NJIT and EMU are Both in the Post-Season
The two teams that in large part defined this basketball season for us are both in the post-season. NJIT hosts New Hampshire tonight in the CIT. This is NJIT's first post-season tournament ever:
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/3/15/8212201/2015-cit-b…
The rest of the 32-team field is filled with half the MAC (WMU, Bowling Green, Kent State) and no P5 teams.
EMU, meanwhile, is in the 16-team CBI. They play at Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday. Colorado is the only P5 team in the field.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/3/15/8212201/2015-cit-b…
What the hell - I'm rooting for both of them.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^
/s
I was totally pissed yesterday when we didn't make the NIT. This morning I looked up the records of the teams playing in the post season and I'm not quite as ticked off.
Michigan won 5 of 19 games against postseason teams. This includes 3-3 against teams in the CBI, CIT, and NIT.
It would have been nice playing on, and I truly believe we are better than most the NIT teams, but I can't justify playing with a .500 record when it would be by far the worst.
I'm ready for next year. Get stronger, get healthier, Go Blue!
March 16th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
A gif of or reference to the Doctor always get an upvote from me, regardless of the context.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:30 AM ^
What the hell, go Eagles! And go New Jersey Commuter School Tech!
March 16th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
Let's be nice. While most students do commute, NJIT is a research university, not a "tech" school, with a larger research budget than, for example, Alabama.
March 16th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
Oh, I'm joking. I actually know two people who graduated from there - it's not a bad school. Just locally, it's kind of funny to see their signs on the subway.
March 16th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
Yes, a university that beat our team right next to the ads for Dr. Z, the ambulance chasers, and, of course, the new anti-manspreading campaign.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^
Beating just one of them would have put us in the NIT for sure. Oh well. I guess this gives us an extra week or two to look optimistically toward the '15-'16 season!
March 16th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^
Oh, it gets better, of course - and not in a particularly kind way. Arizona and SMU - the other two teams involved in that rather brutal 4-game stretch - are in the NCAA Tournament, as is Villanova (as a #1 seed, no less), the other non-conference loss among the five.
In the conference, our losses and their NCAA Tournament seeding and bracket (if applicable):
Purdue (#9, Midwest)
Ohio State (#10, West)
Wisconsin (#1, West)
Michigan State (#7, East)
Iowa, (#7, South)
Indiana (#10, Midwest)
Maryland (#4, Midwest)
Illinois (NIT, #3 in Richmond Region)
Only Northwestern went nowhere.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^
I don't recall losing to Rutgers.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
We didn't. I was about to put a thought in there about games we won, but scrapped it and didn't delete the entire thing on the first go. It's fixed now.
Actually, when I look at the list of losses and tournment placement, me finding a way to say "Well, at least we beat Rutgers twice" is almost piling on in a way.
March 16th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
March 16th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
We only lose to the best.
Someone should make a shirt.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^
near flawless
March 16th, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^
The girl that dumped me in 9th grade is now a model.
Still don't feel any better.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
We lost our two best players (Inset Izzo crybaby face) and had a lot of underachieving freshman with a 5'10 PG leading the show. When a kid recruited as a role player is your leading "everything" it is going to be a long year. If only we could score a point in OT and win a few of those close games at the end (Nova) we would be feeling much better about this team. I am bummed that we didnt make at least the NIT, which would give our young guys some tournament experience, even if it is just the NIT. Next year will be better.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
was bummed at first because I really wanted to see them play more, but the more I think about it, the NIT may have provided just as much of an opportunity for dissapointment as it would have for experience. We would have been a low seed playing a good team on their home floor, it probably would have taken a really good performance to get out of the first round and if we played poorly, it may be taken a little of the luster off of how we finished the season. Losing a hard closely contested game against possibly the second best team in the country on a nuetral floor after blowing the doors off of Illinois was a pretty good way to go out and likely has the team feeling pretty good about itself.
This also could result in a little bit more of a chip on the shoulder as well and may act as more motivation than getting a bid would have.
I wanted them to get a bid (partially because I selfishly wanted the hope of seeing them in New York), but these are thoughts I had, as well.
I also think the guys are more worn down than they want to admit/can admit to themselves.
This was an excruciating season, a grueling one, with grueling minutes played.
It may be just the right time for these kids to get some rest before refocusing and working their asses off toward a great '15-'16 campaign.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
I don't consider the CIT and the CBI post-season tournaments.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^
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March 16th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^
the injuries had already began at the time the free throws were missed. And we dispached Syracuse in "fly on our arm" fashion just a week or so after that loss. I think that the "spiral" really started with Eastern. I really, really thought that NJIT was just a weird random blip. We came out in maize(bright yellow) against Eastern and determined to prove that it was just that, except it wasn't. The biggest loss of the season to me for NCAA chances at the time, and NIT chances by the end of year, was SMU. That would have been a fairly strong non-conference win to get us back on track.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^
when we played nova?
March 16th, 2015 at 11:57 AM ^
toe injury that became a foot injury initially happenned in the second half of the Nova game. That is why I say techincally. I guess it was a meaningless point I was making. Sorry - I do that sometimes.
and I think many people are unaware that Walton was injured that far back.
Donnal missed the front end of the one and one and that killed us. I'd had to leave my seat in search of water, as I was about to black out from screaming, and that's when Nova went on the mini-run to set up that situation. I came back in time to see the baseball pass, the missed FT, and the crazy block on an Irvin drive that could have just about won the game with 4 seconds left.
That was probably the closest 5 point loss you will ever see outside of games that go to overtime.
And like I said before, if Donnal could have gotten the ball to Spike, which he was this close to doing, I think Spike makes the free throws and we're sitting pretty (up 3).
I had courside seats, right under the basket (right behind the MGoBlog photographer's spot), and two seats over from the most annoying 'Nova fan possible.
Donnal absolutely froze when he got the pass; you could tell he had no clue what to do. I knew before he even stepped to the line there wasn't as chance in hell he'd make the FT.
I thought Irvin was fouled, but after seeing the replay, it looked clean. It was very disappointing; I thought we had that game. Not sure in the grand scheme that game matters too much (a victory there doesn't change the injury situations), but it'd be interesting to know how a win there affects the team in the NJIT and EMU games.
great block.
Yeah, Donnal froze, but I was sympathetic to a freshman getting stuck in that spot. Unless they failed to execute it, the play should have included an automatic look to Spike running free on a pick up the left sideline.
I was just about courtside, as well, just to the right of the basket. I was the really, really loud guy.
I wish you could've drowned out the 'Nova fan. This guy was beyond annoying.
I too had sympathy for Donnal; the guy looked lost. While that long pass was in the air headed for Donnal, I just remember thinking, "this can't be the play they drew up; why is the ball headed toward the last person on the court you'd want with the ball?"
we need to hire an out of bounds play quality coordinator. That one thing made a nightmare of a season that much worse.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^
Didn't Beilein say he would decline either a CBI or CIT bid? Michigan surely would've gotten one or the other, so realistically we also could've been in the postseason. This is assuming my understanding is correct.
Then again, can the CBI or CIT really be considered the postseason? The NIT barely is.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
is better than you give it credit for. Depending on the geographical component, the semis and finals of the NIT can be a pretty good basketball environment and there is typically pretty strong competition.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
I sat a few seats down from Robert Traylor's grandmother when Michigan played Oklahoma State, I think, in the NIT ages ago. That was a fantastic basketball environment.
screaming my head off and giving the officials hell.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
Yeah, Beilein turned down both invites because he decided that the kids had gone through so much that they needed the rest and recovery. I think he first said it when the team was going through the rash of injuries and illnesses to the point where Dakich and Lonergan had to play meaningful minutes (and not because of foul trouble). He felt that they had played enough basketball and the experience wasn't worth enough for the trouble.
Beilein turned down both invites because you have to pay to play in both tournaments. It had nothing to do with rest and recovery. Michigan would have taken an NIT bid in a heartbeat.
March 16th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
It's not such a bad thing to allow the players, especially the freshmen, to be students first for the rest of the semester.
there's always next year!