I distinctly remember the low point of Michigan's season 2 years ago, especially with how disappointing the previous two years were (with the NJIT and Eastern Michigan losses being the low points, largely due to injuries, though). I was admittedly already speculating about how Beilein should retire and who could replace him. Thankfully, Derrick Walton emerged late that year and led the team to the BigTen tournament championship, upsetting Louisville in the NCAA tournament to end Pitino's career to avenge the championship game loss (and arguably should've beaten Oregon the following game).
As it is, the court of Crisler Center will almost certainly be honored to Beilein when he retires, just as Berenson was for hockey, since he's already the winningest coach in program history and does everything the right way. His decision to hire Luke Yaklich and let him coach the defense is the big difference, of course. Billy Donlon's year as the defensive assistant before he went to Northwestern was an improvement, too, of course, but Michigan's defense has been even better in the past two years.
As for tonight's game, Sparty got a big win, which might have been their toughest game left other than the Michigan games, since they don't have to go to Maryland (as I've said before, I'm glad Michigan doesn't go to Lincoln, West Lafayette, or Columbus, but that's a fortunate break for MSU, too). In fact, MSU gets Maryland at home next, so if they win that I'd almost concede that they're the favorite, but hopefully that would just provide Michigan more motivation to keep winning.
