Dylan,
I’m pretty sure Horton was a senior in like ’06, not ’03.

Yeah… Meant to say freshman year.

Not to pile on, but tonight’s game is on BTN, not ESPN.

Sheesh. :-) I’m on a roll today. Thanks guys.

Haha it’s all good. Can’t remember the last time Iowa managed to get an ESPN game. Sad thing is, we might lose to them tonight. Yikes.

Where does Bawinkle stand in your least favorite person associated with college basketball list? He’s number two behind Digger in my book.

I’m glad that Iowa did what they did to NW last week if only to make our guys realize that the Hawkeyes can be very dangerous if they’re making shots. I’ll stick with what I said in the Iowa team preview before the season (by the way, most of you disagreed with my prediction of 3-4 wins for them… just sayin’):

“Iowa City is not the easiest place to play. With streaky shooters like Bawinkel and Gatens they are bound to have some hot nights at Carver Hawkeye… maybe not 5 wins but I could see 3 or 4.”

(their blogger predicted 5 wins, which may not look so bad now… they still have games against NW and Indiana)

Sims needs to step up tonight. Also good to see Michigan in the mix for Gilchrist, he really is a special player.

Complete hypothetical here in which everything goes our way in recruiting, but lets say that Zeigler and Horford both commit for next year leaving us one spot for 2011. Would you rather bring in a big man like Williams or Plumlee or land a potential one and done in Gilchrist?

I think under that scenario I would prefer adding another big, knowing that we were already pretty solid at the 2 and 3 spot where Gilchrist would play. However, its tough to pass up a guy like Gilchrist.

I would take Gilchrist 10 times out of 10; he’s an unbelievable talent. That being said, I would enjoy having both Gilchrist and Williams/Plumlee

I would take Marshall Plumlee over Amir Williams because I believe
Plumlee is going to be deciding late spring, early summer and Amir has talked about waiting till spring of 2011, which means U-M can’t wait on him. I also would thank LLP for his service but I would use scholarship in 2011 to fill-out the Michigan roster.

Anyone that is a fan of +/- stats…. Robbie has a wealth of +/- info…
http://statsheet.com/blog/college-basketball-plus-minus-part-i

It’s tough that hypothetical question. My main concern would be team chemistry and cohesion. On the flip side one player can change a program.

It does say something that Michigan is the only Big Ten school on that list.

Can’t wait for the game tonight. I hope MBB brings the intensity they brought last Thursday.

http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/2010/02/16/a-first-for-duke-basketball-recruiting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+chronicleblogs/sports+(The+Chronicle's+Sports+Blog)

Link discusses Coach K offering juco player for the first time ever. Hope that means they are backing off on Zeigler.

Blue, there is no way Beilein (or almost any coach) would do that to LLP. If anything, Wright would not get a 5th year. But the fact is we still have two scholarships available for next year, so they don’t need to do that.

LLP could turn it up down the stretch. Stranger things have happened. He’s due for a big game. Realistically though I think Stu D. could get better from behind the arc since he should not have to carry the load at point guard anymore.

Clearly, landing a guy like Gilchrist would be massive for the program, if only in regard to publicity as opposed to actually having the guy on the team. What do you think the impact of having a new facility will be? How big of a deal is a separate practice facility for recruits? I know MSU has had a nice little basketball complex for a while, and I think that it gives an heir of the “establishedness” of the program.

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=924

Gasaway made an observation that Michigan has been doing better during conference this season than last season (+.01 compared to -.02). I’d expect the efficiency margin to increase after tonight game IMO.

Two in a row. . . whoowhoo. Let’s go Blue.

I think facilities are big. Not the most important factor, but certainly one that can make a difference in recruiting. Looking at all the factors I can think of: Education, coaching, school’s campus, game enviroment, exposure, program’s success, location, teammates, playing time, facilities (might be some more).

But of those I might put only program success, coaching and exposure above facilities. Especially considering that many top recruits are only looking for a place to spend a year or two before moving on, do you think they want to do by sharing the practice court with the women’s team in Crisler arena?

the big ten network did an “inside michigan basketball” show, which they do every week i’m sure and beilein talked about how huge of an impact the new facilities will be……..he stated that it would be, in his mind, maybe the best facility in the country when it is completed……..it would allow for better practices, more availability between coaches and players because apparently the players have to walk a good distance now in order to talk with beilein in his office……..and it will obviously show off the seriousness of michigan basketball………beilein said it will be consist of ideas from all the major facilities he has seen, taking the best from each and putting them all into this facility

Mike– not to be disrespectful but LLP would come back nxt year and then just like Ant Wright won’t come back for his fifth year next season, LLP won’t come back year after next because he won’t be a significant player in the rotation– fifth year is never guarenteed.
I’m not trying to be punitive, like Bo used to say its all about “The Team, The Team, The Team !!!”

If I remember properly, facilities were the #1 reason Patrick Beverly chose Arkansas over Michigan. Not that it worked out to well for Arkansas though.

I know we still got a while to go to see if Harris will come back next year but just checked out NBA mock draft and Harris wasn’t even drafted in 2nd round in this mock draft updated today. I’m sure a lot of other mock drafts have him going in 2nd round though

http://www.nbadraft.net/2010mock_draft

Man, and I thought WE committed a lot of fouls at Assembly Hall.

Mike, they have him going in the 2nd round of the 2011 draft instead: http://www.nbadraft.net/2011mock_draft

And here we go… Nice shot of Manny’s maize&blue Beats by Dre headphones walking into the arena. Time to get a road victory, even if it is too little too late.

Never like to hear the intro to the game as “it’s all about pride for these two teams”.

anyone with a link?

Good luck finding a stream… The Big Ten Network tends to be very quick at shutting them down.

i’m going to cry if we lose this game

i say 1,000 touches for peedi this half.

nice to see douglass hit both of 3s

wtf why can’t we shoot like this from distance every game

Michigan is making three pointers? Huh? What is this?

80% from three… 4 of 5.

i mean we cant expect amazing three point shooting every game. but it is easier to shoot 3′s with not as much to play for… and we are also taking less 3′s so that might help. nice to see them shooting well

i wonder what rate we would have to make 3s at to finish with last year’s 34%…the baseball card theory says we’re gonna shoot lights out for this last stretch

I think its because Carver Hawkeye is kinda quiet. Calms young nerves.

and simms and gibson in at the same time

well, for the first time in a long time, gibson is playing well enough to keep him in. good to see.

Wow, 75% from 3. Not bad. All being said I’d rather we didn’t get into a 3pt shooting contest. Iowa isn’t exactly shooting badly themselves.

LLP on fire

Road Warrior

This is the best Michigan’s offense has looked all year really. Ridiculous shooting. Most of the shots are coming in rhythm though, the ones that aren’t…. well, they are still going in.

Don’t know if you guys noticed… Sims and Gibson out there together. Everyone but Ant has pretty much gotten in the game including Vogrich.

Nice to see the whole team playing well together.

But you were right, Dylan. Aaron Fuller is already 6/7.

Take Sims out of the equation and we’re probably shooting 92%.
: /

Fuller would have looked great in maize and blue.

We would be up by double digits if Peedi could finish like he did at Minny…

And that’s the way this season has gone. Michigan falling apart at the end of the first half. All too familiar.

Gatens and Fuller are keeping Iowa in it. Which will happen first in the 2nd half: Michigan’s shooting going cold, or Deshawn Sims heating up?

And our defense is actually playing kinda weak d masked by our shooting.

That’s a garbage foul on DeShawn Sims at the half and we’re tied at the half.

Sims needs to finish better. He’s had a ton of looks inside 5 feet and is only 2 of 6.

What a terrible end to the half. Manny with 7/5/4, not bad, but also a couple dumb turnovers and a couple forced jumpers.

This foul is such bullsh*t.

Also, I bet Mark Titus hates playing at Iowa. They have the worst cheerleaders in the conference. Oh, that was off-topic, I guess.

So much for that. Played well for 15 minutes and have nothing to show for it due to a poor finish. Game basically starts over in the 2nd half now but the difference is Iowa has momentum.

Offense was good, Peedi didn’t finish a couple of times, but we got really good looks and made a ton of 3s.

Defense was not good. Slow rotations out to 3 point shooters a couple of times and we did not do a good job of defending guys moving into the lane without the ball.

That call at the end of the half was atrocious. Not only was it not a foul, but it was called by a guy with the worst view of the play. It could be worse with Hightower and Valentine out there, but that play pissed me off.

I think Tim Doyle was right. When you played as well as Michigan did in the first half and the game is tied and you’re on the road, you’re in serious trouble.

Sims has to step up and answer Fuller.

wait if there was a foul, then shouldnt we have the ball with some time on the clock. If you call a foul, then the play ends at the whistle. In order for it to occur it has to be before the buzzer, so time should stop. I know we would have never gotten a shot off, but that play just bothers me.

Team got sloppy there for awhile. A couple poor turnovers in transition and some lazy offense. We need Sims to find his touch, cant expect the threes to keep falling like this.

so, just for fun, i was curious about that baseball card theory statement…

so we have taken 571 3′s so far this year, and made 170. 571 3′s in 24 games is 23.79 3s per game.

we have 6 conference games remaining, (including iowa), which means we will take about 142.75 more threes.

if we subscribe to the baseball card theory, that by season’s end, most players will reach their expected averages (in this case, last year’s 3pt% stats, 33.4%), then Michigan will have to make (.334)*(571+142.75)-170 more threes. which is… wait for it…68.3925 threes. with only 142.75 attempts!

so…I now officially expect we will shoot .479 from three for the rest of the year. makes going undefeated sound easy, right?

don’t really agree that michigan’s d has been good. iowa cleaning the glass the way it seems like they are is pretty ridiculous, right? or am i imagining more offensive rebounds for iowa than i think? it seems like manny is the only guy on the team rebounding right now.

did anyone just see that male cheerleader for Iowa. Dude was like fourty-two years old.

I do subscribe to that theory GP, but I think the sample size for our expected averages is too small especially considering several of the players that contributed to that average are gone.

yeah i know tweeter…i subscribe to the baseball card theory as well…it’s just that it applies to baseball, since they play thousands of games over the years to make those averages.

i know it doesn’t really apply here, just having fun.

It would be nice if we didn’t have to score on every possession to stay in the game.

no, i think the D has been pretty poor. Several uncontested threes, poor play on the pick and roll, and no one is boxing out. Plus someone tell Morris to stop going under screens.

yup. pretty poor. i will say peedi is looking a lot sharper this half. getting himself the same looks, only finishing now.

The way to beat Iowa is to force turnovers. Iowa only has 6 so far. They had 15 in the last game. That’s not a good sign.

Gotta love the BTN stat there when Iowa matched last games total points.

Time to clamp down on D for the next five minutes and put this game away.

yeah, after playing so well last game, darius is looking pretty rough on both sends. im surprised llp didn’t come back earlier considering his shooting last half.

holy f. someone please box out. this is getting ridiculous.

It would be really nice if we could box out someone on the defensive glass. Wow. Just standing around.

Dylan, I think Aaron Fuller read your preview. 10-11 for 22 points?

Morris really needs to work on his shot this off-season. Need Manny to get going.

Is the team taught to go under screens? The F’in screen and roll is killing us.

yea Darius Morris is headed for the old Andre Miller defense, where the defender picks you up once you get to the elementary free throw line.

How many fothermucking offensive rebounds are we gonna give up? Lazy jackrabbits.

DEFENSE. PLEASE. REBOUND. PLEASE.

I’m quite tired of Zack Gibson’s Shaggy from Scooby-Doo impression.

Take over Manny. Play defense Blue. Hang tough.

Old Style: No.

this play by play guy is almost as bad as the guy who does the Michigan hockey radio. If I wasnt watching the game, I’m not sure I would know it was a basketball game just from listening.

With our terrible defense, the only thing keeping us in the game is *their* terrible defense. We’re even fairly even in turnovers. The winner of this game will the be team that forces more turnovers. Because nobody’s getting any stops right now.

also, what happened to the theory that when we make more shots, there is better effort on the other end?

they really look lazy, and offensive frustration is not the reason.

The going under screens, seems like it is a young point guard thing. If I remember correctly, that was a huge problem with Grady last year and know all of sudden Morris is doing it.

Sorry I haven’t been chiming in with my usual pessimism. To make up for it, man we are bad.

ha, thanks drew.

I am losing my mind watching this game. THEY ARE IOWA. Iowa. Iowa. Iowa. This crowd should be quiet, like they are for every other game. We are Michigan, have some pride and bury them.

the crowd is quiet Drew, not sure what game you are watching.

Refs once again calling no blood, no foul, when around the basket.

@Tweeter, I would rather listen to this guy 100 times than ever listen to Tom HAMILTON ever AGAIN. I mean HE takes EVERY SINGLE PLAY and makes it seem like A BUZZER BEATER in game 7 of the NBA FINALS.

Did a Big East game break out here? 52 points with 8 minutes to go. I’m confused. Defense is apparently optional tonight.

I mean like they shouldn’t have ANYTHING to cheer about. I am noticing them way too often. And Dylan, I guess there really is a reason we haven’t won back to back conference road games in 7 years… good lord.

Anthony Wright looks like he’s getting a DNP-Coach’s Decision. Michigan just had Sims, Gibson, AND Novak out there at the same time. That tells me something is up with Ant Wright.

OTher Matt, is Tom Hamilton the guy that does radio for UM hockey? I guess I never really paid attention to his exageration of plays b/c I feel like most hockey radio guys do that. But whenever I listen, I have no idea what is going on in the game, he takes forever to spit out words to form a sentence. One second he says the puck is on the boards behind UMs goal, then all of sudden the other team is skating out of their own zone with it. Its crazy.

great defense douglass

way to get out and defend the 3

Is there a reason BTN hasn’t figured out how to maintain its HD picture when its bottom line scroll pops up? Not that I care — with these two teams I’d prefer the picture to be as blurry as possible.

And the wilting at crunch time begins.

i don’t see us winnning this game. iowa is actually playing better defense, i think. not getting the same looks we were. meanwhile, on the other end, iowa is still getting the same looks.

this is why college basketball refs are the worst out of all sports. They call nothing all game, then decide to start calling every ticky tack foul as the game winds down.

Beilein is usually money with this many days to prepare. YIKES. D Mo, PLEASE get a jumper.

Michigan’s shooting slowed down, but our defense didn’t let Iowa do the same.

good play out of timeout

oh come on. iowa ball?

how is that Iowa ball? they go over our back and the ball goes that way, and yet we knocked it out????

Another stupid foul from Michigan. That one is Manny’s 4th and sends Iowa to the line for 1&1.

Team is getting fustrated with the refs

Apparently, over and back isn’t being called anymore. Are we EVER going to get a stop in this game!?

fresh! p.s. iowa ball again?

wait didnt that one go off the Iowa player’s leg? Am I the only one that thinks these refs are calling everything on us?

Iowa always plays hard especially at home. I hope Manny makes it through the game.

dang simms has missed a lot put backs today

Sims,, please go up strong!

Nobody likes Ed Hightower. But man could we REALLLY use a stop right now. Iowa has scored on like 10 straight possessions.

Best assist of the game. Hahaha.

it’s weird that this team makes me this nervous…you’d think i would have embraced the fact that this season is over with a healthy dose of ennui.

I will say this, Iowa deserves some credit. They have played hard. I remember turning to my friend during the last game and saying I dont think anyone out there right now for Iowa should be on a college basketball roster at any level.

Have we gotten one fast break bucket this game?

a stop! and a call in our favor!

dont think so Mike. We had some chances in the first half but turned it over.

In all honesty, does anyone think we will actually pull this off?

i do, but im optimistic.

yeah, not me. i said that a while ago.

dont look like it, man have we lost like every close game

no excuse for a performance like this. beyond pathetic.

I saw a lot of the home game vs. NW in this game, I saw a lot of the BC game here too.

bout time simms

really nice effort peedi

@Tweeter, no. Tom Hamilton is the really over excited guy who ruins every game he calls because he has no sense of when to go nuts over a play and when not to. As a result, he goes crazy over every little thing.

That was a HUUUUGE play by Sims.

That was an NBA layup. Which means he took 5 steps. Once again can’t get a stop.

jesus. nice move by peedi. no call, nice tie up by novak, nice call.

i mean no call.

foul please!! Sims definitely got fouled there.

Bernard Robinson Jr. is a much better player than Manny Harris.
And Sims plays soft and below the rim.
To shoot this well from beyond the arc, with contributions from role players and lose to Iowa is not good.

Big Ten officiating perplexes me. I’m not even mad about it anymore, I’m just terribly perplexed.

i mean bad call.

not dead yet

hooray poor foul shooter

gotta imagine that Iowa fouls here. Howeva, CS-Northrigde lost a game this past week fouling in this situation when the guy made the first, missed the second and then someone else got a put back and-1 to win it.

I wonder why Iowa called timeout.

he’s getting better.

ha ha ha we got bailed out. Fuller got fouled

BOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

PEEEEEEEEEEEEDI!!!!!!!!!

yea but so did Sims a couple possessions before, and so did Sims against State. So I would say we were due for some good luck on the calls.

Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!

This team reminds me of sex in college. Optimism early, poor and awkward performance in the middle, then hoping, wishing, and praying for a somewhat satisfactory climax.

OH man. I’m just laughing.

wait did Sims just score 9 in the last minute of the game?

@KDavis hahah.

I have never seen a team hold on after tying the game with 5-6 seconds left without calling a timeout to hold their defense. I thought for sure the way Fuller was playing he’d do his best Scottie Reynolds impression.

Last year, Iowa dominated in OT. I think we owe them some payback. Shame that Manny has 4 fouls, but at least Cole is out.

did simms foul
on the block?

Wow.

your right tweet we were def due.

does MAnny get to play this time?

Yeah, He’s playing!

It’s a damn good thing this game doesn’t matter for our NCAA Tournament chances otherwise it would be taking years off the end of my life.

big time makeup call there.

Refs suck.

When exactly was the last time Iowa didn’t score on a possession? Its been a very long time it seems like.

No replay on any of Aaron Fuller’s last three shots… I think all the calls could have went the opposite way.

Ugh. Box out on free throws.

looks like Lickliter did some talking with the refs, although that looked a little closer to a foul.

Btw, does Manny have like ridiculously small hands? How does a guy lose the ball that many times?

wow that was a lucky shot by gatsens

Sims playing soft again

did Douglass get poked in the eye?

How long does he have to hold on to the ball while he’s standing in the paint before they’ll call 3 seconds!?

thats not a foul either, but we deserved it.

HEY A STOP!

WHOOOOOOOOO!

GAME OVER!!!!!

argh, not LLP.

I’m going to miss the heck out of Sims.

Why did Manny give that up? I’m nervous with LLP on the line.

DON’T SAY THAT YET!!!!

Sims is slowly creeping up on my favorite Mich bball player since Maceo Baston.

wtf????? BTN just showed Sims as 6 for 8? that cant be even remotely close to correct.

great Novak. That was a foul. and that was a terrible play.

Yeah 6/8 is clearly wrong. Stupid foul by Novak there…. This game won’t die.

as long as we hit from the line

Some Clutch shots by Sims. the turn around jumper, the three point shot, i like the ball in his hands at the end of the game, just wish he would finish better at the rim….

i spoke too soon

ARGH.

Question for Jim Jackson: why was the bump on Manny’s arm not a foul and that slight push by Novak a “great call”?

well Manny could have closed it out. Now I say we foul.

well, not to be argumentative Other Matt, but I would say on the Manny play that Manny initiated the contact and the Iowa guy was straight up and down, whereas on the Novak play, Novak rode the guy with his hip.

SWEETNESS!

Great defense by DeShawn… Moved his feet and forced Gatens into a tough shot… Laval icing it here. Gutty win… As frustrating as it was at times.

game over.

And… Iowa covers.

That was impressive. Not the fact that we won, but the way that we won.

WTF Lickliter. Nice play call.

still can’t believe Simms hit that shot

Thanks for the shout out Maxwell’s Demon. Go Blue!

lol, and to think I thought about putting some money on this game. Thank gosh I did not.

LLP big with the FTs. That last 3 by Gatens was sick, but they FINALLY go down.

My brain feels all melt-y and strange. Eessh. I think I just stressed a year of my life away…on a win over Iowa…ugh.

Tweeter, I thought they were both the correct call. Manny was just trying to go up for a put back, he didn’t jump into the defender or anything, the Iowa guy just came across a little too hard to defend him and got him on the arm. It was a little ticky tack, but if anybody can tell me what is a foul and what isn’t according to Big Ten refs, I’ll be happy to back off on my assertion it was a good call.

well, i’ll take the win….

Good game team. Better win. Iowa does play well at home.

even though it was iowa, nice to see us finally pull out a tough one down the stretch.

Also, I just hate bad announcers. It’s a really huge pet peeve when guys screw things up or display open bias. Not that I’m accusing Jackson of being biased, I just thought it was odd that he was going “ehhhhh” on one end and exclaiming “great call!” on the other.

wow. i’m really annoyed with the defense and defensive rebounding. but, they guttted it out on the other end. i was so frustrated with sims’ finishing around the hoop, and then the boy comes up clutch as clutch can be in the last few possessions, and 1s, that three.

and hell, am i not right that they could have called a foul on peedi’s three? like i know they never would…but in normal game time, i wouldn’t be surprised to see it called.

Other Matt, as I said before, college basketball has the worst officials of any sport. They not only call different games, differently, but they also call halves and OTs differently. With all the money that the NCAA rakes in, you would think they would be able to spend some of that on training officials to call consistent games. I dont like the way the NBA is officiated, but for the most part the games are called pretty consistenly. Obviously there are a ton more college games, but Hightower and others do like half our games, so obvi they could be trained better.

holy stress. Definitely having a drink before bed.

Drew why were you stressed? I thought you expected a loss, no?

manny 3 assts short of trips doubs

we are the greatest team of all time. coaches should have called a truce and let lickliter jr and vogrich get some minutes guarding each other.

Tweeter, despite expectations, we still all want Michigan to win.

And, that was one stressful win.

Tweeter, it’s basketball officials in general that are horrendous. I watch NBA games all the time and think “this is why I hate the NBA” at least 5 times a game. Does that stop me from watching? No. It gives me something to fuss over when I don’t want to own up to my team being crappy.

I’m not even mad about it, honestly. Just baffled that this is how it is. Also constantly unhappy with the commentating except when we get Wayne Larivee who is clearly the best basketball play by play guy on the BTN (unless you want to consider Gus Johnson a BTN guy).

well all of us besides Scott. I actually kinda miss Scott. He reminds me of times when UM still had tourney dreams.

Larivee over Gus Johnson? I dont know about that one. Both do a good job, Larivee prolly better on the play by play, but Johnson just makes me smile with his, “PUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE!”

I find that most NBA games, the officiating is pretty similar from game to game. You know who is going to get a foul call and when they are going to get it. Whereas in college, its anyone’s guess as to when/what/who on fouls.

Buddy lost some money on that meaningless cover…ouch

ahh, read your post but somehow missed the paren part. I do consider Johnson as a BTN guy.

darius really needs to work on his shooting, get that confidence up…..also being that this season is over, i felt like this was a perfect situation to put morris in…….i realized he struggled shooting and look shaken because his shots looked so bad, but he is going to be the kid leading this team the next 3 years…..and he will undoubtedly have over time games and this was an opportunity to get some experience in these types of games and really felt that beilein needed to put him in here……..

put him in for the last 3 of regulation and overtime

its not even close… gus johnson is my favorite college bball play by play guy. i love when he calls the opening round games of the NCAA Tourney… He does get excited but its at the right times. Like Tweeter said when he says Puuuuuuuure it brings a smile to my face. i love gus johnson.

Good win blue!

I don’t consider Gus a BTN guy. He only does like 4 games a year. But yeah, he’s clearly the best. I meant Larivee is the best guy that gets consistent work on the network.

I agree with what you’re saying about the NBA officials. I just hate that some players have WAY more latitude than others.

yeah it’s funny, i haaaate larivee for football…but i think part of that was because his partner was chris martin, biggest idiot of all time.

but anyway, i agree he’s ok for hoops pbp, and also agree no one is better than johnson.

and, for the record, i don’t mine jimmy jackson. i thought he was pretty good. i like him better in studio i guess.

As much as it pains me to say this, I think I prefer Jimmy Jackson to Jimmy King. I havnt heard King do a game in awhile, but he was pretty brutal.

Stay classy, Mississippi State fans. Think we had problems with the refs tonight?

Agree that basketball officials are the worst, but basketball is also the hardest sport to officiate. Tonight was about par for the course.

We really need to give Iowa credit. They took NW to school last week in the same building and they’ve played good teams like OSU very, very close. When Gatens is in a rhythm he is very tough to guard, it seems like everything just “wants” to fall. And Aaron Fuller played out of his mind tonight. They hit their threes and got inside scoring from Fuller and yet still lost at home. A very solid win for Michigan.

That said, I agree with gpsimms that the defense and rebounding left much to be desired. Way too many open looks from beyond the arc against a team known for knocking them down, and a lot were due to lazy defensive rotation (reminded me of the game at NW). As for Fuller’s domination I thought Novak did an OK job considering his limits, it would have been interesting to bring more traps on Fuller like we did in OT which forced a tie-up.

Throwing things on the court is just ridiculous. Not sure how a fan can resort to that. I’ve been beyond irate at a basketball game before but couldn’t imagine throwing anything on the court. Pathetic.

That being said.. the officiating in the last minute that I saw was terrible.

I just talked my wife into chanting, “Who’s next?!” while I strutted around the house like Goldberg circa ’98 WCW.

She’s a good sport.

Gutty win. Jimmy Jackson totally called us Michigan State before correcting himself. That post game interview was awkward because Jimmy Jackson is a dork. The end.

8-0 when we score 70+ points this year…

Was Tim Donaghy workin that UK game?

Sims and Manny were okay and good and great at different times, but a couple of the other guys stepped up nicely. I talk smack about them from time to time, but nice games by Novak (9/4/5), Stu (9/3), and LLP (13/something/something). If we had those numbers every game from those guys we’d be…well, we’d be better than 13-12.

Dylan, any word on Ant?

and to steal a line from everyone’s spartan, if my mother had balls, she would be my father.

This team is what they are. A below average shooting team, that wins when they play defense, rebound, create turnovers, and dont turn it over themselves. Its pretty easy to shoot well against poor teams, but when UM plays good teams they have to play better D then they did tonight. Occasionally this team can get by against good teams when things go right, but to win consistently they need the D and most of the time this year it just has not been there.

Tweeter, can you believe how bad Fuller was out-athleting us?
; )

And you’re dead on. The poor defense bothers me the most. That’s usually just a lack of effort thing.

Wow, I can’t believe we won that…finally a little luck coming our way. Harris and Sims were shaky sometimes, but came up big when we needed them.

And just when I thought LLP was a non-factor, he shows up with 13 points, including some clutch free throws. Good, tough win.

Good win, Blue. These are 18-22 year old kids who haven’t given up when most of their “fans” have. Who knows? Stranger things have happened than a UM title in the BTT. Georgia’s SEC tournament title a couple years ago was a stunner; it can be done in a major conference! (granted that SEC was significantly weaker than this Big Ten) But if the team isn’t giving up, I ain’t either. GO BLUE!

Gibson and Sims together? Looks like A Wright had a head injury. I noticed the headband. Did he get hurt at practice?

I thought the Harris turnovers were unforgivable, but then he hit those threes. I hope this is a sign of an improving outside shot for Harris. As for the turnovers–grrrrr. His handle is shaky under pressure at times, but I think the two turnovers where it basically looked like he handed the ball to the defender were mental turnovers.

Sims frustrated too, but he should get the game ball. One post move stands out in my memory. Back to the basket, he moved ridiculously fast, completely losing his defender and getting right to the rim. He missed the layup, but I was still impressed. I’ve seen that sort of quickness and footwork from him before, and I wish he would do it more often (sans the misses). He reminded me of James Worthy then. Maybe he could do some damage in the NBA.

Regarding getting Morris more minutes at the end, I’ll just say that Douglas benefited from playing those minutes–and he hit a huge three pointer near the end. Morris will get his when he’s good enough that the team will need him out there. Both of those players need practice handling the ball under pressure. Against good, intense defenders, I still don’t feel comfortable with them at the point. Still, Douglas with two turnovers and Morris with none–not too shabby.

Nine turnovers for the team and seventeen assists–wow.

Congrats to Deshawn – you’re the new Mr. Big Shot in town!

[...] 2011 Hotboard « Game 25: Michigan at Iowa Preview [...]

The team has ability to win the conference tournament and as long as the guys do not give up, they have a chance.