Do you consider this BBall season a success already?

Submitted by Larry Appleton on

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.

funkifyfl

March 13th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^

European Soccer is a helpful analogy here. For many of the larger clubs in Europe, there are typically three competitions they care about in a given season. Let's use FC Barcelona (FCB) as an example.

 

First, there's the domestic season called La Liga (Conference Season); second, there's a bracket-style elimination tournament for all the professional teams in Spain called the Copa del Rey (BTT); and third, if they perform well enough in league play and qualify, they get to compete with the best teams from all over Europe called the UEFA Champions League (NCAA Tournament).

 

For FCB, the primary goal is to win the UEFA Champions League (UCL for short), but a La Liga title is always significant too. Some fans even might flip those two (I wouldn't, but there is an argument that the domestic league champions are the most consistent). Nevertheless, the Copa del Rey is significantly less important than either La Liga or Champions League title. Yet, it is still considered a trophy worth having. For example, the holy grail for a mega club is winning all 3 competitions in a season, which is called a treble. Winning two is a double, and if it's the domestic league and cup (i.e. La Liga and Copa del Rey Champions), it's called a domestic double.

 

Michigan is not a mega club though. They are more like a midtable team that has had some history of success. So, I'd say any time they win any competition it's remarkable and a success. The goal should always be to work towards winning the big one (NCAA Tourney), but it helps to build on progress by winning the Conference Season title and/or the BTT.

pbmd

March 13th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^

absolutely not a failure.

5th place/8th seed- not so great but ...major improvement mid-season was very encouraging.

maybe exceeded pre-season expectations and certainly exceeded expectations in January.

appear to be as good as any other B1G team- but compettion is mediocre.

 

best B1G tourney for beilien-but it really is just 4 games

Frank Chuck

March 13th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^

If we can advance to the 2nd weekend, I'll consider this season a success. I think next year's team has a chance to be an elite team and I want the core (Wagner, Wilson, MAAR, Robinson, Simpson) to get as much NCAAT experience as possible.

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I'm not satisfied because this Michigan team was good enough to contend for and win the Big Ten regular season championship. Games we could've won::

- at Iowa (in regulation)

- Ohio State

- Minnesota

- Northwestern

If we win those 4, we finish tied with Purdue for the Big Ten regular season championship.

The loss in Crisler to a dogshit Ohio State team still bothers me. We were favored by 9 points and lost. Just a truly horrible performance. I snapped after this loss and called for Beilein's head on a spike Game of Thrones style. But when I cooled down, I wanted to see if he could engineer another turnaround (like the one in 2011).

MGoBlue100

March 17th, 2017 at 1:17 PM ^

I'm critical of Beilein sometimes. The slow starts, inconsistency & hero ball drive me crazy. At the midpoint of the season, I didn't think this team had ANY chance of an NCAA bid, let alone winning the B1G tournament. They've really come together. Walton has shown me some major stones. Think they should beat OK St, but IMO it's all gravy from here on.