Daily Brews: Michigan’s projected win percentages for rest of season updated

Michigan was able to go out and nab a much-needed win over a ranked team ove rthe weekend with the 10-3 win over Iowa in Ann Arbor, which folks around here have found more to be concerned about as opposed to soaking in the victory.

What the win does mean, regardless of how you feel about the team, is that this group certainly is not going to bottom out and finish 6-6 or worse like some of the lunatic fringe claimed they would. However, ESPN’s updated Football Power Index, which now ranks Michigan has the 13th-best team in the country, has updated numbers with how this season could finish.

Here’s how the rest of the schedule looks.

at Illinois: 91.1% chance of victory

at Penn State: 21.6% chance of victory

vs. Notre Dame: 34.7% chance of victory

at Maryland: 70.4% chance of victory

vs. Michigan State: 62.4% chance of victory

at Indiana: 73.6% chance of victory

vs. Ohio State: 17.1% chance of victory

As of now, ESPN’s metric says that the likelihood is that Michigan is a 7-8 win football team, which the eyeball test would seem to support if the offense is going to continue to be as bad as it as been. Finishing 8-4 or worse might break this fanbase even more.

Right now, nine wins with tangible improvement from the offense from here on out seems like it might be the magic number and what people are hoping for at this point. In order to get to nine, they are going to have to win one of these games they are seen as massive underdogs. Who knows if they are capable of that right now?

Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena interested in Big Ten Tournament

Tom Wilson, president and CEO of Olympia Entertainment, recently stated that Little Caesars Arena in Downtown Detroit, home of the Pistons and Red Wings, continues to explore options to bring college basketball events to the area.

One of them in the mix? The Big Ten Tournament for men’s basketball. The Big Ten is currently slated for Chicago in 2021 and Indianapolis in 2020 and 2022, but LCA may find itself in the mix for the next round of hosts when it is announced.

The story comes from Tony Paul of The Detroit News:

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has long said he hopes to see the Big Ten tournament move to Detroit eventually. It is worth noting, the conference is changing commissioners, Kevin Warren taking over for Jim Delany on Jan. 1, 2020. Delany has been commissioner longer than the Big Ten tournament has been in existence.

Warren also has ties to Detroit, having worked in the Lions business department from 2001-03.

Whatever happens on that front, Wilson said there are other ways to get college hoops into LCA. Obviously, it will continue to seek NCAA Tournament assignments — it hosted first- and second-round games in 2018, the sessions highlighted by Syracuse’s win over Michigan State. He also said there have been some discussions to get Michigan back in the fold. Detroit Mercy also is working on scheduling some bigger opponents, and those could be held at LCA.

Whatever happens, this feels like a potential match that is much better for the conference than D.C. or Madison Square Garden.

Other Brews

• Our pal CuppyCup from Good Bull Hunting made a Nintendo-style 8-bit version of Michigan’s fight song. This is an insanely awesome version of “Hail to the Victors.”

• Give credit where credit is due, as the Ohio State band did an awesome NASA-themed halftime show during the football team’s win over Michigan State this weekend.

• Michigan Hockey opened its 2019-20 season on Sunday in an exhibition game against Windsor, where they won by a score of 8-2 at Yost. They will open the regular season on Oct. 11 with two games against Clarkson, both in Ann Arbor.