Don't take the Sister Jean bait.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
Agreed...
She's not the story: Loyola and their incredible run ought to be the story...she gets more time than their players do.
Game will be decided on the hardwood
hope everyone ignores the noise and just focuses on the stuff that actually matters
March 26th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
care to comment?
March 26th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
She is 98 years old, let her speak to the media as much as she wants .
Thats an accomplsihment in and of itself , as far as im concerned .
Let her have her fun.
It ends Saturday
Yep, she just oozes selfishness. Just look at her stealing all that attention.
we will then have a more famous nun than Loyola.
Play Ball!
Win the game. It's the only thing that matters.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
actually kind of does matter. This is not a typical Final Four matchup. Loyola-Chicago has been a cinderella darling since their first round matchup. Their story, and particularly Sister Jean has A LOT of traction in the national media. 75% of that building is going to be rooting against us. It is also my anticipation that the Ref Show will be absolutely have a Loyola vibe to it. Sister Jean in the championship game is a David v. Goliath matchup that the media is drooling over right now. Starting right now, we are BIG BAD MICHIGAN for a week. You have already gotten a glimpse of it with the "Blue Bloods" article, every so carefully, that is the crafting of a narrative. It is important that Michigan fans not feed into it.
Nevermind that our coach celebrates with turkey subs and lemon water, by Saturday we will be seen as the big bad bully who wants to stop the little guys from having any fun.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
I heard that 75% line yesterday too - I don't think that's right. For one, we will bring more fans than every team, save - maybe - for Kansas. Second, not all Kansas and Nova fans that have Saturday tickets will come to our game. It might be 60% of the people in the stadium rooting against us, but I doubt it will be a loud 60%. I think our fans will still be louder than the pro-Loyola crowd there. I don't think the fan makeup will be a factor on Saturday.
Bit of a pedantic point to make, sorry.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^
Kansas will have the most fans there, and I can gurantee you they will be cheering against us.
I hope the team is prepared for a very different environment (on Saturday) compared to the ones they've played at in LA/NYC. This will be more like Wichita (fewer fans), except you will have neutral fans cheering against us.
We 100% want Kansas to lose on Saturday. A Michigan vs. Villanova final is absolutely ideal - we would have the home crowd advantage, and it's obvious at this point the team plays exceptionally well when in front of a home crowd, away from home. They said as much in both LA and NYC.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
Yep. You give me 1 day rest, our guys vs theirs, our coach vs theirs, and I think we beat Kansas. I don't think we would beat Nova, not without legendary performances from a guy or two on our squad.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^
agree with you that the environment will be different, but disagree that it will feel anything like Wichita. Wichita was a moderately sized multi-purpose arena that was half full with fans. The Alamodome will hold 40,000 people in its Final Four configuration and it will be filled to the brim. There will probably be a more Michigan fans in the building than there has been so far, even in LA, but there will be just be a whole lot more fans, period.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
That's right and the KS/Nova fans won't be loud (person for person) even if they are behind Loyola.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
Right, so when we're up twelve when the people who want to see us lose really start pouring in it won't matter.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
If it's a Kansas-Michigan national championship, Kansas has two-thirds of the building.
We will NOT have a fan advantage in San Antonio. This is Texas, middle of Big 12 country. Michigan's advantages are in the big cities of the Midwest, Northeast and West Coast, not the South and especially not the South Central like San Antonio.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
like Staee? Or PSU? Or Wisconsin? Purdue (not best example)? Think they can handle some booing.
I'm not insinuating we can't handle it. But a previous poster seemed to suggest that Michigan would have the most fans of the four schools in SA, and that "maybe" Kansas would have as much. Kansas will almost certainly have the most by a large margin.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
I thought about UConn vs. George Mason when i was wondering what it would be like in the arena. George Mason is from my area so I followed it closely in 2006.
I think you are right, it will be just like that. 75+% of the arena will be agianst us, and they will be passionate about it. It won't be fun.
March 27th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
No, these are reporters trying to flesh out a human interest story for their pieces. Reporters just don't go out there asking random questions to mess with athletes--they're fishing for specific quotes about specific things. That's how articles get written.
And, given that the guys didn't know who Sister Jean was, I'm doubting they're going to really care this week, either. They're in a bubble. And, really, who cares? She's not getting wheeled out there to shoot threes.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
Reporters just don't go out there asking random questions to mess with athletes
Don't be niave.
That's exactly what that reporter was doing.
The question, in a post-game interview minutes after Michigan's hard fought win to make a Final Four, was thrown in there for no other reason than to get the players with their guards down to create a headline by saying something inflammatory about Sister Jean that the reporter could then run with.
He didn't give a rats ass about any "human interest" angle. He didn't ask any of the players how their grandmas felt about the Final Four.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
Tinfoil hat: Firmly on.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
Blinders: Firmly on.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!
March 26th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
to follow up and show you how this will be spun, the lead ESPN story right now calls Michigan 'the bad boys of the NCAA tournament." No joke.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:06 PM ^
media will absolutely try to do that and to think it won't is truly ridiculous. The media creates narratives to generate interest. That is exactly what the media does. At some point this week, there will be a Michigan v. Sister Jean type shenanigans. It might not be a big story but there will be a story. There is no question it will happen. Yes, I got the reference to the "Bad Boy" Pistons but that was 30 years ago and very few readers associate defense with the 1989 Pistons. Very few people even read the article, they just read the heading.
And to think that cinderella will get the benefit of the whistle is not remotely like a "Delaney conspiracy." It is simply true. It is common sense.
March 26th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
March 26th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
an underdog. Media outlets love ratings and clicks. You think that I am advancing some "grand conspiracy." I am not. Yes, I hear myself. Nothing about what I said is "staggering." It is reality. You are acting all mystified in order to be some insightful contrarian. It is not working.
As a former member of the sports media, this is not typically what reporters set out to do.
Are there some bad apples like in any profession ... yes. But,overall, the media is not out to get teams.
If you look at the media as a zero sum gain, then you're going to view the media as being against Michigan this week because Loyola and it's awesome 98-year-old nun is the better story so that's what's going to receive more attention.
The media does not care about Michigan. They do not care about Loyola. They care about a good story.
Big Bad Michigan against plucky Loyola Chicago and their sweet littile old lady inspiration is an easy story.
There is no vicim-hood here, they did it for George Mason, they did it for VCU. They'll do it for Loyola and Sister Jean, times 10.
That's fine, let them. Just don't make their job easy by posting stupid rude stuff about a 98 year old lady.
I agree with the OP but I mean, Sr. Jean's lived through the Depression, World War II, Vietnam, the Catholic Church scandal, and just being a human woman for nearly a century.
It's the height of sexism to suggest that she can't take a little good natured ribbing.
March 26th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
I edited my original comment because overall I agree. I don't want to see comments from this site run on some news story.
March 26th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
Why are we supposed to care that you went to Catholic school over 25 years ago?
March 26th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
I had a point in my original post. Even though what I said was true, actually saying it doesn't help anything, so I changed it.