I did a player preview type thing on Jack Miller, also known as "the redshirt freshman center who is dangerously close to the top of the depth chart." I'm a big Miller fan, but him playing a lot this year is probably not in anyone's best interest.
I wrote a few words about Penn State football going forward, mentioning the names "Jerry Sandusky" or "Joe Paterno" a combined total of 0.0 times. This 2012 season at PSU is going to be one of the strangest in the history of college football. It will be awkward and tumultuous for so many reasons having nothing to do with football.
File this in the already bursting "reasons why paying more than a moderate amount of attention to recruiting is an utter waste of time" manila folder. It's like Nkemdiche is negotiating the terms of his contract scholarship, kind of like an NFL player...but that would mean that the NCAA's student-athlete model is an illusion! Surely this can't be true! Collegiate amateurism, where art thou?!
Read this or don't, but that's some top notch trolling in the title there, especially after Alabama just turned down the Badgers' home-and-home proposition.
Michigan Hockey Netcompiles the depressing list of players that committed to Red's program only to opt out for the confusing, labyrinthine world of junior hockey.
Trouba status. In light of Connor Carrick's decision to jump to the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL, thereby foregoing a longstanding commitment to Michigan, it would be understandable for the cynics among us to start doing the Letterman collar tug thing once various rumors started to pop up indicating that Trouba was next in line to be plucked up. Fortunately, Trouba reaffirmed his commitment to Michigan yesterday. You may downgrade your panic level from "Kel going 'aw here it goes'" to "faint but mostly unjustified concern because you are an Eeyorish Michigan fan and concern is your default state of being."
"There is absolutely no truth or merit to the recent media reports that the Kitchener Rangers have offered Jacob any remuneration," the program wrote on behalf of the Trouba family. "We have the utmost respect for the Kitchener Rangers and those that choose the (Canadian Hockey League) as an option.
"But Jacob will be attending the University of Michigan next fall as a student athlete."
So, there you go. This is the second time that Trouba has reaffirmed his commitment, the last time coming, IIRC, the day before the draft. Yes, Michigan has been burned many times before with these in these situations, but at this point it seems like we Trouba should end up manning the blue line in Ann Arbor this fall. I don't need to tell you that losing a top 10 draft pick would've been fairly devastating, not to mention the fact that Michigan will of course be breaking in a new goalie (always a precarious situation). If these rumors had proven to have some substance, it would've been time to bust out some punny yet saddening George Strait.
Northwestern basketball...recruiting? Yeah, it's early July. Bill Carmody landed 4-star (!) PG Jaren Sina on Monday, making this the second intriguing commitment to the NU basketball program in recent weeks (the first being the commitment of 7'2'' Chier Ajou a couple weeks ago).
Sina is a 2013 guy, so 2012-13 will still be the Sobocop show at the point. However, if Carmody can somehow survive this season, Northwestern could have something going. The bad news for Carmody is that SG Drew Crawford is a senior, and thus won't be around when Sina gets to Evanston.
In any case, this seems like a pretty big coup for a program like Northwestern's. Via Sippin' on Purple, Sina is a top 100 guy and is *probably* the first 4-star of the Carmody era...Carmody has been in Evanston since 2000. Sippin' on Purple:
Woo! And Rivals has his handle listed as being "outstanding". This is quite a get. Fred Hill was the lead recruiter, flexing his New Jersey muscles, and getting Sina to pick NU over Villanova, Rutgers, Stanford, and Pittsburgh. He had earlier committed to Alabama, but reconsidered and now will be coming to NU.
That is a very nice lookin' offer list, and from the sound of it Northwestern has quite a player on their hands. If Michigan didn't have Trey Burke, I might be feeling a little bit jealous right now. It's always good to see the lesser recruiting brands in the conference reel in good prospects; hopefully this nets the Wildcats their first tourney bid at some point in Sina's career.
Hammer and Rails previews Michigan. TMill over at Hammer and Rails offers his thoughts on Michigan football after Year 1 of the Hokemania Experience. While I wouldn't exactly agree that last year's game was decided on "a couple of plays," Michigan will certainly need to put in a similar performance if this year's game in Ross-Ade is going to not come down tot he fourth quarter. TMill sheds some light on the defensive side of the ball for the Boilers, particularly in light of Michigan's prolific output in the ground game last year in the Big House:
Fortunately, I like our defense going into the year. The front four has the potential to be stout and both Will Lucas and Dwayne Beckford started really coming on late. This could be a game where the new 3-4 elements can make a difference. Robinson is the most elusive quarterback we will see all season. To have even a chance at a victory we must contain him.
Like all road games, this will be a tricky one for Michigan, as this game is the Big Ten opener, right off the heels of a prettyyyy prettyyyyy prettyyyy tough non-conference slate. In years past, this very well could have represented Michigan's "one inexplicable Big Ten loss of the year."
While I put the odds of this happening somewhere between "not gonna happen" and "so you're saying there's a chance?", a slip up here and Michigan could find itself with a 2-3 record to start the season. I'm going to go ahead and stop this section here and head to www.youtube.com to reassure myself that 2011 happened and that This Is Michigan.
More? Saban apparently turned down a home-and-home with the Badgers...oh well. Would've been pretty cool. Wisconsin and Alabama will go ahead and schedule North Dakota and Georgia State now, thank you very much.
This whole "star players playing for their rivals" thing that NCAA2013 is promoting is starting to scare me. I'm sure the dialogue in that comment section is reasoned and enlightening. UMHoops has some Zak Irvin highlights for you. He can shoot the three and the mid-range shot well, he can slash...and he can dunk! In all seriousness, he looks like a big time talent at the 3. Given GRIII's versatility, it will be interesting to see how much run Irvin gets at the 3--which GRIII also plays--during his freshman season. I can't imagine that Beilein will struggle to find Irvin minute from the get go.
I wrote something about Nebraska football and how, after one year, I still don't really know what they are but how we'll probably find out a little more this year when Michigan makes the trip to Lincoln (a trip that I really, really hope to make).
I did another player preview, this time on Taylor Lewan, the twosie aficionado himself. Is he Jake Long? Probably not. Is he really, really good nonetheless? Oh yeah. More questions? No.
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Other things of note (but not written by me):
The performances of the EPL's representatives at this Euro Cup was kind of a mixed bag.
Zack Novak, the reigning king of GRITsterton, IN, on the process of trying his hand at the pro game (whether domestically or abroad). Via UMHoops:
“I was talking to the guys from Cleveland and they said, ‘We’re not taking you,’ and I laughed and said, ‘Yeah, obviously.’
Stu Douglass, on the other hand, will begin his professional basketball career in Spain (via the MGoBoard). Luckily for Stu, airplanes exist, otherwise that whole "burn the boats" thing would look kind of silly right about now.
We hardly knew ye...Michigan Hockey Net confirms that recently drafted Michigan commit Connor Carrick will in fact not be taking his talents to Ann Arbor, instead opting for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. So it goes. I figured after the fact that it was probably more than naive of me to say that none of the guys drafted last week would make the jump before coming to Ann Arbor. In any case, good luck to Mr. Carrick.
SBN's Detroit Bad Boys takes a look at 9th overall pick Andre Drummond through a statistical lens. UConn in 2011-12 wasn't exactly the perfect environment for a developing young player, but yeah...this is the epitome of a boom-or-bust pick. The numbers aren't too kind to Drummond, but he undeniably looks the part of an NBA big man. We'll see what happens (as a Bulls fan, I'll get the chance to see quite a bit of him in the coming years).
Some quick NHL Draft points while I wait for the France-Spain showdown:
--Winnipeg selected Michigan freshman-to-be Jacob Trouba in the first round with the 9th overall pick. Trouba is the first Michigan first-rounder since Pacioretty in 2007. I'm admittedly not all that locked into the draft process and junior hockey in general (my college hockey knowledge is almost entirely limited to what I know about Michigan), but this is an impressive accomplishment for Trouba. In a seemingly uncharacteristically defense-heavy first round (9 of the top 10 picks were defensemen), this is a strong indicator of the kind of quality Trouba will bring to the Michigan blue line this upcoming season.
"He's a big strong person right now that's going to continue to grow and fill out," Cheveldayoff said.
"My dad is 6-8 and my uncle is 7-1," Trouba said. "My grandfather is 6-8. I come from a big family. I'd like to grow another inch or two."
Trouba is already 6'2'', so any further growth would probably necessitate some lame "MAYBE THIS GUY CAN PLAY A LITTLE FOR JOHN BEILEIN EH AM I RIGHT GUYS?" type jokes.
Danton Cole--Trouba's coach for two seasons with the US national development team--on Trouba:
"We always compare him to a shark out on the ice. He's got a real good edge to him and competes, handles himself like a real pro.
Naturally, he did not last until the 17th pick where San Jose was selecting. Sorry...I'm so sorry. I had to.
FWIW, NHLN analyst Craig Button compared Trouba to Adam Foote. In other Craig Button-related news, he compared D Matthew Dumba--the 7th overall pick to Minnesota--to Charles Woodson. Yes, that Charles Woodson.
--Later on, the Carolina Hurricanes selected Michigan F Phil Di Giuseppe with the 38th overall pick. Again, I'm not as locked into the college/juniors transition to the NHL as many others in the Michigan community, but it seems that Michigan isn't really in danger of seeing any of these guys take the jump to the professional ranks, which is very nice indeed. Hopefully PDG can build upon what was a pretty solid freshman year this upcoming season.
According to Corey Pronman, Nieves is considered "High-end if not an elite skater with great puck skills." There were some scouts that even considered him the smoothest and faster skater among all players in the draft. Combined with his elite skating package, he also has great vision, which goes hand-in-hand with his playmaking abilities.
He sounded like a potential first-rounder at one point, so it seems like he maybe slipped a little farther down the board than expected.
--With the 137th overall pick, the Washington Capitals took 2012 Michigan commit D Connor Carrick. All I really know about him is that Brian has described him as a "bigger version of Langlais" multiple times.
On two consecutive weekends, Michigan saw an otherwise successful season come to an end with an almost existential abruptness. Seniors--Zack Novak, Stu Douglass, Shawn Hunwick--saw their time as Michigan athletes end on a sour note, an otherwise cheerful classical symphony ending in an out-of-place minor key.
The basketball team spent the time between November and March actualizing the entirety of its potential, doing everything that it could with what relatively little it had to spare. The ride was a nearly ceaseless crescendo, a buildup to something great. It fell apart in the end; the idealism of deserved Fate--of positive outcomes reserved for those who have traversed the darkest corners of the realm of athletic pursuit--was dealt a heavy blow. Is this how it was supposed to end? The curtain falls and you sit in your seat in the dark amphitheater waiting for more, and more never comes. That is all there is. You get up and leave.
The hockey team rolled into the sequestered vacuum that is the NCAA hockey tournament with a shiny #1 seed and a roster that had seemingly experienced the athletic equivalent of a renaissance. Whether by virtue of Jon Merrill's return or survivalist instinct, the latter mirroring the same sort of late-season push we saw last year and the year before, it was breathtakingly automatic, the quintessential example of the sports cliche "flipping the switch." The streak was not only intact, it was as if it had never been in danger. As others more qualified than I can probably corroborate, this wasn't a vintage Michigan team featuring electron virtuosos like T.J. Hensick or top-notch two-way stalwarts like Kevin Porter. And yet, the results speak for themselves.
After Lynch's late equalizer and the remaining time expiring without another goal, it was not difficult to harken back to last year's championship game, in which regulation time ended 2-2 after a late Michigan goal. UMD's first goal bounced just over Hunwick's outstretched pads, the second on a UMD power play, in which a shot in close rebounded almost miraculously onto the UMD attacker's tape for a second point blank opportunity. A Rohrkemper goal tied it late, like Lynch's late goal on Friday; overtime hockey once again. The land of dread. The land of affirmation. Overtime hockey is elaborate, fevered theater. It is a Shakespearean sword fight, each combatant slowing bleeding out his life slash by slash, until one or the other has no more blood to give and thus clutches, spins, and falls.
UMD's final goal came after Michigan had spent most of the early minutes of overtime in its own zone, frantically attempting to catch its breath, to stave off the final blow. A crashing UMD forward, essentially untouched, came through and potted the winning goal. It was over.
Again, Michigan entered the perilous domain of overtime hockey, looking to make its second wind count. Survival was the only instinct playing out at this juncture. At that point, everything else fades away, ancillary to the order of the moment. Overtime hockey is so Darwinian thought set upon the framework of sport.
A rebound and a weak backcheck later and the puck was in the back of the net only a few minutes into the overtime period. Again, it was over, as if someone was repeating a bad joke after it failed to elicit laughter after the first telling. There was nothing Hunwick could do, and the fact that he was mostly helpless makes a bitter end even more difficult to take. After a career filled with save after incomprehensible save, saves that defied the laws of physics and conventional wisdom, it would all naturally end with a sequence beyond his control, one of those moments in which agency is nowhere to be found. The puck didn't care what came before; it went in the wide open net, invited by its stark dimensional reality. The puck was oblivious to history. It always is.
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After these things, there must come some sort of response. Experience gives one the ability to skip certain steps in post-loss processing, insofar as watching sports can inspire feelings of personal "loss." You've got your denial, and it saves you and everybody around you a lot of time and broken household items if you just skip to acceptance.
Single-elimination hockey is Fate neutered, in which the thing that actually happens seems off, askew even, like a picture on the wall that has fallen to either side. A degree off-center. Bizarro. More so than anything else, the NCAA single-elimination format takes Fate, capitalized, and sends it through a grinder and a furnace, in the process revealing that Fate is not really a crystallized absolute but a collection of individual possibilities, flecks of charred, hardened reality. All it is is survival; the fleck that makes it through is the one that is. That's it. It's a little unappealing, isn't it?
But, I think, that's how it is. Whether we're talking about the Big Dance or NCAA hockey, Destiny and Fate--capitalized--are not self-aware. They don't know what the basketball team has been through throughout the span of Zack and Stu's careers, or the fact that the Michigan hockey team was fighting to continue one streak while also trying to vanquish another (i.e., no national titles since 1998). This sort of literal, rationalist thought sort of guts the entire enterprise of collegiate athletics of some of its most idealistic aspects--that things are or aren't meant to be, that people deserve certain things, that outcomes affirm or erase the journey--but I think that's mostly okay. Is that a loser's attitude? I honestly don't know. It may just be white noise in the end.
When I think back on the career of a player like, say, Mike Hart, what comes to me immediately is not the fact that he never beat the Buckeyes or won a national championship. If that's what comes to you then I think our respective worldviews are doomed to never meet at any point.
The way that these two seasons ended was bitter, unfortunate, and for a brief period of time after these games ended, seemingly unfair. The basketball team had its chances; hit even a couple of the many missed layups/bunnies and trade one of those late Burke threes for a possession of actual offense and Michigan probably wins despite being outplayed. The hockey team had its chances. The Wolverines outshot Cornell and had over double the PP opportunities, including 5 in the excruciating second period. Any grievances about the ostensible "randomness" of the whole thing seem to be directed at the game of hockey itself rather than the format of the tournament. The simple fact that Michigan has come away with only two titles throughout this over two decade long stretch of tournament appearances is irrelevant. These things happen for a reason, and as much as we like to write these losses off as either instances of grand cosmic misfortune or the absurdity that is the single-elimination format, it's all about cold, hard probabilities and inglorious toil. Even with probability and work ethic on one's side, it may not work out, and not for lack of luck. Hockey is often beyond explanation in this way, and by explanation I mean an explanation that is all-inclusive/comprehensive or one that we want to hear, that assuages the pangs of frustration that follow such a loss. Sometimes it bounces this way or that way. Why? It just does, and it does often, so that patterns seem to appear to us even though they do not exist.
Hockey is "close but no cigar" taken to its logical extreme. It is a sport that, in a way, mirrors life: work really hard and you might get you want. Tight defense, shots, PP opportunities...these don't guarantee success. Despite the attempts to distill the essence of sports into verifiable statistics and formulas, it is often just a game of hamfisted probability. Ascribing vague notions of luck or fate to the outcomes of sport or life seems a bit pointless, but the process of coping is, in a way, inherently pointless.
Then again, maybe this is my own way of coping. Maybe looking at the outcome of the Cornell and Ohio games in the way that I am is just my way of distancing myself from the proceedings. I know that I didn't always look at things this way, as if these losses suggest anything more than the fact that, on these days, my team lost because of X, Y, and Z. In light of the Sugar Bowl and all the breathless talk of redemption that accompanied it--from many, including myself--this all might seem a little hypocritical. Maybe. Then again, as sports fans, we often say what benefits us at the time, even when we may claim otherwise in other situations.
What is clear to me is that Shawn Hunwick and all of the other seniors wanted this more than you or I. The same of course applies to Zack and Stu. The level to which they wanted this eclipses yours, rendering your frustration inconsequential by comparison. After the layers of personal frustration and other somewhat selfish (but understandable) reactions are cast away to the ether, all that remains is memory. I've said this many times before and I'll say it again: championships may come or they may not, but the memories that these players give us while representing Michigan are what matter most because they are what endure. While I would have hoped for a better end for Hunwick, Novak, and Douglass, or a victory in The Game for Henne, Hart, and Long, it becomes increasingly immaterial as the years go on.
One day, a young child will be taken to Yost for the first time. A mother or father will be able to tell this child, their child, this tabula rasa of a being, the story of Shawn Hunwick. This story could quite possibly plant the very first inkling of the beauty of sport in this child's head. True to hockey form, it also might not, but there will be another day when another child is told the same story. This will happen again and again until one day, the child finally understands. I truly do not know if being able to tell the tale of a championship once won is worth more or less than that. Let the details come later.
Hello, Internet. I am Fouad Egbaria, a Michigan grad ('11) and recent graduate of the MSJ program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. This is a blog that attempts to analyze the highs and lows of Michigan football and basketball; I'm just trying to capture the spirit of the thing. I will also write about general Big Ten news, as well as Chicago professional sports (from time to time).
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