March 15th, 2019 at 11:44 PM ^
If we end up beating MSU in the title game Sunday, it would be 4 straight years beating the 1 seed and 2 straight beating every other B1G team at least once.
Such an amazing stat. To say that the 1 seed hasn't won the big ten title in the last three years would be impressive. To say that it's because they all lost to Michigan is incredible.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:46 PM ^
Beilein is also 12-0 in the first game of the tournament.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:14 AM ^
Man basically like the opposite of Amaker when he was at Michigan
March 16th, 2019 at 12:55 AM ^
C'mon bro, Amaker was a pretty damn good NIT coach.
Most underrated coach in CB. IMO, one of the top 3 or 4 in the game today.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:48 PM ^
This is gonna be hard for someone to top going forward. The league is tough. Its remarkable really
March 16th, 2019 at 10:43 AM ^
If you mean post-Beilein, whenever that era begins, then I agree, but I think that he would have left the program in a far, far better state than he found it will actually help attract someone that could hopefully carry it on at the same or similar levels.
For the present, I am loving every minute of this success.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:27 PM ^
Agree. May be a while before someone bests that one. And it ain't over yet.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:48 PM ^
We should just call it the Beilein Invitational.
Can we please stop inviting Rugger then?
March 15th, 2019 at 11:53 PM ^
How is that the same team that lost to Sparty twice in the last several weeks? They keep up tonight's level of play and we'll still be going strong in April.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:03 AM ^
Well it's not quite the same team. Matthews got hurt in the first MSU game and didn't play in the second. Although he shot poorly, he defended great today and his minutes helped keep others fresh.
Plus it's tournament time.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:05 AM ^
Also, we shot really well. When our 3s are falling, we can beat anyone. And I mean anyone. But too often our shooting inexplicably goes cold. Then we lose to the Iowas and Penn States of the world.
Let's hope the hot shooting continues for 2 more days.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:22 AM ^
Let’s hope it continues through April
March 16th, 2019 at 12:31 AM ^
That too, but I think the dance is a little bit different, at least until the elite eight. It seems like when we face teams that are unaccustomed to us, we beat them up pretty good. We can score in transition, off turnovers, etc. I dont have stats, but I never feel like the early rounds completely depend on our FG% because we have other ways of scoring. By the second weekend though, when teams get tougher...yeah we will need to string together perfect games.
I would not label the cold shooting as "inexplicable"...though there is some of that at times. Michigan State defended Michigan as they did for a reason. The Spartan's picked their poison-and picked the correct one.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:10 AM ^
Because Iowa is one of the worst defenses we’ve seen all season and MSU is the #4 team in kenpom and a likely final four team?
March 16th, 2019 at 12:12 AM ^
In order to get to the Final Four, you've got to get past the first weekend.
Yet Iowa beat us earlier this year and we flat out dismantled them tonight so....
What Matthews does on D is remarkable. JB basically talked about it in his post game conference. Last night Z and Matthews locked down Iowa’s two best offensive players. Wieskamp and Bohanon got nothing at all. Great stuff.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:38 AM ^
Other than 3s, nothing about this team is remarkably different. We did not play against Cassius Winston or Xavier Tillman. Aside from playing MSU, Michigan has been playing well the last few weeks.
The second half refs had some totally shit calls last night, but it was nothing like the love fest shown Sparty last week. That shit show had Michigan unable to defend and tentative on offense because of foul trouble alone. I think M wins game two if the officiating would have resembled last night.
Give Michigan some decent officiating (by decent, I mean called the same way for both teams) and they're going to be a tough out for any team in the nation. Real tough.
Refs definitely played a big part of the game at MSU last week. First one at Ann Arbor, UM played dumb w/ lots of mental breakdowns. With that said, MSU has a game plan on D to stop UM which seems to be working now. The Z ball screen w/ Teske is not working. Give MSU props. UM needs to find a way to overcome that. I think it’s Teske in the post. Plus, JB has to defend the pick and roll better. Go back to switching vs. the hedge. Talked about this after last weeks game.
all comes down to keeping them off the line. They are scoring way too many points for free. Between refs letting them play/not BS use + us being smarter is receipe to make that happen. Winston gets so many BS calls, it’s laughable. Need to try and keep ball out of his hands. Z needs to take that matchup personally and dominate. Played his worst 2 games against MSU this year.
Oh 1 game at time. Beat Minnesota. They are gaining some confidence last couple of weeks.
March 16th, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
The refs last night were extremely inconsistent. Both ways though. The 1st half they were letting everything go and letting the game be really physical. The second half started and they called like 6 fouls extremely fast and only 2 of those potentially would have been fouls in the 1st half. It was a complete 180. But it was both ways and just terribly inconsistent.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:57 PM ^
Good stuff!
I love this wonderful time of year.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:58 PM ^
let’s push it to 11
March 16th, 2019 at 12:10 AM ^
Our streak goes to 11!
Sometimes when we're on, we're really fucking on....
Nicely done. I had that video bookmarked for ages. Thanks for the memories.
March 16th, 2019 at 12:30 AM ^
How bout dat!?!
Looking for a Eli Brooks appreciation thread.
Eli Brooks 2.0 is something that needs to stick around: He’s confident, smart, and can knock down shots. Him and Livers off the bench can provide that needed extra to take this team from sweet 16 to final 4
Right? He's been a completely different player the last couple of weeks. Sort of like X last year, when he saw the bench in place of Brooks. Giving DDJ some time in front seems to have lit Brooks' competitive edge - to the benefit of both players, and the team.
Yup, can't wait for basketball to finally turn the corner ????????
Some people just can't enjoy things...
March 16th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
“Enough about these winning streaks! When are we actually going to WIN GAMES???”
~ literally you
OR CHAMPIONSHIPS?!?!? We haven’t won a big ten championship in like..........1 freakin year!
March 16th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
Interesting. In the 21 years of the B1G tournament, beating Iowa was M's first against a Seed #6 team (0-1 before now). 2-1 v Seed #7's (Minnesota) and 3-6 against Seed #1's. Now 7-0 v Iowa and also 4-1 v Minnesota (and Purdue), BUT 1-6 v OSU (!) and only 1-1 v MSU (1-3 v Wisconsin). I don't know what all that means except that M has been pretty good in the B1G tournament, 26-18 overall (but nine straight wins means below .500 before that). John Beilein has made a big difference. Go blue!
No shit, bro. It’s because we fucking rock. Leaders and Best.