Do you consider this BBall season a success already?
Will you consider the 2016-17 season a success regardless of what happens in the tournament, or does this team still need to do more?
For me, I think if the team keeps playing at its current level, it should roll Okie St and give Louisville hell; the sky's the limit from there.
But, if the shots stop falling and Michigan doesn't get out of the first round, it'll sting for a while but I think I'm still going to look back on this season as a success. 20-11 during the regular season is pretty meh, but bringing home the program's first BTT Championship in 19 years (and finally being able to hang a banner) will be a great memory for a long time. Four wins in four days after a plane crash is storybook material. I say it's a success no matter what.
At face value I'd say yes. That said, throughout the course of the season I felt a lot of "meh". I think we'd all agree with that. I'm happy with the season now but i"m still not sure what to make of the program overal and what the trajectory is. I don't mean that good or bad and don't mean it to be down on the team as this has been awesome!
I just don't know what to make of the overall program right now or where it is headed. In the immediate though I just want to enjoy the ride.
...celebrating a four-game tourney blitzkreig with their teammates and families. Considering the >25% (?) chance many of them could've been seriously injured or worse last Wednesday, fook yeah this season was a success.
to hell with Oklahoma State and their fans (see below) and Louisville and that smug, arrogant, Boston Celtics failing, ass Pitino. Now not satisfied - want that Sweet 16!!!
GO BLUE!!!
But yes, the season was a success.
And now from the land of "Oh Dear Sweet Baby Jesus!" comes this question:
Does eye bleach really hurt? And if so, how much pain are we talking?
NSFMSRK?
Yes, it would suck to lose in the first round, even though OSU is good (what a crappy draw); and it would be awesome to get revenge on Louisville. From there, it's still pretty goddamned tantalizing. If everything else goes "chalk" and we go on a run, we'll face 3-4 teams that we have some NCAA history with: Louisville, Kansas (both from '13), UNC (ugh), and Villanova ('85 champs who beat Frieder's 2-seed Roy Tarpley-Grant-Joubert team). What, no Seton Hall in the Midwest? lol
National Championship is necessary for the season to be a success.
How most people are interpreting this question: "Did successful things happen this season?"
How I am interpreting this question: "Did everything set out to be achieved get accomplished?"
Never settle.
I can be happy with partial success, but the question was whether this season was a success. I take that to mean complete.
And yes, I'm bored and am playing semantics.
I honestly feel sorry for you.
Doesn't matter had
Banner.
- The season is a success already.
- Lose to OSU and it is mildly disappointing, but still a success.
- Beat OSU and it is indisputably a success.
- Beat Louisville, thereby going to sweet 16, and season is a great, unqualified success.
- Make it to Elite 8, and the team has wildly exceeded all expectations. Likely ceiling.
- Make it to the Final 4? Virtually inconceivable. Beilein should be coach of the year nationally at that point. Team of destiny. UConn/Kemba Walker kind of success. This is a coaching staff winning with players who are good, but clearly very well coached, and not top 20 - 40 type players. Finally, make it this far, and some of the best players who are willing to receive coaching (not just one and done kids) will seriously consider coming to Michigan.
I regret that I only have one "FUCK YES" for my response. The team was going to miss the tourney and was called soft by someone from Illinois. Then, M became one of the hottest teams in the country, survived a scary plane crash/incident, and rolled through the B1G tourney to take the championship. This season could have been a disappointment on the court and a tragedy off the court; I've never been prouder of a team and how it handled everything thrown at it. Yes. Successful season already.
The way that Beilein and his staff turned this team around, how these kids have grown up before our eyes, the adversity they overcame to dominate that tournament, yes this season is a success and one to remember no matter what happens this weekend.
Of course we'd all rather see our team play great the entire season and get a high NCAA seed, but there will always be something special about this group of players figuring things out, not quitting, and catching fire at just the right time.
God bless every one of them
I consider the regular season an unequivocal success with the comeback we had in the second half of it. Losing in the first round won't make this NCAA tournament as bad as 2012 given the opponent, but it sure would be nice to get to the Sweet Sixteen to completely shut up the Anti-Beilein Mob as I call them on here
I believe we are the first 8 seed or higher to win the B1G tournament, with a chance to make more noise in March.
to be fair, we were hardly a normal 8 seed. There was a 4-way tie for 5th place and we just happened to come out on the bottom of it, making us the nominal 8th seed. We were a buzzer-beater away from being in a tie for 4th place and only 2 games out of a tie for 2nd.
The league had massive parity this year.
Turned the season around on the shoulders of Walton, won 6 of their last 8..but should have been at least 7....took an "us against the world" mentality...and did it as a team
Great season, great group.
Winning a BTT title?! Under the circumstances they were put in? Unbelievable. Regardless of what happens in the NCAA Tournament, I will remember this team and what they accomplished for a long time. Derek Walton, ridiculous level of play down the stretch. Northwestern hail mary? Teddy TV and Minnesota? WHO CARES?! These guys stuck together and had a GREAT season when all is said and done.
GO BLUE!!
Dave Brandon will be waiting until the season is over to determine if it was a success. It is all part of a process, you see.
Win the game.
The guys have a lot to be proud of. They ran roughshod through the BTT and gave I think 8-9 different teams their worst loss of the year. But if you asked them whether or not the season is a success, I think they'd all tell you that's to be determined.
Success is ultimately measured by the hardware you bring home. If they get bounced in the first game on Friday, I wouldn't call the season a failure, but it would be an extremely disappointing, deflating ending given how well they've played in the last month and a half. If they get past OK State, that's great. If they beat Louisville, who will almost assuredly be waiting in the second round, this team is Final Four material. I know, I know, one game at a time, but if this team can get to the second round and beat Louisville, they can beat Kansas or Oregon. No doubt about it.
If you asked me, this season is a success. But the level of success is still yet to be decided. Is it mildly successful? Or is it wildly successful? We'll know very soon.
Absolutely, First Conference Tourney Championship since '98, Conference season turnaround to match the aneurysm of leadership, Walton turning into Senior Season Walton, overcoming almost not going to the conference tournament to winning the whole damn thing(Conference-wise).
I will be sad if they lose early in the tourney, but only because it means I won't get to watch that team play anymore this year.
Those who stay... with a picture of a Big Ten Champion celebrating attached - shit yeah I think it's a success.
Do I think we're done with games that will be celebrated? Not this weekend, fellas. March through Indy on the way to KC.
if they are one and done is that I will no longer get to see Zak and Walton take the court in Michigan jerseys. They came to Ann Arbor with lofty expectations and went through hell after early departures and injuries. They kept their noses down and worked their asses off, I want them to experience all the joy they can.
I think they underachieved in the regular season and over achieved in the BTT. Before the season started I had the Sweet 16 as a bar for succes so I would still love to see that, but after the way the BTT went down its hard to be upset about anything else that happens from here.
Absolutely.
100%. They won the BTT. They'll have a banner to hang up. Only 1 team wins the NCAA tournament, and a month ago I'm not sure anyone was certain Michigan would even be in the tournament. So for me, this is all gravy going forward.
I do! Love this year. Would like to see a deep run from this team that is red-hot, feeling itself and playing for each other! But that was an awesome run. Always wondered what it would feel like to win that conference tournament. It feels great!
FanDamnChampiontastic
Yes, that is a success.
What are the chances everyone has the exact same response if we lose to OK State? You know the critics will be back out.
Many others have said it but I'll pile on: Win a conference championship, season is a success. The end.
Hanging a Banner and a NCAA tourney berth equals succesfull season
They've already accomplished something wonderful.
Unless you're a 1 seed, the first two games of the NCAAT are a bit of a crapshoot - you never know when/if you'll face a good team that's on fire.
IMO everything from here on out is Disneyland - enjoy the ride!
My typical scale is as follows:
Make the NCAA Tournament: Should be the baseline. If this is not achieved then we have had a D+ or worse season. This should not often happen.
Round of 64 loss: This is the C-minus grade. I feel like we should more often than not win a game in the NCAA tournament, but losing in the first round to a decent opponent in a slightly down year will happen.
Round of 32 loss: B-minus. I take this as a decent season. I am not disappointed.
Sweet Sixteen: B-plus. I feel like this is a team that has accomplished something, and is one to be looked back on fondly.
Elite 8 A-minus. One of the very best teams in program history.
Final 4 A. Truly a special and elite season for UM.
National title: A-Plus. Only one team gets an A-plus each year, and in 1989, Michigan did.
As far as conference titles go, these can get us to a grade level aside from the NCAA tourney. Either a regular season title or B1G tourney title would get us to the B-plus level. Both would perhaps boost to an A-minus, but with a team good enough to win both B1G titles in the same season, i would have expectations for the NCAA tourney of at least elite 8 most likely, so the NCAA result would hedge it between a B-plus with a sweet sixteen exit or higher if they go beyond that.
Obviously this is all hypothetical and subject to other factors, but I think this is how my baseline looks. Calling this team a B-plus result at this point with potential to go further is fair to how I feel about this season.
Well, if we use the prevailing standard set out by this blog in numerous threads throughout the season, then we probably aren't at a point where most of us would consider it a success.
If you ask me personally, then to me a decent tourney run would be the cap on success - I think what we've seen is resiliency from Michigan, being able to go from a pretty low point to being a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Getting out of the first weekend would make it an overall successful season given where they were about two months ago, at least IMHO.
One question I think that people will ask, and it's a good question, is overall direction, and that's what I struggle with sometimes with this team, or at least what I have struggled with over the past couple years.