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

[Mike]

Me too. My interest has been renewed! Howard was playing 3D chess the whole time!

[lineygoblue]

This Howard situation is so noteworthy that SportsCenter actually talked about Michigan basketball for a lengthy segment. As if Michigan basketball is getting the Cowboys or Lakers treatment. College basketball starving for a story…

Time to finish strong. Beat Rutgers tonight and the tourney becomes a possibility. I believe in Phil Martelli.

Absolutely true. This "fight' is the best thing that has happened in months for ESPN, et al. Its Michigan, its BAD stuff about Michigan, it draws out the Michigan fans, AND the Michigan haters. The CBB pollyannas at the sports networks drool over stuff like this. They ought to send Howard a thank you card for giving them hours and hours of material to yap about.

In the end, Howard will serve his suspension, and when he comes back, he will be contrite and apologetic. I'd imagine by now that private conversations that nobody will talk about, have taken place between Howard and the Wisconsin coaches involved in the incident. The sports media won't let go of it that quickly, as this will be the top shelf lead-in when Michigan plays its first game in the BTT. Hopefully, Michigan loses, so that sports wags will have to turn their attention to actual basketball stuff.

Regarding Martelli, Michigan is very fortunate to have him on the staff. The man has forgotten more basketball than most sports "experts" have ever learned. He's a class guy, and whatever the team has to give, he will get it from them.

I have no idea how this season is going to end up. I hope the team finishes well, but I'd not be surprised if the season ends with a whimper. I wish the season could end well for Hunter Dickinson. He deserves to go out on a high note.

[Mike]

It would be nice to not get swept by Rutgers, too.

[hack]

But since they are peabrains who know an entire three potential narratives, Michigan last night was already potentially getting slotted into one of those three in the form of the redemption story. Phil fielding questions from the sideline reporter about what it meant to the players to just get back out on the court and focus about basketball. for example. Jeff Goodman is going to have an agenda, since he grovelled at Howard's feet in the offseason and probably dearly regrets that, but otherwise to the winners go the softballs. If they make the tournament the narrative will be that it was a bubble team that circled the wagons. If they miss it though, that's a chance for the ``negative repercussions surrounding the program'' nonsense.

So, keep winning. Off to a good start. I loved seeing Houstan at the 4, and Kobe Bufkin is growing. No longer a sieve on D. Great to see that beautiful jumper of his finally go down. Not quite yet but very close to being a reliably above-replacement level rotation piece for the rest of this season, which would be huge.

Looking back at the video, Froot's comment that Wisconsin is a program that lives to get under your skin seems to resonate. Not all of their players but some of their players, and all of their coaches and their AD loved it. They were pigs in shit, and we all know what happens when you wrestle a pig. Just in the way that Harbaugh has a July drive against OSU, Howard will quite possibly be watching more Wisconsin film this summer than last.

I still need somebody to put together the montage. Show just as clearly what those Wisconsin assistants did the full way through. Toss a few bitcoins at troll in St Petersburg or something.

[lineygoblue]

Be careful, Hack. You might fall into the M homer narrative.

[hack]

If it helps, there are specific institutions on campus that I hate just as much as I love the basketball program.

[lineygoblue]

The Detroit News Editorial board falls just short of demanding Howard be fired, "because he has ongoing issues".

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2022/02/23/editorial-michigan-must-hold-juwan-howard-university-standards/6892536001/

[Jeff Buchanan]

Shocked

[Mike]

There were a lot of morons calling for his firing.

[THE_WIZARD_]

hello

[lineygoblue]

I commented on their site that they must have let all their MSU and OSU alums write that editorial. I got plenty of "harumphs" for that comment.

[WM Wolverine]

Remaining schedule is pretty brutal, they'll be lucky to make the tourney. Team is better then their W/L (31st in kenpom) record but not sure they'll get any respect on selection sunday unless they win some tough remaining games.

[Mike]

American hero, Bill Burr, dropping truth bombs. NSFW.

[Cody_Russell]

At minimum 5 games remaining before Selection Sunday.

Beat Illinois this weekend and I think M needs only 1 more win after that. A 2-3 record gets you to the tourney IMO.
Don’t beat Illinois? Probably need 3 wins.
Aim for 3 more wins to be safe regardless of the Illinois game. 18 total wins is the magic number. It’s very possible with home games vs struggling Sparty, Iowa, the B10 tourney…

[lineygoblue]

Welp, in the "too little too late" category, M beat MSU tonight at Crisler 87-70. This is the kind of ball they should have been playing all season long.

Hunter Dickinson had a career high 33 points. MSU just cannot handle him at all. He had 26 points last time at Breslin.

Iowa on Thursday, then to "fun city" on Sunday.