Today's B10 Hoops +PSU beat ohio
Mates,
Unbelievably deflating second half yesterday and we're out. Up until yesterday we'd won the first game of our BTT for 14 straight years. I'll be checking the scores of the 4 games today from time to time, but with less urgency. The games today are these:
@1130 hrs Illinois 5pt fav over Indiana
@230 Iowa 7 pt fav over Rutgers (upset game of the day)
@630 Wisconsin 2 pt fav over sparty (meteor game of the day)
@900 Purdue 8.5 over PSU
Was nice to wake up and see that PSU upset ohio 71-68 after being down 33-24 at the half. Our friend Nittany will undoubtedly be happy about that one.
Today's memory: Though it happened on 3/9/2017, it is worth recalling the Willow Run jet slide/crash and the players, coaches, band, etc. scrambling to safety. They showed up in D.C. the next day wearing practice uni's and beat Illinois by 20 on the way to winning it all.
Today's question: Pick the winners with the points, win the admiration of the mgoblog nation.
Have a great Friday and weekend. Wish we were playing today, but not in the cards.
XM
Hard not to feel deflated about yesterday. I think that our punishment will be Dayton. I guess cheers to weak bubble.
Illinoiz, Wisconsin and Purdue to cover. I’m very surprised with that first line, thought IU would be getting more than that. But, KenPom has that as 70-66 Illini win, and I know better than to argue with KP.
Don’t think I’ll be touching the Iowa game. 7 feels like a lot points. Wouldn’t be surprised for a back door Rutgers cover on that one.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
Losing to a 19-12 IU team on a neutral (de facto away) court isn't likely to get us punished. It's not a bad loss. It would have been a decent win - but we've already beaten IU anyway. In all likelihood we weren't going to get past Illinois today, so that game was pretty much just the difference between finishing 17-14 and 18-14.
Basically, yesterday's loss just freezes our position in the committee's eyes - it won't really improve or get worse. We're only in trouble if a bunch of bad teams steal bids (shrinking the bubble) or if other bubble teams catch fire and win their tournaments.
The court didn't seem neutral at all. IU seemed like they were at home.
Oopsies.
I would still be surprised if they get regulated to Dayton. The overall is obviously not great, but all other matrix points would have them as a minimum 10 seed. I think that is enough to get into the actual 64 team tourney.
As disappointing as yesterday was I still have faith in this team. Put them up against someone outside the Big Ten and lets go! The defense has been better and the offense has been putting up good numbers as well recently. The most troubling part from yesterday was the offense could not get a good look during IU's run. Had they just been missing shots that would be one thing, but they were not getting the good looks they typically do. Here's to hoping that was a one off were they got caught in a buzzsaw. Really hope Jones injury does not linger, clearly lost a step after turning his ankle, get that dude some treatment.
Go Blue!
Believe!
I totally agree with the offense and defense. I remember I looked at the clock when it was 60-43 and thought it was crazy that Michigan scored 60 and had almost 13 minutes left in the game. If they would've kept that production, they would've scored almost 90. It's hard for me to give too much credit to IU's defense, it really just seemed like UM lost it somehow.
As of last week I wasn't sure we would get in with a loss but thankfully the bubble has really collapsed and its more Dayton or field of 64 than in or not. The 5/6 line doesn't really seem to have any team Michigan can't beat on a good day, just make the tournament and see what happens.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
thankfully the bubble has really collapsed
This is true every year. There’s a reason these teams are on the bubble; they’re not that good. Bubble teams lose a lot of games.
Indiana, Iowa, Sparty, Purdue.
Gonna be an anxious few days for Michigan.
I didn't know that we lost our first game after 14 straight wins. That's a huge stat and surprised I didn't hear that mentioned once yesterday. Really speaks to John B.
Yup lots of comebacks yesterday. Northwestern came back from double digits and won, PSU, and Maryland nearly came back and beat MSU.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
Um, Northwestern lost by 36 points yesterday.
Illinois/Indiana game could be big for us. We all need to be Illini fans. I think one BT team is going to Dayton, which would be between us, Rutgers, IU. Likely Rutgers is safe. IU did beat us yesterday. But, committee still sees us finish 11-9 vs. 9-11 in conference and we split with them in season winning at IU. Lunardi still has us ahead of them.
Thanks for both the update and your good cheer. I'm sick of the nattering nabobs of negativism. But I'll try to restrain my negativism toward them; after all, there are so many of them, and they need love. :)
As for that meteor game, I guess in the end that I just never want MSU to thrive, not in sports. Wisconsin, when all is said and done, just doesn't rise to real threat level in that old dusty attic of my id. Maybe in hockey?
Deflated is a good way to put it. I enjoy this time of year, but our basketball team took a bit of the fun out of it for me this weekend.
I agree we'll get in and probably not have to go to Dayton. At that point, it's just a matter of what team shows up: Beast Mode or Lost Mode- because we've clearly seen both many times over this season.
Anybody else salivating at Lunardi's latest brackets. We are a #11 seed, with Wiscy as our potential Sweet 16 opponent. In San Diego. Bring it.
March 11th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Hard to imagine this team getting past the first weekend of the tournament when it can't string two consecutive good games together.
Seems like for well over a month, this team will go out and pick up a good win, and then three nights later they'll flop. Couple days later, they'll rebound and get back on the horse, only for another three nights later they'll get knocked right off again and look awful in the process.
Hoping for the best, but this team will have to buck a very real, consistent trend if it hopes to make it past the first weekend.
March 11th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
Particularly the use (or lack of use) of the bench. Even yesterday, knowing the format of the tourney, Juwan still had every starter at 30+ minutes. Mind boggling , especially with the way the bench was used while Juwan was out.
This is why I hope we avoid Dayton. If we can avoid the play in game, we'll win our first round game and lose in the second round. If we are in Dayton, we'll win the play-in and lose in the first round...
March 11th, 2022 at 11:22 AM ^
Wisconsin won't make it that far. Officiating-reliant teams always choke.
The results don't lie. Just look at the tournament year after year, and especially the last one. Michigan was the only Big Ten team, as usual, to do anything of note.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
Really been curious over the last few years if there is something consistent within the conference that prevents it from sustainable success in the tournament. Granted, it still sends a team to the Final Four every couple of years at least, but no titles in twenty years is saying something when I'm fairly certain that every other P5 conference has multiple titles over that span of time, including at least one mid-major conference with the Big East. The Big Ten is just unable to break through.
Is there some issue with the way Big Ten teams as a whole play basketball that isn't conducive to tournament success? Like a different style of play, not good enough guard play (That's what I keep hearing, is you need elite guard play to win it all), etc.?
I can’t see this team advancing out of the first weekend. Our longest win streak this season is what, 3 games? Everything else is win-loss-win-loss-win-loss etc.
I hope I’m wrong but we just do not have it this year.
Looking at some of the updated projections and Michigan is all over the place. Some still have them as a 10 seed. Some have them entirely out. Of course one of those is Jerry Palm who has Texas A&M in somehow when nobody else does.
Today's rooting guide:
Illinois over Indiana
Auburn over Texas A&M
Davidson over Fordham
Iowa over Rutgers
UMass over Dayton
Duke over Miami
Tulsa over SMU
Richmond over VCU
Arizona over Colorado
UCF over Memphis
Texas Tech over Oklahoma
UNC over Virginia Tech
Boise State over Wyoming
The Buckeyes blowing a lead and losing at least brought a glimmer of joy out of the BTT.
Needless to say.... my basketballs were deflated when I checked the score yesterday, after listening to the 1st half and thinking, "this is a great start to the tourny"..... apparently we figured a dominating first half would be enough to put the game away, forgot to come out of the locker room after halftime.
March 11th, 2022 at 10:01 AM ^
to be more precise, they forgot to come out of the timeout at 12:53 or thereabouts of the second half. it was all great, but then
Oh Geez. In light of current events, I don't like this gif, but I probably missed the movie. What is it? I rather like Star Trek into Darkness leveling San Francisco, but you know it's gonna go into the sea anyway.
Thanks XM. I think we graduated around the same time and I feel we ran in the same circles. I graduated in 1981 (5th year) and moved to Cali in 1983, back to the midwest in 1991. Chicago House West Quad. Hockey and Football friends.
Anyway, I hope you see this. Living in the Northland now, but in Traverse City, not as far north as you. Us Trolls still have fun.
hockey teammates/friends, teddy spears was my closest buddy on the team, brad tippet, donny krussman and maybe joey milburn. football friends - the hammersteins, mallorys, some of the other lesser-knowns.
where in cal were you?
fist bump
March 11th, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
Another buckeye collapse, you just hate to see it…./s.
Serves them right for all of their gloating.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
As much as I always enjoy seeing OSU lose would it benefit us if they won in the “good” win category.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:04 AM ^
As much as I always enjoy seeing OSU lose would it benefit us if they won in the “good” win category.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
Bucky and Staee - that's a tough one. I guess will have someone to root against tomorrow afternoon while we wait for the hockey game to start. And we'll be rooting for a team whose name starts with a "P".
March 11th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Just get past the playoff game, so I can keep trolling Spartans about missing the field of 64 last year and still claiming their tournament record continued.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Interested to see what happens in the 2H of Illinois-Indiana. First half has been, well, tight.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Holtmann could be trouble if OSU tanks again in the big dance. I guess OSU is just a women's hockey school?
Speaking of which, why doesn't UM have a women's hockey program like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, OSU? Then with title nine math, they could add then men's Water polo?
March 11th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
Jackson-Davis having a heck of a tournament
Illinois' Hawkins is who we thought/hoped Johns would be. Something about him that I like.
So these new Cenex commercials are the new bane of my existence.
Indiana is just basically carving a path of destruction thru our tourney hopes.
No B1G team will make it to the elite 8.
This is the most frustrated I’ve been watching Michigan basketball that I can recall. W/L/W/L/W/L