Robin Benzig, a 19-year old German native often draws comparisons to Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. Not just because he's tall and German. Benzig is 6'10" and prefers to take jump shots from the perimeter. He's very, very raw, though.

It would sound like a match for Michigan coach John Beilein, whose system thrives with big men who play on the perimeter. Kevin Pittsnogle and D'orr Fischer both were excellent when not forced to play inside.

Unfortunately for Michigan and Benzig, the NCAA has found the academic qualifications of Benzig lacking.

"We felt Robin had a very good chance of qualification, but in the end the NCAA Eligibility Center found him to be just short of eligibility to receive a scholarship from any Division I university. While we were aware of the risk involved with this signing and we are disappointed for Robin, it does not deter our confidence in finding the right student-athletes for the future of this basketball program."

It is, however, another setback for Michigan in the John Beilein era. Benzig was a perfect fit for his system, and leaves the Wolverines lacking in players in the post.

No, not Rich Rodriguez. It's John Beilein making the first of his 5 annual payments to West Virginia on his contract buyout. Beilein and WVU agreed to reduce the buyout from $2.5 million to $1.5 million over 5 years.

You would think Beilein would make the payment quietly and with at least some satisfaction that he got it brought down and spread over time. No, he's still not happy.

Beilein wrote that he made the first payment under protest, calling the buyout clause "unenforceable" and "grossly disproportional" to actual damages incurred by the university. WVU hired Bob Huggins away from Kansas State two days after Beilein's departure.

In the letter, Beilein left open the chance he might contest the settlement later.

"I urge the University to stop using the liquidated damages provision in its employment contracts because such provisions are illegal, onerous, and violate public policy," Beilein wrote.

Um, no it isn't. Liquidated damages are perfectly valid. If they were any of what Beilein claimed, the clause would be void and illegal under present contract law.

This seems more like Beilein is waiting to see what happens with the Rich Rodriguez lawsuit. If Rodriguez somehow wriggles out of his buyout, you can bet Beilein won't be far behind to file his own suit to avoid paying his buyout.

Davidson's Stephen Curry was the obvious choice for the Most Outstanding Player from the Midwest region, so obvious that it would have been a travesty for anyone else to have received the honor.

But how often can you say that -- that a player from a losing team deserves the top individual honor? It turns out that it happens so rarely that the last player to win a regional most outstanding player award despite playing for a team that didn't reach the Final Four was Juwan Howard of Michigan in 1994.

Those of us who loved the Fab Five remember that 1994 Tournament well. Chris Webber left school after his sophomore year, leaving just four of the Fab Five to try to get Michigan to its third straight Final Four, and Howard was incredible in the four Tournament games. But Arkansas, the eventual national champion, was simply too good, and Michigan shot too poorly in the regional final.

The loss to Arkansas was Howard's last college game. The good news for Davidson fans is that Curry will be back. Perhaps next year he can win a Most Outstanding Player honor without being on the losing side.

When we think of Harvard we think of rigorous scholarship, of ivy-covered buildings, of notable alumni from John Hancock to John F. Kennedy, from Henry David Thoreau to James D. Watson.

We don't think of basketball prowess, but new coach Tommy Amaker wants to change that, and Harvard's administration is giving him a huge hand in doing so: The school is lowering its standards to attract better basketball players.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times has a fascinating article today about the way Amaker, the former Michigan head coach, is getting away with tactics that would have seemed unthinkable at an Ivy League institution:

I'd like to introduce you to Kevin Borseth, the women's basketball coach at Michigan:

That was Borseth's reaction to the Wolverines' 69-67 loss to Wisconsin. He started things off by slamming the podium and saying, "That's how I feel."

He then screamed, "I'm so damn sick and tired of getting out-rebounded!" Over the course of the press conference it's pretty amazing that he didn't break his hand, the podium or his glasses, which he took on and off with growing frustration. More from the press conference:

"Twenty-five offensive rebounds!?!"

"The first time we block out, we get called for a damn block out?! For pushing people?! Meanwhile, they're on the other end of the court, they're grabbing rebounds, going over the top and grabbin' them! We get one offensive rebound and then get called for over the back!"

"We either can't block out damn well or we're not getting calls, one or the other. That's why I'm frustrated. ... The entire thing came down to offensive rebounds.
"They got every ...

Slam went the podium again.

"... offensive rebound, and we didn't get one of them!"

Sorry, No Photos

Via Sports by Brooks..

Or at the very least, he is sick of the standoff between the Big Ten Network (BTN) and cable providers.

"I make more calls than I ever have this year to people who write me, really upset about it," Izzo told reporters.

Izzo also described the BTN as "a PR nightmare" and said, "I think it has hurt all of us."

Unlike college football which had most of the major teams endure only one of their 12 games on the BTN, college basketball has had a larger percentage of their games being not seen by most people on the BTN. Michigan State has been one of the Big Ten's top teams all season. They have had 9 of it's 18 conference games on the BTN and 4 of its 13 non-con games. That's a lot of games that few have seen for a top-25 team in a major conference.

Beyond simply dealing with pissed off fans and alum who can't see the games, it stands to impact recruiting. Players want to play for successful programs, but they also want to play at schools that they know will get plenty of TV exposure. If over 1/3 of the games are showing up on a channel no one has, then that is going to take a toll.

The money the schools are getting from the BTN means that this is an empty complaint from Izzo in the short term. The longer the stalemate with the major cable companies draws this out, the more you will read coaches complaining.

Cable companies want the BTN on the sports tier package, while the BTN and Big Ten insist it should be on the expanded basic level. Time is on the side of the cable companies.

Nobody was expecting the Michigan Wolverines to light it up this year as John Beilein went through the process of implementing the offense he brought with him from West Virginia, and the Wolverines haven't had a very good season so far. Still, there's reason to believe that the Wolverines are starting to get the hang of their new offense and their new coach, as they beat the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon, 80-70.

The victory is Michigan's third in a row, the previous two coming at Iowa and against Penn State, and this one was by far the most impressive as Ohio State is the only tournament team the Wolverines have beaten this season. Of course, even though he's pleased with the victory, Beilein isn't about to declare his team a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten.

"That's still not a win over a top-25 team, but (Ohio State) is going to be on that bubble all year and they may be in that NCAA tournament," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "So that's a step in the right direction - beating a tournament team."

With upcoming games against Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, and Penn State, it's not entirely impossible that the Wolverines can stretch their three-game winning streak into a seven-game streak. With each win the Wolverines are building confidence and are beginning to understand that they can win in the Big Ten.

Michigan won't be going anywhere this season, though they could pull off an upset in the Big Ten tournament, but with freshman Manny Harris in the fold, they could make some noise in the conference next season. They might even get back into the dance.

The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.

Iowa Hawkeyes 43 Michigan State Spartans 36

As Charles Rich already told you, the Spartans set a school-record of fewest points in the shot clock era by scoring only 36 points against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. On the plus side, at least they were consistent, scoring only 18 points in each half.

Also, let's be fair here. Yes the Spartans played absolutely horribly on Saturday, but it's not like Iowa played that much better. In fact, the Spartans out-shot the Hawkeyes by making 30.8% of their shots. The Hawkeyes could only manage to make 27.5% of their field goal attempts.

Looking at the numbers you can find a hundred reasons why the Spartans lost this game besides their inability to score. They had 18 turnovers, committed 25 personal fouls, and made only 3 of their 12 three-point attempts, but what really killed them was the free throw line. Those 25 personal fouls sent the Hawkeyes to the line 29 times, where as the Spartans only took 4 free throws in the game.

The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.

Indiana Hoosiers 78 Michigan Wolverines 64

If D.J. White and Eric Gordon play like they did in Ann Arbor on Tuesday night all season, I don't know that there's anybody in this country that can beat the Hoosiers. Of course, it will probably be a bit tougher to do against North Carolina than Michigan, but it's not the Hoosiers' fault the Big Ten is very top heavy this year.

White scored 21 points and also grabbed 22 boards to become the first Hoosier to have a 20/20 game since Alan Henderson in 1995. D.J. was already scary enough in his first three years on campus, now that he's gotten into much better shape physically, he's an absolute beast.

Eric Gordon matched his number with 23 points, including 4 three-pointers, just another ho-hum night for the youngster. He just makes everything he does look so easy, which you just don't see freshman do very often. At least not the kind that stick around longer than a year.

For Michigan, Manny Harris-speaking of freshman-led the team with 19 points. There's hope on the horizon, Wolverines fans!

The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.

Michigan State Spartans 65 Minnesota Golden Gophers 59

Minnesota's 10-2 start to this season is a nice story for the program and new head coach Tubby Smith, but we've reached the conference schedule, and it's goodbye creampuffs, hello Spartans. Minnesota just doesn't have the overall talent right now to compete with the Spartans, though much to their credit, they didn't just let the Spartans walk out of the Breslin Center with an easy victory.

Unfortunately the Gophers just had no answer for Raymar Morgan who led the Spartans with a career high 31 points and also decided to chip in with 10 boards as well. Morgan's performance even earned him some high praise from his head coach, Tom Izzo.

"I told some people that Raymar had a chance to be one of the best forwards ever to play here," Michigan State coach Izzo said of the versatile 6-foot-8 sophomore. "I know I've been tough on Raymar. We expect an awful lot from him. He reminds me of Morris (Peterson, the 2000 conference MVP)."

The Spartans also got a strong effort from freshman Kalin Lucas, who came off the bench to score 17 points. The biggest play Lucas made though was a steal that led to two free throws after Minnesota fought back from a 13-point deficit to make the score 58-57 Spartans.