OT: Illinois AD writes open letter about B1G Champions situation
Illinois' athletic director just wrote an open letter about how they feel like they should be at least be B1G Co-Champs. Pretty convincing or funny or embarrassing from whatever angle you choose to look at it.
This is the Big Ten where votes of the AD's have definitely harmed Michigan in the past plus this is 2021 where everyone gets a trophy these days. Let's just hope this doesn't start gaining any traction.
March 10th, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^
This is the only part of his letter that means anything,
"In November, the conference agreed that winning percentage would be used to determine the regular-season champion in basketball."
Discussion over - it was agreed upon...DONE
Putting my Michigan fandom aside, I think they have a case. I don’t like the idea of not rescheduling missed games working to our advantage. I’d be making the same argument if I was in their position.
And they would be fighting the same argument if the roles were reversed. It’s retrospective bullshit (admittedly well written and polite). He realized a few weeks ago that Illinois would lose the championship because they stumbled early and tried to see if they could get a share because of a technicality. At the end of the day, he agreed to the win percentage months ago and he and the rest of the big ten need to stick to that.
Also, you don’t know how Michigan would have played if they played a full schedule with appropriate breaks. Hell they could have even beaten Illinois. Hindsight is 20-20 and changing the rules after the die has been cast is moronic.
The B1G has changed its rules to correct a bad rule that impacted a championship just in the last three months, so that doesn’t hold any water.
“Also, you don’t know how Michigan would have played if they played a full schedule with appropriate breaks. Hell they could have even beaten Illinois.”
We could also speculate that it would have worn them out, which is why there is no point in speculating. Either way, that’s not Illinois’ fault. I’d tolerate it more if Michigan got a covid protocol in the last few weeks, when they wouldn’t have had time to reschedule as tough as it would have been, but they didn’t. It doesn’t sit right with me that those three games would determine it one way or another. Still happy we are hanging a banner regardless.
I’m curious, did OSU have a worse winning percentage than Indiana? Because, winning percentage was the agreed upon rule being used to determine B1G division champs in football. So if OSU did in fact have a lower winning percentage than Indiana, well then Indiana actually had the B1G East division title stolen from them.
Of course, the fact of the matter is that OSU did have a better winning percentage than Indiana and was the legitimate B1G East division champ; this is exactly the same for Michigan basketball. Better winning percentage = Champion.
No they didn’t. OSU was undefeated. The rules were changed to allow OSU to participate in the conference championship game which was relevant to go to the playoffs. None of that is important for Illinois since every team makes the big ten tourney and they’re a #1 seed in the ncaa tournament
No I know, I was being facetious. OSU would have won the East division with their 5-0 record regardless. No, they didn't qualify with the 6 game minimum, but 2 of their 3 cancelled games were due to other program's Covid pauses. The 6 game minimum was a silly rule to begin with. Winning percentage was set as the standard for winning the division before the season. OSU fulfilled that standard and won the East division. End of story.
This argument should have happened BEFORE the season. The ADs and Presidents agreed on winning percentage as the methodology for determining the B1G champion prior to the season. If anyone was worried about this happening, they should have agreed on a contingency about one team with highest winning percentage sharing the title with the team with the most wins. Writing this letter now is just retrospective sour grapes.
Had every team agreed, before the season, that there could be a shared title between the team with highest winning percentage and the team with the most wins, then I think everyone would be completely fine with that. The problem is, these complaints only came up once Michigan was mathematically confirmed as the B1G champions.
Well it worked for football so I can't say I begrudge them the effort. It's a little silly since their coach said a week ago it didn't matter.
Serious question. Who was responsible for rescheduling the games? UM or B1G?
I’d argue rescheduling the games against all the best teams and squeezing them into a tight time frame HURT Michigan more than playing them as first scheduled.
Yep Michigan was hot when they stopped and teams didn't have time to be able to figure out Howard's derivative of the Heat's strategy. Some of the articles on Michigan's strategy posted on mgoblog probably helped the other teams even, and many of those weren't posted until after the pause.
+1 for crying herbie???
A key part of their argument is the loss to MSU. A game after we already clinched the title. You cannot just treat that like any other Big Ten game and Illinois’ entire complaint hinges on that
We’re the undisputed Big Ten champs. Crying doesn't change that
I'm in agreement. Embarrassing for Illinois. If you change the rules, then Michigan doesn't celebrate the championship after last week's victory, then it's a different game on Sunday.
It's a little like a football team claiming a bad call in a loss should be reviewed, then the result of the game changed to a tie.
This letter won't change anything, but if it does, I want Michigan declared Big Ten football co-champions of 2016 (written tongue in cheek, if it isn't obvious).
This is also an embarrassment for the B1G front office, just as Nebraska going off on football policy last fall was. Warren needs to tell the Illini to STFU and be gracious in what is a clearly defined, objectively measured DE-the fucking-FEAT.
Beat them by 50 in the BTT.
If the situation was reversed we'd be complaining too. Should have just made them co-champs. Not that big of a deal especially in this year.
Username checks out.
If the situation was reversed they’d be fighting the co-champs as well
I hope we wouldn't be complaining. The case depends on changing the agreement made based on the understanding that COVID-19 positive tests would cancel games.
The best argument is OSU football playing in the conference championship game despite not meeting the minimum six conference games. Under the letter of the rules written for last season, they were not eligible and Indiana should have played. But OSU beat Indiana and had a better winning percentage. So they changed the rules when the Michigan/OSU game was canceled.
To meet that standard, you'd have to consider the "championship banner" to be as important or close to as important as participation in the conference championship game. Since Illinois is playing in the conference tournament with a 2-seed, it's not even remotely similar in importance.
So I'm not sympathetic. The league could have stepped in last week and made a statement. They didn't, and when Michigan beat MSU last week, that was that. They celebrated.
A forum complaining and the ATHLETIC DIRECTOR writing a whiny letter complaining are entirely different things. I don't believe Manuel would have done this. At all.
Illinois can pound sand.
it would be like giving the guy with the most hits the batting title.
That guy should contact Butch Jones and see if he trademarked the whole Champions of Life thing, because the Illini could definitely declare themselves that.
Daaaang we stole that Championship, suckers. What a great, coordinated plan by the athletic department, the University, and the State of Michigan -- to steal this Championship from the basketball powerhouse that is Illinois University. Unfortunately, next year we'll return to normal and Illinois will continue their tradition of racking up banners year after year, and we'll return to the B1G bottom dwellers that we've been since Coach Beilein arrived. What a heist, to finally get us some hardware.
The key was to go on that fake 2-week pause so we could avoid the murderer's row of Indiana, Northwestern and Penn State. It was the perfect alibi.
Maybe the "best team in the conference" shouldn't have taken nights off at home against o$u and Maryland and at Rutgers.
Oh my fucking godddddddd. That program needs mental help
And an ass whoopin'.
Yep, and Trump is still the president and Stacey Abrams is the governor of Georgia.
Illinois, you aren't Ohio State. The rules won't get changed for you.
You guys who wonder why Warde doesn't make public pronouncements about whatever complaint we may have, this is a good reason why: Do so and you might wind up being a whiny crybaby that is an embarrassment to the conference.
Yep! You need to pick your battles.....It's amazing how many don't understand the concept.
Is he though Steven? I know my best friend (HUGE OSU alum/honk) agrees with him. He sides with Illinois.
I get that we think he's a whiny baby and degrading himself....because our AD apparently thinks complaining signifies that....but not everyone does.
Seriously? Almost all OSU, MSU, and probably any other B1G team fans will agree with this clown of an AD and side with Illinois.
We have the trophy, that we've earned. Illinois is complaining about it. His complaints are sour grapes, and frankly don't make a hill of beans of difference. The only thing his whining does is make some Illinois people feel a bit better, I suppose.
But I'd rather have a banner than a letter from the AD written to sooth my hurt feelings.
Warde Manuel griping in public would not have changed the result of the OSU game. It wouldn't have had any practical affect on officiating; any productive change happens behind closed doors, and we have no information about what words were or were not exchanged with people that mattered. And it wouldn't in any way make me feel better about losing to OSU. It's just bellyaching for the benefit of people who don't actually matter.
I can't tell you how much I don't care about any OSU fan agreeing with the whining Illinois AD because I lack the advanced mathematical education necessary to describe numbers that small.
lim (x—>0) ([give a fucks]^(x) - 1) = who gives a shit
I'm shocked that an OSU fan would side with another team against UM. Shocked, I tell you.
Michigan clinched the title with a game left, rendering the last game completely irrelevant to this argument. Could you imagine how much shit Michigan would take if the situation were reversed and Warde tried to pull this nonsense?
Everyone hates Michigan, Exhibit 10 million something.
The AD
She was a bad egg.
Two observations:
1: He's completely full of shit. The methodology of determining the B1G champion was decided before the season began exactly BECAUSE something like this was bound to happen. Sorry about your luck.
2: I respect the hell out him having the stones to stand and fight publicly for his school. Unlike other ADs we know who choose to remain silent when their school is hosed (hi 2016 OSU game officials, did you guys complete your Buckeye autograph set yet?) He's not worried about making waves. And he doesn't care if the B1G commissioner likes it or not.
Why do you respect him for attempting to skirt the rules that were mutually agreed upon?
He's not trying to skirt them, he's bitching about them.
Again, he has no case. I just respect the fact he's willing to fight and make noise publicly about what he thinks is an injustice.
Warde was not.
I know you just dislike Warde for a variety of reasons, but getting mad at him for not whining about officiating publicly while commending this AD for, again, whining publicly seems like more of a personal preference than some indictment of a person's character.
Illinois (and all the schools) knew in November that a pandemic was ongoing and that teams may miss games. As a result, they changed how the regular season title would be decided. It's cold, hard math that says UM has a higher winning percentage than Illinois. This isn't a subjective call about ball placement on a field based on forward momentum of a player.
It’s funny you are getting downvoted on this because of how much everyone on this blog bitched about him not throwing a tantrum like a toddler. I mean the il ad looks stupid and warde would have to, it’s just funny how much standards change on this blog when it’s good or bad for Michigan
Eh. Same guys who year after year predict we're gonna go 13-0 (maybe 12-1) hammer an opposing AD for doing exactly what they wanted ours to do.