Predictions for Mich/Sparty bball

Submitted by goblue85 on

Michigan returns to action tonight at State 9pm ESPN.  After this stretch we have endured I must say I'm glad its over and coming back for some home games coming up.  This team has played at Ohio, IU, and wisky and looked not great.  This is the fourth game in a very hostile environment.  The key will be hanging around early on and we have a good shot.  The mentality after the deflating loss at Wisky should help us be ready for this street fight.  Hopefully Burke and Hardaway bring the same fire that Novak gave us two years ago that I still always look back and smile.   I think Mich will come ready to play tonight.

 

Michigan 71

State 67

Darth Wolverine

February 12th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^

Earlier in the season I said we would sweep Sparty, but now I'm not too sure. Sparty is playing much better basketball than they were earlier, so I think we lose by about seven or eight points.

MGoRossGrad

February 12th, 2013 at 12:31 PM ^

I'm not exactly sure how the final outcome is decided, but I do predict we begin the game similar to the way the games at Indiana and Ohio State started.  Flat. 

Aside from the few fast starts that we've had, B1G play has really slowed us down.  Once we get started, we generally can break out big scoring runs, but for the most part we've been a little slow on the uptake of getting comfortable with the environment, refs, defense, etc.

I'm not saying we lose, but, again, I think we're in for another ten point deficit halfway through the first half.  We just need to respond adequately.

Soulfire21

February 12th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^

While we have lost three of our tough road games (@OSU, @Indiana, @WISC) we were in them all, after being down by 21 and 15 and 9, respectively.  In fact, we should have beaten Wisconsin 60-57 and we probably would've beaten Indiana (or at least ended with a single digit loss) if they hadn't went 14 of 14 on their free throws to end the game (remember, we did score 3 straight 3s).  And of course, Burke missed a finger roll basket to put Michigan up 1 in crunch time in the OSU game, only a 3 point loss.

Maybe tonight is finally our break?  Maybe tonight we beat MSU in the final seconds or something good?  This team sure as hell deserves it.

I think it would be foolish to expect a Michigan win given the road game/hostile environment, but if we fire quickly and catch State snoozing in the first half, we have a very, very good chance.  The safe pick, at least for me, is a State victory by 8-10 points (padded by free throws at the end, should we choose to foul).

mgoLansing

February 12th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^

Michigan is down by 10 pts just by entering the Breslin center but somehow overcome the terrible B1G refs...errr, Home Court advantage to win 75 - 68 in a much closer contest.

jvarg1

February 12th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^

Although sparty is wounded. I feel the kill is still not in the air. Unfortunately our freshman are still learning the B1G and still haven't figured out how to win the tough ones. Sorry another loss for our boys in maize. Johnny B needs to learn how to be a chief and not one of the Indian leaders. He must demand more from his players . 70- 60 loss

B-Nut-GoBlue

February 12th, 2013 at 6:08 PM ^

WTF is this downvoted?

I'm scared sh*tless of this game.  I don't have a good feeling going in, much to the fact that a few of our underclassmen (who play quite a bit) aren't getting the job done.  We (Michigan) is very two-dimensional, with a 3rd, usually McGary playing fairly soild, right now: Burke and Hardaway are taking too much of the burden of scoring and keeping the team in games.  We need to be more 4-dimensional with the 5th guy playing good to solid. 

I'm sure Michigan State is ready to pounce on us and kick our ass.  I hope our guys are able to respond, weather the first 5-8 minutes, settle in, and score efficiently with the usage of 3-4 guys, consistently.  Defense will be a factor as always, but I think Sparty will get theirs and there's not much we're going to do that will "stop" them.  Some turnovers will help and some transition baskets, which are those aforementioned efficient baskets, will help but if we play our standard mediocre defense and score like we were a month ago we can win this game.