managed to remove himself from the headlights briefly at Ohio State.  I thought hew as going to develop from there but he hasn't.  He has the look of a potential miss.  I think it is only a matter of time before Winston is very good, Langford not so much.

on defense to see much less of him. With the two short guards, we can't also afford to have MAAR or Robinson playing the three.  But being able to stick him in the corner like we did his freshmen year and not asking him to create would be very nice.  Would be huge if Walton keeps playing like this (certainly possible) and if MAAR is able to keep doing what he did tonight (unlikely).

Funny that one of Ace's keys to the game was "Do something, Zak Irvin" when really it should just be "Don't do anything so you don't waste a bunch of possessions, Zak Irvin." 

I certainly would like to see the X + Walton package more, but Nairn really made that possible in this game since he essentially doesn't even require a defender.

was Simpson was a highly rated recruit (higher than Wilson) and Mr. Basketball in Ohio.  There were some lofty pre-season expectations for him on this board, and as is often the case on the board, when expectations aren't met, the abilities of a player are quickly downgraded.

I think people have been writing him off more for this season than for his whole career. - thinking he's a year away.   At least I hope so.

has always been a 6'10 freak athlete with a nice looking jumper.  He blocked a massive 8.4 percent of opponents shots last year, shot 60 percent from two and better than 30 percent from three. He wasn't awful, he just looked lost at times and that is easily correctable.  Has all the talent and physical tools to be an NBA player.  I said it all last year, that him making a leap would be the best path to improvement this year, because he has the most talent on the team, and that's turned out to to be the case.  So it wasn't everyone that thought he was awful.

And others have nailed it with X: his height puts him at a real risk of not being effective at the P5 level. He has to be so good in other aspects of the game to make up for it (penetrating, shooting, getting steal, pressuring the ball on D) because he doesn't have the elite physical tools.  It looked like he wouldn't be a factor this year, and that he might go through some growing pains next year on his way to being a possibly useful player.  Last night was a tiny sample, sure, but it looks like he could be ready to be a plus player next year.

The reaction by this fan base to Simpson's 7pt 2 assist stat line is  reminiscent of any time Kam Chatman made a couple baskets. 

"Promising"  "Don't write Kam off yet"  "I think he turned the corner" 

The eye test doesn't lie.  Simpson is not and will never be a starting caliber big ten point guard.  We need to upgrade the position asap.

Yes, Walton has been incredible, but let's not revise history here.  Walton had been a mediocre Big Ten PG for the 2.5 seasons prior to that team meeting he called after the Illinois game seemed to turn him into a new player.  Before that game, the best player argument was between DJ and probably Irvin with Wagner being the guy with the best offensive potential but a knack for getting into foul trouble and getting lost on defense.

We got to 11-4 and had arguably a better tourney resume than we have now with Walton being mostly replaceable.  X can certainly be as good as that Walton next year, maybe even better.  You're right that he won't replace the Walton we've seen the past month.  Hopefully the rest of the team can continue to play like last night (and that he can keep it up), so we don't waste this version of Walton with a missed tourney.

But I agree that other aspects need to improve for this team to be better, and it's reasonable to assume further improvement from Wagner (he has a long way to go on defense and being able to stay on the floor) and Wilson.  Plus, I expect Teske to provide backup center minutes more effectively than Donnal has this yeear.  So there should be improvements everywhere but PG, and I'm now more optimistic the dropoff won't be massive.

With all due respect, you don't see why being embarassed and humiliated at Crisler might not give Indiana a little more incentive and reason for higher intensity?

Combine that with our road record, history at Assembly, reason for the 30-point win (all the 3-balls falling, not likely to happen again at Assembly), our up and down nature, the fact IU has to protect their home court to get in tourney, among other things, and IU "seems" like a good bet for the W to me.

Look, there is no such thing as a lock in sports, and I suppose it's hyperbole to make a point.

This is a great opportunity for UM to rise up and smash all those trends by playing with effort and great D.  That is what I will be rooting for.  

I am sure Indiana is not "confident" of victory entering the game after the drubbing, but I predict they will come out with great intensity, further fueled by the atmosphere at Assembly Hall.

I am just pointing out the trends in sports, and in gambling.  As soon as you think you have something figured out and make a big wager, the opposite seems to happen.

I cannot remember betting against UM in any sport, ever.  I have too much emotional skin in the game.  If anything, I am guilty of the reverse.  I take them too many times based on emotion rather than reason.  

Michigan is 2 for their last 27 at Indiana - a stretch which pre-dates the Fab 5 - with wins coming in 1995 & 2009. The Fab 5 was 1-3 overall vs. Indiana. Their loss there in 1993 was a particularly crushing 92-93 affair, which featured some brutal foul calls down the stretch as I remember, and ended up costing M a share of the B1G title. Michigan hasn't won back-to-back games at Assembly Hall since '85-'86. 

That was a depressing fact check. 

think they were able to miraculously make it feel rather "Godfather-esque" considering the amount of time that had passed.  Both Andy Garcia and Sophia Copolla were trainwrecks, no dispute here, but I did not think it was a complete miss.  To say that it is the worst of the three goes without saying, but as kind of a standalone conclusion to the story I think it largely worked.