Big Ten Tournament: Michigan vs. Michigan State Preview

I’m seeing it as -1 or even PK…

Depending on the book (Vegas, offshore) I’m seeing MSU -1, PK, or UM -1. Have not seen anything remotely resembling MSU -7.5 anywhere.

MSU -7.5 must be related to the number of head coach tantrums during the game, or perhaps injury excuses after the game. MSU is a heavy favorite there.

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I’m not sure MSU is better by 7.5 points but maybe, I’m not a betting man. I anticipate a 1-2 possession game for the banner! Michigan looks pretty fresh and rested. When Z had a chance at the B1G tournament assist record and came off the floor, I think JB was planning on Sunday! TEAM first…banners to follow!

GO BLUE!!

It’s gone to mostly PK now. I don’t see -7.5 anywhere.

This is where I was seeing it, FYI (Yahoo Sports app, usually reliable)

Just found this. It has Michigan now a 1 point favorite and an over/under of 131. It’s based on 10,000 simulations.

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Would be nice to bet that line!

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I use the Yahoo Sports app a lot myself but I’ve stopped taking what they say as gospel when it comes to lines. Several times this basketball season they showed lines moving all over the place but when I checked VegasInsider I saw none of the same movements. I don’t know from where they get their info but it often doesn’t jive with what other places have.

(Another example is yesterday for a while the Yahoo app said Michigan was favored by 16.5 over Minnesota when in reality the line was between 8 and 10.)

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The thing for me is, I was hoping they would be a slight favorite just so we could play THAT card and they couldn’t. You know Izzo will do EVERYTHING he can to motivate his players, and if they are the underdog he’ll play that card.

I have believed we were the better team all year, frankly. BUT, I thought we were better at our place. I thought we were the better team going to the Breslin but I was afraid of the that crazy arena and the way Izzo would intimidate and control the officials. They still beat us both times! We just have to find a way to get that little green monkey off our back.

Let’s keep it going boys! Play HARD! Stay connected on defense. Be smart. TALK! Be aggressive without fouling. Force misses and GET THE REBOUNDS! Control the tempo on offense. Run when you can. Run the offense, get good shots, and make 'em!!!

That’s why I said “hard to beat a GOOD team,” because a number of us agreed that without that qualifier the cliche tends to be pretty toothless.

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Interesting, according to that the SportsLine model likes Michigan by one and the over.

WOW! I just earned my First Onebox! I mean, this old guy is becoming TECH NO LOGICAL! Perhaps I’m no longer a technological illiterate. Perhaps you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

He’d just cherrypick anyway, Silverblue. . . like most of us do! :slight_smile:

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I’m honestly ill thinking about this game. Would Michigan ever consider guarding Cassius with Matthews?

If we win, I see the differences as:

  1. We have Charles - he essentially missed game one due to foul trouble and then playing on a bum ankle, and sat game 2. He should substantially improve our defense and give us another option of someone able to get their own shot (not that this always works out

  2. While I don’t think Izzo will be giving Ward a substantial amount of Tillman’s minutes, and he’s better offensively than Kithier, I’m honestly not sure that he’s better for this game than Kithier, he’s been played off the floor by Beilein every time we’ve met.

Not to be snarky but part of the difficulty in beating a Beilein team three times a year is actually playing one three times.

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I think that the situation usually arises in precisely such settings, though, where teams have met twice in the regular season and face one another in a final or semifinal matchup.

I’m not sure that anyone in either locker room cares if one team is a 1-point favorite :wink:

I think Michigan probably feels like the underdog because they lost twice pretty emphatically.

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Has anyone actually looked at beilein’s record in third games against same opponent? In all of his D1 years were his teams really that good in the third games after losing the first two?

How evenly split is the crowd going to be, anyone have a sense?