I know its been awhile since I’ve
posted. I actually didn’t even get to
watch THE STU, Iowa or Rutgers games due to unexpected travel and family
events. Then, work got very busy. THEN I got what had to be the worst case of
the flu known to man and spent two days laid up on what I thought was
my death bed.
I honestly thought I would
have to get better to die, that’s how bad I felt.
Now, in my 2nd day
back on the grind, I feel I can take a breath and post a post. Instead of going into a deep analysis of all
the games, I’ll bullet point a few take aways (I re-watched all the games that
I missed on BTN in 60):
THE STU: Never knew what hit them. The Wesson scuffle was classless STU shenanigans
and Michigan outclassed the visitors.
IOWA: Watched a little on my phone at a family even
and could easily figure that Iowa was simply playing better Defense. And yep, a re-watch of the game confirmed
it. That and Michigan's shooting was akin to trying to hit the
floor if they rolled off the table …
Rutgers: I would like to play this team twice a
season, Pwease!. They suck….
Wiscy: Strange when you have good Refereeing and
Teske ISN’T on the bench in the 1st two minutes of the 1st
and 2nd halves, Ethan Happ turns out to be not so good…
PSU: I could have and would have predicted
a possible upset if I could have found the strength to post on Tuesday. This was the day that I thought I might still
be dying and in fact, I fell asleep before the game was actually over
when Michigan had closed it to within 4.
That’s how sick I was…And we’re going to get to the refereeing
in a minute.
So, 2 losses in that stretch
where one was somewhat predictable (PSU) and Iowa could have been a W had the
team just shot better.
Why was PSU predictable? Michigan had just won a big, EMOTIONAL game
against Wiscy on Saturday. PSU had the extra time to prepare for
Michigan and is a NET top 100 team ranked at 75. PSU has lost 8 games this season by less
than a possession. Torvik and
Kenpom also like PSU. Plus,
Michigan has traditionally played lousy down there. In fact, the loss to PSU in 2013 is what
sparked the Title Game Run! So maybe it’s
a good omen?
I’ve said it’s tough to win
them all. But 5-3 in the last 8 is a
problem.
I wonder if there’s a similar
thread to the losses? Turns out there
is!!!
The Referee Conspiracy
As you know, I’m
no lover of referees in any sport. There’s
too many blown calls and too many situations where bias and favoritism can come
into play. I thought Michigan got
screwed up in Madison when Teske got two cheap calls relegating him to
the bench in both halves. I re-watched
the Iowa game and didn’t see anything too blatant, but still, it was a
loss. The PSU loss was some of the
ABSOLUTE WORST OFFICIATING I’VE EVER SEEN. Please see the double dribble no-call in this
link (I’m sorry I can’t post the Tiwtter Feed here as my blogger no longer
allows twitter embedding – why? I don’t
know…)
If you don’t want to link –
Trust me when I say it was a BLATANT double-dribble.
But before THAT happened, John
Beilein got Double-T’d and bounced out of the game after losing his marbles on
a moving pick on Xavier Simpson that looked more like something you’d see on a
football field than a basketball court.
Beilein got “Beilein Mad” which by any comparison (Izzo, Calipari, K,
hell – Anyone Else) is like Beilein scolding a young child to not touch a hot
stove. And we know that Beilein doesn’t
curse.
And he was bounced. First time since JuCo. Over 30 years ago….
And then the News printed
this:
The
Head Referee for Michigan’s only three losses this season:
Lewis
Garrison - Graduate from the U of
Minnesota…..where he played as a receiver in Football.
Not
only was the 3rd foul call against Iggy (at PSU) a ghost call, the
blatant double dribble was completely missed….
Washington added he was surprised how quickly Beilein received both
technicals because while he was fired up, he was trying to get clarification on
the last play of the half from the officiating crew of Paul Szelc, Lewis
Garrison and Rob Riley.
“I think you guys have been around long enough to know Coach Beilein
and the latitude a guy in his position should get after a questionable call,”
Washington said. “At the end of the day, we're here to compete.
Now, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. Most of you know I’m a little league and
travel softball umpire and I’ve even umped a few High School games. There’s
coaches and players I don’t like, but I never let that skew my judgement.
You can’t.
But
there’s some pretty damning evidence at this point with this crew. The calls up in Madison were so Ticky-Tack
that it’s beyond discussion. The Calls
and NO CALLS at PSU were abominable.
Izzo
was a driving force with the B1G League office to get TV Teddy Valentine
bounced due to his antics and the BS he would pull on LNU every other game or
so.
Beilein
and the University of Michigan need to to the same thing with this crew.
NEVER
HIRE THEM AGAIN. Even if there’s no
Bias. There’s GROSS INCOMPETENCE.
That’s
enough to hopefully never see them in a B1G game ever again.
The PREDICTIVE STATS!
6 Games left with 4 games
against Quad 1 Teams
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 W 65-49
@ Iowa 2-1 Friday W
73-68 L 74-59
@ Rutgers 2-5 Tuesday W
69-57 W 77-65
Wiscy 2-9 Saturday W 67-57 W
61-52
@ PSU 2-12 Tuesday W 67-58 L 75-69
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
And the Gophers who are
sitting on Lunardis Bubble won’t be a pushover.
And neither will the Cornhuskers that are playing for pride and looking
to ruin someone’s seed or season.
What’s scary to me right now
is that a month ago I was looking at all these games as potential W’s. Right now, I see them as 50-50 based on the
way Michigan is playing (especially on the road where they can’t seem to find
the rim) and somehow their defense completely falls off.
3 at home, 3 on the road. Michigan is in the hunt for a 1-seed if they
can somehow go 6-0. Right now, that
seems like a tall order. I
don’t have a prediction. I want to see
how they come out Saturday against Maryland.
Sparty is playing better even
though Langford is gone for the season. Yes,
they’re still the turnover machine they’ve come to be but they’re finding ways
to win. The visit to Maryland
won’t be fun. They’re playing good
basketball right now.
And Michigan needs to find
that form they had a month ago. I still
think they can do it. It’s just a matter
of finding their rhythm.
And having impartial Referees.
IRONY IS A Funny Thing…
If you haven’t been paying
attention, there’s been quite a few coaches that were canned by some
universities that are now rocking it at their new homes. Maybe hoops coaches need a little extra time
sometimes?
Rick Barnes, the former coach
at Texas who is now the HC at Tennessee that has his team ready to win an SEC
Championship and has a very real chance to make a run at a National Title. Think Texas has Shaka Smart regrets? You bet they do…
Bruce Weber: Fired from Illinois. Now at K-State and has them in the lead of
the Big 12. Illinois has had two coaches since Weber and
while Underwood is still there, his ground is shaky…
Kelvin Sampson: Fired from Indiana. Now, has Houston perched atop the AAC and looking to
storm the 1-See line if they can win out.
Phi-Slamma-Jamma signs have started appearing…Indiana has had
two coaches (Crean and Miller) and haven’t even come close to sniffing a 2nd
weekend NCAA Tourney game…
Brian Gregory: Fired from Georgia Tech. Now has South Florida at 17-6 and with a shot
to win the Conference Tourney and get an NCAA Autobid. Georgia Tech:
Doing worse than the football team with 0 NCAA appearances.
BUBBLE WATCH
Still a little early, but look
for me to get back to this in a week or so….
The GOAT Gets His 6th
I know were a long time past
Super Bowl Post comments, but I can’t resist pointing out TB12’s 6th
Ring.
This should end any and all
debates. 4-time MVP winning 6 Superbowl
Rings. And you could
argue that he was the MVP Sunday throwing those passes to the MVP. But that’s okay.
I loved listening to all the doubters
and haters last week moaning and complaining about Brady and the Pats. Granted, somehow, if I wasn’t a Brady fan,
this would be Bama for me. So I get
where you’re coming from if you can’t stand him or the Pats.
To which I say: Beat Him.
There’s more parody in the NFL than there is in the NCAA. Somebody get you’re act together and do it.
