Whats the age old adage that its hard to be a team 3 times in the same season?
Lets hope that holds true although first lets take care of business against IU and can then just take the game against Illinois for what its worth knowing that we will land somewhere on the 10-11 line with or without that result.
gotta love T Will finding his stroke in time for the tournament. Get Hunter back, hopefully Houstan can figure it out and contribute like he was for a couple games and this team is no easy out.
Itâs not ideal for an âeasyâ path, and those who are experts in NET, etc., can correct me, but isnât it better for us to face Indiana versus Maryland because the win will have more heft and slam dunk U-Mâs NCAA berth? Beyond that game, Illinois would be an opportunity to exorcise a lot of past annoyances and add resolve that they can beat anyone. Also, I personally wasnât looking forward to the media circus that would be a Wisconsin/U-M rematch in the middle of a tournament run. If itâs against Wisconsin for a championship, then U-M already far exceeded personal expectations.
Iâm tired now: I just blew an entire monthâs worth of optimism in one post.
Iâve got a long commute ahead of me in the snow that Iâm stalling on because I want the plows to have a chance with the roadsâŚand because Iâm waiting for some sort of podcast to listen to.
We need to come out ready to play - Indiana is fighting for their spot - with the narrative being that we (most likely) are in, we canât come out flat or take the game for granted.
I have been wondering about that. Ever since Michigan beat Illinois in the tourney in '89 I have always picked the team that got swept in any potential meeting in the tournament. But the 2019 series against Sparty shook me, and I think I had noticed a few more examples of 3-0.
Prepare yourself for January, February, Izzo headlines. MSU draws the woeful terps and then a potential Davis-less Wisconsin (already the weakest of the top 3 in my opinion).
Iâm most concerned about playing a desperate Indiana team. But if they win that I think theyâll win it all. Illinois is fat and happy after wining the regular season title and beating Michigan twice. Iowa is content after recently beating Michigan and no way they replicate those 3-pt % numbers or Michigan commits so many dumb turnovers. As for a possible title game against Wisconsin, UMâs emotion and intensity will be off the charts.
Well, we need to break that trend for Thursdayâs game, though I would imagine adding Juwan back plus transitioning from regular season to tournament season would be meaningful enough to switch up the status quo.
That Sean Higgins shot to beat Illinois in '89 (we were 0-2 to that point) is forever emblazoned in my memory, but Iâm also old enough to remember having our shot to do that against in the Championship game in '76 against Indiana.
Surprised that it isnât as hard as the conventional âwisdomâ suggests, but I am surprised at how often it happens - I guess conference tourneys are why, but I wonder how often it happened in the Big Ten prior to our having a conference tourney.
Thatâs good to know certainly, but wouldnât you expect a team that wins two games against a single opponent to be better than that opponent generally including in a potential third matchup? I understand how obnoxious this is, but to illustrate those teams won 100 percent of their games against that opponent in the first two contests. Really, what you want to see is how different that third matchup goes relative to expectations (or controlling for the quality of the two teams).