Regardless of who wins this slugfest, both these teams look like legit NC contenders.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:51 PM ^
We do even moreso. We likely are up double digits in a really great game otherwise, but these zebras are awful and have let Ohio St. stay in this much more than they should.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
We are just the better team of the 2 - buckeyes are third best in the conference. We are the best of the B1G.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
It's amazing what Juwan has done to keep this team at it's peak all season.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:53 PM ^
Gonna have to go ahead and disagree. The Fuckeyes are in this game at this point because of the officiating
February 21st, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
And Duane Washington playing like a lottery pick. Come on man. There have definitely been some bad calls but give the players their due credit.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:00 PM ^
Please - without an ultra-favorable whistle, we win by 15+. And it took Washington playing the game of his life to keep it under 10. Osu is a quality team, they’re not close to Michigan’s level though
February 21st, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
Ohio State, at home, getting crazy calls and no calls. No, I don't think they look like as much of a national championship team as Michigan does.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:13 PM ^
Didn’t say they were a title contender. I said Duane Washington played like a lottery pick. And he did.
Not saying he is one, but he played like one anyway.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:05 PM ^
He and Liddell were both terrific. Makes the win even more impressive - we took their best shot and came out on top.
Absolutely, they got a few calls - the Washington push-off was egregious - , but in the scheme of things it didn't hurt us too badly - they didn't live at the line, and we didn't get in foul trouble.
Both teams played really good basketball. We were better. Deeper, more weapons, more creative, more ferocious defensively.
Great, great win against a good, hot team. Go Blue!
February 21st, 2021 at 2:56 PM ^
OSU looks like a 4 or 5 seed type team. We look like a 1 seed.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:00 PM ^
Huh? What about this game makes you see OSU as a 4 seed? Michigan is going to win but I thought OSU outplayed them for 30 minutes. Great win for us but I dont think it showed much except for both teams are very, very good.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:03 PM ^
Maybe it’s the fact that 10-15 of their second half points are directly attributable to bullshit charges/blocks. Fuck osu
February 21st, 2021 at 3:07 PM ^
Sure, fuck OSU. But they aren't a 4/5 seed based on the game today, if you really think that you are delusional.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:08 PM ^
Meh - with halfway decent officiating, we win that game by 15+. 4/5 seed is probably low, but they’re not on our level, not even close
February 21st, 2021 at 3:15 PM ^
They look like a 2 seed to me. We just felt more talented all game. They had a guy playing like an NBA HOF’er, another very good one in Liddell, and a bunch of scrappy try hards.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:56 PM ^
And if Michigan didn't have the shooting half of their lives in the first half, we lose the game. There are bad calls every game and most of the time they favor the home team (apparently even without fans). OSU played a heck of a game and should end up being a top 2 seed.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:10 PM ^
They did not outplay us for 30 minutes. A 4 or 5 seed is a very good team, I'm not totally hating. I'm just giving my personal eyeball test, and I thought they looked like somewhere around the 15th best team in the country. They're legitimately good at getting to the line, they shoot the ball and defend well.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:26 PM ^
My initial take is Michigan shot the 3 ball very, very well in the first half and still found themselves behind for much of it. I still don't think we are where we were 3 weeks ago but still beat a very good team mostly by out hustling them the last 5 minutes. OSU is good, maybe not a 1 seed but a lock for a 3 or better. If you think they are the 20th or so best team in the country you really aren't being objective. You want to argue they are in the 8-13 range, fine. Ill disagree but its not unreasonable.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:29 PM ^
Let's look at this practically. A "4 seed" would put OSU between #13 and 16 in the nation. With wins over Illinois and Iowa, I don't see how you can put them below ANY of Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, or Creighton.
Bama's best win is over TN, and they have a couple not-great losses. Houston's played one tough team all year and has bad losses against Wichita St. and East Carolina. UVA has no signature wins and has lost 2 straight. Oklahoma and Illinois have both been pretty good, but OSU has the h2h edge over the Illini. That leaves a pretty good Villanova team, who I could see being on par. In essence, that means they're a solid 2, borderline #1 depending how Illinois and Villanova fare coming up.
Yeah, they have a bad loss to a shitty Northwestern team, but I truly don't see how you get them to a 4-5.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:43 PM ^
It seems like you're saying "Yeah, they look like a team that'd be ranked around 15" based on no real analysis. Kenpom has them at 7. If you're gonna lay out a hot take like that, have something to back it up other than an "eye test."
Also, don't take away from a BIG win for Michigan today.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:47 PM ^
You're devoting way to much time to this. OSU is undersized, they relied too much on 2 players, made a series of really dumb plays toward the end of the game. There ya go.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
And yet, they're the #7 KenPom team in the country. That's not a 4-5 seed. Just cop to the fact that you're wrong.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
I'm wrong that I thought they look like a 4-5 seed? I'm not sure how what a computer ranks them plays into my visual perception, or why this has stuck such a nerve.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:13 PM ^
First off, I can't stand the idea of underestimating OSU in any sport. They're an excellent team, and Michigan earned this win. It could've easily gone the other way. Your posts struck a nerve because it's dumb to say OSU looks like a 4-seed when they're empirically among the top 10 teams in the country.
Also, the idea that a "4-seed" looks a certain way makes no sense, especially when the stuff you're pointing to is small. Other than the boneheaded turnover and a couple of ref-inflicted wounds, this was an incredibly evenly-matched game. It's just a strange, thing to say.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:50 PM ^
Who cares? Michigan could face OSU in the B1G tourney then there's the NCAAs. It will all come out in the wash. Plus, we still have the remainder of the regular season to play.
February 21st, 2021 at 6:21 PM ^
OSU absolutely played like a 1 seed. 2 seed at worst. If they win out and make a strong showing in the BTT they have a strong case to be a 1 seed.
But I’d love for them to fall to a 2 seed and have to go through Gonzaga or Baylor to get to the Final Four.
February 21st, 2021 at 9:00 PM ^
Agreed that we look like a 1 seed and I will take it a step further and say that I believe Michigan should be ranked #1 in the country.
But I just cannot agree with you that OSU looks like a 4 or 5 seed. No way, man. They are neck and neck with Illinois as the second best team in the conference. Liddell is as good as advertised -- strong post player and can shoot the three ball. Sure they had a guy that couldn't miss from three. But if it wasn't him it would be somebody else stepping up. That's how it is in college basketball. And we were 10/13 from three land in the first half which was not expected. It kept the game close and gave us a near constant edge. They gave us everything we could handle for the majority of the game and we delivered the last blow and came out on top.
And saying OSU is not as good as people think also sort of takes away from our victory.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
is this where the participation medals are handed out?
kidding, yes, both very good teams.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
Bullshit - without the refs help this is a comfortable 10-15 point win. Osu is overrated
February 21st, 2021 at 3:11 PM ^
Kinda surprised at the downvotes. This is still a UM sports board...?
February 21st, 2021 at 3:15 PM ^
Probably because blaming refs and excluding the other 95% of the game is not a very good take.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:24 PM ^
Neg away, but if you think that game was evenly called you’re wearing scarlet and grey. Did you watch the game? The officiating was wildly uneven - they had their thumbs on the scale all game, and even with that - and washington playing the game of his life, we still won. Osu may make it to the sweet 16, but they’re not a final four squad.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:43 PM ^
Over on tRCMb they seemed to think that M was getting a pretty favorable whistle - particularly Wagner.
just sayin.........
February 21st, 2021 at 4:00 PM ^
So your argument is - ‘the dumbest people on the internet think otherwise’? That place is a cesspool and most of them can’t even compose an actual sentence, but sure - let’s defer to their ‘expertise’
February 21st, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
Well stop saying. Those clowns love to say that sort of delusional crap. They’re hardly objective.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
I saw maybe 4-5 bad calls on Michigan.
You say that but did you keep track of all the favorable calls or no calls Michigan got? That’s my point, fans of x team always say they got robbed with calls. OSU fans could also list calls. It takes away from the great game today.
February 21st, 2021 at 9:17 PM ^
No, OSU fans literally could not list calls. That's the issue.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
Could you imagine if OSU hero ballers (washington/Lidell) were ever off? We would win by 25. They are an iso ball team that if they have a guy off they are fucked. Hell Wagner played assistant PG today and we still won. Hope he gets more aggressive down the road. Love these kids.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:17 PM ^
Not sure where they ended the game at, but the halftime box score showing they had almost no assists support this.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:27 PM ^
Bear in mind, one of the best 3-point shooters (Ahrens) in the country didn't get a point. They haven't gone 7-1 in the 8 games preceding ours without being a pretty good team. This was a damn fine, and well earned, road win for us.
February 22nd, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
That guy wanted nothing to do with us. As far as Im concerned he checked out of the game himself.
February 21st, 2021 at 2:59 PM ^
Fuck OSU
February 21st, 2021 at 2:59 PM ^
Ohio state is NOT a NC contender. No one bigger than 6’7. But yeah good game and all that.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:35 PM ^
I didn't watch the game, but the stats say we had 30 rebs to their 26. It doesn't seem like their lack of size really mattered as far as that goes.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:00 PM ^
This has been an unabashedly great game, but I still think Illinois is the second best team in the conference.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:04 PM ^
Nope.
UM looks like a legit NC contenter.
OSU looks like a sweet 16 team with mediocre defense that got about 6-8 pts worth of help from the refs today. Get some non B1G refs and UM wins this by double digits.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:06 PM ^
6-8 is a serious underestimate of the refs’ contribution to the scoreboard today.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:19 PM ^
The foul on Brooks out at the three point line was criminal. Not sure Washington could have extended his arm any further on the push off.
February 21st, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^
Worst part about that incident was the ref giving the flopping signal. Ive said it before and no one can convince me otherwise: college basketball refs, on the whole, are the worst of all officials.
February 21st, 2021 at 3:04 PM ^
In many, many other seasons, this is a game Michigan loses. That is to say: it's pretty clear this team is special.