Post-Game Notebook: Michigan vs. IU - THE REVENGE IS COMPLETE

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Check out the story:

Post-Game Notebook: Michigan vs. IU

Michigan Wins The Big Ten After Beatdown of Illinois

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Check out the postgame commentary below:

Michigan Wins The Big Ten After Beatdown of Illinois

Basketball Notes & Updates - Slippery Rock

There has been quite a bit of news on the basketball front in the past few days.  Although this isn't a news site and we aren't in the practice of simply reposting news stories, this seemed an appropriate time to post on some of these developments.  One of two minor developments wouldn't have been that important, but after a bunch happen, it's enough for an interesting post. None of these updates are that interesting alone, but there are definitely some recent developments that will be important both for this season and the future.

The first thing I would like to address is the injury to Nik Stauskas that John Beilein announced earlier today.  In my post following the Northern Michigan game, I talked about the impressive play of Stauskas and about how I thought he was going to be an important part of this team.  He has been having some problems with his back and will likely miss at least the Slippery Rock game.  This shouldn't be a major concern for now since Michigan should blow past Slippery Rock and the following two opponents.  After that, Michigan will get close to a week off before they face the quality teams in the Preseason NIT Tournament.  Let's just hope he's ready by then or Michigan will have to look for someone to make some big contributions off the bench.

Michigan Basketball Ends Its Season

First thing first.  I realize this is a little bit of a delayed post, but #1, I wanted a little time to "cool down" so I didn't blame one player or one play for the team's loss and #2, it was St. Patrick's Day!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  Michigan showed its flaws on Friday night against Ohio.  As I said in my preview, this  Ohio squad was not a team that should be overlooked.  Michigan was undeniably the better team, but that didn't mean Ohio wasn't talented and capable of upsetting the Wolverines.  D. J. Cooper is certainly a talented player and he brought his skills to the floor on Friday.  He ended the night with 21 points and completed annihilated what had been a good defense up to this point.

Sure, Michigan only gave up 65 points in the game, which would still be pretty good compared to most of the country, but it was the way that they gave up those 65 points that made it so frustrating.  Ohio was well-defended by Michigan at times, but on numerous occasions Cooper or another player would just run around one player for an easy lay-up and 2 points.  One or two of those plays won't kill a team, but when you consistently give up those and are fighting for every point on the offensive side, it's pretty hard to win.

This trend is even more obvious with a quick look at the game stats.  Typically, during these type of "upset" games, the winning team will often have an insane 3 PT percentage or another stat that propels them to victory.  However, Ohio barely shot above their season average from long range.  They did shoot very well from the free throw line, but Michigan was putting some of their best shooters on the line, which doesn't help.  Plus, Michigan shot nearly the same percentage on the free throw line as well.  The fact that Ohio didn't have any insane trends in their shooting shows that they truly defeated Michigan and this wasn't just a fluke game.

Now, fans should be upset with what was a weak team performance.  However, the loss was not the fault of one single play or one single player.  I think the obvious scapegoat seemed was Evan Smotrycz because he had a few key miscues near the end of the game. Somehow, I guess people forgot the 15 points he earned with just 7 attempts and the 7 rebounds he had.  Blaming a guy who only missed one shot with 7 attempts, whether he had turnovers or fouls, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So, the game was a massive letdown.  Fans were disappointed and the players seemed disheveled near the end and after the game.  However, that doesn't mean Michigan basketball is dead.  I think after losses like the one the Wolverines had on Friday, it's important to remember the season's accomplishments and potential for next year:

2011-2012 Wolverines

• 24-10 Overall Record
• 13-5 Big Ten Record
• Won Big Ten Championship
• Received 3rd Bid In 4 Years For The NCAA Tournament
• Highest NCAA Seeding Since 1998
• Received A 2 Seed To The Big Ten Tournament
• Beat 9 Big Ten Teams (didn't beat Iowa)
• Beat MSU, OSU, Wisconsin, Indiana
• Finished 3rd In The Maui Invitational
• Ranked The Entire Season

2012-2013 Wolverines

• 3 Returning Starters
• 4 Of Top 6 Team Scorers Return
• 11th Rated Incoming Recruiting Class
• All 3 Commits Are In the ESPNU 100

I think a quick look through those facts should make any Michigan fan excited.  Not only has it been a pretty remarkable season, but the team is set-up for a good run next year as well.  The team returns the majority of its talent and is bringing in players that are higher rated than the ones that are leaving or staying on campus.  For instance, for the majority of the season, none of Michigan's starters were rated above higher than a 3* out of high school.  Even Burke and Hardaway were only rated as 3*s coming into Michigan.  Michigan's next incoming recruit class has nobody ranked lower than a 4*.

That's a pretty big upgrade on talent.  Of course, as we've learned time and time again, recruiting does not automatically mean wins.  However, Beilein has been able to accomplish a lot with less "talented" players.  I mean, take a quick look at Ohio State.  Many of their current starters are 5* recruits.  Craft was only a 3*, but Sullinger and Thomas were both 5* recruits.  This is pretty significant because almost everybody on the Buckeyes was more highly sought than any of Michigan's players.  In fact, Thad Matta didn't even really recruit Trey Burke.  The fact that Michigan didn't just compete with the Buckeyes, but split the Big Ten Championship is pretty significant because of the talent disparity.

The bottom-line is that Michigan is in a lot better shape than it has been in a very long time.  Michigan has been and will continue to do some great things on the court, primarily because of Beilein's excellent coaching. I see no reason this team won't at least be a pre-season Big Ten favorite.  If not, they are sure to be predicted in the top two or three teams.  Even though Friday's loss was disappointing, there's a lot to be excited about when it comes to Michigan hoops.

Photo Credit: AnnArbor.com

Comparing The Big Ten Champions

There's been a lot of debate over the last few days regarding the 3-way tie among Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan for the Big Ten Championship.  Should there really have been a tie to determine the championship?  And were any of the teams less or more deserving than the others?  I decided to break down what each team has accomplished this season (most notably Big Ten play) to get a better idea of each team's accomplishments and whether anybody had "backed" into a title.

Aside from looking at just general Big Ten records, I thought that analyzing opponent strength and location during both conference and non-conference play would be interesting.  When Michigan was able to grab a share of the title after Michigan State's collapse against Ohio State, I knew there would be some animosity, but the ignorance from all three fanbases has been quite surprising.  For instance, although I'm going to look at non-conference scheduling and performance, these have nothing to do with determining the conference champion and have no relevance for the Big Ten Championship.  A good example of this type of concept can be seen in Michigan State and Wisconsin's match-up for the Big Ten football championship last fall.  Michigan State defeated Wisconsin earlier in the season, but because of the system the only thing that mattered was the second match-up.  Just like how non-conference performance means nothing for the Big Ten Championship.

Michigan State has been known to schedule very tough competition during the early portions of the season.  That can be clearly seen in their first two games against North Carolina and Duke.  Michigan and Ohio State have also played teams like Duke, but the important thing to remember is that these types of games have no relevance to the Big Ten Championship.  I'm only including them just to get a deeper understanding of the three teams to see if there were large discrepancies between each team's overall play this season.


Here are the most important stats for breaking down the three teams:

	Michigan	MSU	OSU
Overall Record	23-8	24-7	25-6
Big Ten Record	13-5	13-5	13-5
vs. Michigan	---	1-1	1-1
vs. MSU	1-1	---	1-1
vs. OSU	1-1	1-1	---
vs. Currently Ranked Opponents (AP Poll)	4-5	6-5	6-5
vs. Teams Receiving Votes (AP Poll)	3-1	3-0	1-0
vs. Top 50 RPI	9-6	9-6	9-5
Location Of Games Against Top 50 RPI (Home, Away, Neutral)	7-6-2	6-7-2	8-6-0
Number Of Big Ten Teams Beaten	10	9	11
Final 5 games	4-1	3-2	3-2

*Info can be found here, here, and here



The first important notes should center around the Big Ten record, head-to-head match-ups, and the performance against other Big Ten teams.  Not only because these are the only factors used when determining the Big Ten Championship, but also because they are the most similar components of the schedule for the three teams.  Not only did each team have 18 Big Ten games, but a lot of them were against the same opponents in the same locations.  If you look at these three categories, Michigan, MSU, and OSU are either identically tied or have no significant difference.


So, if there are essentially no differences in Big Ten play, perhaps the other factors will yield results for which of these three teams deserved the Big Ten Championship the most.  However, another glance shows that these are pretty inconclusive as well.  Each team's overall record, record against Top 50 RPI opponents, and location of games against Top 50 RPI teams are pretty similar.  OSU had two more wins than Michigan and one more than MSU, but they also played less Top 50 RPI teams and had more favorable scheduling against Top 50 RPI teams.


The bottom-line, as you have probably already figured out, is that all three of these teams have been nearly identical at this point in the season.  If you look at margins of victory, you may conclude that one team is better than the other, but these types of stats have always been massively flawed.  Just because MSU beat Purdue by more than Michigan or that Michigan beat Illinois by more than OSU means little to nothing because you can just easily point to other games that had a contradictory result.


Are there differences between the teams?  Of course.  Certainly one could argue that Michigan has been the best of the three over the last month of so (6-1 record since Feb 5), but they also started Big Ten play a lot slower than teams like MSU.  In fact, MSU may have lost their last two games, but they had already put themselves in great position before these two losses, so you can hardly criticize them for this.  Losing a game @ Indiana and against OSU is not exactly a collapse, especially since MSU had won 7 games in a row before those two games.


Basically, just throw the arguments that one of these three teams deserved a Big Ten Championship more than any other team out the window.  All three earned it by playing hard against not only the top Big Ten teams, but also against the solid and weak competition.  Each team had its own strengths and weaknesses over the course of Big Ten play.  MSU, OSU, and Michigan had some great wins, but they also had some pretty "head scratchin'" moments during the year.


I'm still happy Michigan got a share of the title, whether there were two other deserving teams or not, and look forward to an exciting Big Ten Tournament, which could be even more crazy than the finish to the Big Ten regular season.  March Madness is officially on!




Photo Credit: Bleacher Report

Michigan 2011-2012 Big Ten Basketball Champions

Michigan has finally done it!  They've won their first Big Ten title since 1986.  This is an outstanding achievement considering they weren't even considered that big of a threat for the title in the pre-season.  Not only is this a great achievement for the team, but it is a substantial one for the program and coaching staff as well.  This will be John Beilein's first major college conference championship and cement the fact that Michigan basketball is finally back.

Jordan Morgan tweeted this just a few minutes ago:


"all I can really say is #BANNER...thanking God for so many blessings"


I think that's a great instant analysis of what has happened over the last few days and tonight.  How long has it been since Michigan fans got to see a banner raised in Crisler Arena?  A pretty long time, I'll just say that.  However, that time's passed now.  Right now, it's time to look at this team and be excited for the future.  Winning a Big Ten Championship is great, but that's not the limit of this team.  They can do a lot more, not just in the future, but this year.

If Michigan can win at least a game or two in the Big Ten Tourney, they could easily be a 3 seed or higher in the tournament.  Given that, it's not that unlikely to see them get a deep run.  I mean with the shooting droughts appearing to end, there might not be a limit for where this team can go.  Michigan has competed and beaten top teams this season and I don't see the Big Ten or NCAA Tournament being any different.

Along with this, Michigan didn't "back" into this championship.  They earned it.  Not only did Michigan record wins over the other top two Big Ten teams (Michigan State and Ohio State), but they also played well against non-conference competition like Memphis.  Saying Michigan didn't deserve this title is simply ignorant.  It's the same with arguing the other two teams didn't deserve a share of the championship.  They were all tied for head-to-head match-ups and had a relatively even share of good wins and bad losses.  

The important thing to note is that Michigan earned it's Big Ten title this year.  Nothing gave them the title and as much as Spartan or Buckeye fans would like to think that the Buckeyes "handed" the Wolverines their title, Michigan didn't need any help.  They recorded victories over every Big Ten team except one (Iowa).  That's pretty impressive for a team that "backed" their way into a championship.  

Regardless, now's the time to celebrate and personally I can't wait to be there when they raise the new banner in Crisler Arena.  It's been a long time and I'm proud this title can be given to Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, some of the best seniors Michigan may ever have in their basketball program.


Photo Credit: Melanie Maxwell