Brad Underwood is a cry baby and I want Michigan to set his team on fire.
Just listen to what this mad child had to say!
"We’re going to honor the (postponed games) b/c we’re a member of this league. We’re not gonna be the teams that pick & choose what we play for whatever. We’re going to show up. I think it’s about character, & this team has a ton of it.
Hang 100 on them! Make them eat the idea that Michigan has ever been scared of Illinois.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:08 PM ^
Brad...Nobody cares
February 27th, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
I know someone whose pants are on fire, maybe he'd help with the "arse"-on
February 27th, 2021 at 8:03 PM ^
I can always count on you for the dad jokes rob f. :D
February 27th, 2021 at 6:18 PM ^
Feel free not to play Brad. You need this game more than we do.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:20 PM ^
Illinois Rosetta Stone Translation:
”Michigan is the better team, we will need career nights from three of our bench players to win, I often wear women’s underwear for comfort, my calf’s pop in high heels.”
February 27th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^
Brad's a lumberjack?
February 27th, 2021 at 8:57 PM ^
That is Stephen F Austin's nickname.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^
Taking off three weeks and then still dominating with the exception of one bad half is a hell of a lot more impressive than anything Illinois could throw at us.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:30 PM ^
While I think this is a dumb thing for him to do and will probably result in having Michigan particularly fired up, I still haven't seen a real explanation for why the women's team could play the day that the Illinois game was scheduled and the men's team couldn't. It feels like either there was something else going on in the men's team that they never released or they just didn't seem to care as much about the women's team.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:32 PM ^
I still haven't seen a real explanation for why the women's team could play the day that the Illinois game was scheduled and the men's team couldn't.
The women's team had already missed 3 games prior to the shutdown, while the men's team had missed 0. The women's team didn't have the schedule flexibility to be able to afford to miss that game, while the men's team did
February 27th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
I'm not sure that really makes sense. From what I can tell, of the 8 B1G games the women have had canceled, only one has been rescheduled. Also, the women had 7 games scheduled post shut down while the men had 8.
I'm not arguing that not playing Illinois on 2/11 was the wrong decision, I'm just saying that claiming it wasn't possible or wasn't safe doesn't hold up without being obviously internally hypocritical.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:37 PM ^
Let me try.
The women were on track to only play 13 of 20 B1G games even coming back immediately. This was due to 3 games lost prior to the 5 from the department-wide shut down - (net is 7 because one MSU game was postponed twice.) They had no choice to get in every game possible just to play 65% of their scheduled conference games. ---- A BONUS is that they came back against Purdue which is essentially a guaranteed W. With the disparity of talent in WBB I estimate this would be the equivalent of M coming back to play a Nebraska team with only 6 available players.
So while it would have been "possible" to play Illinois when scheduled - it would have been unwise re: chance of injuries as well as a competitive/unfair advantage for the Illini. M knew that they would be able to reschedule some/most of their games and took the conservative route.
M is not making up games against the current #10,12,13 teams in the B1G. Even IF they lost one of those 3 (lol) , Illinois would have to beat M and have M split with MSU just for the Illini to get a share of the Championship.
TLDR -- COULD M have played the Illini as scheduled? Yes. Would it have been the best thing for the health of the players? No. Would they have done something different if they were in a similar position as the women's team re: number of games? I think yes.
Worth noting that the B1G could have stepped in on this topic but did not. Was it in their best interest to keep M as highly ranked/regarded as possible - ala OSU football? Absolutely.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^
Fair enough. I'm still curious why only one game was rescheduled for the women if there was such a crunch to get them more games. Maybe that was out of Michigan's hands.
But, your explanation of why the women played and the men didn't seems to be fundamentally about the relative competitiveness of Purdue's women vs Illinois' men which I don't disagree with. I'm just annoyed at the holier than thou crap thrown at anyone who points that out.
February 28th, 2021 at 8:46 AM ^
I don’t see much “holier than thou” on this but maybe I’m not looking for it.
It IS true that the M shutdown was complete - no access to facilities let alone practices - unlike any other school to my knowledge. I think Warde and company COULD have pushed harder for resumed activities a week sooner for the programs with zero cases (ala hoops) that would have made it possible for them to be ready to play right out of the gate against Illinois.
Re: rescheduling - I would guess that is a $$ issue. Men vs. MSU/Illinois are national televised games that B1G can sell (to offset any added travel costs etc.) vs. WBB which....less so.
Both MBB and WBB made business decisions. WBB needed wins/games to ensure a high seed in the NCAA (VERY important in the WBB tourney to my understanding) and had a cupcake on resumption week. M had a high seed locked and took the more conservative/ health-conscious approach.
Nothing high and mighty there imo.
By the way if any are trying to compare to MSU, Nebraska, or Baylor etc. - MSU was able to continue workouts AND practices of non-sick players throughout their shutdown. In theory they could have continued playing GAMES with a depleted roster. They chose not to - not unreasonable imo- and also had complete control of their return to competition dates rather than some arbitrary date set by the AD.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:32 PM ^
I hope this is the new Maverick Morgan moment.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:37 PM ^
See you Tuesday, bitches
February 27th, 2021 at 6:40 PM ^
Seems Brad doesn’t want to play peak M? I mean, I’d rather he complain about cheap hacking by Staee because it means M doesn’t get to play peak illannoy.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:47 PM ^
Michigan’s women’s bball team played their first game after Covid layoff on February 11. Michigan’s men’s team was scheduled to play Illinois that same date. Underwood called out the men’s team for not playing when the women played. I understand why the men’s team didn’t play but I also understand Underwood questioning the postponement and using it to motivate his team.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:26 PM ^
Okay fine but don't call out the team's character
February 27th, 2021 at 7:32 PM ^
All Underwood did here was provide bulletin board material for our locker room.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
What kids/parents want their kids to play for guys like Izzo/Underwood. Fran to some extent at Iowa, but he at least sticks up his own guys. Izzo/Underwood attack their own kids and will throw them under the bus anytime it doesn’t look good for them.
Howard and even guys like Holtmann and Painter just seem like guys where as a parent like the way they carry themselves. They don’t make excuses or whine about everything.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:50 PM ^
LOL Brad complaining Michigan didn't get a chance to pad its lead with 3 more wins...
February 28th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
Um, that didn't work out so well last time.
It is funny, though.
Just go to work and win, baby.
February 27th, 2021 at 6:59 PM ^
Hopefully this fires up the team and they can get it done.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:03 PM ^
Entitled ? Get a clue and be thankful for what you got Coach. That said, sorry Sparty broke Ayo's nose last game. Maybe he is still salty from that ugly play and does not know how to express himself properly.
February 27th, 2021 at 8:28 PM ^
In fairness, he should still be salty. I have little doubt Wagner and/or Dickinson will be the recipients of similar cheap shots during the home and home. I just hope neither is out for an extended time.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:10 PM ^
We'll settle this on the court.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
Have an issue? Grab a tissue!
February 27th, 2021 at 7:29 PM ^
This is just Illinois wanting to be our rival... or thinking they already are.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:29 PM ^
B-rad
B-MAD
February 27th, 2021 at 7:39 PM ^
Hey Brad, ya slime ball. Shut yer pie hole
Interestingly enough, both of Underwood’s former stops (Oklahoma State and Stephen F. Austin) face postseason bans for 2021, though again, Underwood, and more importantly the Illini program, are likely not in any trouble.
February 27th, 2021 at 7:51 PM ^
I’m more interested in who Brandon Peters is rooting for? ?
February 27th, 2021 at 7:55 PM ^
I swear sometimes I just want to tell coaches to write down what they're going to say, or just say it to themselves once or twice, before speaking because if they did they'd likely hear how dumb their comments are and try something else. Like, his entire argument boils down to he wanted to play UM coming off a long layoff but now that the game is being played later he's angry. And the reason he's angry is probably that his team will be the one likely dealing with some adversary as Ayo still has a broken nose. If he wants to be mad at anyone he should be at MSU for beating them and playing violently enough to injure his best player with a rough foul.
February 27th, 2021 at 8:24 PM ^
whining is for losers
February 27th, 2021 at 8:39 PM ^
I believe that Juwan will highlight this statement in our locker room. Juwan is a great public figure, but he's so competitive and is a real trash talker as well. I bet he's letting loose behind doors with his team. I expect we will see our best game on Tuesday. 100% confident we will destroy Illinois
February 27th, 2021 at 9:31 PM ^
If Underwood is all weepy because MSU was mean to them, they’re really going to love Dickinson in the paint.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
Don’t want to get ahead of myself here...but this is gonna be a Twitter Raid for the ages.
February 27th, 2021 at 9:49 PM ^
If Michigan had an, ahem, choice, wouldn't they have chose to play NW or PSU rather than Illinois?
That's some Scott Frost-level ass-hattery right there.
February 27th, 2021 at 11:08 PM ^
Underwood is just like McCaffrey: he’s mad that his best team still isnt good enough to win the Big Ten