MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[THE_WIZARD_]

HOWARD!!!!!

[Cody_Russell]

HOWARD! 6-2 in the last 8.

Big win. The stretch when Brooks put up 8 quick points in the 2nd half was awesome to see.
I think part of it was Purdue being hungover after a tough win vs Illinois on Tuesday. Though eh, no excuses. M played on Tuesday too.
Purdue double teamed Johns on a possession. Thought that was funny…. Like, what are you doing, Purdue…

Need to beat Ohio State this weekend. Must win game at home vs the rival.

[Mike]

That looked like a completely different team than we've seen all season. Hopefully it wasn't just because Purdue was off. Michigan played with a ton of energy and really got after it defensively which was great to see. A win against OSU on Saturday will do wonders for their NCAA chances.

[lineygoblue]

It was definitely their signature win of the season so far. Purdue is still the best team from the conference with a chance to win it all. I think it may have been a combination of Purdue coming off a emotional win, and Michigan upping its game a lot. Diabate finally reappeared and played a great game. Michigan now has to guard against the same thing Purdue did, as they were coming off their own big win. M finishes the season with 6 of its 9 remaining games at home, so that could help if they actually start playing like last night.

[Cody_Russell]

Brutal schedule for sure.
Win tomorrow vs Ohio State… then I think M can make the NCAA tourney while going 3-4 down the stretch + 1 B10 tourney win. A conservative wish considering the schedule.
As I said a few days ago, note several of the Syracuse teams that made the NCAA tourney in recent history. The metrics would be favorable for M despite the 18-14 record.

5-5 overall record in the next 10 before Selection Sunday. That’s the goal. Anything better is more cushion.

[hack]

Hunter banged up. Worried. But it sure was great to see that. IMO the real story of this team isn't necessarily roster construction, although it's not ideal. It's that they get up for playing the good teams and expect to sleepwalk past the bad. But games like last night are confirmation of our coach's Xs/Os chops. Outfoxing Matt Painter is always a very impressive thing to do. It's awesome to see Hunter's growth, too. Next step is to own this team. Eli Brooks is not its leader. The best player has been incredibly impressive, but his own effort hasn't always been there earlier in the season. Last night he was hitting the deck for loose balls. Time for him to start owning the effort level of the group.

Hard not to also notice that FOR ONCE our crowd had a pulse and FOR ONCE we got some homecooking from the refs. Correlation or causation?

[lineygoblue]

This Michigan basketball team continues to be an enigma. They beat Iowa tonight in Iowa City 84-79.

Diabate had another good game, scoring 28 points.

Maybe the basketball team can school the football team about winning in Iowa City.

[Mike]

They looked good again last night. I didn't see any of the game against OSU but, in general, they seem to be rounding into shape for the stretch run.

[THE_WIZARD_]

HOWARD!!!!!

[hack]

Some real anchor losses in Nov/Dec, but they've been playing like a ranked team for a few weeks now. Notable that they won this game shooting 4/20 from 3.

[Mike]

#31 in NET. Moved up 6 spots with the win last night.

[THE_WIZARD_]

HOWARD!!!!!

[Mike]

Can someone explain the NET rankings? It's referred to as a tool that is supposed to mimic the selection committee's criteria. I looked at tourney projection earlier today and had Michigan in the group of "next four out". There's the 68-team field, then the "first four out" which would essentially be teams 69-72, then the four after that that would be 73-76. MSU is #27 in NET and was projected as a 5 seed. Michigan is #31 and is completely out. So what the hell do people base this stuff on? We're also #30 in Kenpom.

EDIT: Lunardi has us as an 11 playing the "play-in game against Memphis.

[lineygoblue]

Those early losses appear to be killing them. They need more marquee wins to get out of the doghouse. A win against Illinois would be a step in that direction.

[THE_WIZARD_]

HOWARD!!!!!