MBB wins 73-61; Duke/Tennessee winner tomorrow night at 7

Submitted by JR's Flow on

Len Elmore put it perfectly. This Michigan team is very patient team. The Wolverines shut down a athletic Memphis team and got theminto major foul trouble. Next on the slate is a rematch of 2011 NCAA Tournament game either against Tennesse/Duke winner. Duke is a major favorite and has never lost in Maui. If they advance, let's give them lost #1 and redeem ourselves from last year.

Go Blue.

oriental andrew

November 21st, 2011 at 5:24 PM ^

Great game!  I followed it on Live Blog + ESPN Gamecast.  Question - is the game being replayed on ESPN/2, or available on ESPN3.com?

Just wanted to share a few predictions I found on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/39442/feast-week-predictions-brackets-2

Don't be surprised...

  •  if Memphis' speed and athleticism prove to be too much for the field and Will Barton -- not Thomas Robinson -- is the best player on the Island. (Medcalf)
  • if Memphis makes a run to the title with their speed and athleticism. (Simon)
  • if Memphis wins this tournament and UCLA leaves Maui winless against Division I opponents. The Bruins are not confident right now and need for Lazeric Jones to play well at the point. (Bilas)

Well, surprise!

Looking at the stats (assists, rebounds, FG %, FT %), it looks like Michigan dominated every phase of the game.

coastal blue

November 21st, 2011 at 5:27 PM ^

Thought this game could go either way, really impressive victory to start the season. 

Hype/Ranking is real this time around. 

Never

November 21st, 2011 at 5:31 PM ^

The formula is the same for Dook; chuck threes. If they miss, big man rebounds and attempts a putback 42% of the time or kicks it back out the other 48% of the time.

Curry and Dawkins can get red hot from behind the arc. Jury's still out on Doc Rivers' son (self-appointed moniker: "Subzero"). Ryan Kelly - who their fans started calling "Dirkelly" (said his game reminds them of Dirk Nowitzki. Right, I know) - is a decent mid range threat and can stroke the three. The Plumlee brothers? Pretty athletic while not being incredibly skilled.

I can find no logical reason for them to be a "heavy favorite" aside from their name/brand. They lost a ton of leadership last year with Nolan and Singler moving on, and that will not be replaced easily. Hell, they just beat Belmont by a whopping one point. The MSU game? Eh. MSU is a great rebounding team but struggles to score, so not surprised Dook beat them by 5.

Len Elmore as a analyst...meh. Jay Bilas? Yep.

Never

November 21st, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^

He's not a natural point guard so people question how well he'll manage the team.

There were huge concerns about his willingness to play within a team concept, two.

There are still huge concerns about his attitude/team cancer potential, three (just a pissy kid, hence the other nickname "Austintatious").

There are concerns about his "torro, torro" defense, four.

So yeah, the jury is still out. Has nothing to do with his offensive game as several analysts have said he has the most advanced offensive game for a frosh that they have seen in quite awhile.

 

UMLaw73

November 21st, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^

I asked this in another thread, but what in God's good name was wrong with our uniforms?  The shoes were some bastard blue (with equally atrocious matching warm up tops that looked like they were stolen from nurses at the UM hospital) and the actual uniforms hurt my eyes.   That "maize" (WHICH IT WAS NOT) doesn't show well on HDTVs, maybe someone at Adidas should take note.  Or maybe they are too busy counting money while desecrating our traditions.

BursleysFinest

November 21st, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^

 

Bring on the Rematch (Duke version)  I want this team getting as many early season tests as possible, and hopefully winning more of them than we lose

 I know this is just 1 game, but now I'm absolutely sure this UM team should be a tournament team, and the growth of Trey Burke will  tell us if we can be more than that

UMLaw73

November 21st, 2011 at 6:09 PM ^

Why won't you be mad if Duke wins?  I'll be madder than hell if we drop the ball against Duke, especially for how well Michigan played today (except for the few random turnovers).  But guard play tends to get better over the course of the year, big man play is stagnant.