U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2018-2019

[froot loops]

To win it all eventually you have take out Duke. The big travesty is they stage West regional games in Hartford and Des Moines. That NCAA guy said the MSU win leapfrogged them over Kentucky. Trying to understand these guys rationalizations year after year is a fools errand. It isn't about MSU and Michigan,. It's always about the ACC.

[hack]

I don't know that I agree this year. This year was about keeping Gonzaga as a 1 seed in the west. Usually though the ACC pieces do feel like the ones put in place first though.

[hack]

For some reason I can't quote Jeff's post about dong punches above, but I do agree that this could be a year they lose early. I won't be surprised.

[hack]

Re the refs, I didn't think this was an unfairly reffed game. They let the players play. There were a few 50-50 calls that sting, but this wasn't a game in which a high volume of them all went one way. If that happens, or one team was reffed more stringently then the other consistently and in a way that changes the game and the refs never adjust, that's when you really start to wonder. Last week in Breslin was that kind of game but IMO today's wasn't.

[Whitley]

Yep, but McQuade throwing himself into the defender and getting 3 FTs felt like a turning point to me at least.

[hack]

Can't argue with the call. It sure did suck.

Congrats to Sparty. They are the better team this year.

We can still win the championship if we get hot from 3 on the right night. Outside shot at it.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Reading too much bitching about the refereeing on other sites. Tough for me to say because I'm not a rules guy but, overall, this wasn't the Breslin game. I'll go with Hack's call: ".....didn't think this was unfairly reffed game."

After thinking about it, the deflating nature of the loss to MSU probably isn't going to trump some of the player weaknesses and sink M. I don't watch enough basketball in the regular season to know how M will fare in the West. But Beilein certainly has to be frustrated knowing what needs to get done and then having certain players not getting it done.

Certainly looks like an easier path to the Elite Eight than any 2 seed in the other regions will have to travel though. I've read TTU is the toughest match-up for M to get there. If by some miracle M gets to the FF, they are not going to get by Duke/MSU, UVA, maybe UNC as a better match-up should it occur..... but that's wishful thinking. I just don't think this team has replaced the offense of Robinson, Wagner and MAAR. Not only does it appear there's no leadership like Wagner's on offense to prevent the kind of 2nd half collapse we've seen v. MSU but reading there's a couple of real player issues with shot selection and patience on that end of the court.

[hack]

As good as MSU's been and as frustrating as it's been for Michigan -- I mean its true that a few calls yesterday would have been nice -- it's still really been just barely enough for them to get by us. So much going right for them; so much going wrong for us and our offense down to a few things that might possibly work to generate a decent shot and for whatever reason our spaciest defender on the guy on their team you can't afford not to blanket, and the games were still awfully close. They matched up well enough with us on defense this year and for about five possessions a game we were short one dialled-in defender. Margin for error is incredibly thin. The billiance of Izzo is when he has a tight group of SRs and JRs that really know what that means, and an NBA-level facilitator.

Getting to the FF wouldn't be a miracle, and, frankly, Michigan is the best team in the bracket. One think I like about the idea of facing Duke is that they're younger than us. Michigan's been losing to a team dominated by JRs and SRs, and it's relying on two freshmen. It's been execution down the stretch that's the issue, so as talented as Duke is, there's a chance that it lacks the essential quality needed to beat Michigan. Obviously it would require Michigan to make at least 40% of its 3s on the game. And to be fucking tough. I'm kinda sick of the Simpson leadership stories.

[Hannibal]

Gotta get there first. I have watched Florida a few times but I don't know much about Nevada. Gotta get by Montana first, for that matter.

[hack]

Montana's basically the same team they were last year, just down a key guy. Nevada seems pretty strong for a 7 seed and have those twins who are older, but hey -- if we can't beat up on western teams that don't play tough schedules, then the loss will be a needed and deserved sting to provide some emphasis for next year. And Brooks should be told that he can compete for the starting SG job if he's willing to shoot the damn ball. Otherwise let's hope one of the freshman wings is ready to play. Can't go into the season without a backup for Poole.

[Hannibal]

Lots of potential options there. In the meantime, it'll be nice having quality back-ups to everbody else.

[Niffla]

I'm still pretty confident in this team. Yeah it hurts knowing that State beat Michigan 3 freaking times in like, what a month? Less than a month? And seeing Izzo cry not just once BUT twice after beating Michigan in the last like 10 days just makes me want to throw up, but whatever.

This Michigan team played great in the conference tournament. They completely demolished two tournament teams in Iowa and Minnesota and for all intents and purposes were the better team in the championship game. All the credit in the world of course to State, they're an excellent team and are good enough to be on the short list of teams who can win it all, but yesterday if they just get an average game from McQuaid, UM wins that game pretty comfortably.

The road won't be as "easy" as last year's but they're still definitely capable of beating any team in the country. It's cliche time but just stay locked in every single possession, play loose and have fun and let's make another run at this thing

[hack]

I guess I'm there too, more or less. The thing with State is there's no variation. They come out every game and capitalize on the opportunities in front of them whilst taking away what the other team wants to do. Michigan has yet to prove it can do that. Much better game on offense yesterday, but FFS with Poole and McQuaid already. Poole has too short a memory.

But State is on a list of maybe one team that can do that to us. Just turned out to be a really bad matchup.

[Niffla]

It's amazing that M blew 2nd half leads in all three games. Okay so the first game the 2nd half lead was just 6, but the other two they owned double digit leads in the 2nd half. They completely collapsed in East Lansing but the conference championship game was different -- Michigan was certainly a lot better down the stretch of that game than they were in EL but State just wouldn't be denied.

[hack]

Yeah. They knew exactly what was coming all three times and couldn't stop it. MSU is clearly the better team. If they meet in the tournament, I would expect to lose again.