Rest of the Afternoon (Big Ten & elsewhere ) Basketball /Bubble Watch Thread

Submitted by B-Nut-GoBlue on

Add in snowflakes from that umm, performance, as well.  Though I'm not sure I want to think much about it; not that I want to think about what lies ahead tomorrow, either. 

On to Indiana and a squad full of athletes + Maxamillion "6th man of the year" Bielfeldt.  Ugh.

 

Go Blue.

MH20

March 10th, 2016 at 2:45 PM ^

- Florida up on Arkansas, 50-42

- Pitt gets crunched by UNC but the Panthers are solidly in

- Texas loses big to Baylor

- UAB getting run out of the gym against WKU 

- I have accomplished very little the past 2.5 hours

WolvinLA2

March 10th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^

Props to those of you who can keep caring about Michigan basketball (beyond just watching the games). My expectations are higher than this, and although I'd rather Michigan make the tourney than not, I hardly care at this point. They aren't good, and I'm definitely on the "we need a new coach" train.

WolvinLA2

March 10th, 2016 at 4:07 PM ^

I find it interesting that ripping a coach to shreds after he's fired is accepted if not encouraged around here, but merely questioning him before he's fired (and while the team is bad two years in a row) is taboo.

Sorry that hoping for a 12-seed doesn't get me all riled up.

bluinohio

March 10th, 2016 at 5:09 PM ^

i'm with you on this wolvin, i don't see what the problem is with calling it as you see it.  it is what it is.  we all understand that B is a good coach, he's a great human being, and great for representing UM.  nobody is denying that.  those are all the same things we said about Hoke.  if you want to be at the top though, you can't just get by with average coaching and average recruiting.

BigBlue02

March 10th, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^

It isn't the people who are politely questioning Beilein that are the problem. It's the people yelling "fire Beilein because I'm angry" that don't really get the benefit of the doubt.

Everyone says the key to our great years was depth, a depth that we don't have now and that's Beilein's fault. I agree to an extent, but if you look at our actual situation, it really isn't rocket science. This team's depth is either 1) very young, 2) in the NBA, or 3) injured. 2 years of below Michigan standards isn't tough to figure out when you lose 5 people to the NBA and then deal with multiple injuries to anyone still left on the roster. In consecutive years we lost 2 guys early to the NBA, then lost 3 guys early to the NBA, then had our best 2 players injured, then had 2 seniors injured. All of those things are tough to plan for 2 years in advance, which is when you make the most headway with recruiting sophomores and juniors in high school.

Yes, Beilein hasn't recruited like the bluebloods, but I bet if MSU had 2 more players leave early with Garry Harris and then had some combination of Valentine, Forbes, and Coatello have season ending injuries for 2 years in a row, they would struggle just as mightily. Can you imagine their starting lineup with Tum-Tum, Gavin Schilling, Eron Harris, Matt McQuaid, and Deyonte Davis? I bet they struggle to make the tourney and are just where we are-on the bubble. Actually, I would wager they would be much closer to .500 than a tournament team

WolvinLA2

March 10th, 2016 at 4:04 PM ^

Oh come on. We weren't exactly fucking shit up when they were healthy, and injuries are part of sports. We have issues with our bigs that Caris and Spike wouldn't fix and we need to have depth to the point where losing a couple guys doesn't hurt as much.

Bottom line - we weren't going to have either of those guys next season, so what will the excuse be then? I don't see this squad looking like a Big Ten contender a year from now, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Franz Schubert

March 10th, 2016 at 5:54 PM ^

Are some who supported Hoke until the bitter end. History repeats itself. This team is the result of terrible recruiting and coaching ineptitude. It took Michigan 3 tries to get the damn ball inbounded and then was bailed out because the 3rd failed attempt to merely inbound the ball resulted in an uncalled walk. This has been an issue the whole Beilein tenure. Hire a couple coaches that can teach the kids a clue about defense and some simple impounding setups. It's comical how incompetent these coaches are in these areas.

In reply to by Franz Schubert

LJ

March 10th, 2016 at 9:03 PM ^

If Brady Hoke had won the Big Ten twice and then gone to the national championship in a third year, I think people would reasonably have cut him some slack.

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 10th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^

We pretty much need to hit 16 of 30 from 3 tomorrow and have Donnal (Doyle during his minutes) play pretty well, added to pure hope that Indiana misses open shots and we rebound relatively well.  Indiana will get theirs, though, that much is sure so counting on misses and a "bad shooting" game from them doesn't bode well.

In reply to by ijohnb

ak47

March 10th, 2016 at 4:37 PM ^

Unless Max learned how to dribble drive and create his own shot or stop the dribble penetration of guards by being a shot blocker I don't think he makes much of a difference for this team to be honest.

BlueFront89

March 10th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^

could be ugly unless we learn how to D up overnight.  If we get handled by 10+, our tourney dreams are dashed.  Hang tough until the end and lose by < 10 to the B1G Champs and we could sneak into the Big Dance.  Not that this would be a good thing, as it will only delay the obvious beat down that is coming by the next average team we play. Has a team ever just declined to take a post-season (NCAA or NIT) bid due to the inability to defend?

ijohnb

March 10th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^

man, you are a really insightful poster but the hoops talk around is bordering on clincal depression.  We all know what we are, we are a bubble team who is not nearly as good as we have been for most of the last five years.  Got it.   We are not a contender, but we won a basketball game today and have the opportunity to win another one tomorrow and get in this thing.  Jeez.

LJ

March 10th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^

The anti-beilein crowd has gone from being frustrated with our performance to seeming to actually take glee in our struggles because it validates their questionable reasoning.




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rockfish

March 15th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^

WRONG !  Mbball has been a laughing joke for 15 of the last 20 years....Beilein hasn't brought us back to anything.. 

M bball WAS already a premier program despite the sanctions, fergodsakes we went  3 NCAA finals within a 5 year span!!!! Has that ever happened before??? I don't think even the BLUE BLOOD programs like Kent,Duke,NCar or Kan  ever did that!!! UCLA in the 60's & 70's but Wooden was that greatest cheater of all! so that is in the record books all of UCLA titles but because Wooden/UCLA/read SAM GILBERT paid players that.doesn't count in my mind!

Granted that was 20yrs plus ago , M has seemingly settled into the this malaise of were second fiddle mentality whether it be to Sparty-Izzo, football or our checkered (fab five) past..

Beilein i guess is a good guy (never met him) but he gets paid HUGE $$$$ to get this program back to its rightful elite status.Granted he/Beilein is a system coach that took us to a NCAA final game ,also a final 8 run !!! Great thank you, remember he gets paid $$$$millions to again do his job. M should be a LOCK in the tourney every year not slipping in the back door with a lucky shot or not even being close (last yr).  YOU REALIZE IZZO has the premier program that we dream of, he did this right under our eyes over the last 20 yrs. while M has been trying to regain its identity or find a new one!!!!!

We wouldn't expect anything less of Harbaugh, would we?

Actually the HOOP progam has much longer.richer history than the football team!! I know no one wants to admit this fact but football has only a 1/2 title in over 60 years?? The football team has NEVER even sniffed another title or ever played in Nat/title game..Meanwhile the hoop teamin that same 60 year time frame has been to 6/nat title games with 1 trophy!. we got it all backwards, maybe we should have tried harder for Pitino or someone else of his caliber./record...(reminder IZZO was a no name asst. coach of Juds a long time ago.... now look at IZZO, he is a HOF coach) ...go figure

In reply to by ijohnb

MChem83

March 10th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^

This is a tired, demoralized team that plays like they're resigned to their NIT fate (as they should be). Some serious housecleaning is in order, starting with Chatman and Wilson.

Gucci Mane

March 10th, 2016 at 2:48 PM ^

We should be in the tourney as of now, as long as the bubble doesn't shrink more than maybe 1 spot. Win tomorrow and it's a lock.

ijohnb

March 10th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^

is 21-9 right now with 5 top 25 wins and a loss against Penn State, they are #20 in the nation and a presumed 3-4 seed.  We are 21-11 in the same conference with 3 top 25 wins and no bad losses and we are in the first four out.

In reply to by ijohnb

Gucci Mane

March 10th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^

Yes exactly, the Michigan resume is better than a lot of people are giving credit for. I'm not sure why but this blog is doing the opposite of homerism (idk what word that is).