Tuesday Morning Brews: We’re still here

Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. This week got started with a bang, and not in a positive way, but the Brews believes in staying the course. We’ll be checking in with the non-football and men’s basketball teams that were in action this past weekend before finishing up with some football.

Let’s get to it:

Women’s basketball stretches win streak to three. We’re in that part of the year where the basketball schedule tends to slow down, so the Wolverines had only one game this past week—the result of which was a drubbing of Morgan State. Michigan held a 20-9 lead after the first quarter and never really looked back en route to a 70-47 victory. The Wolverines were led by freshman Naz Hillmon with 17 pts., good enough for Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. Kim Barnes Arico’s team is now 8-3 on the season and will be back in action against Southern on Friday.

The best stories in Michigan sports from 2018. With the year rapidly drawing to a close, Steve Kornacki over at MGoBlue.com is counting down his best stories from the year. Checking in at No. 10 is his reporting on what transpired in the locker room following football’s win over Michigan State this season. Kornacki says of that story, “Michigan’s defense had just held Michigan State to 94 yards total offense and 0-for-12 on third downs in a 21-7 win, and what happened in the locker room was equal parts triumph, joy and love.

‘Fellas! Fellas!’ Wolverine head coach Jim Harbaugh shouted over the joyous voices of his players. ‘Man, I mean that might be the biggest win ever. Never had a bigger win than that (at Michigan). Just on a personal note, I can’t tell you how many guys came up to me and said, ‘Coach, we’ve got your back.’’”

The remaining stories will be identified by the Michigan Athletics (@UMichAthletics) Twitter account over the coming days.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I don’t mean the holidays—I mean bowl season. It’s easy to become jaded and think that these appetizer bowls don’t matter. They usually feature a surplus of directional schools that haven’t been nationally relevant since, well, ever. But in my opinion that misses the point. Part of the magic of college sports is the kids and the coaches playing for each other and their schools on a national stage. In the first example of this I’ve seen this bowl season, check out the article above about Georgia Southern’s defeat of Eastern Michigan in the Camellia Bowl this past weekend.

Happy Early Signing Day Eve, Wolverine fans. Tomorrow will kick off the early signing period for college football and, after the first edition last year, we have a little bit better of an idea on what to expect. Two key things that became clear after last year is that most players will sign during the early period, and most players who sign during the period will sign on the first day (which is tomorrow). For five other lessons from last year’s early signing day, check out the above from Alex Kirshner—and for all things Michigan Wolverines on early signing day, stick with Maize n Brew.