Stay A While

Sorry folks, just moved and finally got cable.  

Some news to go around in the world of sparty.  First of all,  MSU trounced Nebraska and Draymond Green collected another 20-10 game.  He is likely yout B1G POY.  This win coupled with a UM loss earlier in the day and a Wisconsin win over OSU the n ext day and MSU automatically got a share of the of the B1G title. A win at Indiana or against OSU and we clinch the out right B1G title.   These are two tough games to close the season and yours truly is likely going to miss the MSU game tomorrow. yay.  The #1 seed in the Big Ten tournament is up for grabs and there are about 50 different tie breakers.   Travis Trice will still be out for the IU game and Nix might not make it for the game with a sprained arch.  That to me is a bigger loss than Trice.  IU had no answer for Nix's girth in the previous match up.  If Nix cannot go, look for this to be the Appling show.  He has been tremendous the past three games limiting turnovers and playing good defense.  This game will need more of that with the IU stripe out coming to shake MSU off their groove.  Appling's continuing development of his mid range game, stop and pop, is also something to watching - not only for this game but going forward.  Obviously we need a solid game from Green but we really need a good one from Payne.  Payne played 15 minutes in the previous match up (to Nix's 23) and was fairly effective.  However, Payne is better defensive match up for Zeller.  Lately Payne has been backing people down and using a jump hook/rise and fire type shot that has been wildly effective.  With his length and ability to jump, Payne needs to use this more.  I am pretty 50/50 on the outcome of this game so no prediction.

MSU also picked up a few more football recruits.  Granted nothing compared to what UM has been doing.  First was Jalyn Powell out of Warren G Harding HS in Warren, OH.  Powell is a 6-1 187 lb ATH.  If  I had to guess, hell be a safety.  There is no ranking information that I can find.  He had interest from UM, and WVU. 

There other commit is R.J. Shelton out of Beaver Dam HS in Beaver Dam, WI.  R.J. is a 5-11 185 running back.  Like Jalyn, there is little to no rating information.  I have seen various sites heap praise on R.J calling him a star.  R.J. had offers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa and also had interest from Arkansas, Cincinnati, and Oregon.  So that's a solid list at least.

For these two well see when the sites update their recruitment information where they stack up. 

Cool picture from the http://www.lansingstatejournal.com

Big win for UM last night.

Hockey

The Red Wings look solid through 20.  If there is a rivalry I care about more than most other ones, it is Red Wings v. Blackhawks.  From being spit on, being told to move back to my burnt out buildings, and having food thrown on me from a moving vehicle, I do not care for the Blackhawks or their fans. 

40 more minutes of what the Wings just did and we should have out 7th? straight win. 

Round Up!

First let's start with some football!  MSU has two recruits for the class of 2013 so far.  UM is at 5 (now upwards of 8) I want to say.  We have so far had verbal pledges from Gerald Holmes, a running back out of Flint, Michigan and Jon Reschke, a middle linebacker out of Bloomfield, Michigan.  Holmes had offers from MSU, CMU and Toledo, but also had intersted from Iowa, UM and Illinois.  Hard to say how concrete that is this early.  There is little scouting done on Holmes at this point, however, there should  be more as the summer comes and goes.   Allen Trieu of Scout has stated that Holmes has both good size and speed and missed a lot of opportunity to be seen due to an injury that caused him to miss half the season. The potential is there.

Reschke is a consensus four star linebacker at this point.  Again, due to how early this is, there is not a lot written, though ESPN lists him as a top 150 watch list (UM has 3 or 4 commits on that list already).  Jon had offers from MSU and Toledo but reportedly had interest from UM, PSU Wisconsin Northwestern and Stanford.  He seems to be a quality pickup and could end up as a top three player from the state of Michigan for the 2013 class.

Don't you just love Twitter?  Please read below.  Here are some favorites:

TerryRichardson: thats why u just a fan loser ass fuck off n get a life you fag.

AJ Williams: I smell pussy!!!

OndrePipkins:  That nigga look like a slave from Roots

MarioOjemudia:  Did bitch ass Mr. B really give me a 79.6%?  .....    the same teacher that stopped me during a test to make me give him autograph, and stops lessons just to talk about football.

I am just glad to see that America's youth is both respectful of all kinds of diversity and getting a solid education.  I am also glad that this was for UM commits, because I am sure MSU ones have similar thoughts.  I think this stuff is pretty serious, the website also states that were recruiting violations mentioned as well as alcohol use but they did not put that stuff up for legal reasons. 

I generally do not tolerate sexual or racial slurs.  I hope you all feel the same way.
 
 (I havn't read the other schools at all, Pat might be interested in the OSU ones.)
Michigan Twitter Accounts

MSU got a solid win over Purude two days ago, and UM got a huge win over OSU.  This moves MSU up to #6 and UM to #11. Not too shabby.  Right now MSU has a one game lead over OSU and UM.  The next game is Wednesday at Minnesota.  With future games homes to Nebraska at Indiana and home to OSU.  The remaining leg is tough, this game at Minny is a must win. 

That's all for now.  I should get a post up tomorrow during the Minnesota game.

Wins over Ohio, Commitmas and B1G Title Chase

This is going to be short as I'll be home tonight and able to put up some content this week. I love beating Ohio. This ws a program defining type win with Gameday there for the festivities. Michigan lived up to the hype. Trey Burke is filthy and Michigan basketball has a legit shot at a Big Ten Title.

Looking at the schedules it appears that MSU and Michigan have easier roads to the championship than Ohio. Things will probably come down to the last game of the season in East Lansing between the Buckeyes and Spartans but if Michigan wins this week at Northwestern they have a very good shot at winning out. Also again, Burke is good.

Still, for this blogger football is what really matters. Michigan had an early Commitmas for the 2013 class as 6 recruits jumped on board. Brady Hoke is following up a strong 2012 recruiting class (more on that class this week) with a spectacular start to 2013 recruiting. All 6 commits from yesterday are rated 4 stars it Rivals. February 18th 2012 was a great day to be a Wolverine.

Montana

Montana is nice.  Makes it hard to post anything though. Clearly my counterpart has nothing to say.  After MSU wins in bball and hockey.  I keep saying that I will try to get a post up but then I end up drinking like 9 beers at 8,000 feet.  Tonight, I have no plans in preparation for a day of snowboarding in Bridger Bowl.  So tonight, I will try to recap some things. 

Nice win against OSU, eh?  What say you!

WIN

Our superstar also sits in the student section.  Seems to be a much less big of a deal this time around...

(William Gholston)

Not to mention the future

 (Lawrence Thomas)

(thank you Kevin W. Fowler for the Lansing State Journal for the pics)

More to come later.  Like tomorrow night after work later. 

Rivalry Sunday

Ok, so it's Super Bowl Sunday but I'm a bit more excited for the Michigan-MSU basketball matchup than the big football game. I think the Patriots win the big game because despite all the hype I do not think Eli is on the same level as Brady. The Giants have a good team around their qb but there is an important revenge factor here which will motivate the Pats to get it done.

More important to this blog is the outcome of the basketball matchup tomorrow. Both squads are within a game of OSU for the league lead in standings and the winner of this game will stay right in the mix for a conference title.

Draymond Green has been adding some drama to this matchup. First he guaranteed victory immediately after Michigans's win two weeks ago. Now he is back at it saying only death can keep him out while declaring his hatred for Michigan and saying he has the Wolverines figured out. That's a lot of talk for a guy who is .500 in his career vs the Wolverines and who has lost the last three.

Still, Green's Spartans have a very good chance to back up their leader in this game. They simply do not lose at home and Michigan is going to see the Spartans give their best effort of the season. However, I would not pencil in a Spartan victory just yet. We've seen in the last few matchups that Michigan too puts great emphasis on this game and that Michigan presents some matchup difficulties for the Spartans.

This should be a game filled with great emotion and effort and probably some good basketball as well.

Two things to keep your eye on:

1. MSU's edge on the offensive glass. The Spartans will get second chance points but are they dominating the game on the offensive boards? This is a huge key in the game.

2. Are the threes dropping for the Wolverines? It's a common theme for Michigan but when they shoot well (especially Tim Hardaway Jr) they are a very good team. They will need to be just that to win in the Breslin this year.

I think the crowd and MSU's size and will (after losing 3 straight) are too much for the Wolverines in this game. Spartans by 6.

Tbone  here.  I would say all this is pretty much spot on.   I will add that the crowd at the Breslin is going to be fired up and I fully expect MSU to come out hot. It remains to be seen how effective Draymond is with his hurt knee.  However, Dawson, if he continues his current streak of playing should give UM fits and could take over the game.  I look for Appling to rebound from his last game against UM and the loss at Illinois. He has been a great contributor all season, and makes this Spartan team nearly un beatable when he is playing at his best.  When he plays at  his worst?  The team looks lost.  

I see the game prediction similar to Pat's.  I will take a 10 point MSU victory though just to make it a little different and regain control of the background for a time.  GO GREEN!

Ooh So Sour

I don't like Ohio or Urban Meyer so the rest of this post is going to pain me a little.The B1G is filled with sore losers and whiners. This story about Wisconsin crying about Meyer's dirty recruiting really bothers me. Look, I want the Big Ten to compete and do things with class and dignity but any talk of a "gentlemen"s agreement" about not recruiting verbal commits is BS. I'm all for painting Meyer the villain but calling kids committed elsewhere is simply doing your due diligence. I assume Meyer is also using negative recruiting tactics which is what it is, a choice to be kind of a dick to try to get ahead. I have a difficult time believing Brett Beliema is anything but a giant dbagb on the recruiting trail.It all sounds like sour grapes to me.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-02-02/urban-meyer-negative-recruiting-ohio-state-bret-bielema-upset

Zach, i have to post from the IPad while I'm on the road so I need you to edit links and such for me. Thanks.