What does Al Borges have to do to get Tlon, Uqbar, Orbus Tertius, Hoover Street Rag? Is 41 points and nearly 500 yards without an effective basic running game against a defense that returned seven starters from the #2 scoring D in the country insufficient? WHAT MORE CAN HE DO, HOOVER STREET RAG?Imagine how upset Brian Cook would have been if we'd forgotten to update it after the game, like we almost did.
If they had (a few more) guys playing like he plays with the effort he plays, they’d be a good football team– Some NFL Scout re: Brandon Graham
Following up on his controversial "having good football players makes your team good theory," the scout went on to claim that his truck would be lighter if it weighed less, that Jordan Kovacs could cut down his 40 time if he were faster, and that he'd be wealthier if he had more money. (H/T: MGoBlog)
So the comment section of yesterday's MGoBlog post on noise/RAWK MUSIC/the band once again turned into a ridiculous sh*tstorm. I waded through a couple of pages this morning, got bored, and left for work.
Since nobody asked me, this is what I think (That's "me", singular. Not necessarily the view of HSR as a whole):
If the band can play louder, they should. NO ONE DENIES THIS. It's not going to matter to Section 11, though, because of where the band is in the stadium. I guess it could get better when the press box is removed, but the band is angled to play to the visitors sideline. Move the band to the north end zone, things probably get better. Ditch the woodwinds, things get louder. Both of these things are expensive propositions, and unless someone wants to earmark a substantial donation, it ain't happening any time soon. In the meantime, the band should turn and face the student section more often.
At the same time, RAWK MUSIC isn't the devil. Selection and use were better for the ND game than the opener, the players like it, and it has the advantage that everyone can hear it. It probably helped with the noise level, and I'm all for a louder, more electrifying stadium.
What I don't want to see hear is an NFL/NHL/NBA game, where you're bludgeoned with butt rock every time there's a break in the action. I will cut someone if I ever hear Creed or Nickelback played while the band is in the stadium. Piped-in music should be used sparingly, and I'd prefer it if they used music that the band can't play very well ("Welcome to the Jungle", "Lose Yourself", etc).
To any current MMB members: Holy crap, you guys are getting caught in the crossfire. Sorry, it sucks. Halftime, I know the dynamics aren't your decision and the musicianship is always top-notch. But if you could try to peel our faces off with a wall of sound on "The Victors" when you're in the stands, we'd really appreciate it.
There. I've said my piece. Unless something falls under the heading of "actual news", let us not speak of this again.
4:30 CDT, Friday, March 27, ESPN2
Record: 20-12-5
Coach: Enrico Blasi (187-138-28, .569)
| Scoring Summary: | ||
| GFA | GAA | Diff. |
| 3.11 | 2.19 | +0.92 |
| Leading Scorers: | ||
| # | Player | G-A--Pts |
| 11 | Carter Camper | 20-19--39 |
| 20 | Pat Cannone | 11-24--35 |
| 17 | Andy Miele | 14-14--28 |
| Goaltending: | ||||
| # | Player | Sv % | GAA | W-L-T |
| 30 | Cody Reichard | 0.912 | 2.16 | 7-7-2 |
| 31 | Connor Knapp | 0.904 | 2.09 | 13-5-3 |
Stats via CollegeHockeyNews.com
Miami's fast start this season made it look as if they had not missed a beat since last season. Losing just twice before the new year, 2009 got off to an exceptionally rocky start for the RedHawks, who lost five straight, including a sweep at the hands of Michigan, before righting the ship with a seven game unbeaten streak. That, however, was followed by a three game winless streak. The sour note that Miami finished on, dropping a three game CCHA playoff quarterfinal series against Northern Michigan, in Oxford, put Miami on the brink of missing the NCAA Tournament. However, the Pairwise was kind to the RedHawks, and they will make their way to Minneapolis to face Denver in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.Quick Hits:
And the student becomes the master. In what will likely become the NCAA tournament storyline you'll most want to strangle to death by the end of Hockey Christmas, did you know that Miami's first round matchup with Denver will feature Miami coach Enrico Blasi facing his coach from his playing days at Miami, George Gwozdecky? If you didn't, well now you do.
Because we're not above this. This is actual text featured on Miami University line charts: "When referring to Miami, please only use Miami University or Miami. Please do not use Miami of Ohio, University of Miami of Ohio, etc. The latter are not proper names for our institution. Thank you." (HT: MGoBlog)
Another week, another titanic shift in the Pairwise rankings. As far as we're concerned, the big news is Michigan jumping up to #2 after Notre Dame's split with Ohio State. The Wolverines are tied with Northeastern for that spot, but own the comparison with the Huskies, and thus the tiebreaker. It really is a knife's edge, though. Take a look at the full chart at CHN: Michigan, Northeaster, Vermont, and Notre Dame all have 21 or 22 comparison wins over the field. Lose a game, and suddenly you're the #5 overall seed. And sometimes you don't even have to lose to have a comparison flip on you. Remember the TUC cliff?
As a refresher, the Pairwise Rankings consider four factors when comparing two teams: head-to-head record, RPI, record against common opponents, record against teams under consideration (TUCs), but you have to have played 10 TUCs for that comparison to be used.
For instance, let's consider Michigan and Miami. Head-to-head record is 2-2, so two points to each team for that. Michigan's RPI is better, so they get a point. Miami's record against common opponents is better: point, Redhawks. Miami has only played 8 TUCs, so that comparison is not used. Michigan and Miami are tied 3-3 here, and we use RPI to break the tie. Michigan takes the comparison. HOWEVA. Miami has played 8 TUCs, which are defined as the top 25 teams by RPI. They play Ohio State twice to close out the season. As OSU is currently a TUC, that would allow them to meet the 10-game requirement. If both teams win out, Miami's record against common opponents is still better and now their record against TUCs is better, flipping the comparison over to them. Maddening, I know, but that's the way the Pairwise works.
What that means is that this weekend's series against the Buckeyes is much bigger than even a regular UM/OSU brawl: It's fighting for position at the top of the Pairwise, fighting for a spot in the Grand Rapids regional against the soft underbelly of Atlantic Hockey or College Hockey America. Win, get a Miami loss, and life is looking a lot easier. If not, drop below Notre Dame and you have to fight harder to not get sent to Minneapolis.
So, what are our chances? KRACH is here to answer that. KRACH is meant to use ratios between teams' KRACH ratings to give a predicted winning percentage. For example, the expected winning percentage of a team with a KRACH of 150 playing a team with a KRACH of 50 is .750.
Michigan's expected win pct. vs. OSU = Michigan KRACH / (OSU KRACH + Michigan KRACH)
Michigan currently sports a shiny KRACH rating of 402, while OSU is up to a rather healthy 197.8. That gives Michigan an expected winning percentage of .6702. The probability of two independent events both occurring is the product of the probability of either one occurring separately (i.e., P(A and B) = P(A)*P(B)). Michigan has a 67.02% chance of winning on either night against OSU, so the probability of a sweep is 44.92%, going by KRACH. Not great odds, but I'll take 'em. OSU only has a 10.88% chance of a sweep, leaving a 44.2% chance that we split.*
Michigan's been playing decent hockey since the Bowling Green loss, while OSU has been doing weird things, like only getting a pair of ties out of four opportunities against Western and State (though they got a win againt Western in the shootout) while beating Notre Dame and almost sweeping them but for some late-period heroics by the Irish.
Meanwhile, root for Northern to upset Miami down in Oxford. We'll take any help we can get. And really pull for the Bucks when Miami comes calling.
*Odds of Michigan winning out for the rest of the season? A moderately robust 30.1%.UPDATE: Excellent catch/clarification by Brian, reproduced here verbatim: "Miami's TUC record is actually 6-4-2, but head to head games are excluded from that category in each individual comparison, leaving Miami at 4-2-2 for the purposes of its Michigan comparison." So for the purposes of everyone not in the CCHA, Miami is a TUC.
It was a solid weekend for the hockey team, as they swept Lake Superior State 6-2 and 2-1. Craig and I (with an assist from Tim of The Blog That Yost Built) live-blogged Friday's game for MGoBlog, and then on Saturday night I took the helm following the basketball game over at Varsity Blue (thanks to Paul and Tim over there for that privilege).
Of the two games, Friday's was decidedly more entertaining. The first period was a fairly equal one, with Lake State getting a good number of scoring opportunities on one end, while Turnbull and Wohlberg were working in tandem against Lake State goalie Pat Inglis on the other. I started to get flashbacks to last year's Friday night game between the two sides at Yost, and that was further increased when Lake State scored first, only for Michigan to get a late goal for a tie game at the first intermission. In '08, it was Gysbers with a deflected puck and Chad Kolarik with the equalizer. In '09, Hogan couldn't get across the crease fast enough to keep Will Acton's shot out of the net. With just seconds left in the period and on the penalty kill, Matt Rust stole the puck at the Michigan blue line, sped up the ice, cut around a defender and dragged across the crease to cap off his great effot with a goal. Only six seconds were left on the clock. The resemblance to '08 ends with the first period. Last season, Kolarik scored 4 goals (on the night before he suffered that hamstring injury on the 5-3 kill), but this time it was more of a team effort. Just over a minute into the second frame, Turnbull fought off a Laker for a puck behind the net and fed Wohlberg a great scoring opportunity which he capitalized on. 30 seconds later, Winnett won a face-off and got the puck to Glendening to really break the game open. We got the powerplay going when Wohlberg sent a pass up to Langlais, who found Caporusso across the ice. Early in the third, Lebler took a slashing call, but Lake State took their own hooking penalty to make it 4-on-4. Rust had a phenomenal shift. He carried the puck in, dug it out of the corner in the Lake State zone, and then took Hagelin's feed and deposited it in the back of the net. A few minutes later, the Lakers capitalized on one of their numerous power play opportunities when Rick Schofield wristed one past Hogan. After Caporusso made his way out of the penalty box for the second time in the third, Winnett hit him on a breakout pass for a pretty goal. Check out a longer take here from Yost Built.
The Saturday night game was, honestly, kind of boring. It didn't help that I was feeling exhausted by the end of the first period, having kept up with the basketball live-blog. The first period was disorganized on both sides, but the Lakers kept applying pressure. Finally, Michigan had flooded one side of their own zone, so when the rebound came off Bryan Hogan, nobody was anywhere close to former Wolverine Zac MacVoy, who tapped it in. But fortune turned remarkably quickly on the other end. Carl Hagelin dug the puck out of the corner near where the band now sits, carried it up the boards, circled across, and fired a rocket past Inglis. Just like that, tie game again. In the second, Palushaj took a shot which Inglis took care of, but the rebound landed right on Lebler's stick and he made no mistake about that one. 2-1 Michigan, and that's the way things ended. The rest of the game featured a lot of special teams time where neither Michigan nor LSSU could capitalize and a couple questionable calls at the end which went our way.
Next up is Nebraska-Omaha, who just had a brutal weekend against Western. The Broncos went into the Qwest Center and took UNO to the shootout the first night (pulling out the win there), then shutting out the Mavericks 5-0 on Saturday. UNO has had a lot of trouble putting the puck in the net since January 10: Their high-water mark was when they scored 2 against Miami on January 23. Other than that, they've suffered two shutouts and five games where they could muster only one goal.
Remember the 2007 tournament, where we won just a little too much for our own good and instead of the Grand Rapids regional, we were sent out west to the Regional of Death? A similar situation may be brewing and I hope to have a separate post on that up later tonight.
You may ask yourself "Why tonight's game? Tomorrow night's game is on Comcast 900?!? Tonight's is just streaming, what are you trying to do to us?"
Well, we have a couple of reasons:
1). Tomorrow's game overlaps with the Michigan basketball game at UConn and we didn't know how many people would be trying to follow that.
2). Tomorrow night I'll be at the Michigan hockey game, meaning I would need to miss out on the liveblogging fun.
So please, join us in the fun. We promise to do what we can!
Then I woke up and read this post, and I quickly realized my post was not only unnecessary, but also would have paled in comparison. Brian nails it, down to the quote that caught my eye and my general feelings on the topic. Anything I could add would feel superfluous.
Michigan, as a fan base, is exceptionally fortunate to have Brian. He embodies so much of what we, as Michigan fans, value and appreciate. It's a wonderful place to start, but it isn't the only place to go.
So as another season starts, go and look at what the Michigan blogs have to offer. Frequent the ones you appreciate, and make your voice heard when appropriate. It's unlikely you will be told down in front. And if you can't find what you're looking for, cook up your own. Find an angle, find your voice, and even if you're not very good when you start, keep trying.
