Just when I thought this season couldn't get better it did
Time to get greedy! Like the Bankers at Pinnacle!
looks pretty good on paper. Tourneys can be crazy though.
Subs, now those are crazy.
Now we need to shift to Tourney mode.
It's all for nothing if we derp the upcoming Tournaments.
Not to settle for any less than this team deserves, but we've still gotten the B1G championship.
We could go 0-2 the rest of the way and this season has been a success. First outright since '86, huge outperformance of expectations since McGary went down, we won the freakin' thing by 3 games! Probably a 2-seed. Don't give me this "all for nothing" stuff. Everything else is just gravy, but whatever happens from here, this has been a rousing success!
If you were to say anything past the Sweet 16 is gravy/house money, I think many would/could agree. A main goal for any team should be to win the conference tournament but leaving it at that is quite naive. For a fan, maybe it's all gravy after that, but it's a dream to make the Final 4 for many of these guys (again, even the Sweet 16) for example, likely more so than winning a regular season conference title. The season won't be a failure by any means if they don't win another game, but a "very disappointing end" label is not a far stretch.
That's fine. I guess I take issue with the interpretation that no more wins means it was "all for nothing". To me, saying that indicates a belief that the season was a failure. What's in front of us is single elimination, tournament basketball -- something we can all admit is largely a crapshoot. Yes, going 0-2 would be a disappointment, don't get me wrong. But this season is already solidified, to me, as one that was successful, and that will always engender positive memories.
Remember, two years ago, we were upset in the first round by Ohio. Looking back on that season now, I don't see abject failure -- I see a team that won our first BTT in a very long time. This season is similar. And as successful as the last two regular seasons were, this one was better. Nothing can taint it in my eyes. But yes, it can certainly get much better yet, and I strongly hope that it does!
But to say "it was all for nothing" if they don't have good tourney runs...no way. Nothing can take away that outright B10 crown and nothing can take the luster off it.
I was a freshman in 1986. If you had told me back then "You will be 46 years old before UM wins the Conf hoops title again," I'd have laughed in your face.
Conf titles matter. Not as much as national titles, but they matter nonetheless.
"All for nothing"?
I think not
not willing to entertain any of that right now. You can always find reasons to worry, always.
Hopefully the team has a completely different mindset, and stays hungry for another shot at the National Championship.
Winning the conference by three games is crazy.
At this point, I have to think we're ahead of Wisconsin for NCAA seeding (though that could change next week). They were much more impressive than us before the Big Ten, but we had three fewer conferences losses despite having a more difficult conference schedule. They didn't have to play in East Lansing or Columbus, while the toughest game that we missed was probably OSU at home.
Our guys are just playing so well right now
After all they've accomplished already this season, what team in the country would be intimidating for them? [rhetorical question]
Very nice.
The RPI is such a joke. I just checked it, and that ranking has UMass (#12) ahead of Michigan (#13). I cannot believe that thing hasn't been allowed to die. For context, KenPom has UMass at #48 and they received a total of nine votes across the AP and Coaches Polls.
Four Big Ten teams are ahead of us, plus 11 loss OK St.
BPI is an incredibly weird, kitchen-sink ranking system that ESPN really wants to turn into something meaningful even though it seems really broken.
I just wish ESPN would actually reveal their specific methodology and not just the general idea. I am curious as to what it is that is dragging our ranking all the way down to 22 when all the other major computer/objective rankings have us much higher.
Sagarin - 7
Kenpom - 10
Massey - 8
doing the B1G Championship posbang dance?
It's a shame that this is buried so far down the page - should probably be a thread all by iteslf haha
Soon even the crazies won't be able to say this. I love 2014!!!!
Go Blue!
b/t the UVa game, MSU losing, and NEBRASKETBALL! ...
Everything's coming up Milhouse!
It can always get better. And hopefully Coach B is telling the team that exact thing right now. Win the next 9 games, and then they can all go the NBA (happily).
Can't really bum out too much about losing second game in B10 tourney, and would love to see the team return to the Sweet 16. All delicious gravy after that point.
...but any chance Miles can grab COY in B1G in the tourney? (still only B1G winner @NE)
Thanks. Good answer.
Not only has Beilein now won in every B1G arena, he's the only coach who can make that claim - since no one else has ever won at Pinnacle Bank!
I think the tournament after the Sweet 16 is really a crapshoot, so that should be the, hmm, expectation? To go far in the NCAA tournament you need to be really good and really lucky.
But how great is it to go into the tourney knowing that we do have a chance, and that there is no one in the country we couldn't beat?
Years ago is used to be that way for us every season and I for one took it for granted. Never again. We have one of the best coaches in the country, and whatever happens in the tourney he has resurrected this program from the dead.
It's so much fun having so many reasons to care about this team.
GO BLUE
Michigan wins the Big Ten by 3 games. That's the largest margin by a Big Ten champ in five years. It's the 2nd largest margin since 1997.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) March 10, 2014
True Detective
March 10th, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^
March 10th, 2014 at 12:29 AM ^
1986. 28 years ago...before laptops, cell phones (unless you count the military?), Wi, twitter, facebook, blah, blah, blah, and you think it's all crap if we don't win at least 2 games into the tourny??? So, what, we win 2 games and lose and this year will be remembered as "we made the Sweet 16" instead of "WE WON THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP"???????? No FREAKIN' way. I just know that, even if we go 0-2, 1 and done, or whatev, next year NO ONE CAN SAY MICHIGAN HASN'T WON THE BIG TEN IN 29$@%^^$@@ YEARS. Sorry, caps button back on safety and i'm breathing, again.
John Belein...best UM coaching hire of my lifetime.