Morning after blizzard

Submitted by 1464 on

I know that there are going to be so many Michigan fans waking up this morning and trying to digest what happened last night.  Let's consolidate all the philosophic waxing into this thread.  Topics of interest:

- Based on baseless speculation, who is going to be suiting up for the basketball team next year?

- On a scale from one to Nickleback, how bad did the refs suck?

- What were some of the keys to the game?  Should Burke have come back in the first half?  Should we have stayed small with Albrect in place of a cold Hardaway?  What would you have done differently?

- On a scale from one to Nickleback, how bad did the refs suck?

M_Jason_M

April 9th, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^

-I think all but Burke come back. If anyone else leaves, it's Hardaway, but he really hurt his stock in the tournament.

-I'll give them about a Creed on that scale against both teams.

-Second half rebounding was awful.

-Creed.

ijohnb

April 9th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^

I feel very vexed. 

He seems like a player who has all the tools to come together as this deadly basketball machine but his skill set is just not coming together like I feel that it should.  The sum is just not as good as the parts and I cannot put my finger on the missing ingredient.

ijohnb

April 9th, 2013 at 9:16 AM ^

don't know man.  Those refs were awful but to call somebody Nickelback, I mean that is pretty serious.  There is no question that they reached Train levels, but I am not going to call anybody Nickelback unless I am ready for a fight.

Wolverine Devotee

April 9th, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^

Gotta move on. Focus on the amazing season this team had. 

5 years ago: 10-22

5 years later: 31-8

This season ties the most wins in program history. And a Final Four banner that will stay up forever.

1464

April 9th, 2013 at 8:33 AM ^

I envy your levelheadedness.  I'll quickly get past the bitter stage, but there will always be that nagging "what if" question every time I remember this game.

On a positive note, Albrecht really showed us he is capable of being our PG.  He and Walton will not replace Burke, but then again we didn't think Burke would ever replace Morris.  I think we will be a very competitive team for the near future and beyond, but it is so damned hard to make it to the finals.  There has to be a coalescence of a lot of factors.  Talent isn't the only thing you need.

Wolverine Devotee

April 9th, 2013 at 8:37 AM ^

You can always ask what if. Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin had a chance at a title, Rickey Green and Phil Hubbard had a chance at a title, The Fab Five had two chances.

If you think about it, Michigan could have 6 national titles. I ask myself what if every single day.

M-Dog

April 9th, 2013 at 9:11 AM ^

Conversely, we forget how easily we could have lost the NC game in 1989 . . . we won in OT on free throws and a missed Seton Hall buzzer butter to end the game.

It takes a lot of luck and just plain randomness to win an NC.  One butterfly wing flap in Brazil and Kansas is this year's National Champion.

 

DY

April 9th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^

I rewatched the '89 game last week and the thing that I forgot was just how week of a call it was that sent Rumeal to the line. Had the internet been invented by Al Gore yet, the Seton Hall blogs would've been on fire about that call.

Indiana Blue

April 9th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^

I was starting to get over last night (maybe 1% or so), but then I read that 2 of the ref's last night were actually Big East refs.  How the FUCK does that happen in the NC game.  

That was NOT basketball, its what happens when refs do NOT control the game.  Pathetic overall and the 2 Burke fouls + the non goaltending ... are prime examples of outright incompetancy!  It is sickening to see that the game is now "thugville" style.  Facts  -  for the entire year lowest # of fouls called per game since 1942 & the lowest point totals since the 1950's .... and it is ALL because the refs do NOT follow the rules and let skilled and talented players rise to the top.  

Go Blue! 

1464

April 9th, 2013 at 8:26 AM ^

Here's my snowflake:

 

I don't think the refs gave Louisville the game.  I do, however, wonder what would have happened if there were refs calling the game whose heads weren't firmly planted in their asses.  The Burke Blockfoul was one of the most horrible and unjustifiable calls I have ever seen.  Couple that with the Hancock call, the kick ball, and a myriad of others, and the last three minutes were very one sidedly terribly officiated.  The rest of the game was just as bad, but at least it was bad both ways.  The thing that really bugs me is that if I was that bad at my job, I wouldn't have one.  This was supposed to be the crowning jewel of the tournament, and somehow they let some middle school refs show up to run the game.

Now let's take all those calls away.  Burke gets a clean block and we rebound the ball.  Best case scenario, we hit a three and the game is tied up.  There's a 50/50 chance we score at all on the possession.  Even if we do, they have an extra possession with only a few minutes left.  There may have only been a 30% chance we won that game, but it's an outcome we will never know because the refs had to step in and blow it wide open.

I think there is a non-zero chance that Burke stays.  I think that it is also likely he is the only one to leave, mainly because I think that THJ, GRIII, and MM would be wise to stay.  Burke is the only one that can really make the claim that he has proven everything he set out to prove.  He could also buy insurance like Lewan did.  Over under is set at 1.5 of our guys going pro.

The big deficiencies to Michigan's game last night were -

Why was anyone except Burke or Albrecht carrying the ball up court?  I understand they have to inbound to the open man, but they should have checked to the ball every time up court.

Free throws.  Uggh.

I don't think we got McGary established at all.  Not sure why.  Worried that much about Dieng (sp?).

THJ needs to know when he is cold.  He was cold.

Colt McBaby Jesus

April 9th, 2013 at 9:24 AM ^

Yes it was both was with some of the stuff underneath. Howeva, the most egregious calls that had a direct effect on the score (goaltend, Burke block) all seemed to go against Michigan. There are always going to be questionable calls in a basketball game, it is a tough game to officiate, but those weren't questionable calls.

UofM-StL

April 9th, 2013 at 10:33 AM ^

Yes, but why do you think we consider those the most egregious calls? I would wager that it has an awful lot to do with the fact that those were the ones that went against our team.

McGary's kicked ball was way more obvious than the missed goaltend, and he commited at least two obvious fouls after he picked up his fourth that just weren't called.

The two calls against Burke were bad, but the call that sent Spike to the line for the first time looked like an awfully clean play. And Hardaway spent the whole game shoving Louiville around with his elbow and never got called for it.

The refs were terrible, but they were terrible in the same way the refs at the 2005 Alamo Bowl were terrible. If we had won last night Louisville fans would be claiming that the refs screwed them, and we'd all be saying that it was called badly for everyone so no one gained an advantage.

M-Wolverine

April 9th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^

And most of the stuff that keeps getting mentioned against Michigan are obvious, what in the world were they seeing calls.  I don't think there was something so obviously clean on a Spike block like the Burke one.  The only obvious one is the everyone in America saw it but the refs kicked ball. And all that does is reset the clock some.  It's hardly as game changing as giving them points late in the game by calling a foul on a clean block, or missing Handcock's tackle that changed the fate of two key players in the game.  (Especially when he drew the foul that sent Burke to the bench too earlier by leaning into a guy who wasn't going to touch him). 

There are missed calls throughout, and those refs were just bad, period, to both sides. But I don't see anyone really illustrating calls that drastically change the outcome of the game against Louisville, but a good deal of them were HUGE factors in Michigan's success.

We still should have won though.

MI Expat NY

April 9th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^

I think people are frustrated because during the second half when we kept floating between a two possession and one possession deficit.  We went 3-6 from the free throw line.  We made our last 6 which kept us barely alive, and improved our final stats, but before that free throw shooting hadn't been great.  And we didn't have any FTs from McGary to blame it on.

swalburn

April 9th, 2013 at 8:26 AM ^

I was proud last night, and I still feel proud this morning.  The refs sucked both ways, but I still really enjoyed watching the game.  I'm hoping we have 4 of the 5 starters back for next season, but either way I enjoyed the ride.

neoavatara

April 9th, 2013 at 8:26 AM ^

I actually don't feel that bad.  I know, I should, but I don't.  I think this is the first step to bigger and better things.

My gut tells me that only Burke is going to leave.  THJ did not have a good tournament...would he even be a first rounder?

I think we are going to be pretty good next year.  How good depends on how fast our freshmen develop. 

Jskohl88

April 9th, 2013 at 8:27 AM ^

The refs were, well, a problem, but for the most part I'd say Louisville was the better team last night. Other than the Burke block, most of the egregious calls evened out.



Before I complain a little, I want to note that it comes with the caveat that I love coach B. he's brought us back to where I'm too young to remember being.



With all that said, I didn't like the timeout management, particularly in the first half. When Hancock was going all spike on us, I thought we needed a timeout to stop the run. I thought coach B was averse to using his timeouts after the Syracuse game.



I was a little curious as to why stauskas didn't play nearly at all in the second half, especially when Louisville was making their run. I know he's a defensive liability, but we weren't getting stops anyway, and I don't think he played that poorly offensively. He made a couple mistakes, but he never got a chance to get his shot going.



I love this team. I'm heartbroken, but I'm so proud also. Here's to a bright future

NoVaWolverine

April 9th, 2013 at 8:59 AM ^

Still processing what to think about the refs and how much impact that ultimately had on the outcome (though I do think the crap call against Burke was a huge turning point). But I share your perplexity about some of Coach Beilein's decisions on TOs and substitutions. (And let me stipulate I am a huge Coach B supporter and recognize this program isn't close to where it is today w/out him.)

First, I agree -- why no timeout when Hancock went on his spree? Do something, anything, to stop his flow there and get your act together on defense so he doesn't keep getting those looks. You don't need to conserve first half timeouts! Really perplexing.

And the second half substitution patterns have me scratching my head too. I thought Beilein went WAY too long w/Spike -- after he barely touched the front rim on that one 3-pointer and made some sloppy turnovers, it was obvious the kid was gassed after playing balls to the wall for such a long stretch. I would've liked to see Stauskas get more run (he had hit at least one 3, so his shot was there), and I really think LeVert should have been brought back earlier -- we could've used his length on D and his rebounding during the second half, and maybe given Hardaway some more bench time so Beilein could tell him to stop shooting so many bricks. The only thing I can think of (besides wanting to ride Spike's hot shooting -- though by that point it was obvious he was done) is that maybe Spike was being more responsible in sticking to his defensive assignments that Nik or Caris. 

 

Jskohl88

April 9th, 2013 at 9:22 AM ^

I didn't really think too hard about this until now, but other than for bringing up the ball purposes, I don't think I like the trey and spike back court. Obviously there's no use calling timeout just to sub once you bring it over, but spike's success in the first half seemed mostly based on him being the floor general. With spike and trey together, whenever trey handles the ball, spike looks lost, and it almost felt like 4 on 5 offense.



On the other hand, maybe he was just gassed after having played a career high in minutes in the first half. I'm not sure.



Anyone else have thoughts on this?

MI Expat NY

April 9th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^

He did use a timeout during Hancock's spree.  It was after the third.  In hindsight you can look back and say he should have used it after the second but that wasn't obvious at the time.  

I didn't agree with using Spike as much as we did in the second half, but I'm not sure what other options we had.  Stauskus played nineteen minutes and only took two shots.  I'm not sure we're getting more production out of him.  Hardaway played 35 minutes.  LeVert, with the exception of that spurt in the Syracuse game, has been a disaster on offense for the past 10 games or so.  I'm not sure where else to turn, other than maybe going with a bigger lineup for longer periods of time.  Of course that was difficult with McGary's foul trouble.  

Speaking of McGary's foul trouble, I think it really took him out of the game in the second half. Not only in a literal sense where he had to sit, but from an aggresiveness standpoint.  Louisville kept us at bay by killing us on the offensive glass over the last 15 minutes (10 offensive boards after we last tied the game at 47-47).  McGary's emergence this tournament depended on his avoidance of foul trouble, it allowed him to be the beast on the boards that we desperately needed the first five games of this tournament.  He couldn't do that in the second half last night. 

Overall, I think we need to chalk this one up to catching some bad breaks, and losing to a slitghly better collection of talent.  

His Dudeness

April 9th, 2013 at 8:27 AM ^

Not to be that guy, but I am absolutely that guy. The refs had a large part in the outcome of the game.

That ref squad was so poor it was borderline dangerous for the players. That is the one thing that is unacceptable (UNACCEPTABLE!!1!) for a ref to do.

I also can't believe noone is talking about 5 fouls Hancock. When he undercut Jordan Morgan under the basket they gave the foul to Harrel (who wasn't even in the paint at the time). Given the foul actually went on Hancock, he wouldn't have gotten Micth to jump for his fourth foul and then he wouldn't have been out there to hit that three and secure the game at the foul line. Go back and watch if you don't believe me. Harrel wasn't even the guy next to Hancock undercutting Jordan Morgan. That was Gorgui Dieng.

In the end the better team won. Louisville is so deep and well coached, but we had more than a fighters chance at this game. Add that to the "foul" on the Trey block and that would have given us a shot. Down 4 with the ball is so much different than down 6 with less that 2 minutes left.

UGhhhhhhhhhh...

Trebor

April 9th, 2013 at 8:35 AM ^

Let's not go and blame the refs for the loss - we got beat by a better team. The refs weren't great by any stretch, but the only two calls I had a real issue with were the obvious goaltend by Dieng in the first half, and Burke's clean block that was called a foul in the second half. We still lost by 6 because we played like a team full of underclassmen in the second half - too many turnovers and too few rebounds.

maize-blue

April 9th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^

Yeah, it was pretty rough watching Louisville score pretty much on every possesion in the second half. It looked pretty easy, the defense was soft. I think they took the victory as much as we lost the game.

DealerCamel

April 9th, 2013 at 8:39 AM ^

Refs weren't as bad as everyone's been saying.  The Burke block was unfortunate.  Other than that, they were fine.  We got a lot of calls our way mid-second-half. 

On an unrelated note, Burke really gave his body to the game.  How many times did his face eat the ground?

Naked Bootlegger

April 9th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^

I don't know.   I rarely complain about officiating from start-to-finish, but that was an absolutely shoddy job of reffing.  We did indeed get a lot of calls our way in the 2nd half, but I think most were indeed fouls on Louisville.   There was one Hardaway drive to the hoop where he got fouled that I thought maybe was a soft foul (didn't see the replay, though, to verify).   Otherwise, Louisville was fouling.  A lot.   And a lot wasn't called.    Some of the scrum rebounding no-calls I can handle since there was plenty of contact both ways.  But blatant over-the-back, undercuts, etc. weren't called, and that's when the game gets dangerous.   So I completely disagree with the "refs weren't as bad as everyone's been saying".   

itauditbill

April 9th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^

That we've become so used to the Big Ten/NCAA thugish style play we accept it just like the officials did. If they had whistled the Cardinals for everything the game would have taken more than 2.5 hours. They didn't so once again Michigan struggled with the physicality. When you can't hang with a team start beating them up. Great adjustment by the Cardinals honestly. Play what's given you. Burke is gone, and frankly I don't blame him. Why not get paid to absorb this kind of punishment. I think Hardaway is gone as well. His "potential" isn't going to be any higher. (Since much of the draft is based on potential seemingly.)

I think they should just go all James Caan and play the game with out rules. It might be fairer that way.

Blah... enough of this crap back to work. Screw the tournament and screw the NCAA gong show.

Thanks team, you gave your all and that's all we could ask for.

jaylee714

April 9th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^

For a guy who average 8 minutes a game throughout the season, would he be physically prepared to handle an 82 game stretch plus the possibility of playoffs? I would say no. GRIII isn't strong enough and is too passive to do well in the NBA now. I just don't get how the NBA is even an option for these guys. If we lose all 4 plus 5 seniors are we even going to have enough players next year? What if someone gets hurt? Scary thought. Great season this year though.

M-Dog

April 9th, 2013 at 9:39 AM ^

^^^This.

We're the ones that are the Big Ten team.  What are we doing whining about physical play?  

Man up and give it back as good as you get.  It was clear 2 minutes into the game how it was going to be called.  OK, our Big Ten run should have had us well prepared.  Why the shock?

 

 

Willy Wonka

April 9th, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^

First thing I thought about was that I was still pissed about the style of play. Michigan was content to play their game, while Louisville was allowed to mug/clutch/grab on everything. I heard the perfect analogy when I flipped on the radio. It was the Red Wings of the mid 2000's- dominate the regular season with fluidity/execution/finesse then the rules "change" to clutch/hook/interefere in the playoffs and they don't adjust...get bounced.

We were a couple possessions/calls away from winning a freaking National Championship with the youngest team in the entire tournament. What a crazy, pride filled ride.

Then I saw something on facebook that said Keep Calm It's Masters Week. Thankfully this will help lower the blood pressure.

Now I am just praying there's not a mass exodus of our players. I'll be in the long line to thank Trey Burke for his efforts in the Maize and Blue...if 4 of our starters return we'll be really solid going forward. The selfish part of me wants the team to wake up this morning with a bitter taste in their mouth and say "Let's do this again next year".

 

Proud of the way they let 'em hang out there. Go Blue!

West German Judge

April 9th, 2013 at 8:55 AM ^

I refuse to accept that they were the better (i.e. more talented) team when our NPOY was taken off the floor for 14 minutes.  

I'd gladly run that one back with both teams at full strength and see how Burke's 24/4/3 would look with extended deserved playing time, not to mention having our best big man allowed to play like he wouldn't spontaneously combust at the slighest hint of contact.

Wolverine Devotee

April 9th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^

Also, I had this feeling of family coming together when I saw this-

Crisler errupted in cheers when they saw him on the Sugarcube

get-on-my-lawn

April 9th, 2013 at 9:04 AM ^

I loved it. Can't say I was around when the fab 5 was going on and although all of what I have learned about them has come within the last 2 years or so, like you said Michigan feels like a family to me and it's good to see family come together!