GoBlueInIowa

February 10th, 2016 at 11:41 PM ^

We have the following left:

Purdue
@ OSU
@ Maryland
NW
@ Wisconsin
Iowa

I see wins being home against NW and one of the road games against OSU or Wisconsin but neither of them easy.

Realistic ending is 1-2 at home and 1-2 on road. Steal another game and end 3-3 and end 11-7 in conference play would be a success with how the team is playing right now. Anything above 3-3 closing out means some major resume builder wins. Unfortunately, think it is more likely to close 0-6 then close 4-2 or better. Now I think it will be more in the 2-4 / 3-3 close out, but it is a brutal schedule to close.



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sportzfan81

February 11th, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^

Sorry....Guess i'm a little pessimistic. I see 3-3 as "VERY" sunny and 2-4 as likely if not 1-5. Caris will need to come back and play meaningful minutes soon or I don't see them beating Purdue, Maryland, or Iowa. Then Wisconsin is playing really good and that game is on the road so I struggle to put that one in the win column as well. Basically northwestern at home and then heading into Columbus might be our best bets for wins down the stretch, which will mean they absolutely must win 1 if not 2 games in the B1G tourney.

FYI - I will be hoping that Caris comes back and is immediately the guy who we thought could be an all conference performer and leads us to 4-2 down the stretch!!!! As unlikely as it might be. GO BLUE!!!!



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MichiganMan20

February 10th, 2016 at 11:16 PM ^

That was ugly but hey, we're 18-7 and 8-4 in the B1G. Let's win a couple more games to secure that tourney birth and see what happens. If we could just find some consistency over 40 min I think we'll be alright but man these guys are frustrating to watch sometimes. Oh well, hopefully Caris will be ready for Purdue although I'm starting to lose my hope that he ever returns.



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Muttley

February 11th, 2016 at 12:00 AM ^

inclusive of 27 completed games of the 34 scheduled for today

 

Our remaining schedule from weakest to strongest

Rank Foe Venue Date
94 Northwestern Home 2/24 (Wed)
74 Ohio State Away 2/16 (Tue)
48 Wisconsin Away 2/28 (Sun)
17 Purdue Home 2/13 (Sat)
6 Maryland Away 2/21 (Sun)
2 Iowa Home 3/5 (Sat)

Methinks 1-5 (worst case scenario) would force a DEEP B1G Tourney run to have any chance at the big dance, 2-4 puts us in the middle of the bubble, while 3-3 (or better) puts us in pretty good shape.

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Muttley

February 11th, 2016 at 12:30 AM ^

sans the Maryland win.  (But they do have an OOC Kentucky win.)  

Beat the crappy teams, lose to the good teams (plus transforming Wisconsin away), sit presently at 7-5.  Unfortunately, the OSU game is six days away, so I'm guessing Caris will be only a part-time contributer by then.

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WolverinePride87

February 11th, 2016 at 12:19 AM ^

I'll take the win any way they come. But besides the horrific defense in the second half letting Minnesota back into the game, I thought we shot the ball pretty well at 54% and 56% from 3. I'll take that all day long. And I'm not surprised Minnesota came back like they did considering they took a lead against Indiana late almost 2 weeks ago. Go Blue!!!

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Old_Guys_Rule

February 11th, 2016 at 10:01 AM ^

Some posters above are calling out Beilein as a stupid coach for inserting Dawkins (poor defense!) in the game with 20 seconds left and a 8 point lead. BUT...Dawkins is one of the five best free throw shooters on a not very good free thow shooting team (can't believe that Irvin is only at 60%). At that point in the game the plan is 'no fouls' and 'make your free throws'. So the best defense is not needed. I can see why Dawkins was used at that point.

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jonesie022

February 11th, 2016 at 8:50 AM ^

I think its fair to predict we will be underdogs in 5 of our last 6 games.  I still think if we get 2 wins plus one in the BTT tourney we are in the dance.  

They won't leave us out as 10 win conference team out in a year where there is so much parity.  SMU and Louisville have opened up two more at-large spots so the bubble should be pretty small this year IMO.

I think we find a way to somehow get EITHER Iowa or Purdue at home and we will get Northwestern handily.

NO CHANCE at Maryland and I'll give us a 45 percent chance at OSU and a 40 percent chance in Madison.

If the above scenario plays itself out, we will be somewhere around a 6 seed in the conference tourney meaning we will be favored in our first game against a PSU, NW, Nebraska, Illinois type of team.

I'll go with this:

vs Purdue - L

@ OSU - L

@ Maryland - L

vs Northwestern - W

@ Wisconsin - L

vs Iowa - W

BTT Tourney:  1-1

 

That makes us 21-12 (10-8) with no real "bad" losses.  Gets us in the dance as a 9-10 seed.

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WolverinePride87

February 11th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^

Northwestern easy win, Ohio state just because it's an away might give us problems but could go either way. Home court does make a difference which is why I could see us winning Purdue or Iowa. 1 word for the solution of this... LeVert

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