After spending a year taking classes in Evanston/downtown Chicago, I've become somewhat of a follower of Northwestern sports. As such, I'll probably post bits here and there about Northwestern athletics, because why not.
In that vein, Northwestern backup forward/center Michael Turner has left the team for a leave of absence. Here's Sippin' on Purple on the situation:
From a basketball perspective, this doesn't concern me too much. While Turner had a scant few strong performances last year -- two-for-two shooting and eight assists against Ohio State! -- he generally seemed not ready for Big Ten play as a redshirt freshman after Bill Carmody decided he wasn't ready for Big Ten play as a true freshman. He had more personal fouls than any other statistic by a wide margin, often outmatched as a 6'8, 210-pound player asked to play center against legit seven-footers.
On the surface, this isn't a huge loss for Chris Collins's Wildcats. However, according to the comments section, this leaves Northwestern with just 11 players on the roster, and just 10 players on scholarship. Needless to say, that is a pretty bleak situation, depth-wise, for Collins going into his first year in Evanston.
On the bright side, sophomore 7-footer Alex Olah is a promising young player in the frontcourt for the 'Cats, and Drew Crawford--who should be one of the best guards in the Big Ten again this season---decided not to transfer for his fifth year after Bill Carmody's firing. The Wildcats also return point guard Dave "Sobocop" Sobolewski, in addition to JerShon Cobb, who missed all of last season due to an academic suspension.
It's hard to say this is a tournament team given Northwestern basketball's history, and Turner's decision, while seemingly not a big deal on paper, detracts a bit from Northwestern's frontcourt depth. Northwestern will need to count on RS Fr. Chier Ajou to eat up some minutes after redshirting last year due to injuries.
Michigan held the SOBOCOP to just 7 points on 3/7 shooting, but he might not be so forgiving next time. On a serious note, this was a solid win for a team with several extremely young critical players. The Wolverines' next opponent comes in the form of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday in the Crisler Arena Center Building.
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.
A Site Note: If you haven't noticed, Maize N Brew is back to producing daily content. I've been invited to contribute on a semi-regular basis. I put up my first piece on Monday, on the topic of Saturday's game. I also put a word in on the subject of Big Ten power rankings. If you read this blog, odds are you are more than interested in looking for additional sources of Michigan-centric information/editorializing/stupid photoshopping to keep you occupied while at work, so you'll definitely want to check Maize N Brew out; a link is available in the blog roll down there to the left if you'd let to jump off from here.
In short, go check it out.
The Importance of Being GRITTY: Andy Staples decided to run through the notable under-the-radar sorts that made significant impacts on college football squads far and wide. Naturally, Michigan features prominently. Jordan Kovacs, Patrick Omameh, and Will Heininger Nathan Brink [derp--the list is for 2012, obviously, so no Heininger] all make the list.
If you're the sort that thinks of the negatives first, I will oblige you by saying that, yes, the fact that these guys were forced into action speaks to our talent level and/or our touted talent's inability to perform (and, certainly, be coached with any level of competence..I'll leave it at that). Now that that's out of the way...man. After years of watching schools like Wisconsin and Iowa manufacture solid to pretty good anonymous walk-ons (particularly at safety), we finally have one of our own. Jordan Kovacs is no longer a nice story: he is pretty darn good, period. Think about how far he's come since getting dusted by Darius Willis--a slow Indiana tailback--in 2009. Don't look now, but in light of my TIME IS RUNNING OUT Denard alarum...Kovacs only has one more go at it himself. Savor that sweet sweet safety competence before we have to head back to the great void of uncertainty that comprised most, if not all, of the post-1997 years (depending on how strongly you feel about the Adams and Englemon pairing).
Omameh's story is no less impressive. If I remember correctly, Omameh was one of those guys in the first RR/Lloyd class that RR brought in just before NSD. Omameh had some issues transitioning to the new offense this season, but he got better as the year went on. With another year left to go for him, I'd expect some All-Conference consideration coming his way. A 2-star project to make it to the starting lineup is impressive--depth chart notwithstanding-- in and of itself, but anything after that is just gravy. Hey 2-stars and walk-ons: Ann Arbor is where the magic happens.
/Omameh'd
After all the Brink hysteria leading up to the opener last year, Heininger was the unheralded walk-on guy that actually became a legitimate piece in the DL rotation. As Brian noted in his UFRs, he was more than a last resort plug-in; he actually MADE PLAYS at times. Injuries in his last two seasons partially derailed what could have been another impressive story. As great as Kovacs has been, to become a contributor on the defensive line is a different beast entirely. Heininger will prove to be an underrated loss going forward. But, Brink should hopefully be able to follow in Heininger's gritty shoes.
Things That People Write When They Have To Say Something About Nothing: Tom Fornelli, in what was probably a throwaway, offhand comment, but still:
Yeah, I don't think anybody was expecting Denard to actually to put the football through the hoop from full court, but the coming up short or just missing wide right is a bit disconcerting, no?
BENCH DENARD FIRE EVERYBODY RUN FOR THE HILLS. Denard, I know you run a 4.3...but why not a 4.2 or a 4.1, even? I am disconcerted. Even Dr. Saturday picked up on this theme, writing in a similarly humorous fashion while also joining the legions of people who continue to spell Hemingway incorrectly. I would blame the authors of these articles, but I think that the grotesque monstrosity called "the offseason" is more to blame here. Commenter "Chaz"--who you can tell from his name is probably a really cool dude who knows a lot of important things and you would definitely not not want to hang out with--takes the time to extrapolate the following from Denard's performance at Crisler:
Thank You. Someone else realizes he's really not that good. He's a good athlete but not a good QB.
Indeed, Chaz. Fire Denard, everything is terrible, etc.
Northwestern: Sobocop Redux: It seems like the afterglow of the OSU game has not yet worn off, but here we are with another game to watch. Michigan travels to Northwestern to play at Welsh-Ryan, a venue that has not been kind to us in the last couple of seasons. If I remember correctly, even when we won in 2008-09, it was in OT. Nick Baumgardner gives you 4 things to watch for tonight, and 1 and 4 are of the most interest to me.
Morgan on a 5-playing Shurna sounds like a 20+ point effort waiting to happen (from Shurna, that is). Of course, I'm sure Shurna will see his fair share of Smotrycz. As for #4, I will say that I have a less than optimistic view of tonight's potential outcome. For the record, I think Michigan finishes 3-1, with the one loss coming tonight. It sounds like Welsh-Ryan will be sold out, and many Northwestern folks seem to be building this up like it's the biggest game in program history. I doubt that is actually true, but Michigan is a top 11 team* and the Wildcats will be fighting for a tourney berth, which will all but slip away into the great abyss if they lose this game. I won't be previewing it, but most of the stuff from my first preview still applies.
Also, yes: Sobolewski will be referred to as Sobocop for the rest of his time at Northwestern. Insult or encomium? It doubles as both, I guess. Northwestern fans, feel free to appropriate it as your own.
*
Home Sweet Home: Despite a 10-year deal with Emperor Palpatine Jerry Jones, the Aggie-Razorback series will move to campus locations for the 2012 and 2013 games. With Texas dropping off the Aggie schedule, I think Arkansas could more than adequately fill that hatred vacuum as the years go by. Taking this game to College Station and Fayetteville will go a long way toward that goal. As weird as Texas A&M is as an entity, they're like kerosone: all SEC teams need is a match and you've got a rivalry.
In any case, more games on campus sites=good. Obviously, these two are now in the same conference and this was inevitable, anyway, but as a general rule I think that these games need to be played at campus locations. Brian has mentioned this over and over again, but as someone who has spent several years in Alabama, having the chance to watch the winged helmets take the field at Bryant-Denny would have been a surreal, pseudo-transcendent experience. Instead, we're playing it in the alien spaceship from Independence Day also known as Cowboys Stadium. I can't wait to guilt myself into buying $400+ tickets for nosebleed seats in a stadium in Not Even Dallas...fergodsakes.
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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