Mar 5, 2011 at 4:25 pm by Dylan Burkhardt Filed under: Uncategorized

Sweep: Michigan 70, Michigan State 63

Michigan’s RPI is up to 54 with the win. We’re uploading all of the post game videos now including both coaches and extra players.

Tags: Game 31, Michigan State

Azad

Well we can’t quite punch our ticket but I think we’re pretty close, right???
TRUBLU78

NIT NIT NIT NIT NIT NIT NIT lolololololololololol Screw you STATE!!!!!!
SubAlum_06

Great game. A little ugly but made the FTs and kept the poise down the end when they could have unraveled.
DB

As said in other thread, We might still need to win against Illinois (most of the other bubble teams won today so far). Even if we don’t, I think we certainly must win to get out of the “opening round” game.
umhoopsreader

What a game. Lead from start to finish. Sweep. What a season…
Dylan/Joe – for 5 top plays I would nominate the two possessions after MSU cut the lead to 2. Darius finding JMorgan for the dunk, and Stu drawing the offensive foul from Lucas…huge turning point. GO BLUE

http://umhoops.com Wayman Britt

Agree. I would also nominate Smot’s break away lay up and his key baskets as another key play.

KRN

Dylan, now’s the time to say you were just using reverse psychology and knew Michigan would win all along.
AG2

Kalin Lucas tried to take over the game, just like I thought…but THJR would not be denied.

HUUUUGE WIN.
Fred_Ex

Let’s go beat Illinois, and see where we’re seeded in the NCAA tournament. Felt good to never lose the lead. Time for the baby blues to put on their dancing shoes. Lets Go Blue!!!! Great season, don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed watching a team this much. I wonder where State shakes out after this?
Brick

An important thing to keep in mind is that there is no way that State gets in and we don’t.

grandchamp

They don’t take into account head to head but it would be a travesty if it happened.
Mith

But that’s not true at all. It’s just not how it works. If we lose our first BTT game and they win theirs(even if it is against Ind/Iowa) they very could get in and we don’t.

Brick

Name a team that this has happened to. We finished ahead of them in the conference, we have a better overall record, we swept them and we did not lose to Iowa. I know you guys are just rationalizing but you must be putting way too much stock in the RPI. We are probably both in but I’d be more nervous if I was a Spartan.

Mith

Well sorry that I’m not a database that can “name a team that this has happened to”. But I still disagree with you.
MichBall2010

Arizona-Arizona State a few seasons ago. Very, very similar situation

JW44

It really seems unfathomable to me that State could get in and not U-M. But like MichBall said, it’s happened before. Essentially what the committee is saying is that head-to-head doesn’t matter as much as some other factors. In my mind, MSU’s lone big win is Wisconsin, and that’s not enough to trump U-M’s sweep. But the committee does some mind-boggling things that are usually in Duke’s favor.
http://1991onehundred.tumblr.com/ MattM

Unfortunately things like this do happen. I went to Ball State (yet have been a Michigan fan since 1992 when I was 12) and we swept Western Michigan in 1998 and the committee picked them as the at large bid from the MAC.

http://umhoops.com Wayman Britt

Very nice win. The improvement of this team has been great. I would welcome the chance to play Illinois again in neutral court.
Ryan

With a Penn State win tomorrow, that makes a 4th in the big ten, correct? (Winning the tie break with combined games against psu, msu and illinois)

mark

Michigan does not play on Thursday. They have the opening round off. Michigan has already clinched the Big Ten #5 seed and they play Illinois (#4 seed) on Friday around 2:30. They game has already been set.

Azad

Anybody know what the lowest possible seed we could have is at this point? is there any possibility we don’t have a bye?

Ryan

Nope, we are at worst 5th in the big ten!

Chris in NC

And think about that. Where were we supposed to be coming in? Does anyone else think Coach B should be on the short list for coach of the year?

Kenny

Good poise down the stretch, that’s how to close out the games.
DB

It is very nice to have a road win v. Clemson and a sweep of State. They don’t take that into account directly, but it would at least force the committee to consider those as high quality wins if they are considering those two teams for the bubble.
michiganvic

Great win. Big heart. I like sending that arrogant Lucas with his smug smile home with a sweep and hopefully no ncaa tournament. How can they b a lock and not us. We go 8-3 after starting 1-6 and we Hung with the toughest of teams, now we r getting better and hotter at the right time.
sven

Hopefully Bill Cole plays 40 minutes against us Friday.
Eric

We very well could be in after that win, but I am not one to leave it to chance. Beat Illinois and we are 100% in.

Mith

Sums up my thoughts perfectly.

http://umhoops.com Wayman Britt

Dear Mr. Max Bielfeldt:

I hope you had a chance to watch this game. Come join UM and be a part of a rising basketball program.
Michman

We are in no matter win or lose…. but losing the first game in BTT could mean we are one of the teams would have to play the extra game on Tue. or Wed. before the tourney starts..
Kenny

looked at the box score, amazed that we managed to win with 26% 3pt shooting and 25-44 rebounding deficit.
Mattski

John Beilein–coach of the year? I know Painter may be the favorite. . .

Azad

I think if we had come up with a win over Kansas/OSU and that Wisconsin win Beilein would be legitimately in discussions; but for the time being the Painter story is a little too tailor made for it. That all being said, I’m happy with the guy and the team we’ve got right now.
Kenny

Painter deserves it but Beilein should be honorable mentioned.
http://www.offtackleempire.com GregGoBlue

Painter, no contest. The way he handled losing Robbie Hummel and still finishing second in the Big Ten is extremely impressive. But Beilein should come in second.

Kind of like if Sullinger wasn’t in the Big Ten, THJr would be a sure thing for FOY. Tough conference to play in, great competition.

Beast1530

Purdue was picked to finish 4th in the Big 10 and were ranked in the top 25 to start out the season. Not exactly shocking but they exceeded expectation.

Michigan however was picked to finish 10th or 11th in the Big 10. They exceeded expectation by a wide margin and is going to NIT or NCAA tournament. This shouldn’t be a comparison.

The reason why Painter is mentioned is because of Hummel’s injury. Take away Hummel’s injury, JB is a runaway winner IMO.

skitchbeatz

Over at TheOnlyColors they seem to be confident that State will be a lot better next year with the arrival of reinforcements while Michigan will “stay the same”

grandchamp

LOL yea that is funny considering how well both of their 5 star freshman recruits have played this year.

http://www.offtackleempire.com GregGoBlue

our 3-star just dropped 20 on their 5-stars. Jus’ sayin.
JayRich

Appling and Payne will be very good and they have a nice class coming in but we are going to continue to develop and I think next year we will have solid backups upfront with Horford and Mclimans. They have been ok in spot duty but I think Horford (who I ripped for a long time) is going to develop big time over the summer with lifting and individual time with Beilein. Smots won’t have a D-Mo like jump but he will solidify the 4 next year, pushing Novak back to 3 and Stu as the fire off the bench. I really like Burke and Brundidge coming in but I struggle to see minutes for them besides at backup PG which Stu will probably fill some again. Plus we still have Vogrich who will never be a superstar but he will always be a contributer.

GO BLUE!

http://1991onehundred.tumblr.com/ MattM

Vogrich seems like a great kid but I don’t know if he will always be a contributor as we add some athleticism. Could be wrong though.

ForeverBlue23

Do they have any leaders in that group because that’s their newest excuse, they don’t have any leaders.
Mith

Anyone who doesn’t think this young Michigan team will improve is probably not paying attention. Or in denial.
JimC

Just tell Sparty: NIT! NIT! NIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff

It’s just nice to finally be competitive in the rivalry.
bronxblue

I am blown away that they think losing a former B1G POY and a couple of other solid starters would be a good thing because they have some young talent. Last I checked, UM has one of the youngest teams in the country and everyone should be coming back. I’m sure MSU will be better, but maybe MSU is going to come back to the pack a bit as UM continues to improve. Let’s not forget that MSU really didn’t become “MSU” until UM took a nose-dive due to the Ed Martin scandal and the coaching changes. A strong UM makes MSU’s job recruiting that much harder, and the B1G is definitely better from top to bottom than it was in years past.
lavell99

That’s because Spartan fans only follow their own recruiting. That’s an absolutely laughable statement on so many levels. We’ll “stay the same”??? Ummmm, we’re loaded with freshmen and sophmores and bringing in another two top 100 kids. Last time I checked, guys get better with experience. But part of the problem is that state fans are so used to their players regressing with experience. That’s likely where the disconnect is.

DB

Lunardi now has as out of the last four in (as in, there are at least four teams between us and being out). Michigan State is now 4th to last team in.

Michman

where u see that at?

DB

It was shown during the halftime report of the Purdue Iowa game. They didn’t show how far up Michigan was, but if they are out of the last four, it would mean no “play in” game.

JayRich

How do you get in at 17-13? But I guess they probably get one or two in the tourney.

http://www.offtackleempire.com GregGoBlue

Hats off to Vogrich for pulling down some tough rebounds. What did he have… 5? JMo led the team with 6, so that’s pretty darn impressive for Vogrich coming off the bench.
Eric

At the end of the game Morris supposedly said, “Get the f*ck off my court” to Lucas, then the two had to be broken up during the handshakes as well.

grandchamp

Good, Lucas is a trash talking punk.
SJWolv

Nice! I saw Morris barking at Lucas after the game was over. Lucas is an arrogant arse and deserves getting punked.
michiganvic

Good. lucas is an arrogant a#$hole. That’s our boy protecting our home. Go blue

Kool Breeze

Over on the Sparty site, they are crying about Morris talking after the game. They don’t seem to think Lucas did any talking during the game, get real Sparty fans. However, I would of rather Morris just not said anything, let the scoreboard do the talking big boy.
Alex

A lot of results went well for us in the other games. Maryland and Dayton are no longer Bubble Teams for example. You could make a case either way for the Georgia and Alabama game. My wish list for the evening are Harvard and Texas wins.

Mith

Gee, I don’t t hink Dayton has been a bubble team for awhile. They went 7-9 in conference.

Alex

Fair point. I was basing off of the rooting guides Tim put up on MGoBlog but they had lost another game before this one. Also add Marquette to my wish list though that might be asking too much. At the end of the day, we got the result we wanted.

Dylan Burkhardt

Morris was jawing but Lucas threw the ball at him. Izzo also said after the game something along the lines of “maybe he deserved it” regarding Lucas throwing the ball. We’ll have the video soon.
Steve Kim

I honestly am happy morris has some swag. They talk trash all the time and when stuff doesn’t go their way they just want to whine and b**ch all the time. I’m tired of it and i can’t imagine how tired the players are. GIve him a break and sack up if you are offended. Be proud of our players and support the team. If you don’t approve, just sit in silence. There is no rhyme or reason for people to vocalize against our team in one of its best seasons in recent memory and after it swept msu. This was a general rant and was not directed at anyone specifically.
ScottGoBlue

Well done, Michigan, well done. Friday v. Illinois. We can win that one, too, leaving no questions about our post-season destination. And then a crack at OSU? Sounds great to me.

Also, it needs to be said, the officiating was just awful in this game. Not biased … but actually TERRIBLE both ways. I was watching this game with a Michigan alum and two MSU alums. We all agreed that the officials were having a George Costanza night: their every instinct was wrong, the opposite was right. I’m honestly just glad it was so evenly bad. No one can blame the zebras for the outcome of the game.

Well done! Go Blue! See you all Friday!

Mith

Honestly I thought the officiating was fine. I think in general people’s expectations for officials must be too high. How else to explain why after EVERY SINGLE game people are griping about the officiating? It can’t be bad every single game because if that’s what its always like then that just must be normal.

davis104

Mike Rothstein on twitter said both Darius Morris and Stu Douglass were pretty sick today during the game with flu-like symptoms.
MAS

Just got back from AA, great win and the crowd was great. I think UofM should be in but beat the Nois and erase all doubt.
Fred

SPRINGAA BREASKKKKKKKKKKKK
KRN

So does Smotrycz get the start against Illinois or is the Novak at the four lineup going to stick for the rest of the year.

Beast1530

Novak is going to start regardless. I think that Stu Douglass starting will stick for the rest of the season. Michigan went on a nice run to finish off the season strong so why fix it when it’s not broke?

Troy

I think he was speaking of the Illini’s length, Since Mike Davis plays the 4 and is a good 5-6 inches taller than Novak. Smot won’t start but will probably get extended time at pf.

Dustin

Great win, Crisler was absolutely electric! Dylan, why didn’t Horford warm up or play at all? And who was the new player who dressed for us? I think he was wearing #40

Joe Stapleton

Beilein said Jon Horford has a knee bruise and that’s why he didn’t play.

KRN

Thank you Iowa.
jmblue

What a day! I’m so happy for everyone associated with this program. Dylan/Joe – thanks for doing this all year to help us follow this team more closely. It’s been an awesome team to follow.