SCIENCE: Revenge Run to Glory
The only thing in sports fandom sweeter than winning it all is exacting delicious revenge in the process. Thus, my bracket has Michigan executing a satisfying and demon-exorcising “Revenge Run” to the title:
- Wofford – their head coach played PG for Beilein, and now dares coach against him in the NCAA tournament? Traitor!!
- Texas – 2005 Rose Bowl
- Duke – 2011, round of 32 (among many other things)
- Louisville – 2013 final
- Arizona – December 14, 2013 in AA (after UM led by 11 in 2nd half)
- MSU – beat us in the BTT final this year, then their fans talked about it as if we hadn’t beaten them 2X this year, won the B10 reg season title by 3 games, and gone 6-3 vs their seniors
(OK, the Wofford one is kind of weak, but...best I could do on short notice)
I know what you're thinking. "Rationality vs wish fulfillment," "Kenpom this, RPI that," BLAH BLAH BLAH.
SCIENCE tells us that the brackets will work themselves out at each successive step to allow for Maximum Revenge Extraction for Michigan - and we all know that SCIENCE CANNOT LIE.
As a wise businessman once said: “Today I settle all family business…”
Buckle up for the sweetest and most satisfying edition of March Madness ever...
That's not even that crazy of a prediction. It's unlikely all of those things will happen, but they are all legitimate matchups. That Michigan MSU final game would be too much to handle for most people, though. I truly hope that doesn't happen, although it's hard to be upset with Michigan making the title game.
March 18th, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^
or how devastating a loss would be for them. Neither fanbase would ever recover. We would be so crushed as would they
I also have Harvard over Cinci. While it's an upset pick, it's not a crazy pick.
Cinci would still have to be there to advance to the Sweet 16.
I think you mean "Dallas". Final Four is at AT&T Stadium.
In an All-Time "Sparty, No!" move, Michigan State travels to Atlanta instead of Dallas and is disqualified in the semi-finals for not showing up.
The immutable laws of Maximum Revenge Extraction demand they advance farther
Virginia is the only team in that section of the bracket that state does not have about a 70%-80% chance of beating, at least according to the pre-tournament Massey numbers. In fact, Virginia would be the only portion of that bracket which would be a favorite over Michigan State. I actually have them taking MSU out in two pools myself.
... wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have such a revenge list? It would mean no one had beaten us in the past.
Arizona also claimed they won the game for Rich Rod. Time for revenge.
I used maize and blue for a double elephant toothpaste celebration in advance of our 2nd national championship
it would be some kind of crazy intensity if it were an MSU/UM final. However sweet that kind of game would be, the thought of possibly losing it is so awful that I'd much rather see MSU go out early and in embarrassing fashion.
I don't know if my heart, brain, stomach and butt could handle that.
I thought one of the Forcier brothers played football at Wofford, but it was Furman.
Just pretend Wofford slept with your wife.
His wife is in a coma.
Did she get hurt at the jerk store?
This got me thinking - what is the most realistic scenario for Michigan to run to the championship game and face teams that stir very little negative emotion.
Pseudo-realistically (e.g. not simply advancing all of the low-majors who have never played Michigan), this is who Michigan would face if they were to play the best seeds that didn't have any sliver of bad blood:
ROUND OF 64: #15 Wofford. Only one prior meeting between the teams - a 34 point regular season victory in 2006 that saw Dion Harris record a 14 point, 10 assist double-double.
ROUND OF 32: #7 Texas. We don't like Texas, but primarily for VY-related football reasons. Arizona State, on the other hand, hired Bill Frieder while he was in the middle of tournament preparation (fortunately that worked out. No recent basketball history with either of these programs, but Michigan is 0-3 all time versus the Sun Devils and 1-2 versus the Longhorns.
SWEET SIXTEEN: #6 UMass. Michigan has won the only matchup between the programs and has some recent football success against the Minutemen. But I know what you're thinking - who would Mike Cox root for?!?
ELITE EIGHT: #5 Saint Louis. Again, Michigan owns the victory in the one and only matchup between the two schools. And with Saint Louis not competing in FBS, there is very little to hate about that opponent.
FINAL FOUR: #3 Creighton. Michigan won the only matchup between the schools in the 2009 version of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. The game went to overtime before Michigan pulled away and won by 7. Manny Harris nearly notched a triple double, with 20 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: #2 Kansas. Michigan has a 6-2 series record against KU and Trey Burke fuzzy memories = Yes PLEASE.
it was a pleasure to watch him, I thought he was one of the best college players ever and the Rose Bowl was awesome in spite of the loss.
I could live with AZ State. We have nothing to be mad about there. And it gave us one of the great Bo quotes of all time: "A Michigan Man will coach Michigan."
how much fun would that be?
Darris Nichols is an assistant coach for Wofford and was a PG for Beilein at West Virginia.
Those 2 people are not the same.
But my point still stands, as he is still coaching against Beilein in the...
Hmph. I just can't make it work...
March 19th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
is a tad too mystical for my taste.
I prefer the objective, data-driven empiricism of SCIENCE.
I'm scrapping my lesson plan for tomorrow. Down with Faraday's Law. I'm going with this.
March 18th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
March 18th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^
I would be a complete wreck for the entire week before and during the whole game. A win would just feel like I narrowly avoided the worst loss of my life
March 18th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
March 19th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
Or the "We own Crisler" chants during the Time of Darkness.
What would be sweeter than beating the Spartans in Dallas?