Are There any 'Pros' to Weigh Against the 'Cons' of an Early B10 Conf Tourney
Mates,
Trying to find some form of silver lining in having such an early conference tournament. The B10 winner will be known by March 4th....and then what? The first NCAA games that concern us start on 3/15, a full 11 days later (see schedule below).
So my question is simply this: What good things come from having so much time between games? Do the players heal up and rest up some? Do they get more school work and mid-terms out of the way? Maybe the coaches have a bit more time to scout and game plan against the most likely opponents? I would love to hear some positives about the extended lay-off, so please share.
EDIT: How about Beilein does something totally crazy, more than subs, actually Harbaugh crazy and takes the team somewhere for spring break? Since it turns out that the off week is during the spring break, hey, California/Florida/Arizona, wherever, off they go. Too late to arrange for pass ports to go out of the country, but what the heck.
| Selection Sunday | N/A | March 11 |
| First Four | Dayton | March 13-14 |
| First/Second | Pittsburgh | March 15 & 17 |
| First/Second | Wichita | March 15 & 17 |
| First/Second | Dallas | March 15 & 17 |
| First/Second | Boise | March 15 & 17 |
| First/Second | Charlotte | March 16 & 18 |
| First/Second | Detroit | March 16 & 18 |
| First/Second | Nashville | March 16 & 18 |
| First/Second | San Diego | March 16 & 18 |
| Midwest Regional | Omaha | March 23 & 25 |
| West Regional | Los Angeles | March 22 & 24 |
| South Regional | Atlanta | March 22 & 24 |
| East Regional | Boston | March 23 & 25 |
| Final Four | San Antonio | March 31, April 2 |
XM
February 25th, 2018 at 10:12 PM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:21 PM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 11:37 PM ^
That pretty much says it all...
February 26th, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
While he admitted this was a mistake this year, he doubled down by saying the B!G would go back to NYC. They will have to look for other venues (Barclays Center maybe) since MSG is booked indefinitely the selection weekend. Screw Delaney.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:12 PM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
All McGary had to do was tell Beilein he had smoked dat shit.
Team administers test and McGary sits out the first three games of the next season.
Love the guy, dumb rule, but McGary was selfish.
Failing a test you have the answers to (team knows you have to produce a cup of pee pee at the tournament).
February 25th, 2018 at 10:30 PM ^
He failed 4 tests in 2 years in the pros. Virtually the entire NBA smokes pot, but few get caught more than once. I don't think there's a chance he wouldn't have ultimately had multiple suspensions from Michigan if he returned.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^
You are probably right.
If he was using it so much with disregard to the fact that a lot of the testing dates are known, then he flat out didn't care.
I have never partaken in the activity and don't care if others do in their free time, but I imagine there is a way to avoid detection as it appears that many athletes are able to accomplish it.
February 26th, 2018 at 12:25 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 12:41 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 6:49 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 7:01 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:14 PM ^
Going to give the lame answer and say there is no clear net benefit or disadvantage to the extra week.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:14 PM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
No their parents do though.
February 26th, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
We usually have a solid home court advantage in NYC and play well there. That's all I've got.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:23 PM ^
and are they also in NYC?
February 25th, 2018 at 10:28 PM ^
sort of kind of admitted that the week early thing was a mistake, so I don't think we'll be seeing it again any time soon, thank God. I believe he also said that 80% of the time the tourney would be in the "original Big Ten footprint."
February 26th, 2018 at 8:14 AM ^
between Chicago and Indy over the next four years.
February 26th, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
MSG is not in B1G footprint* and is all about money grab. MSG is the site of the Big East Tournament. B1G playing there makes no sense.
*The Rutgers excuse is not valid because...Rutgers.
February 26th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
I know Delany has said that the shortened and compacted B1G schedule was a mistake, but I just don't understand how you don't have the foresight to see that this would be a problem before making all these schedule changes.
The last time that the B1G only got 4 teams into the tourney was 2008. I can't help but think that the scheduling had something to do with this...what a dumbass move.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:24 PM ^
Drink a shot every time you hear the word "rust" during a 1st round tourney game involving a B1G team. You'll be so drunk by dinner that you'll be speaking fluent Klingon.
February 26th, 2018 at 8:26 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
have the boys ready wherever and whenever we play.
Have fun guys, shoot the lights out at msg.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:31 PM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 8:21 AM ^
are going 9 deep w the bench - don't need the rest.
And we are playing our best ball - great D, MAAR in a zone, Poole and Robinson on fire. Would love if we just keep rollin. Cooling off from some rust more of a concern.
Cons much more of a concern.
To hell w Delaney. He sucks. End of story...
February 26th, 2018 at 8:32 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:34 PM ^
If someone rolls an ankle in the BTT, they could be at full speed for the tourney. Unlikely to happen, but if Mo or MAAR get a small ding next week, I think some of us will be very happy for that extra week off.
Also, if we go on a deep run/win the week, a full week off to recuperate would be just fine. We should get a good enough seed that we can come out rusty for the first four minutes and it won't matter.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 6:33 AM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^
Teams that win their conference tournaments on Sunday often seem to underperform.
I fear ithe extra week off is a disadvantage for the first game, but I won't be surprised if Beilein will prove me wrong. Get past that and maybe the time off works in our favor.
February 26th, 2018 at 12:58 AM ^
would want to use practice time to fine tune his offense/defense and figure out to get Matthews going when it gets tough.
February 26th, 2018 at 8:23 AM ^
this is a really good point. We would go from dangerous to lethal if Matthews can be decent to good during the BTT and March Madness. And Beilein recognizes the importance of Matthews in our tourney run, as evidenced by this solid recent article in Detroit News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/201…
By the way - how lucky are we to have one of the best coaches and perhaps the coach with the highest character in the country. This articles highlights what most of us already knew - we have a true leader of men with John Beilein.
February 26th, 2018 at 1:39 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
I'm sure Beilein will have all kinds of tricks to try to keep them sharp. Mostly you need your backups and reserves to go hard at the rotation guys in practice.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^
For a coach whose team has not lost a game since January 13, Izzo looks like he has not slept in 2 months. I would think if your team is playing good you should be able to be sleeping well at night.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 6:28 AM ^
February 26th, 2018 at 8:45 AM ^
Has aged 10 years over the last 3 months. I couldn't believe it when I saw him yesterday. The most morose coach I have ever seen celebrating a "championship". The man is not physically or emotionally healthy...
February 26th, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
as a yooper who has been to iron mountain many times and know guys that know TZ and have known him basically all of their lives, apart from all of this crud storm at state he is/was well liked. that predates any of his recent 'fame' of the last 15-20 yrs. he may have some significant culpability in a lot of ways, but my guess is that if your observation is correct it may at least be partially due to the fact that he has genunie guilt and/or remorse over the situation. i saw the highligt of his presser yesterday and he was less than pleasant.
February 26th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
I agree. I think he is a good man who sold his soul to the devil and now regrets that decision deeply and it is eating him up inside.
Dosnt mean I dont hate the screaming little hobbit any less.
February 25th, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
We get to play in the World's Most Famous Arena (TM). Woo!
February 25th, 2018 at 10:49 PM ^
February 25th, 2018 at 10:51 PM ^
None. The 2 BTT finalists will be off a minimum of 10 days. If you go out earlier and don't play until Friday, it's even longer. At this point in the year, practicing will only improve you so much. They need to be playing games. If BT teams come out flat, delaney should resign if not be fired. But the BT ad's have been to spineless to stand up to his endless money grabs. I'm not even sure putting the conference at a competitive disadvantage will result in any rebellion.
February 25th, 2018 at 11:03 PM ^
lining as blue salt suggests if we run the table and win the Big Ten tournament this year we won't be tired for the NCAA tournament as has been a concern some years.
February 25th, 2018 at 11:16 PM ^