On the plus side guys, Denard is up by 6k votes for the cover vote.

Our beloved basketball team is good.  They're not a dominant force nor do they display the type of drive and hunger that makes me think they are championship caliber.  I'm going to reserve judgement until after the B1G tourney is over.  I suggest that everyone get off of the rollercoaster and realize that these KIDS simply do not have the mental toughness to do what we expect them to.  THey aren't professionals.  This Michigan team succumbs to hostile crowds and momentum swings and poor personnel decisions.  THey are very mortal and will be in a dogfight in the tourney every game...no matter what seed they end up with.  Belein is a good coach but he has definitely dropped the ball in several contests this year. This team needs to improve simple and plain.  They are not good enough or disciplined right now to deserve a B1G championship or a #1 seed.  Maybe they can get there in a few short weeks.  They definitely arent there now.  I won't be surprised to see them win or lose the rest of the way.  They are a true wildcard squad.  Love em to death but I have to say that my confidence in their ability to win a championship is shattered.  The truth is....this team misses WINNERS like NOVAK and DOUGLASS.  Those guys werent 5*s but theyre were winners......leaders and they gave a shit every game.  It's time some leaders step up on this squad.  Its time they stop looking at their draft status and focus.  Belein has a big challenge ahead of him.  Lets try to stay positive despite this epic letdown.  This team can still beat anyone. 

An embarrassing defeat. No one deserved to wear the shirt tonight. No leadership, no accountability.

Stauskas had a shocker, too reckless with the ball. Turned it over numerous times and let the opposing player glide in for a layup. Someone needs to get in his face and let him know that's NOT okay.

GR3 had a disastrous last three minutes, couldn't squeeze a loose ball he had in his hands, then missed a lay-up before bricking a three...

Also would like Bellein to take a technical or two once and a while. Tonight would have been perfect when we were up 15 and Penn State hit seven straight free throws, with the refs treating Colella like he was Jordan.

Just swallow the tech there before it gets out of hand.

Brutal performance, this team is going to get upset early in the tournament.

Yeah, that's about right.  Never has a thread been more appropriately titled.  

Evan Turner, John Gasser, Ben Brust...

Add Jermaine Marshall to the list.  31.5%  3pt shooter goes 6/10 against us.

Another neutral court comment might cause me to lose it.

T_T

I know when I saw JB, the X's O's coach, turn red from yelling @ Stauskas at the timeout that the problem goes bigger than X's and O's. It's a young team and we all realize that, but someone has to step up.

Who is this guy on this year's team?

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you know i was gonna say yesterday ....

everytime we have had a clear road ahead of us (whether in bball or fball) late in the season we have muddled it up in the last 2-3 years. Just sounds like underconfidence to me....there is no other way to explain it.....btw go ahead and negbang it.

The lack of focus and effort on D is truly pathetic.  At this point, I would prefer to see Novak and Douglas back on the court, at least you could see and feel the energy and effort 100% of the time.  

This team has a ton of talent, and they play soft, lack mental toughness and really lack the ability to dig down deep.  I would also seriously start to question either the focus on conditioning or the use of the bench.  If the players cannot put the effort into D, they neeed to rotate more often.  I would rather see someone less talented on the court giving 100%, than continue to watch lackidasical effort on rebounding and defense....with their level of talent it really is beginning to piss me off.  

I see too many guys starting to bolt out trying to get on the break vs. blocking out putting in the effort to stop second shots.  I really wonder just how much effort and focus is placed on any of these items in practice vs. getting repetition on shooting.  Indiana, MSU and OSU simple play much more physically and with more mental toughness....and this should have been a 15-20 point win minimum with the talent difference, and the whole they are young, lesson learned, etc is just BS.  Getting outhustled by players without the same level of talent is becoming a habit, not an exception.

i want to believe that this will make us stronger but i think we are too young and soft for that to happen...if it does that will be a HELL of a coaching job.  i have to think that just like none of us believe in this team anymore the team doesn't either.  maybe trey and morgan and MAYBE, big maybe, hardaway does, but there is no way the young guys can withstand this...the heartbreaker against wisco, the blowout to sparty, and now this?  the swag is gone.  if it comes back somehow the coaches and leaders (not really sure who they are) will have done an incredible job with bringing the youngsters back from the edge.

Anither Stu reference might cause me to lose it too. Love him cause he's a past Michigan guy, but come on.

To me, it looks like too many guys are trying out for the NBA.  I don't feel any chemistry among the players.

                  1.  The last 40 seconds was the worse coach-team dynamic I have seen at Michigan since RR's final game.  You HAVE TO DECIDE WHETHER TO FOUL OR STEAL IMMEDIATELY.  It shouldn't even be a decision you make then and there on the court, it should be part of what you practice, .e.g if there is 1 minute left, we play D/ if there is less than 35 seconds we foul immediately/ if there is 59-36 seconds left we try for a steal in the first 8 seconds and then foul.  Instead the team just stood there.  They didn't try to steal or foul.  I honestly thought they were going to let PSU dribble out the clock because that's what they seemed to be doing.  That's inexcusable in a HS team. 

2.  I think we can put the whole, "once big bad ass Jo-Mo is back in the hizzy we're going to be awesomzz at d-fence dudz!!"  theory to rest.  He's a good defender, but the way the perimeter players are playing it would take fucking Bill Russell to fix it.  He's also a very limited offense player, just like every post player at Michigan in what seems like forever (Sims was ok offensely, I guess).  Also, he's terrible at free throws.

3.  I think this blog needs a new Game-Stauskas .gif.  It should have an opposing player making a wide open three as Stauskas stands, arms down at his sides, looking at the teammate right next to him who is screaming "FUCKING SWITCH!!"   This team switches almost every goddamn pick on the perimeter anyway, so it shouldn't be that hard. 

That might be a bit harsh, but he's fast becoming my least favorite player on the team.  He is really just a jump shooter because he can't finish in any sort of traffic (he managed a charge one on one with a defender tonight).  He's prone to jacking up wild shots.  His defense is bad and his passing is inconsistent.  Oh, and his handle is mediocre to the point where I get nervous whenever he handles the ball.    He'll improve on all of this as he gets older, of course, but he may well end up a mere chucker.

4.  Bad defense is contagious.  When somebody is crap, everyone does subtle things to try and compensate, like watching his man while your guy cuts to the basket.

5.  I've still never seen Caris LeVert do anything to impress on defense other than managing to touch an opposing player with the absolute minium amount of force needed to draw a foul.

I believe (if I can still add correctly) that Penn State closed on a 33-12 run. 33-12!! THIRTY THREE TO TWELVE. How humiliating is that

So, after stealthily trying to watch the game while at work and succeeding, only to watch us lose to Penn State, I almost lost my shit. At work. I literally had to go outside and calm the fuck down.

This probably isn't the place, but I think I'm gonna relax about my sports teams for a while. The wins don't feel as great and the losses feel worse. I'll still get my MGoBlog fix every day, but if I've got something else to do and a game is on, I'll check the score when I can. If I'm not doing anything and the game is on television, I'll watch.

Can't live and die with every shot, pass, pitch for eight damn teams (Michigan FB, Michigan BB, Michigan Hockey, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, Bears, USA Soccer) anymore.

I just can't.

Good luck guys.

I can't believe we were ranked in the top 5 and then proceeded to lose to App, er, Penn State.

Insert your favorite Michigan athletes and coaches were appropriate and this is what I wanted to yell like after the game

It was an absolute CHOKEJOB!...I'm talking!

At least we controlled our own destiny for a little bit. 

If you lose to a more talented team, fine.  But when you lose to a crappy team giving low effort - that's not fine.  That's not Michigan and Bo would not be proud.  When you get a chance to win the Big 10 you have to play with energy.  Heck, it's not easy to win the frickin league.

ifmy kid were  a"contributer" on this team right now i would callhis ass to find out where his head is

I will always want Michigan to win, but its really hard to give a shit about a team that doesnt seem to give a shit. 

Per Seth on the "Guess the Score, Win Stuff" article with regards to looking past the Penn State game to get score predictions for the game against the Spartans on Sunday...

Nothing but a sibling affair, 4 o'clock Sunday. If we lose to Penn State tonight you have my permission to shoot me.

Awwww, hell.  I can't do it.  We'll just go with Shooter McGavin finger guns this time.  But next time...Seth....dude.

This loss hurts, but it's not the end of the world (or the team) as some woudl have you think.

I had a bad feeling about this game before it started.  Penn State had been playing by far its best basketball lately and this was a trap game for UM.  With IU losing, MSU coming to town, and PSU having not won a conference game it would have been easy to not be totally fired up for this game. 

PSU played one of its better games UM didn't.  These things happen.  Penn State is not a good shooting team, UM is - but in this game UM went 5-20 from 3 point range, PSU went 10-20.  That's a 15 point swing in favor of the team that usually doesn't shoot that well.  UM usually doesn't turn the ball over.  In this game UM had 15 turnovers to 13 assists.  PSU had 9 turnovers to 15 assists.   Burke finally looked human having more turnovers in this game then in the last 5 combined.   Lastly, PSU had committed the most fouls in the league and UM the fewest.  In this one UM had 21 fouls, PSU had 17.  

Yeah this game hurts, but it's also what makes sports great - on any given day the little guy can have a great game and pull the upset.  I wish it  wouldn't have happened against UM but this is not the end of the world, and it doesn't mean our team has totally lost it and it doesn't mean that Coach B has lost the team.

Go Blue, Beat Sparty! 

Hello 5-seed and loss to a 12 in the first round!   wtf.

Here's a look on the bright side...

At least MSU and OSU have one less quality victory on their season.