After Illinois/tsio today, who stands between M and a B1G title?

Submitted by MaizeMN on

Illinois handled tsio quite easily. Who do you feel is the biggest challenge Michigan will face in the BIG this season? Most seem to think IU, but IMHO, the Illini or Minnesota may be the biggest roadblock.

Mod edit: Changed the title to make the contents more clear (the game thread is below). Also a friendly reminder that anything involving Big Ten teams or future opponents is not off topic. JGB.

Tater

January 5th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^

There's a lot of basketball to be played yet.  A team can't win the Big Ten Championship in January or Febuary, but it certainly can lose it.  I want to see this team peak at NCAA Tournament time.  If they are playing 5-on-5, as opposed to a dreaded 5-on-8 matchup against Duke, they can beat anyone.  Unfortunately, any team in the Big Ten can spring an upset at any time, too.  

As long as the Wolverines can grab a 1, 2, or 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they will have a great chance to make the Final Four.  To me, that is what really matters.

Blue Ninja

January 5th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^

I agree its way to early to be dreaming of winning the B1G. I agree UM is looking to be the cream of the crop or at worst in the top 2, and I believe the national media is under-appreciating them thus far. But it's just a matter of time until someone beats them and in this conference outside the bottom 2-3 teams there's no shame in that.

Once UM does lose I think the national media will hound them because they don't think UM is that good and they will be justified in their beliefs. That said the only thing UM can do is stay focused and win. Good things come to those who persevere.

Illinois is for real.

IU is still very good and very dangerous. Can we match up inside?

TSIO can still give us fits on a good day.

Minnesota looks to be for real.

MSU will likely not beat us but wouldn't surprise me if they snag one. They still have talent.

Outside these 5 teams I don't see anyone beating UM, but on an off-day anything can happen.

funkywolve

January 6th, 2013 at 1:02 AM ^

Isn't UM ranked second in the country??  I could understand that comment if they were ranked 7th, 8th, etc, but the media has them second.  The announcers during the games I've seen are usually gushing over how solid UM looks.

chris1709

January 5th, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^

Michigan has no chance against msu. Keith Appling and Gary Harris are the best 1-2 combination in all of basketball. Dawson is the number 1 offensive rebounder and payne/ nix will rip morgans ass apart. Trey burke is good but mich is young and Hardaway will disappear like last year. Morgan straight up sucks and is the biggest gump ass on any court. Mich has no bench and will have at most 3 wins in the B1G.

 

justingoblue

January 5th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^

don't take anything the wrong way, nobody is replying to the comment above. I got distracted and didn't hit the cave button on a guy who needed it, and these replies were to a questionably intelligent assessment of Michigan's roster.

BoFan

January 5th, 2013 at 8:58 PM ^

The key games are Indiana, any road game, and any rival game (MSU, OSU). Feb 2 is the first Indiana game. What will be fun is the final game is Indiana at home.

Young John Beilein

January 5th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^

HALOL at anyone that thinks Illinois will contend for the big ten title.  They will have some unexpected wins, but will not be consistent enough over the course of the season. IU will be the biggest threat with Minny, MSU, and OSU probably next in that order.