Do you want the basketball team to lose a game?

Submitted by Eli on January 11th, 2019 at 10:51 AM

Do you want the team to lose a game. If so, when would be good timing? I personally want them to lose one once they break the record for best start. It takes the monkey off their back. At Wisconsin would be my choice. Perfect time to regroup and focus on another run. I do not want a loss to a rival or in the BTT. Has anyone been a part of a team that had a long streak like this? Observations from you on their mindset would be appreciated. 

Eli

January 11th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^

Ok. Here I am. I thought this was a good serious thing to discuss. If not, mods feel free to delete my topic thread. This streak is a real thing our guys gotta face. Pressure mounts with each win. Our goal is to win a National Championship. If that means winning them all in the process, great! I was just curious if a loss would benefit us. 

Mr Miggle

January 11th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^

Are they showing signs of cracking under pressure? Next you can argue that you don't want them to be a #1 seed because that brings extra pressure. It probably does. 

No matter what their record, the NCAA tournament is a high pressure environment. The team that wins will handle it.  #1 seeds win a lot of them. This Michigan has strong leadership and mentally tough players. Enjoy watching them win.

ijohnb

January 11th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^

Hey I am putting this up here to see if I can get a response.  I did not pay a whole lot of attention to last nights game because I knew we were going to win but why did Livers start for Matthews?  That did happen, correct?

Edit - Actually, Matthews did not play until the 10 minute mark of the first half.  What up with dat?

TheCool

January 11th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^

So, you don't want the team to be able to deal with pressure? Why not deal with pressure in the regular season and build confidence in those situations? No offense, but avoiding pressure is cowardly and doesn't prepare a team to win a championship.

ThatGuyCeci

January 11th, 2019 at 12:37 PM ^

Take my upvote for having the balls to face your comment. I actually think a loss isn't a bad thing. Under Beilein, the team learns from their mistakes. I mean, its very unlikely we go undefeated anyways, so this will be a moot point eventually.

Goggles Paisano

January 11th, 2019 at 7:01 PM ^

Herd mentality piling on for sure.  What you say makes realistic sense and has been a known thing for as long as I have been a sports fan.  Being undefeated brings huge pressure.  Losing a meaningless game (this isn't college football) will take the future focus off of staying undefeated and place it on just winning the game at hand.  I've been thinking about this for the last couple weeks now.  To answer your question, I would honestly prefer they lose a road game to a good team and be done with it.  Regroup, come back and finish strong.  

MH20

January 11th, 2019 at 11:04 AM ^

This not some new discussion point. This comes up any time a basketball team starts off the season with a long unbeaten streak: Is it better for a team in the long run to lose so that they can go through some adversity and become stronger as a result. It isn't a millennial thing (yes, you were sort of joking but you're also probably pretty serious about it.)

Surveillance Doe

January 11th, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^

You never root for a loss, but you know it's almost certainly an inevitability. So it isn't devastating when it happens, and you can say, "We'll be better for it." But no, I don't want the team to lose. I would love to see them undefeated come mid-April. 

I'm Batman

January 11th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^

No, i want my team to be perfect. Who the hell doesn't want their team to take their place in history? 

These threads are stupid. I don't want my team to get the monkey off their back. i want them to rise to the occasion and take their place in history. 

Teams don't lose because they buckle under the weight of their success. They lose because they run into a team that matches up well, that for one night out plays them.

ijohnb

January 11th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^

I think that teams can lose for several reasons.  It can be that they are just outplayed or have a bad matchup, but it is crazy to think that a team's mindset does not have an impact on how they play.  Players and teams do simply choke. That is a really thing.  I don't think it will happen to this team because nearly all of the players have been to the mountain top and have been on a run before resulting in rapidly increasing expectations, but I don't think it is accurate to say that teams never lose for that reason.

DutchWolverine

January 11th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^

While other commenters on here can be jerks about it, I get what you are saying.  There are times where a very successful team loses a game that they shouldn't right before the tournament and that serves as a motivation or helps them refocus.  With that said, I think the correct response is, given the choice, we would all prefer for them to just keep winning and finish the regular season and tournament undefeated.

ijohnb

January 11th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^

If Michigan was just the "hot new thing" in college basketball and the team was coming in for wild praise for the first time I would think it would be a valid question.  A good dose of humility can be helpful in that circumstance.  But the majority of the players on this team are coming off a season where they went on a similar run (toward the end this time) and played six times in the NCAA tourney pressure cooker, and they felt the pain of not doing the things they need to do to win in the title game.  Their mentality will be unchanged regardless of whether they keep winning every game or lose three in a row.  I have been a fan of several teams on runs where I thought a loss would do them some good but I don't think this is one of those teams.  (I would like to for them to win 3 BIG tourneys is a row, so if they have any losing to do I would certainly like it to be before that).

Duq

January 11th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^

NO LOSSES!!  Run the table!!  Getting a loss out of your system makes no sense to me but I do think the will lose at least one.  Hopefully not to MSU or in the tournament!!