IU, The Gophers and THE STU Preview

Indiana Highlights!

I should say MICHIGAN HIGHLIGHTS AT INDIANA!

Michigan wins 69-46.  And it wasn’t that close!!!

So, this Text exchange went down on Friday:

SuperFan:  “I have assured our victory by the placing of two wagers via 5Dimes!  I’m even wearing the ring of death (which I will remove at the half if necessary!  GO BLUE!!!”

MMQ:  Should be easy tonight.  Everybody out at Indiana.

SF:  “what?”

MMQ:  Everyone is either suspended or hurt.  Their starting a 6^th man bench player.

SF:  “Since when?  I am reading game previews from just hours ago with no such commentary.  Including Maize and Brew.

MMQ:  (When the score was 17-0)  So.  Are we gonna start listening soon?

SF:  “IU is absolutely horrible!  And we’re only up 15!”

MMQ:  I can’t handle the whining when Michigan is winning!!! (And literally DESTROYING IU in every aspect of the game)!!!

I get text exchanges like this every once in a while from Michigan fans during games that bitch when they’re team is doing good.  It can be any sport.

If Michigan is crushing someone in football, people want to know why they’re not passing more often.  Or why is the starter still in the game?  I watched Friday night as Brazdeikis took the first shot of the night (it was a solid 3 that ripped the net) and I had a flashback to 2013-14 when EVERYONE KNEW that Nik Stauskas would be taking the first shot of the game from the 3-point line.  IF Beilein is bringing THAT Tradition back, I’m all for it!  Whenever Stauskas hit that initial bucket, I felt really bad for whoever Michigan was playing. 

That being said, Michigan needed this game.  They needed, as AP would say, “A good Ole Fashion Ass-Kicking!”  And that’s just what Michigan handed IU.  Yeah, the Loosiers made an expected run, but Michigan’s D quashed that nicely.  And when they got back up 20, I think everyone knew it was over.

Michigan had never won at Assembly Hall by that large of a margin.  EVER.  That’s saying something about Michigan Basketball at this point in time and its also a statement about how bad IU is right now.  IS this the end for Miller?  Crean was run out with a better record.  I’m not sure why the fans like Miller more or maybe they’ve reached the point that I think every fan of every sport begins to realize when things aren’t going your way:  Sometimes, you’ve just got bad luck.  Bad Ju-Ju.  Bad Karma.  Call it whatever you want, but right now, “It’s your day in the bucket.”

I had started to write up the Gopher game but didn’t get a chance to post.  So we can segue into that:

Gopher HIGHLIGHTS!!!

So that’s what winning a tight game feels like!

And I have a feeling we’re going to see more tight games as this season progresses.  Teams have figure out what Michigan is doing on both ends of the floor and are better able to beat the defense and also mess up Michigan’s offensive rotations.  The Gophers did that pretty well.  They also challenged Simpson to beat them with the 3 which will always be a roller coaster.

I watched a little more closely and the Gophers more or less did the same thing Wiscy did to our defense and Michigan didn’t do themselves any favors on offense, shooting miserably from the 3-point line (3-22) and also from the foul line. 

Get those two percentages back up to the season average and the game is a easy 12-15 point blow-out.

Anyway, I read somewhere that the last few practices have focused on shooting and technique.  I have a theory that all the shooting in practice is making a lot of the longer threes during the games come up short due to short term fatigue as the muscles are being trained.  I have a hunch that after a short rest, the muscle memory will be “Right there” and the 3-pointers will start dropping again.  One good game and the confidence will be back.  Heading into February’s stretch run and into March.  

Unfortunately, going down to Bloomington this Friday may not provide the EXACT environment that Michigan needs for that to happen. 

The PREDICTIVE STATS!

Team                          Date               Day                 Torvik Prediction    Result

@Wiscy                     1-19                Sunday         W  64-60                    L  64-54

Gophers                    1-22                Tuesday        W  75-60                    W  59-57

@ IU                           1-25                Friday            W  70-63                    W  69-46

THE STU                   1-29                Tuesday        W  69-58

@ Iowa                      2-1                  Friday            W  73-68

@ Rutgers                2-5                  Tuesday        W 69-57

Wiscy                         2-9                  Saturday       W 67-57        

@ PSU                       2-12                Tuesday        W 67-58

Maryland                   2-16                Saturday       W 73-62

@ Gophers               2-21                Thursday      W 71-63

The LNU                   2-24                Sunday         W 72-68

Nebraska                  2-28                Thursday      W  71-63

@ Maryland              3-3                  Sunday         W  69-66

@ The LNU              3-9                  Saturday       L  72-68

THE STU is in town tonight for the only meeting that Michigan and THE STU have on the hardwood this season, pending a match-up in the B1G Tourney.  I updated the prediction above that didn’t have the margin of victory changing, but it did have Michigan and THE STU dropping by a point each.

This is THE STU team that went on the road to Rutgers and lost.  I have a feeling Michigan is going to bring back some really good Ju-Ju from Indiana and their might be another good ole fashion ass-kicking happening on the hardwood. 

THE STU had lost 5 straight right up until their last “Desperation Game!” at Lincoln and there they managed to post a 10 point victory over Mile's Huskers.  How they managed that I’ll never know as they have looked like crap since their loss to LNU way back in early January.  I don’t think they can put together two games in a row and their PPP is not very good. 

I’m not expecting THE STU to pull a rabbit out of the hat and the Crisler Fans will be rocking the house. 

Have fun with that!

Speaking of LNU:

This happened on Sunday:   Purdue defeats LNU!!!  At one point in time, Purdue was ahead of LNU by 22 points.  It was kind of over at that point even though the LNU courageously fought back to get to within 4.  But they just plain ole ran out of gas.  3 games in 6 days with 2 on the road and the last one at West Lafayette is called, “Bad Scheduling!” 

I’d like to thank the LNU AD for that.

That puts Michigan back into the B1G Title regular season race.  The game on the 24^th is looming larger in the distance. 

Can The GOAT Do It One More Time?

I’ve been listening to a lot of the same people that claimed that the Patriots would never beat Mahomes and the Chiefs now claim that there’s no way they can beat the Rams. 

Where do these people get their information?  It cracks me up to watch and listen to people justify their position and I listen intently and let them finish.  Then I ask if they’d like to make a wager and I’ll take the Patriots.  They just curl up into the fetal position and suck their collective thumbs. 

Tom Brady and his success has such a polarizing effect on people that it really is fascinating.  And I’m glad I’m NOT a hater as I can see so much more clearly how their emotions get in the way of logical thinking.

I believe Sunday’s game is a proverbial toss-up.  And I’m always ready to bet a 50-50 game if I have a guy or a team playing that I like.  Yet so many people will just bitch and state how Brady and the Pats shouldn’t win but are afraid to put up some dough.  To all of you out there (if this fits you):

Keep it to yourself unless you want to put some scratch on it.