REFS F*CK MICHIGAN AGAIN

I didn't see the game (only followed the LiveBlog), so I'm not sure just how bad some of these calls were. But let's face it - this team was due to lose one of these "winnable" games. Maybe it should have been the Indiana game, or the Northwestern one, or the Savannah State game. Those were all games that UM played horribly in, but thanks to some luck and some calls that maybe went UM's way, they pulled out wins. This team is way too inconsistent to spot any team 12 points in the first half, to not close out a team up by 4 with a little over a minute to play, or to score only 2 meaningful points in overtime. I'm sure the calls sucked, but if this game sends UM to the NIT, so be it. I'm happy to see this team compete in any postseason tournament after last year, and I feel like it has some direction, unlike during Amaker's tenure.

So, there were a lot of bad calls in this game, and most of them went against Michigan. But, this team had every opportunity to win the game and, simply, didn't. You can blame the refs, sure, but when you have the last shot and you settle for a 25 foot jumper, it's hard to say that the refs were the whole reason your team lost. That being said, I was upset for large portions of the game. It seemed like every time Iowa got a call on the defensive end, they scored offensively, leading to a large swing in points.

Agree completely, BGH. It's just pretty much accepted that, in this conference, the road team will probably get a very unfavorable whistle from the refs. It's aggravating.

I think the way that we are able to play well against teams like UCLA, Duke and UCONN but not play well against lower echelon teams like IOWA just shows that we are young and inexperienced. The potential is certainly there but the maturity is still not there. To the 2 that were having the heated discussion over reffing and everything, let's keep in mind that we are all on the same team here. Whether bandwagon or not let's root for the same team and remember those famous words by Rodney King "can't we all just get along".

I didn't see the game but I gather that the officiating was at its normally atrocious level of incompetence, and as always skewed in favor of the the home team. After I found out we lost on the radio I looked at the box score and saw as usual in a loss our shooting was horrible; it's not like we're shooting OK and the other team is simply unconscious from the field. Today we were 29% in the second half, 32% overall, 1-10 in the OT, with our two best players going a combined 8-27 from the field. Maybe it was due to lights-out defense by Iowa, but it's still craptacular. Was Manny getting mugged all game? That's par for the course in our losses. In conference play we haven't lost when we've shot 40% or over, and the only game we've won when shooting less than 40% was the game against Indiana, and they shot even more miserably than we did in that game. Last year we were the worst shooting team in the B10 in both FG and 3-pt categories, and as of a week or so ago we were in the same spot at the bottom. No team can truly prosper shooting so poorly so consistently, but until Beilein can get guys who are reliably, consistently good shooters this team is going to be enormously frustrating, given how hard they play. It's gotta be driving Beilein nuts. He'd probably sell his soul for a 2009 version of Glen Rice.

Ladies and gentlemen we need to keep in mind that if we did win and make it to the Tourney we would be a 16 seed so right off the bat we are playing a 1 seed and that would probably not bode well for us but if we make the NIT we have a good chance of doing well. I would say that we even have a chance of winning it.

For those who missed it, there were a bunch of hideous calls over the course of the game, but the killer came in the final minute. With a minute left, we led by four after a huge three by Douglass. Iowa's PG drove and got a ticky-tack foul. He made both with 54 seconds left. We then ran down most of the shot clock before Manny drove, got bumped from behind (definitely more contact than had gone on at the other end) but with no whistle. On the ensuing rebound, Sims and the Iowa PG got tied up and the whistle blew. Jump ball, right? No - foul on Sims! Replays showed literally no contact on Sims's end. We had the possession arrow, so the correct call there (jump ball) would have practically clinched the game for us. Iowa would have been forced to foul. (And of course, if they'd called the foul when Manny had gotten bumped, it would have pretty much clinched it as well.) Instead, Iowa's 92% FT shooter got to go to the line, and made both again. After that, yes, we screwed up at the end of regulation and barely got a shot off, and then we blew it in OT. But it never should have gotten to that point.

who tell other posters what they can and can't post about UM need to look in the mirror. I didn't see this game, but after some of the crap I have seen perpetrated upon UM by refs, nothing would surprise me. I really don't understand why anyone would think he or she has the right to dismiss serious discussion by ardent fans as "whining" or "crying." If you think the refs weren't responsible, great: say it. But don't be an asshole to others who don't share your opinion. We are all UM fans; it might behoove you to remember that before you are being an asshole to someone for having the pure, unadulterated nerve to disagree with the Grand Poobah.

Chimmychinga: "Stop the fucking crying. I guarentee you that at the beginning of the year you weren't even watching M basketball. In fact, half of you are probably bandwagon fans. The only reason you are watching is that it is getting more attention. So order your M basketball shirts, and talk about it at work. The point is, I've been watching M basketball for over 15 years. We haven't had good teams for obvious reasons. The refs have always sucked, it's not anything new. Stop your bitching. We shouldn't make the tournament, and we won't. We are the USC of basketball this year. We play well in big games but the little ones count just as much. So we shoulnt be in the tournament like they shouldn't be in the National Championship Game." This is the dumbest, most pointless, illogical rant ever. You're a fucking idiot. Nobody in this thread said that it only happens to Michigan. We got fucked. That's a fact and there is nothing wrong with saying so. Fuck you, Chimmy.

Literally, ever. And that's saying alot. Nowhere and at no time did you even come close, in any of your posts, to sounding like anything less than 100% pure asshat. Look, Chimi. The refs took an active, aggressive hand in that game, a game against a point guard-less, .500 team that we needed desperately. They allowed handchecks, moving picks and outright buggery. Beilein continued his maddening psycho-substitution theory and, imo, made very little adjustments to justify the accolades he's received for his coaching acumen. That play to end regulation was awful. The players? They drove the hole with no calls, got called for ticky-tack fouls when rebounding, but it looked like they were all playing hard. Nonetheless, they shot an awful 30%. Now let me ask you, Superfan-Chimi, where are you going to direct the frustration you felt from watching that game? The players? Nah they played hard. If you get pissed at players giving max effort in college athletics, then you wear the magic asshat AND you're a punk. Coach? Maybe partly. I'm pissed but don't know the whole story and I'm not at practice. So that leaves the worst officials in the country - Big Ten Officials. They deserve our venom and they deserve criticism. Now what do you do? You pull out references of yourself, as Allen Iverson (wtf seriously), watching M hoops for 15 years - like that fantasy somehow changes the fact that the offcials at least largely affected the final minute or so of that game? No, you don't target the officials for a meth-induced emo-rant, you repeatedly go after genuinely frustrated, real fans. Then you pretend to have the balls to tell everyone to "calm down" after you've offended nearly everyone that has lived and died with each loss this season? Nice. Listen, if anyone's to keep their cakeholes shut in this forum, based on your body of work, I nominate you.