The Pressbox

Monroe and Bedford meet Thursday in perhaps the biggest girls basketball game of the regular season in Monroe County.

It’s a shame the game has to be played on the day both schools return from Christmas break. I wonder what kind of crowd it will draw. It was fun to watch Monroe and SMCC play in front of a nearly full house earlier this season. I doubt that many will be in Bedford’s gym Thursday night.

Both teams come in with 5-2 records. They have won common opponent: SMCC. Monroe beat the Kestrels 90-74 in the season opener, then 84-71 a week later.

By the way, the boys teams from the two schools play the next night at Monroe.

I went to cover Wednesday’s Motor City Bowl because Monroe graduate Jeff Maddux was playing for Central Michigan.

Here are a few thoughts:

* It was only my second visit to Ford Field. It is a very beautiful facility and the staff there does a nice job. I was impressed with how well the traffic flowed around the stadium. The press box is spacious and comfortable, but is about a mile away from the field on the seventh floor. I felt like I was watching the game from the Goodyear blimp.

* I tried hard to keep my attention focused on Maddux, but I had a difficult time doing it. For some reason, my eye just keeps getting drawn to the ball. But, from what I saw, it seemed that he did a very nice job. The offensive guard didn’t have any penalties called on him and the guys he was blocking didn’t get free for any sacks.

* Watching CMU might give Michigan fans an idea of what they can expect in the next few years. Butch Jones was an assistant to new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez before taking over as coach of the Chippewas this year. It’s an exciting offense, but the quarterback takes a lot of hits.

Everyone said that Tiger fans would fall in love with Dontrelle Willis and I can see why.
He was not in Detroit Thursday to sign that big contract. He was in town to do charity work with the Children’s Home Society. Willis gets traded to a new team and immediately gets involved in the community. You have to love that.
He showed an engaging personality at Thursday’s press conference. At one point he was asked about the Tigers signing Miguel Cabrera to a long-term deal and he said, “That’ll be for a lot more money than what I got.”
There is a bit of a risk here for the Tigers. Willis is coming off his worst season and wasn’t all that great the year before. Also, pitchers who move from the National League to the American League generally struggle at first.
But it is worth the risk. The Tigers now have Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Willis signed through 2010.

I must admit that I didn’t know much about Rich Rodriguez before he was named the new coach of the University of Michigan football team.

Of course, I’d heard the name mentioned as a candidate for some top jobs in recent years and I knew that he had put together a solid program at West Virginia.

But I’d never heard him interviewed and didn’t know much about his coaching style.

I like what I’ve learned about him in the past few days. He seems humble and humorous. He showed plenty of respect during his press conference Monday to the traditions at Michigan and former coach Lloyd Carr.

Rodriguez is taking some heat for the way he left West Virginia. It does trouble me a bit that this had to happen before the Mountaineers played their bowl game. I don’t see where waiting a couple more weeks would have caused that much damage. U-M athletic director Bill Martin and Rodriguez saw it differently.

But it is not an assault on the integrity of college athletics as the governor of West Virginia seemed to suggest. It’s just the way college football works these days.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes Rodriguez to put his stamp on the Wolverines. He will have to figure out the best ways to use the athletes at the school. They might not fit his system. Will he adapt to their talents or try to force them into his scheme? My guess is that he his a good enough coach to tinker with his system to find something that works.

The biggest test case will be quarterback Ryan Mallet. He is a classic drop-back passer in the Jim Harbaugh-Tom Brady mode. His skills don’t seem to suit a spread offense. It will be up to Rodriguez to make it work.

I was in Ida Friday night to watch Tim Leonard win his 300 game as Ida’s girls basketball coach.

Leonard might be one of the least appreciated great coaches in the Monroe County Region. You don’t hear much about him, but year after year he produces quality teams.

His 300-69 career record is staggering. He’s never won fewer than 12 games in a season.

In typical, understated Leonard fashion, the celebration of his 300th win was subdued. A short announcement was made after the game and his players hung a banner commemorating this milestone and celebrated with a giant cookie. Senior Kayla Spotts summed it up, saying “I’m honored to be on his team.”

Rasheed Wallace played it off as no big deal, but the Pistons completed a very impressive stretch last night.

The played four times in five nights and won all four, including three of those on the road. They have won five in a row overall.

Granted, the teams they beat during that stretch aren’t the greatest – Cleveland (without LeBron James), Milwaukee, New Jersey, Atlanta and New Orleans — but to survive that brutal stretch without a blemish shows the Detroit is once again one of the top teams in the Eastern Confernce.

And, they won impressively. The closest contest during that four-game stretch was 11 points.

SMCC got its boys basketball season started with a 50-40 victory over Bedford tonight.

I was surprised that SMCC coach Ray Lauwers was so disappointed with the performance of his squad, considering that the Falcons graduated 11 seniors from last year’s 15-7 team. But Lauwers feels his guys are capable of playing much better.

I am sure that they will play much better. There were some bright spots against Bedford. Seniors Todd Walters and Kurt Lehmann led the way as expected with 16 points each, Josh Arnold should be solid inside and sophomore Keenan Wetzel stands nearly 6-4 but is able to play guard. He hit a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

Bedford also had some nice moments. Ricky Rightnowar should be one of the top shooters in the Region, Austin Mack and Matt Drew battled hard inside, Joe Martin had a steady game at the point and Michael Wolcott showed athleticism off the bench.