Smash Lampjaw

February 3rd, 2013 at 4:33 AM ^

Our theoretical or hypothetical B10 champ was to be the team that defended its home court and lost road games only to contenders. Maybe not now. Indiana lost at home already. OSU and MSU have road losses to non-contenders. Until Michigan loses at home or loses on the road to a non-contender they are still in the driver's seat. I say recalibrate because all other contenders already have demerits, Michigan just lost to the only contender with a home loss, and has only one chance left for a break-out win, at contender MSU. I hope I can sleep now with that off my mind.

Lionsfan

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^

You can't hold that against us. We've only played 2 "Top Contenders", and they were both on the road.

MSU still has Minny, us twice, IU again, Wisky, and @OSU.

OSU still has at Crisler, twice against IU, Wisky, @Minny, and @MSU.

IU still has a return trip to Crisler, plus @MSU, twice against OSU, and @Minny

By comparison, we have OSU, IU, and MSU at home, with only trips to Madison and the Breslin as our tough games

ca_prophet

February 3rd, 2013 at 4:49 AM ^

... we are in the same league as anyone in the country (unlike football and Alabama, say).  We didn't play well - maybe Indiana is better, maybe home court, maybe the refs - but we had our chances.

The sequence I remember is Burke nailing a deep three to pull to within 3 ... and then promptly losing IU's best shooter in the corner and having Hall stick the 3 to push it back to 6 and kill our momentum again.  That's just losing your head in the heat of the moment - I'm sure that everyone was told not to help off that guy - but it really was the one thing we couldn't do there.

IU benefited from having a useful "default" on offense - post to Zeller or clear a spot for Oladipo - and we didn't.  All the screens were contested and the passing angles were defensed, and IU re-routed penetration right to the big shot-blocker.  They were very good.

Hope the rematch goes better, and we beat OSU!

LSAClassOf2000

February 3rd, 2013 at 8:00 AM ^

For those who said that we probably win if a few more baskets go in, the numbers actually support this. We attempt an average of 56 FGs per game and make an average of 28, but in this game, we attempted 70 and made 30, so we weren't getting much return on the extra attempts. It's a similar story with  three-pointers - our average in-conference is 7 for 18, and in this game, we went 7 for 23. Definitely, a few more of those go in and this could be a  different result. 

It's difficult to be upset though - an away game in a conference that is #1 in almost every measure of conference power is going to be a tough game. One glaring stat might be that it took us 70 shots to get 73 points, so if they can fine tune the things which make Michigan's offense ruthlessly efficient, you make a few more of the shots mentioned above and you possibly win this one. The other  glaring stat is that Indiana went to the line literally over three times more than we did, with almost one quarter of their points coming off FTs - that ratio is tough to overcome. 

In any case, you take what you learn here and hopefully roll it into a win at Crisler on Tuesday in what is  possibly the most  brutal stretch of the schedule.

 

DeepBlue83

February 3rd, 2013 at 8:05 AM ^

that if a few more shots go in for Indiana, we lose by even more. What about it? They played better defense than us, by far, and had better offensive weapons.

Hopefully the game will convince the NBA scouts that Robinson has a lot of work to do on his game (and hopefully it will convince Robinson, too). A top 10 NBA pick shouldn't flop in a big game like this.

Smash Lampjaw

February 3rd, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^

I don't know how many of those last 14 consecutive free throws were intentional, but it seems like they ought to be in a separate category. At a certain point our only hope was to swap threes for free throws in the hope that they might miss one. There is a free throw advantage for any team that has such a high average margin of victory, I should think.

DeepBlue83

February 3rd, 2013 at 7:55 AM ^

I've watched us play down there for a long time, and I've seen this exact same game played out over and over and over. Those who were saying yesterday that past history would have no effect on this game simply didn't know what they were talking about. Dan Dakich had it exactly right when he said during the Wisconsin-Indiana game that some teams come into Assembly Hall and are beat before the game even starts. Michigan is one of those teams. This game was essentially over in the first 5 or 6 minutes, and the rest was just muddling around to see what the final margin would be.

Now we have to see if this team can recover from a big loss and play well against a quality opponent. If they lose to OSU at home, the Big Ten Championship and a number one seed in the tournament are pretty much out of reach...we'll be playing for second place and second seed at that point.

GODFATHERGOBLUE

February 3rd, 2013 at 7:58 AM ^

IU and OSU beat us because they played defense something we don't do well we kept leaving shooters open for 3 pointers and we got punked inside the paint. All that we played we played on the road is crap Belien just don't know how to play defense

opwolverine97

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:05 AM ^

His use of "The Team, the Team, the Team" while not copyrighted by any means, infuriated me for a moment. Pay back is a bitch and I can't wait for the Hoosiers to come to A2. Plus he looks like a troll doll with his hair combed down.

opwolverine97

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^

As Indiana doesn't have a truly epic football coaching legend, I am struggling to find a true comparison, but my issue was not the use of the quote, it was when he used it, right after beating Michigan. Do I think Bo would mind, no I don't. But it's like us beating the Irish and then saying, We played like champions today". Just tasteless.

The fact that he is married to a Harbaugh doesn't really make me like him more. He is still a douche.

Cold War

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:11 AM ^

1) No GRIII

2) Burke for three too often - not agressive as he neededto be

3) Indiana just  seemed more athletic

4) Hoosiers' shots  semmed  to be falling more

5) Absence of Morgan is underrated

MichiganITtoWINit

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:10 AM ^

What I got from the game was that Oladipo is really good but Trey Burke is a monster. He knew how to find the hot hands when it came to his assists and made great decisions all night. Too bad we couldn't connect on a handful of those Stauskas three pointers. Our boys looked great nonetheless.

bluebyyou

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:25 AM ^

We have a very young team and they lost a tough game to one of the top teams in the country on the road.  Running the B1G gauntlet is just getting them ready for the tournament.  20-2 isn't bad.  IU had a hot hand shooting and we didn't.  That is just the way things work sometimes.

Let's see if the teachable moments from last night will result in kicking some buckeye ass next Tuesday.

Bigasshammm

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^

IU was constantly on the attack. M just seemed to be passive on every possession. Even my wife wondered about this during the game. She asked why all the Michigan players just seemed to stand there while Indiana always seemed to be going fast paced. And that coming from the most casual of casual fans.

randyfloyd

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^

How you can travel after a foul (oledipo) and still have the basket count and how you can run two guys over to get to a losse ball (zeller) and some a foul gets called against UM. Those two calls were unbelievably bad.

BILG

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^

We all seem to be in agreement that Big Ten road games are brutal.  Assembly is one of the toughest environments for a visiting team in the country.  My takeaway from the game is that these are two really evenly matched teams talent wise.  Our backcourt is stronger, their front court is stronger.  Neutral court, these teams could probably split 50-50 out of a 100 game series, or something close to that.

However, there are reasons for concern.  We have played two tough road games (OSU and IU) and in both the team lacked poise at times.  Way too many hero shots from Burke.  Freshmen look overwhelmed by the moment.  I have faith they will mature and put it together by tournament time, but this is not a championship team right now.  They are good enough to get to the Final Four which is quite an accomplishment, but I would be concerned about their poise on that final weekend.

OmarDontScare

February 3rd, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^

Rewatching the 2nd half this morning. Not sure why Beilein takes Stauskas out right after his drive and dunk. I thought that play could have gotten him going.

robmorren2

February 3rd, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^

I would have liked to see the 1-3-1 at times. Especially with a freshman PG and a team that turns the ball somewhat frequently. Northwestern brought it out against IU and it totally changed the game.

ryanlove12

February 3rd, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^

Couple of freshmen played like freshmen on a big stage. That's all. I think we learned some things, like we are going to have to use two bigs more often in B1G play. We also learned that Mitch is shaping up rapidly. Do we have a weakness or two? Sure, but there is a lot of season left, and we are in fine position come March

DeepBlue83

February 3rd, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^

gets them to respond. Will they improve, or keep skidding against the tough teams in the conference? IU responded to the Wisconsin loss with 5 straight wins, including us and MSU. If we can't respond similarly, we won't deserve a Big Ten title or a number one seed.

chewieblue

February 3rd, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^

We are like a lot of other teams in that we are not as good when the other team is good. Magnify that on the road.

Overall, there were a lot of good things. Burke is Burke, McGary is a straight up animal, love the progress of Horford, Hardaway's starting to eliminate some of the mind-boggling decisions with the ball....

Also, GRIII needs at least one more year in maize and Stauskas looks like a freshman at mid season.

What has always made me skeptical about this team continues to be the Achilles heel..... shot selection. Man do we just fire up some ill-advised shit at times.

Oh, well. Still like our team and we have as good a chance as anyone to win the league. Gotta go AT LEAST 2-1 over the next three to stay in the hunt. I am not even thinking about the tourney cuz as far as I'm concerned that's more about match ups and luck of the draw (unless we somehow grab a one seed, that's the only position that usually is set up for success).

michigan24

February 3rd, 2013 at 12:53 PM ^

Not to jack the thread but fwiw I was playing pick up ball with Doug gottlieb today and asked him what he thinks of Michigan and he says they are outside the top 5 best teams in the country.