Bandwagon Check?!?!
Been pretty positive on the board lately. The bandwagon is pretty full. Anybody willing to call themselves out for a comment made in haste last month? In trying to fill this agonizing last 6 hours before tip off have some fun and go back and look at some of the posts from our less than stellar games. Here is a rather timely one I found.
So why are the freshmen getting worse, then? Or why are almost ALL of the players getting worse? Hardaway isn't where he was. Morgan can't make layups. Robinson looks terrified. Burke is awesome, but even his game is less efficient than it was at the start of the year. Shouldn't well-coached teams improve as they continue to play together?
Yes none of the freshmen have improved on this terribly coached basketball team. This comment was made 24 days ago and was not negged -1000000000. Hahahahaa. Beilien is the Man!!! Go Blue.
Crow to be more precise! The haters -- they just hate! So proud of this team!
Who cares? Today is about positivity. All fans are welcome on this day.
particularly the first half of the Kansas game. So much so that it gets requested when the team needs a jolt. And yes, I feel I deserve a ring when they...I mean We...win tonight.
I'll proudly say I never "called anyone out" or doubted the abilities of this team. In fact, I took quite a beating in Game threads before deciding to abandon them because I was defending Beilein and Morgan and others.
Fuck y'all, we're winning a championship!!!
Fire Harbaugh.
Know-it-alls rarely look back and acknowledge errors. Once they gain the self-awareness to recognize past mistakes and project that inherent human fallability forward, they cease to be know-it-alls.
I wouldn't call people getting more interested because Michigan is good at basketball again a bandwagon fan. Support a team that supports you by winning. It's tough to maintain interest when a program is devestated by sanctions like Michigans was. But Michigan has shown their fans that they are serious about basketball and being a competitive team. From the facility and lockerroom renovations to recruiting higher caliber players, Michigan has finally given their fans a reason to be outspoken and excited about the team.
Now for those that said they don't care about basketball and Michigan is purely a football school, this is your chance to apologize.
I'll be honest...I hate people like you...good luck in life if you are a young guy, you will be the person everyone hates in the office. If you are an old guy, then everyone in your office hates you already...
Are you sure you're not the guy everyone in the office hates?
Double: not my fault.
Considering I'm a Michigan fan working in Lansing with mostly Spartans....yes, everyone does hate me in my office.
If you're the guy in the office who acts like he is James Naismith every Monday and says "Beilien sucks, all we do is shoot 3 pointers, we're soft". Then yeah, you probably hate me when I come back and give you facts that make you look stupid.
Speaking of facts...... Bet on Beilien-15-2 against the spread in the NCAA tournament. Guy can coach a little.
I just think calling out people on today is just inappropriate. We should be rejoicing what this team has done. No point in calling out people that may have said some things they regret now.
I don't see anything wrong with that comment. It's not being a bandwagon fan to question where things are going, and at one time, it appeared the team was in fact getting worse.
I picked Michigan to lose in the first round of the tourney. It was more of a strategic way for me to limit my emotional attachment to the team and/or my bracket (if they lose, at least it helps my bracket, and if my bracket gets busted, I can't get upset about it because it's my team doing the busting). A lot of negative setiments about teams are from their biggest fans, who also serve double time as the team's biggest critics (unless you are irrationally positive). Being critical and getting overly upset about the Wolverines when things don't go as expected doesn't necessarily mean you're a bandwagon jumper, it means you care.
Besides, I don't prescribe to the Sparty way of doing things. If you want to cheer for Michigan, I happily will take you in with open arms when that time comes, even if it's for one game. There is no such thing as a Walmart Wolverine. Tonight, everyone is either a Cardinal or a Wolverine. Go Blue!
I think many people were frustrated in the B1G season because the team wasn't playing up the level it was capable of. This was mostly because of freshmen, something I think most people were just glossing over. But now the team is playing up to it's potential. Still young and at times it shows, but at this point I don't care too much about all those people who wailed and gnashed their teeth. We're in the championship game.
Does everyone who beat the drum saying "they're only freshmen, they can't be expected to be great" now have to apologize too...or did they stop being freshmen between the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament?
While a lot of people were making excuses, others saw the talent this team had and was worried that they were going to miss out on a rare opportunity to do something like this with all that talent. They just pulled it together at just the right time (or McGary was finally ready at just the right time).
because the team looked awful at times last month and definitely looked like they were gonna flame out in the tourney. Honestly, without Mitch McGary we probably would've lost a long time ago. It's not like Burke, THJ, Stauskas, etc have been on fire every night.
McGary has been our rock in this tournament and he is why we're playing tonight. Recant suggestion denied. McGary praising approved
i will admit to calling Beilein "very good, but not elite" while criticizing him about the teams rebounding and big men....Mitch and John have proved me wrong, now they need to do it once more.
GO BLUE!!
to this thread looking to see how much i could cash my "bandwagon check" for. i still haven't found this useful piece of information - please help.
But it does question the mentaiity of someone who during the most exciting day of Michigan athletics in years has as a first thought "I told you so."
I've attempted to stay away from game threads since the Indiana game. You get the crazy people who want Beilein gone and think that people aren't trying because the other team saved a loose ball from going out of bounds, then you get the people calling out the crazies which just creates more stress for everyone. Just sit back and attempt to enjoy what has been an incredible season, vent when you need to but please don't go overboard.
I did say at one point that we look like a team that could be the first 1-seed to ever lose to a 16-seed (@PSU game comment).
I also did say I would have a hard time picking Michigan to go past the Sweet 16 (post Wisconsin in the BTT loss).
On multiple occaisons I have remarked about how we are a soft team, squishy, and we don't go up to the basket near as hard as we need to. Those criticisms have been non-existant throughout the tournament.
If you count profanities strung together by a 60/40 mix of non-English/English words into half-coherent sentences as a negative comment, there may have been one or two or twelve of those.
Sorry, took my seat on the Michigan Bandwagon a lonnnng time ago. I'm not giving it up to some johnny-come-lately.
Yes, all the "Fire Beilein"-type comments look idiotic now, but they were idiotic after Penn State and the 2nd Wisconsin loss. Granted, that team did not look like a team with a reasonable chance at a national championship, but there was obvious progress between this year and last year even if post-season results are ignored.
Remember looking at the bracket last year? I thought the team had a good chance at a Sweet 16, but that team was never running the #1 UNC/#2 Kansas gauntlet to get a FF berth. This year, I looked at the Sweet 16 game apprehensively, but I'm not stunned by this run. This was always the ceiling for this team.
All of Beilein's teams play a high variance brand of basketball. That Elite 8-Pittsnogle team lost by 40 to Nova in Big East play before coming thisclose to a Final Four. If WFVU basketball had a blog back in 2005, I'm sure some WFVU fans would have been calling for JB's job that January. UM will probably lose to one of the Northwestern/Nebraska/Penn State triumverate next year, as well as dropping a game or 2 OOC that we shouldn't lose. JB's teams shoot a lot of 3s, don't go to the line, and don't play aggressive D. But this is the new ceiling. And it's amazing.
More importantly even than National Championships, though, is having a team and coach every fan can be proud of both on and off the court. Billy Gillespie, Mike Rice, Rick Pitino--John Beilein is not. A wild night for the man probably involves Jared from Subway and a lot of mayonaisse. The players are not racking up DUIs and making midnight Spice runs. Win or lose, every student, alumnus, professor, and fan can be proud of this team. That, THAT, is Beilein's legacy. He has made Michigan basketball both nationally relevant and nationally respected. God bless John Beilein.
I may be slightly fired up for tonight.
Elsewhere on the board lately I've seen him lumped with Calipari. Their mutual dislike is well documented, and a big part of that seems to be Pitino's contempt for the Worldwide-Wesleyization of Calipari's programs.
His personal life aside, what is it that Pitino's done that's supposed to be sleazy? I've had nothing but respect for his coaching and I've never seen anything with the way he handles his programs. What have I been missing?
I am a passionant but honest fan. This team has been awesome for the last two weeks and that is all that matters......
There's a game tonight, everyone.