Michigan/Villanova (Men's Version) Early Game Thursday (7:15)
March 20th, 2022 at 11:14 PM ^
7:29pm on TBS
Point spread currently Villanova -4.5
Gonzaga vs Arkansas is the 7:09pm game on CBS
March 20th, 2022 at 11:18 PM ^
Can't wait. It's all gravy. Enjoy the ride!
March 20th, 2022 at 11:20 PM ^
It looks like the same spread Villanova had on OSU & they were a 7 seed.
March 20th, 2022 at 11:27 PM ^
Thanks for enlightening me you damn bum!!!!!
Now I can plan things.
March 21st, 2022 at 12:15 AM ^
I could get used to these early tip times. I do hope there's at least one 9:20pm tip in our future.
Usually there's an opening act and then the main event (boxing, movies, old-time vaudeville).
Thursday night, the main event starts the proceedings.
Go Blue!
haven't seen nova play beyond some of yesterday. obviously very good, though one poster here noted they aren't the same powerhouse nova that we lost to in the championship game a few years ago. however, if we get by nova we would then play either arizona or houston, and i just looked at their records: 33-3 and 31-5, respectively. that looks a lot like murderer's row at this point.
its all house money though, and thursday night at 7:29 we get to see it played out. go blue!
We almost caught a massive break with TCU last night.
As for Nova, I ended up with watching quite a bit of them just by chance this year. No, this is not 2018 Nova by any stretch. But they are exceedingly well coached, a really mature team, and they make almost no unforced errors. They make all of their free throws. It isn’t a team that will run anybody out of the gym, but they remain locked in all game and don’t allow big runs.
Good Caleb will be required to win this game. There is absolutely no circumstance in which we continue to shoot poorly from 3 and win this game. We could also use Jones to fight through what is going on and be available. (If he can, but if his head is legit jacked up he should be shut down for the year). Nova has dudes, Frankie all game with a spurt of Bufkin probably isn’t getting this done.
UM shot 37.5% from the arc and 50% from the floor against Tennessee. Both numbers are above their seasonal averages of 34% and 46.8% respectively.
If UM can keep playing at this pace they'll keep winning.
There were only 4 teams that shot better than UM this weekend. UNC, UCLA, Providence and Duke.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:05 AM ^
I’ll rephrase. If Caleb Houston can’t make threes we aren’t going to beat Villanova.
without vincent divincenzo, they can't beat us.....
GO BLUE!!
That 2018 'Nova team was one for the record books honestly. NPOY Jalen Brunson. High Lottery pick Mikal Bridges. First round pick Omari Spellman. Eric Paschall. Collin Gillespie. Oh, and a lottery pick off the bench in DiVencenzo. They breezed through the tournament with more ease than 2012 Kentucky and 2015 Duke.
We were robbed in 2013. In 2018, we simply did not have enough to beat that team.
This Nova team is beatable. They are solid, but not loaded with NBA talent like they have in years past. I give them the talent and the coaching edge (not a slight to Juwan, but Wright is one of the best in the business). The one advantage I would give us is we have a higher ceiling. Caleb needs to show up, and Frankie continues to need to be the x-factor.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:24 AM ^
Well stated. I agree Wright is excellent but not sure he has an advantage over our staff.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
Are you going to Allentown for hockey?
March 21st, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
Chris Arcidiacono says ciao to you.
BEAT NOVA!!!
I bought two tickets and will be flying to San Antonio from my home in DC to see the game in person. First time going to a NCAA tournament. My special lady friend grew up in San Antonio so she's promised to show me a good time. Go Blue!
March 21st, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
"I'm just helping her conceive."
Username does not check out!
I was just about to look this up and then I thought, "No, it's on the blog. It must be."
....and it was. Now, I may plan a few things accordingly.
Thanks for the PSA. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
LFG!!
Nice profile picture!
We gonna be da bossa nova.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^
If we can get this game and have Houston ( basically home crowd ) beat Zona in San Antonio , we could play for regional title
March 21st, 2022 at 11:22 AM ^
Michigan just beat a team that was arguably the best defensive team in the tournament and we were around 8 point underdogs. I think if we continue to execute and keep hunter and Diabate very active and efficient down low we have a good shot. We must play excellent defense and hedge screens on their Point Guard because he can get hot in a hurry. I like UM getting revenge from 2018 in a close one.
March 21st, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
If you recall, we got revenge on Louisville the next time we played them in the tournament. Soooo....maybe again?
Although we blew Nova out of their brand new arena the November after we played them in the title game so we probably already cashed in on the revenge thing.