Feb. 5, 2012
[ONE // michigan’s manningham and others grab glory at super bowl xlvi]
Congratulations to 14 former Big Ten standouts who earned coveted Super Bowl rings Sunday night as the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots, 21-17, in Super Bowl XLVI. Ex-Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham stole the show late in the game with an incredible catch that helped set up the Giants’ game-winning score in the final minute. On the night, Manningham hauled in five passes for 73 yards, while former Wolverine quarterback Tom Brady came up just short of another Super Bowl title, throwing for 27-of-41 for 276 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. For a complete look at the former Big Ten players competing in Super Bowl XLVI and their statistical performances, check out Brent’s Big Blog over at BTN.com.
[TWO // hooray for hoke]
The Maxwell Football Club, the oldest football club in America, announced this past week that University of Michigan head football coach Brady Hoke has been named its Collegiate Coach of the Year for the 2011 season. Hoke was named the 19th head coach in school history on Jan. 11, 2011. The former assistant coach at U-M (1995-2002) led the Wolverines to an 11-2 record (6-2 Big Ten) and Allstate Sugar Bowl victory in his first season. Nationally, Hoke became one of eight coaches to direct a team to a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game in his first season, while he became the third coach to direct a team to a BCS victory in his first season. The Big Ten coaches voted Hoke as the recipient of the Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year award, while the Big Ten media named him the Dave McClain Coach of the Year. He was also named a finalist for three other national Coach of the Year awards: Bear Bryant, Eddie Robinson and Liberty Mutual. Hoke is the third Michigan coach to be honored by the Maxwell Football Club joining Lloyd Carr in 1997 and Bo Schembechler in 1989.
[THREE // show me the fax]
Speaking of Michigan head coach Brady Hoke, he and 11 other conference football coaches were eagerly waiting by the fax machine on Wednesday as it was National Signing Day. Follow this link to see how each Big Ten institution announced its newest class of incoming student-athletes!
[FOUR // gophers, nittany lions share big ten wrestling crown]
Minnesota and Penn State clinched shares of the Big Ten wrestling regular season dual-meet title on Sunday, as the Golden Gophers and Nittany Lions each picked up wins to finish the conference season tied for first place at 7-1. Fourth-ranked Minnesota earned a 26-7 victory over No. 7 Nebraska, while No. 2 Penn State defeated No. 12 Michigan, 34-7. The Nittany Lions improved to 11-1 and the Gophers moved to 10-3 with the wins.
[FIVE // a full week of big ten men’s basketball]
Big Ten men’s basketball was in action five out of the seven days this past week and began with a bang as Illinois upset No. 9/10 Michigan State 42-41 on Tuesday. Wednesday’s action was highlighted by No. 23/22 Michigan holding off No. 20/20 Indiana in Ann Arbor, 68-56, while Northwestern topped Nebraska 84-74 in Evanston on Thursday. On the front end of the conference’s trio of games Saturday, No. 3/3 Ohio State defeated No. 19/20 Wisconsin 58-52 in Madison. The night was closed out by the Hoosiers earning a much needed conference road win at Purdue, 78-61, in the annual in-state rivalry battle. To close the weekend, Michigan State beat its rival Michigan, 64-54, while Northwestern stopped its in-state rival Illinois, 74-70.
[SIX // a couple for cousy]
Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor have been named finalists for the 2012 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Thursday. The Big Ten and Big 12 are the only two conferences with multiple finalists for the award that recognizes the top point guard in college basketball.
[SEVEN // boilers and huskers provide triple-overtime thriller in first-place battle]
The highlight of this past week in Big Ten women’s basketball was without question the exciting triple-overtime thriller in West Lafayette between Nebraska and Purdue. In its first triple-overtime contest in school history, No. 16 Nebraska earned a 93-89 win on Thursday to pull into a tie for first place with the Boilermakers at 8-2 in the Big Ten, while improving to 19-3 overall. Purdue slipped to 18-5 overall and 8-2 in the conference with its second straight loss. Sophomore Jordan Hooper led Nebraska with a game-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and a career-high matching three blocked shots in a career-high 51 minutes for the Huskers. In other action, Wisconsin defended its home court to start the week Monday with a 66-60 victory over Michigan. On Sunday, Michigan State dropped rival Michigan 65-63, while Penn State’s Maggie Lucas surpassed 1,000 career points in a 68-65 victory over Minnesota. Elsewhere, Iowa topped Indiana in Iowa City, 83-64, in its first game since losing leading scorer Jaime Printy, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury Thursday at Wisconsin.
[EIGHT // eight hoops stars named academic all-district]
Eight Big Ten men's and women's basketball players were named to Capital One Academic All-District teams, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Thursday. Michigan's Zack Novak, Northwestern's Drew Crawford, Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Wisconsin's Jared Berggren were recognized on men's All-District teams, while Iowa's Jaime Printy, Michigan's Jenny Ryan, Northwestern's Kendall Hackney and Purdue's Brittany Rayburn were honored on women's teams. All eight players will advance to Capital One All-America Team ballots, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.
[NINE // six named to usa softball watch list]
Six Big Ten softball standouts appeared among the top 50 watch list for the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, one of four conferences to have six or more student-athletes selected to the list. Also, Michigan is one of five schools in the country to have three players named to the top 50 list. Conference players selected to the list include Michigan's Amanda Chidester, Bree Evans and Ashley Lane, Nebraska's Taylor Edwards, and Northwestern's Emily Allard and Adrienne Monka. The list of 50 will be trimmed to 25 on April 11, with the 10 finalists will be named on May 9. The final three candidates for the award will be released on May 23 ahead of the May 29 announcement of the 2012 player of the year.
[TEN // two to stop]
Michigan State's Tony Wieber and Purdue's Nick Wittgren were named to the Stopper of the Year Watch List, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced on Wednesday. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Forty-five players were named to the initial watch list for the eighth annual award. Nominations for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award were made by baseball sports information/media relations contacts. The initial list will be updated with a mid-season release the week of April 16, including the national saves leaders. At the conclusion of the regular season, the Division I national saves leader and four other relief pitching standouts will be selected as finalists and released Wednesday, June 6, prior to start of NCAA Super Regional tournament competition. The NCBWA's All-America Committee will select the winner, with this year's recipient to be announced during the 2012 College World Series.
[ELEVEN // cato crushes conference mark]
Congratulations to Wisconsin’s Japheth Cato on shattering the 14-year-old Big Ten standard in the heptathlon Saturday at the Frank Sevigne Invitational. The Badger sophomore totaled 5,939 points in the event, which easily broke the previous conference mark of 5,769, set by Minnesota's Ben Jensen. His total also broke the Wisconsin school record of 5,761 points set by Joe Detmer in 2007 and ranks as the ninth-best result ever by a collegian.
[TWELVE // goodbye to a gopher]
Finally this week, after a decade of successfully leading University of Minnesota athletics, Joel Maturi is retiring as the Golden Gophers' Director of Athletics. Maturi will step down at the end of his current contract, which expires on June 30. For the following year, Maturi will remain a member of the University community, assisting with course development and teaching classes in the College of Education and Human Development's Department of Kinesiology, helping the University with fund raising and working on special projects assigned by the president. During his 10 years of service to the University, Maturi led the difficult merger of the men's and women's athletic departments, the grueling fund raising and construction of TCF Bank Stadium and men's and women's hockey and wrestling national championship titles. Golden Gopher athletes have won more than 40 Big Ten or WCHA championships during Maturi's tenure.
