I would never have picked Syracuse over Rutgers here if I’d been aware the Orange were missing two starters (knee injury, COVID quarantine).
Didn’t watch the whole game, but Illinois transfer Alan Griffin twice passed the ball directly to an opponent.
MSU/Virginia would’ve been fun for Hauser vs. Hauser alone.
I would say the depth seems scarier. Maryland, Minnesota, and Penn State seem like they’re at worst decent. So the only gimme wins seem like Nebraska and maybe Northwestern but we haven’t seen them really play yet. But I don’t think there’s a team Michigan can’t beat except maybe Illinois just cause I hate that matchup.
If Michigan can go 10-10 they’re a tournament lock
ESPN rankings were updated for 2021. I think Michigan’s top 4 commits all got bumps.
Can’t find it now, but saw a tweet last night declaring that Andre Curbelo’s destiny is to almost single-handedly lead Puerto Rico’s team to an upset over the US in the Olympics but fall just short of it. That thought landed well. Really fun player and you can see him just going at it down the stretch.
It sounds like I’ll get some agreement here though with the idea that Illinois wasn’t good so much as Duke was bad.
Tough one, agreed. But we’ll see. I haven’t seen much Illinois until last night, but seems like ball movement in that offense is lobs to Cockburn and not many other types of passing.
Yeah I guess I’m just scared of Curbelo, Dosunmu, and Miller shredding us. That and Wisconsin Pick and popping us to death are what scare me
Illinois is scary but we only face them once and its in AA.
Curbelo is recency bias for me since he was so effective last night and Miller was out for most of the second half, but it’s a good point that we’re gonna have to be out there containing dribble penetration better.
It’s definitely a good year not to hvae to travel to Illinois.
Are we thinking home/road will matter to any significant degree this year?
Duke losing two home non-conference games for the first time since 1982 would be evidence that home court isn’t a significant factor this year. Then again, I’m not sure I’ve seen Duke play two tough NC games combined with their lack of veteran guards or impact freshmen.
I like only playing Illinois once. Our single plays are favorable. Overall the conference is better than I thought in the middle. Will be another cage match where no team pulls away so we have a lot of ranked teams but probably no #1 seeds.
Duke wasn’t piping in crowd noise, at least not last night. Weird. That felt like more of am empty-gym scrimmage than other games I’ve watched, personally.
Is Michigan piping in crowd noise through the PA? I know they are on the broadcast but I can’t tell if they’re also doing so inside the arena.
I’m vocal on the Duke not being good debate, but I do think not having a fully functioning Cameron Indoor hurts them tremendously. To answer the question yes I think home court advantage will be reduced this year.
Oh, thanks – that’s a distinction I wasn’t aware of. Had assumed the noises we’re hearing as the same as the noises in the building.
Yes – they are playing crowd noise in the building.
Including during free throws for the home team 
I forget what year, but when I lived in Florida I went and saw UF in a bowl game in the old Orange Bowl, and UF fans made noise on their own team’s third downs for some reason.
Overall, I think the crowd noise in the arena is more of a white noise tactic than trying to create a home court advantage. I haven’t been at a game at Crisler this year though, so can’t say for sure.
I’m sure coaches (certain ones come to mind) were not too enthusiastic about their yelling be picked up on the broadcast.