Rooting interest, Indiana vs Ohio.

Submitted by jls1144 on
So does this mean Indiana is motivated and dominates Ohio in C-bus? Does Indiana spiral and subsequently nose dive facing Ohio? Which outcome best aids Michigan? Either would be a positive. The benefit of great conference depth is knowing your foes are guaranteed a few unexpected L's.

robmorren2

February 8th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^

It will be a tie. Dick Vitale has assured us all that Aaron Craft is the best defender in the universe. HOWEVER, he has also assured us that Victor Oladipo is the best defender in the universe (as well as being Michael Jordan). No one will score a point. IU will get close to scoring, but Oladipo will have a Jordan-esqe alley oop brick dunk that flies into the upper level. Just like MJ. Dick will die from a brain aneurysm after trying to figure out how to simultaneously massage the balls of Oladipo, Zeller, and Craft ... and the game will be called.

Wolverine 73

February 8th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^

The prime directive: Always root against Ohio State.  Plus, we control our own destiny in the Big Ten basketball race, so there is no reason to even consider deviating from this sound rule.

Darth Wolverine

February 8th, 2013 at 12:02 PM ^

We want Indiana to keep losing. I don't know about you, but I don't want a split conference title. I will take it if it's available, but I'd rather have an outright conference title and Indiana's losing helps that. We are in sole possession of first place if we win tomorrow and they lose Sunday. It's really that simple.

Darth Wolverine

February 8th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^

I figured the answer is obvious and a thread was unnecessary. The answer is simple: we want Ohio to win because that directly affects Michigan's being in first place (so long as we win tomorrow). We split the series with Ohio, so we don't need to worry about them (again, so long as we keep winning). Ohio has to beat Indiana Sunday and we absolutely have to beat them the last game of the season.

chitownblue2

February 8th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^

I actually mostly like OSU basketball. They play a style I enjoy, their players have mostly seemed like good guys.

that said, even if I felt about them like I feel about OSU football, I'd be rooting for them because it's in our best interest in the standings.

Cali Wolverine

February 8th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^

...have you been to Columbus...wearing Michigan gear (albeit not the brightest thing I did when attending Michigan) for a b-ball game? They do not discriminate by sport. I did not hear a single Ohio fan say oh...we only root against you in football...we love your basketball team...they are fun to watch!

Soulfire21

February 8th, 2013 at 12:35 PM ^

It's close to a push, but with Indiana tied and OSU a loss behind us, an OSU win over IU betters our conference title chances.

I also think IU has a much better chance at the title than OSU, so if IU is a loss behind us that puts us in excellent standing.  Of course, all we need to do is win, the rest will sort itself out.

kehnonymous

February 8th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^

This is a toughie, but.... if I can't root for the asteroid, I go with wanting the Hoosiers to win this one. 

- The same OSU fans we hate in November?  Many of them are also at Value City cheering for their basketball team.  The only reason they don't poop in coolers is because there aren't tailgates for a basketball game in February.

- If Indiana was the crean of the crop and OSU was a bunch of scrubs, I'd gladly hold my nose and root for the Buckeyes just this once.  OSU is very legit, as we saw Tuesday.  I don't want to see them putting it all together and making a run in March.  If they revert back to All Deshaun All The Time, I'm fine with that.  Also, OSU losing Sunday is a potentially fatal deathblow to another viable conference contender's title hopes.

- Yeah, Crean is a Dwight Schrute-wannabe douchebag, but is Thad Matta substantially better in that regard? 

- This isn't like OSU at MSU last season where the result of that game absolutely determined who'd win the conference.  There's almost half a season left to play and you can't even say for sure that OSU winning is the best result for our title hopes.

M-Wolverine

February 8th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^

Or are they still on it, for the Sampson years? Plus they had a bunch of players suspended at the start of the season for violations.

It's not exactly gold pants for tats, and it's not their history, but they might have been in more actual (if minor) trouble than anything OSU has been caught doing...yet.

bluestan

February 8th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^

I'm rooting for OSU. Winning on the road in the Big Ten is extremely hard, and we might just split with MSU. A loss by Indiana could give us some margin for error.

Ler

February 8th, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^

Indiana simply isn't good enough to dominate anyone in the top half of the B1G on the road. Also, I think OSU drops three more games (@IU, @Wisky and home against MSU) to finish 12-6 so I don't view them as a threat. We need more IU losses.

BlueDragon

February 9th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^

This thread added to the substance of the universe in a very hilarious manner. I'm reading the fateful transcript-and-subsequent-community-revision of the title and scope therin. Classic stuff!

Rooting interest, intra-conference juggernauts (State, Ohio, IU): Usually Away team win--it weakens the homecourt advantage, and anything to make away games less worrying for my team (Michigan) as it potentially plays at these sites in the future. I could go either way but I also root for as many turnovers and sloppy play as possible.