White Suburban Punk

Wisconsin made it 2-0 against Michigan with a win in Ann Arbor Saturday in basketball.  My favorite color guy, Bill Raftery, did the game on CBS, although it was on an alternative CBS station I didn’t even know about on Direct TV.  Wisconsin shot lights out in this game, almost unbelievably well, especially from three.  They were 9-13 from downtown in the first half, including a Jason Bohannon bomb from just over half court at the buzzer.  Michigan shot 60% for the half and trailed, 40-26.  The Badgers couldn’t stop or contain Deshaun Sims, but Michigan inexplicably stopped going to him.  This happened in the second half, too.

At halftime, Seth Davis said that he loves Wisconsin and he thinks they’ll be a really tough out in the tournament because they’re smart and they don’t turn the ball over.  Amen.

Michigan started the second half much more aggressively and the refs started calling fouls like crazy.  This was the second recent game where this happened – virtually no fouls in the first half, and then every touch gets a foul in the second.  Big Ten officials.  Suspiciously, 7 of the first 8 fouls in the second half were called on the team with the double digit lead, too.  But Wisconsin simply would not be deterred on this day.  They kept hitting their threes and cruised to a 62-44 win.  The offense was purring all game, working the shot clock, and really getting good shots.  It wasn’t like all these threes were prayers.  After high hopes in the beginning of the season (#15 in preseason polls), Michigan looks like an also ran now.  Manny Harris scored just 11 points and Deshaun Sims finished with 18.  Beyond them, I don’t see any other scorers on the team.  Wisconsin is now 5-2 without Jon Leuer, who actually took some shooting practice Sunday with his cast still on.  The projection for his return is still “before the Big Ten tournament.” 

Next up for the Badgers is Illinois and Indiana at home.  I actually watched the end of the Illinois/Michigan State game, won by Illinois in Champaign, and the fans rushed the court after the game.  Dick Vitale was saying how he didn’t like that, which is also something Mike Wilbon said last week.  What is up with these guys?  Isn’t college basketball supposed to be fun?  They beat the first place team in the conference, a team they hate.  They’re supposed to just pack up and go home?  Lighten up!

Illinois and Wisconsin are now tied for second, one game behind Michigan State.

Wisconsin and Michigan Hockey played a very entertaining, hard fought game outside at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday night.  Wisconsin scored an early goal that the Michigan goalie should have had, but then Michigan put on some good pressure and finally got the tying goal with about 1:00 left in the first.  There were apparent problems with the ice in the Michigan goalie’s crease, and the game was stopped several times, but then when they switched ends for the second period, the problem seemed to go away.  The Michigan coaching staff wanted the teams to switch sides half way through the third period, but the refs said it wasn’t necessary and the Michigan goalie continued raising a stink about it throughout the third period.  It seems that the problem was less with the ice than with the Michigan goalie.  Anyway, there was no scoring in the second period, although both teams had opportunities.  In fact, it wasn’t a very crisp game overall.  I don’t know if that was because of snow on the ice, which the announcers mentioned, or if it was just because the teams are evenly matched.  The temperature started around 30 degrees at face off and was about 20 by the end of the game, so I don’t think it was too warm.

The attendance was 55,031, the second highest ever for a college hockey game, trailing Michigan State/Michigan in the Cold War in East Lansing in 2001.  Those teams will play at Michigan Stadium on 12/11/10 (cool date).  The Wisconsin fans got to Jump Around in the third period, but Michigan scored the go ahead goal from just inside the blue line with about 9:00 left that Badger goalie Scott Gudmanson should’ve had.  Defenseman Brendan Smith answered for Wisconsin with two power play goals for the Badgers, the first with 5:32 left, and the winner with 1:22 to go in the game.  Somehow the Badgers gave up a breakaway soon after the go ahead goal, but the shot was saved and then the Michigan player ran the goalie, effectively ending Michigan’s chances.  So the Badgers won, 3-2, but will probably not rise from #3 in the country, as #1 Miami swept Lake Superior State and #2 Denver won two out of conference games.

Overall, it was a very cool game, and these teams may just see each other again down the road in the tournament.  Wisconsin has four series left, home to Minnesota State and St. Cloud State, and on the road to Michigan Tech and Minnesota.  Minnesota State and Michigan Tech are WCHA bottom feeders, while St. Cloud State is currently tied for first in the conference.

Photo from US College Hockey Online

Wisconsin hockey hosts Michigan outside at Camp Randall Stadium today, televised by the Big Ten Network at 6:00 eastern.  Michigan is ranked #19 in the country, Wisconsin is #3, and the Badgers hope to avenge a 3-2 loss earlier in the season in Ann Arbor.  This is actually a big game for the PairWise rankings.  The forecast for Madison is 27 degrees and cloudy, downright balmy for early February in Madtown.

Michigan and Wisconsin also meet today in basketball in Ann Arbor.  Wisconsin struggled to win at the Kohl Center earlier in the season, and has had all kinds of trouble on the road. Vegas has the game as a pick ‘em.

Football signing day was this week and it looks like Wisconsin had a pretty typical class, no blue chip standouts, but a lot of solid, coachable players.  They hit the defensive line pretty hard to build depth there, and have a couple of players who may be able to contribute next year, one defensive tackle (Beau Allen) and a safety (Frank Tamokloe).  The precise scientific measurements of recruiting classes by the “experts” have Wisconsin’s class ranked #33 by Scout.com and #86 by Rivals.com.

The Sporting News released an early 2010 football preseason rankings and has Wisconsin 10th.  Matt Hayes also has an article arguing that Wisconsin will enter 2010 with the most momentum in the country.  Juicy quote: “Now with a little luck and championship karma, and some old-fashioned Wisconsin Crawl Ball spit and polish, the Badgers may not only win the Big Ten for the first time since 1999—they may just play for it all next January in Phoenix.”

Great performance for the #16 Badgers as they destroy #5 Michigan State, 67-49 last night, handing Tom Izzo his first Big Ten defeat of the season.  Wisconsin did it without Jon Leuer and mostly without Trevon Hughes, who played just 3 minutes of the first half before sitting with two fouls.  Still, UW led 38-23 at the half.  It was a season low points for Michigan State, who shot 37%, had just 11 assists, and 13 turnovers.  Wisconsin shot 51%, had 17 assists, and just 5 turnovers.  Wisconsin did it with an incredibly balanced attack, as virtually everyone played well.  Jason Bohannon, Jordan Taylor, Keaton Nankivil, Ryan Evans, Tim Jarmusz, and Rob Wilson all contributed solid games.  The Badgers are now 4-2 without Leuer, 5-2 vs. ranked teams, and 3-0 vs. teams in the top 10.  They are now #10 in the RPI.

No matter how much Izzo bitched and moaned, and he did it a lot, it didn’t matter.  Michigan State’s only lead in the game was 1-0.  They were absolutely blown out, crushed, routed, out-toughed, manhandled, and bitch slapped by the better team, at least on this night.

Photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There’s always news in English football . . .

The latest is that there are Italian media reports stating that Juventus and Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez have come to a verbal agreement that Rafa would take over the Italian club at the conclusion of this season and that Juve officials are flying to Liverpool to hash out an agreement with the club to release Rafa at the end of the year.  However, Rafa has dismissed these rumors wholeheartedly, stating that he has a long term contract with Liverpool and “I want to make it absolutely clear I have no agreement with Juventus and have not and will not be meeting Juventus or their representatives or any other club.”   I really don’t think this guy is another Nick Saban, so I think we should take him at his word.  Besides, the same Italian media claimed that Juve officials were in Liverpool last week talking to the club, and that was imaginary.  So it looks like this is all made up.  At least, I hope so.

Liverpool’s derby with Everton Saturday at Anfield is shaping up to be quite a match.  The UK sports betting forums have installed Liverpool as the favorite, but that’s probably only because they are playing at home.  Landon Donovan has been starting for Everton since his loan went through, joining his fellow American, goalie Tim Howard.  Reading through some threads on clubs’ recent form, Everton has been fantastic lately, unbeaten in their last 9 Premiership games.  In fact, their last loss was to Liverpool on November 29.  In that time, they have four wins and five draws, with a win over Manchester City and draws with Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham.  They currently sit in 9th place in the league, 9 points behind 5th place Liverpool, and they have a game in hand.  Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 6, with 4 wins and 2 draws and significant wins over Tottenham and Aston Villa.

Derbies are always exciting, as the crowd will be extra pumped and jacked, and Liverpool has a chance to sweep the season series and put even more pressure on to break into the top 4.  Also, both teams have difficult games after this one, with Liverpool playing at Arsenal and at Manchester City, while Everton will play Chelsea and Manchester United at home and then away to Tottenham. 

Big, big game, and big, big stretch of games, and Liverpool doesn’t need any distractions from the Italian media. 

Today is also the deadline for the January transfer window, and rumors are circulating that Rafa is interested in a defender from Greek club Olympiakos.  We’ll see . . .

Photo from ESPN Soccernet