This game means nothing in the long run
I LOVE when Michigan wins in any and every sport. But this game really means nothing. All it is, is an extra game to pump both schools strength of schedule up.
You better believe I wanted Michigan to win, and of course the team and especially Trey Burke wanted that shot to fall. But for people to upset about this is a little ridiculous.
Michigan still is tied in first place for the B1G, and I believe that this team can win the B1G Tournament. They will make the NCAA tournament.
Michigan will end the road struggles on Tuesday at purdue.
Go Blue!
January 21st, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
Are you so special that you needed to start your own thread for this thought that could have gone in any of the other 4 threads at the top of the board?
January 21st, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
January 21st, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
Why are at least the first 5 posts on every thread just talking about how stupid of a topic whatever the post is. I hate to add to these annoyances, but this is a perfectly legitimate post and has NO reason whatsoever to be mocked. Obviously you are not the only one that does this, but it gets kind of annoying to read this site when EVERY thread's discussion just relates to how stupid the original post was or was not. If it's stupid...DON'T READ IT! Don't tell us all why it's not worth reading. Sorry for the rant.
To respond to the actual comment, this game was important. If Michigan had come away with the win, it would have done a lot to set us up for a good seed in the tournament. Along with this, it would have given us a true road win, which we should get sooner rather than later, but this was a big game today. It doesn't affect us in the Big Ten, but winning the Big Ten is going to be a significant challenge, focusing on that tournament seed may be more important in the long run
January 21st, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
Yup, this really needed a new thread.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:31 PM ^
It's hard to go from the football mind set where every game means a lot, to basketball, where games, especially out of conference, don't mean that much.
However, it would be nice to be able to win a game on the road.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:07 PM ^
It matters because this team has no road wins and this would have been a solid one.
It matters because 16-4 is much better than 15-5 when you have 6 ranked teams left on your schedule and 7 road games and you haven't proven you can beat anyone on their home court.
Given that we couldn't beat Iowa - who is not good - away, what gimmes do we have left? Purdue home? Nebraska away?
This was a big chance to improve our profile and we blew it.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
It would have been nice to win, but it wasn't a big ten game and we're in the NCAA tournament regardless. It would have helped seeding, but it's not a season destroying loss.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
a 9-11 seed to a 5-7 seed.
But yeah, it means nothing that we continue to be terrible against everyone on the road.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:33 PM ^
Sooooooo none of the other 5 posts wouldn't have sufficed for your comment?
January 21st, 2012 at 8:10 PM ^
The other 5 posts about this not needing a thread wouldn't suffice for yours?
January 21st, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
Michigan is entering a very tough stretch of the schedule, every cance to win a game matters.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^
Well it probably won't mean a ton, but we have a very hard schedule left and a lot of road games so it's not impossible for us to be a bubble team especially if we keep playing inconsistent. Sucks to lose to teams you are clearly better than.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^
something. They could learn a lot from it.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:48 PM ^
January 21st, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
You do know that Diamond plays football and not basketball, correct? Your post makes no sense. Every game does not matter in basketball.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
If Diamond makes his decision based on the results of a basketball game then good riddens. The game means nothing, except that we proved that no deficit is insurmountable for this team.
January 21st, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
Yes it means something. Losing to a mediocre team on the road is not good ever, and today would have been a chance to get the road monkey off our back. Instead, we crap the bed in the first half. Frustrating.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:50 PM ^
Agreed -- not the worst thing in the world. Now if you lose to that trainwreck of a basketball team on Tuesday, then I would start to get concerned if I was an M fan. You guys should be able to handle Purdue setting up a nice matchup in Columbus.
January 21st, 2012 at 6:37 PM ^
Of course it means something. It was one of about 4 tourney-ish teams we played out of conference, two of which we already lost. So our out of conference schedule against top-50 level teams shows a nuetrals-site loss, two away game losses and a neutral-site win, that's about it. Maybe the Iowa State win is OK, but that's pushing it.
Teams are judged by how well they play in big games. We beat MSU, that was awesome, but it was at home. Outside of that, we've either beaten teams that any tourney team should beat, or lost games that were essentially toss-ups, or lost games we shouldn't have lost.
We're probably 2-3 at this point against other tournament teams, with extra losses at Iowa and Arkansas. That does not set us up well for a high tourney seed.
January 21st, 2012 at 11:45 PM ^
we are all dead.
Of course it mattered. Sooner or later we need to win on the road. What was wrong with sooner?
January 22nd, 2012 at 12:47 AM ^
we're going to find road wins only against the worst competition, and it's also going to cost us some home games we should win, too.
For a coach whose offensive system relies so heavily on shooting from beyond the arc, it's ironic how badly his UM teams have shot from that distance.
January 22nd, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^
From user Chewieblue:
"While I understand the reason for this argument, I happen to disagree. We are not going to win the Big Ten tournament. What about this team has led us to believe we are capable of beating three good teams in three days? Even if it was played in Crisler, I would have a hard time feeling like we could win three straight. And a win at Purdue (not a guarantee by any means) would not exactly mean that we have conquered our struggles on the road.
With each passing loss, we creep ever closer to the undesirable 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 seed that will very likely lead to us missing out on the second week of the tourney again. But whether this game means anything to our tournament resume is not really the point. What it does mean is that we are not that good yet.
Like many of you have said on the board, the fight we displayed in the second half is hard not to admire. Novak's crowd-killing mental toughness, Burke's stones, Morgan's "physicalness" and even Coach B's calmess and confidence when we were down 20 in, what felt like, the first 20 seconds of the game, are all signs we are on the right track.
Coach Beilein should be beyond supported for what he has done to resurrect a DOA program. The guy has flat out brought us back. This is not in any way an attack on what he and his staff are doing. I think they are on track and doing an amazing job. I just think that with the emergence of Trey Burke, a lot of us were thinking that this team might be better than it really is.
It seems to me that the really good teams do two things we don't do:
1. easily defeat sub par teams
2. consistently play well on the road
What we are right now is a team with a couple of nice wins, a couple of near misses and a lot of poor decision making and inconsistent play.
All that said, there is plenty of time for us to get hot. Maybe we can just temper our expectations a bit, root like hell and hope that Timmy starts getting them to fall. Go Blue!"