somewhere but I may have made it up?):
- Put two strangers in a locked room together, no one gets out, no one comes in. Just two people in a room with maybe a table and chairs. Who gets shot?
- Now, add a gun. Put a loaded pistol on the table. Now, who gets shot? Ideally no one. Could be either. Could be both.
- Now, add a second gun. Again, who gets shot? Hopefully, they're getting along and no one gets shot. Even if they're not, hopefully they are responsible enough not to shoot the other person.
- Then add a third person. Three people, two guns. Then another gun. Then another person. More people and more guns and so on and so on.
It's a little raw but I think it illustrates how an increased number of guns just adds to the permutations of what could happen. We have to try and make sure that dangerous people in that room aren't getting their hands on the gun(s). Because we're in that room too.
Northern Ireland was essentially at war with what many citizens believed to be an oppressive, foreign, occupying force. That's wartime so it's a bit different (also a lot of arms that ended up in the hands of the IRA came from the States).
Can't recall anyone riding their gun to work or to drop their kids off at school or to deliver a pizza...
Honolulu, this is outstanding. Let's make mgoblog the go-to spot for in-depth lacrosse coverage just like Brian, Seth & Co. do for every other sport!
Anyway...gahhhh, this game. So, first of all, it's frustrating M still gives up a lot of goals on simple pick plays. They gave up a few goals and other open looks on picks that they were somehow unprepared for. Defending a pick is simple. You do one of three things 1) switch 2) get through/over/under or 3) hard double. Option #3 isn't really a thing in basketball, but back in the day our policy on the rare pick would be that both defenders attack the ballcarrier and go all out for the strip. Too often, it seems like Michigan's on-ball defender gets stuck on the screen while the other defender stands there. Like hoops, you have to communicate and even decide beforehand what you're going to do. They also gifted UVA a goal when Michigan's man subbed off but UVA's LSM didn't, leaving them w/ a temporary man advantage. He just shot and scored. They have to cut down on cheap goals which were a problem early last year.
As for M's offense, they kind of forced Boehm into that creator role but that's not really his game. He's a crafty all-around player but if they wanted him to drive and dish they really needed to pick those huge defenders off of him and have him go against a shortstick. Sometimes, defending a guy who is much smaller than you is actually really difficult. While Boehm is quick and shifty, he doesn't have topline blazing speed like Millon and he's kind of scrawny so he was unable to muscle in close and cause problems for the defender. As a result, the d-men were much bigger AND could run with him which caused M a lot of problems. Still, they scored 11 goals and created a lot good looks on that incredible defense (UVA's goalie was incredible), which I think is promising?
Michigan just got no bounces at all. They had that broken-stick goal and another one in which Millon's shot went off a d-man's leg and in (don't worry, he still thinks he's hot shit though). And poor Cathal Roberts couldn't get a call to save his life. UVA's 7th goal came because Millon was holding him on the crease and he couldn't get free to slide up and cover #28; I was sitting on that end it and it sure looked like interference to me. And the same ref missed consecutive endline calls when Roberts hustled to the spot first but gave it to the Cavaliers. The latter led to their 14th goal; Roberts AND Taylor were closer to it when it went out. UVA got the quick restart and a goal.
Sounds crazy but there was a lot to like in this game. New pieces seem like excellent additions, esp. Roberts, Pederson and Tiernan. Plus, they won't play another team with that much of a size advantage the rest of the season. And they probably won't get such bad luck and atrocious officiating again. It's unlikely such a nightmarish game will repeat in the future. And it also seems like they really put it together and took it out on Canisius today!
GO BLUE!
I've been a huge Juwan fan and am hoping for a Juwan-aissance for Michigan hoops. But, man, it has gone really wrong lately. I don't think all of this can be attributed to losing Beilein's players and admissions troubles, but that certainly accounts for some of it. But, Coach Howard just seems different. I think he's a much better coach than this and he's shown that here. He probably gets a pass for his heart surgery but this season is extremely bad. And I think he's been dealing with some really difficult personal stuff since his best friend and then a close cousin (like a brother) passed away in 2021 (I remember rumors that Harbaugh was going through personal problems in 2020 that may have affected the on-field performance. I don't know if that's the case here, but anyway...)
I've said it in other posts, but it bears repeating: Burnett and Nkamhoua did not sign up for this. They are good players - so is Dug - and Williams is having his best season in a M uniform and Reed and Tschetter are coming along. That's a decent core that most coaches could do a lot with (I think Beilein would have these guys on the bubble at least, certainly better than 8 Ws). This team is so weird - but it certainly has ability (over the years, we've seen terrible teams at Michigan and around the BigTen and this is not one of those teams). And its poor performance is on the head coach. I'm not surprised at those luck stats. You have to find a way to make your own luck and win close games.
It's really disappointing and the most difficult thing - and maybe their biggest problem - is the lack of focus, heart and effort. Never thought that would be a problem with a Juwan Howard-coached team. Nevertheless, I think he's a natural-born coach and a brilliant offensive mind. However, it might be better suited to the pros where he doesn't have to deal with the heaps of bullshit that head coaches have to deal with in college basketball now.
Yeah, I can't get into it most years. I kinda like some of the dudes on the 9ers and the exposure of Mahomes/Kelce/Reid has really worn on me. But, this is not a particulary interesting game and even the halftime show is very meh to me. I can't stand the vast majority of the ads. But I turned it on bc what else is there to do? Actually, one year the game bored my girlfriend and I so much we turned on 90 Day Fiancee in like the 2nd quarter haha.
But. don't be fooled - the NFL wants you to think this overload of bullshit is the most important thing in the world. Don't let them.
Also: HOT TIP: If you're ever out of town this weekend, the Super Bowl is a great time to be on the road. A few years ago, I did NY to DC and Phila to DC and the roads were empty, made record time.