MICHIGAN STATE vs MICHIGAN RIVALRY NUMBERS: WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The sports media tends to overlook any situation where Michigan State looks better than Michigan. They can't avoid coverage of successful football and men's basketball teams, as everybody is already looking in that direction.

A key oversight by the collective sports media is its treatment of Women's College Basketball. This is the #3/#4 so-called "revenue sport" in the B1G, just behind or ahead of Hockey. But it barely gets coverage, with game reports coming out slowly, and little to no pre-game analysis. Few people can even name any Spartan women's players. (Aerial Powers made her game impossible to set aside, and her name was very memorable. Can you name another?)

MSU has been hammering UM in Women's College Basketball since the sport was "invented". In approximately 40 seasons, the Spartans have lost only 18 times to the Wolverines. During a ten-year stretch this century (2003 to 2013), Michigan State went 21-1 against Michigan. Do you remember hearing about this streak of dominance from the mainstream sports media? If anything like this happened in hockey, would you have heard about it by now?

The Spartans lead the all-time series 65-18.

The longest UM win-streak over MSU was four games.

The longest MSU win-streak over UM was 12 games.

Sounds like a little more coverage would be appropriate, eh? So let's do it. We'll review the last 25 games between the two teams, and summarize the program results over the last ten seasons.

THE LAST 25 GAMES BETWEEN MSU AND UM

• (2-3-16):  MSU by 21 points
• (3-5-15):  MSU by 20 points
• (2-5-15):  UM by 13 points
• (1-4-15):  UM by 9 points
• (3-7-14):  MSU by 3 points
• (1-12-14) MSU by 7 points
• (3-08-13) MSU by 16 points
• (2-16-13) UM by 1 point
• (2-04-13) MSU by 15 points
• (2-05-12) MSU by 2 points
• (1-04-12) MSU by 5 points
• (2-13-11) MSU by 13 points
• (1-09-11) MSU by 7 points
• (3-05-10) MSU by 11 points
• (2-11-10) MSU by 5 points
• (12-31-09) MSU by 15 points
• (2-19-09) MSU by 25 points
• (1-15-09) MSU by 4 points
• (3-30-08) MSU by 5 points (OT)
• (1-31-08) MSU by 3 points
• (1-13-08) UM by 9 points
• (1-18-07) MSU by 18 points
• (2-23-06) MSU by 26 points
• (1-01-06) MSU by 33 points
• (2-23-05) MSU by 43 points

21-4 MSU (by 265 points)

MSU average winning margin of 14 points
UM  average winning margin of 8 points

LAST FIVE SEASONS - PROGRAM SUMMARIES

MICHIGAN STATE - 2007 to 2016

• 2007:  24-9, Third place, NCAA second round
• 2008:  23-14, Fifth place, WNIT
• 2009:  22-11, Second place, NCAA Sweet Sixteen
• 2010:  23-10, Second place, NCAA second round
• 2011:  27-6, First place, NCAA second round
• 2012:  20-12, Second place, NCAA first round
• 2013:  25-9, Third place, NCAA second round
• 2014:  23-10, First Place, NCAA second round
• 2015:  16-15, Ninth place, no tournament
• 2016:  25-9, Third place, NCAA second round

MSU TEN YEAR TOTAL = 228-105 (.685)

Eight NCAA Tournaments (eight wins)

Two B1G Conference Championships

MICHIGAN - 2007 to 2016

• 2007:  10-20, Tenth place, no tournament
• 2008:  19-14, Seventh place, WNIT
• 2009:  10-20, Tenth place, no tournament
• 2010:  21-14, Sixth place, WNIT
• 2011:  17-13, Third place, WNIT
• 2012:  20-12, Seventh place, NCAA first round
• 2013:  22-11, Fifth place, NCAA second round
• 2014:  20-14, Sixth place, WNIT
• 2015:  20-15, Eighth place, WNIT
• 2016:  21-14, Seventh place, WNIT

UM TEN YEAR TOTAL = 180-147 (.551)

Two NCAA Tournaments (one win)

(Only two B1G finishes better than fifth-place)

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Tweet ****** The primary 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 sometimes 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.

MICHIGAN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH CAMPAIGNS FOR "THE RIGHT TO BARE ARMS"

Seems like every coach at the University of Michigan has to have their "signature look". Brady Hoke showed up on game days looking like an overgrown blueberry with a yellow "M" on his belly. Now Jim Harbaugh has his cutting-edge fashion statement of wearing khaki-pants every minute of every day.

Blueberry Fields Forever

What do you expect me to look like?

But there is another UM coach who likes to wear her emotions on her sleeves, or rather, on her bare skin. On game days. INDOORS.

It's Women's Basketball Coach Kim Barnes-Arico, "Queen of the Naked Shoulders". While most female basketball coaches present a range of fashionable haberdashery while prowling the sidelines, this Wolverine Woman sticks almost exclusively to the "look at my arms" appearance.

No big deal, I suppose, but also unprecedented in women's sports. What's next, "short-shorts"? Or maybe a tube-top? Perhaps a mini-skirt with patent-leather shoes?

For amusement purposes only, take a look at the various pictures below to see what we're talking about.

She believes in a woman's right to BARE ARMS

"Check out my GUNS!"

Hey, sleeve me alone.

I am shouldering such a burden here.

Cheer with me for my BICEPS!

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Tweet ****** 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.

MICHIGAN WOMEN HIT THE ROAD AND THE ROAD HITS BACK

The basketball season ended for the Kim Barnes-Arico as soon as she loaded her Michigan women's team on the bus. Once the Wolverines left Ann Arbor, their time in the National Invitational Tournament (N.I.T.) quickly ended.

You might remember the UM Women for their glorious appearance in the Breslin Center in February, when they trailed Michigan State by 27 points after three quarters of play. They went on to finish in eighth-place in the B1G, missing out on the Big Dance for the third consecutive year. All this after their "record start" of 7-0, compiled largely with home games against teams most people would not recognize.

But hey, they got their 20 wins, right? Thanks to their extra N.I.T. contests, Barnes-Arico hit the 20-win mark for the third year in a row. Without those easy games, the Lady Wolverines would have landed above 15 wins but below 20 in all but the first season under "Bare-Armed" Barnes-Arico.

Nothing against Michigan for racking up the victory totals, but get ready for the pre-season hype this fall when basketball season rolls around again. Those N.I.T. runs did nothing for program prestige and little for recruiting, but they gave the Michigan Mainstream Media Machine (M-4) everything they will need to get cranked-up for next year. The media will overlook HOW the UM Women got their 20 wins only to report that they have a series of 20-win seasons playing in the green shadows of MSU. Count on the M-4 to claim that it's a better recent streak than Suzy Merchant has put together, and to ignore the fact that Merchant actually turned-down an N.I.T. bid after the injury-plagued 2015 campaign.

Barnes-Arico has Miss Basketball coming in next season, along with a high-scoring junior, plus the 20-win seasons, bla-bla-bla, etc. The M-4 will do everything it can to pump up the excitement while Barnes-Arico takes a page from the John Beilein playbook and schedules a series of Bottom-100 teams to parade through Crisler Arena in November and December. It's possible they might help drive as many as three-thousand people to actually attend a Michigan Women's Basketball game on one of those nights. Especially if they give away free tickets.

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Tweet ****** 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.

UM WOMEN KEEP PADDING SEASON WIN TOTAL

March Madness is over for major college basketball teams from Michigan. The Spartans were knocked out in the Friday Upset Special, and the Wolverines fizzled out at the end against their "rival" (?) Notre Dame later that same day. Even the Spartan Women got home-cooked in Mississippi on Sunday afternoon, playing on the road instead of at Breslin due to a scheduling snafu.

But wait, there's still one team chugging along! It's the Michigan Women's Basketball team, marching through the cannon-fodder of the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Wolverines have added three wins to their season total, and they are feeling good about it. If they can just beat the San Diego Toreros tomorrow night on their home court, they will have once again reached the promised land of 20+ wins.

The UM women "ended" their season this year with a 17-13 record, compiled against the likes of, well, the B1G Conference schedule and the patsies they knocked around in December. Against Michigan State? The Spartans held a 27-point lead over the Wolverines after three quarters, so you get the idea.

Rolling up easy victories after missing the Big Dance is nothing new for UM Coach Kim Barnes-Arico. She did the same thing last year, finishing the regular season and the conference tournament with a record of 16-14, only to tack-on four more wins in the WNIT. That's why they had a "20-win season".

They started this pattern two years ago, finishing 2014 at 18-13, only to get a couple more freebies in the WNIT to reach the 20-win mark.

So Barnes-Arico basically took her predecessors players and made the NCAA field in her first season, followed by three years of finishing with 16-18 wins and padding their season record in the WNIT. Just putting things in perspective:

If the Michigan Women win the WNIT, the sports media

will run around them with stars in their eyes.

But they have finished in 7th-8th-9th-place in the

conference during each of the past three seasons.

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Tweet ****** 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.