U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2018-2019

[Hannibal]

Illinois has played just about everybody tough.

[hack]

Yeah, I read that in the mgoblog preview. Apparently better than their record; lost games there were in most of the way. Fair enough.

[hack]

PLAY JOHNS PLAY JOHNS PLAY JOHNS PLAY JOHNS.

[hack]

C'mon, coach. Empty the bench.

[hack]

Best start ever for a Michigan basketball team. Congrats, gentleman.

[Kstat]

Teske and Simpson hit 8 combined threes tonight. Mind. Blown.

6 days off before we hit Madison.

[hack]

Would love for this to be something Z builds off of, but I'll believe that when I see it.

[hack]

The conference is really high quality this year. Northwestern plays very good D and was missing their best player, and it took Teske getting hot from 3 to break it open. Very impressive conference.

[Hannibal]

Shame that Teske guy can't play.

[hack]

14 games left: 6 at home and 8 on the road. 5 road games against top-50 NET teams, and 4 home games. Looks like the league is tougher than expected, and we have home-and-homes left with MSU and Maryland, which is just one game off the pace. And still visit Madison and Bloomington. And still you've got to expect a clunker game. So, we'll see. It's easy to expect six losses, but that would mean going 8-6 the rest of the way, and that's easy to dismiss as a likelihood. I'm still thinking maximum 5 losses. I think 10-4 the rest of the way is plenty doable.

[WM Wolverine]

Z was given wide upon looks and made them pay, he's our sixth best scorer and his overall game is really good. I just wish he could sink his free throws...

Toughest part of the schedule is up next, four of next five will be tough... B1G had an excellent OOC and is really deep in tournament teams, 9 most likely and potentially 10...

???Hopefully we finish strong and earn favorable seeds in the B1G and NCAA tourneys. Head to head games vs Sparty could decide regular season B1G champs.

[hack]

I don't have a sense for how good those teams are in the middle -- Neb, Minn, MD, Wisc, etc. If Indiana isn't better than that general group, then we're in for some touch games. I think that game isn't necessarily representative because of how the foul trouble impacted it. Then again, that foul trouble was entirely thanks to Matthews drawing legit fouls disrupting passing lanes, which is something he's pretty focused on doing lately and is doing well.

[WM Wolverine]

Most those teams along with Indiana look like 5 to 8 seeds in the NCAA and could be particularly tough on the road. Ohio state is in or near that group.

[hack]

Dunno. They are clustered near the bottom of the top 25, NET, RPI and the other metrics. There's some quality in that group. Not sure how much any of those teams could seriously threaten Michigan at home though. Maryland's ranking doesn't scare me as much as past experience in Madison, but that may not be at all a rational position.

[hack]

Wow -- if they're gonna call nothing, might as well start hammering Happ. Get your money's worth out of those fouls.