Thursday in LA. Here we go.
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Any very early initial thoughts before the First Look?
Still in the process of flying back so missed tonight’s game and will be playing catch up.
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A and m is going to be very tough if they play like that. Honestly this is the first I’ve been worried all year because we’ve lost our swag a bit. We need to get back on track in a hurry. If we play like we had been before these two games , were in the final 4 you can bank on it. Let’s hope we regroup and get our offense and team back in a groove.
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7:37 p.m. tip on Thursday.
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Man I was hoping we’d be the late game. I have a men’s league game at 8:30… Gonna have to bench myself
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I’m planning to go to the game with some other LA-based U of M alums. Anyone know if there are blocks of seats? Would be fun to sit with a big group of Michigan fans
Should we expect higher quality officials with less games to be officiated?
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In theory, yes. The referees are narrowed in the tournament based on performance. We’ll see if that actually happens in the games, though.
None of the four teams will really have a “home court advantage,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if Michigan brought the most fans to LA. Probably the most alumn in the LA area of the 4 remaining schools.
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I don’t think there was a problem with the quality of officials. Alot of games I watched in the first and second round were tightly called. Not alot of free flowing action for more than a minute throughout the tournament. So I think it’s more of a problem with how they were told to officiate. They called alot of off ball touch fouls in most games I watched. Too much of a coincidence to not be intentional IMO
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Haven’t played well, have won. Find our shooting touch Thursday and the press will have to scramble for a new narrative.
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Offensively, I do worry about facing the TA&M zone. As discussed, zones have given us problems, and we’ve been shooting . . . not well from 3. And it negates, at least to some extent, the Moe mismatch. Either way, though, we should be able to get some good looks from 3 - it would be really nice to knock some down.
We should be able to win the TO battle by a wide margin. TA&M is terrible at causing TOs and pretty bad in terms of committing them. And their propensity pretty much goes across the board. Providence, which is not nearly as good at avoiding TOs as UM and not quite as good creating TOs, won this category 14-6. NC, which is generally bad at creating TOs, also won this battle 14-6.
And TA&M didn’t really make up for this against NC on the boards, only getting 2 more ORbs and getting about 11 fewer shots. Even Providence squeezed off more shots. TA&M won by shooting the ball much better and getting to the line more. (And on that note, going to have to avoid fouls from Duncan and Moe.)
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Yeah to me this is a matchup that if we shoot well we will easily win. If we don’t shoot well, it’ll be another close one that we are still capable of pulling out.
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I was encouraged by the amount of open threes missed by UNC. I think if our jumpers stop being broken we’ll have a great chance.
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That Florida Elite Eight game will probably never happen again, but boy do I hope Poole’s shot gives them a similar boost like Burke’s. I can kind of see coming out hot on Thursday, or at least after the first TV timeout.
It has to be one heck of a feeling getting a second life like this, especially for Duncan, MAAR and maybe Moe.
Defense Y’all.
Rebound
Get some transition 3’s
I thought Houston was better than any team all year preventing penetration by M’s guards. It was a struggle. Simpson way stymied. I don’t expect that to be the case Thursday.
I expect Coach Beilein to have a brilliant game plan because that’s how he rolls
What’s KenPom think. I’m thinking 67-63 but that’s probably wishful thinking.
Here is who A&M reminds of, old school Michigan State team. Two traditional bigs with solid guys surrounding them. Their size will be difficult to contain. The hope is that Livers/Duncan can cover Williams and force Williams to come out on the perimeter and trade 3’s for 2’s.