- Borton’s Blog: Manny eyes Minny ($)
Manny is excited and ready to go - Beilein isn’t worried about Michigan’s NCAA Tournament resume
He’s worried about mid-majors - John Beilein: Manny Harris strong, but still improving
Quotes & Audio - Saint Mary’s considers adding another game
Never heard of schools adding games to the schedule in March. - Every whistle counts as bubble teams sit tight on the edge
SI.com looks at just about every bubble team - Mythbusters: Duke gets all the calls
OK, maybe not all the calls? But they are at least allowed to travel. - Conference Check: March At Last! Edition
Gasaway - Ten coach of the year candidates, readers’ top NBA prospects, more
My vote goes to Bill Self. Now who is the coach of the year in the Big Ten? - Dysfunction Junction
Basketball might be too big of a deal if you have government officials (incorrectly) calling kids out on Twitter.
Tuesday Viewers Guide
Plenty of basketball on the television tonight, here is a quick run through of who to root for. Cheer for the teams in bold, looks like we are rooting for mostly home underdogs tonight.
- Cincinnati at South Florida – 7 PM ESPNU
- Kansas State at Oklahoma State – 7:30 PM ESPN2 – Not sure who we want here, this is two bubble teams going head to head and the loser will be in tough shape.
- Georgetown at St. Johns – 7:30 PM ESPN360
- Florida State at Duke - 8 PMÂ ESPN360
- Wake Forest at Maryland – 9PM
- Utah at New Mexico – 9 PM
- Ohio State at Iowa - 9:05 PM BTN
Ha that Dysfunction article is classic.
Those hillbillies are worse about bball than all of us M football fans.
Plus, they frown on education down there.
Hey KY, j/k.
Best bet to win tonight: Duke (though FSU has played them tough at Duke lately)
Least likely to pull the upset: Iowa (though it’s a B10 road game for the Bucknuts, so anything can happen)
Predictions for tonight:
Duke over FSU
Cincinnati over USF
OK State over K-State (I think OK State win helps us more)
G’town over St. John’s (closer than most think)
Utah over New Mexico (NM bubble hopes die tonight)
Bucknuts over Iowa
WF over Maryland (we probably need this one more than the rest)
I would think OK St winning helps more. K State is more on the bubble being within the last 8 out. OK St is a predicted 10th seed in the tourney. They won’t be out with a loss, but K State certainly will.
South Florida is most likely in the process of ending Cincy’s chances up 7 with a minute and a half left.
Stick a fork in Cinci with an 11 point loss to USF…
Big win for South Florida… elsewhere in the Big East, St. John’s was looking good in the 1st half (leading for part of it) but the 2nd half has been a disaster. Georgetown started the 2nd half on a 12-0 run, SJU hasn’t scored a single point in the first 10 minutes.
Cincinnati joins ND now as basically done unless they make a very deep run in the Big East tournament. Even though Georgetown is likely going to win tonight they may need a deep run as well. Big East will get 8 bids max, maybe 7.
IU only lost to Sparty by 3, wow!
Let’s go Hawkeyes! A win here would pretty much guarantee them a spot in the Top 100 (HUGE for our resume “numbers”) and move OSU into serious bubble territory.
Good to see IU looking better recently.
Thank you South Florida.
Georgetown was up 15 in the second half on St. John’s, but they’re now headed to OT.
Iowa and Utah currently have small leads, but Maryland is up double digits on Wake Forest.
Gtown in OT vs. St. John, let’s go Red Storm
OK State up 5 on K-State with 35 seconds left, hopefully they hold on.
Iowa currently up 5 on OSU.
OK State wins, more help for us!
New Mexico up 2 at the half, not good. They still have business to take care of if they want to be an at-large team.
GTown just lost to St. Johns…G’Town is pretty much done now.
St John’s won in OT.
Bye bye Georgetown. What a choke after being up 15 in the second half I thought that was over.
Georgetown, Cinci, K-State are all in big trouble after tonight. An Iowa win would be huge.
On the more negative side.. Maryland is leading Wake at the half.
That basically means the only Big East team left on the bubble is Providence. ND, Gtown, and Cincinnati just played themselves off the past 2 days, especially Gtown and Cincinnati with terrible losses!
Johnies tied with G’town in Big East standings…hahahaha
… and Providence, in my opinion, has a pretty weak bubble resume unless they can win at Villanova this week. Looking great so far tonight, an Iowa win would be spectacular.
I’m not too worried if New Mexico wins, but I’d really like Iowa and Wake to win their games. If I had to pick one, I’d rather have Iowa.
Cinci’s loss also hurts Providence b/c Cinci won’t eek into the top 50 and give Providence two more top 50 wins.
Unless ND, Cincinnati, or Georgetown make it to the Big East title game, the Big East will get only 7 teams in, 8 max if Providence sneaks in.
Duke leading FSU late, helps us out a little bit.
LETS GO HAWKEYES!
If OSU loses, will that put them in trouble or are they in anyway?
hey, how do seeding tiebreakers work in the b10 tournament? is non conference record this first tiebreaker, or head to head, or what?
is there any way we jump a non minnesota team, or do they all have tiebreakers on us?
and, just to get it started on a new thread: raiderfan is dumb. that is a fact, so you can’t argue with ir.
gah! unfortunate type-o. “…argue with it”
OSU should get in with a 9-9 record and one win in the BTT, much like us. But a loss here would definitely put serious pressure on them to beat NW this weekend.
gpsimms – here’s the resource for BTT tiebreakers (Dylan, might be a good link to post): http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/.....08aae.html
Duke pulls it off, definitely helps the RPI.
Let’s go Iowa and Wake!
Thanks Giddings. Here’s hoping for an Iowa and NW win!
Diebler is the reason OSU is still in this game. If Iowa can just get a hand in his face they will win.
thanks gidds
Wow, good news so far tonight. I think things are setting up fine for us if we can take care of Minnesota on Saturday.
Still would like to get at least 1 of the 3 games tonight in our favor (Iowa, Wake, or Utah).
Come on IX, be greedy, I want all three.
12 losses isnt good neither will 13 when they get to that ……..they dont deserve to be going to the tourney thats way to many losses, doesnt matter what these other teams are doing…….none of these teams deserve to go……..i don’t want michigan getting into the tourney with 12 or more losses we could have done that with amaker eventually….i want michigan to make a statement when they come back and that statement definitely will be better than a 12 loss team………..show me a michigan team with under 10 losses at this time of the year and ill be all smiles
So if I read those tiebreakers right, the only 9-9 teams UM could finish ahead of would be Minnesota and Northwestern. Wisconsin and tOSU have the head-to-head advantage, and PSU has a better record against the conference champion.
Huge block for Lauderdale… Looks like Iowa blows this one down the stretch…
Wake just beat Maryland. Man, more good news for M.
Soooo close… man that would have been huge. The good news is that Iowa seems to be playing very well at home and a win over Penn State is almost as good as a win over Ohio State.
Wake won though. Didn’t get them all, but got 4 of 6.
Dave, I agree to a point, but I’ll add a different standard. No team under .500 in conference goes. No matter how good the conference or non conference schedule.
Basically got 4 of 6 and they were a good 4. Iowa would have been a great win but still not a bad night.
Let’s stop acting like we are too good to take a bid. I’ll take a bid no matter how it comes. Come on. 12 losses, 13 losses, 8-10, whatever. Teams get in with those resumes every year and we played a top schedule for a reason.
Dave relax. When you haven’t gone to the tournament in over 10 years you take a tournament birth anyway you can. You do not get picky about how you get in or what seed you get. Give me a break. If Michigan gets in I don’t care what their record is or what seed they get. I will be all smiles.
Wednesday night bubble games according to ESPN.com, we want:
NC State over BC (BC is pretty much in though)
UNC over Va Tech
GT over Miami (FL)
Georgia over UK
Wyoming over BYU
Mississippi State over Florida
Wisconsin over Minnesota
Colorado over Texas A&M
Air Force over UNLV
some of those will be hard to come by, but I do expect UNC and Wisconsin to win. I think Mississippi State has a shot at home vs Florida.
I agree Dylan, I’ll take a bid this year no matter what. Not too good at all. I was just suggesting that if we were going to put standards in stone on who can and can’t come, a team that can’t go .500 in conference is my first choice.
As for my team, absolutely, if we go 8-10 and still get in, I’ll be happy as heck. Of course, you and I both know we’re going 13-9 in conference after beatint Minnesota and going 4-0 in the tourney!
I don’t think that the Big East get more than 7 bids. The talk of getting 9-10 bids are a bit ridiculous. Big East is a good conference but is vastly overrated by people and the media.
The ACC is the best conference in the country.
The Big 12 is underrated. Ditto with the Big 10.
ill prolly do a fist pump if they get in but ill save my smiles when they win the national championship when they get in the tourney
Beast1530: And the SEC is just bad…
Good night on the bubble. Just out of curiousity, if Minny wins tomorrow night, do you think it helps us Saturday? Seeing as they won’t be playing with their backs against the wall. I know if it were Michigan we seem to play better after a loss. I suppose there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Baby steps, Dave, baby steps. Have you been a die hard fan for very long? I think anybody that has gone through every heart break and struggle of the last 10 years would have this year in perspective and appreciate the giant leap we have made. I’m not trying to dog you, but its hard to hear these great expectations and doom n’ gloom in a year that we have greatly exceeded projections and skill level.
Our RPI fell to 48 tonight in the new Nolan numbers. Iowa fell to 112 and OSU moved back into the 30s at 37. Cinci at 63, GT at 45, Maryland at 57
New numbers: http://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2009/rpi
my first game i ever saw was the championship game when webber called the time out so what was that 1992 or 93……….ill be happy with the season because they were much better than they were suppose to be, but im sick of baby steps……we had enough baby steps with amaker and we know where that got us and at the same time i cant foresee any of john beileins teams winning big ten championships and especially not competing for national titles……..thats what disturbs me more…..i guess i just dont like beilein that much for some reason….i dont know why cause he is way better than amaker and is a great coach….but something about him bothers me………i hope next year this team will dominate and i wont have to be negative, but until i see a michigan team thats top 3 every year in the big ten and has under 10 losses this time of year i will not be satisfied because this is michigan……
the only team in the whole big ten who is literally top 3 every year with less than 10 losses is MSU. Michigan is not on MSU’s level, and even the Wisconsin’s, Purdue’s, Illinois’s, and Ohio State’s of the world can’t claim the resume that you are talking about. You are trying to put Michigan’s basketball program on the same level as MSU, UNC, Duke, etc. and they are not, nor will they ever likely be on that level. You need to temper your expectations just a bit. I will be happy if they can be in contention for a big ten title every 3-4 years and when they consistently make the tournament.
Ok, Dave. I actually appreciate some of your comments, despite the negative undertones. I too have been yearning for the fab five days, as I started watching Michigan basketball in 1991 or so. I do actually understand what you mean when you say that something bothers you about Beilein. It’s probably the same thing that bothers some people about Rich Rod. This is a different style of gameplay that is proven in a sense, but not proven at Michigan or in the Big Ten. You question whether he has the recruiting ability to make us a top 10 contender. Sometimes I envision us being the next Stanford. Always in the tournament and sometimes in the Sweet Sixteen, but never a real threat to go all the way. I guess I’m just happy to be back in contention again. This isn’t the same as Amaker. He didn’t take us to the tourney, but JB will…many times. The question is whether we ever recruit another class like the Fab 5 or another player as dominate as Chris Webber. I hope so.
It’s kinda fun to care about these bubble-breaker games.
We haven’t even been close in several years.
Great entertainment.
JimC: Just two years really… The OSU game almost feels like yesterday…