The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/262939
"One of the good things in bas- ketball is that sometimes you play two or three games in a week, and one of the bad things in basketball is that sometimes you play two or three games in a week," Beilein said. "You can get over a loss, or you get your momentum going. But for repair or rest, there isn't a lot of time." Especially when you're playing three road games in 10 games like the Wolverines did to start February. Beilein has addressed the scheduling procedures with the Big Ten office and will continue to push for more consistency. Regardless, he said, win- ning the games in front of them is the only way to proceed this year. So far, so good for the Wolverines. "There's a championship trophy waiting for whoever can be best in this league," Beilein said. "If you're going to do that, you're going to have to beat some really good teams." RIVALRY RENEWED Both Michigan and MSU have ac- complished just that, with U-M hold- ing the edge in the one head-to-head meeting, an 80-75 win in East Lansing. "You wanted a rivalry, and you wanted two good teams. I guess we got what we've been asking for," Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said after his team's loss. In truth, we got it three years ago when the Wolverines swept the Spar- tans on their way to winning five of the next seven heading into the Feb. 23 showdown. That's the next chapter in what's become the Duke- North Carolina type rivalry many envisioned after the Spartans rose to prominence while U-M faltered in the late 1990s. Many predicted the two programs could be near the top of the Big Ten standings this year, but few would have thought it had they known about the injuries the teams would suffer. "When Michigan lost McGary, I was anxious to see how Jordan Mor- gan and Jon Horford were going to play," Dakich said of U-M's veteran big men. "Now they were going to play and not have to look over their shoulder — I thought this could still be a really good team. They're just so well coached and organized, have talent, they pass and they don't have any issues. Any time you have that, you have a real chance." He didn't know if they'd be "win the Big Ten good," though, until he called more games and saw the other teams in action. "The more I saw the Big Ten, the more I thought, 'You know what? Some of these teams, I'm not sure they're as good as advertised,'" he said. "Ohio State, for example, was in the top five, but they really hadn't played anybody. They looked great against Marquette, for example, but Marquette turned out to not be any great shakes. "Here's what happens with me, and with anyone who has coached a team — the more you watch a team, the better they get or the worse they get, period. I'll say, 'This team is a thousand times better than I thought,' or 'They looked good the first two times I watched them, but I don't think they're that good.' The