On to the Tournament.

Submitted by kaykaybroke on

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.

turd ferguson

March 10th, 2012 at 6:22 PM ^

Yeah, this feels like one of those burn the tape and forget that it ever happened games.  Not much worked today.

The reality is that OSU is very, very good - definite national title contender good - and it'll be awhile before we see a team that's nearly that talented or nearly that familiar with us.

AMazinBlue

March 10th, 2012 at 6:14 PM ^

Michigan had to fight so hard to beat Minnesota.  I think the te tream is still flat from getting their main goal of getting a share of the B1G title.

If they don't get focused on playing harder and playing some defense they won't get past the first round.  I was hoping for possible elite eight, but the last outings were so weak I'm less optimistic than I was a weak ago.

Mr. Yost

March 11th, 2012 at 4:24 AM ^

I think this is what is exactly what is going on.

Look at that celebration video when they win the B1G Tournament. It was just as much relief as it was excitement.

I think the hangover was certainly there.

We played against the refs as much as we played against Minnesota, but still, we should beat that team without their best player by 20. And no reason to lose like we did today.

So now we face a challenge. Do we continue to roll over and be satisfied with a shared B1G Title? Or do we get over it and go on a tourney run that this school hasn't seen in 20 years?

Sac Fly

March 10th, 2012 at 6:14 PM ^

It's not easy to play back-to-back games with no bench. Michigan used two bench players against Minnesota, they were worn out and playing a much better team.

IncognitoWolverino

March 10th, 2012 at 6:56 PM ^

I agree and reading some of their post-game quotes is giving me confidence that they can put this behind them and regroup fro a srtong tourney run. All these guys are mature and I think that'll show when they come out strong in the toruney.

We got knocked out of the B1G tourney last year in the semis by ohio and came back to kill Tennessee and almost get Duke, so I trust in Beilein and the team.

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 10th, 2012 at 7:39 PM ^

This game doesn't matter.  I had a hard time getting up for this game to be honest.  I know I'm not a player but it seemed they did as well.  Thursday/Friday is what matters.  Let the pundits keep reminding the country how the 3/4 Seed Michigan's last outing was a horrible defeat to their rival and may be struggling.  They're going to be dead wrong and Coach Beilein will have the troops rallied for WORLD DOMINATION (or just opening round domination!).

One has to be "Eh" about this game.  Can't overreact and say how bad we are nor underreact and act like this team is really all butterflies and rainbows (i.e. army tanks and transformers who are supposed to beat everyone to a pulp).  Ohio and Sparty are good.  Better than us 6-7 times out of 10.  Brian said it recently and got killed for it.  It's a fact.  It's true becasue Michigan "needs" more things to go their way to win against those teams.  It doesn't mean Michigan is a poor team who won games because of luck.  Michigan will fare well this next week, just watch.  They could even shock a few people who just aren't aware of how good a team they really are.  Settle down all.  It's been a good ride.  Let's sit back and see how they finalize the already-great season...

MichiganMan20

March 10th, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^

They'll be fine. This was just one of those games against a really good team. Im sure Beilein will get them ready for the tournament for at least a sweet 16 maybe elite 8 type of run. I believe in our guys and next year we will be even better.

WingsNWolverines

March 10th, 2012 at 6:27 PM ^

Ohio State is no better than us and we basically committed suicide with turnovers, bad shots and horrible passing. We made them look like the fucking 1973 Soviet BBall team! I don't know if we were tired or what but we looked like fucking shit out there. Burke wasn't hitting layups, THJ couldn't sink a 3, Novak, Morgan, Smotz hell the whole team looked pathetic. This was an embarrassing loss to an overrated Ohio St squad. Pathetic.

WingsNWolverines

March 10th, 2012 at 6:40 PM ^

Beat a struggling Duke team who's not nearly as good this year as they've been in the past, lost to Wisconsin at home against a Badger team who's been inconsistant this year, lost to an overrated Indiana squad at the beginning of the year, Sullinger hasn't done shit with Ohio St in the past 4 or 5 games with the Bucks until today, barely out of sheer luck with the help of Bueford snuck by MSU at EL. Watch and see for yourself tomorrow how Sparty exposes them for who they really are and that's overrated and over hyped. State will bring them down to Earth. They have the best defense in conference. It's a fact and you saw it today against Wisconsin.

jmblue

March 10th, 2012 at 6:55 PM ^

So basically, your argument is "They lost six times and some of their wins weren't blowouts."   You realize that you can make that kind of argument against almost every team in the country, right?  

Let's recap what OSU has just done in the last 10 days:

-Beat Northwestern, a team playing for its tourney life, on the road.

-Beat MSU on the road - no other team had even played within 10 points of MSU at Breslin prior to that

-Beat a 21-win Purdue team by 17 points

-Beat a 24-win Michigan team by 22 points

That's pretty damn impressive.  

turd ferguson

March 10th, 2012 at 6:28 PM ^

I don't think so, and it's not just because of this game.  There are always a few seeding decisions that seem more inexplicable than any of the bubble decisions, and a four seed wouldn't surprise me at all.  If I had to put probabilities on it, I'd say that there's something like a 5% chance of a 2-seed, 50% chance of a 3-seed, 35% chance of a 4-seed, and 10% chance of something worse.

WMUgoblue

March 10th, 2012 at 6:34 PM ^

Wisconsin and Indiana had the potential to steal a 3 seed from us this week and neither took it, this combined with the fact that Georgetown didn't go far in the Big East tournament are good signs for us. I think we'll stay on the 3 line along with Baylor, Marquette, and Georgetown possibly.

Volverine

March 10th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^

Well, we didn't look good yesterday and we didn't look good today. In fact, we didn't look that good in the final game of the regular season against Penn State. You kind of want your team to be clicking and looking good at this time of the year. I think a week off will be good for us, but I am surprised that we've looked as poorly as we have these past few games. I'm really shocked that Stu and Zack played the way they did yesterday. Those would have been the last two players I'd expect to not play well leading right up to the tourney.

Wolverine Devotee

March 10th, 2012 at 6:25 PM ^

B1G Championship > B1G Tournament Championship

To win the B1G, you have to be the best all year and it takes place over a whole season.

To win the B1G Tournament you have to get hot for a few days. It takes place over 3-4 days.

Now that the loss is out, make a good run in the NCAA Tournament.

Wolverine Devotee

March 10th, 2012 at 10:51 PM ^

I already did. Conference tournaments are a gimmick and a money grab. They are for the teams who shit the bed in the regular season and need a way to get into the NCAAs.

If the conference tournament is the highest level, you're saying the 1997-98 Michigan team was the best team in the Big Ten that year....?

Good teams can win 3-4 games in a row, but the BEST teams can win consistently all season long.

MichiganMan14

March 10th, 2012 at 6:25 PM ^

This Indiana pure shooter thing is not okay with me. I'm tired of watching these Michigan "bigs" play like little boys and jack up 3s. Get an inside game and okay like a damn man....Smotrycz Mcliman are both too weak for power positions and not skilled enough to play the wing. There are other players that should have been recruited in their place. I understand that they are good guys....but this isn't march of dimes. We need players. Last time I checked....the state of Michigan has outstanding basketball players....not sure why we playing around in states like Indiana and recruiting these weak ass power forwards. I'm tired of watching MSU and Ohio have grown men on their teams while we are running with frail soft players. I'm from the fab five era and this physical make up of the current Michigan team bothers me. We have all these "dead eye" shooters that shoot average %s. Ohio shoots the 3 better than us and they are men in the paint. Belein has got to recruit tougher players and get some Individual talent on this roster. Trey Burke is not enough.....unless we are content with sharing titles. Recruit Detroit please....to hell with this soft catholic school league ideology.

PurpleStuff

March 10th, 2012 at 6:54 PM ^

Clearly the guys on this team who just won a share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 1986 are a bunch of pussies, especially compared to a guy who sat on his ass and watched a different team play 20 years ago and isn't terribly impressed by their accomplishments. 

And don't even get me started on the coach who has won at each of his 7 different college head coaching jobs.  What the fuck is that guy thinking!