Tuesday Morning Brews: Three Coins in the Fountain

Happy Tuesday from Rome! Well, not really. But the football team is in Rome; perhaps throwing three coins in the fountain. Jim Harbaugh is sampling the water from the fountains, which is something I didn’t know tourists were allowed to do - or else I would have given it a try myself when I was there a couple years ago. In non-football news, Elodie Van Dievoet won the Women’s Golf program’s first ever individual B1G Championship and Women’s Tennis won the B1G Championship for the seventh time in eight years. Also in this morning’s Brews we have updates from Rome, a spot of basketball recruiting, a report about Michigan’s new hockey coach, and a check-in with Softball and Baseball.

Let’s hit the links:

Michigan Football’s trip is off and running. The team spent their first day in Rome in the Borghese Gardens, which is a sizable park northwest of the city center. While there, the coaches and players interacted with a group of refugees - swapping stories and sharing the game of football. It appears the team also may have toured the museum on the grounds of the garden. The first day also included a meeting with Federazione Italiana di American Football (the Italian Federation of American Football). For a full recounting of the team’s first day, check out this travel log on MGoBlue.

The team spent the second day on a tour around the city, visiting the likes of the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Jim Harbaugh got busted by mall security (maybe the police?) for playing catch with Pep Hamilton’s son when the team stepped inside to do some shopping. Also on the second day, HOLDER OF THE YEAR Garrett Moores took over the team’s Instagram account. So if you’re a user of Instagram, make sure you visit the team’s page for more updates from Day Two. You can also check out Nick’s post from yesterday for more video footage of the team’s first two days in Rome.

On the hardwood, 2018 basketball commit David DeJulius is looking to rise in the rankings after the spring AAU slate of games are complete. DeJulius, a 6’0” 190lb PG prospect, is currently the only member of John Beilein’s 2018 class. Beilein says he sees DeJulius as a natural leader, perhaps one day in the mold of graduating senior Derrick Walton, Jr. DeJulius, currently the #181 recruit in the 2018 cycle, looks to put on a strong performance this spring and move up into the top 60.

Michigan Hockey has it’s new man behind the bench in familiar face, Mel Pearson. The University confirmed the hire with a statement Monday morning. Mel was a longtime assistant under former Head Coach Red Berenson before leaving to take the head coaching job at his alma mater, Michigan Tech. There, Pearson rebuilt the program in short order, notching NCAA tournament appearances and conference titles in the last few years. By all accounts, this is a very strong hire for Michigan Hockey. Pearson has a proven coaching pedigree and offers a measure of continuity for the program.

Softball won two of three at Wisconsin this past weekend. The first game, an extra-innings marathon came to a disappointing end as the Wolverines surrendered a run during the home-half of the 11th. Not ones to dwell on the past, Michigan exercised some demons on Saturday and Sunday - run ruling Wisconsin 10-2 and 8-0. The series win moves Michigan to 34-10-1 (14-3) on the season. The Wolverines next welcome Indiana to Ann Arbor for a three game series this weekend.

Baseball dropped a hard-fought series to Indiana this past weekend. Losing the first game by the score of 1-0, the Wolverines found themselves in an offensive shoot-out on Saturday. Despite putting up 9 runs on 12 hits, Michigan came up short - losing 12-9. On Sunday, the Michigan bats continued going strong while Indiana’s cooled - leading to a 12-5 victory for the Wolverines. Michigan is now 31-9 (7-5) on the season and travels to Rutgers for a three game series this weekend. Go Blue.