Iowa 71, Michigan 61
That about sums it up. [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
As Spike Albrecht thanked the fans in a pre-recorded video, many of them were already headed for the exits.
No seniors played on Senior Night; Albrecht and Caris LeVert, dressed in suits, took their familiar places on the bench after an understated pregame ceremony. The Crisler Center crowd then watched the same old team play the same old game.
Jarrod Uthoff obliterated Michigan's defense to the tune of 29 points, finding his range with ease against the smaller Zak Irvin. The Wolverines struggled to stay in front of their marks, stuggled to hit shots, struggled to do so much as put the ball in play—at one point, a wayward Irvin inbounds pass turned into a perfect outlet for a Mike Gesell breakway dunk. Mike Gesell plays for Iowa.
To be frank, deconstructing this game feels like a waste of time. We've seen this before, against Wisconsin and Ohio State and Michigan State and Indiana and Iowa again. Any one of those games could've given Michigan the final quality win they so desperately needed to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament before the end of the regular season. Instead, the Wolverines fell well short in all of them, and in all likelihood they'll not only need a victory in the 8/9 game of the Big Ten Tournament—against either Northwestern or Penn State—but an upset over top-seeded Indiana to make the field.
If you feel good about that scenario, you're far more optimistic than me, not to mention the steady stream of fans who high-tailed it to the parking lot with a few minutes left on the clock. They'd already seen this before. No need to prolong the inevitable.
Ok. Thanks for the response. I was just trying to get a guage on that.
The complaints are warranted and this is the outlet for them.
This team has mailed in too many games the last couple of years. I know they've had injuries to key players, and lost a fair amount of NBA talent two years ago. But, this season especially, they haven't played with any fire or heart. They played like Rich Rod or Hoke was coaching them. Very sad...
The amount of unforced errors we have is what has become a theme.
Just plain throwing the ball away.
You know something is wrong with this team and the vibe of the program when even when you make a hustle play saving the ball, and you throw it right to the best player on the other team.
I lost count of the wide open threes we missed. Open shots in general. Layups are missed, free throws are missed.
Last two years we have lost an NBA top 15 pick and a rotation point guard. What happens to MSU or Iowa if they lose their best player and the only remaining player on the roster who does the same thing? They are in the same boat as us. Perhaps Beilein is unable to get the recruits. But we know all of the power programs getting those recruits are shady. I would rather struggle and do everything above board than cheat & win even if I know were in an age when you will most likely get away with it.
If they lost Valentine they'd be a different team; we saw that squad earlier this year and they were a pretty good B1G team but no juggernaut.
Would they be headed to the NIT?
Why can't we convince people to stay and win for Michigan though?
Every guy that has had NBA chatter attached to his name immediately has one foot out the door.
I don't think a guy like GR3 could ever get it out of his head that he was mentioned as a 1st round pick after the 2013 season.
With that mindset, it didn't matter what he did in 2014, he was leaving regardless.
None of our players are having much success in the NBA. All of them have their limitations no doubt, but they went for the quick payday as opposed to becoming more polished.
I don't know about that. Burke was the NPOY; not much else he can do at the college level. Stauskas blew up into a lottery draft pick; you take that pay day as soon as possible. Hardaway Jr stayed for 3 years and I'm sure had his dad telling him he could make the jump. And GRIII did come back after being a first-round candidate; he just realized after his sophomore year that he wasn't going to be highlighted in Beilein's offense and took a stab at an NBA payday. And don't get me started on Mitch.
The problem for Beilein, in part, is that the players he recruited became too good too quick, and had the type of games NBA teams wanted. College basketball isn't about developing kids for 4 years anymore, so if you happen to hit gold early on, you have to expect those kids to leave. What has hurt Beilein is that the guys he recruited to basically replace them haven't matured into the type of players he needs.
Well at that point, even when we are good, we get screwed.
That good karma and aura didn't seem to help.
That's the painful thing. Those guys were good (not great) coming in, got developed and showcased fast and weren't handcuffed into staying.
We were winning games, conference titles, and producing NBA first round picks with guys that weren't really those surefire NBA guys out of high school.
You absolutely have to get at least some of those guys we were in on, on board.
That's killer to lose those guys to places where guys won't be showcased from Day 1.
Remember that GR3 was playing the 4 and that, with our roster makeup, he was going to have to play it again.
Honestly, we were fortunate to get 2 years out of him. When you're playing a guy with pro potential in a position he doesn't like—one that is kind of wasting his time, since he'll never play it at the next level—I'm not sure you have a right to be disappointed when he bolts.
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I don't think the recruiting argument is all that valid; while college basketball has its shady characters, Beilein's recent struggles have come with talented (if oft-injured) teams. Not coaching a competent defensive club is what submarined this year, not missing out on some 4* kid with a handler.
That said, the echo chamber at this site can be as loud as anywhere, so when the drum starts getting hit it takes a lot to silence it. Beilein definitely has underperformed recently, but I agree the calls for his head seem more reactionary.
I'll be the contrarian and hope this team surprises people and makes it to the tournament. It's not a good team by any stretch, but the bubble is softer than usual with SMU and Louisville banned, and so at some point a 10-8 B1G team with 20+ wins (assuming they win in the BTT) can slip in. And then who knows; maybe they'll play a bit better against a different style of opponent than they see in conference, and at least make it through a game or two before they get it on the face.
I normally chastise people for the blind loyalty, but at this point I just want to be happy about the basketball team after two years of bad luck and bad losses, so even if I'm wrong in the end it doesn't hurt to be irrational.
The problem is the vibe of the talk and general opinion is that we absolutely needed this game.
I imagine it was tuned into to get a better read on us, and we did not answer the bell.
Even though the people doing the talk don't have any say in the decision, the noise surrounding is at best netural.
The worst thing to do is hope for the benefit of the doubt to the NCAA (the mention that our record breakdown is usually a tournament bid).
I totally get your mindset though - but don't you get the impression that something just seems off with this team and program?
In these do or die situations, we prevailed in 2009 against Minnesota, prevailed Illinois in 2011 at the BTT (both games which we had to make furious comebacks).
Because of that history, I was confident that we would win.
Yeah, I'm not high on the benefit of the doubt, but also looking around at the bubble it's not like other teams are bathed in glory. With the tourney's size, you are going to get teams earning bids who probably don't deserve them but "someone" has to be an 11 seed, and that's (sadly) why I think a name brand like UM with a mediocre resume might sneak in.
That is my hope at this point. There is always some controversial teams to get in (I am not saying that would be us), but teams that people kinda assumed out get in.
I do remember what happened to State without Valentine. they only lost once and it was at Iowa.
He played in 4 of their 5 losses. They have also been missing their starting PG for most of Big Ten play. Every game they won that he played in has been by double digits except Maryland which was a 9 point game. I very much doubt they would have 4-5 more losses, I think they would likely be right where they are.
We can keep acting like we are only in this situation because Caris is hurt but thats simply not true. We were destroyed by Xavier, UConn and SMU with Caris.
This program should be in a much better place than this 9 years into John Beilein's tenure as coach.
Michigan just needs more Jrs & Srs.
Beilein is in a tough, tough spot. The recruiting misses and mistakes are magnified because of all these injuries.
Its a perfect storm of a mess too.
I don't really know what to say though because I am not convinced we have enough pull to get a bigger and supposedly "better" coach.
That's why everyone harps and harps on recruiting so much. Look I am as tired as anyone else hearing the same old shit, but thats the big thing, you have to keep the influx of talent coming in.
We have guys that were respectfully ranked, but we have had too many guys that are more wait and develop guys.
I just wish guys were interested in staying and winning at the college level. But the reality is, the money is too good to pass up even if it means you rot on the bench in the NBA.
All you need is the cash and the will to compete at the highest level we already the have facilities
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Wrong sport
This is college basketball- good players are freshmen and sophomores
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This team has been playing without 3 of its 4 best players being healthy. Caris and Spike are out and Zak has never seemed to be 100 percent. The fact that this team has a chance to make the tourney is impressive. Imagine MSU playing without Valentine and Costello and asking an injured Forbes to put the team on his back. I don't think most teams would've done as well as we have under those conditions. It is just unfair to expect Beilein to keep this team elite with all of the injuries we've had to deal with.
ding ding ding
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It's bad enough that our starters go 7-30 for a piddling 23% for 3, but when you combine that with 12-26 for a crappy 46% for shots inside the arc, you're compounding the problem.
The same football team that quit and pussed out against Ohio State?
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People go to the ends of the earth to defend the football team.
The fact that so many refuse to acknowledge we were curbstomped and completely outclasseed coaching wise.
Michigan was totally outclassed by Ohio State's athletes. It didn't help that Durkin was more interested in an interview than coaching the team. Linebackers got exposed for what we knew they were all year. Harbaugh is closing the gap in recruiting. Relax. You realize the football team won 5 games two years ago right?
"People go to the ends of the earth to defend the football team."
Is your username meant to be ironic? If you think people overly defend the football team, it's a funny username considering Navarre was a scapegoat for years.
That doesn't warrant a complete curbstomping though.
What was the excuse offensively? We settled for field goals and then our guys let our only option at QB get knocked out of the game.
The only time we showed an ounce of pride was to prevent us from losing by 36 points.
The game was just like the RR years. Over by the early 3rd quarter. The players knew it and so did all the fans that piled out of the stadium.
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Indiana, Minnesota
Couldn't win a game with 98.8 winning probability as well.
better motivated team Michigan was playing last night. Forget about the differences in talent or size. That's the real pisser for me with Michigan's performance. They really HAD to win this game at home to (hopefully) ensure a tournament bid and what they did was lay a big turd on the court. This Michigan team has no toughness or real leadership. They look like they're just flailing away for 40 minutes with no ability to control their own destiny. I knew this game was lost by halftime, and that's pretty sad.
Even if they do get into the NCAA tournament, they'll be exiting quickly. So, whatever.
Left the Belien Bandwagon...Time for a coaching change..Even his earlier less talented teams played better and improved as each game went on..The lack of hustle energy enthusiasm, were evident all season long..At least those early teams played hard and won some games they shouldnt..The amount of CARELESS turnovers, POOR shooting, loose balls lost, missed FTS , out of bounds disasters ALL SEASON LONG is incredibly disheartining..This team NEVER improved all season long..They were Bad at the start and Bad at the end..After 9 years this is completely UNACCEPTABLE...I thank Belien form those 2 glorious years of 2013 and 2014 and those early NCAA tournament wins over Clemson and Tennessee but at this point in his tenure to go 2 years without making the tournament coming off a Final 4 and Elite 8 team is just unacceptable..He just hasnt really been able to recruit elite players with a exception here and there....oh yeah Zac Irvin you really BLEW it yesterday and has anyone filed a Missing persons report on Duncan Robinson? we havent seen him in two month
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