Comments on: Game 17: Michigan at Illinois Post Game

By: BTT Game 2: Michigan vs. Illinois Preview | UM Hoops.com

BTT Game 2: Michigan vs. Illinois Preview | UM Hoops.com — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:50 +0000

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By: Dylan

Dylan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:30:58 +0000

Umm.. Big win for Minnesota to say the least…

By: rlc

rlc — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:36:34 +0000

Well, the good news is that there only a few teams in the conference like Illinois that can so thoroughly exploit our lack of size.
The bad news is that Ohio State is another one of them. If we don’t apply serious pressure to their guards, they’ll be lobbing the ball in to Mullens and Lauderdale all night long. Even with adequate pressure, expect Sims’ offense to suffer again as he is forced to burn a lot of energy leaning on a 7 footer. I’d like to see Gibson get a few more minutes just so Sims can rest.

By: JimC

JimC — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:34:46 +0000

jg, that rank looks about right to me.

Out of Whack stat from last night:
Novak 9 Rebounds
Sims 2 Rebounds

Novak can barely jump off the floor, but at least he thinks he belongs in the paint.
We need our big men to play big, not stand around the 3pt arc!

By: jg

jg — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:27:10 +0000

You guys have to remember that Purdue was badly hit with the injury bug during the Illinois and PSU games. I still think, when healthy, they are just as good if not better than MSU. However due to the unbalanced schedule I’d still give the edge to MSU to win the conference. They miss us at home and don’t have to go to Madison, while Purdue doesn’t host Minny or go to Bloomington.

I’d rank the conference like so,
1-2 MSU/Purdue
3 Wisco
4-6 Ill/Mich/Minny
7-8 OSU (without lighty)/PSU
9-10 Iowa/NW
25 Indiana

By: Ky Fox

Ky Fox — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:38:21 +0000

Last night was a perfect illustration of what I mean about balance. I dont care what anyone says, Epke(without being a negative in the chemistry department) would have vastly helped this team. To win games of this magnitude we have to build a better/physical/more tough frontcourt, Peedi still disappears at times and doesnt bring the intensity game in and game out. Gibson is just Gibson, he is just too weak and doesnt have the tough mindset to get things done down low. Those of you who say that we have to shoot well, and drive the ball well to win games especially on the road..are very right in that assessment. The only other way we win games of this magnitude without shooting very well.. is if Peedi becomes an animal and really exerts himself(15 to 20 pts, 15 to 20 rbs, and a couple blks) A game like this just really shows us how much next years class, along with Cronin is going to help this team. I didnt expect to win this game just because of a few different things. 1. We are still young and have a lot of young guys playing extensive minutes. Thats tough especially when you play on the road in the big ten. 2. This is just JB’s 2nd year. Let him bring in a few more classes, 95% of the other coaches in the bigten have been at their respective schools longer than JB has been at UM. 3. The lack of any post presence is seriously hurting us. I would almost go as far as saying that if we have a healthy Ben Cronin we win that game. What having good bigs does for you is it makes your room for error greater…if we have a solid frontline we get a few second chance points, we defend better and challenge more shots in the paint. Having good bigs just lessens the pressure on our 1 thru 3 guys. 4. Shooting becomes more difficult on the road…different backdrops, different lighting, crowd..ect.
I believe we stand ground at home the rest of the way, winning all but maybe 1 at home. If we can snag a couple wins like at iowa we will be fine. Like one of you said earlier..the committee goes by the rule of “what have you done for me lately” which I think bodes well for us because historically and by style JB does well in a tournament platform. We can win 2 or 3 games in the bigten tourney and that will look good in the eyes of the committee. There is still a lot of bball left to be played. We just need to continue to play hard, and get better with every game. We will be fine

By: UMDC

UMDC — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:50:33 +0000

The only team in the B10 that I think is actually better than the others is MSU. I think after them Minn, OSU, UM, Wisc, Ill, Purdue, and Penn State are really close to each other; perhaps with Wisc slightly ahead and Penn State slightly behind.

So I would say that the tourney is MSU plus the top 5 from the rest. I also think that we’ll beat MSU in our only meeting at Crisler, which will add another quality win for us. We’ll also get a win over Purdue.

I think Purdue over achieved last year, lost one of there better young players to a transfer and now this year they are just good. About equal to us.

By: Avery Queen

Avery Queen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:44:25 +0000

I agree with Dylan that 6 teams will get in. I would be very hesitant to put Minny at #2 as they have had probably the easiest conference schedule thus far. If PSU had pulled off that never ending game last night (btw Battle was extremely unclutch) they would be a serious contender however probably on the outside looking in along with OSU. Purdue really hadn’t proved anything until they absolutely dismantled Wisco, which was enough for me.

So I think mine would be:

1. State
2. Wisco
3. Purdue
4-6. Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois
7-8. PSU/OSU

I also think on a neutral court Illinois beats us 6+ games out of 10 based strictly on how we match up but I don’t consider them a better team in the whole scheme of things.

By: Chief

Chief — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:38:50 +0000

When did Minnesota become the second best team in the league? They lost to MSU at home and have beaten PSU at home and Iowa on the road in of the ugliest offensive games I’ve seen. Big test for them tonight at Madison where I expect them to lose.

By: Voice of Reason

Voice of Reason — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:33:17 +0000

For what it’s worth, I think that with each game we see new weaknesses that are being exposed with this team, and Beilein is helping them to address it. Last year they stunk, but this year they are a lot better [not great]. They are a young team still forming into a good team and it’s important that we don’t expect them to be better than they really are. That is why being nationally ranked too early this year was not a good idea; February yes, but not December or January.

We want them to make the big dance, but we want them to be a solid team that is good enough to make some noise in the tournament and not one and done. So Beilein has to continue to build up this team through each game working with the good and the bad. It looks like he has just recently decided upon his playing rotation, which means his team’s chemistry is still coming together and they will need more time to gel. Therefore, they will likely have more ups and downs this year.

Beilein is trying to create a foundation on which to build for future years so that when Michigan goes into Illinois, East Lansing, and so forth, that we’ll either be the favorite or considered pick-em chance. I believe Michigan is on the right road and we’ll eventually get there.