MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[Cody_Russell]

Ugh, pain. Big collapse.

I think M will still get in the NCAA tourney, but it’s very close. Not that M can make a run. Seems unlikely based on the inconsistency at D and 3 PT%.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I think they have a punchers chance...

[Mike]

The game today was a microcosm of the entire season. They either looked like a Final Four team or or one-and-done in the NIT. There's no middle.

[WM Wolverine]

Still about a 10 seed; the 11-seed is usually a better spot so getting an 11 seed wouldn't be a negative. Kenpom has them at 33 thanks to a pretty brutal schedule, they were usually one of the top 5 toughest schedules regardless of which computer rankings I looked at. Looking at their losses and surprisingly very little bad losses other than UCF which was a road game.

[lineygoblue]

They'd go further in the NIT, and they might even be able to grab a home game or two.

[hack]

If they get in, they get in. Otherwise, I'm fine to see an end to this wretched ridiculous season. Another game like the UCLA one in which the layups go halfway down before popping out. Let's hear it for Livers -- he was the steady leader missing in both cases.

Jay Bilas' rant on behalf of Buddy Boeheim was just insane. Morally outraged confused person. Not as confused as Jim Boeheim, but so be it. That's the Michigan difference. Say what you will about Wisconsin having Brad Davisons for assistant coaches who attack players and pretend that's fine, or Syracuse or whatever, but Michigan isn't having it. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. We trip over our own feet more often than not trying to live up to it, and the sanctimony wears on others for just reasons, but it's just fact that Michigan isn't going to do some of the shit that its peers are going to do. Genuinely above that sort of thing and willing to hold itself accountable, even if it rarely manages to do so in a graceful way.

[lineygoblue]

I'm glad to see the season end as well. Howard is taking a lot of the blame for the team's performance, and he does have a part in that. But I think its more of a chemistry problem, rather than a HC problem. There's talent, but its not meshing consistently. Maybe some HC's can do that, but even the "best" HC's have had talented teams that failed to perform.

Howard is going to have to live down the Wisconsin incident for a year or two. Probably until opposing fans find something else to bellyache about. Best thing Howard can do is move on and act as if it never happened. Keep it in the back of his mind what stuff like that leads to, but move on and become a better man, and a better coach. Opposing fans/teams don't want that to happen, so that's why he must make it happen.

I'm not sure who will leave early. Diabate and Houstain were considered to be one-and-dones, but I'm not sure they've played their way into the draft. I have no idea where they'd be projected right now, but it can't be very high. They've been way too inconsistent. There's more talent on the way, so maybe they can mesh better next year.

Hunter Dickinson deserved to go out on a better note. I wish him well in the NBA. I hope he ends up with a good team and organization.

[lineygoblue]

Pre-emptive "shaddup" and STFU to The Wizard...

[THE_WIZARD_]

Preemptive NO to Chubs McKenzie...

[hack]

I think it's a young team without leadership. Brooks gets sped up in tense situations; Dickinson isn't your upperclassman rock and that may be putting it kindly; Jones was new and had his own curve. You can rely on one freshman maybe in that situtaion, but when you're relying on two as starters and then the bench as well, that's an issue. We're seeing transition costs from the misses of the late Beilein period. DDJ, Castleton, Zeb and Bajema were all misses and are gone; BJJ stuck around but hasn't fulfilled his promise. So we were missing the 3-4-year players needed to flesh out the rotation. Hopefully that's the last year of that issue, as Juwan has restocked the roster with that kind of player. Now they just need to develop. What's great to see is evidence that they are. Houstan's defense is so much better now, and he's giving you stuff even when his shot's not falling. You can see what Collins can do on both ends, and Bufkin's defense is much better too. Can also feel good about Juwan as offensive savant. How he put together a top-25 offense from this group is quite the thing, but he did. More mystifying that the defense couldn't get there.

The vibe currently seems to be that Diabate is out. Not a citizen, can't get NIL money, has the most NBA body of the group. HD, Jones, Houstan? Unclear. NIL is a big wildcard.

[Mike]

Diabate can't get NIL money because he's not a citizen? That seems weird.

[Cody_Russell]

#11 seed vs Colorado State in Indianapolis.

No question, most favorable draw imaginable IMO. Lucky M.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Very winnable first round

[Mike]

Love it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Not us. We've got Sister Jean casting her voodoo hex