Merritt Done For Season, Fate Continues To Punish Basketball Team

David Merritt will miss the remainder of the basketball season due to a torn medial meniscus in his left knee. The former walk-on was in the midst of a career day against Ohio State with seven points and four assists when his knee gave out early in the second half. Coach Beilein announced Merritt's injury late Tuesday afternoon.

All the best to our pint sized point guard, and hopes and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Injury Bug Strikes The Hockey Team, Too

Chad Kolarik, Michigan's second-leading scorer with 43 points, could miss the next five weeks with a hamstring injury. Kolarik injured his hamstring in the third period of Michigan's win over Lake Superior State on Saturday. Kolarik has never missed a game in his career, and was just 8 shy of tying the all time mark for consecutive games played at Michigan. If there's a bright side to this story, it's that Kolarik injured his hamstring rather than his groin as initially though. A groin pop and he's useless until the NCAA's if your lucky.

If all goes well Kolarik could be back by the start of the CCHA playoffs. If the five week timeline holds, Kolarik will be back by the quarterfinals of the playoffs. However, he's definitely out for the next two series, including MSU.

Get better Chad. Soon. In his stead, all signs point to uber-frosh Max Pacioretty taking Kolarik's place on the top line.

In Happier News, Big Ten Realizes Manny Kinda Kicks Ass

In a week where Manny Harris secured a road win over Iowa with clutch 8-8 free throw shooting, and dropped 27 points and 7 boards on Ohio State for Michigan's first win over Ohio State since the Polk administration, the Big Ten named Manny Big Ten Player of the week.

Manny being Manny
Photo Courtesy: Steve Perez / The Detroit News

Petway Wins NDBL Slam Dunk Competition

Brent Petway is still flying high. Currently a member of the NBA Development League's Idaho Stampede, Petway won the NBDL's Slam Dunk Contest last weekend.

Air Georgia Flight 209 now boarding for Dunksville, Bitches

Petway was his usual entertaining self. And from a fan's perspective, his between the legs clincher is un-friggin-real. Topping it off, Petway blogged it up too, documenting his victory and wandering around Na'lins. We're all pulling for you Brent, the NBA needs more guys like you. Now behold Petway in his all his You Tube Glory:

The Games Are Getting Longer, Especially if They're On CBS

A massive hat tip to The Wizard of Odds for their outstanding look at college football game length and its relationship to the network broadcasting the game. Surprisingly, CBS lead the way, taking an average of 3 hours 47 minutes to broadcast a game, with Fox coming in third at 3:41.

A look at the numbers reminds you just how lucky Michigan fans are that ABC and ESPN cover most of our games, as the time for both networks is 3:28 per game. A further look at the Wiz' numbers reveals that ABC and ESPN are only airing .69 plays per minute of airtime. This isn't surprising considering the number of commercials the networks air, but add it up, that's a lot of Tostitos they're trying to sell.

Henne Getting Eyed By Bears

The Chicago Tribune is reporting the Chad Henne is under consideration as a possible first or second round pick by quarterback poor Chicago Bears. As a Bears fan, nothing would make me happier than Chad in Chicago.

Despite a strong resume and two excellent games to close his career, Henne is somehow losing ground to Delaware's Joe "Footsteps" Flacco who spent the last four years in D1-AA ball. I'm on record as saying Henne is a better quarterback than Matt Ryan. What I've seen from Andre Woodson puts him a notch above Henne. Brohm? Good year, bad team hurt him so the jury's out. But the Flacco bump has me scratching my head. Flacco was just as unimpressive against App State in the D1-AA championship game as Henne was at the start of the season. I'm clearly biased on this point, but any team that passes on Henne at a reasonable draft position is making a mistake.