"lots of debate"
Is there tho?
The insidious power of the internet: more than a couple guys with a computer and a snarky take on things and it feels like "lots of debate."
And the majority of the noise comes from people with no lives who have time to be on the internet all day.
(Please don't look at my post history)
March 14th, 2022 at 10:42 AM ^
So, MSU fans essentially.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
although to be fair.........we're all commenting on a board thread in the middle of a Monday morning.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
I saw a lot of M fans on here saying we wouldn't be in and Juwan should be fired. So we can't just blame the Sparties, as much as I'd like to.
There is outside the Michigan blogosphere, and especially amongst the "first four out" crowd. The TAMU folks are some of the loudest, but they're not the only ones.
That said, when Michigan is on, they're nigh unstoppable and the resume speaks for itself. The problem is consistency. If they can somehow solve that, I can definitely see a second weekend run.
Nigh unstoppable? Do you mean, have a chance against most teams?
March 14th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
We're a legitimately good offensive team, despite our streaky perimeter shooting. We're 19th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency per KenPom and have one of the best 2-point shooting percentages in the country. We haven't been very consistent from beyond the arc, but when our threes are falling, we can be really tough. (See: our 24-point demolition of Purdue, by far their largest defeat of the season.) We have a high ceiling and low floor.
March 14th, 2022 at 10:03 AM ^
That said, when Michigan is on, they're nigh unstoppable and the resume speaks for itself. The problem is consistency.
So they're very good unless they're not.
March 14th, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
Correct. If only there was a word for that.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
Would love to be rolling into the Tournament with momentum like Jimmy V’s championship team.
The word is Pepto-Bismol. The two words.
Obviously. Michigan at their best can compete with any team in the country. It's just that teams like Gonzaga have a lower standard deviation in their level of play.
And not every team has the ability to be as good as Michigan has demonstrated during the season. We have a higher ceiling than most, imo. We also have a lower floor than most very good teams, unfortunately.
If you got left out and the 11th seed is your issue you dont understand how brackets and seeding work. You issue is the last four in.
They've been up and down all year, and it was a disappointing season in many ways compared to expectations, but considering what they lost last year and had to replace and the murderous schedule they played, I think they did enough to deserve to be in the tournament. They're certainly one of the best 64 teams in the country, on their good days. They've blown the doors off some very good teams, and many of their losses were of the "if they could get the ball to go in more than 12% of the time" it would have been a fight to the finish or a victory. we will see where they get to in the tourney but if the can-make-our-threes version of the team shows up, they aren't overmatched by a lot of squads.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
They're also going to be favored of Colorado St (already are on ESPN via BPI) which feels like a pretty good sign that a team deserved to make it.
The win @Iowa went a long way- I wonder how we look if they flip the OSU Iowa splits to have been win at home, lose on the road.
I suspect that beating OSU and MSU, two 7 seeds, the last week did the trick. League playoffs are often weird, and I get the sense are not weighted very heavily. Sorry, Hoosiers.
They're not weighted heavily, and they shouldn't be. The game on Thursday was one of 30+. I'm sure winning it and then beating Illinois helped Indiana get in (as those were 2 of their 5 good wins), but the idea that they should have been seeded higher than Michigan based on that is absurd. By that logic, Penn State should have been in the tournament.
March 14th, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
People tend to forget that we whooped Indiana by 18 in Bloomington and they finished 9-11 in regular-season conference play.
If TAMU/Dayton/Wake/Oklahoma/SMU fans are upset about a B1G team getting in over them it should be Indiana or Rutgers they are upset about, not Michigan.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
I think fans greatly overweight the value of conference tournaments in their own minds because of the value of the auto-bid. If winning it all is so valuable then surely winning 1 or 2 or 3 games in the tournament is super valuable too right?? The committee fortunately seems much more levelheaded about the conference tournaments which is why Michigan is still ahead of Indiana
It hasn't been that long (2001). Says here that Sparty (!) made the tourney under similar circumstances last year:
Look:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/127/season/2021
They did not make the tourney last year. They lost the play-in game to get into the tourney, which means they did not make the tourney last year.
Regardless, OP’s stat is wrong. Maryland made it last year (no play in game) at 17-14. The stat seems to exclude the 2020-21 season, probably because so many non conference cupcake games got cancelled. However, we had a non-conference cupcake cancelled this year too, so this whole discussion is pretty meaningless
Maryland made it as a 10-seed, no play-in game, at 16-13 last year. They ended up 17-14 overall after winning once and then bowing out in the NCAAT.
Good correction, point still stands ;)
March 14th, 2022 at 11:04 AM ^
Ah, good catch. Same point though
We may not consider a play in game part of the tournament, but the NCAA does.
This take is tired and stupid.
I think it's been since 1974 that someone defended Staee on here. Are you a Staee apologist? Dontcha know that a play-in game loss does not a tourney team make (unless, of course, it's Michigan that's in that play-in game)? During the seedings broadcast yesterday, they did trumpet Tiny Tom's streak of making the tournament, so at least CBS counts the play-in as being in the tourney.
I hate to say it but I think the tournament itself considers participants of play-in games as tournament participants.
The play in game unfortunately DOES count as making the tourney. Vegas accepts it also. It sucks and i do not agree with it, but it is so.
It doesn’t have to be so. I will continue to say otherwise to every spartan I encounter who trumpets their tournament streak. If a team loses the play-in game, they have not played themselves into the tourney and no amount of data otherwise is going to persuade me to stop agitating spartans on that point.
Its a real ".5 of a championship" kind of thing. What are you playing in for? The tournament. That's the name of the game right?
Its a real ".5 of a championship" kind of thing. What are you playing in for? The tournament. That's the name of the game right?
Maryland made it last year at 16-13. (And were only 9-11 in conference.). They were a 10-seed, no play-in. Beat UConn before losing to Alabama
Very fortunate to get in and actually be favored in our first game as an 11 seed. We are actually a bigger betting favorite than MSU (7 seed) is over Davidson 🤣
March 14th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
And MSU has to play against the PG they forced out the door. Pretty amazing, actually.
No one is confused. Metrics are great but if we lose at OSU I don't think we get in. So very fortunate.
But we didn’t lose at OSU, so…
March 14th, 2022 at 11:06 AM ^
And if we had beaten Illinois at home it wouldn't have mattered if we had lost at OSU. We can play these exercises all day, but the point is that the total resume at the end of the season was good enough to qualify.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
I mean, yeah. That's literally how life on the bubble works. Indiana wouldn't be in the tournament if they had lost to Michigan (or, arguably, Illinois) in the BTT. Rutgers might not be in if they had lost one more of their Q1 games. You could probably do that with every single bubble team.
March 14th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
When push comes to shove, people love to toss out advanced metrics when a team they wanted in with a better W/L gets left out because the complaint is snappy and concise
mIcHiGaN iS 17-14 bUt nOrTh tExAs iS 24-6!!!
Sounds compelling till you look at who they played and who they beat
1) MSU did last year.
2) We had a gimme nonconference game cancelled because of Covid.
3) It would have been insane to leave us out given all our rankings using the predictive metrics.
Let's just hope Michigan can flip the inconsistency switch off and make the narrative, "Not since 2001 has a team that was 3 wins over .500 has ever made it to the elite 8. (of course, I have no idea if this is true but it makes for a great headline).
Didn't MSU make it in last year with like a 15-12 record? Pretty sure that was the case.
The debate about Michigan belonging is valid, but I'm not sure how this stat is.
No, they just missed getting in. They lost the play in game.
That is considered making the tournament.
March 14th, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
Not by the NCAA. The official tournament is 64 teams, not 68.