Man Fun Comment Count

Brian

2/23/2010 – Michigan 52, Wisconsin 53 – 17-12, 7-9 Big Ten

manfun manfun2

For a while, the house we lived in—1331 Geddes, AKA "the Unlucky Palindrome," the purple-doored white house almost but not quite right next to the CCRB—had a fairly sizeable hole in the wall. Raffi's hip put it there. I put Raffi's hip there with a sort of flying tackle.

After this we were both on the ground. This was Raffi's territory. He has cerebral palsy, which means he can't walk that well or supinate his hands—he got around with the aid of crutches. As a result his arms were thick, meaty bludgeons. Since I'd just delivered a wall-shattering flying tackle to a guy who can't walk very well he used them to hit me, hard. It hurt.

This was "man fun." It was a semi-regular occurrence when someone had been studying too long or just felt like delivering a flying tackle. You would pick an available person and hurt them, and they would hurt you, and everyone would laugh.

------------------------------

Watching a freshman shooting 28% from three missing his buzzer-beater badly enough to make it was like absorbing one of Raffi's flat, heavy blows. I'd never witnessed something like that in person, and… yeah. Being in Crisler was to viscerally understand the cliche about the air going out of the building. The transition from a standing, raucous crowd to a bunch of pissed off people looking for their jackets was instant, and the ride home was mostly silence.

But I'm not upset in the aftermath despite this being objectively worse than the Evan Turner half-court dagger last year. Last year's team was under .500, a miserable disappointment after being ranked #15 before the season. Even Michigan fans who thought that was a bit much didn't expect the massive regression we got. That shot just meant Michigan didn't get their very narrow chance at winning two more games and the automatic bid that went with it. Losing was the merciful end, but it stood as a symbol for everything that went wrong. It was somewhere between irritating and infuriating.

Josh Gasser punting it in off the backboard—BACKBOARDS DIE—is probably going to cost Michigan an at-large, and it comes after a season of near-misses. I already wrote the bit about that scoring chance you get with five minutes left in the hockey game. It turns out that if Michigan is watching the NCAA Tournament selection show with a jaundiced eye they'll be thinking about threes clanging off rims in Champaign and a one-armed freshman shooting a three pointer so wildly errant it hit a courtside photographer before going in. And not being able to finish the deal against Ohio State earlier. And needing one measly point to avoid overtime against Kansas.

By all rights we should be waking up today like most Sundays the past three falls: hungover, pissed off, and mopey. It doesn't seem like we are, collectively—aside from one nutball on WTKA this morning the mood was downright chipper for the first time since the Notre Dame game.

It's obvious why. Just being in a position to be hurt is good after what happened last year and what the expectations were for this one. I admit that as I edited Tim's season preview I cocked an eyebrow at Tim's sunny conclusion:

The one thing they can promise, though, is that they'll be fun to watch. Maybe not in every individual game, but seeing these young players grow over the course of the season should be an entertaining - if often frustrating - experience all its own.

31 games later that may be the most accurate season prediction ever purveyed in this space*.

It sucks that a blind Chinese six-year-old threw a ball through the center of the earth that just happened to have enough momentum to pop up through the underside of the basket and fall back through, but Michigan has the most improved player in the conference, the best freshman who will be around next year, no seniors, the 336th most-experienced team in the country, and two good guards on the way to fill out the roster. According to Kenpom this is already the best team Beilein's had at Michigan—they are 48th while the tourney team was 50th. There has been no point in the post-sanctions history of Michigan basketball where optimism is as warranted.

In the light of morning not even a tiny meteor launched from Tralfamadore billions of years ago falling through the Crisler arena roof and subsequently the net can take away the feeling that sometimes it's good to hurt because at least you know you're alive. Michigan basketball is alive.

*[Although I did say football would go 7-5 this year. Third time's a charm.]

BACKBOARDS DIE

Non-bullets of glassy destruction

Novak no shoot. Beilein apparently said that he doesn't believe playing Zack Novak at the 4 is affecting his shooting but it's hard to see the correlation as something other than causation. I don't think Michigan has a choice—in the Iowa and Wisconsin games when Smotrycz was put on Basabe/Leuer it led it instant easy baskets and a quick switch. I think the reason Michigan's mostly playing Smotrycz at the five is because he gets annihilated by guys with ball skills.

Getting Smotrycz to improve and getting Christian to the point where he can do at least one thing on offense—corner threes maybe—are key points for next season. I'm not sure how much more Michigan is going to get out of Morgan and Morris and we have an idea of what Hardaway will become. The shooting guard will be a white guy who shoots threes and occasionally Carlton Brundidge. The four is the biggest issue.

Beilein's bedroom. Has a poster of Jon Leuer where other people put Megan Fox. Jesus. He has a 119 ORtg and he's taking nearly a third of Wisconsin's shots! Random mock draft has him going in the second round to the Pistons, which okay. I'm all over that. I can't imagine him being not useful.

Also, Beilein has to be looking at Keaton Nankivil and thinking "where can I get a 6'8" to shoot 48% from three?" Either that or "was that guy in The Usual Suspects?"

Late game strategy. I was fine with it; the problem came on the last foul when Michigan could only burn a second or two off the clock. If they get a bit more Wisconsin is trying to shoot with three seconds. As it was, Michigan really needed to not have three guys in the paint by the time the pass was made. That ball was going up.

Senior day? What are they going to do for it? Are they going to bother with it?

Elsewhere

UMHoops recap. Talking from players afterwards. Photo gallery. Mets Maize on the thing. Wojo. Wisconsin has no problem with the end-game strategy, so there's that.

Comments

pasadenablue

February 24th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^

I hope there's another post soon, or else those awful pictures at the top are going to haunt and taunt me all fucking day.

 

On a related note, does anyone know of any charitable foundations I can donate to that support the elimination of backboards?

DesHow21

February 24th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^

realised that all that get in are  NOT "top tier mid majors" ? Just because you win the souther atlantic coastal division state polytechnics conference, you should not get in ahead of the no.6 or no.7 team in the freaking big ten.

 

My rule would be no pity auto bids. Everyone gets in based on SOS and number of wins. What is wrong with that?

Michigan4Life

February 24th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

wouldn't happen according to your proposal. They won MAAC but since you don't want pity auto-bids, they won't be in the NCAA tourney.  The NCAA tourney would be populated with a bunch of power conference teams.

 

The top-tier mid-majors teams like Xavier, Gonzaga, Butler and to name a few are just as good if not better than most of the middle of the pack power conference teams.

 

Beside, it's moot point because middle of the pack power conference teams and mid-majors would be gone by Sweet 16.  More times than not, the cream rise to the top.

M-Wolverine

February 24th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^

Shouldn't get in. He was saying base it on merit, let them in, but keep out the one's that are only in because they won a horrid conference. If the analysts know who the mid-majors who are good, could make a run, or at least pull an upset special and differentiate them from the cannon fodder, I would hope the committee could do the same.

El Jeffe

February 24th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^

New rule: backboards should be made of this shit here:

If you're not man enough to swish it, you shouldn't be playing. And yes, I'm including you, Tim Duncan.

Kilgore Trout

February 24th, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^

Between last night, last week at Illinois, OSU in the BTT, and MSU at Crisler last year, I've had enough last second gut punches in the last year.  You have to figure one of these goes our way eventually, right?

BTW, I know a thing or two about Tralfamadore .

jamiemac

February 24th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

Weird. Here's me, somebody who told Brian at a tailgate this fall, that I live in my own world of unbridled optimism when it comes to my teams, who really all season refused to believe that this team wasnt going to make the tournament, is downright down in the fucking dumps about last night because it was all there for Michigan........

And, Brian who has been admittedly sad panda about his clubs, especially the state of hoops, actually pumped to a certain degree over last night and passing the peace pipe of optimism

I dont know what to think. I feel like the old MGoBlog just came back.

Nice post. This team is still making the tournament. And, next year will compete legit for its first regular season Big 10 Championship in 25 years.

Go Blue, Beat Minnesota

bluebyyou

February 24th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^

Did anyone's wife besides mine give them funny looks last night as that shot went down?

I couldn't stop yelling repeatedly "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Today is a better day and there is definitley hope for the future of Michigan hoops, but sleep came slowly last night.

If I owned a shotgun, I'd be tempted to walk around the neighborhood blowing up backboards.

New Kid On The Blog

February 24th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^

Don't blame the backboard when Michigan can't hit a free throw down the stretch. That's two games the Wolverines could have won if they would just hit from the strip. However, painfull loses like last night should build character down the road.

kevin holt

February 24th, 2011 at 3:38 PM ^

You lived right by me. If we lived in that house, that'd be crazy. I mean there's a lot of houses around here obviously, but I could get there in like 30 seconds probably. A blog legend lived near me, pretty sweet.

I'm sure my house would have many-a-hole (a-hole lolol) in the wall if our walls weren't hard as a rock

burtcomma

February 24th, 2011 at 4:00 PM ^

Was the Colorado home football game and the aftermath of it as Kordell Stewart threw the 70 yd td pass that was tipped in the end zone and caught right in front of me in 1994 by Michael Westbrook.  And, similiar to how we missed free throws here, we had a 3rd and 1 a few plays before this that could have allowed us to run out the clock but got called for an illegal motion penalty and wound up running the ball and punting........

 

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Kilgore Trout

February 24th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^

Colorado felt worse.  Dead silence except for that little pocket of Colorado fans.  Last night sucked, but you kind of felt it coming, though not in such a ridiculous way.  It never occurred to me that Colorado would complete that pass. 

The clock game at MSU was the worst I've seen in person though.  The level of just rage in me was more than I've ever felt.  At least at the Colorado game and last night you just felt like fortune was ripping you off, not an actual dude.  And of course you didn't have to deal with a-holes screaming in your face.

M-Wolverine

February 24th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^

I can take losing, though I hate it. Just don't steal it from me. That game can still drive me into a rage thinking about it.
<br>
<br>On a pain level, bringing it back to basketball, it'll take a lot for any game to ever surpass the pain of the time-out game. That was their legacy, and watch how the NCAA of the time would have avoided voiding games by a National Champ. It could be argued the end of that game has ruined Michigan basketball for 20 years.
<br>
<br>There are some brutal pro games too....

sully1971

February 24th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^

FYI, I lived at 1331 Geddes in college....One night 2 of my roomates got into a heated discussion over who gets to pour the tequila.  Obviously, some details are fuzzy but the end result was that the loser of the argument stormed off weeping and kicked a large hole in the wall at the top of the stairs.

The hole remained most of the year, discreetly hidden behind a well placed Labatt's Blue poster.  The 'weeping offender' attempted a patch job 2 days before we moved out (security deposit intact).

Perhaps it is the house?

BlueDragon

February 24th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^

I lived in a house on Broadway Street in the North Campus Outback (address redacted to protect the innocent).  We had locks on the basement doors but no keys to go with them and the locks were extremely solid-built jobs that couldn't be opened by sliding a plastic card under the door or prying it open with a screwdriver.  One day, I locked myself out, and given that I had class in half an hour, I kicked and scratched and dug a hole through the drywall to the inner latch to let myself in.  This was about three months before we were scheduled to move out so I covered up the hole with some newspapers for privacy.  I kept putting off getting a new door but eventually the nagging of my roommates prevailed.  I got the cheapest door I could find, which was $40 and was actually a drywall front door.  So, there's a front door on the room I stayed in senior year at Michigan.

aiglick

February 24th, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^

This season isn't over. Disclaimer: no matter what happens the team has been great and NIT is not a letdown at all and is an accomplishment. HOWEVER, if Michigan can win these last two games there is a chance at the five seed in the BTT. If we could win two games and were to lose in the finals that might be enough to get into the NCAA. This team could also win the BTT outright starting on Friday as opposed to Thursday. Looking forward to Saturday's game.

Raffi

February 24th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^

Hey Brian,

We sure did have a lot of man fun, but wasn't it your bout with Jim Secreto that led to that hole in the wall?  Not trying to nitpick, but I'm all for factual accuracy.