Michigan vs. Toledo in NIT; Tuesday at 7 p.m.
We're a 2 seed. Likely play Vanderbilt if we win.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
Potential to play Castleton in the title game.
Since the above can’t happen (see first reply), question: Can we use seedings to determine how far Michigan was out of the tournament?
March 12th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Last I knew CC was injured and out for season
March 12th, 2023 at 10:24 PM ^
Well so much for that.
March 12th, 2023 at 11:02 PM ^
I believe 1-seeds always go to the first four out (assuming they all except their invites), now that the NCAA runs the NIT, as opposed to it being a separate entity. Beyond that, it’s unclear to me. So we were more than the first four out, but whether we were 5-8 out or further, I don’t know.
I think it's reasonable to assume we were in the Next Four Out range. If you look at the teams who didn't make the NCAAT, there were at best 10 with any realistic chance going into the conference tournaments. In addition to Oklahoma St, UNC, Rutgers, and Clemson, I'm thinking us, Vandy, Wisc, Oregon, and then as very long shots, New Mexico and Virginia Tech.
March 13th, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^
I don't think you can use NIT seedings to "know" what the NCAA Committee was thinking. The NIT is seeded by its own committee (which includes coaches, not just administrators). They NIT determines their 32 teams; seeds the top 16; and then assigns the other 16 based on geography. So the NIT's decision on seedings might be different than what the NCAA was considering.
I also assume, the NCAA doesn't really do "next four" etc. Either you make their last four (or three or five or whatever), or you don't. Why do tiers below that? They probably stopped thinking about us when we were, oh, 1-for-14 in the second half, or something like that.
I would be curious, which team got invited to the NIT when the 'Heels decided to be, well, heels, and refuse to play b/c they are too good for the NIT.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
Home game on Tuesday?
March 12th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
7:00pm on ESPN2.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:57 PM ^
To answer your question Thad, If we keep winning we have two home games. If we meet Clemson in the lower right bracket final then we play there, if Clemson loses before then, we get a third home game.
EDIT: Since the NIT reported our seed inaccurately this no longer applies. We are guaranteed one home game against Toledo.
March 13th, 2023 at 10:47 AM ^
It appears tickets go on sale for season ticket holders at 1pm EDT today, and the general public at 5pm EDT.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Glad to see Michigan in it. Will be some good experience for some of the young guys, including some guys who haven't been in the rotation but will hopefully be contributors next year
March 12th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
I hope so. At the same time, I assume Howard isn't an idiot, and when the non-rotation guys get some minutes, it could get ugly.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:24 PM ^
Toledo beat CMU by 30+ end of February and by 25 early February. They are 24-6. This is gonna be a fun time.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
Yeah, certainly not a good draw. First round may be toughest matchup in first 3 rounds.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
We're going to play hard and have fun.
As long as all the kids have fun, that's all that matters!
March 13th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
Smush Toledo! We got debts to pay for years to come.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
Can't fight the transitive property and the law of syllogism. We're doomed.
jonesy use big words, make head hurt. no more big word things.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
Toledo's a tough, experienced team. They don't play a lick of defense (285th per KenPom on defense though middle-of-the-pack for the MAC) but they have one of the best offenses in the country. Will be interesting to see how UM comes out.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
Apparently they shoot threes really well and Michigan doesn’t exactly play great, inspired defense, so this one could be really interesting.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:34 PM ^
Ugh. I just had a Loyola Marymount PTSD episode.
Too soon. Still.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:33 PM ^
(285th per KenPom on defense though middle-of-the-pack for the MAC) but they have one of the best offenses in the country.
Well here’s hoping their offense grades out so well due to playing so many bad defenses.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:45 PM ^
It appears that they play 3 guards and 2 6’7” forwards. HD could feast if we get him the ball. Pretend he’s Edey vs. the Big10 and overpower them.
But, yeah, 3>2 so we’ll need to D up.
March 12th, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
Not having seen them but looking at the numbers they've got 3 high-minutes guys who shoot over 40% from 3 and another guy at 37%. It's a team that UM will be in a track meet with but (I assume) is a lot like Nebraska or Iowa in that they don't try that hard to slow you down.
What killed UM early in the year against these types of teams was guard play especially on defense. They're better now so if guys like Dug and Bufkin can stay in front of their opponents that would be nice. And Dickinson/Reed are going to have a huge size and athleticism advantage.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:34 PM ^
One thing that caught my eye: if we’re able to get past Toledo and Vandy beats Yale, Stackhouse vs. Coach Howard could be a fun matchup.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
Rekindling the infamous...Nuggets-Pistons matchups...?
March 12th, 2023 at 11:32 PM ^
I would like a shot a Yale.(1) They are better than people think, (2) I like the association with top academics, always a part of Michigan’s Public Ivy persona.
Okay, so you believe that playing Yale in the NIT will...help with UM's admissions? Or that beating Yale result in us jumping them in the USN rankings? In that case, we should play Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford every year in all sports. Fuck the B1G. Hello Ivy Super League.
It's one game man, stop trying to start a fight when someone is just looking for an interesting, innocilous matchup against a team we never play.
The positive is we'd beat Toledo to get there. But please dont turn that into me wanting to play all MAC teams all the time.
Come on--playing MAC teams all the time would CRUSH our academic college rankings. We'd drop below OSU [shudders...].
If we just get past Rutgers who we are WAY BETTER than, we are prime to upset Purdue!!
/drink
March 12th, 2023 at 10:41 PM ^
Potentially some good games. Hope the team uses this to improve and a springboard into next year. Also, poor Rutgers.
Some Rutgers fans were chanting NIT, NIT at the end of the Michigan game.
I heard that. The hardest part was that neither the team nor the fan base really had a response.
March 13th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
Obviously, the NCAA selection committee assumed that was the tournament Rutgers (and its fans) were really hoping for and the committee kindly obliged them.
Cosmic justice is a b*tch.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
This is like missing a bowl game but at the same time playing in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
Hoke's last year? Where we ran the damn good 2 pt conversion play against Kansas St??
March 13th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
Next to last. His last season he went 5-7 and didn't make a bowl game.
The poster meant that Hoke spent a lot of time at Buffalo Wild Wings during his last year.
March 12th, 2023 at 10:53 PM ^
Hope we use this opportunity to give some of the younger guys like Youssef and Barnes some time to see what they’ve got. If anyone isn’t 100% in, I hope they don’t see much of the court.
March 12th, 2023 at 11:26 PM ^
I was just going to post this.
its a great time to play the young guys and give them some minutes
LOL none will play
Team has 4 viable players. Sure lets play guy who hasnt played a lick of minutes #11 on depth chart!
Why not exactly? This seems like the perfect time to give them some run. Seeing some other young guys step up and build some confidence going into next year would mean more to me than making a deep NIT run with some guys who might not even be around another year.
March 13th, 2023 at 10:49 AM ^
But will they build confidence if they are running out of the gym by Toledo?
March 13th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
Hmmm...running out of the gym alongside Toledo, well I didn't consider that possibility. A friendly jog around Ann Arbor with some fellow D1 athletes might be just what these guys need to build that confidence! The fans at the game sure will be confused though.
March 12th, 2023 at 11:04 PM ^
I'm SURE it will be well attended.
March 12th, 2023 at 11:11 PM ^
I'll be there. If I'm the only one, I guess at least I'll get a good seat
March 13th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
Wondering what the Toledo fans taste is for the NIT. Probably not much, but they might be fired up to play Michigan, so they'll come up here and have more fans than us in a mostly empty building. It will be embarrassing.