Old Spice Classic Overview

Submitted by HartAttack20 on

Now that the football season has come to an abrupt stop, we can move on to other sports. This is a big week for the Michigan Men's Basketball team as they look to win the Old Spice Classic Tournament. The teams Michigan may face include the following: Xavier (3-0), Baylor (4-0), Creighton (2-1), Iona (3-0), Florida State (3-0), Marquette (3-0), and Alabama (2-1). This looks to be a pretty interesting group of teams and I can't wait until thursday for it to kick off. Michigan is the odds favorite to win, but are tied with Xavier, IIRC. I really think that Michigan is going to win this tournament. They play Creighton thursday at Noon, and then play the winner of Marquette and Xavier. I would put my money on us playing Baylor or Florida State in the finals on Sunday. Xavier and Marquette are both great programs, but Xavier lost their head coach and Marquette lost some big players. Big stage for the team to step up and prove its self early in the season. Should be an interesting weekend. Bracket lives here: http://www.umhoops.com/2009/08/03/2009-old-spice-classic-bracket/ . Thoughts on the tourney?

Papochronopolis

November 22nd, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^

I think we're good to take it as long as we don't have a horribly off shooting night. The team looks like it needs several games to polish out some rough spots especially on the defensive end. Going to be interesting if the leaders can carry the team through tough patches; they clearly seem capable.

mds315

November 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 PM ^

I really like our chances. It will be good to ply teams closer to our skill level so we can get a real sense of our team. Thi is when Manny is about to take off as well as far as the national attention IMO.

Id love to play Epke and Baylor in the Finals.

It'll be interesting to see how Darius does against higher level competition.

No slow starts.

UMAmaizinBlue

November 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 PM ^

When 82% of the poll go for Michigan winning (fact that the poll is on umhoops.com irrelevant).

Seriously though, many of the teams are going to make the tourney/have made the tourney in recent years (Baylor, Marquette, Xavier) and to win against this more-than-decent field would help solidify Michigan's spot in the top 20 as "for real".

It's a long way to the top, especially when State is sitting there, but you have to start somewhere, and these tournaments are a great way to test skill as well as endurance (3 games in 4 nights).

Roberto Mancini

November 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 PM ^

May be our toughest opponent. They played Dayton, who will probably be a 4-7 seed in the tourney, pretty good in their first game. I think if UM can get past them, and if marquette can upset xavier, then michigan can finally win an early season tourney. :)

steve sharik

November 22nd, 2009 at 11:51 PM ^

...please no one go blow it out of proportion. What I'm most tired of after this football season isn't us being outside of the college football elite as nearly as much as some of our "fanbase" doing their irrational, ignorant whining. I could really use a basketball season free of such nonsense. So, if you're one of those logically, factually challenged Rodriguez bashers, please stick to mlive and scout during hoops season.

Of course, I know I'm asking too much in the internet world, but I had to nonetheless.

the_big_house 500th

November 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 AM ^

Also has two big games coming up, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Winning these two in a row would be a huge boost and help our home record. Then it's off to Cbus to play the Buckeyes in back to back games on December the 4th and 5th.

Tater

November 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 AM ^

...is extremely tough in Florida. They will definitely have home court advantage the entire tournament. They lost Mr do-it-all Toney Douglas, but haven't really missed a beat this year.

If UM does get to the finals and beat FSU, it will definitely mean their preseason ranking is justified.

NoHeartAnthony

November 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 AM ^

In my mind is the favorite to win it. I know he left, but Sean Miller could really develop talent and I'm sure Chris Mack learned a few of his tricks. They have pretty good size plus what should be a decent backcourt with Dante Jackson and Jordan Crawford. They definitely match us talent-wise.