Wisconsin 71, Michigan 60
The season may very well be over, and that might be for the best. This Michigan squad squeezed every last bit of talent and effort out of an undersized, overmatched, and exceedingly young group over the last couple months, to the point that I'm not sure they have much left to prove this year. This team battled harder than anyone expected after the losses of Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton, and there's little doubt they're going to be dangerous as all hell next year.
For the first 15 minutes of today's matchup against the Goliaths of Wisconsin, Michigan looked to be on their way to a stunning upset. Eventually, though, the mismatches up front caught up to the Wolverines, who started the game with Zak Irvin guarding Frank Kaminsky and Max Bielfeldt on Nigel Hayes. The Badgers closed the first half on an 18-4 run and kept Michigan at bay, though not by much, through the second half.
The Badgers won by virtue of size, talent, and experience. Aubrey Dawkins looked the part of a freshman against Sam Dekker, who led Wisconsin with 17 points and pulled down four offensive rebounds. Hayes managed nine points and three offensive boards of his own. Kaminsky talled 16 and 12 against a wave of double-teams. Fittingly, a Hayes putback after Kaminsky drew in M's interior defenders proved to be the final nail in the coffin.
But man, did Michigan fight. Irvin once again raised expectations for next year with a tremendous all-around performance. He scored 21 points on 9/18 shooting, hitting an array of NBA-level midrange shots, knocking down three of his seven triples, and finding his way to the basket. Tasked with cleaning the glass against Wisconsin's huge front line, he recorded 11 rebounds, all on defense, which was one off a career high. For good measure, he added three assists and three steals; a baseline dish to Ricky Doyle looked like it was ripped straight from Spike Albrecht's highlight reel.
Doyle, who's been quiet of late, gamely battled Kaminsky in the post, and got the better of the Big Ten Player of the Year his fair share of times: Doyle hit all six of his shots from the field to tally 12 points. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had a couple great takes to the hoop on his way to eight points on 4/7 shooting. Albrecht added ten, highlighted by a couple deep threes.
So, yes, Michigan lost, but the positive indicators for next season were everywhere: a pivoting Doyle finish against Kaminsky, Albrecht dribbling through defenders like Steph Curry before pulling up for a jumper, Dawkins throwing down an Irvin miss on the break, Rahk blowing by the defense for a layup, Kam Chatman tossing an inch-perfect entry pass to Doyle for a layup.
The Wolverines didn't have quite enough juice to overcome one of the best teams in the country. Suddenly, though, the big question for next year is this: how is John Beilein going to find playing time for all these promising young guys? After a season replete with real problems, that's one heck of a good problem.
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Moral victory: Wisconsin still has to wear those unis in public.
I'm tempted to throw some blame the refs way for the sequence in the first half where I thought they swallowed their whistles on three straight Wisconsin infractions, but I'm going to point to a different situation that I think turned the game.Late in the game with the score close there were THREE 50/50 plays that all went Wisconsin's way.
- After a WI miss there was a battle between Irvin and Frank (I think) with Wisconsin ending up with the ball and a three point make.
- On another rebound attempt there is a battle for the ball between Dawkins and one of the buzzcuts with Dawkins being called for a foul. It may have been the right call, but it could have gone either way or as a play-on.
- Shortly after that there is a loose ball out by the elbow that Doyle seemed to have, only to bobble it away to Wisconsin.
I can't bear to rewatch those plays, but I think it was like a 5-7 point swing for them and that is right when they started pulling away.
We lost because of youth, size, crappy refs, and Wisconsin being great.....but those three toss up plays could have been huge. It sort of matches the symbolism with the four OT losses that could have gone either way.
Bring on the NIT!!!
If you watch play #2 again, you will see the Wisc. player jump right into Dawkins before the foul. That should have been called.
This team as currently construed and at its age could not have played better. That's all you can ask.
As discussed, it'll be much better next year, even before the additions/returns.
Yes, wasn't the season we wanted in terms of victories, but is plenty to be excited about here.
On a side note, how the F!CK does a team not shoot a free throw in a game when both teams were pretty physical at times? Ref's didn't do us any favors today. No excuses, just pointing out facts.
it's very easy for me to get over it when there are so many reasons for the struggles and so many reasons for real hope next year. If you look at the loss of so many players to the NBA and injuries to key players this year, I'm surprised we did as well as we did. They've been inconsistent... wildly good at times and smh bad at others, but you can clearly see they should be much better next year if everyone stays. Beilein looks like an even better coach to me in this down year because of what he's gotten out of this young crew.
I do hope they make the NIT to get some more experience. No shame in that.
March 13th, 2015 at 11:01 PM ^
I agree, but don't forget the transfer. Almost everyone seems to forget about Horford. If he stuck around, it wouldn't be a stretch to believe Michigan would have likely won at one or two more games, quite possibly more. I know he left because of family pressure and some sense he would magically transform into an NBA prospect with different coaching, but looking at his statistics from this season they are virtually identical to his statistics at Michigan last year.
There's no such thing as it being for the best when the season ends unless there's a bunch of guys playing hurt or it's a total losing disaster of a season. This one wasn't up to expectations, but there's no way to spin it as good if we get left out of the NIT.
Going to be a heck of a basketball team next season. Hopefully play some more games in NIT. Go Blue!!!
we only had 8 scholarship players that could play and 5 of them were freshmen. By the end of the year, that team was able to beat OSU, blow out Rutgers and Illinois and hang with the #5 team in the country. Take this team and add in Walton, Robinson, Wilson (and maybe 2 more players) and we can be pretty good next year.
I sure hope they can get a few more games in the NIT.
Would love to see someone put together a 'Best Of Spike' video.
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