To watch the Final Four or not?
and gratefully, my job has become so busy;
That I can readily admit: Only Michigan being in it would keep me awake for the entire game on Monday. I'll have it on, but by halftime I'll be out. They need to start these games earlier like they used to. And yes, those damn kids need to get off my lawn!!!
March 30th, 2014 at 11:34 PM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:54 AM ^
pretty much stole the words out of my mouth. im hoping they schedule me to work...
March 30th, 2014 at 11:36 PM ^
Right now I have no interest in watching it. A week from now when the sting is gone a little, I will be surprised if I am not right back in front of the TV.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:37 PM ^
Yes, I'll watch.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:40 PM ^
I want to see if Kentucky can continue its run (beat previously unbeaten witchita, beat defendign champ louisville, beat best offensive team in nation)
and I'm pulling for Bo Ryan and the badgers. gasp!
March 30th, 2014 at 11:40 PM ^
Nope. My interest in basketball as a whole begins and ends with Michigan. Now I wait for football season.. unless the Red Wings can pull out a playoff berth.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
Not a chance.
I was just getting ready to make the "It still hurts...is that weird?" thread.
I just watched that movie American Hustle...pretty solid. As soon as it ended I thought about the loss today. I have a sickness. It's sports. I love and hate it. I doubt I'll sleep much...I have issues.
But to answer the question. I won't watch, I mean, it may be on...but I won't be paying attention. If we would've been an underdog and played well and lost to a better team...I wouldn't mind watching. But not now. Not after getting so close. Not after being jobbed by the refs for the 2nd straight year.
And I'm not talking one call, that's typical. Syracuse (last year) and Tennessee (this year) fans will complain about that, but that happens in every game. I'm talking about 5-6 points off of bad or no calls...just like the UL game. If we lose straight up (like MSU in the B1G championship game, or Arizona, or any other loss this year*), I've got no beef. When the refs decide the outcome...it never leaves me.
*I'd take @Duke out, because they were awful, but we played so bad that it still would've been a loss. Just a closer game than it was. I truly believe we go to OT vs. UL last year and we win a very close game (1-2 points) over UK in regulation if you take away the obvious stuff. Not the debatable stuff...I'm talking the missed goaltending calls in both games. The Hancock diving into Burke, the Randle lowering his head and shoulders and turning himself into Bo Jackson in Super Tecmo Bowl.
So maybe it'll be one while I clean the house or something, maybe I'll go to a bar so I can kind of paying attention to it. But will I sit down and watch like I did the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games? Nope. No fucking way.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^
We didn't get "jobbed by the refs." We got beat straight up by a team full of NBA talent. Both teams played their hearts out, don't diminish that by bitching about refs in a game where they did a great job overall. There have been a lot of games where questionable calls seemed to decide the result, but this was not one of them. Harrison drilled an NBA range three over a defender that was on him like a glove. Hats off to him. Man up.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
I agree that there were some bad calls. There are always some bad calls. Some bad calls went against Kentucky as well though, and aside from the one missed goaltending I didn't think any were egregious (or not made up for pretty quickly). If the winning margin was 1 point, I might be more frustrated, but Julius Randle is a full grown man, and he played like it.
resulting in an extra possession for Kentucky, Horford getting hammered at the rim late, and the obvious offensive goaltending missed in the first half. Those were all pretty egregious calls/non-calls.
Stauskas getting a block called on UK when it probally should have been a charge is the only highly questionable call I recall going UM's way. The majority of UK's fouls came when they either hammered somebody at the rim, or did something obvious on rebound (extending an arm into Morgan's throat area on the one rebound being an example).
March 31st, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:19 AM ^
But I had to turn the game off and just follow the score after the third or fifth time one of our big men tried to put back a bucket off a rebound and just got destroyed with no call. Which would be fine if it was called the same on the other end. It wasn't.
The refs have a better view but it sure seemed inconsistent.
Don't get me wrong, Kentucky played a spectacular game. Hats off to them.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:20 AM ^
I honestly just felt that refs just sucked, as opposed to being biased towards a particular team.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:27 AM ^
Like last year's final, I feel sad that we couldn't get a more solid referee crew for such an amazing basketball game.
Can't imagine how frustrating it's gotta be for the players.
Are people seriously going to say Morgan should have been sitting on the bench for 10 minutes with foul trouble? And that having to play two far less effective players instead did not have a large impact on the game? The first two fouls on Morgan were pure bullshit, and the third was a ticky-tack foul that was not called consistently throughout the game. That isn't even considering examples such as the two points UK's got from an extra possesion when Levert got two hand shoved with no call, Horford getting hammered at the rim late in the game or the blown non-basket inteference call in the first half.
UM had massive issues handling UK's size in this game aside from the officials, but at the end of the day they still played well enough to give themselves a chance to win. The officiating certainly did have an impact on the game. I realize that comes across as whining to many, but I don't care because the officiating was piss poor and just like the Louisville game UM came out on the short-end of the stick on many of the more impactful missed calls (ones that resulted in foul trouble, plays that impacted the scoreboard, etc.).
The poor officiating, in college basketball overall, is a disgrace. To me it is not about this game or UM, I am just sick and tired of how shitty officiating is in college basketball. I also tired of the excuses people use to deflect criticism from it, including calling people who question it whiners or saying it is expected because it has been bad for so long. These guys should be held accountable for their inability to call the game consistently and fairly.
to see someone ufr the reffing in this one. And where else to complain about it than here, among fans and friends?
March 31st, 2014 at 12:30 AM ^
I'm with you, more so in regards to your first paragraph/sentences. I won't go into detail TOO much but a couple of your lines are where I'm at in. This shit sucks. It sucks so much that I have a hard time rationalizing why I feel this way. It's fandom, sure, but it's more than that; at least it seems like it. This emotional investment I, this nobody from the Midwest not even in Michigan, have for these young groups of hardwood and gridiron players isn't sensible and has to be something more than just "being a fan". What, I'm not sure anymore. If I made money off of my fandom by blogging or gambling, something, it would/could seem more reasonable (I know that's an unfair statement in a way, in and I don't mean anything offensive by that as I'm sure that can come across in ways I really don't even know right now).
I still digressed...more than I wanted. But I'm at a juncture in life where this is wearing on me too much and I'm not settled in or in a secure enough spot for this to drain me and take up so much of my life. And to relate to more of your post, all of the above holds true especially when we start factoring in how all of these games are officiated and supervised (i.e. the NCAA and the shitty rules, the money and greed) by such half-assed people/organizations. I'm sure this comes across bitch-like, I'm aware some of you are hardened badasses.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
UK will probably blow out WI. Florida will beat UCONN.
An all-SEC Final.
I just can't wait.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
My housemate is Dekker's second cousin, and I cannot wait to root for them to cut down the nets. This is sport at it's most poignant, and watching our team handle this loss with grace has been awe inspiring. These kids are 18 to 22 years old and the stuff that they do under such ridiculous pressure is incredible. Can't wait to watch the rest of the tournament.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
Good basketball is fun to watch.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
Anyone but Wisconsin and Kentucky.
Anyone but UF or UK. I hate the SEC more than anything (probably has to do with living in Alabama for 2 years).
March 30th, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
March 30th, 2014 at 11:55 PM ^
I'm still a little stung right now but that will go away. I'll watch to root against Kentucky, because I hate that model for a "college" basketball program, and I'll probably watch to root for UConn, both because I kind of like those guys. It's never hard for me to root against the SEC, too.
March 30th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^
Loathe Calipari, don't care about Uconn, hate every team in every sport from the state of Florida, and I sent $$$$$$ to Madison for my daughter's degree as a Badger.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Go badgers. Please beat kentucky...
March 30th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
I think at this point I'd most prefer Wisconsin to win, which is another way of saying, no, no I am not watching.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^
I'm pulling for Wisconsin but yea I won't watch anymore. What an awesome season tho. Big ten champs, Elite 8 and some great games.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:08 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
Still heart-broken, but I'll definitely watch simply because I like college basketball, plus the remaining teams are pretty fun to watch.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:15 AM ^
If you only watch basketball when Michigan is still in it, this makes you a total bandwagon basketball fan, which is probably not as bad as being a bandwagon Michigan fan, but it's still kinda bad.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:48 AM ^
Maybe if you tried a little harder..? It's not so complicated.
Anyway, it turns out the most interesting and amusing part of my post was the "negbang" it appears to have been awarded. I'm hurt, but was inspired to upload an image in response, to give you all something to remember me by. I don't want any bandwagon fans upvoting my posts in the future.
I think I know what you're getting at, but it is not bandwaggoning. Example:
If you only watch UM when they are good, that is bandwaggoning.
If you only watch basketball when UM is on, that is not bandwaggoning. But it could be argued that you wouldn't be a true basketball fan, which I think is what you were going for.
Judging on your few comments here, I don't think you have to worry about anyone upvoting your posts in the future.
March 31st, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
does it make me a bandwagon football fan if I only watch Michigan games and decide to skip out on watching a national championship game featuring 2 teams I don't care about? Or should I suffer through it because it's football dammit and I'm a real fan?
Same thing with basketball. I'm a MICHIGAN fan first. If it's convenient to watch other games that don't involve my team and I have nothing better to do, I'll watch it. If not, I won't. In the event Michigan made it to the finals, I was planning on changing my Monday evening flight to watch the game. As it is now, I'll stick with my current flight schedule and miss most, if not all, of the game. I guess I'm not a "true" fan, and I'm okay with that.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:26 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:26 AM ^
I guess I'll give it a cursory glance, but really none of these teams excite or interest me. I guess Florida or Wiscy would be nice, but it just feels anti-climactic.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:32 AM ^
March 31st, 2014 at 12:33 AM ^
The final four is just silly at this point. I mean does anyone really believe that these are the best four teams in the game? As much fun as March Madness is, it's not exactly a reliable method for producing a champion.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^
It produces a champion every time. The concept of a "true" champion doesn't really exist in any sport. The differences between good teams are small and the sample size of a season or a playoff series is also insufficient to answer the question. Besides that, the distributions are always changing, as teams change and progress through the season in varying directions. The system can be set up in various ways; this one it seems to me is not objectively worse than others, especially considering that it's a huge amount of fun to watch.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:36 AM ^