On to the Tournament.
Mitch Mcgary can't get here soon enough.
We need his inside presence. It's a sad day when your point guard leads your team in rebounds.
(yes I know we out-rebounded OSU, however, lack of an inside presence was frustrating i.e. watching Jared Sullenger go 9-13, and 3 offensive boards.)
All in all, one loss can't mar the incredible season MBB has had. Look for John Beilein (who imo is one of the best tourney coaches in the league) to pull us back together and make a strong run in march.
Remember, we have the 3 seed all but locked up. I've seen some really favorable mock-draws for us, and once our shots start falling, we're hard to beat.
Here's to a tourney to remember. Go blue.
VCU, Butler, and UConn were not top four teams the past few years.
I'm pretty sure we have a team that can match their effort and maybe their talent. We certainly have a coach that is every bit the equal of those teams' coaches.
They all made it to the Final Four and one of them even won it. This format of back to back games is hard for us since we don't have a very deep bench.
We are 9-0 coming off a loss and I think they can improve that stat to 10-0. We haveb a tough system for teams to learn on short notice. This team has a will to win. If Burke thinks this team can win a national championship (see umhoops) then why shouldn't we agree with him?
It would be folly to underestimate us in the Tourney next week and in the coming weeks.
I love your optimism.
March 10th, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
So you went to USF for Basketball, FSU for Football but call yourself a Michigan Man? A Michigan Man who enjoys shitting on the best basketball team we've had in 20 years? You are the poster boy for Walmart Wolverines.
And in fact many times, it's not what you say but HOW you say it. If you and many us were to sit down and have a beer discussing all of this we'd probably all agree on more than we initially would think. It's your presentation that is rubbing people the wrong way, IMO. You make some good points. Other points you make aren't as quality in other's eyes. Again, present them better and don't be so "negative", even though you think you're not and thinking you're only giving sound judgment. Just my 2 cents. Cheers.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:01 AM ^
Some of your points are valid but your delivery sucks. You come off as a blowhard who thinks he knows more than everyone else. Trust me....you dont.
Lots of people on this blog post negative stuff without calling out 18-21 year old kids who are just busting their ass for the school.
Coach B will recruit players that fit his system...not players to fit your idea of what the team should look like. I will put my faith in the coach all day and any day.
By the way...when you have to go to the "cool story" thing and tell us all about what you have done at/for the school, you have officially lost the respect of most all posters on here.
I would have told you to shut up while you were ahead...but you just never got ahead.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:11 AM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 10:03 PM ^
"We play a weak soft brand of basketball that could be likened to catholic church league."
Oddly enough, your second statement verifies your first, just not in the way you intended.
March 10th, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 10:35 PM ^
March 11th, 2012 at 12:17 AM ^
My best guess is the addition of Mcgary and Robinson III, plus a whole summer's worth of work for Morgan and Horford getting healthy again. You're clueless.
Edit: How about a starting 5 of Burke, Hardaway, Robinson, Mcgary, Morgan with Smotrycz, Stauskas, Vogrich, Horford, and Brundidge coming off the bench. That sounds like a pretty damn good team to me.
March 10th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ^
That speech you gave where you said "don't compare the Fab Five to any basketball team either because they wee trendsetters" just speaks volumes.
Why would I compare the Fab Five to the current team? This team has done something the Fab Five never did. I loved the Fab Five, I have a picture of them in my house and am naming my son Jalen. But the fact that you are making them out to be a John Wooden UCLA dynasty team is laughable. If anything, that era caused all of the shit that the program has just FINALLY recovered from.
You talk about the tradition of Michigan Basketball. Well guess what? The past 10 years have been ugly. (I know you don't know since you most likely showed up this season), but the tradition is being built NOW.
If you don't like the way the team is coached or the players on it, like I said in an earlier post, TAKE A WALK.
March 10th, 2012 at 11:17 PM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 11:32 PM ^
Yeah the University and Nike pimped Webber out alright.....it's a conspiracy....
Like it or not, rules are rules. The players took the money, the players made the choices. Webber and Bullock came from middle-class families.
Webber has badmouthed the University a few times on local radio stations as well as Bullock calling the school selfish on twitter.
As much as I want the games & records reinstated and the banners to go back up, those two continue to act like children and THEY are and were the selfish ones. They were selfish to their team and they did not think about the consequences. Even though the past is the past and you can't change it, those two really rub me the wrong way and seem to have think they have done nothing wrong.
They took money which violates the rules, which got Fisher fired, then brought sanctions that scared away elite talent. Sanctions included a postseason ban, cost the University tons of money whether it be money they had to give back, money lost from potential tournaments the team could have went to and the drop in ticket sales.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:07 AM ^
March 10th, 2012 at 11:42 PM ^
All right, is this McFarlin or em0?
March 10th, 2012 at 10:50 PM ^
March 11th, 2012 at 11:51 AM ^
you were also in the Marine Corps? Which came first? That's pretty rigorous.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
I've found an article about you online, and it sounds like you're a good guy. It's unfortunate so much heat came your way, but the tenor of your comments made you a target here, to be honest. Whether or not Ann Arbor is as liberal as it used to be is irrelevant—MGoBloggers are generally very aware of the team's limitations in physical talent, but their heart or toughness or desire is beyond criticism or reproach to anybody who's been following them closely.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^
Even playing at home with adequate rest, beating OSU is no easy task. We were less than 24 hours from playing a nerve-wracking OT game on the road in which we had to come back from significant deficits twice, and our best player is an 18-yr old pure freshman who played every freaking second of the game. Expecting him and the rest of our squad to be at their best against a better-rested team that is notably more talented than us, especially inside, was ridiculous.
It's mind-numbingly predictable that keyboard commandos will rise up after a loss and pronounce the losing team to be "soft," that "they didn't want it," and that "they're not tough enough." That might well be the case with some squads, but to assert that this Michigan team fits those descriptions is asinine. They were gassed playing on the road against a better team with more talent. That's the perfect formula for offering up a stinker, and that they did.
There's an old phrase that's been attributed to both Vince Lombardi and George Patton: Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Which simply means that when you're exhausted, you won't perform with the same aggression and intensity as you would if you're well-rested. It's not a reflection of character, it's a physiological truth, especially for kids who are still in their teens.