That and NW actually forces turnovers with their zone; Michigan plays a defense that’s supposed to be oriented toward forcing turnovers and still fails to do so.

I think a little too much has been made of our turnover woes; keep in mind that four of our Big Ten games have been against Minnesota (1st nationally in defensive TO rate), Northwestern (16th), and Purdue (17th). We’ve been pretty close to their averages in all of those games. The uglyfest in Iowa aside, we’ve been average on turnovers - which isn’t good, but considering how well we do at everything else it’s not disastrous either. And of our remaining 12 Big Ten games, only three are against teams significantly above average at forcing turnovers (@Purdue, Northwestern, and - gulp - @Wisconsin).

This should be a great game. I agree that Izzo won’t run up the score, which is an entertainment shame but I respect that. I actually like Beilein and loved watching his WVU teams in the tournament. It’s unfortunate that a good guy had to go to that school of which we do not speak. But it’s good for the Big Ten, along with Smith and Lickliter signing on as well. But I digress.

I’ve seen the Weasels play twice this year, at Duke and at home against UCLA. They actually kept it competitive against Duke for a while (a while = the first few minutes). Against UCLA, I think they actually had a lead going into the break, but then came out completely lost and the Bruins finally found themselves. I can honestly say that UM actually looked good at points in the first half of that contest, but you just had a (correct) feeling watching that game that it was just a matter of time before UCLA woke up and summarily shut them down. I agree that with freshman leadership under an awkward new system, this team is struggling hard core this year. Could end up being the worst season in a long, LONG time.

Hopefully the Spartans can come out shooting like a couple of nights ago, and that Chris Allen’s groin pull isn’t that serious. An extra sniper outside never hurts, even if that 1-3-1 isn’t comfortably in place yet. Three cheers for CBS (i.e., anything non-BTN)!

He’s sorry he didn’t go all Pryor recruiting all the time tonight. Skate and curvy stick Spartans 1-0 at Yost. According to the announcer neither group of seniors had ever won in each other’s building until tonight.

Judging by the Northwestern game, I don’t see the 1-3-1 giving the Spartans with the round ball and empty circle much problem. The turnover woes seemed like the same old ones, rather than some sort of difficulty with that system. Dribbling into traps is a bad idea in any defense.