Michigan Tells Amaker to Hit the Bricks

I don't even know what to say. I'm so happy!

Today is one of those days you don't expect to come and then when it finally does you just don't have the right words to express your happiness. Michigan (finally) has ended the Tommy Amaker era that was marked with the word "mediocrity."

Apparently the final nail in the coffin for Amaker was the drubbing Michigan suffered at the hands of Florida State in the NIT. It was a typical Amaker lead Michigan performance where the Wolverines looked horrible on the road against a good opponent. It almost looked like they decided to quit in the second half and were just resigned to their fate. Michigan had a lead in the first half but after the 'Noles came back and took the lead going into halftime, they just decided to stop trying. If that's not an indictment of your head coach, I don't know what is.

What Amaker will be remembered for is taking over a Michigan team that was destroyed by NCAA sanctions (thanks Chris Webber) and turned it into a clean program that was on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament but was never good enough to get over the hump. Amaker's teams were always terrible on the road and also had a habit of playing well at the start of the season and then fading down the stretch (The last two years they've started 16-4 and failed to make the NCAA tournament after a late season swoon)

I also can't name a player who has come to Michigan the past six years who has gotten much better as a player under Amaker's guidance. Most guys come in as a freshman with the normal array of pluses and minues and leave with essentially the same skills they came in with. Nobody seems to get better at all. At times, actually, some look worse then when they were underclassman (Courtney Sims) Just shows that Amaker was not the one to lead Michigan back to being a program that actually matters on the national landscape.

Where do the Wolverines go from here? That's a topic or another day. Today we should just celebrate the fact that the athletic department has finally taken their heads out of the sand and decided that the basketball program should strive for better things, instead of settling for the mediocrity that the Amaker era represented. Goodbye Tommy! Don't let the door hit on you the ass on the way out!

Michigan Played Last Night? Really?

Nice to see Michigan fans are excited for the NIT

Apparently Michigan played last night in the NIT. Don't know if you could feel the excitement, but most Wolverine fans last night didn't come dressed in bags like the happy fellow above, they came dressed as empty seats. In front of the smallest crowd in 23 years, wait, let me say that again. In front of the smallest crowd in 23 YEARS, Michigan put on a heroic effort and beat Utah State to advance to the second round on the NIT. Let me be the first to say...

Um, great?

Apparently I'm not in the minority here when I say I could really care less about this year's NIT run. Are you kidding me with this crowd? The smallest in 23 years? You do realize that Michigan went 10-18 in 2001 and they still drew better then this. It actually makes me happy that the fans are pist off enough about not making the NCAA's that they aren't showing up for the NIT. Perhaps the sight of all those empty seats will make some of the power brokers see that a change is necessary.

Personally I can't say I watched much of this game. I flipped over as Michigan was blowing the lead (they were only up one in the later stages of the game) and figured they were going to blow it and the season would be over. Flipped back to see they actually played well down the stretch to get the victory. Hooray! Now it's on to Florida State Thursday....on ESPNU. If that doesn't tell you how "great" the NIT is I don't know what does. FEEL THE EXCITEMENT!

This Is Getting Old

What if this was Lloyd Carr?

I can't say I'm surprised. Yesterday, for the ninth straight year, Michigan was left out of the NCAA Tournament. They are headed to the NIT for the third time in four years and host Utah State tomorrow night. Excuse me if I don't think that's good enough anymore. This was a senior rich team that was supposed to be ready to take the next step. This was THE year. The Big Ten was weak, the Wolverines had experience, this was it, but it ended the same way.

For the second year in a row, Michigan got off to a great start and faded when it counted the most. This team has had every chance to succeed and return to the NCAA Tournament, but instead they've let every opportunity slip through their fingers. Take a look at the Ohio State game. They had the number one team in the country down, at home, and they couldn't hold on when they needed that win WAY more than the Buckeyes did. When the chips are down and your backs are against the wall that's when you're supposed to step up and close teams out, Michigan could never do that. This has to fall on the coach.

I got up this morning and asked myself why there's even a discussion of Amaker getting another year. What has he done to deserve this except perpetuate a state of mediocrity. What the athletic department has to ask themselves is a very simple question. What if this was the football team?

Do you honestly think that if this were the football team we'd even be having a discussion about whether or not Lloyd Carr would be coming back? Lloyd takes heat for last season and the team went 11-2, with both losses coming basically on the road (the Rose Bowl is pretty much a home game for USC) against two top ten teams. I suppose the football equivalent of Amaker's run at Michigan would be six straight four or five loss seasons. If you even think Lloyd would last HALF that run you're crazy. He probably would have been fired after the third or fourth season.

Now I realize Amaker had to rebuild a program coming out of NCAA sanctions, but those sanctions ended a couple seasons ago so they shouldn't be used as a crutch anymore. He's brought in the same amount of players as everyone else and has failed time and again to get this team back to the tournament. It's frustrating to see schools like Ohio State get hit with NCAA sanctions (though decidedly not as bad as Michigan) rise up from them to prominence very quickly while Michigan continues to just be on the cusp. I'm just sick of it.

Amaker has had his chance. It's time for Michigan to go in a different direction. We need to treat this team like we would the football team. We should care just as much. If not we're always going to be a second tier basketball school in the Big Ten. Doomed to mediocrity, and from this Michigan fan's perspective that's just not good enough.