Still no love for Michigan

[TBBishop]

So Michigan plays for the national title last season. Michigan won what might be the best conference in the country this year (3 Elite 8 teams). Michigan has at least 3 future NBA players NOT injured. Michigan's coach is as good and respected as any in the country. Yet and still, everyone talked about how they wouldn't be able to handle Texas' big men. They said they wouldn't be able to handle a hot Tennessee's big men. Now the #2 seeded Wolverines are 2 point underdogs to #8 Kentucky. Why is this team getting no love?

 

[Red_Alert]

How can you expect "love" for Michigan when not one of the Michigan fans here picked them to win the championship in Tournament Challenge?

I'm actually rooting for them for that very reason. My champion pick was knocked out early so I don't want anyone else to have the champion pick.

I hope Mich St, Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin all get KO'd

 

[broncosmitty]

They've been favored in all three games they've played. They didn't cover last night though. (I took them to get to the EE. But that was it.)

 

[Runeman]

So Michigan plays for the national title last season. Michigan won what might be the best conference in the country this year (3 Elite 8 teams). Michigan has at least 3 future NBA players NOT injured. Michigan's coach is as good and respected as any in the country. Yet and still, everyone talked about how they wouldn't be able to handle Texas' big men. They said they wouldn't be able to handle a hot Tennessee's big men. Now the #2 seeded Wolverines are 2 point underdogs to #8 Kentucky. Why is this team getting no love?

Don't recall anyone thinking Texas was any good; however that was a decisive win. Tennessee is quite another matter. A better coached Tennessee team would have won that game. Tennessee didn't bother to cover the 3 point shooters the entire 1st half and had to make up a 12 point deficit. This is the same Tennessee team that was hammered by Florida and Kentucky; lost to Vandy, A&M, and a bunch more SEC teams; 7 losses in SEC play. Michigan lost just 3 conference games and if the Big10 was so hot, a 3 loss Big10 team should have hammered a 7 loss SEC team...didn't happen that way which means the Big10 is no different than the SEC 3;.... good top teams and the rest are not so good. Michigan got a good draw into the final four as Kentucky now has lost their center and really was an inconsistent team all year losing to Florida 3 times as well as some others. Yesterday, Kentucky was out played by Louisville and somehow managed to win....probably because Louisville was terrible at the line.

Sooooo, bottom line for me is Michigan is a 2 point dog to Kentucky because Michigan is simply not that good of a team. Another note: Stauskas as big10 player of the year was wrong. The guy stands around waiting for an opportunity to slide into a spot to make a shot and plays very little defense. Good college player; the pros will not be as kind. If I were picking the Big10 player of the year; it probably would be Frank Kaminski or Adrian Payne; both know how to play both ends of the floor and do it exceptionally well.

 

[Codaxx]

So Michigan plays for the national title last season. Michigan won what might be the best conference in the country this year (3 Elite 8 teams). Michigan has at least 3 future NBA players NOT injured. Michigan's coach is as good and respected as any in the country. Yet and still, everyone talked about how they wouldn't be able to handle Texas' big men. They said they wouldn't be able to handle a hot Tennessee's big men. Now the #2 seeded Wolverines are 2 point underdogs to #8 Kentucky. Why is this team getting no love?

They are a 2 seed. They were favored last night. I really don't know what you want from people. I wish wish Kentucky got that kind of respect

 

[RobBase]

How can you expect "love" for Michigan when not one of the Michigan fans here picked them to win the championship in Tournament Challenge?

I picked them to win my bracket. But I'm a homer.

 

[Red_Alert]

I picked them to win my bracket. But I'm a homer.

What # are you? I see no RobBase nor Michigan selected by anyone.

ESPN - Tournament Challenge - Group: Get in on the excitement of th...

 

[RobBase]

What # are you? I see no RobBase nor Michigan selected by anyone.

ESPN - Tournament Challenge - Group: Get in on the excitement of th...

Not in that thing. I didn't even know it existed. Just in my own brackets.

As for respect, meh. They'll get that if and when they win it all.

 

[Smart]

Nothing says impressive like needing a bullshit call with six seconds left to beat an 11 seed.

 

[jalopy]

Nothing says impressive like needing a bullshit call with six seconds left to beat an 11 seed.

BS call? If it wasn't a charge it would have been a steal. The refs did them a favor calling a charge.

 

[TBBishop]

How can you expect "love" for Michigan when not one of the Michigan fans here picked them to win the championship in Tournament Challenge?

I'm actually rooting for them for that very reason. My champion pick was knocked out early so I don't want anyone else to have the champion pick.

I hope Mich St, Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin all get KO'd

It really doesn't matter if Michigan fans picked them to win it all. Of the national talking heads, the only one that I saw picking michigan to be in the final 4 was Digger Phelps I believe. All weak long the talk has been about how Michigan was mismatched against Tenn's big men. That's if they were talked about at all.

 

[TBBishop]

Don't recall anyone thinking Texas was any good; however that was a decisive win. Tennessee is quite another matter. A better coached Tennessee team would have won that game. Tennessee didn't bother to cover the 3 point shooters the entire 1st half and had to make up a 12 point deficit. This is the same Tennessee team that was hammered by Florida and Kentucky; lost to Vandy, A&M, and a bunch more SEC teams; 7 losses in SEC play. Michigan lost just 3 conference games and if the Big10 was so hot, a 3 loss Big10 team should have hammered a 7 loss SEC team...didn't happen that way which means the Big10 is no different than the SEC 3;.... good top teams and the rest are not so good. Michigan got a good draw into the final four as Kentucky now has lost their center and really was an inconsistent team all year losing to Florida 3 times as well as some others. Yesterday, Kentucky was out played by Louisville and somehow managed to win....probably because Louisville was terrible at the line.

Sooooo, bottom line for me is Michigan is a 2 point dog to Kentucky because Michigan is simply not that good of a team. Another note: Stauskas as big10 player of the year was wrong. The guy stands around waiting for an opportunity to slide into a spot to make a shot and plays very little defense. Good college player; the pros will not be as kind. If I were picking the Big10 player of the year; it probably would be Frank Kaminski or Adrian Payne; both know how to play both ends of the floor and do it exceptionally well.

You're a florida fan, I wouldn't expect you to pay as much attention to Michigan talk as I would. No, there had been no real talk about Texas' greatness up until they were set to play Michigan when they started acting like Texas' big men would have a field day down low on Michigan. As far as Tenn being dominated by this team and that one, every game is about matchups and every game stands alone in that manner. As far as how good Michigan is, they are as good as anyone else. No team is particularly dominant.

Stauskas deserved that title as much as anyone else did. He's an outstanding scorer and distributor. He's a decent rebounder for his size. He's not a great defender but his guy tends to not score above his average. I won't tell you that you're opinion on him is a bad one but they guy has game.

 

[TBBishop]

They are a 2 seed. They were favored last night. I really don't know what you want from people. I wish wish Kentucky got that kind of respect

Kentucky hadn't played that well going into the tournament. I would agree that they should have been a higher seed but up until they beat Whichita State they hadn't earned the respect. I just believe Michigan should have had a little more respect up to this point. And if Kentucky is being favored in this game then I would say they are getting the respect.

 

[TBBishop]

Nothing says impressive like needing a bullshit call with six seconds left to beat an 11 seed.

They wouldn't have needed that "bullshit" call if the refs had given them the ball when Maymon CLEARLY knocked it out of bounds about a minute earlier or if many of the other awful calls in the last 10 minutes hadn't been called or not called as the case may be. That game was reffed pretty poorly all around but Tennessee had run over Michigan players on a few occassion and got a couple questionable blocking calls in that last 10 minutes. So if you just want them to swallow the whistle and let Stokes run over Morgan that's your opinion but had they swallowed the whistle, Caris Levert stole the ball so it really didn't matter.

 

[BigAppleBadger]

Well they are 2 point dogs to Kentucky.

 

[MI Nightmare]

Michigan has overachieved this season. Losing the talent they did to the NBA (paired with MM going down) UofM really had to earn the B1G title and current trip to the E8. Everything from here on out is just gravy, imo. The more wins, more exposure, and more positive PR for the program, the better.

That said Michigan still has the shooting capability of beating anyone in the land. Defense, and low post play is mediocre at best, and a huge liability vs bigger opponents. Michigan will have to shoot lights out and keep the turnovers below the season average to continue advancing.

I do like our chances against UK if we can force a few turnovers, crash the boards better than expected, and get open looks. Two hot hands and solid play from J-Mo, along with near, mistake free ball handling should just be enough.

Loving the direction Michigan hoops is heading, especially if Beilein can develop a couple of bigs, tighten up the D, and quit sitting on sizable leads. If McGary returns, and Chatman and Donnal contribute, Michigan will be damn tough to beat in 2014-15.


The draft is deep this year but it's about time to wish good luck to Nik Steve Kerr Stauskas and Little Big Dog in the NBA.

 

[Great Dayne]

Well they are 2 point dogs to Kentucky.

Because it's clearly obvious the refs will get the Wildcats into the Final Four.

 

[jalopy]

I do like our chances against UK if we can force a few turnovers, crash the boards better than expected, and get open looks. Two hot hands and solid play from J-Mo, along with near, mistake free ball handling should just be enough.

.

In order to win they will need to keep up the solid 3-point shooting. Kentucky won't allow the wide open looks that Michigan got against Tennessee. Turnovers will also be key. Michigan isn't the best ball-handling team in the world.

On defense, Michigan will have to pack the zone down lower than usual and force Kentucky to beat them from outside. Either way, it should be a great game.

 

[pumpkinhead33793]

I think they are underrated (just like Virginia was actually)

Michigan was CLEARLY the best team in the Big Ten this year. There is no debate about that. They won AT Wisconsin, AT Michigan State, AT Ohio State. And all in games they dominated in the 2nd half. They win the Big Ten by 3 full games playing the toughest statistical schedule in the Big Ten. But like Virigina, it is all perception because they had a poor out of conference. And even that was really 1 or 2 bad losses.

It does not matter what the line is. Michigan is a better team than Kentucky if they execute their game. Gotta play the game like they can and they will win.

 

[dcZONAfan]

Don't recall anyone thinking Texas was any good; however that was a decisive win. Tennessee is quite another matter. A better coached Tennessee team would have won that game. Tennessee didn't bother to cover the 3 point shooters the entire 1st half and had to make up a 12 point deficit. This is the same Tennessee team that was hammered by Florida and Kentucky; lost to Vandy, A&M, and a bunch more SEC teams; 7 losses in SEC play. Michigan lost just 3 conference games and if the Big10 was so hot, a 3 loss Big10 team should have hammered a 7 loss SEC team...didn't happen that way which means the Big10 is no different than the SEC 3;.... good top teams and the rest are not so good. Michigan got a good draw into the final four as Kentucky now has lost their center and really was an inconsistent team all year losing to Florida 3 times as well as some others. Yesterday, Kentucky was out played by Louisville and somehow managed to win....probably because Louisville was terrible at the line.

Sooooo, bottom line for me is Michigan is a 2 point dog to Kentucky because Michigan is simply not that good of a team. Another note: Stauskas as big10 player of the year was wrong. The guy stands around waiting for an opportunity to slide into a spot to make a shot and plays very little defense. Good college player; the pros will not be as kind. If I were picking the Big10 player of the year; it probably would be Frank Kaminski or Adrian Payne; both know how to play both ends of the floor and do it exceptionally well.

This post epitomizes why I have made fun of you for the last month. You are fucking clueless