Ohio State Bullets
3/15/2014 – Michigan 72, Ohio State 69 – 25-7, 15-3 Big Ten, BTT Finalists
IN YOUR FACE CHARLIE MURPHY [Dustin Johnston/UMHoops]
Sometimes when you're on. Good lord man. This team is capable of sending anyone watching into a fit of giggles as shot after shot splashes down. The general process:
- All right, here we go.
- YES!
- ON FIAH!
- Wow.
- WOW.
- /giggling fit
As Michigan extended to a 16-point lead early despite Ohio State doing offensive things that are well out of character (IE: making shots), it was giggle fit time. Michigan has previously done this to Nebraska and Illinois in the process of running them out of the building. If they're fortunate enough to make a tourney run at least one win will be reminiscent of the Florida game last year, wherein there is a period of death from above that leaves the other team looking like Dresden.
Welp. I don't know, man. Michigan's defense looked pretty good to me in the mirror universe where Shannon Scott remains Shannon Scott. Scott entered the game a 28% three point shooter and a 38% shooter on two point jumpers. He got zero looks at the rim and yet exited with 18 points on ten shots. Yeah, most of his jumpers were not particularly contested, but there's a reason for that. When Scott elevates for a jumper you have just done a good job as a defense.
The other problem with the defense was a problem with the offense. Steve Kerr mentioned that all of Michigan's seven first half turnovers were live-ball situations. Live-ball turnovers lead to transition, and transition leads to sadness. Michigan failed to push the margin out to crippling levels because of uncharacteristic sloppiness when Ohio State turned up the pressure.
Other than that, the defense did what it wanted to do: protect the rim and live with whatever else happens. OSU just hit shots they usually don't.
Hidden in the terror is a comfortable-ish win. Michigan was 10/19 from the line, well below their season average. Jordan Morgan was the biggest part of that, as he went 2/7. That dropped his season total from 62% to 57%.
Craft. When Craft does something Crafty and wins, there is a collective old white sportswriter dude explosion, and when he does something Crafty and loses, the OWSD collective sighs and shakes their head at a world full of haters. Forde is on it:
For all the many people who hate Aaron Craft, here’s your chance to pile on.
You’re a strange, sad lot. You’ve got issues. Ripping a guy with a 3.9 grade-point average who plays his guts out is a weirdly trendy thing to do for college basketball fans.
But for those disposed to do so, congrats. Today is Bash Aaron Craft Day.
I'm not here to bash Aaron Craft, but let's be clear: he is a role player. He is the apotheosis of the role player, sure, but the reason people get cranky about Aaron Craft is the never-ending hagiography for a guy who is merely a pretty good player.
There is frankly a racial component to this. You don't see people falling all over themselves to hype up Briante Weber, whose VCU team is ranked and headed for about the same seed as OSU thanks in large part to Weber's third consecutive year at the top of the Kenpom steals leaderboard. Or his teammate Shannon Scott, who is also top ten in steals. It's Craft that gets glorified as the underrated gutty gritty leader in a way that is out of proportion to his talent.
That's unfair to the his teammates and Craft himself. I've long defended the guy whenever people try to trash his game (no offense to Derrick Walton, but put Craft on this Michigan team and oh my gawd), but that's because I love guys who can make an impact without using possessions. They need to be put with high-usage guys, though—you know, stars. Craft is not that. But he comes with an avalanche of hype enough to get him on the midseason Wooden list as he leads his team to a 10-8 Big Ten record while taking 15% of OSU's shots.
At its heart, Craft backlash is Forde-and-company backlash. Some of it's misdirected; a lot of it is from 14 year olds; everyone would be much better off if people in the media would just acknowledge that Craft is who he is. GIFs of aairballs are prominent because the media is insistent on pretending Aaron Craft is something other than what he is.
Please be a new meme, please be a new meme, please be a new meme. We've had planking and Bradying and all sorts of ing ings, and now there needs to be an internet full of pictures of clothed people sitting in bathtubs looking hard.
YOU DON'T WANT THIS
Is Glenn On Fire Watch. Another efficient game with 11 points on 9 shot equivalents, and he brought defensive impact with a couple of blocks and three steals. He's still alarmingly light on rebounds.
There is the hint of a recovery in his three point shooting, as well. Over the last four games he's 5/13. Not much to go on for a guy who was at 32% last year and is at 28% this year, sure. Still another data point for those hoping Glenn is this year's tourney Mitch.
Is Stauskas Human Watch. NOPE.
I mean, he does that crossover to three pointer thing.
Death from above watch. Michigan's quest to end the season with five guys shooting 40% from three is very, very close. Walton is at .398, Spike at .390. LeVert has pulled himself a couple points above the line, sitting next to Irvin. Stauskas can't even see 40% unless he's got binoculars.
Seeding business. Most observers from Lunardi to the Bracket Matrix have moved Michigan to the one line after Wisconsin's Big Ten Tourney exit, and a lot of folks are speculating that Michigan may be locked in to that spot no matter what happens today.
Here’s my prediction: Michigan gets the fourth No. 1 seed today regardless of whether it wins or loses the Big Ten title game.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 16, 2014
Seems pretty easy for the committee to have a contingency plan based on the result of the championship game, but in past years it has seemed like they ignore or at least downplay Sunday results.
If Michigan does get that one seed they'll be in the East and acquire a Michigan-friendly Madison Square Garden. In that event I withdraw my Syracuse request, as they're one of the few schools that could overwhelm Michigan's NYC fanbase.
It's pointless to mention this when they're just going to unveil the brackets in a few hours but I started this sentence anyway so I will proceed by mentioning that I am not a huge fan of Lunardi's bracket, which features Oklahoma State as the eight seed, and greatly prefer the GW/Stanford setup presented by Palm.
Another motivation to get that one: Louisville has moved up to the three line on just about everyone's bracket, so a one can't draw the red hot 'Cards until a regional final.
For those of you who have read Ender's game, I feel like the media is sometimes playing the role of Colonel Graff in relation to the "star" player, who is Ender in this case.
When Ender gets to battle school, Graff intentionally and excessively hypes Ender in front of all his peers. This has the calculated effect of making his peers hate him and causes additional adversity that Ender has to overcome at Battle School.
The media tends to latch on to certain players and hype them far beyond thier actual talent level (departure from the analogy since Ender actually deserved the hype). Every time they seem shocked at the inevitable backlash towards the player that has been so forcefully shoved down our throats. Do they not realize (as Brian points out) that they are the very engine of our hate towards said player?
Scott is the most obvious example, as he's basically the same guy on the same team and the media attention is ridiculously out of whack. It's old white dudes in old media who cause the Craft hate.
he's pretty much saying what Brian said, no?
Loved that commentary on Craft. Couldn't have possibly been more spot on. The dude is a great player to have on your college team. Kind of like Tebow, except not nearly as awesome and replace the religion/morality with "could be a doctor."
What's the point?
They're in the Pacers' locker room because they're in Indianapolis, playing in the Pacers' home arena.
March 16th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^
Spot on, and a good reminder of the need to take the higher ground.
It's not Craft that's the problem (I guess), it's that whole owg machine that's making me nauseous...
Hmm not sure I like the I don't like you as a player but other people like you as a player and talk about it those people must be racist. Imagine the outrage if someone claimed Parker for Duke is being hyped because he is a great african american player at Duke.
Adidas should really provide us with bathing suits.
hey Buckeyes!
So you wanna take all the "M's" out of your words?
Sure. Why not. I took it a step further for ya, in fact. Subbed in "Ohio State" for "Michigan" in, oh, March Madness. Here's what you get when you put OSU where Michigan belongs in March:
O’erARCHing SADNESS...
What can I say?
Beware -- forevermore -- the Ides of March.
<3
I agree the hagiography surrounding Craft is nauseating and makes Craft a target for hatred. However, isn't Michigan accused of telling the same hagiography about itself? Outsiders percieve Michigan as portraying themsleves as morally superior relative to other programs, while ignoring the troubling things from their own past. I am not saying this is an accurate perception, I am only saying outsiders hate Michigan for the same reason as they hate Craft.
Being self-important is not quite the same thing. Which we are.
March 16th, 2014 at 10:10 PM ^
"the never-ending hagiography for a guy who is merely a pretty good player."
The could well describe what Zack Novak is to a large portion of the UM hoops fanbase. He was a great role player - a fun guy to root for, etc. but Michigan doesn't win half the games they did without Harris, Morris, and Burke carrying the offense around him.
Same old-white-guy stuff applies too. Look at GR3's stats and Novak through 2 years -- very very similar. Yet, because of expectations (recruiting profile, name), you get two totally different narratives for similarly productive undersized small-ball 4s.
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