Interesting Poll from Orangebloods - Updated

But seriously what the hell is that post above.

...great job.  Hilarious skit.

Ay Spegett!

My thoughts exactly.  And if our players were allowed to play defense like Duke players without getting whistled for it, the outcome might have been different.

you can always beat duke later

Theoretically, yes.  But we've never beaten them in the NCAA Tournament.  The few times we've even beaten them in the regular season (like in 1997 and 2008) were huge, huge moments.  To take them down in the tourney would have been even bigger.

Now, try to remember whom our highest-rated recruit was in the last five years.  Justin Turner, maybe?  Was signing that kid really that big of a deal, as it turned out?

For me, Michigan wasn't going to win a basketball title (or make the Final Four) either way. Maybe Clowney (my pick) is the next Lawrence Taylor from day one and gives Michigan a chance at something special in football over the next couple of seasons. The unknown is so much more exciting.

Wouldn't it depend on the slope of your indifference curve? 

A model of this would be very interesting to look at.

While utility is merely a subjective measure of "happiness", I think beating Duke would most likely increase the net utility across all Michigan fans.  There is a law of dimishing returns as you move up the recruting ranks.  What is the difference between the no 1 and 15 pick?  Very little.  Therefore, your marginal rate of return would not be that much bigger than our highest ranked recruit.

Beat Duke, we talk about it for years.  Get Clowney, fingers crossed on what happens next.

Ceteris Parabis, the basketball win would most maximize utility. I mean, if everything else stayed the same, the top recruit (most likely a DB) would be situated between not good players. That isn't what I would call "satisfaction."

"So... either we can get started on bringing our program back from our mediocre-to-bad 2010 season, or, we can win one more bball game only to get our ass reamed by Duke. Duhh..."

Conversely, for M, one football recruit in next year's class isn't going to come close to fixing everything, but if we beat Duke, I think we had a good chance to make the four. 

I'd think that'd be a very winnable game for this team...for that matter, UCONN or SDSU would have been as well out West...then another shot at OSU? Duke win, without a doubt...a win like that can spark something special...can everyone imagine what that would've done for the team's confidence going forward in the tourney?

I will now go back to 6th grade and work on reading comprehension, Billy Madison-style...

And I was heavily invested in this years basketball team. Emotionally that is, I love them.

It's definitely more of an individual preference...I see how football is the bigger draw, but as a relatively recent student, if you wanted to, you were very close and involved with the team....you'd talk to them on and around campus, go to special practices/dinners with them, talk to them well before games etc... players and coaches would come to meetings and talk, and the athletic department did everything in their power to draw students...it was a very involving season and made one feel extremely close to the team...

Sometimes recruits underwhelm.  But if you got to pick any player, and you picked the #1 guy on Rivals, you'd be almost guaranteed to get an All-American.  Look at who the previous #1s are, and tell me if there are any on there you wouldn't want.  Maybe Pryor, but still maybe not.  All of those guys had much bigger impacts on their teams than one second round tournament win.  Even TP - OSU doesn't win the Rose Bowl two years ago without Pryor.  I'd trade almost any tourney win for a Rose Bowl win. 

Take Denard off the football team.  I'm just saying, one great player can make a pretty big difference.

Wasn't the scenario in the poll that Texas would get to play Duke in the Sweet Sixteen, not that they would necessarily beat Duke in the tournament? Texas would probably give Duke a decent game but beating Duke is never a sure thing.
But yeah, I probably would pick getting to play/beat Duke in the Sweet 16 too, because of the comparative publicity and exposure it would bring to the program.