Connect with us

Michigan

Unlike last season, Michigan expects true home-court advantage vs. Spartans

Published

on

Unlike last season, Michigan expects true home-court advantage vs. Spartans


ANN ARBOR — Oh, Nimari Burnett remembers. He probably wishes he didn’t, but he does. He shook his head on Wednesday when the topic was broached.

Last season, a Michigan men’s basketball home game didn’t always feel like it. Michigan went just 8-24, losing 14 of its final 15 games, and many fans lost interest along the way.

This time last year, the Wolverines hosted Michigan State, just as they will on Friday (8:05 p.m. ET, FOX). Spartan fans made their presence felt at Crisler Center that Saturday night. “Is it Michigan or Michigan State?” FOX analyst Jim Jackson said of the crowd during the broadcast. “You just don’t know right now.”

The atmosphere was worse for the Wolverines the following weekend, when Purdue fans took over Crisler. “It felt like Mackey Arena in here,” one Michigan player said that day.

Advertisement

This season has been drastically different. Michigan (20-5, 12-2) is in first place in the Big Ten. Michigan fans, and Michigan fans only, have been filling Crisler. They’ve left happy after all 12 home games this season.

Friday is another sell out. The environment should be electric.

“It’s what you play for. It’s why I came to Michigan,” said Danny Wolf, who transferred after two seasons at Yale. “It’s why we’re all here. This is what makes Big Ten basketball, college basketball, so exciting: games like this, this late in the season, a storied rivalry. As loud as it’s going to be, I hope it’s going to mostly be for us.”

There’s no reason to think it won’t be.

Michigan State’s Carson Cooper was asked on Wednesday in East Lansing to contrast what he experienced last season at Crisler with what he expects to face on Friday.

Advertisement

“Last year I don’t remember many ‘Go Blue’ chants or anything,” he said. “I felt like it was mostly green there. We knew they were struggling with a lot of stuff going on. This is going to be a lot like a really hostile (environment), like a Purdue, like an Illinois — that level of intensity. It’s going to be loud. There’s going to be a lot of trash talk. It’s going to be a lot different from last year for sure.”

Michigan has a new coaching staff (led by Dusty May, who replaced Juwan Howard) and a revamped roster that has a chance at going from worst to first in the Big Ten. On Wednesday, players like Wolf and Vladislav Goldin expressed their excitement for their first meeting with Michigan State. All they’ve known at Michigan is winning in front of great crowds.

Friday will hit different for the few returners, Burnett among them. He’s treated his second season at Michigan like a revenge tour, hoping to pay back every Big Ten team that beat Michigan last year (a list that includes every team in the league last season except Wisconsin).

He’s especially hungry for another crack at Michigan State after getting swept a year ago.

“I’m excited for (Crisler) to be flooded with Michigan fans,” he said. “I’m super excited for the crowd to get into it. It’s gonna be fun.”

Advertisement
  • BETTING: Check out our guide to the best Michigan sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.



Source link

Michigan

Urban Meyer reacts to Sherrone Moore scandal after coach’s shock Michigan firing

Published

on

Urban Meyer reacts to Sherrone Moore scandal after coach’s shock Michigan firing


One of the best college football coaches of all time, Urban Meyer, lent some sympathy to Sherrone Moore — or at least his family — in the wake of the former Michigan head coach’s shocking firing last week. 

“Last night, I said a prayer for that family,’’ Meyer said on “The Triple Option Podcast,” speaking of Moore’s wife and daughters. 

“I mean, you’ve got three little girls,’’ said Meyer, who won a national title at Ohio State a little over a decade ago. “You’ve got a guy that was on top of the road a week ago.”

Urban Meyer reacted to the fallout of Sherrone Moore’s shock firing from Michigan. Getty Images
The former Michigan football coach was fired for cause after the university confirmed he had an inappropriate relationship with a. staffer. AP

That changed in stunning fashion, as Moore, a married father of three, went from leading the Wolverines to out of a job, fired in Ann Arbor for cause after the university confirmed he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

Advertisement

The situation only worsened when Moore was later arrested after he allegedly broke into the home of the staff member, and during an argument, grabbed butter knives and threatened to kill himself.

Sherrone Moore was charged on Friday with third-degree home invasion, a felony, as well as a pair of misdemeanors. AP

On Friday, he was charged with third-degree home invasion, a felony, as well as a pair of misdemeanors — stalking and breaking and entering.


Here’s the latest on former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore


Even Meyer, who created some controversy of his own during a brief, ill-fated tenure as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars — when he was seen on video in 2021 that showed him dancing suggestively with a woman who was not his wife and was later fired before finishing his lone season in Jacksonville — was stunned by Moore’s downfall.

“They’re up 6-0 on the Buckeyes at home,” Meyer said of Michigan’s early lead against rival Ohio State on Nov. 29. “And then, also, you wake up, and they’re in this situation. Rivalries aside, this is all human element. Now, this is something that, from what you read, that’s some serious stuff that went on. And just, all of a sudden, you start seeing the impact. Forget football. Who cares about football?’’

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Michigan

Yaxel Lendeborg scores 29 points and No. 2 Michigan stays unbeaten with 101-83 win over Maryland

Published

on

Yaxel Lendeborg scores 29 points and No. 2 Michigan stays unbeaten with 101-83 win over Maryland


COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg had 29 points, a career-best nine assists and eight rebounds, and No. 2 Michigan rallied from a nine-point deficit Saturday night to defeat Maryland 101-83.

Aday Mara scored 18 points for the Wolverines (10-0, 2-0 Big Ten), who overcame a halftime deficit for the second time this season and the first since they beat TCU on Nov. 14.

Michigan scored 100 points for the fourth time in five games.

Diggy Coit made eight 3-pointers and scored 31 points for the Terrapins (6-5, 0-2), who lost center Pharrel Payne to a right leg injury late in the first half and forward Solomon Washington to ejection after he picked up his second technical foul early in the second half.

Advertisement

Coit scored nine of Maryland’s first 10 points and 22 before the break, helping to prevent Michigan from opening a lead larger than six in the first half.

The Terps lost Payne, their leading scorer at 18.7 points a game, with 4:36 remaining before halftime. Yet Maryland stretched its lead from one to 50-45 at the midpoint, then expanded it to 56-47 on Elijah Saunders’ 3.

Washington, who had a first-half technical for celebrating a 3 in front of the Michigan bench, was called for a delay-of-game technical just after Saunders’ basket. His departure left the Terps without their two most experienced and imposing interior players.

Lendeborg took advantage, scoring the next eight points. Mara’s dunk with 14 minutes left made it 64-63 and gave the Wolverines the lead for good.

Elliot Cadeau’s layup with 21.2 seconds remaining got the Wolverines to 100 points for the fifth time this season.

Advertisement

Up next

Michigan hosts La Salle on Dec. 21.

Maryland visits No. 24 Virginia on Dec. 20.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Michigan

Aquinas College expands automatic acceptance to 2 more West Michigan high schools

Published

on

Aquinas College expands automatic acceptance to 2 more West Michigan high schools


GRAND RAPIDS, MI – After beginning a direct admittance program at one West Michigan high school in November, Aquinas College has now expanded the program to cover more classrooms.

The guaranteed admission program, first implemented for graduates of West Catholic High School with a 2.0 GPA or above, has now been expanded to Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids and Muskegon Catholic Central High School.

The partnership will apply to students from all three schools entering college in the fall of 2026.

The direct admission program was described by Aquinas College leaders as offering high school students a “clear path to college success” while also continuing to develop partnerships.

Advertisement

Aquinas College, a private Catholic liberal arts institution located at 1700 Fulton St. E, was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids in 1886.

The college has enrolled 1,262 students during the 2025-26 academic year, and its new student numbers are up, with 419 new students on campus this fall, up from 311 in 2024-25.

The college’s overall enrollment total is just slightly under the approximately 1,300 students Aquinas recorded across its campus in 2023-24, according to a press release sent out in January 2025.

This year’s partnership announcements do not mark Aquinas’ first direct admittance deal.

The college also has a direct admit bachelor’s in nursing partnership with the University of Detroit Mercy, which allows students to take core curriculum courses at Aquinas and nursing classes from Detroit Mercy faculty.

Advertisement

On Nov. 14, Aquinas announced its direct admittance deal with West Catholic High School.

The school, located at 1801 Bristol Ave. NW, enrolled just over 500 students as of the 2024-25 school year, according to an online school profile.

West Catholic President and CEO Jill Wierzbicki said the initiative simplifies the college application process and offers students a straightforward path to higher education.

On Nov. 20, Aquinas then announced it had also partnered with Grand Rapids’ Catholic Central High School, 319 Sheldon Blvd SE, which enrolls 567 students and is the oldest co-educational diocesan Catholic high school in the nation.

Brian Matzke, vice president for enrollment management, said there’s “no doubt that Aquinas here has had more graduates from Catholic Central than any other school in our history.”

Advertisement

On Dec. 10, the college announced another partnership deal with Muskegon Catholic Central High School, 1145 W Laketon Ave., which enrolled just under 300 students in 2023-24, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Jerry McDowell, Muskegon Catholic Central president, said both the high school and Aquinas share a “deep commitment to developing the whole student — academically, spiritually, and individually.

“This direct-admit program provides our graduates with an exceptional opportunity to transition confidently into higher education while maintaining the Catholic values that guide their formation,” McDowell said.

Aquinas’ listed price for traditional undergraduate tuition is $41,192, according to senior director of strategic communications Dave DeJonge.

Students are eligible for annual merit scholarships between $15,000-$25,000, depending on their GPA and housing status. Additional scholarships may be available. This applies to all students who are admitted to Aquinas.

Advertisement

Matzke highlighted the direct admittance program’s easy transition from one West Michigan school to another, with those accepted to Aquinas able to live on campus or commute from home depending on what best fits their needs.

He also said a growing Grand Rapids job market, combined with support from the college’s career center, contributes to a 97% placement rate for graduates.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending