Jay Bilas says Michigan should be in the NCAA tourney
So in a video on the front page of ESPN.com from College Gameday this morning, Jay Bilas says that he thinks Michigan should be in the NCAA tournament. Could it be that Beilein's dirty players are starting to warm his cold heart?
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3960087
I saw that on espn.com and I was like - Bilas, really? I think it's at the point now where he's being overly friendly towards our guys to prove he's not biased against them. Ya know, being overly biased for to make up for being overly biased against.
Well, either way I'll take a talking head at ESPN saying we should get in :) I thought it was pretty telling that 9 of our 12 losses have come against RPI top 40 - that's 1 tough schedule!
I don't think it's inconsistent for Bilas to feel this way. He desperately wants to vindicate his pal Tommy Amaker, and one way to do that is to say Michigan deserves the tourney (before beating Minnesota mind you), simply so he can say Michigan was robbed when Amaker was coaching when Michigan was in a similar position. So actually it's not Amaker's fault, it's the committee and big bad evil Bill Martin for allowing Amaker to take the next step. What he forgets to say, however, is that Michigan did NOT deserve the tourney under Amaker and that Amaker deserved to be fired after fielding mediocre teams throughout his time in AA.
was choreographed. maybe those 3 really think that, IDK but i think the producers picked the 3 biggest BCS bubble teams and said, let's do 'this.' let them pick and make an argument. it'll be good TV.
everything is scripted on TV. EVERYTHING.
including the estimable Mr. Bilas, picked Minny in the pre-game show. Neener-neener, talky heads, i drink your milkshake
Brian picked Minnesota, too.
Minnesota was 21-8 and had the home court. There were good reasons to pick the Gophers.
The funniest part about that clip is West Virgina's fans booing Bilas hardcore after he picked Michigan. And cheering really loud when they all picked Minnesota. It's funny to see them hate us.
Additionally, in that clip we see Bob Knight being a huge dick to Digger Phelps. I like this.
Is still chapped about picking us as the "darkhouse" final four candidate a few years back only to see Michigan not even make the tourney. Remember, Bilas laughed at him and called him crazy after the BOLD prediction.
That shit was hilarious.
I say this because a few years ago many of us remember their (espn's) resident college football expert Trev Alberts taking every opportunity presented to take pot shots at the Big X and UM in particular. Well it got so bad, the editor of the magazine - imagine ex by now - did not catch Trev's infamous theor on UM's QBs in espn, the magazine basically mitigating any UM coaching and saying Michigan just graduated pro QBs, but all prepatory work was done after the fact.
Well after the expected backlash, I guess his bosses realized - don't know why it took public questioning - that was one of the most ridiculous stances ever taken by one of their employees; basically stating UM had a crystal ball, could project any h.s. qb, put them in their system and presto: five years later would be an NFL employee. He couldn't kiss our -BigX's- asses enough after that, even going out of his way to grab the Michigan helmet every weekend and giving it a "gameday" sticker for one of its many fine players.
ESPN was, is and will be the Disneyland of Sports Reporting until they decide they want to change. Only watch that station now for games and games only.
Mountain Dew and Tooth decay.
I think we're setting ourselves up for disappointment by expecting an at-large bid. There are always "snubs" and we could be one of them. I'm reserving my celebration until it's official.