Senior Day!
I’m going to miss these guys. And MO Buckets is probably gone as well…
The Speeches…
Sorry about the audio quality…But it’s the best
clip I could find.
I really didn’t want to believe or
let myself believe that Michigan could beat the suckeyes, even on home
court. The suckeyes are a formidable
opponent and will be an extremely tough out in the tourney.
But, Michigan and the Maize Rage came through in
a B1G way and found their rhythm on defense and finally got around to
playing some offense and schooled the scarlet and gray in a bad way. It was incredibly scrappy and sometimes it
looked like a football game with guys on the floor scrambling for balls.
This was a GREAT win on Senior Day and I’m really
looking forward to the rest of February, March and - Dare I say this? – April…
Yep, we’re well beyond bubble talk at this
point. If this Michigan team, the one
that finds a way to win even though the 3’s aren’t dropping (7 out of 20) can
keep that momentum together until the 3’s ARE DROPPING, well, anything dream
you wanna’ dream is possible.
MO Buckets, MAAR, Robinson, Poole, Livers, Simpson and even
Matthews are getting Kudos today.
Everyone contributed and it was definitely a TEAM WIN!
Refereeing (or lack thereof) allowed a lot of
rough and tumble stuff to take place without any whistles. I’m ready to go to a “Call your own” just to
see if the games would play out any differently….I hate to keep
bitching about Refs, so I’m not gonna’ do it anymore. It’s just the way it is at this point.
Two games left and they’re both on the
road. And they should both be winnable,
even though PSU is getting feistier down the stretch. And Maryland is still Maryland.
Games – Dates – Time – Result - Record
Illinois(H) January
6th Noon WON 79-69 14-3
Purdue
(H) January 9th 9:00 PM Lost 70-69 14-4
Sparty (A) January
13th Noon WON 82-72 15-4
Maryland (H) January
15th 6:30 PM WON 68-67 16-4
Nebraska (A) January 18th 8:00 PM LOST 72-52 16-5
Rutgers
(H) January 21st Noon WON
62-47 17-5
Purdue (A) January 25th 7:00 PM LOST 92-88 17-6
Northwestern
(H) January 29th 7:00 PM WON 58-47 18-6
Minnesota
(H) February 3rd 2:30 PM WON 76-73
(OT) 19-6
Northwestern (A) February 6th 6:00PM LOST
61-52 19-7
Wiscy (A) February 11th Noon WON 83-72 20-7
Iowa (H) February
14th 6:30 PM WON 74-59 21-7
Suckeyes
(H) February 18th 1:00 PM WON 74-62 22-7
PSU (A) February 21st 7:00 PM
Maryland (A) February 24th Noon
What’s even better at this point
is that Nebraska lost to the Illini, which means Michigan could possibly still
get that top 4 Bye in the B1G Tourney if they win out and the Huskers lose one
more. Which is possible with Indiana and
Penn State still on the Huskers schedule. Unfortunately, both games are at home…
So What Does This Mean For The
NCAA’s?
Great Question. Answer:
Who Knows? Lunardi has Michigan
as a 5-Seed this AM (Palm moved them up from a 9-Seed to a 7-Seed) in the
Midwest Bracket that would have Michigan playing Tennessee and Xavier if the
chalks won. I don’t mind those
match-ups. And he has Kansas as a
1-Seed, so go figure. Of course, that
will undoubtedly change several times over the course of the next three weeks. Stay
Tuned…
Next Question:
When was the last time Michigan’s
Adj O-Efficiency was worse than their Adj D-Efficiency under John Beilein?
Answer – NEVER
What does that mean and Why
should we care? Well, Teams that rank
high in both O-Eff and D-Eff are teams that do well in the Tourney. In the last several seasons, the eventual
NCAA champions were usually single digit ranked in each category (top
5-10) with several teams winning the whole enchilada with a higher Adj D-Eff. Last season’s Michigan team was 4th
and 69th, O and D, respectively.
This season, Michigan is 46th Off
and 20th Def. For
comparison purposes, in 2013, Michigan finished in KenPom’s top 4 with
their O-Eff ranked 4th and the D-Eff ranked 37th,
highest D-Eff in the final Top 10. Which,
is kind of head scratching, but it means Michigan can hang around in a game
when shots aren’t going down and still find a way to beat you.
Which is always good…
And with Beilein’s Offense and shooters
able to get hot, hell, I’ll take that any time.
So, yeah, this fan is starting to
look forward to the post season!
Larry Nassar U and Purdue Both
Earn 2-Seeds
In Lunardi’s latest. (Palm
has Purdue as a #3 and Sparty as a 2-Seed)
I’m still thinking that LNU will get the 1-Seed at some point as Kansas
as a 1-Seed is incredibly offensive to anyone that’s following hoops this
season.
I really thought that the Purple
Kitties were going to seal the deal against LNU on Saturday, being up 27 at one
point in the game. Then sparty just found a way and
the kitties couldn’t score a bucket to save their soul. The PURPLE KITTIES ONLY SCORED 11 points in
the 2nd half.
WTF….
McElwain Is Going to Be Receivers
Coach and Offensive Analyst…
Whatever that is.
I guess I’m still scratching my head on this
one, but McElwain did work under the current “Best” (Satan) and maybe
Harbaugh believes he needs that insight in order to move forward. Again, we’ll see, but I’m not doing hand
stands and cartwheels over this hire.
ETC.
Huggie Bear WAS BEYONE PISSED On Saturday
Night!
35-2 was the foul discrepancy for WVU at Kansas on Saturday
night. The call that set off the calm,
cool and collected Huggins (actually a no-Call) can be seen in the game
highlights and the actual ejection can be seen here.
.
Here’s a link to the full story. I kind of agree with Huggins on this
one…
Which is why I have no respect for Kansas this
season. I believe they’ll have
difficulty getting out of the 1st weekend of the tourney.
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