Great Hoops Saturday
Very good hoops win at the Garden against a good, Top 25 Rutgers team today. What a terrific overall game by Brandon Johns! And the cherry on top - a Sparty loss at Wisconsin.
Big week at home vs. the Bucknuts and Sparty next week. But let's enjoy a nice Meeeeechigan win today!
Cheers!
February 1st, 2020 at 7:39 PM ^
Johns had a real nice week.
February 1st, 2020 at 7:41 PM ^
One could say he's having "a real good time"
Cue Pitbull banner.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
I’ll bet Izzo really wishes Johns didn’t get away. I know MSU fans wish they had him since they are lacking at the 4.
February 2nd, 2020 at 3:11 AM ^
Me thinks they are definitely going to regret Johns getting away come Saturday
February 1st, 2020 at 7:47 PM ^
Using torviks rankings, we now have 5 wins vs top 20 opponents. Our worst loss is to either @ #37 Minnesota or at home vs #21 Illinois (ugh!). It's been a tough stretch without Livers, but our resume is still pretty strong.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:58 PM ^
the net is far more important than Torvik, now way the committee puts a 11-10 Purdue team in its top 20. UM has two top-20 wins, but the committee would look at quad 1 wins, and Michigan has four Q1 wins.
February 1st, 2020 at 7:51 PM ^
+1 for Meeeeechigan!!!!!!
GO BLUE ??
February 1st, 2020 at 7:52 PM ^
Blew my pessimistic prediction right out the water—they shot well from the field, and the refs weren't as awful as I thought they'd be.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:40 PM ^
Let's be fair - refs were very kind to Michigan today. Their bigs got in foul trouble early, and Michigan got away with some physical play and reach-ins.
There have been games this year where Michigan really got shafted - today we got the home cookin' - and let's face it, MSG might as well be A2, with all the success we've had there.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:53 PM ^
Rutgers earned every one of their fouls today. They play very physical and got away with plenty.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:55 PM ^
I agree with this. I think most here thought we got a fair whistle, I'd say we got a friendly one.
February 1st, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
How?! It was fair. A rare thing. I would have no clue what to think if a Rutgers fan was pissed about officiating. What did we get away with?! What 50/50 calls did we "steal"?! There was no advantage, it was a mostly clean called game minus giving Rutgers the ball when replay clearly showed it hit off of...Rutgers.
February 1st, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I think we got the majority of calls today.
Please note: I"m THRILLED we got a couple of breaks, and don't feel the game was won due to refs (unlike a couple of our losses).
Fouls were 21-12 in our favor, and FTs were 24-5. That's a big disparity. Obviously some due to end of game fouling - but not everything.
IMO, early in the game Rutgers' bigs got called for aggressive play down low while Michigan for the most part didn't. Their early foul trouble definitely helped us. I think if things were reversed and Teske and Johns got those fouls we'd have been upset.
You asked for specifics, so I'll mention a couple instances. I thought one of Johnson's fouls in the first half was ticky-tac, as was one of Baker's in the second; and early in the second half two Michigan guys aggressively swatted a Rutgers shot - a nice defensive play, but definitely some body contact; could have been called, but fortunately wasn't.
OTOH, while Rutgers' bigs all got hit with a lot of fouls, I thought their guards got away with a ton of hand-checking and overly physical defense - contributing to some of Simpson's TOs.
Overall, I feel the foul disparity pretty much matches my sense of the officiating today - we got a few breaks.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:04 PM ^
Fair enough. And maybe I'm fitting this game into the macro and so, if you say Rutgers bigs got called with some possibly ticky tac calls, well, I've seen the same thing called on our guys over the year(s)...which possibly affected the outcomes of some of our losses. And so...it somewhat equaled into fair play. I do think most of Rutgers early fouls were legit but I'm not going to pretend I can remember all of them nor that I had some views you guys didn't. Maybe you'd be right upon rewatching and many of our calls were a bit misleading. Again, I think overall the calls that were called should have been, we got calls against us called, and for once our guys were allowed to go after rebounds and bang away like most other teams are allowed to do.
I also think Simpson's charge call he got was a bit bullshit. Setting up on your own end of the court as a guy is catching and turning on a fast break? Like, that's sort of some bullshit. Was he there and set? Well, yea I guess. Meh.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:02 PM ^
The fuck are you talking about? The refs tried to give Rutgers the game at the end with that fraudulent review. Thank God we made free throws
February 1st, 2020 at 7:55 PM ^
It’s nice to win one.
February 1st, 2020 at 7:56 PM ^
Keep rolling fellas!
Unranked Michigan beating ranked Rutgers sounds weird but glad they did.
February 1st, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^
There’s a lot of things about 2020 that are weird in all kinds of ways.
February 2nd, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
They can only be understood in hindsight.
:rimshot
February 1st, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
Huzzzzah!
February 1st, 2020 at 8:08 PM ^
I had a good time at the Garden today. Large Rutgers presence that was consistently loud but happy to see the team. Big win. Who knows maybe we steal the Rutgers game at their place in a few weeks.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:10 PM ^
Lucky dog- looked like a lot of fun.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
That was a freaking HUGE win! Gut-Check time. Kudos to the boys. Let's build from this!!!
GO BLUE!!
February 1st, 2020 at 8:14 PM ^
It is a great Saturday. Michigan won and MSU lost. It was a real groin punch for Sparty to lose to Wisconsin. Oh wait...Davison didn't play.
February 1st, 2020 at 9:22 PM ^
Sweep the leg, Davvy....Not that one
February 1st, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
Huge win. Two in a row, right when we really needed it.
i thought the Nebraska game was the worse we have looked in years and today was the best we have played since The Battle for Atlantis. There were some sloppy plays here and there, but the effort was great, we played better defense and made some shots.
how bout my man, Austin Davis. Way to go big guy.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^
Observation - Michigan is pretty fantastic in neutral site games. Dating all the way back to the Barclays games in the Beilein era. We always seem to play very well.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:44 PM ^
Hell, you can go back further than that
Beilein's first signature win at Michigan was against top 5 UCLA in MSG on 2008. Funny that I remember watching that game live when I was 11. The start to more of a decade of great basketball memories and experiences
February 2nd, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
Funny that I remember watching that game live when I was 11.
Thanks for making me feel old.
February 1st, 2020 at 9:23 PM ^
His 4-4 was more than the 6 point margin of victory. I wouldn't care if they were all dunks, to get that from someone down the bench is huge.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:10 PM ^
Enjoyed that nifty up and under layup.
February 1st, 2020 at 11:04 PM ^
If you thought the Nebraska game was the worst weve looked in years you must not have watch this years Louisville game or last seasons Texas Tech game
February 1st, 2020 at 8:38 PM ^
Msu losing was bad for Michigan. We are battling Wisconsin on the bubble, not msu for the big ten title. It was good overall though as creighton also got a big win over Villanova making our resume look better
February 1st, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
MSU losing is NEVER bad for Michigan.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:45 PM ^
I won't ever complain about Sparty getting beat.
It feels to me like Michigan's fate is in their own hands - if they finish out the season reasonably well they're in the tournament.
Hope Livers returns relatively soon. Brooks, Johns and Wagner all seem to be trending up - still inconsistent, but getting there.
Today was a big win - I believe in the boys.
Go Blue!
February 1st, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^
Yeah, I don't care much what Sparty does. They can suck it, but I'm not going to pay much attention.
9-11 would make our first BTT game against a lower seed. Win that and we're in the Big Dance. If we were sitting at 3-7, that would look very difficult. At 4-6, it's just .500 from here out. Take 3 or the next four, we're back to .500 at 7-7, needing only two more wins to get to 9-11, and one of the last 6 is home against Nebraska.
Not that 9-11 is our ceiling, it's just a likely cutoff from a reasonable season to a disappointing one.
February 1st, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
This point is why we will never understand human reasoning. Ever. Excuse me, I must leave now to evacuate my family from "Betelgeuse" LOL.
February 2nd, 2020 at 3:18 AM ^
Sucks for your planet, but Betelgeuse going up is going to be cool...
February 1st, 2020 at 10:36 PM ^
It’s official, ak47 don’t know sheeet...
February 1st, 2020 at 8:42 PM ^
Beat the two teams we live to hate!
February 1st, 2020 at 8:51 PM ^
Great job by Howard and the boys - they’re adjusting, adapting and sorting through their weaknesses - great win, great coaching, great team win.
February 1st, 2020 at 10:26 PM ^
On the downside, Minnesota-Duluth got swept this weekend, a very disappointing turn after a great swing last weekend.
On the upside, Michigan got a good win.
On the interesting side, it can be fun to watch players grow their game. Check out this highlight reel of Iggy from a G-League game. Note how much new stuff he has added to his game--passing off of ballscreen action for a nice assist, new moves on drives to create space, hitting on the run rather than just spot up receptions. He's doing well.
February 1st, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
Iggy would be unstoppable this year if he stayed in college, legit player of the year candidate
February 1st, 2020 at 10:44 PM ^
Thanks for sharing that SRK. Hope Iggy plays his way into a good NBA career - though sure would have loved to see what he could have done with us this year.
Young kids, for the most part, get better. It's why I'll never buy into the belief that underclassmen "are who they are".
Many guys consistently improve throughout their college (even pro) careers - but there's also plenty of guys who seem stuck/lost until they finally flip the switch and reach their potential (not referring to Iggy here, but rather guys like DJ Wilson and a few guys on the current team).
Gotta say, many of my favorite Wolverines are those guys who kept grinding and didn't become stars until late in their careers.
February 1st, 2020 at 10:31 PM ^
Really couldn’t have turned out any better
February 1st, 2020 at 10:48 PM ^
And there’s a report that Michigan is making
huge waves with Shareef O’Neal too by Balas
February 2nd, 2020 at 1:38 AM ^
Huge W. Move on...
February 2nd, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^
Crazy that Rutgers had 36 more shots than Michigan and they still won.