MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '19-'20: Hello Coach Nook!

[*JD*]

A 2012 Rav 4 that was given to the AD's kid (who is a student manager on the team) is a far cry from Tyrelle's new Corvette. We certainly have to step it up!

Damn it! I posted this before reading Hack's response. I guess it doesn't hurt to repeat something to a Tosu fan. Comprehension and all....

[*JD*]

There's a wealth of choice in terms of incidents for comparison with this one.

Anyhow, great win today. Howard deserves a ton of credit from the people who think he's in over his head. Livers is back and they now have the chance to go on a little mini-run here. Once off the bubble you start looking at the volume of Q1 wins, what's likely to be the only victory had against Gonzaga this year, and hopefully a good showing in the conference tournament. Finish strong by stealing a win on the road against a non-Northwestern team and they finish 5-3 on the season.

The Creighton win will help our cause. They're 18-6 and have wins over Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Marquette, and just recently beat Villanova. UNC...I don't know. It did come when Cole Anthony was healthy but they've still been so-so since he returned. If they'd pulled out that Duke win last night, that would've helped us a little. I think if we get to 20 wins, we're a lock to get in. However, we'll be facing a 8/9 or 7/10 match-up in the Tournament. Getting there is very doable, so long as Livers is back for good.

[*JD*]

Oh, regarding the X Jeff Jackson stuff. Maybe a longer suspension was warranted. I think Warde's input weighed heavily. I do wonder about the police not administering a sobriety test. It's not a good look for sure but we have to go off of the report. However, you might stumble a bit if you ran your car into a utility pole. It's possible that he was concussed and not drunk (or stoned...it's legal!) I would guess more information will leak out. Maybe a photo of the wreck.

[hack]

The problem with setting high standards is that people with low standards love to note when you fail to meet your own. But Michigan's approach to this stuff isn't be calibrated to what others say and shouldn't be. I agree another game or two would have been warranted, but they followed the AD's process and that's what came of it. Maybe that process is up for review.

Anyhow, agreed on Austin Davis. I want him back. Ideal light-minutes starter to start the year next year. Give Dickinson someone to beat out. Three-headed monster of Davis/Johns/Dickinson.

[lineygoblue]

Michigan stashes another game in the win column tonight at Evanston vs Northwestern by a score of 79-54. Michigan started the game by missing their first 11 shots, but then shot 58% the rest of the way, to easily defeat the Wildcats.

Its a Big Ten win, and a road win, and no matter how bad the opponent is, the win is important.

Back home on Sunday to play Indiana, then on the road for two games, the first at Rutgers, then at West Lafayette against Purdue.

Need to win at least 2 of 3 to stay in NCAA contention.

[Cody_Russell]

[iam416]

11 B10 teams in Kenpom's top 33. Fucking meat grinder.

[hack]

I think they're not fully off the bubble, but also not very likely to miss the tournament at this point. They have a strong resume -- as many Q1 wins as any team in the country, if I have that right. The only win over the current #1 team, and Creighton is a solid win over a currently-ranked team. Injury to a key player in a way that the selection committee has accounted for in the past. They're not Duke, but over the years I think they've received an ample amount of respect from the selection committee. I rarely feel like they've been screwed on seeding, and often feel like they've gotten a best-case scenario there.

They are playing for seeding at this point, and I expect if they can win one on the road vs Purdue, OSU or Maryland they'll be off the 8-9 line by the end of the regular season. Outside chance that Maryland will have already locked up the regular-season conference title by the time we play them in College Park, so that also could be a chance to steal a major Q1 win. That means a chance to go into the B10 tournament looking to get up to a six seed or a 5, even, if they can get to the semis or final. This is where the '17 team was at, sort of -- they just stopped losing in early February and won every game until they lost the championship to Nova. Different season, but some parallels. Probably a 6 or 7 seed as of early February, ended up a 3 seed. This team can't run the table like that one, but they can go from the 8-9 line to 5-6.

[*JD*]

I think they're not fully off the bubble, but also not very likely to miss the tournament at this point. They have a strong resume -- as many Q1 wins as any team in the country, if I have that right. The only win over the current #1 team, and Creighton is a solid win over a currently-ranked team. Injury to a key player in a way that the selection committee has accounted for in the past. They're not Duke, but over the years I think they've received an ample amount of respect from the selection committee. I rarely feel like they've been screwed on seeding, and often feel like they've gotten a best-case scenario there.

They are playing for seeding at this point, and I expect if they can win one on the road vs Purdue, OSU or Maryland they'll be off the 8-9 line by the end of the regular season. Outside chance that Maryland will have already locked up the regular-season conference title by the time we play them in College Park, so that also could be a chance to steal a major Q1 win. That means a chance to go into the B10 tournament looking to get up to a six seed or a 5, even, if they can get to the semis or final. This is where the '17 team was at, sort of -- they just stopped losing in early February and won every game until they lost the championship to Nova. Different season, but some parallels. Probably a 6 or 7 seed as of early February, ended up a 3 seed. This team can't run the table like that one, but they can go from the 8-9 line to 5-6.

You mean 2018.

I think (with the scenario being that the team stays healthy) for us to reach back up into being a team that makes the 2nd weekend, Teske has to find himself again. It's weird. He did show the kind of aggression, composure, and touch in those first 6 or so games but now rushes almost everything in the post. His hooks have no touch and he doesn't effectively use his size advantage to either get closer to the rim or to draw fouls. He still finishes strong when rolling to the rim but he can do so much more. It may all be a question of confidence. Last night should've been a cakewalk for him but it turned into his second-worst night from the field. Ryan Young has some size but he was still giving up 3 inches and 25 pounds and looked very floor-bound. Only 8 blocked shots the whole year.

I don't think Teske will ever get a mean streak but I think he can calm things down and get back to being effective. If he does, we become a team that might surprise, come March.

[hack]

I think actually getting to the second weekend of tournament isn't entirely matchups dependent thing. you'll need to be the best version of his defensive self to get past the bigs in the big ten tournament if they're going to play a three-seed or lower in round two.

[*JD*]

I guess we're right now in a 3-way tie for 9th place in the B1G but have lost to both of those other teams (OSU/Minny) so I think that keeps us at the 11th seed in the BTT.

With 7 games remaining in the regular season, I can see us going anywhere from 7-0 to 2-5. I think 4-3 or better is more likely, with a healthy squad. I still worry about those road games but we now have a couple of W's under our belt on the road, so maybe our worst days are behind us.

Say we go 4-3 to finish and then 1-1 in the BTT. That would put us at 20-13, with a likely strong Kenpom ranking. I would guess that would get us to a 7-seed. 21 or 22 wins and a 6-seed is in play.

[*JD*]

No matter how good or how not so good of a team they have, it's always great to whoop up on Indiana! I still consider them our 2nd biggest basketball rival in the B1G. That's 7 wins in a row vs. the Hoosiers!

[lineygoblue]

Home court defended. Any win in this league this year is big. The 7 wins in a row against Indiana is quite remarkable. They've been tough on us for years, even going back to the 80's when we had all those good teams, Indiana was always tough to beat, and nearly impossible to beat in Bloomington. Things have changed a bit.

Now comes two road games at Rutgers and Purdue. We need to do no worse than split those.

[lineygoblue]

I just saw a crawler on the screen on ESPN saying that John Beilein is considering stepping down as the Cavaliers HC.

Can't find anything on any other site.

EDIT: oops, ok.. just found a link on ESPN

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28720022/sources-cavaliers-coach-john-beilein-discussed-possibility-stepping-down

[Jeff Buchanan]

Quite a few posts on it at mgoboard, Flow of the discussion bends toward speculation about Beilien replacing Miller at IU v, retiring completely (he's 67) or coaching at lower division programs. The first option seems unlikely because of Miler's buy-out and if IU did fire Miller, Beilien is not the coach you'd be looking at to rebuild and long term stabilize IU basketball. The third option would eliminate the stuff Beilien probably left M for.