Who will be the last undefeated team standing

Submitted by BoFan on January 6th, 2019 at 3:07 AM

Everyone thought Nevada with their week schedule would be the last undefeated team.  But with the upset of Nevada Saturday, Michigan and Virginia are the only undefeated teams left.  

Michigan has a tough game vs Indiana today and is at Wisconsin on the 19th. Virginia plays Virginia Tech at home on the 15th and at Duke on the 19th. 

Michigan then plays at Indiana on the 25th

Can either team survive to the end of January?

Go Blue!

Perkis-Size Me

January 6th, 2019 at 8:06 AM ^

There is a good chance they both lose on the 19th. On the road at the Kohl Center, against a team that continues to play a very frustratingly slow brand of basketball. Michigan is still in somewhat of a shooting slump, and they need to make every possession count against Wisconsin. If the team from November comes back, they could run Wisconsin off their own court. But if it’s the team we’ve seen since then, it’ll be a slugfest that I think goes Wisconsin’s way.

I think Virginia will lose to Duke because it’s at Duke, and that whole team is stacked with lottery picks. I’m sure Duke will trip up somewhere else in the regular season maybe a couple more times, but I have a hard time seeing them lose more than 3-4 games, total, this season.

So, if you made me guess, I think they both lose on the 19th.

Blueblood80

January 6th, 2019 at 8:15 AM ^

All I know is Michigan will not go undefeated. I have watched sports and played them for my whole life. It won’t happen. There are too many games against tough teams (and on the road).  An off night or two is bound to happen, even with the most elite of elite teams.  With the current win streak, I am absolutely dreading the next loss (could be today? who knows) and when that happens I am staying far far away from this board.  It will be meltdown city. 

Arb lover

January 6th, 2019 at 9:34 AM ^

Look, I'm agreeing with the first part of your sentiment, but the board isn't going to go into meltdown mode if/when Michigan loses their first game... unless say that first loss is in the round of 32/16 where it absolutely matters. You can't compare a loss during the regular season to an end of football season loss (for the x time in a row) to our rival that takes us out of the CFP discussion entirely.

In fact, pretty much everyone knows the first part of your statement is true, and during the regular season and given the high percentage loss vs quad 1 teams on their court, and the fact that even with 4 losses, Michigan probably enters the tournament as a 1 seed. Given this you won't see the epic meltdown you predict. Some people will probably say things like it was inevitable, they haven't been shooting well for a while, too many close games against sub-par teams, hopefully this will be a wakeup, help them fix things, steel the spine, etc. 

LSAClassOf2000

January 6th, 2019 at 8:39 AM ^

If it happens to us, and the odds say that it likely will, I kind of see the first loss coming in the next few weeks, as I look at schedules and rosters over here. There's a stretch in the second half of this month where we play four teams that are currently ranked, and I could see a slip-up on the road.

That said, there's part of me that wants to think this team could survive even that. Like I tell people, I usually wait for the first meltdown thread of basketball season. 

Arb lover

January 6th, 2019 at 9:38 AM ^

Asking for an (IU) friend?

Henschke put out the last bit of news on 24/7that I've seen Friday afternoon, but it probably doesn't give you anything you don't already know. 

[Friday] Beilein noted that Livers' injury will not be a long-term issue but pain could still linger into Sunday. Livers had spent most of the day on Friday at the training table to receive treatment for his back spasms. "[Livers' status] was a surprise yesterday so we have a package we want to put in for him today," Beilein said.
"We have a package if they are really small and that would give Brandon problems right now. If they went really small, we could play Charles and Jordan together at the forwards. Then Eli and Zavier, maybe David. We gotta be versatile and be ready for anything. We have to have something ready for him. He had been Stevens the whole week. Now, all of the sudden, he's in there guarding Stevens. It was just to give Iggy a rest last night. Now if Iggy would've gotten into foul trouble, he would've had to play a longer time. He did a good job of staying out of it."

Muttley

January 6th, 2019 at 3:05 PM ^

Well, the December Tomato Can Alley tour just finished.

What more could be said?  The team was playing without a sense of urgency because, well, there was no urgency.

All I would say is Thank You Michigan Basketball for your play through the Dec 5 Northwestern game, and I'll withhold my comments until competitive games start back up.

SeattleWolverine

January 6th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^

Houston might well lose before us. They're under 60% against both Temple and SMU so more likely than not to lose one of the two. I do think we both make it to 1/19 and then it's 50/50 with Wisconsin. UVa probably loses at Duke that day. 

Ken Pom has us on pace for a 15-5 conference record and we only have 2 games left against teams that aren't top 50 competition. Road games against top 50ish teams are tough, we're going to have several losses. 

footballguy

January 6th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^

I'm concerned about today if Livers doesn't play. This team is really thin and I think it will be way more visible if he doesn't play

Don

January 6th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^

I hope it's Virginia. Not that I'm worrying about it happening, but I don't want Michigan to be undefeated going into the NCAA—the distractions and pressures of being undefeated would be a mental impediment to just playing their game.

Harbaughlin

January 6th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^

You guys realize Houston is 14-0 too?

 

Which is kinda funny that 2 teams who played in a r2 game last year that ended on a buzzer beater are now a combined 28-0 to start the season.