Michigan Monday: Rust and Rest

I wrote a post last week wondering if Michigan would be rusty or have fresh legs from the rest.  It ended up being both.  The Michigan Basketball team played a sloppy first half, focused in and beat a solid Wisconsin team in the second.   The first half was filled with air balls, bad offensive sets, and turnovers.  If you've read this blog for a long time, you know I'm a huge fan of adjustments by a coaching staff to what is happening in the game.    This Michigan team seems to always play better in the 2nd half.    That is a huge hat tip to Juwan and his excellent coaching staff.  You can really see Spoelstra's and Riley's influence. 

I also want to tell you about a story of my college friend Bruce.  He was a very good basketball player and we played a ton of pick up and intermural ball.   He would start the game a little slow, until someone fouled him hard or knocked him down.   That foul flipped a switch in Bruce's head and he started to dominate the game from that point on.   That same thing happen when Mike Smith took an elbow from that dirty player on Wisconsin.  But this time, it just wasn't one guy, it was the entire Michigan team.  That elbow changed the game.  

I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment, but that was the best win for Michigan all year.  They were clearly out of sorts in the first half and Livers kept them in the game.   After half time, Michigan still played a little sloppy but was able to find some things that worked.   Hunter's offensive rebounds were the difference in the game and he was the games MVP.   We really need Hunter's backup to be better, whether its Davis or Johns.  

Michigan has Rutgers on Thursday and OSU on Sunday.   

• Gus Malzahn is heading to UCF to coach.

• Warde has signed a new contract extension.

• Urban Meyer might be a great football coach, but he sure as hell doesn't know how to read a room or a country. Urban lives in his own little football bubble where he can ignore all of societies problems. If he continues this, he is going to fail hard and fast in JAX.

• Looks like Jimmy has added analyst Kyle DeVan the former OL coach at Arizona, New Orleans Saints, and Ball State. 

• Michigan has also offered 2024 QB from Saline that happens to be Lloyd Carr's grandson.