Yeah, agreed. But ``that’s why they make the big bicks’’ is the relevant cliche. Difficult jobs pay well and also come with elevated expectations.
I think you’re spot-on that you don’t want to be pushing the state in public to change their recommendation. That’s something to do behind closed doors only. In public, to me the right move is still to pressure the conference to accomodate Michigan basketball, and to cite that there was a precedent set in football to make accomodations given the exceptional circumstances.
Agreed – it’s premature to argue that Michigan is head/shoulders above the pack. A more aggressive AD might make that argument at this point, but that’s not how Michigan rolls and none of us should expect that.
IMO Warde’s job isn’t to seek a fair or measured response, though. That’s the conference’s job. Warde’s is to first keep his players and coaches safe, and then to advocate for them so they don’t become victims of circumstance. All he has to say in public is that these are exceptional times in which conferences can and do make accomodations for special circumstances, and that Michigan’s student athletes have worked their butts off and deserve a chance to compete, so he plans to address these issues with conference officials. Privately, to me a starting point would be that the conference can be pressured into cancelling the conference tournament, which the podcast has pointed out is of dubious utility and maybe shouldn’t happen. 11 games in 31 days sure is better than 11 games in 24 days. That’s a starting point.
Hopefully the players can keep their cardio and strength up while taking a short break from basketball for a bit.
This team doesn’t seem to be in danger of losing focus or intensity, so if they can recharge a bit before getting back into the championship push, there might be a way to turn this negative into a positive.
Late to the conversation, but I thought GoBlueScrewOSU’s comment alluded more to the opportunity to pile up wins and experience, put a little daylight between M hoops and everyone else before heading into those later, tougher games.
I don’t know that it’s a given that the away time is completely negative, though. Maybe we’re fitter for the stretch run, avoid more viral contact, do have a chance for some good practices. . . ?
Not feeling great about the compressed schedule down the stretch, especially on the heels of listening to the Go Blue with Stu podcast with Zack Novak. Novak and Douglass agreed that they put so much into winning the Big Ten in 2012 that they were spent when it came time to play Ohio U.
I bet you’re right, which brings up another area where the AD can and should be proactive. Juwan is just nailing it in all phases, and he’s two years into a five-year deal, so contract-extension time isn’t all that far away. If Warde has learned a lesson about contract extensions, and is thinking a step or two ahead, he should be getting ready to make Juwan the highest-paid coach in the conference.
I assume that Dylan was referencing his tweet from this morning pointing out that MSU has rescheduled a game into the slot in which it was to play Michigan next weekend, I think, which now means Michigan would have to play 11 games in 24 days if it was to play a full conference schedule. Seth from Mgoblog responded with the OSU comparison/joke.
As fans, are we content with how that trade off went? I don’t think that specific team was gonna go super far in the tourney (22nd on Kenpom). I’m much happier with that Big Ten title banner than I would’ve been with a round of 32 loss and probably even a sweet 16 appearance (maybe that’s just hindsight considering how far the program got soon after). Even though it sucked for the iconic Novak era to end in that specific game, I think it’s super fitting that it ended with Michigan officially cresting the mountain of Big Ten contention.
(This is unrelated to a discussion about that hypothetical trade off this year, in which Michigan clearly has a shot to go very far).
For that specific team, I’d take the Big Ten banner. I don’t think they would’ve had the juice to make a deep run even if they didn’t wear themselves out. They maximized their ability that season.
Didn’t help that that team was 6 deep, and that literally EVERYONE was off that game. It’s coming from the horses’ mouths so I believe Stu and Zack when they reflect that way regarding the game, but for THIS year’s team I think I like the setup better to be able to push through that.
Great question, and I agree completely. I forget who the second-round opponent would have been, but very happy to have shared the conference title that year.
Are there any chances to make up different games inside the 14 day window? In other words, Michigan State isn’t avail on 2/6 any longer, but is someone else that we also had to postpone?
My biggest concern on this is that we’ve done such a good job avoiding the virus that we are ripe for another shutdown later if we actually do get a breakout on the team.
I don’t worry about conference title at this moment, they always have option to share a title and let fans argue for the next decade. but the lack of transparency and effort to communicate with the public from UM AD baffles me. No one yet came out to take the responsibility for the failure to contain a clearly containable situation. I think that a temporary halt of all activities is totally warranted for the purpose of investigation but no update for 3+ days is mind boggling.
You need some luck to go through the season without a single incidence. I don’t remember if i said it on this board but players getting the virus off-season in the summer might not be a bad thing.
One of my colleagues got his second shot (I work in a medical school thus the vaccine is available to us) the same day his son was tested positive, now he is self quarantined at home with his son.
13-seed Ohio played 12-seed South Florida (who handily defeated 5-seed Temple) in the round of 32, then lost an OT thriller to 1-seed UNC. If Michigan gets past Ohio I think they would’ve dispatched South Florida and then probably would be taken out back by UNC.
