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Sunday, January 31, 2016

BASKETBALL CAKEWALK OVER FOR MICHIGAN

The soft schedule that John Beilein has enjoyed the past two weeks came to an end with Michigan beating Penn State yesterday, 79-72. That completes their four-game win-streak that was predicted by us in this article. Keep this in mind when Beilein's team pops up with votes in the Associated Press rankings on Monday. Four consecutive wins was the most likely outcome based on the weak opposition. But now the sledding gets a bit tougher for the Wolverines.

UM will host Indiana and Michigan State this week, with both opponents ranked in the Top 25. Michigan hasn't faced a team ranked in the Top 100 since losing to Iowa on January 17. Penn State and Nebraska rank between #100 and #200, while Minnesota and Rutgers are listed below #200 in the country. Here's the UM margin of victory against the four teams they played during the last two weeks:


To sum it up:
Michigan just beat four teams ranked an average of
#174 by an average of 9 points per game.

The Wolverines are one game ahead of our prediction for their regular season finish, which we said would be Bubble-status, with a 10-8 record. They broke our pattern by beating Maryland, but they still need four wins in these nine remaining games to stay inside the Bubble heading into the conference tournament:

  • #19 INDIANA
  • #12 MICHIGAN STATE
  • @ MINNESOTA
  • #21 PURDUE
  • @ OHIO STATE
  • @ #8 MARYLAND
  • NORTHWESTERN
  • @ WISCONSIN
  • #3 IOWA
We won't be making predictions on every game, but a macro-view suggests that Michigan will be skating on thin ice against all five ranked teams, making the other four "must-win games". But three of those four games are on the road, leaving only one "gimme" on the list (Northwestern).

To sum it up:
UM may be favored in only one of its last nine games.
The other eight are either on the road, or
against a team ranked in the AP Top 25.



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 ****** The purpose of this web site is to expose the mainstream media bias that consistently portrays Michigan in a favorable light under any and all circumstances. We present current facts and review historical records to show that UM is not all they are cracked up to be. This process involves information that is negative by nature, offered as a counter-balance to the biased picture we all see on a regular basis in the mainstream media. These negative facts may involve Wolverine teams, players, coaches, administrators, and/or fans. We are here to prove that Michigan is NOT AS DIFFERENT as they want us all to believe.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

RIVALRY MATCH-UP ONE WEEK AWAY, AS SPARTANS & WOLVERINES BOTH WIN GAMES

Michigan State will play Michigan at Crisler Arena one week from today, in the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this season. MSU has the better overall record, while UM is ahead in the conference standings. Both teams won games this week.

The Spartans took down Northwestern, hitting 16 three-point shots to win on the road, 76-45. The Wildcats fall to 15-7 with the loss.

The Wolverines beat Rutgers 68-57 in Ann Arbor. The Scarlet Knights are 6-15 overall, winless in the conference, having recently been outscored by more than 150 points in a five-game stretch.

Both squads have games remaining before the rivalry showdown, and we will compare the teams based on the current season as the game draws near. But for now, a quick "macro-look" at the historical record of this series.

Here is a snapshot comparison of the two programs, taken from Wikipedia:

Taken from this wikipedia web site.

The data chart above shows that Michigan State is the better program overall, though Michigan has had it's fair share of outstanding players. The official game record shows UM leading MSU in the all-time series, 97-79, an 18-game lead for the Wolverines.

But like ALL of the "all-time series" records, this one counts more than 50 games played before 1950, when the East Lansing school was not called Michigan State UNIVERSITY, and prior to the Spartans entrance into the Big Ten. Michigan held a 39-17 lead in 1950, meaning that Michigan State has won more games in the last 65 years of the series.

Since 1950, MSU leads UM, 62-58.
Since 2000, MSU leads UM, 20-9.

So the Spartans lead the Wolverines in basketball since the invention of rocket-ships. Prior to rocket-ships (and "MSU"), UM had the lead.

A quick examination of the win/loss trend-line shows that Michigan State basically took over this series under the direction of Tom Izzo. Hence, the slogan: "In Izzo We Trust."

None of these factors will determine the outcome of the game next week. But that game will be rolled-into the overall series record between the two teams, and one game either way will not have a huge effect on the big picture of the rivalry. As usual, both teams need a win to advance towards their goals, so it's unlikely that ancient history will be high on the minds of players and coaches during the 40 minutes of action.




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 ****** The purpose of this web site is to expose the mainstream media bias that consistently portrays Michigan in a favorable light under any and all circumstances. We present current facts and review historical records to show that UM is not all they are cracked up to be. This process involves information that is negative by nature, offered as a counter-balance to the biased picture we all see on a regular basis in the mainstream media. These negative facts may involve Wolverine teams, players, coaches, administrators, and/or fans. We are here to prove that Michigan is NOT AS DIFFERENT as they want us all to believe.
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Friday, January 29, 2016

SPARTAN WOMEN ROLL PURDUE, WOLVERINES FALL TO IOWA, RIVALRY GAME NEXT WEEK

The Michigan State Women's Basketball team beat Purdue 68-56 on Wednesday, improving to 15-4 on the season, and taking sole possession of third-place in the B1G. Purdue falls into fourth-place with the loss. The Spartans held a 26-point lead over the Boilermakers with four minutes to play before Coach Suzy Merchant pulled her starters and cleared the bench. MSU will travel to Wisconsin this weekend for a game against the 12th-place Badgers.

Michigan lost to Iowa on Thursday, 85-69, dropping to 3-6 in the league, 11-9 overall. The Wolverine women fall to 9th-place with the loss, while the Hawkeyes move into 8th-place. UM will host 4th-place Minnesota on Sunday.

The annual Rivalry Game between the Spartans and the Wolverines is five days away, rescheduled for Wednesday, February 3rd, after the MSU-Maryland game was rescheduled for Friday, February 5th. That game was originally scheduled for last weekend, but the major east-coast blizzard led to a pair of postponements.

Michigan has made post-season runs in the WNIT three times in the last five seasons, but their post-season plans are getting shaky as their season record hovers near .500, with five road games remaining, including two against ranked teams. Michigan State is ranked #18 in the country, and appears to be headed for the NCAA Tournament for what would be the seventh appearance in the last eight seasons. The Spartans would probably qualify for the Big Dance with five wins in their last ten games, but MSU is looking at the league title, as they are only a game-and-a-half out of First Place.





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 ****** The purpose of this web site is to expose the mainstream media bias that consistently portrays Michigan in a favorable light under any and all circumstances. We present current facts and review historical records to show that UM is not all they are cracked up to be. This process involves information that is negative by nature, offered as a counter-balance to the biased picture we all see on a regular basis in the mainstream media. These negative facts may involve Wolverine teams, players, coaches, administrators, and/or fans. We are here to prove that Michigan is NOT AS DIFFERENT as they want us all to believe.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

THE 2015 MEN'S BASKETBALL RIVALRY GAME AGAINST MICHIGAN IS COMING UP SOON

There is only one game scheduled between Michigan State and Michigan in men's basketball this season, and it's just over a week away. The game will be played in Crisler Arena on Saturday February 6. It's a big game for both teams, as MSU is trying to win the B1G and grab a #1-seed in the Big Dance, while UM is trying to make the post-season after missing it altogether last year.

Still a few games for the teams to play before they meet, but let's get started early with the pre-game hype! Here are a few articles to get the rivalry blood flowing:


Hint: The Spartans lead, 16-9, outscoring UM by 176 points.

Have the Wolverines really been "that good"? How often?

Remember the "six-of-the-last-nine" crowd? We take it several steps farther!

They did this last year, too. Way to pad the record, Beilein!





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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RIVALRY SHOWDOWN GAME COMING UP NEXT WEEK

Just one week remains before Michigan State takes on Michigan in Women's Basketball. It's the only scheduled meeting of the year, to be played at the Breslin Center. Two days later, the men's teams will play at Crisler, also a one-game series for 2016.

The Spartan Women have historically dominated the Wolverines, winning more than 78% of the games played (66-18). UM won two games last season while Coach Suzy Merchant was suiting up only five scholarship players after multiple injuries to starters along with a prominent freshmen mid-season transfer. But MSU won a third game between the two teams, knocking Michigan out of the B1G Conference Tournament and into the WNIT.

Here's our look back at the last meeting between these two teams:

- - - MSU vs UM in the conference tournament - - -

- - - MSU vs UM in the conference tournament - - -

We've been surprised that Michigan Men's Basketball Coach John Beilein gets much more attention, acclaim, and publicity than Michigan State Women's Basketball Coach Suzy Merchant. We think Merchant is a demonstrably better coach, while Beilein had one mini-run that is inconsistent with his overall record. So we matched-up the two coaches on paper and compared them in these articles:



We updated the recent Women's Basketball rivalry stats last month in this article, summing up the last ten games between the teams and the last five seasons of the programs:

Watch this web site for updates and previews on the upcoming basketball rivalry games between the Spartans and the Wolverines.








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 ****** Click on NO COMMENTS (or # comments) below to enter and view reader comments.   ----- Remember to check Spartan Headline links, updated real time, in the left column of SpartanResource.com (Web version only). *****Note: If you are receiving this post via automated email, you need to go to the site to view headline links and embedded videos in this post: http://spartanresource.com/ (Web version only). SIGN UP TO RECEIVE POSTS VIA EMAIL, TWITTER OR FACEBOOK IN THE RIGHT COLUMN.*****