Michigan vs. Arizona (Snowflakes) Thread

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

Tough loss. Fuck this year in Michigan sports.

The Peanut Master

December 14th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^

Then yes. Pre-game there was a short video shown about the special olympics and Dave Brandon appeared in a few shots, and he was booed fairly noticeably, at least from where I was sitting on the edge of the student section.

bo_lives

December 14th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^

at home? I fucking swear the only significant calls we get in our favor are phantom pass interference calls against Notre Dame. Maybe that's why God hates us.

Naked Bootlegger

December 14th, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^

It really looked to me that the refs missed a ball out of bounds off McGary later in the 2nd half.   I agree that the McGary foul was atrocious, and that the ref blew the whistle because the situtation just seemed like an automatic foul situation.   But I don't think every call went against us.   AZ just balled their way back into this game, completely dominated the boards, and shut down our transition game (transition game largely shut down by their 2nd half offensive efficiency).

Dilithium Wings

December 14th, 2013 at 3:34 PM ^

We have timeouts. The team looks out of whack and John simply sits there completely oblivious to all of this.

Btw, what a bullshit phantom call to put Arizona on the line. The refs allowed a physical game and then he puts the game in his hands with that shit?

bronxblue

December 14th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^

I would remind people complaining about 2013 that it was the year UM made it to the NCAA championship game for the first "official" time since 1989.  Losing a couple of close games in the early part of the season doesn't strike me as the most horrible thing in history.

Number 7

December 14th, 2013 at 3:53 PM ^

If defensive hand checks are to be called, so  must the offensive version --as in what Johnson did to McGary on the weak foul call.  Elsewise just coach Walton up to stick his elbow up and run into people into the cows come home and the other team fouls out.

pb1234

December 14th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

It's probably been mentioned, but the non-students sucked a fat one today. We lined up two hours early in the snow and packed the place an hour before tip-off. Everywhere else, there were plenty of empty seats, and Arizona fans everywhere. For as much shit as the students get on this website, this is only fair. If the students were as shitty as everyone else today, we'd have 4 threads demanding they lose seats.

As it is, I wish 1/2 of the stadium could have been student seating. The demand was there. But alas: merely a bunch of empties who couldn't be bothered to come on a Saturday afternoon against the #1 team in the country.  

asstastic

December 14th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^

I agree. Partially. While there were a lot of Arizona fans, mainly nonstudents fault, they kept doing their "U of A" chant, that the Maize Rage failed to cover up with a Michigan cheer and at times let it fill the arena. (Granted this all may have been more noticable due to no band, which at times I think really hurt the atmosphere) 

pb1234

December 14th, 2013 at 4:50 PM ^

Those only lasted a few seconds before they got covered up ok, but yeah, no band hurt. It's telling how many UA fans there were, though, and all over the stadium. It just sucks that there were hundreds of students who tried and failed to get tickets for this when there were open seats and UA fans aplenty. And students have finals; everyone else has no excuse. It was honestly pretty infuriating. 

The Peanut Master

December 14th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^

Yeah, the students stepped it up the fuck up. A lot of them were in line since 7 AM, I was in line by 9 and had to endure a brutal couple hours standing in the snow/cold before getting in (and even then there were enough students ahead of me to where I ended up behind the basket, which isn't terrible but not ideal). And this is on finals weekend.

Just makes the failure of the rest of the ticket-buying public all the more depressing and pathetic. Instead of eliminating the band to make room for more students, how about eliminating those extra seats no one was in anyways and put the band there? Come on Brandon.

The Peanut Master

December 15th, 2013 at 12:37 AM ^

Honestly I would if I had any faith that that email would actually make a difference in Brandon's mind. It is clear by now that he simply does not give two shits about the student experience/home advantage and is all about the $$$. It is what it is; he is a smart businessman who knows how to make this program money but he just doesn't give a rat's ass about the students he serves. I guess it's too much to ask that we have an AD who cares about both and can strike a suitable compromise between the two seemingly-conflicting things.

The Peanut Master

December 14th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^

As you mentioned, the lack of the band was huge in letting that happen. Regardless, the issue with the student section not covering up the sound is that the UofA chants were coming from literally across the entire arena, whereas the core of the student section on the sideline that makes the big noise is concentrated in that one area, making it very difficult to drown out when the opposing chant is reverberating across the arena.

And on that note, so disappointed in the non-student section people. Not only did they allow a sizable portion of tickets to end up in Arizona fans' hands, but decent chunks of the upper bowl were pretty freaking empty. I was waiting and hoping to chalk it up to the snow/early start time, but those seats never filled up later on. Very disappointing, and especially coming off the season we had last year is honestly pretty pathetic.

pb1234

December 14th, 2013 at 5:02 PM ^

You and me both, peanut. What does UM basketball have to do? We went to the championship last year and it's a saturday game against #1. Either the non-students didn't show because we lost some earlier games (pathetic), or this program is never going to generate the loyalty they deserve. Either way, it's really annoying. 

ppudge

December 14th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^

I wasn't there today (didn't have tix) but I have said this for awhile - the student section is too small. If 5,000 students want tickets, they should get them. This isn't football. We need the students to be loud at big games (and they were today) and we need students for those mid-week January games that start at 6 when it's tough for the working folks from metro Detroit to make it out.

kzooblue2016

December 14th, 2013 at 4:58 PM ^

I don't think 5,000 student tickets would be wise, and usually I'm all for more student stuff. This is the only game students would have been turned away at so far (and they weren't, because they had the bands seats). I thinks there would be a lot of empty if more student tickets were added, because a small percentage go to the smaller games. However, Crisler should have a ring of students like the Breslin.

asstastic

December 14th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

Best part of the game was, by far, Spike doing his best Johnny Football impersonation with the show me the money sign after his first three in the first half. He's such a fun player to watch. 

b-diddy

December 14th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^

some of you really need to chill out.

this wasnt a moral victory. thats not where this team is. it was a step in the right direction. 

beyond robinson, i think we will be stuck in the mud until walton gets better control of the offense. right now, we rely on one or two guys going off, but rarely does it feel like a team playing together (like the title run last year). but the potential is there, big time. and i love having  a coach i 100% trust to get us there. i dont mean to blame walton, either. i dont see reason for blame at all after this game. taking the #1 team to the wire really isnt so bad.

im guessing the people sour about this loss werent around in the dark ages. this season has been a ton of fun to watch, and its going to get even better. i think this team is really close to getting there. 

chatster

December 15th, 2013 at 2:24 PM ^

After the New Year, around the time when conference play begins, Bracketologists are going to start coming out in force; so we soon should begin to see what the so-called "pundits" think about Michigan’s NCAA prospects.  Consider bookmarking The Bracket Matrix. http://www.bracketmatrix.com/
 
Michigan can’t let Arizona “beat them again” next Saturday when the Wildcats’ conference mate, Stanford, meets Michigan in Brooklyn after the Cardinal play UConn on the road on Wednesday.  Unless Michigan beats Stanford next Saturday, you may be right that making the NCAA Tournament could be difficult for the Wolverines, without a run to the Big Ten tournament championship or several big wins in conference play.  But it won't be impossible.
 
Of the Big Ten teams Michigan plays twice in 2014, only three currently are ranked (12-1 Michigan State, 12-0 Wisconsin and 10-1 Iowa); although 8-3 Indiana, with road losses at Connecticut, Syracuse and today at Notre Dame and 9-2 Minnesota, with losses to Syracuse and Arkansas in Maui, but, like Michigan, with no impressive OOC wins, could be teams that will sneak up in the rankings.
 
To feel somewhat secure for an NCAA bid, Michigan probably will have to do no worse than split with those teams in order to pick up some good quality wins.  But it also might be necessary to go 5-3 against those teams, because the Ohio State game (now considered a possible loss) will be on the road. 
 
The Wolverines then probably have to go at least 6-3 in their other conference games and win a couple of games in the Big Ten Tournament to get to no worse than 13-7 in the league before the Big Ten tournament semifinals.  If that were to happen, a loss to Stanford and a win over Holy Cross would get Michigan to 20 wins, and that's often used as the "Bubble Line."