Official Michigan #1 Seed
I approve.
All that is worth saying at this point.
Also love the bracket. Not a believer in the SEC. We shall see.
Same. Hopefully our guys can take advantage. If they were full strength I'd damn near guarantee Final Four in this East Region.
Alabama is good in our bracket. Based on Lunardi's projection we dodged a bullet. Me thinks Illinois has the toughest bracket
Illinois having oSu in their bracket is such an lol. Ayo vs Cunningham will be a treat.
HAIL!
I agree.
But was anyone else worried?
I thought Alabama might jump us given the livers injury
Only very slightly about Alabama, enough so that I was rooting for LSU to beat bama today.
This website is seriously the only place I saw that questioned whether we'd be a 1 seed.
March 15th, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
I had my doubts until we stormed back from the dead, without Livers and Wagner, and got a last shot to win against OSU. But down 13 points late in the game I was mentally preparing myself for a 2 seed. I know the whole body of work was really good but we have not played at the 1 seed level in our last five games.
So if MSU loses to UCLA, they do NOT make the tournament, correct?
The play-in game is officially not in the tourney, right? You have to win that to actually get in?
I mean, if you're asking about how records are kept, the first four is considered part of the NCAA tournament
If you're talking about trash talk, fuck no the first four doesn't count
No they still made the tournament, just not the second round. Technically.
I think they stopped that nonsense and went back to calling it the first round again.
Unfortunately no. The NCAA counts a win in the first four as an official tournament victory.
I guess by “official” records they made it, but common sense tells me that if you lose the “play in” game, then no you didn’t make it in.
All teams that made the field of 68, including the teams in the play-in round, get their free watches (or whatever token gift the NCAA gives the players to argue that its version of amateurism is not an exploitative, self-serving farce OOPS DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD, DISREGARD).
If they're still playing after today...they are in the tournament. I don't blame you for being petty, because that's the first thing that came to my mind when it was announced.
Well, the NIT is also playing after today.
March 14th, 2021 at 11:31 PM ^
To me it's seems like a play in game to get into the tourney!
I know you wanted to be the 1st to post this, but man, how about providing some info in the actual post. ?
B1G gonna feast!
Cool I guess!
I had a small question in my mind, but when they announced Houston as the #2 seed in the Midwest, I was all good.
I hope someone ruins Gonzaga's perfect season...
If I'm a Zags fan, that (potential, but probable) matchup with Oklahoma makes me pretty nervous. OU came on strong in the back half of their season. They have extremely talented guards and size and shooters in the front court. They were one of a few matchups that I wanted no part of. They could definitely give the Zags all they can handle.
Oklahoma lost their last four regular season games, including one to putrid Kansas State. They then only won a single game in the B12 tournament, against the Iowa State "Crimes Against Basketball". The Sooners' 5-9 record in Quad 1 (they played no Quad 2 games) is also not that impressive. Gonzaga has the easiest 8/9 matchup of all four 1-seeds.
Lol. Yeah I was hoping Oklahoma would be Michigan’s second game. They hit a wall pretty quickly after some good wins middle of the year
How good is LSU?
More talented than us but indisciplined.
This is correct. Will Wade bought some good players but defense and disciplined play are their problems.
They're also...shall we say "defensively challenged". There isn't a single team in the tournament that plays worse D than LSU.
Yep, LSU clocks in with a AdjDE of 99.4 - that's 99.4 points given up per 100 possessions. That's good enough for 125th in the nation. To put that in perspective, Ohio State gives up 96.1 points per 100 possessions, coming in at 79th in the country. And UCF, an early OOC opponent, gives up 97.2 points per 100 possessions, placing them at 96th in the country.
I don't know that I would say they are more "talented". The definitely have the edge in athleticism, but they don't have players with the skill level of Dickinson or Wagner (or Livers, blah).
If Michigan doesn't put them in high leverage situations while defending us that could spell trouble, because they are a very athletic team. But like you said, they definitely play a pick-up style of basketball and don't play with much discipline on offense or defense.
I'd say more talented is subjective. They have some athletes but I do think we're a bit jaded by how good the Big 10 and believe that the SEC is full of these players that must be better than all th guys we see every week. Like, they're not the same team but they feel not unlike Maryland in that they have some good athletes and little gameplanning at times.
March 14th, 2021 at 10:54 PM ^
Absolutely NOT more talented than us. Not even close.
LSU is very athletic and always attacking the basket. They shoot a ton of 3’s but they are not a good team at making 3’s. They are undisciplined and throw the ball around. They have a very athletic 5. Guard play is so so and the guards don’t play very good defense. Not like guards in the Big Ten.
LSU plays the basketball on grass game.
Hard to believe this is the first 1 seed in almost 20 years but it feels like it won’t be the last for very long. Here’s to another chance to hang a banner.
Almost 20 years? It's 2021. Our last was in 1993.
Well in a way isn’t 28 years “almost 20”? No? Ok never mind.
Great season thus far. Now it's what can Brown do for Blue?
Looks like a great draw to me. Baylor has a gauntlet.
I hate our draw. To me we have a gauntlet. LSU, FSU, then Texas. All 3 could beat us.
If you like Kenpom it's a great draw-
LSU is an 8 seed on Kenpom
FSU a low 4
Texas is 26(!) on kenpom with a 3 seed
Bama the weakest 2.
I know it's not the be all end all, but bracket turned out about as well as it could have.
It's March, a lot of teams could beat us or any other team. You are correct, there are some capable teams in our bracket, and yes we could lose to one of them.
In terms of "Do Not Want" matchups, Michigan really didn't draw any. I think we by far drew the best 8/9 matchup in the second round. I would take LSU in a heart beat vs. the other 8/9 seeds like UNC, Okla., Loyola etc.
If you look at the tournament bracket in it's totality, it seems like Michigan drew a very favorable path to the Final Four, but that doesn't mean its ever easy to get there.
I was thinking the same thing. Their bracket is loaded!
Thank goodness we avoided Loyola in the 8-9 game. Everyone is talking up LSU’s offense but they can’t stop a nosebleed.