Bring On the Kentucky Wildcats!

Submitted by Marley Nowell on

Would have been nice to have a rematch for some revenge but I think UK might be a better matchup if only for experience reasons.  Our beloved Wolverines are practically old timers compared to all of their 1-and-dones and they won't have time to prepare for all the tricks Beilein has up his sleeve.  I think the winner of this game takes the whole thing.

 

GO BLUE!

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mackbru

March 29th, 2014 at 12:44 AM ^

Crowd will be be heavily UK. They have a lot more fans than Louisville. Half the state of Kentucky will be there. With their eighteen wives-sisters.

Joined: 09/01/2009

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Jobu

March 29th, 2014 at 12:45 AM ^

Pumped for this matchup! Calipari is a stiff and my guess is Beilein will know what Cal is doing even before he knows. Let's kick their ass on the way to the Final Four

Joined: 03/02/2014

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Princetonwolverine

March 29th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^

I hope a lot of people are telling Jordan Morgan he can't match up with Kentucky bigs.

Joined: 10/10/2010

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Indonacious

March 29th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^

I'm of the opinion that calipari isnt a bad coach. It's just he recruits players that aren't super coach able in that one and done mold. In his past though his teams have been well put together and he has out together impressive wins over Wichita state and Louisville.

Joined: 01/03/2012

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Indonacious

March 29th, 2014 at 12:56 AM ^

He has had a fair amount of success at Kentucky with the exception of last year. Don't get me wrong...he is a total sleaze, Cheater but I don't buy everyone asserting he isn't a good coach. Regular season doesn't matter now. We aren't playing that Kentucky team. We are playing the current one, one that is seemingly better. That being said I think we can totally win this.

Joined: 01/03/2012

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denardogasm

March 29th, 2014 at 1:02 AM ^

With the players he has recruited he should have had a lot more success.  I'll never for get him saying publicly of his Derrick Rose Memphis team that he didn't have them practice free throws because he didn't think they were important.  They lost the final because they couldn't make free throws.

Joined: 09/11/2011

MGoPoints: 10688

1 percent

March 29th, 2014 at 12:49 AM ^

The sucked all year. They are finally hitting their stride. They went from preseason #1 which proved their potential to unranked towards the end of the year. They has terrible losses. Now they are doing big things but they didn't deserve anything better than a 7.

Joined: 09/09/2010

MGoPoints: 11273

MGoBlue96

March 29th, 2014 at 12:53 AM ^

Tournament commitee tries to seed based on resume, not name. Kentucky's resume was not good in a bad conference, therefore they didn't deserve a better seed. You can't ask the tournament commitee to be fortune tellers, and make the assumption that Kentucky would come together in the tournament.

Joined: 12/26/2010

MGoPoints: 25993

alum96

March 29th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^

They were very young (still are) and played loose and typical like 18-19 year olds.  It's like the old fab 5, I don't remember what we were seeded in 91-92 but it was something like a 6.

Joined: 04/28/2012

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Soulfire21

March 29th, 2014 at 12:51 AM ^

What the fuck does Michigan have to do to earn some national respect?  I flip on some postgame recaps and they're all picking Kentucky over Michigan.

Joined: 03/18/2010

MGoPoints: 22716

SamirCM

March 29th, 2014 at 1:05 AM ^

Honey badger don't care about respect. A honey badger just cares about winning. And yes, I think in this regard, Coach Beilein is a honey badger. To anyone that doubts, subs=crazy, and for all I care the man has a Phd in Math, so he is an expert in equations. 

Joined: 04/08/2011

MGoPoints: 618

alum96

March 29th, 2014 at 12:53 AM ^

Physically this is the matchup I did not want to see but if Cauley-Stein is slowed will obviously hurt UK.  Randle is one of my fav players in college since he plays old school post and that's rare but I don't want to see him against us. 

Will be curious how they react emotionally.  They just played the basketball equivalent of OSU-UM and to come back 2 days later will be interesting.  Don't know if freshman have memories like that but it could be a wildcard.

On the positive side we don't face a press; but I thought UL was a better matchup since it's 3 players - granted 3 very good players - you need to focus on and UL sucks at FT shooting. 

Anyhow we need to play excellent in this game, not just good.

Joined: 04/28/2012

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RobM_24

March 29th, 2014 at 12:54 AM ^

You guys are pretty happy about Kentucky. They have big guards that take it to the rack and score. That's our biggest weakness in my opinion. At least against Louisville our guards would have a big height advantage. Against UK we'll need a big edge in turnover margin, because they're going to get easy buckets and rebounds.

Joined: 01/27/2014

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Indonacious

March 29th, 2014 at 12:59 AM ^

Louisville's press would have given us all sorts of trouble this year. If cauley stein can't play I think this matchup is better. Harrell on Louisville is just as fearsome as a big. Also, while Louisville was small, Russ smith and jones I think were lightning quick. I think they would have diced us up and really put jmo under a lot of pressure.

Joined: 01/03/2012

MGoPoints: 16597

MGoBlue96

March 29th, 2014 at 1:01 AM ^

Defense on the perimeter trying to stop drives by UK. I think Morgan may be able to keep Randle from having a monster game, but drives from the guards is the scary prospect. Tennessee was getting alot of easy buckets that way in the second half, and they don't have as good of athletes as UK.

Still, this team has proved doubters wrong most of the season despite their weaknesses, so I am not sure what to think. Possibly we might see more of the 1-3-1 zone, though that would be a recipe to possibly get killed on the glass.

Joined: 12/26/2010

MGoPoints: 25993

RobM_24

March 29th, 2014 at 1:18 AM ^

I think Michigan has a pretty clear recipe for winning games -- minimal turnovers and above-average 3pt shooting. We did one of those things very well tonight, and it was enough to barely get by. Against Kentucky, I think we will need to do both things atleast well, if not great. I'm hoping that they don't have a good "team defense" and Michigan gets good looks at open jumpers. I don't think they have faced anything close to Beilein's offense, in terms of the pressure it puts on teams to switch, hedge, and closeout on shooters.

Joined: 01/27/2014

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Cali Wolverine

March 29th, 2014 at 1:00 AM ^

Beat #1 seed Wichita State, beat rival and defending 2013 champs Louisville, and have at least 5 NBA players on their roster....bring on Kentucky! Let's kick some ass Sunday! Brings back memories of Webber v Mashburn.

Joined: 01/13/2013

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Smash Lampjaw

March 29th, 2014 at 5:28 PM ^

for those of you who share the religiosity gene with me, what of sporting the colors at church? I am not in Michigan, and have been perturbed at the sight of Spartys wearing the green at our place of worship several times in recent months. The temptation is great to stick my leg out to trip them in the aisle, but I have managed to resist. I am proud of my alma mater, but church does not seem like the place to flaunt maize and blue.

Joined: 11/10/2011

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Wolverine91

March 29th, 2014 at 1:02 AM ^

So 5 of 6 analysts picked Kentucky over Michigan except for Kenny smith. Let's prove these haters wrong!! Go blue baby! The M blue that is!

Joined: 01/12/2014

MGoPoints: 10414

Avant's Hands

March 29th, 2014 at 1:39 AM ^

I don't mean to aim this at you specifically but why does picking someone else to win make them a hater? Kentucky has a boat load of talent and just beat the team that a lot of people picked to win it all. Kentucky is going to be the darling dark horse pick. I don't think it would matter who they were playing.

Joined: 10/22/2011

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