Michigan v. sparty Game Thread
Mates,
We might as well have a game thread for this one. I should go on a walk with Mrs. XM, with the sun shining up north, but I won't until/unless we don't start out well.
Let's put sparty out of the NCAA. Go Blue, beat sparty!
Let's top off a fine weekend with another 'W'.
XM
all the pregame talk about whether we should try to win was just stupid.
But now that we lost, I agree and I don't really even care.
Pretty much worst possible outcome. Play like shit and take a loss and lose a valuable player. Fml. Should have expected it with the legitimate chance at a nc
The Michigan Difference!
So out of sync today and still made it a game at the end
This team is really starting to look like the 18-19 team, and that’s not a good thing.
Anemic offense: check
This team didn’t want to play. We didn’t give a shit until 4 minutes left. It looked pretty obvious to me.
Not to me. Not by a longshot.
In the Illinois game, we played with zero intensity. Physically and mentally, we basically weren't on the court that day.
But this wasn't Illinois. I agree that Sparty played with more intensity than us, but that was to be expected since they were fighting for their lives whereas this game was essentially meaningless for us in the grand scheme of things. Still though, I saw a Michigan team that played with good intensity but just made too many mistakes and missed Eli Brooks. If Eli doesn't get injured, we win this game. Period.
As long as Eli is ultimately okay, I'm not worried. This is an extremely well-coached team, and they will bounce back. If Eli is done for the season (God forbid), then it may be time for us fans to start thinking about ceilings. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
I can't believe we lost to Lyman Briggs. I guess that means no wiping our butts on the Sparty head.
We are not long for the tournament if Eli can’t go. Team is totally different without him out there. And not in a good way.
It says something that Eli Brooks missing is a huge loss because 2 guys that are supposedly NBA talent can’t score on their own.
It's not about that. Juwan's offense thrives on ball movement and having two true point guards on the floor at the same time. Without that, everyone is forced to work outside their comfort zones.
This team has zero McDonald's All-Americans (something that will change, oh I don't know, next season) and zero players who were five star recruits. We're not long on talent, to be honest. And yet, Juwan has built a top 3 team out of a group of players whose collective raw talent probably ranks in the 10-15 range.
Relax. This loss doesn't say a whole lot about this team. Frankly, I'm still more concerned about the Illinois loss than I am about this one (aside from the Eli situation).
Dickinson is far and away the best player on the team. The other NBA talent are more valuable as veteran leaders.
Looks like the team peaked about a week ago
Well, if we hadn't dicked around the first 35 minutes, we might've won.
Great going into the postseason having lost 2 of 3 and Brooks.
livers had 9 pts and 4 reb with just under 10 min to play...and that's what he ended up with.
Livers is what he is. A good catch and shooter and a decent defender. He doesn't play better when the lights are on brighter
Great teams don’t take nights off. This team did.
actually, it happens a lot. teams sit players when games don't really matter.
They should have switched to the PnR instead of the back to the basket way earlier. Livers was awful today. Franz and Hunter weren’t great but did turn it on late. Losing Chaundee from coming off the bench is a blow because he is used to being a spark plug with the second group. He isn’t as accustomed to play within the starting group for long periods.
agree. i think the offense runs much better thru PnR which can lead to other picks and easy drives or kickouts for open 3s.
Oh well.
Get ready for round 3 in five days!
Can't wait until 4 minutes left to start playing basketball.
F it. Rest everybody and get Brooks healed up. We've work to do.
Yep, the B1G tournament is going to be a bloodbath.
Honestly, I would not care if Eli could go and doesn't for the B1G tournament. The big dance is all that matters.
the only good news is Michigan has the double bye, so it will hopefully provide Eli with enough time to get better.
Michigan did not play well...they were pretty uncharacteristically bad at the FT line as well.
Hopefully, they will be able to shake it off, but going into the tournament on a bit of a mini slump
This should keep us from sleepwalking through game 1. We know we'll get beat if we do.
Eh. It’s basketball. I’m a lakers fan and I’ve seen unmotivated teams look like crap only to win titles. I am concerned about Eli’s injury, but as for today, it was typical for a team without motivation playing a desperate team on their home floor. Back to the drawing board. Hope Eli can return.
Gonna face a lot of motivated teams in the next two tournaments. Can't take any more games off.
Lebron not getting up for a back to back in minnesota is understandable.. I wouldn't agree there wasn't any motivation for what we saw out there today.
As a competitor I would have hoped just the sight of that puke green would be enough to want to stuff them in a hamper. I can see coming out flat but once the blood gets flowing I expected to see more from our guys today - seemingly it didn't kick in until the last 4 minutes.
Prayers up for Eli though, he is huge for any hopes for a deep run.
This is the correct take.
Get healthy and hungry next week.
Alright... maybe Izzo is 5'9". Whatever.