NCAA Tourney Evening Thread (Tennessee is Our Next Foe, FYI)
So our next opponent is playing on TNT as we speak. Mercer Bears vs. Tennessee Volunteers. Tennessee's big men...are big, and athletic, and good. Theire guards can shoot and hit shots which also propel them.
Iowa St. - UNC is at halftime on CBS
Stephen F. Austin - UCLA will be on at 7:10 on TBS
Creighton - Baylor at 7:40 on TruTv
Yea I'm rooting on Mercer, too. How the hell can't ya?
They came out a little bit rattled, seemingly, but only down 2 and just drawed an offensive foul on their Big Maymon.
I really, really like Coursey, Mercer's Big man. Such a fun watch. A true Center, not seen these days, with fundamentals.
I wonder if we'll finally get some respect if we beat Louisville/Kentucky. We were supposed to in the cellar of the big ten two years ago and we won the big ten title, we were picked against in nearly every game in last year's tournament, we were supposed to fold up shop when McGary went down, and yet people are still doubting us.
It's an interesting dynamic down low. I assume Mercer is running zone becasue they lack another big guy, unfortunately. Coursey is playing pretty cautious out there, especially on offense, as he's not really battling for offensive rebounds. If he gets in foul trouble, Tennessee could run away with this.
Because Tennessee isn't a great three-point shooting team. I expect we'll throw some 2-3 and 1-3-1 at them if Michigan ends up facing them
Yes it is supposed to be, but it almost never gets called it seems.
Tennessee is playing some good ball these past few games
I guess UM will be practicing a lot against the 2-3 zone.
I've no idea how that was an And-1.
We'd beat Tenn by double digits? Don't know what game you're looking at.
Mercer will not win this game. I hope they do, but won't.
Mercer's band is terrifying.
Just as a note regarding Mercer, it's going to be rather difficult to win if you let Tennessee hang around with a free throw rate in the 50% range, even if shooting and other stats are more or less equal. Seven fouls is a lot of fouls for being slightly over halfway through the first half, although there are a few teams in this tourney - whether by their own doing or the refs - who have exceeded this pace.
the big guy.
Mercer needs to settle down. They're fine.
I think you're right. There's lots of game to go in this one. The shots especially, however, if they don't fix the defense on Stokes and Maymon, there may not be a "back to earth", they'll just keep doing what they're doing.
Tennessee looks scary but I believe in "give Beilein a week and he'll beat you" theory
Anything can happen and all that.
Does anybody else NOT go to Buffalo Wild Wings becasue of the atrocious marketing/advertising?
No, I don't go because their food is mediocre and over priced.
Edit: But, yeah their commercials kind of funny the first time, but annoying as hell after the 2nd or 3rd time.
I actually don't mind their wings (I've had other stuff there, it was downright bad), but I've probably also never had really good wings. I hate the commercials the first time around and exponentially afterward. They're just bad.
I probably should try their wings some time--they probably are good, but I refuse to pay a buck per half a chicken wing.
Now if they had osprey wings for a buck, I might try that.
Tennessee lost to Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and UTEP. They're not bad but a team we should beat.
You had to go a month back to list a bad loss and that was on the road in OT.
You know how UM usually has a height advantage with LeVert and Stauskas? 6-6 Richardson and McRae are just as long and great defenders. Ask Roy Marble about McRae.
Know how we struggle in transition defense? Tenn looks pretty good there
Know how Texas slowed the game down and beat us up on the offensive glass? Tenn is even better plus Maymon/Stokes are better post scorers than Ridley/Holmes.
We will have to shoot the 3 well, get out in transition and use zone extensively, pack it in and dare them to hit 3s.
All that is true, but none of their wins in that span were against anyone good. They needed OT to get by an Iowa team that had lost 6 of their last 7 games. I think this is about as easy as you can ask for in a Sweet 16 matchup -- not a cakewalk, but not last year's Kansas team either.
Buffalo Wild Wings is shit.
Hot to finish the year and handling Mercer well. I'll be fairly terrified if we end up playing them
UT is a better team than their seed indicates. However, they're pretty much catching every break and doing everything right at this point in the game. Mercer might not be able to over come this, but I doubt they can hold that level for a long time. Remember Iowa was beating them until Iowa did the Iowa thing of collapse down the stretch.
23-4 rebounds, Tennessee advantage, 10 offensive
Tennessee is going full on beast mode on the glass. 23-4 rebound advantage right now I think
Man, Mercer is a hot mess; can't catch a break. They also need to stop feeding thier low post players who can't finish at the rim.