Michigan
– Loyola – Kansas - Villanova
Sorry for the delay. Work
is a pain at times and customers just want things all the time!!!
Please take 3 minutes out of your day and remind yourself why
the last two weeks is the BEST TIME OF YEAR IN ALL OF SPORTS!!!
It’s set. San
Antonio is about to be flooded in Maize and Blue, Maroon and Yellow, Jayhawk
Blue and Navy and White!!
Conspiracy Theorists Unite!
In what has to be two of the best feel good stories of
this tourney, you have Loyola’s Sister Jean and Michigan’s Squeaky-Clean Head Coach
Beilein squaring off on one side of the bracket, putting a quiet lid on all the
FBI and NCAA sanctions that have been all over the news. On the other side, you have Coach
Wright and Self, two other programs that were not mentioned in the FBI probe
that also have pretty good track records of keeping it clean.
Interesting…It’s almost like the NCAA got the memo or something.
Something else: No school
that has adopted the “One and Done” style of recruiting future 1st
round NBA players is in the Final Four.
And, as you may or may not have heard, Michigan’s Hockey Team also made
the Frozen Four and will be taking a trip to Minneapolis to play in the Xcel
Energy Center!
Michigan faces
their arch nemesis domers (JEEZ I HATE THESE GUYS!!!) whle a 3rd
B1G team, the suckeyes, faces off against Minnesota duluth.
And the Women’s Gymnastic Team also won a National Title!!! Way to go ladies!!!
Just going to glance at where Michigan ranks right now for the 2017-18
Learfiled Director’s Cup (which if you don’t know, this is the trophy for all
combined Men’s and Women’s athletics and primarily looks at National Champs in
those sports).
If the Men’s Hoops team can continue this run,
there’s a shot Michigan might actually win one of these things. Stanford usually wins the damn thing,
and Michigan was a runner up in 2003-04.
More Game recaps: Still reflecting on the
pounding Michigan put on the Aggies. Texas A&M was one of those fun games
where you could sit back, relax and just take the whole entire thing in. Shooting is contagious, and every Michigan
player got in on the act.
Interesting A&M Note that I came across on Saturday: Michigan could have STOPPED SCORING with
12:30 left in the 2nd half and STILL WON THE GAME.
FSU
This game, OTOH, turned into a slugfest when Michigan couldn’t
hit shots and the only guy seemingly unfazed by the biggest (was he human?) guy
with the longest arms Michigan has seen all season, with the exception of
MoBamba of Texas, started swatting every Michigan inside shot away. Obiagu was the bane of every Michigan player’s
attempted lay-ups and he gave Wagner a taste of what life is going to
be like in the NBA every night. Michigan
gave up a 10-point lead and everyone – EVERYONE – in the Michigan universe said, “Uh-oh. Here’s where missing free throws is going to
get us. Here’s where not making the 3
pointers is finally going to matter.”
DON’T TELL ME YOU WEREN’T THINKING THAT. I could feel ALL OF YOU THINKING THAT ON
SATRUDAY NIGHT!!!
But, resiliency and grit set in. Beilein No Defense Teams of Season’s Past,
without the defensive mind set, would have lost that game. Trust me, we had all seen it happen. These guys just went to the other end and stopped
FSU from doing THEIR thing.
Here’s
a fascinating Stat:
The
Wolverines also contested 90 percent of FSU's shots, per ESPN Stats & Information
data. Think about that. The only Final Four team ranked within the top 10 on
KenPom.com in adjusted defensive efficiency challenged nine of every 10 FSU
shots.
Simpson completely took the FSU guards out of the game and
Wagner was able to stay on the court and make life difficult for the bigs.
Last week, it was “Thank you Jordan Poole!!” Saturday I was thanking Charles Matthews. I don’t know how many times I said, “Thank
You Charles Matthews!!!” on Saturday, but I apparently said it enough that the
guy sitting next to me said, “Why not just send him a gift?”
I cannot explain why Hamilton chose not to foul
down 2 with 22 seconds left, especially the way Michigan has been shooting from
the FT line this season. I really
thought someone had called time out and the clock hadn’t stopped, but
nope. FSU just chose to go down without
extending the game. Definitely a head
scratcher, but I’ll take it.
So here we are.
Final Fours are a gift, usually earned, sometimes lucked into, which
Michigan has done both this season, and should always – ALWAYS - be
enjoyed. Win Saturday and then let your
mind wander to the “What if…” of Monday night…
Speaking of this Saturday: Imma’ kinda’ done with Sister Jean. I mean, I’m a good catholic and all, and that
being said, I still have trauma flashbacks over some of the nuns I had in grade
school. They all had either a
nice thick yard stick or the ever-handy rubber tipped pointer that they
enjoyed slamming down onto my desk when I was goofing off. Which, as you can imagine, was rather often. So, while I get that everyone loves Sister
Jean, my memories of sisters is ENTIRELY different than everyone else’s.
No matter how nice they can appear…
But getting back to hoops for a minute: Loyola is the real deal. Yes, they’ve been lucky to get this far and
have had most of the “Last Second Miracles” fall in.
I’m REALLY, REALLY
glad Yakich, while at SIU, went 7-1 against them. In other words: I think he knows how to beat them.
It Was Just 15 Months Ago…
That a lot of Sports
writers, commentators and fans were wondering if Michigan was going to “Move on
from Beilein.” I had to go back to blog
entries from late December ‘16 and early January ’17 to see what I had penned
and wrote at the time.
After reviewing, it all came
flooding back that I remember that I was NOT on the fire Beilein bandwagon, but
I was DEFINITELY on the leadership not on display on the floor. Walton was disappointing and Michigan wasn’t
playing with a lot of fire. Then,
a couple of big wins and the emergence of Walton as a guy that could work
in the Beilein offense. A strong finish
to the end of the regular season, the plane crash, the B1G Tourney Title
and no more talk of JB moving on. In
fact, there should never EVER be any more talk of JB moving on. Or Michigan moving on from him. We need to appreciate what we have in
Beilein, now more than ever.
More Numbers
Michigan’s record in the Tourney since 2013:
Is that amazing or what?!!
And, if you assume that
Levert and Walton don’t get benched with injuries in 2015, that would have
probably been another appearance in the Dance.
So let’s add them up:
Sweet 16 Appearances: 4
Elite 8 Appearances: 3
Championship Game Appearances: 1
Total record: 14 Wins – 4 losses
And the same “snapshot” of that time
span with LNU
Hmm….And can you tell me again, “Who has
the best Basketball Program in the State of Michigan?”
I’ll wait….
Fun Fact #1:
I’m not sure I like who Michigan
shares this distinction with, but I’ll take if never the less. There’s only been 6 times where a school made
an appearance in the Final Four and the Frozen 4 and the state of Michigan owns
all 6 of those occurences!!
Fun Fact #2:
San Antonio has been pretty good
to guys named Duncan and Robinson…But when you have both names? WOOHOOO!!!
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