Michigan Monday: Copper Bowl Week and Nice Win for BBall

It's hard to believe that Michigan plays another football game on Saturday Night and into Sunday Morning.   Devin Gardner remains questionable and the betting odds continue to move towards Kansas State. 

This article from CBS Sports goes behind the scenes of the Big Ten Bowl selections and it seems David Brandon wanted to play in the Copper Bowl?: (bold mine)

The Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl was considered a wild card. Nebraska had eight wins to Michigan's seven. The Huskers also had a built-in rivalry with Kansas State, the Big 12 recipient for the spot in Tempe. But Michigan is Michigan, with its huge alumni base that travels well. Delany said both schools made their cases to bowl director Robert Shelton. What won out, Delany believes, is that Michigan hadn't played in the desert since the 1986 Fiesta Bowl. Nebraska went in 1999. This was a chance for a fresh matchup.

I know the Copper had the 3rd pick, but I think most Michigan fans would have preferred playing on New Year's Day in the Gator Bowl.  It's also much easier to travel to Jacksonville for fans in Ann Arbor and along the East Coast. 

Want proof?

Two years ago, Michigan sold 80% of their Sugar Bowl Tickets in 48 hours.   A year ago, Michigan sold all of it's Outback Bowl tickets in a week.   Michigan just returned 4500 Copper Bowl tickets back to the Bowl game.  They sold about 5600.

Let's hope Devin Gardner's toe heals quickly this week and Michigan can end on a positive note. 


Michigan's Basketball team got a nice win on Saturday Night in Brooklyn over a Stanford team that just upset a #10 UConn team at UConn.   The game was hard to find on TV on Fox's Sports 1 channel but had a very nice surprise with the announcing crew of Gus Johnson and Bill Rafferty.  Michigan lead most of the way and GR3 had a nice "shake" and layup to seal the game.   Not sure I have ever seen a college basketball game called so closely by the refs. With McGary out, Michigan ran out of low post guys. 

McGary didn't play due to his back and let's hope that heals up quickly and doesn't effect the Big Ten season.   Michigan has one more non-conference game on Saturday before the Big Ten season kicks-off.  Michigan needs Zak Irvin to find his shot (he played well in NYC) and Derrick Walton to play a bit smarter at the point to be a factor in another difficult Big Ten this year.

• Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers is expected to be named the next head coach at James Madison.

• There continues to be a ton of buzz around Penn State's Bill O'Brien heading to the NFL next season.   Don't be surprised if the Detroit Lions try to jump on him early. 

• This really isn't news but all of Michigan's 2014 class early enrollees are signed and ready to enroll in a couple of weeks.