Winning out make up for PSU Loss?

Submitted by YoungGeezy on

Desperately grasping at something, anything, that would stop me from gagging after yesterday's loss had me ask myself: "If this fractured team is miraculously capable of piecing things back together the rest of the season, will it make up for last night's embarrasing loss?"

We all know the schedule:

  • MSU at home
  • Purdue on the road
  • IU at home

After yesterday, I hate everything, and I'm sure some of you may even object to me asking the question, but I had to ask because I sure as hell don't know.

WolverineInCbus

February 28th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^

We just blew our chances at a second straight conference championship. So no, for that reason it will not make up for it. Now if Indiana loses again before us and we end up sharing the title, then yes. But that's not likely

Erik_in_Dayton

February 28th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^

Winning all four of those games was never likely.  The PSU loss is a big hit to the team's resume, but beating IU and MSU would be huge additions to it...Also, I dislike IU and MSU a hell of a lot more than I dislike PSU.

MichiganManOf1961

February 28th, 2013 at 12:10 PM ^

Exactly, we just lost to the worst Big Ten team in recent memory, without their best player.  Now we're realistically asking if this team can win three straight games... 2 of which are against Top-10 quality teams?  You people need to snap out of it and correct your expectations.  Exactly who has this Michigan beaten this year that warrants such speculation?  We haven't played well in a month, the defense is only getting worse, and the team is looking more apathetic with each passing game. 

Congratulations, Michigan "won"  the November, December and January Tournament, but that isn't what matters.  You're all going to be seriously disappointed when this team finishes the season faster than a freshman at prom.  Glad to see us ranked so highly all year, but like I've said, either the team is simply dropping the ball completely or they never deserved such high accolades in the first place.  I think it's a combination of both.

~Herm

trueblue262

February 28th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^

It depends on how the team comes back from this, but if they lose to MSU & IU, which lets face it.......after last night, anybody that says thats not possible is just a slappy homer fan that is being unrealistic. Losing a game like that, could really take a lot of a teams tank, or they can learn from it. We will see how good not only the players are , but the coaching staff as well.

Hannibal.

February 28th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^

Yes, it would make up for it.  A big part of the frustration over the loss is the knowledge that it's part of a pattern, and that it's indicative of a team that is going to plummet way down in seeding and lose in the first round of the tournament.  Winning out would completely put those concerns to bed.  In the big scheme of things, there is no long-lasting embarrassment to an upset in basketball like there is in football.  This loss was God awful, but if we have even a halfway decent tournament run (Sweet Sixteen or better), nobody is going to care. 

With that said, winning out is wishful thinking at this point.  Winning another game might be wishtul thinking.  The team is a disaster right now.

814 East U

February 28th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^

I don't care if we win out or lose out as long as this team FIXES its issues before the NCAA tournament...a first or 2nd round loss completely ruins all the good from this season IMO. 

However, if this team wins out i'll be thrilled...but then realize they just blew the BIG championship by blowing a 2nd half 15 point lead vs. a BIG last place PSU team. 

BOX House

February 28th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^

I think beating MSU alone would make up for the PSU loss. But I'll be happy if we don't get embarassed on our home floor the next two Sunday's, because I'm afraid that might happen.

jaylee714

February 28th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^

This team as much as we don't want to believe it is and has been overrated. Our best wins have been at home versus Ohio State, Pittsburg, and I guess Kansas State... Losses of course include OSU, MSU, PSU, Wisky, and Indiana. All good teams... The one REAL quality win (OSU) was at home and barely won. Michigan did not earn their top rating... It was given to them by other teams losses. Once we got to number one expectations went through the roof. I feel like realistic expectations of this team should be Sweet 16 and anything better than that is a bonus. Michigan is a young team with one great player. If we win out, I still would not change expectations of Sweet 16. This is a good team, no where near being a championship team. Should we have lost to PSU? No! But let's take a look at the whole body of work, one home win versus a down OSU team shouldn't make us think we're worthy of a championship this year. We're clearly a fan base starving for a great team, but good is the best were gonna get.

BigBlue02

February 28th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^

I think you really underrating Pitt and KState and you forgot about NC State, all of whom will be decent seeds in the dance. The downside is all those wins came 3 months ago when we were actually playing well

lilpenny1316

February 28th, 2013 at 11:05 AM ^

We sleptwalked through the PSU and Illinois wins.  The team that played the first five minutes of the second half last night was a national title contending team.  Problem is, we need 40 minutes of that. 

You know what happens when a team plays like that for 40 minutes?  Look at what Sparty did to us recently.  Look at what Indiana did to us.  Those teams went HARD from start to finish.  Maybe we needed this to get pushed forward.

Bigscotto68

February 28th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^

No way in holy hell we beat MSU and IU, probably will lose to both as much as it pains me to say it. Freshman, no matter how talented, tend to wilt at the wrong time. I can see the MSU game being a replay of the last game, hope I am wrong with all my heart. Purdue is not a gimme either, especially after last night.

WMU81

February 28th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ^

No, winning out will not make up for that horrific loss.... jaylee714 seems to have nailed it on the head..

Our Freshman are looking a little worn and we cant rebound for sh*t..But, you never know what will happen in the Tourny. So, i hope our team pulls thier sh*t together and we will have another banner to put up in Crisler.

buckley

February 28th, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^

Most of us fell victim to high expectations after hitting #1.  I doubt we beat either MSU or IU at this point. Purdue will get curb-stomped.  Probably a #3 seed for NCAA, depending on Big Ten tournament results. 

Naked Bootlegger

February 28th, 2013 at 11:17 AM ^

Last night was a horrendous loss.   To not close out a 15 point lead in the final 10 minutes against a previously winless in 18 games B1G team is a huge blemish.   Lots of folks were lambasting the "bad" losses of other top 10 teams before our Penn State debacle.   The Penn St. loss may trump all "bad" losses this year for top 10 teams.

If we miraculously find a defensive elixir to stop dribble penetration (seriously, watching Newbill penetrate at will against us for 80 minutes over the past 10 days is disheartening)  and wide-open 3's (Penn St. was averaging 27% from 3-point land before yesterday?!), then beating Staee, Purdue, and IU to close out the year would definitely ease the sting of last night's nightmare.   But if we win out, I'll still be sticking forks in my forehead knowing that we lost out on a potential B1G title by losing to Penn State.  

 

Cali Wolverine

February 28th, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^

No. This is a talented, young team...but that was an epic meltdown. I will be happy if we beat State...but I am not over optimistic. That being said this isn't the only message board in total chaos over the last 24 hours...UConn stormed back to beat G-Town in OT, Texas came back from 22 down to win in OT, and a terrible USC team beat PAC leader Arizona.

B1G_Fan

February 28th, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^

Winning out as in every game from now till the end of the ncaa tourney? Then yes , if you meant anything else then no.

 This teams just young and soft. If they put half the effort into defense as they did for pick and rolls they would undefeated.

raleighwood

February 28th, 2013 at 11:25 AM ^

.....but it's not going to happen.  The reality is that the team isn't as good as the hype has been.  At this point, they are 0-1 against IU, Wisky and Sparty.  They're 1-1 against OSU and the win came at home in OT.  They started off with huge deficits against IU, MSU and OSU on the road.  That says something about preparedness.

They can't really "impose their will" on other teams with physical force and they don't really react well in adverse situations.  That doesn't detract from the good season that they have enjoyed.  However, this team isn't really a true contender for the B1G or National Championships.  By "true contender" I mean that they'll finish at least 2-3 games behind whoever wins the B1G.

This might sound strange, but I expect them to be better next year without Trey Burke.  Walton should be competent at PG and Irvin will be a solid addition to the lineup.  More people will be forced to step up.

On a related tangent.....why was Albrecht even in the game (let alone shooting a 3) with a few minutes left?  Where was McGary for most of the second half?  The lineup down the stretch seemed a bit unusual to me. 

MGlobules

February 28th, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^

getting into these guys' psyches and getting them to play, stay together, keep improving. They shouldn't give a crap what the fans want, just go out and play hard, get better on D, play ALL the way through each D sequence. . . Since there's a pretty stiff limit on how much Stauskas, Robinson, and McGairy are going to get better on D over 6-plus more games--and since our D is very vulnerable--smart fans will adjust expectations downward a little, start hoping for a prolonged run in a tourney where play will be less goonstyle and the refs will not have home crowds woofing them. 

SCWolverine518

February 28th, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^

Ok... Let's all sit back and think about what this Michigan team is. Its young and b4 the season started not many ppl expected the season to go the way it has. I figured we could have about 6-7 bad losses. But as of today Michigan only has 2 bad losses. 4 losses to 4 ranked teams that we were very much in the game with. I'll take what this young team is giving us. 5 losses on the road does not equal the end of the world.

And let's b honest... A 1 seed would b amazing given how long its been, but its not what we all predicted at the beginning. Let the rest of the season play out. As bad as our loss to Penn St feels they matched up pretty well in both games. Michigan will pick themselves up from this. A young team needed to b alil embarrassed. Too much hype too early. Time to get up for revenge against State. 2-1 the rest of the season and Michigan's a 2 seed easily or 1 depending on what everyone else does. Let's get hyped for what Michigan has left. A chance to make a statement.

robbyt003

February 28th, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^

I wish I was creative enough to make these.

Thou shall not talk about Penn State loss.

I don't talk about losing to Penn State often, but when I do, I puke in my mouth a bit. 

Wolverine Devotee

February 28th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^

People don't realize this isn't even close to the worst lost in terms of Michigan being upset.

In 1988-89, they lost to division 3 Alaska-Anchorage. D3!! Nobody remembers it or cares. They remember what they did after that game in march and April.

Hannibal.

February 28th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^

This is a good point.  And, more recently, our 2010-2011 team had some pretty bad losses too.  Not as bad as this one, but they got massacred at home by Purdue and they lost to Northwestern by 14 points.  But by-and-large, my memories of that team are nothing but good, because of what happened after that.  How the team finishes greatly impacts how you feel about the losses. 

I'm not optimistic right now.  But I will say that if my pessimism is wrong and we have a good post season, these negative feelings will feel like a bad dream,

Mr. Rager

February 28th, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^

Yeah and that game was MONTHS before the tournament started.  Not the last game in February.  

Have you ever spent any time analyzing the champions of the NCAA tournament?  The last 10 games before the tournament begins are quite important for a team's chances of winning it all. 

 

Mr. Rager

February 28th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^

No chance.  If we can lose on the road to a team that is WINLESS in the B1G, then we could easily lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament again (because we won't be a #1 seed now).  

This team is like the Georgetown Hoyas team when Allen Iverson was a sophomore.  Good team, great PG, and had the talent to make it to the final 4.  Only problem is they never lived up to the expectations (bowed out in the Elite 8).  I see a similar fate for us.  Perhaps a Sweet 16 exit.  That's the over/under in my book.  

DemetriusBrown

February 28th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ^

Is possible. When you figure out the last time that happened let me know. In the meantime stop pretending to be a real fan if you won't support your team when things aren't the way you like and choke on a fat bag of D's.

MichiganManOf1961

February 28th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^

What a mature and eloquent response.  You can "support the team" without being blind to reality.  Maybe we should just give them a gold star for participating and "trying their best" against Penn State.  Wonderful, then everyone will be happy.  Maybe you should take off your rose colored glasses and look at this team's total body of work this season.  Everyone was so caught up in planning their trips to the Final Four they forgot we've beaten... OSU in OT, Pitt (in the weak Big East), K-State (months ago) and NC State (who has done what... pulled ONE upset against Duke?)  If you didn't know that this was Michigan (think the ESPN blind-pick show), would YOU believe this was a Top-5 team?   Hell no.

~Herm

BlizzardOfOz

February 28th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^

I just hope they can make a good run in the B1G and NCAA tourneys.  The loss to PSU reminded me of a game MSU played against Wright State University the year they won it all with Cleeves and Peterson.  MSU lost on the road to a terrible WSU team.  I was at the game as I live in the Dayton area.  It was a horrible showing but they rebounded and obviously did pretty darn good down the stretch.  If I remember correctly, I believe Cleeves was out for the game at WSU though.

mGrowOld

February 28th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^

You honestly think we're going to beat MSU & Indiana at home and Purdue on the road after watching THAT last night?  Seriously?

I thought Timmy "guarenteed" that wasnt going to happen again.  

I can handle the OSU & Indiana losses (hostile crowd, intimidated players) cause we fought back and made a game of both of them.  I can even handle to some extent the MSU beat-down given they hate us as much as they do and once the wheels fell off the wagon there was no stopping that train.  But last night?  Sorry that one's a crusher.  I've literally been debating posting "most embarrasing loss" cause I could make a case for last night being at least in the discussion with "The Horror".

Soulfire21

February 28th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^

Re: Comparison to 'The Horror'

I'm not sure it is quite on that level, this loss was...

  • Road game
  • Conference opponent
  • Equivalent of FBS school
  • Less weight than a football game

Of course, the Horror happened at home (!!) to a non-conference FCS foe.

Plus, if you've followed Penn State's improvement over the past 4 games, you'd realize they weren't going to finish with 0 wins in the conference.  Of course, still an inexcusable loss.  Close, but not quite on par with the horror, IMO.

The 1989 champ. team got blown out by Illinois twice and lost to DIVISION 3 (!!!) Alaska-Anchorage.

I agree based on what we've seen the last 1.5-2 months is not encouraging, but it's not world-ending either.