Maize n Brew gives you your daily (or semi-daily) rundown of all the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football, and College Basketball news you need to get through the tedium of your boring desk job. For good measure we'll throw in a little irreverent information, comedy and commentary to help you salt away the time until the clock strikes 5pm. We're on a Facebook and Twitter drive, so be our friend or follow us! If you don't know what that means, you're old. If you want Maize n Brew in 140 characters or less, follow us on Twitter! Or you can friend us on Facebook for more links. Here's What's ON TAP:
Stuff You Should Read Right Now
Michigan Men's Gymnastics Wins National Title - Congrats guys. The Wolverines trumped last year's winner Stanford in the final day. A nice end for the seniors who finished as national runners up last year. Go Blue!
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany says expansion timetable unchanged - Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany ended his self-described silent phase in order to tell reporters at the BCS meetings that he had no news to report concerning his conference's expansion plans. Nothing to see here. Move along people.
NCAA Basketball Tourney Expands to 68, Not 96 - massive hat tip to UM Hoops.com for this important nugget that I initially left out of the Happy Hour. The tournament will expand this year, but thankfully only to 68 teams. Per the NCAA/CBS announcement:
Late Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee unanimously passed a recommendation to the Division I Board of Directors to increase tournament field size to 68 teams beginning with the 2011 Championship. The recommendation will be reviewed by the Division I Board of Directors at its April 29 meeting.
The demons have been kept at bay. For now.
LaMarr Woodley weighs in on state of the program in Rodriguez's third season - FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT!
To Woodley, the slow start was almost expected. But now, in Rodriguez’s third year, he’s leaving less room for excuses. "I tell everybody, the year Jake Long left, we lost everybody on offense," Woodley said. "I mean all the weapons, all the top guys, we lost everybody. So when he came in with his new offense, he didn’t really have anything. Now he has the opportunity to turn that around and he’s getting the guys he needs in the right spots and things will change up."
Woodley remains a god. Man I wish the other alumni would look at this from that perspective.
U-M already near 80,000 attendance for outdoor hockey game - History beckons. That and whipping MSU's ass. Maize n Brew will be there, and we will be tailgating. Who's in?
Scott Wolf does it again... - Whenever you start to feel, as a Michigan fan, that incredibly stupid, ill-researched, and mean spirited articles on your beloved university are the sole domain of the Free Press; all you have to do is take a look at the Daily News out in LA and their coverage of USC. Just like our little friend Rosenberg, Wolf apparently went to the school he's trying to bad mouth. Our friends at Conquest Chronicles are doing their best not to pop a blood vessel.
Kentucky Basketball: Will Experience Always Trump Talent? - A Sea Of Blue also takes a look at the one and done impact on top teir teams making the NCAA finals and winning it. Some say experience trumps talent, but they guys make an interesting case that Kentucky could be in a position to win. And win for a long time. The only issue is, obviously, the coaching. The parrallel they draw with Michigan should be a scary one to 'Cat's fans, as the Wolverines paid dearly for those Finals appearances.
Thanks - To everyone who has posted, commented, emailed, or called me and the guys to say congratulations for reaching the million mark, THANK YOU. I'm still responding to emails and calls, so if I'm behind, I apologize. We never could've reached this little milestone without your support. Thanks again for clicking, and continuing to click, on Maize n Brew.
Michigan Football
Florida recruits warm up to U-M after spring game visit - Michigan suddenly in play for the talented Florida wideout/corner duo of Sammy Watkins and Dallas Crawford. The pair was in town for Michigan's Spring Game and came away impressed. Sam Webb's got the details.
Cam Gordon is a great spring surprise - Big, fast and nasty. Just what you want in a safety.
U-M defensive backs ready for redemption - Woolfolk guaranteed improved play from the defensive backs. plz. plz. plz.
(More Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football and Basketball links after the jump.....)
Cameron Gordon makes long-awaited debut at safety in spring game - The Daily on Cam Gordon:
During the [spring] game, he seemed comfortable at the safety spot — not spectacular, but he didn’t seem to blow any coverages.
Oh God please let this be true for the year.
Spawn of MZone: Spring Game 2010 - a suhweet Denard Robinson wallpaper.
Former University of Michigan football player charged in attempted robbery, larcenies - Jesus BooBoo. This is the third time in less than a year Cissoko has been arrested. The saddest part of it? "Police say Cissoko would have pizzas delivered, then ask for change for a large bill, which required the deliverymen to go back to their businesses to get it. When they returned, Cissoko would reach into his pocket or otherwise pretend he was going to pay, then snatch cash from the deliverymen and run away, police said." Not only is he a thief, he's become a stupid thief. Just sad.
College Football
SEC ready to follow Big Ten's lead on expansion - Because of the SEC's speed they only need 6-8 months to explore expansion.
FULMER CUPDATE: THE BIG BOARD GOES HAM - Ah, a leaderboard you really don't want to see your school on. However, since the Gophers are on it, they should be in it to win it. Go Gophers. TRY! FIGHT! STEAL!
Teddy Greenstein: Political Reporter - BHGP has a little fun with Teddy Greenstein's EPIC REPORTER FAIL with the whole Big Ten Expansion NOW piece.
Iowa prepared for pressure-packed 2010 - Adam Rittenberg's write up on Iowa in 2010. One nugget from the articel stuck out to me.
"We may have been close to the Rose Bowl, but we were also close to no bowl," Ferentz said. "You could cite five or six games where it was just basically a coin toss which team was going to win. So, yeah, we were 11-2 last year, but we very easily could have been 5-7 or 7-5."
They could've been Michigan, but weren't. I have to admit, this looks like a formidible team. Especially when you return 16 starters from an Orange Bowl winning team. But replacing linemen is always a problem, as is replacing your best linebacker and a lock down corner. If the offensive line holds, this will be a very good team. But if they struggle, all those expecations might act as a sea anchor and drag down a promising season.
NCAA crackdown on taunting in football worse than silly - From Lynn Henning of the Detroit News:
Last week's decision to, beginning in 2011, take away points for what amounts to normal human behavior is one glaring reason why NCAA oversight can so often be viewed as hypocritical, sanctimonious, and condescending.
Cosign one million times.
Top teams, but not U-M, backing away from spread offense - On the other hand, this is just plain stupid. Each team Henning cites (Texas, Florida, Texas Tech, etc.) are "backing away a tad from the spread" because of personnel changes under center or coaching changes. Texas and Florida will play their same offense, just with a different, less mobile signal caller. Tech, well, they're changing a lot more than how they run the spread. They're changing their entitre coaching staff and offensive philosophy. I like Lynn, but this doesn't make any sense.
Initial Impressions from the A-Day Game - Our buddies at Roll 'Bama Roll take in their Spring Game and give some interesting thoughts. Interesting to see how the other side of the country lives.
ABC/ESPN/BTN Big Ten telecasts for 2010 Part One and Part Two - Adam Rittenberg keeps us up to date on all the newly announced TV air times for the Big Ten Football season.
Sept. 2: Marshall at Ohio State, BTN, 7:30 p.m. ET; Towson at Indiana, BTN, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sept. 11: Miami at Ohio State, ESPN, 3:40 p.m. ET; Southern Illinois at Illinois, BTN, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sept. 18: Notre Dame at Michigan State, ABC, 8 p.m. ET
Sept. 25: Akron at Indiana, BTN, 7 p.m. ET; Northern Illinois at Minnesota, BTN, 8:30 p.m. ET
Oct. 2: Penn State at Iowa, ABC or ESPN or ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET
Oct. 9: Purdue at Northwestern, BTN, 7:30 p.m. ET
Oct. 16: Ohio State at Wisconsin, ESPN or ESPN2, 7:15 p.m. ET
Oct. 30: Ohio State at Minnesota, ABC or ESPN or ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET; Michigan at Penn State, ABC or ESPN or ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET
Michigan Basketball
Dane Fife Turns Down Michigan - Fife didn't want the assistant coaching job. Oh well. No loss.
Basketball Recruiting from UM Hoops.com - A little more detail on Isaiah Sykes (6"5" Wing from Denby). Sykes was in town for the full-on official visit this past weekend. No word on any commitment, but he seems like he'd be a great pick up for the class.
College Basketball
Kentucky Basketball: The State of Recruiting at the Moment - The guys over at A Sea Of Blue are good people. We consider them friends 'round these here parts. But look at their recruiting for basketball. Right now I hate them soooooo much.
College Sports
Crowds Flock To UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium In Record Numbers - That's what happens when you're the No. 1 team in the country. If you're a college baseball fan at all, you've gotta watch this team play.