Michigan Media Bits

Let’s start on a lighter note, with senior defenseman Pat Stansik’s most recent video blog:

Thanks to the power of the internet, you can see how much fun the team had on spring break.

Moving on, it’s time to hit up a topic that is TOTALLY UNCHARTED water around here (and elsewhere): the possibility of varsity lacrosse at Michigan. The latest comes from a column by Jac Coyne of Lacrosse Magazine:

Michigan needs to make a move soon, however. Every passing day, Michigan moves closer to that time when it may lose another year (and another recruiting class) before it is ready to start. And with every passing day comes the possibility that another school announces it will be join the party, beating Michigan to the punch the way Marquette did.

As you can see, he sees it as a foregone conclusion that a move to varsity is coming soon for the Wolverines. The only remaining question is how soon. The article is based on the premise that Michigan will definitely suit up as a varsity squad in 2013, and makes the point that an announcement needs to come soon, or the first couple of years could see a lot of DOOM.

My personal belief/opinion/whatever is similar to Jac’s. There very little doubt in my mind that Michigan will be playing as a varsity squad in the spring of 2013. I’m not so pessimistic on the timing. I think an announcement during this season would be a distraction to the current team, and though waiting might cost the coaches a couple months of recruiting, they have to worry about the team at hand first. Unless an announcement is used as a motivational tactic for the huge Colorado State/Arizona State weekend, I could see it waiting until May.

As for whether Michigan will be beaten to the punch by another program… I guess it’s possible. A vaguely-sourced (but confirmed?) rumor seems to indicate that a BCS-conference team will add lacrosse soon. If that BCS school is Michigan, then WOW WILD PREDICTION (and I have a prediction of my own: Michigan will not lose the rest of their games this season. Ballsy, I know) but if not, then the Wolverines can be beaten to the punch by somebody else.

Back to Jac’s article, he does link an old Michigan Daily article that is out of date in some respects, but still informative re: a varsity push. Either way, it’s a perfect segue to the latest Daily foray into lacrosse, regarding the team’s ability to ignore distractions like “success” as they reach for their fourth consecutive MCLA National Championship. No mention of other possible distractions.