Michigan 60, Illinois 55

Let’s dance.

SubAlum_06

Grit.

http://maizecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/ the_white_tiger

What a comeback. I know Illinois is mentally weak, but seriously, that took some grit from Michigan to pull that out. What a win.

lavell99

HUGE win! Bring on the Buckeyes!

Chris in NC

Have I said how much I LOVE THIS TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dang they play hard and never quit.
MH20

BUST OUT YOUR DANCIN’ SHOES, BABY!!!!

This is my favorite team of all time.

BK

I agree. They’ve got a heart and an ability to tough out games they need that I haven’t seen from a Michigan team in in years.

Chris in NC

Here Dylan!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA
evan

YESSSSS, words can not explain how i feel right now. we are going dancing, go beat osu tommorrow guys we have plenty of momentum let’s go
JB…

What a season! Wow!

Time to Boiler Up!

Bird

I think I may actually have a few boilermakers for good measure.

GO BLUE!!!!

JB…

not a bad idea, might help. time to cheer on these bubble teams now, ironically.

Mattski

Still not sure how the heck they pulled that out. At the eight minute mark I was tempted to post something about how much I love the team anyway, and I thought. . . there’s still time.

Tomorrow they can hoop with zero pressure; maybe we finally catch out OSU.
grandchamp

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
NT

WE BE DANCIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOO GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mith

I am a little dizzy with excitement. A silly college basketball team shouldn’t mean so much to a grown man, but I can’t help myself I guess. Way to go, guys!

We’re playing with house money at this point, a free shot at OSU tomorrow. There is no way this team gets left out of the big dance. In fact, I seriously doubt there’s any way we end up in a play-in game.

evan

same
Tweeter

“shouldn’t mean so much to a grown man…” ha, i have been tearing up for the last five minutes.

maizeandbluebasketball

is this a dream?
Mason

Awesome. Our most satisfying win since…last Saturday.

bryemye

I think the comeback nature of this one and that unequivocal “we’re in!” factor push it over the top… unless you’re in-state in which case it’s nice to rub it in sparty’s face a bit.

anthony Mosby

Great win; this team doesn’t give up. We don’t have a complete squad yet but we win with heart and desire!
mountain52

Go Blue!!!!
Tweeter

Lots of love should be handed out to Smotrycz despite his late missed free throw. He played a brutal first half, but responded big time in the second half with some threes and key rebounds. Morgan had a really poor game and we needed some production from the 5 spot and Smot stepped up. Hopefully Morgan bounces back for a big double double tomorrow against lil sully.

rlc

Absolutely – after the first half (did Smotrycz get assists for those two Illinois baskets?) I thought “well, so much for Evan’s shot at redemption.”

Then Morgan picked up his fourth, Smotrycz came in to play the 5, and the rest was history.

DB

Not only are they in, but barring some weird bid stealing, they should avoid the play in games.
zach

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!
That was some kind of comeback and the biggest 3-pointer of Hardaway Jr’s career.
Chad

I love this basketball team. Even down 11 I knew we would make a run, wasn’t sure we would win. But wow, this team has so much HEART. Kudos to Evan for bouncing back after some stupidity in the 1st half. Tim Haradway Jr. is an absolute star. Darius too. Just an overall gutsy win. LET’S DANCE. YES. LET’S DANCE.
billiam

weird stat but THJ and Novak didn’t make a single 2 all game.

mbballfan

Weird for Timmy but not surprised about Novak.

Champswest

Way to go guys!
I must admit that I was doubtful when it went under 9 minutes and we just were not making anything happen. I thought that we looked slow and couldn’t guard anyone. But, we sure stepped it up when it mattered most.
Now, let’s beat the Bucks and improve our seed.
ChathaM

Kids down 12 with under 8 to play against a bunch of seniors. Kids win. Unreal.

Lock.

michiganvic

Let’s dance. Put on ur maize shoes and dance the blues.

jmblue

Unbelievable. We went into this year hoping for what, .500 overall? I thought what we did two years ago was amazing, but this is the topper. Beilein’s greatest coaching job ever.
billiam

Can we take the “COY” award away from Painter?
Nick

Was Bielfeld there? If so, I wouldn’t be suprised if he commits soon. Great Great win!
http://www.justcoverblog.com chitownblue

Great play down the stretch from Smotrycz and Morris. Huge shot from Hardaway. Lockdown defense all over – even Evan coming out and blocking off a few McCamey drives.

When does Illinois get to fire Weber? I thought he was going to wait until the run went to 22-0 to call that TO.
Quick Darshan

Would have loved to hear Tim Hardaway Sr’s reaction when his son hit that shot. Anyone know how to get a hold of that radio broadcast?

Alex

He said in the post-game that he wanted THJR to take that shot.

EchoWhiskey

When Morgan when out, I thought we were done. Turns out that was the spark. Great win after a pretty crappy 30 minutes of basketball.
JD

I just got back from Frasier’s Pub. That was a blast!

This really has turned into a dream season. NCAA tourney bound!

It’s such a likable group and they’ve got a tremendous amount of heart.

GO BLUE!

(p.s. beat the schmucknuts tomorrow!)
AG2

Tubby Smith is staying in Minnesota. Working on a contract extension. I’m glad, it makes the Big Ten better.

Mmmm, smells like Victory.
Kainkitizen

The boys can be free now and just play fun basketball tomorrow. It will be a dream season when they win on Sunday!!! Come on Sparty! Let’s do it again for all the nuts and bolts of talkin’ smack on Sunday!
Brad

Let’s win the next two and see if we can grab a 6 or 7 seed!!!
Tweeter

Most amazing stat: rebounds were Illinois 26, Michigan 25. both had 6 orebs. After that game I would have guessed that illinois was plus 10 on the glass. Second amazing stat: Illinois shot 3 free throws
JR

It’s GREAT to BE a MICHIGAN WOLVERINE! It’s GREAT to BE a MICHIGAN WOLVERINE! It’s GREAT to BE a MICHIGAN WOLVERINE! It’s GREAT to BE a MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!

I love this team’s heart and the way they came back from a big deficit. This is MICHIGAN! This is HEART! This is JOHN BEILEIN!
Tweeter

Also Lunardi has us as at least the ninth to last team in the field, if not higher.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/25580/joe-lunardis-latest-bracketology-update-6

A win tomorrow and i believe this team will be in one of the 8/9 games.

Polisci

Yikes, I’d like to avoid the 8/9 game.

Brad

yea i’d definitely rather be a 10 than an 8 or 9

South Florida Maize Rage

Anybody know what time tomorrow
snoopblue

Does this help with the recruitment of Biefeldt? I know Illinois uses Tisdale as a crucial part of their offense, but he’s smaller and it’s clear we are on the upswing. We also direly need a man of his size, athleticism and intelligence. GOBLUE
JT

1:40 tip time tomorrow.

Can we get Gus Johnson on the call??

steve

i do believe gus johnson is calling the game for cbs tomorrow… at least i hope

http://umhoops.com KAB

Dylan, what seed do you think we are right now?I think a solid 10..
CJD

I could not be more happy about being wrong on how this season was going to go. I thought there was no way to get back to .500 in Big Ten play or have a chance to make the tourney. I was also wrong in that I thought to beat the upper tier of the league they would have to go big when actually they had better results going small.

My only saving grace in predictions was that THJ was a star player and would make us forget Manny sooner than later.