Right--in 2018/19 it was down to the last tournament of the year and the US only had to beat Fiji in the semis to win it all. Unfortunately they were blown out, but they still finished 2nd in the world for their only top-4 finish since the series started in 1999.
Definitely good (10th last season, 8th so far this season), but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that they could be better. They just are not seeing the same success as the women's team (3rd last season, 4th so far this season).
As an aside, one of the players on the USA Women's Rugby Sevens team, Alena Olsen, is a University of Michigan rugby alumna.
Rugby Sevens always seemed like it should be more popular in the US...and the US should be better at it than they are. This seems like an ideal sport for running backs, tight ends and safeties who can't quite hit the NFL.
Full Rugby Union is a great sport, but Rugby Sevens is pure action-packed fun.
Michigan now tied for second in the Big Ten with Purdue and Nebraska, 1.5 games behind first-place Illinois.
Next weekend, Michigan has a bye in conference play and hosts a non-conference series against the Long Beach State Dirtbags (they take weird pride in that unofficial nickname). Games at 6:00 Friday, 2:00 Saturday, 1:00 Sunday. LBSU is about 20-15 right now, and this series will be winnable.
TV networks have realized that noon & 8:00 are the peak time slots. ABC & FOX obviously have an unwritten deal where FOX gets noon and ABC gets 7:30/8 pm. This is normal, and it's so weird to me how Michigan fans haven't absorbed this fact. 3:30 is when you play a BTN game against Maryland, not a game of national interest against Texas.
Yeah we have a Freshman coming in, Cameron Korpi, and another who could come in this year or wait until next year, Stephen Peck. I don't see any of them as an obvious #1 so there will be a competition.
He got about 60 percent of the playing time for Ferris this year. He seems to have been adequate, but it's hard to take results from a team with a bottom-of-the-barrel offense like Ferris and project how he will do at Michigan.
Ferris only scored 49 goals in 24 conference games this season (in a bad conference). I imagine that he will get substantially more support at Michigan--even considering the departures at forward.
The other thing I would not have expected is the Michigan pitching staff having the best ERA in the conference at the halfway point of the season (just counting conference games--don't even try to look at the overall ERA).
Michigan is now tied for second in the conference, only a half game out of first.
The top half of the conference. Teams play a 24-game schedule: 1. Illinois (7-2) 2t. Michigan (8-4) 2t. Purdue (8-4) 2t. Nebraska (6-3) 5t. Indiana (5-4) 5t. Ohio State (5-4) 7. Iowa (6-6)
Michigan hosts Ohio State this weekend in a big series, Friday at 6:00, Saturday at 2:00 and Sunday at 1:00.
Yes, and you could add Freshman Alfredo Velazquez to that list--he has played 13 games in the outfield and has also seen 4 appearances on the mound this year.
Having one hybrid player isn't unusual for a college team, but having 3 is very unusual...and I have literally never seen a starting catcher double as a top-3 relief pitcher on a team like Rogers does for Michigan. I assume this is an intentional decision by Tracy Smith to recruit the hybrid-type players. It certainly increases your roster options when one player can fill 2 different roles.
Pitching is better, but more importantly Smith is limiting the meaningful innings to only the best pitchers on the staff. Earlier in the season you have to go deeper into your bullpen to see who is pitching well in game situations and who isn't, and because you don't want to over-stress anybody's arm early in the season. Now that the conference season has started, you can keep your best arms out there longer.
During the 18 innings of yesterday's doubleheader, Michigan used only 3 pitchers. Will Rogers (who is Michigan's starting catcher when he's not pitching) pitched the 8th and 9th innings of game 1 as the closer and then pitched the 1st and 2nd innings of game 2 as the "opener" before yielding to the usual Saturday starter, Jacob Denner, in the 3rd.
Ah--got it. For a second when I first clicked on your post, I thought the book had been written BY Gopnik, and I already had the rest of my weekend planned.
Thanks again for the recommendation though! I will definitely check it out.
Awesome, thank you very much for this--I will definitely check the book out. It sounds right up my alley (for the Damon Runyon content alone if nothing else). Two corrections--(1) Christy Mathewson, not Christy Matthews; (2) Tom Wolfe, not Thomas Wolfe, who was a completely different writer.
Part of what makes this big news is that Cornell finished #2 in the nation last year and Michigan just a point behind them at #3. An all-american transferring from the #2 team in the nation to the #3 team in the nation would a huge deal in any sport.
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Ah. Well. This is a surprisingly hard question, even though I can admit to myself that my desire not to leave Yost is almost purely sentimental right now. It's a great arena and Yost and I have been through some amazing times together.
I just don't want to say it, I guess, but maybe it might be better for the program(s) if there were a different setup for hockey. I hate that they will never again have 6000 fans at a game. I hate that they have replaced all of the fixtures with cheap aluminum bleachers. I hate how they are forcing the visiting teams to dress behind cubicle walls on the south concourse. I'm not sure I trust them to build a state-of-the-art arena, but I think they might need to do just that.
I assume it would take like 18 months to retrofit Crisler with a full ice plant so that's probably off the table.
Really, there isn't much in terms of space...
* The old outdoor track (the older football field)? You would have to call it Jesse Owens Rink at Ferry Field or something.
* The old indoor track building? Might not be enough room to squeeze it in between the railroad tracks and Fisher Stadium
* Uh...North Campus?
* Take out baseball and/or softball and move them to one of the places mentioned above? I could almost see moving baseball to North Campus near the hospital somewhere, and tearing down the old indoor track and putting a new Penn State style arena where those were. You might not even lose any parking.
A black-and-white call (like a safe/out call in baseball or an offside call in hockey) is easier, yes.
But there are situations where officials are asked to review a judgement call. Did the goalie have it covered before it was knocked in by the other team? Was the knee-to-knee collision intentional or unintentional? Was the check to the player's back or his side?
When you give the ref time to reflect on judgement calls, their judgement doesn't seem to get any more accurate. Like they say when you are taking a standardized test, your first guess is more likely to be right than your second.
It's perplexing, isn't it? Is it really possible that these are the best available officials? If so, what kind of officiating are we getting in the NAHL or in High School hockey?
I also suspect that replay (in all sports) has made officiating worse. Officials do a MUCH better job in "real time" of keeping their bias out of their calls--a bang-bang play on the ice and you don't even notice who is wearing which color jersey. But on replay, it's going to be hard to keep your subconscious and conscious biases out of your calls because you know exactly who will benefit and who will be hurt when you call that phantom goal.
Michigan baseball hosts Ohio State on April 20 at 2:00 pm--at least that's when it's scheduled now. It would be nice if they could move the baseball game a little later, so they can pack Ray Fisher Stadium too.
Hash bash was established in the early '70s. I think April 1 was adopted back in the '70s because of its ties to hippie "merry prankster" type culture, but I guess I could be wrong.
The "420" code did not become a widespread thing until the late '80s.
Well right now the women's tournament actually does things the right way--all rounds prior to the women's frozen four are at home ice of the higher seed. I would hate to mess up the women's tournament for no reason at all.
..they would still get the fourth #1 seed, unfortunately.
According to CHN, at least, and I guess I will trust them here. Michigan State will be the fourth overall seed, whether they ignominiously win or ignominiously lose.
Great conclusion to session 5 this afternoon, as Shane Griffith defeats 1-seed Mekhi Lewis, who had been undefeated going into the tournament. Also Dylan Ragusin picks up a major decision giving Michigan a much-needed bonus point.
THIRD PLACE MATCH
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 4-0
FIFTH PLACE MATCH
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin WON, 17-6 (maj dec)
1. Penn State (152.5)
2. Michigan (71)
3. Cornell (68.5)
4. Iowa (67)
5. Iowa State (64.5)
Two finals for Michigan tonight; one win will wrap up second place. If Michigan goes 0-for-2, they might need a little help to stay in 2nd.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
285: #10 Lucas Davison (22-4) v #1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State (19-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (13-2) v #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech (29-2)
Remember the first match of the evening will be 285 at about 7:00 pm, and 149 will be the fifth match at about 8:10 pm--both on ESPN.
Shane Griffith continues his impressive tournament by winning his consolation semifinal; he will wrestle the 1-seed, Mekhi Lewis of Va Tech, for third place later this afternoon.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS (3rd-6th place)
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-3) v #7 Nasir Bailey, Little Rock (27-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-4) v #2 Cade DeVos, South Dakota State (27-2)
The winners will then wrestle for 3rd place and the losers for 5th place. Michigan might need at least one win here to hold on to second place in the team standings.
Finals will be this evening. Will start at 285 and then cycle from 125 on up.
CHAMPIONSHIP (1st-2nd place)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (22-4) v #1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State (19-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (13-2) v #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech (29-2)
Fairly bad set of results for Michigan on Friday night. With North Dakota dropping down to a 2-seed, they are starting to look like Michigan's most likely opponent in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Michigan State has clinched a 1-seed and Michigan a 3-seed.
CONSOLATION THIRD ROUND
184: #12 Jaden Bullock LOST, 3-11
Your standings heading in to the evening session:
1. Penn State (86.5)
2. Michigan (50.5)
3. Arizona State (44.5)
4. Iowa State (42)
5. Iowa (41.5)
Michigan's pairings in the evening session:
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-2) v #1 Daton Fix, Oklahoma State (20-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (12-2) v #2 Kyle Parco, Arizona State (24-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-3) v #9 Carter Starocci, Penn State (15-2)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (21-4) v #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force (25-1)
Wow, Michigan goes 4-1 in their quarterfinal matches, including 3 upset wins. Heavyweight Lucas Davison continues his impressive tournament run by beating previously undefeated Yonger Bastida of Iowa State.
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino LOST, 2-4
141: #8 Sergio Lemley LOST, 5-14
157: #9 Will Lewan LOST, 1-4 (sv)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock WON, 4-2
There is one more match in the afternoon session:
CONSOLATION THIRD ROUND
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (20-11) v #14 Chris Foca, Cornell (22-7)
And tonight's semifinals will look like this:
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-2) v #1 Daton Fix, Oklahoma State (20-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (12-2) v #2 Kyle Parco, Arizona State (24-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-3) v #9 Carter Starocci, Penn State (15-2)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (21-4) v #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force (25-1)
I will update the consolation matchups and the team scores once the afternoon session is over, but as I type this Michigan is in 2nd place. A very distant second, but still.
Apparently not, this is all the same round. Starting with this session though the consolation bracket has two rounds for every 1 round in the championship bracket.
Pairings for the Friday afternoon session. Michigan in 5 quarterfinals but will be the underdog in 4 of the 5 matches.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (26-2) v #4 Dylan Shawver, Rutgers (24-5)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (11-2) v #3 Jackson Arrington, NC State (20-3)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (16-7) v #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State (24-0)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (16-3) v #28 Jared Simma, Northern Iowa (17-9)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (20-4) v #2 Yonger Bastida, Iowa State (26-0)
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (12-7) v #17 Brett Ungar, Cornell (18-8)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (19-8) v #7 Cael Happel, Northern Iowa (21-8)
157: #9 Will Lewan (13-8) v #26 Johnny Lovett, Central Michigan (27-9)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (19-11) v #22 Gavin Kane, North Carolina (20-10)
Session #2 coming up this evening, the schedule is highlighted by 3 head-to-head matchups against the Cornhuskers. Overall, Michigan will be favored in 4 of their 8 winners bracket matches.
CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (25-2) v #21 Ethan Oakley, App State (27-7)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (19-7) v #9 Brock Hardy, Nebraska (20-8)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (10-2) v #22 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming (21-10)
157: #9 Will Lewan (13-7) v #8 Peyton Robb, Nebraska (22-6)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (15-7) v #7 Izzak Olejnik, Oklahoma State (25-5)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (15-3) v #13 Justin McCoy, Virginia (18-5)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (19-10) v #5 Lenn Pinto, Nebraska (23-4)
285: #10 Lucas Davidson (19-4) v #7 Taye Ghadiali, Campbell (33-3)
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (11-7) v #31 Tyler Klinsky, Rider (20-13)
157: Will Lewan defeats MSU's Chase Saldate, 4-3. That's 4 wins in the first 5 weight classes for Michigan wrestlers. (My last update until this evening; work sometimes has to come first)
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (11-6) v #15 Caleb Smith, Nebraska (21-9)
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (24-2) v #28 Michael Colaiocco, Pennsylvania (15-10)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (18-7) v #25 Cleveland Belton, Oregon State (18-7)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (9-2) v #27 Jack Crook, Harvard (15-9)
157: #9 Will Lewan (12-7) v #24 Chase Saldate, Michigan State (25-6)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (14-7) v #23 Derek Fields, NC State (15-4)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (14-3) v #29 Alex Faison, NC State (13-12)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (18-10) v #21 Brian Soldano, Rutgers (15-10)
285: #10 Lucas Davidson (18-4) v #23 Lucas Stoddard, Army (23-14)
Okay, so I'm going to say something good about the NCAA.
As much as they get wrong--and they do get so much wrong--they have gotten the basketball tournament format almost exactly right. Nearly half the field get in because they win their conference to earn their way in. The other half get in because they play well throughout the season. It's a perfect balance, the Connecticut Compromise of College Sports. Every team has a path into the tournament, and none of the best teams get left out.
True, but my understanding is that the "true meaning" of the rule is that they will only invoke it if there are 5 teams from the conference that are 1 and 4 seeds, or 5 teams that are 2 and 3 seeds.
I remember that coming up a few years ago, and somebody official announced that they will still avoid conference matchups in the first round but they won't move a team out of their, uh, seed pod to do it.
Also, if UMass is a 4-seed, then either BC or BU will have to be shipped out west and a west team will have to be shipped out east to play UMass anyway.
So taking a preliminary look at the bracket given the most likely outcomes gives you a horrible mess of a bracket that...isn't really awful for Michigan. The fact that UMass and the University of Nebraska at Omaha are both hosting gives you a lot of problems that don't have any good solutions. I did keep the 1/8, 2/7, 3/6, 4/5 matchups in the quarterfinals and I gave BC by far the easiest path, since the committee seems to prioritize these things. The 3-seed and 4-seed lines, though, are a scrambled mess because the powers that be insist on having pre-determined sites with zero atmosphere because it's "fair."
PROVIDENCE, RI
1-Boston College v 16-CCHA Champion
8-Minnesota v 12-Western Michigan
SIOUX FALLS, SD
4-North Dakota v 15-AHA Champion
5-Michigan State v 11-University of Nebraska at Omaha
SPRINGFIELD, MA
3-Denver v 13-Massachusetts
6-Maine v 10-Michigan
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO
2-Boston University v 14-Colorado College
7-Quinnipiac v 9-Wisconsin
Recent Comments
Neale also coached Ohio State in the early '70s, putting him in the running for my favorite Buckeye coach ever.
Right--in 2018/19 it was down to the last tournament of the year and the US only had to beat Fiji in the semis to win it all. Unfortunately they were blown out, but they still finished 2nd in the world for their only top-4 finish since the series started in 1999.
Go Blue! Beat the, uh, ...[spends a minute on Wikipedia]... Golden Bears!
Definitely good (10th last season, 8th so far this season), but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that they could be better. They just are not seeing the same success as the women's team (3rd last season, 4th so far this season).
As an aside, one of the players on the USA Women's Rugby Sevens team, Alena Olsen, is a University of Michigan rugby alumna.
Rugby Sevens always seemed like it should be more popular in the US...and the US should be better at it than they are. This seems like an ideal sport for running backs, tight ends and safeties who can't quite hit the NFL.
Full Rugby Union is a great sport, but Rugby Sevens is pure action-packed fun.
Michigan now tied for second in the Big Ten with Purdue and Nebraska, 1.5 games behind first-place Illinois.
Next weekend, Michigan has a bye in conference play and hosts a non-conference series against the Long Beach State Dirtbags (they take weird pride in that unofficial nickname). Games at 6:00 Friday, 2:00 Saturday, 1:00 Sunday. LBSU is about 20-15 right now, and this series will be winnable.
Well, 3:30 is a dumping ground.
TV networks have realized that noon & 8:00 are the peak time slots. ABC & FOX obviously have an unwritten deal where FOX gets noon and ABC gets 7:30/8 pm. This is normal, and it's so weird to me how Michigan fans haven't absorbed this fact. 3:30 is when you play a BTN game against Maryland, not a game of national interest against Texas.
Yeah we have a Freshman coming in, Cameron Korpi, and another who could come in this year or wait until next year, Stephen Peck. I don't see any of them as an obvious #1 so there will be a competition.
He got about 60 percent of the playing time for Ferris this year. He seems to have been adequate, but it's hard to take results from a team with a bottom-of-the-barrel offense like Ferris and project how he will do at Michigan.
Ferris only scored 49 goals in 24 conference games this season (in a bad conference). I imagine that he will get substantially more support at Michigan--even considering the departures at forward.
The other thing I would not have expected is the Michigan pitching staff having the best ERA in the conference at the halfway point of the season (just counting conference games--don't even try to look at the overall ERA).
Michigan is now tied for second in the conference, only a half game out of first.
The top half of the conference. Teams play a 24-game schedule:
1. Illinois (7-2)
2t. Michigan (8-4)
2t. Purdue (8-4)
2t. Nebraska (6-3)
5t. Indiana (5-4)
5t. Ohio State (5-4)
7. Iowa (6-6)
Michigan hosts Ohio State this weekend in a big series, Friday at 6:00, Saturday at 2:00 and Sunday at 1:00.
Yes, and you could add Freshman Alfredo Velazquez to that list--he has played 13 games in the outfield and has also seen 4 appearances on the mound this year.
Having one hybrid player isn't unusual for a college team, but having 3 is very unusual...and I have literally never seen a starting catcher double as a top-3 relief pitcher on a team like Rogers does for Michigan. I assume this is an intentional decision by Tracy Smith to recruit the hybrid-type players. It certainly increases your roster options when one player can fill 2 different roles.
Pitching is better, but more importantly Smith is limiting the meaningful innings to only the best pitchers on the staff. Earlier in the season you have to go deeper into your bullpen to see who is pitching well in game situations and who isn't, and because you don't want to over-stress anybody's arm early in the season. Now that the conference season has started, you can keep your best arms out there longer.
During the 18 innings of yesterday's doubleheader, Michigan used only 3 pitchers. Will Rogers (who is Michigan's starting catcher when he's not pitching) pitched the 8th and 9th innings of game 1 as the closer and then pitched the 1st and 2nd innings of game 2 as the "opener" before yielding to the usual Saturday starter, Jacob Denner, in the 3rd.
The top half of the Big Ten right now:
1. Nebraska (5-0)
2. Illinois (7-2)
3. Michigan (6-3)
4. Indiana (3-2)
5. Iowa (5-4)
6t. Purdue (4-4)
6t. Michigan State (3-3)
Michigan hosts Minnesota April 12-13-14 and Ohio State April 19-20-21.
Ah--got it. For a second when I first clicked on your post, I thought the book had been written BY Gopnik, and I already had the rest of my weekend planned.
Thanks again for the recommendation though! I will definitely check it out.
Awesome, thank you very much for this--I will definitely check the book out. It sounds right up my alley (for the Damon Runyon content alone if nothing else). Two corrections--(1) Christy Mathewson, not Christy Matthews; (2) Tom Wolfe, not Thomas Wolfe, who was a completely different writer.
Part of what makes this big news is that Cornell finished #2 in the nation last year and Michigan just a point behind them at #3. An all-american transferring from the #2 team in the nation to the #3 team in the nation would a huge deal in any sport.
Yes, this response was generated by Microsoft Copilot, an AI language model. If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!
Okay, so one vote for a combined baseball/hockey facility.
Ah. Well. This is a surprisingly hard question, even though I can admit to myself that my desire not to leave Yost is almost purely sentimental right now. It's a great arena and Yost and I have been through some amazing times together.
I just don't want to say it, I guess, but maybe it might be better for the program(s) if there were a different setup for hockey. I hate that they will never again have 6000 fans at a game. I hate that they have replaced all of the fixtures with cheap aluminum bleachers. I hate how they are forcing the visiting teams to dress behind cubicle walls on the south concourse. I'm not sure I trust them to build a state-of-the-art arena, but I think they might need to do just that.
I assume it would take like 18 months to retrofit Crisler with a full ice plant so that's probably off the table.
Really, there isn't much in terms of space...
* The old outdoor track (the older football field)? You would have to call it Jesse Owens Rink at Ferry Field or something.
* The old indoor track building? Might not be enough room to squeeze it in between the railroad tracks and Fisher Stadium
* Uh...North Campus?
* Take out baseball and/or softball and move them to one of the places mentioned above? I could almost see moving baseball to North Campus near the hospital somewhere, and tearing down the old indoor track and putting a new Penn State style arena where those were. You might not even lose any parking.
#3 is not true; Adrian College sponsors the sport at the NCAA level.
I assume you meant "NCAA Division I level" instead?
Two of the last 3 times the football team won the national championship, the hockey team...
Looks like we really only have to sacrifice basketball, not hockey too.
You even skipped a national championship winner, Don Lund, and Moby Benedict made Michigan baseball the dominant team in the Big Ten in the '70s.
I have had baseball season tickets since 2018. I give everybody on this thread a free pass to complain, whether they are there every game or not.
I just had to pass on to the hockey fans on Mgoblog 2 interesting facts that I just read:
(1) The smallest post-pandemic crowd that North Dakota has played in front of, home or away, was at an NCAA regional.
(2) The smallest post-pandemic crowd that Michigan has played in front of, home or away, was at an NCAA regional.
A black-and-white call (like a safe/out call in baseball or an offside call in hockey) is easier, yes.
But there are situations where officials are asked to review a judgement call. Did the goalie have it covered before it was knocked in by the other team? Was the knee-to-knee collision intentional or unintentional? Was the check to the player's back or his side?
When you give the ref time to reflect on judgement calls, their judgement doesn't seem to get any more accurate. Like they say when you are taking a standardized test, your first guess is more likely to be right than your second.
It's perplexing, isn't it? Is it really possible that these are the best available officials? If so, what kind of officiating are we getting in the NAHL or in High School hockey?
I also suspect that replay (in all sports) has made officiating worse. Officials do a MUCH better job in "real time" of keeping their bias out of their calls--a bang-bang play on the ice and you don't even notice who is wearing which color jersey. But on replay, it's going to be hard to keep your subconscious and conscious biases out of your calls because you know exactly who will benefit and who will be hurt when you call that phantom goal.
Michigan baseball hosts Ohio State on April 20 at 2:00 pm--at least that's when it's scheduled now. It would be nice if they could move the baseball game a little later, so they can pack Ray Fisher Stadium too.
Hash bash was established in the early '70s. I think April 1 was adopted back in the '70s because of its ties to hippie "merry prankster" type culture, but I guess I could be wrong.
The "420" code did not become a widespread thing until the late '80s.
Well right now the women's tournament actually does things the right way--all rounds prior to the women's frozen four are at home ice of the higher seed. I would hate to mess up the women's tournament for no reason at all.
Here is what we COULD be doing instead:
Michigan at #6 North Dakota, 6:30 CT Friday
Massachusetts at #3 Denver, 8:00 MT Friday
RIT at #1 Boston College, 4:00 ET Saturday
Western Michigan at #4 Michigan State, 6:30 ET Saturday
Michigan Tech at #8 Wisconsin, 8:00 CT Saturday
Quinnipiac at #5 Maine, 3:00 ET Sunday
Omaha at #7 Minnesota, 4:30 CT Sunday
Cornell at #2 Boston University, 8:00 ET Sunday
And then the quarterfinals would be next weekend, with the Frozen Four as currently scheduled.
..they would still get the fourth #1 seed, unfortunately.
According to CHN, at least, and I guess I will trust them here. Michigan State will be the fourth overall seed, whether they ignominiously win or ignominiously lose.
Great conclusion to session 5 this afternoon, as Shane Griffith defeats 1-seed Mekhi Lewis, who had been undefeated going into the tournament. Also Dylan Ragusin picks up a major decision giving Michigan a much-needed bonus point.
THIRD PLACE MATCH
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 4-0
FIFTH PLACE MATCH
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin WON, 17-6 (maj dec)
1. Penn State (152.5)
2. Michigan (71)
3. Cornell (68.5)
4. Iowa (67)
5. Iowa State (64.5)
Two finals for Michigan tonight; one win will wrap up second place. If Michigan goes 0-for-2, they might need a little help to stay in 2nd.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
285: #10 Lucas Davison (22-4) v #1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State (19-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (13-2) v #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech (29-2)
Remember the first match of the evening will be 285 at about 7:00 pm, and 149 will be the fifth match at about 8:10 pm--both on ESPN.
Shane Griffith continues his impressive tournament by winning his consolation semifinal; he will wrestle the 1-seed, Mekhi Lewis of Va Tech, for third place later this afternoon.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin LOST, 0-5
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 5-2
FIFTH PLACE MATCH
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-4) v #8 Evan Frost, Iowa State (22-6)
THIRD PLACE MATCH
174: #4 Shane Griffith (18-4) v #1 Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech (20-1)
The team standings are getting close; Michigan likely still needs some wins to hold on to second.
1. Penn State (152.5)
2. Michigan (68)
3. Cornell (67.5)
4. Iowa (67)
5t. Arizona State (59.5)
5t. Iowa State (59.5)
Afternoon matches for Michigan:
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS (3rd-6th place)
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-3) v #7 Nasir Bailey, Little Rock (27-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-4) v #2 Cade DeVos, South Dakota State (27-2)
The winners will then wrestle for 3rd place and the losers for 5th place. Michigan might need at least one win here to hold on to second place in the team standings.
Finals will be this evening. Will start at 285 and then cycle from 125 on up.
CHAMPIONSHIP (1st-2nd place)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (22-4) v #1 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State (19-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (13-2) v #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech (29-2)
Fairly bad set of results for Michigan on Friday night. With North Dakota dropping down to a 2-seed, they are starting to look like Michigan's most likely opponent in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Michigan State has clinched a 1-seed and Michigan a 3-seed.
Final Michigan result of the afternoon:
CONSOLATION THIRD ROUND
184: #12 Jaden Bullock LOST, 3-11
Your standings heading in to the evening session:
1. Penn State (86.5)
2. Michigan (50.5)
3. Arizona State (44.5)
4. Iowa State (42)
5. Iowa (41.5)
Michigan's pairings in the evening session:
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-2) v #1 Daton Fix, Oklahoma State (20-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (12-2) v #2 Kyle Parco, Arizona State (24-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-3) v #9 Carter Starocci, Penn State (15-2)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (21-4) v #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force (25-1)
CONSOLATION FOURTH ROUND ("BLOODROUND")
165: #10 Cameron Amine (16-8) v #20 Hunter Garvin, Stanford (23-10)
Wow, Michigan goes 4-1 in their quarterfinal matches, including 3 upset wins. Heavyweight Lucas Davison continues his impressive tournament run by beating previously undefeated Yonger Bastida of Iowa State.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin WON, 9-3
149: #6 Austin Gomez WON, 12-9
165: #10 Cameron Amine LOST, 1-6
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 8-7
285: #10 Lucas Davison WON, 6-4
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino LOST, 2-4
141: #8 Sergio Lemley LOST, 5-14
157: #9 Will Lewan LOST, 1-4 (sv)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock WON, 4-2
There is one more match in the afternoon session:
CONSOLATION THIRD ROUND
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (20-11) v #14 Chris Foca, Cornell (22-7)
And tonight's semifinals will look like this:
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (27-2) v #1 Daton Fix, Oklahoma State (20-0)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (12-2) v #2 Kyle Parco, Arizona State (24-3)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (17-3) v #9 Carter Starocci, Penn State (15-2)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (21-4) v #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force (25-1)
I will update the consolation matchups and the team scores once the afternoon session is over, but as I type this Michigan is in 2nd place. A very distant second, but still.
Apparently not, this is all the same round. Starting with this session though the consolation bracket has two rounds for every 1 round in the championship bracket.
Pairings for the Friday afternoon session. Michigan in 5 quarterfinals but will be the underdog in 4 of the 5 matches.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (26-2) v #4 Dylan Shawver, Rutgers (24-5)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (11-2) v #3 Jackson Arrington, NC State (20-3)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (16-7) v #2 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State (24-0)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (16-3) v #28 Jared Simma, Northern Iowa (17-9)
285: #10 Lucas Davison (20-4) v #2 Yonger Bastida, Iowa State (26-0)
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (12-7) v #17 Brett Ungar, Cornell (18-8)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (19-8) v #7 Cael Happel, Northern Iowa (21-8)
157: #9 Will Lewan (13-8) v #26 Johnny Lovett, Central Michigan (27-9)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (19-11) v #22 Gavin Kane, North Carolina (20-10)
Final results from session 2:
CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin WON, 11-5
141: #8 Sergio Lemley LOST, 4-10
149: #6 Austin Gomez WON, (fall 4:57)
157: #9 Will Lewan LOST, 6-11
165: #10 Cameron Amine WON, 4-1 (sv)
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 5-1
184: #12 Jaden Bullock LOST, 2-4
285: #10 Lucas Davison WON, 8-0 (maj dec)
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino WON, 9-3
Team standings:
1. Penn State (34.5)
2t. Iowa State (24.5)
2t. Iowa (24.5)
4t. Michigan (22)
4t. NC State (22)
Very impressive showing so far by Lucas Davison at 285; he's responsible for 5 of Michigan's 22 points with a fall and a major decision win..
Session #2 coming up this evening, the schedule is highlighted by 3 head-to-head matchups against the Cornhuskers. Overall, Michigan will be favored in 4 of their 8 winners bracket matches.
CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (25-2) v #21 Ethan Oakley, App State (27-7)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (19-7) v #9 Brock Hardy, Nebraska (20-8)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (10-2) v #22 Gabe Willochell, Wyoming (21-10)
157: #9 Will Lewan (13-7) v #8 Peyton Robb, Nebraska (22-6)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (15-7) v #7 Izzak Olejnik, Oklahoma State (25-5)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (15-3) v #13 Justin McCoy, Virginia (18-5)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (19-10) v #5 Lenn Pinto, Nebraska (23-4)
285: #10 Lucas Davidson (19-4) v #7 Taye Ghadiali, Campbell (33-3)
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (11-7) v #31 Tyler Klinsky, Rider (20-13)
…
Afternoon session results:
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino LOST, 4-1 (sv)
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin WON, 9-7
141: #8 Sergio Lemley WON, 10-8
149: #6 Austin Gomez WON, 18-12
157: #9 Will Lewan WON, 4-3
165: #10 Cameron Amine WON, 4-1
174: #4 Shane Griffith WON, 17-2 (tech fall 7:00)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock WON, (injury forfeit 6:43)
285: #10 Lucas Davidson WON, (fall 4:37)
That's 8 advancement points plus 5.5 bonus points, good for third place right now (not that the standings mean much at this point):
1. Penn State (15.5)
2. Nebraska (14)
3. Michigan (13.5)
4. Iowa State (13)
5. Ohio State (12.5)
157: Will Lewan defeats MSU's Chase Saldate, 4-3. That's 4 wins in the first 5 weight classes for Michigan wrestlers. (My last update until this evening; work sometimes has to come first)
Gomez wins a crazy one at 149, 17-12. Five takedowns for Gomez, including 3 in the first period.
Michigan's first round matchups:
125: #18 Michael DeAugustino (11-6) v #15 Caleb Smith, Nebraska (21-9)
133: #5 Dylan Ragusin (24-2) v #28 Michael Colaiocco, Pennsylvania (15-10)
141: #8 Sergio Lemley (18-7) v #25 Cleveland Belton, Oregon State (18-7)
149: #6 Austin Gomez (9-2) v #27 Jack Crook, Harvard (15-9)
157: #9 Will Lewan (12-7) v #24 Chase Saldate, Michigan State (25-6)
165: #10 Cameron Amine (14-7) v #23 Derek Fields, NC State (15-4)
174: #4 Shane Griffith (14-3) v #29 Alex Faison, NC State (13-12)
184: #12 Jaden Bullock (18-10) v #21 Brian Soldano, Rutgers (15-10)
285: #10 Lucas Davidson (18-4) v #23 Lucas Stoddard, Army (23-14)
Okay, so I'm going to say something good about the NCAA.
As much as they get wrong--and they do get so much wrong--they have gotten the basketball tournament format almost exactly right. Nearly half the field get in because they win their conference to earn their way in. The other half get in because they play well throughout the season. It's a perfect balance, the Connecticut Compromise of College Sports. Every team has a path into the tournament, and none of the best teams get left out.
I would hate to see this change.
True, but my understanding is that the "true meaning" of the rule is that they will only invoke it if there are 5 teams from the conference that are 1 and 4 seeds, or 5 teams that are 2 and 3 seeds.
I remember that coming up a few years ago, and somebody official announced that they will still avoid conference matchups in the first round but they won't move a team out of their, uh, seed pod to do it.
Also, if UMass is a 4-seed, then either BC or BU will have to be shipped out west and a west team will have to be shipped out east to play UMass anyway.
That was the one low point of his coaching tenure--his record over the last two years?
I'm not entirely certain that I agree with that.
So taking a preliminary look at the bracket given the most likely outcomes gives you a horrible mess of a bracket that...isn't really awful for Michigan. The fact that UMass and the University of Nebraska at Omaha are both hosting gives you a lot of problems that don't have any good solutions. I did keep the 1/8, 2/7, 3/6, 4/5 matchups in the quarterfinals and I gave BC by far the easiest path, since the committee seems to prioritize these things. The 3-seed and 4-seed lines, though, are a scrambled mess because the powers that be insist on having pre-determined sites with zero atmosphere because it's "fair."
PROVIDENCE, RI
1-Boston College v 16-CCHA Champion
8-Minnesota v 12-Western Michigan
SIOUX FALLS, SD
4-North Dakota v 15-AHA Champion
5-Michigan State v 11-University of Nebraska at Omaha
SPRINGFIELD, MA
3-Denver v 13-Massachusetts
6-Maine v 10-Michigan
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO
2-Boston University v 14-Colorado College
7-Quinnipiac v 9-Wisconsin