Thoughts on Michigan Hoops and Hockey
I don’t comment much on the Michigan Basketball or Hockey teams because I don’t get to catch their games very often. But with the basketball team doing this weird thing where they actually win Big Ten games late in the season I felt it was necessary to express my support for this newly-formed habit of theirs.
You see, under Tommy Amaker, the Wolverines would typically feast on a terrible non-conference schedule and then stumble badly late in the year during the tail end of the Big Ten season. Here was their record over the final 12 games of conference play in each of the last four seasons:
| Season | Wins | Losses |
|
2006-07 |
5 | 7 |
|
2005-06 |
6 | 6 |
|
2004-05 |
1 | 11 |
|
2003-04 |
7 | 5 |
|
TOTAL |
19 | 29 |
|
AVERAGE |
5 | 7 |
Even a mediocre finish in 2005-06 was a bitter disappointment as the team was 16-3 at one point during the season and was on the bubble to make the NCAA tournament. That record was accomplished via smoke and mirrors with a Charmin-soft non-conference schedule. Two terrible losses to Indiana and to Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament knocked them out of contention for March Madness.
So it’s been nice to see John Beilein not adopt one of Tommy Amaker’s more annoying trademarks by stumbling across the finish line. The team has won 4 of their last 5 games and could very realistically win 6 of their final 8 conference games. If that happens they would close out the final 12 games of the season with a 6-6 record.
While that would be the same record Amaker had in 2005-06 it wouldn’t be nearly as dispiriting since the Wolverines are a very young team that started the season 4-10 while playing a brutal non-conference schedule. The early part of the season featured games against two teams ranked right around #5 in the country [Duke and UCLA], a top 10 team in Georgetown, and two top 15-ish conference foes in Wisconsin and Purdue.
The team still has the annoying habit of losing games to Minnesota, but they also routinely knock off fellow lightweights Northwestern and Penn State. I was a big supporter of hiring Chris Lowery to replace Amaker but I have to give Beilein credit for the job he’s done thus far. While the turnaround is nowhere near complete I can appreciate a team that - rather than mail it in - competes hard on the road and beats most of the teams they should beat.
Last night the Michigan hockey team earned their first win over Sparty this season, and in doing so put themselves on the doorstep to secure the regular season CCHA championship. Nearly everyone who followed the team throughout the year had the same response after the first half of the season: it’s great that the team has gotten off to such a phenomenal start but the back end of the schedule is what’s really going to let us know just how good this team really is right now.
Well let’s see: against three top 5-ish teams in Miami (OH), MSU and Notre Dame the Wolverine icers have gone 4-2-2. The tie to Miami was unfortunate as Michigan had a big lead in that game. Sparty clearly gave Michigan the most trouble which is understandable given the rivlarly, that Michigan has been ranked #1, and the fact MSU is defending National Champs.
As mentioned at the top I don’t see enough Michigan games to really have strongly-formed opinions on the team. I did catch most of yesterday’s game and I was impressed with Michigan State. They’ve had a really inconsistent season, losing or tying to teams like Northern Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha and a terrible Lake Superior team. The Wolverines have had one bad loss [by one goal] to Ohio State which isn’t bad over the course of a 35+ game season.
My guess is the Spartans are a team that will always play Michigan tough, so if they met in the tournament they could knock Michigan out. This is something Red Berenson more or less acknowledged following the game.
“There’s not much to choose between these two teams,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “It’s whoever gets the jump.”
Given how inconsistent the Spartans have been I wonder how likely the two teams are to meet in the tourney. Michigan’s biggest issues right now are twofold: trying to have people chip in to replace Chad Kolarik’s offensive contributions and play better along the boards in their own zone. MSU had no problem cycling the puck in Michigan’s end of the ice. It created several quality scoring chances. That was the only real weakness I noticed while watching yesterday’s game.
One guy who I think has the ability to really make some contributions in Kolarik’s absence is Max Pacrioretty. The freshman has all the makings of a very dangerous college Power Forward. He scored the 4th goal that provided the Wolverines with some insurance by building a 2-goal lead in the dying moments of the 2nd period. The goal came via a very nice redirect on a Mark Mitera shot from the point. He also had a very nice setup on a centering pass from behind the MSU goal while on the PK. I think the Montreal fans are going to like his game quite a bit. Guillaume Latendresse better enjoy all that ice-time while it lasts.
Pacioretty has definitely benefitted from playing alongside team captain and likely Hobey Baker winner Kevin Porter. Porter leads the nation in points and what can you say about the job he’s done captaining a team that lost Jack Johnson and TJ Hensick?
I’ll be shocked if Porter doesn’t win the Hobey. Let’s just hope Kolarik can get back on the ice sometime during the NCAA tourney.
Chad Kolarik Guillaume Latendresse John Beilein Kevin Porter Max Pacioretty Michigan Basketball Michigan Hockey Red BerensonNo Comments
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