Bracketology 3/6: Yeah.

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

ESPN has us as the 4th team out after being the last team in before the game yesterday.

CBS is more optimistic in having us as the first team out. Bracket Matrix says so, as well.

DRatings is even more optimistic, having us as the last team IN the tournament.

Need to win the first game in the B1G Tournament and hope for other bubble teams to lose. 

Hopefully this is going to be a moot point, but the first four out of the NCAA Tournament are automatic 1 seeds in the NIT.

NYC buckets has us as a 1 seed in the NIT with a pretty manageable bracket, actually. 

Greggggg Marshall's Shockers laying an egg yesterday shrunk the bubble. 

 

johnthesavage

March 6th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^

This team lost its two seniors, one a long-time excellent player, the other was competiting for national player of the year. Despite that we went 10-8 in the B1G and are still very much alive for the tournament. If not, I'll happily root for us in the NIT and am excited to have this whole team back next year.

It's really disappointing to see how many fans just checked out on this team before the game was over yesterday, not to mention the down-and-out comments of Ace on the front page, and all the fair-weather hoops fans here who just want to run to football. Fine, go. But keep it to yourself, you're making the rest of us look bad.

Michigander38

March 7th, 2016 at 8:53 AM ^

Agree with Dirty. Need to recruit better and get more depth. Can't depend on developing players, it helps and works most of time, but not all time. Need more raw talent and let John do his magic.

Crootin

March 6th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

Well, there's very little to be excited about right now in basketball.  Recruiting has simply not been adequate.  The only two players on the team with some fire are MAAR and Walton.  Michigan defense is atrocious.  This team doesn't have grit, leadership, or toughness like the early Beilein teams that were overmatched athletically.  Hope I'm wrong about next year, but I see no reason for optimism other than the weak "everyone is older, so they'll be better" argument.

Ihatebux

March 6th, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^

Thanks Coach Izzo.  Way to complain about having players injured.  Does anyone REALLY think having Lavert would have made a big difference in this team.  He would not have helped that lousy defense.   The defense has been going downhill every year.   It has just been disguised by incredible shooting from Nik and Tre.   This year we only have average shooting, with terrible D and rebounding.   No offense to the incoming class, but I don't see anything getting better next year.

Tater

March 7th, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^

"Lavert" may not have been all that great, but Caris LeVert was the "stopper" for this team.   When healthy, he was the only guy they could depend on to "stop" a run by the other team with a timely bucket.  

He would have made a huge difference.  Also, I still don't think 20-11 with 10 victories in the Big Ten is worth pissing and moaning over.  They did the best they could with a team that just didn't have that one player to turn a decent year for most teams into a great year for Michigan.

 

bluebyyou

March 7th, 2016 at 9:26 AM ^

What Lavert's presence would also have done is probably eased pressure on Robinson which would have helped with 3's.  Robinson's second half collapse was very disappointing.  

BradP

March 7th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^

This team kinda looked like a bubble team when Caris was on the floor for the first 14 games.  Let's quantify some things:

I think with Levert, Michigan would probably be 22-9 and likely a middling eight seed with very little chance of advancing past the second round.  I think we would have spent most of the year on the good side of the bubble, and would finish the year looking like a bubble team next season.

That isn't really a "huge difference" to me.

BradP

March 7th, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^

You should break that down a little bit.

The four games he missed they were 3-1 with a loss at Iowa.

The four games you are talking about that he was in the roster, they were 1-3 with losses to Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin and a win against Maryland.  In those games he averaged 20pts, 8reb, and 6assts.

So basically, the games you picked actually support the idea that having your best guy playing at a high level necessarily makes a big difference.

SpaceDad

March 7th, 2016 at 9:20 AM ^

Yes. I think a healthy LeVert makes a huge difference no matter where he goes in the draft. There is a fine line between the 8/9 and the 10/11 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Some people (not you) argue that Beilein must recruit better and get NBA talent, and in the next sentence say that a healthy LeVert, a sure NBA first-round pick (without injuries) , would not have made a difference. Also, Beilein never complains about injuries. As a fan, I'll complain about them all the time, but I like that our coach does not make excuses.

BradP

March 7th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^

Two points:

1)  One mid first round pick on the roster and a bunch of guys that aren't even sniffing the draft is pretty weak "NBA talent".  Its made even worse that that one guy is the last remnants of the 2012 class and none of the classes since look to have NBA players in them.

2)  I would bet that the people who are saying that Beilein must recruit better and get NBA talent aren't that satisfied by 8/9 seed, injury-free, best case scenarios.

 

tjs99

March 6th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^

This program has been given plenty of breaks. The inability to recruit difference makers and leaders for this program has been our downfall. We need a significant change in the program if we want to be a consistent top tier program. I love Beilein, but where we are at in year 8 of his program is extremely disappointing and at 63 years old, it seems like now is the time to make a change rather than another 2-3 years of this level of play.

Padog

March 7th, 2016 at 7:54 AM ^

Not sure what our "breaks" are. Caris has had two injuries, Spike was hurt last year, limiting his ability, and was a shut down this year. Zak isn't at 100%. Ricky was sick for a long time last year. We got jobbed by the NCAA when it came to Mitch, who was also hurt for a little bit. Derrick hurt his foot last year. If you want to argue that some of this is karma from Trey's miracle, fine. But there is no way the team has received "plenty of breaks".




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Wolverine Devotee

March 6th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

Guess what? If you listen to the media, they said we were going to lose those games before 2015, anyways. As did everyone who made a prediction on here.

We exceeded expectations by a mile last year after the disaster that took place the year before on and off the field. 

10-3 and 34 point win over an SEC team in year one and you're bitching?

Oh boy. I guess that means you're expecting 15-0 next year.

MotownGoBlue

March 6th, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^

One loss came way of an all out fluke as time expired. The other loss caused by poor game planning/OSU talent rich buzzsaw (we're closing that gap quickly).

But I agree, we should never lose another game, ever.