ESPN calls our basketball program a "Blue Blood"
Look, calling ESPN a dumpster fire is being nice, but hey, I'll take it.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22913028/loyola-…
March 25th, 2018 at 11:04 PM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 11:13 PM ^
I don't think even Villanova fans think of themselves as a historical blueblood. Their '85 title is one of the great underdog stories.
As for MSU, people do not think of them as a historical power, they think of Izzo as a Hall of Fame coach. Not the same thing. Ditto for Nova/Jay Wright.
Incidentally, John Beilein is increasingly getting that same kind of respect around the country.
March 25th, 2018 at 11:15 PM ^
Jud Heathcote won thier first title against Larry Bird...
March 25th, 2018 at 11:23 PM ^
And the next three years had losing records.
Heathcoate was an average coach who rode that 2-year run with Magic Johnson into having the job for life. Here's his coaching record. Post-1979 it's pretty blah.
March 25th, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^
Michgan State wasn't a national power other than the two years with Magic...they had some awfully good teams, yes...but Notre Dame was a better program under Phelps than MSU was under Heathcote
March 25th, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 10:47 PM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:33 AM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 10:54 PM ^
Your blueblood status SOLELY on tourney success, we're as close as it gets to a blueblood aside from UConn and MSU. 51 tourney wins even minus the sanctions. Though if you factor conference dominance we lag behind a bit. 14 regular season titles and 3 conference tournament titles sounds impressive, but take Xavier for example. They now have 18 regular season titles and 10 (!!!) conference tournament titles
March 25th, 2018 at 10:59 PM ^
Duke and North Carolina each have something like 120 all-time tournament wins.
We've done some good things (8 Final Fours) but have not sustained our success like those schools have. We've had peaks and valleys.
(BTW, the Big Ten Tournament was established in 1998, so that isn't a fair point of comparison.)
March 26th, 2018 at 12:18 AM ^
on some kind of criteria, because outside of this post and one or two others this entire thread consists of people saying no we aren't yes we are. Rigorous it isn't.
Xavier is hardly an apples-to-apples comparitor. They have exactly one title in what would be considered a major basketball conference. Everything else occurred as a mid-major.
March 25th, 2018 at 10:56 PM ^
we just had to get past that period and we're right there again.
I'll tell you what though, I prefer the type of program JB has built as opposed to one and done MSU, or maybe 2 and done and some one and dones that ended up being 4 year guys and regressing....I enjoyed typing that.
March 25th, 2018 at 11:03 PM ^
The article's author wants to set up the matchup as "traditional basketball power program" vs, "scrappy underdog with compelling story that everyone is is really cheering for." For that narrative to work, they call us a "blue blood".
March 25th, 2018 at 11:03 PM ^
ITT people have no idea what the concept of a blue blood is. We are not one in basketball. We are in probably the third tier and a top 20 if not top 15 school which is still damn good.
March 25th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
what espn says. good bad or ugly, don't care.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
Nova been around forever and they have a great resume
9th best Win% All Time
14 Elite 8s
been in the tournament 29 times since 1978
very close to a Blue Blood
March 26th, 2018 at 12:00 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:05 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:37 AM ^
ESPN needs to get it right.
It’s all a bunch of bs.
so we need to play our part and be the Goliath.Except in this instance, David misses Goliath with the slingshot and Goliath caves David's head in with a war hammer.
Sorry to divert from ESPN, but Bleacher Report (I know) made me LOL this morning and it's not worth its own thread.
Under Villanova's "achilles heel," they wrote "opponents shoot 74.9 percent from the free-throw line." Free throw defense! The collective eyeroll from the advanced stats guys just threw Earth's rotation off slightly.
I think the term blueblood denotes a high level of success through the decades. With Finals appearances in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2010s under 4 different coaches it pushes us pretty close if not actually to that level. Sustaining success through the decades is the best indicator though. One coach on a 25 year run isnt as powerful an argument.
Andrea Adelson is Eric Adelson's wife, right? She has filled in on WTKA a couple times when Eric wasn't available for the segment he usually does with Sam, if I'm remembering correctly. So in that case, calling us a blue blood isn't that surprising since there are some connections and familiarity with Michigan.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
After a recent visit to the doctor, my toddler son has been interested in blood, regularly pointing to his body and asking me "Is it red in there?"
Last week instead of my usual "yes" answer, I jokingly said in response, "Heck no boy, we bleed Maize and Blue."
So now my son is asking "Daddy, is it blue in there?"
Damn straight it's blue in there.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
We are the only FF team that did not play a top seed (1-4) to get to the final four.
We are a three so we couldn't play a three. Gonzaga lost a starter and lost to another team.
We beat the teams that beat the 1, 2 and the 3.
Little darling Loyola (an early favorite of mine to make "some" noise) was under seeded and was favored to beat Miami. Beating Nevada was a mild upset and they did it handily. They beat the three seed on a despiration shot. We would be favored over Tennessee.
While I respect any team with a 14-game win streak, I don't think their path was terribly impressive or that the Wolverines' path was easy.
Michigan is a step below blue blood, but our record is still impressive and better than a lot of people realize:
8 Final Fours, 6 NC games (so far), and a National Championship (so far).
That's a better record than so-called "basketball schools" such as Arizona, Purdue, Georgetown, and Syracuse.