ESPN: Guards make Michigan favorite to win NCAA Tournament
According to this article on ESPN, the strong guard play on our team helps to make us the favorite to win the NCAA tournament. It even goes so far as to say we have the best backcourt in all of college basketball and states "Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke are the new Dereck Whittenburg and Sidney Lowe, maybe better." It also goes on to list several other guards and it's a pretty good read.
This hype does not bode well....
They couldn't just leave well enough alone, could they?
But, KenPom has M a 1 point favorite. KenPom does not lie.
Unless of course M is only supposed to beat the Havoc by one point.
So we're going to beat Kansas by 25? I can't wait!
Pretty bold statement. Hopefully they're right.
Lo, the fickle sentiments of our talking head sports media culture. One week ago, they were falling all over themselves talking about how Michigan was on Upset Watch. Michigan plays well against two lesser teams, and suddenly we are the favorites, not only for the Kansas game, but for the tournament generally?
The team that scores more points within the specified amount of time will win the game
Shit. Just tell us again how we suck and are lucky to get a 4 seed.
make up your freaking mind?
I DO think guard play is critical in the tourney, and I believe we've got the best guard tandem. But their four senior starters versus our four freshmen leads me to believe that we could crumble. (Is age any part of Kenpom's calculus?) And I for one won't hold it against 'em.
Yeah...no...I'm going with Kansas on Saturday.
I think it boils down to our other starters, outside of THJ and Burke. We know, typically, what we're getting out of those two. What we don't know is whether or not we're getting a hot or cold Stauskus, man-child or just child Mcgary, and GR3 can either explode or be very quiet depending on the competition.
Hopefully the game opens with a Stauskus 3 and a Mcgary putback against Withey on the next possession. Then I'll feel a little better.
Last week people running as fast as they could to be the first media dude to predict we'd lose to SDSU, then the same for VCU. Now we smoke VCU and everyone's running as fast as they can to see who can overhype us the most
"Michigan's going to beat Kansas"
"Michigan's going to the final four"
"Michigan's going to win the whole thing"
"Michigan's going to win the whole thing and they have the greatest guard combo ever"
"MICHIGAN IS THE GREATEST TEAM EVER. KAREEM ABDUL JABBAAR WOULD SIT ON THE BENCH FOR THIS MICHIGAN TEAM, CERTAINLY THE BEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY IN SPORTS. WHY EVEN PLAY THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT?"
And when we lose they can make hay trashing their coverage from earlier in the week. I love the media business cycle.
Lets Beat Kansas first.....
Lets Beat Kansas first.....
You can say that again.
I think I may have whiplash from the way the media have reversed themselves.
the problem is that scoop jackson is an idiot.
Having not watched ESPN (other than live games) in quite a while, I am astounded to hear that he still has a job there. That guy was terrible like 8 years ago.
Fuck you ESPN.
from Night Court?
It's unfortunate that Vegas isn't buying into this hype, or else I could make a killing betting against Michigan and take some of the sting of losing away at the same time.
This team has felt the lows (PSU) and has found itself again! I like their chances. Go ahead and admit we have great guard play! It's alright!
Go Blue!
This is the network that made Michigan a trendy choice to lose to VCU or even South Dakota State. You have to love the journalistic "integrity" of a sports "news" outlet that turns a team from "best chance to be upset in the first two rounds" to "best chance to win the tournament."
I think Michigan can win, but nobody can really be the "favorite," except maybe Louisville.
You just can't win: when Michigan gets a 4 seed, mgobloggers complain about the underrating, and the loss of respect. When Michigan gets reseeded as a 1 seed (by Metcalf, at least,) bloggers complain that everyone will gun for us, and we won't make it, an we're overrated. We just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. I'm glad they're here!
Or maybe people (like me) thought we should be a 3 seed. In which case a 4 is underrated and a 1 is overrated. It's not that crazy
March 27th, 2013 at 11:44 PM ^
Well put, Stephen. As I read the article I began to think that it was far too glowing and the cynic in me began to speak up, but then I thought, "Oh, what the hell? I'll ride the hype train for once!" This is fun! Someone at ESPN is saying that Michigan is the favorite for an NCAA Men's Basketball National Title!!??!?! Wheee!!!!
that Beilein did a crappy job coaching, because hey, he's got the best guard tandem in the country.
There's one coach who is loving all this late bandwagoning UM hype: Bill Self.
March 27th, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
Why does everyone care so much when a major site like ESPN, CBS or SI publishes an article with content related to Michigan.
The opinion of the majority of their writers isn't any more informed than most fans who watch a lot of basketball. These articles are not a big deal.
Also, I think your post could say "Scoop Jackson: Guards make michigan favorite" instead of "ESPN: guards make michigan favorite".
ESPN doesn't necessarily think or not think that Michigan is the favorite, just Scoop Jackson, who I may add, has an opinion that is pretty close to worthless IMO.
Also, Michigan shouldn't be considered the favorite because they have one of the toughest roads to win the title.
March 28th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
that both Michigan and msu looked much better than either regular season champ IU, or tourney champ osu ... and IF we can continue to play at that level we certainly can beat ANY TEAM. Pretty big IF for team that struggled at times during the season. I personally don't want to see either IU or osu again ... msu - yeah cause we simply are better than they are.
Regardless ... enjoy this cause its been a long time coming !
Go Blue!