We just have to acknowledge they are a better team.
We got a fair whistle. Shot and defended reasonably well.
They just wore us down.
Oddly, I believe getting worn down usually shows up on defense, but for us, it seems to show up on offense where we stop cutting and settle for jump shots too much.
Just like the other games, as per Terry Mills. Bad shot selection at critical parts of the game. Poole and Iggy hoisting up long threes early in the shot clock is like a turnover.
Poole took one bad 3. I would say zero for iggy. Their shots just didn't fall in the 2H. Z just needs to hit at least one of those 3s and the team more than 30% and we will not be beat.
My preference is just to offer congratulations, but if you really want to go all in on excuse-mode, tell them we wanted to lose so we'd get sent west to Gonzaga's region.
OP is crazy. Michigan is up 13 and pushing toward a blowout. Refs step in with 5 consecutive BS fouls and turn the tide. There's a reason MSU ejects early. Refs can't protect them in the big dance.
Yep. It was pretty clear at that time.
We blew double digit leads three games in a row. Fuck the “they are a better team” shit. We just fucking choked.
Do better teams blow three straight second half leads?
“What is ‘No’, Alex.”
They have a bonafide go to player in Winston, we don’t have one.
Winston’s layup to take the lead at the end had no business going in
People saying that after losing to a team for the third straight time in the exact same way (blowing second half heads in boneheaded ways and generally being soft mentally) that we are just as good or better as that team we lost to three times are the worst stereotypes of Michigan fans
or maybe we should bone up on our statistical analysis and start considering that there may be an exterior variable influencing our numbers.
No they legitimately are not. We just can't put together a full fucking game.
Isn’t the ability to put together a full game indicative of the overall quality of your team?
Normally I would agree but it took the game
of his life from mcquaid and a couple late bad calls to win the game for MSU. For as bad as we played today we still should have won
Bad as we played. They played a great first 30 min.
Why does Michigan's inability to play a full game count against them but State's inability to do the same thing doesn't count against them? Or is falling way behind in every game to the point that you CANNOT win without relying on either the other team self destructing or the refs putting their thumbs on the scale in your favor, or both, part of playing a complete game?
This is the maddening thing about the don't blame the refs because we have ourselves to blame crowd, they can't see the simple and obvious logic that if correct calls would turn your loss into a win then by definition you played well enough to win COMPARED to the other team, who did not play well enough to win without incorrect calls in their favor from the refs!
Isn't it fucking terrible to let a team build a huge lead over you? Why does a team that does that "deserve" to win so much that they also deserve the benefit of the refs changing the outcome in their favor? If team A wins without bad calls then didn't team B make even more mistakes or do less good things and deserve to win even less than the other team that also didn't play a perfect game?
Your view, logically, is that it's OK for the team you like to be punished and have wins turned into losses if they made any mistakes or played poorly in any way as long as the game is close, but the other team should never be "punished" for making even more mistakes/bad plays by having to "suffer" correct officiating. In other words the only wins we actually deserve are comfortable wins or blowouts, a game close enough to be stolen by the refs is or should be a loss. It's OK for whomever plays Michigan to have a close game though, in fact they deserve the win every time just for being close!!!!
Well said. Your logic makes more sense to me than the other version. How does the "better team" allow their opponent to build a 12-point lead in one game and a 13-point lead in the next one? Does the better team need a combined +37 FT advantage (over 3 games), or a +10 FT advantage (in the second half alone of the Big10 championship game) to win? Or can they win when FT's are even? (or heaven forbid, could they win if they had fewer FT's than the other team?)
Michigan is #5 in the country in least fouls committed. Before MSU played UM the first time 3 weeks back, they were #143 (now they're #98 thanks to their stellar performances against UM). They foul at a much higher rate than UM. EXCEPT when it's against UM. Total FT's shot in the 3 combined games were MSU - 76, UM - 39. That's 95% more FT attempts. How does that not impact the outcome significantly?
And how does Paul Szelc get "awarded" the honor of ref'ing the biggest game of the season, the Big 10 tourney championship game? Was it his ejection of Beilein, the first time in 40 years, that earned him the honor? Does having Fran McCaffrey call you a "cheating mother f*cker" put you in good graces with the Big 10 higher up's?
Nah, we cannot have those discussions here. Brian barely ever brings it up. I suppose it's not a good look for a blog trying to attract and maintain sponsors, etc.
If we can't put together a full game how are we better?
It is weird though, I don’t really think they are “better” in a vacuum. It is just a really shitty matchup for whatever reason. I mean, hats off, they went out and got it done. The bigger issue to me is that I think this was one too many kicks to the nuts to this team. I’m not sure I see a deep run anymore. Incredibly deflating loss. A big reason I just did not want this matchup again.
Yeah UMx, too bad we never fell behind by 13 points and we weren't outplayed for 38/minutes, because THAT would be a complete game, right? Obviously the definition of a complete game is to just get your fucking ass kicked the entire game and pray for the ass kicker to choke combined with the refs smothering you with striped fairy dust!
And we can. Hence, better.
Which makes them the better team...
No they were not better. We had a massive choke. Period
For the third game against them this year. THAT'S WHY they are better
I've got one complaint. What was the deal with McQuaid getting 3 shots when he didn't even shoot the ball? They were down 5 at the time. Yeah, it was bad defense, but you can't just lean into a guy without ever putting the ball in position to shoot it and get 3 free throws. Am I wrong?
Hats off to Winston for getting a lot better and all that, but Sparty wasn't the better team in this game. Michigan's got to finish this one off.
McQuaid (alias Howdy Doodie) never attempted to shoot! He stuck his shoulder forward and braced for contact. Never raised up to shoot. That was ...............not a shooting foul!
Z's foul on Winston was phantom! Winston gets touched - foul. Our guys get bumped - no call. Our guys get bumped driving and underneathe and no fouls ever! Bodies on the ground and no MSU fouls!
I'm sorry but this team won't go very far. Poole and Iggy are just not smart basketball players. Losing 3 times to your rival in the same season is a fucking embarrassment especially when you're winning most of the games.
Matthews is a disappointment. Simpson can't shoot (huge problem in a Beilein offense).
Sweet 16 is the ceiling and we'll be lucky to get there as a #3 seed.
We’re not going to be a 3 seed. Houston lost today. Purdue got beat by fucking Minnesota. We are a 2 seed.
HAWT TAKE brigade out in force. They'll be a 2, they'll play teams not intimately familiar with them and suddenly be way better.
Matthews is not 100%, obviously. And Simpson is definitely the problem, having shut off the scoring of three straight point guards while setting the Big Ten Tournament record for assists.
Would you trust Simpson with the ball late? I wouldn't. Poole and Iggy are boneheaded late in games or when we have a lead.
There's 0 go to player on this team. Not a recipe for success in the NCAA tourney.
Iggy has fine basketball IQ, but just has tunnel vision. Poole pisses me off so much. Such an undisciplined defender and a 1/3 of his shots are atrocious
We are soft. and Jordan Poole. That's the game
14-41 this season against MSU.
No we don't.
It's true. Hopefully people can stop asking about Poole going pro now
Edit: If you "choke" 3 straight times against a team or can't "put together a full game" 3 times, it just means the other team is better. They made winning plays, we didn't. They are better. The end.
It'd be better for UM if Poole did go pro. Are some here still spouting the bullshit that he's the best on the team, just never shows it? Because that would be an inaccurate assessment.
The worst thing about this team is that they don't give you confidence when they're up by 20. I hope we get lucky with our draws in the tournament. We aren't beating Michigan state this year.
Disagree. Without B1G officials we beat them 3 times. Izzo gets too much respect.
I agreed the refs were a factor the first two games.
They were fine today.
We had 1 foul in the first half and 10 in the second half... they clearly decided to change their "style" at half time. Not to mention they just decided to not call an intentional foul at the end of the game
Better? Sure. Fine? Far from it.
We are #18 nationally in fouls committed.
They are like #102.
By the rule of probability when those teams play they should have at least 2X as many fouls as us. Did that happen in any of the 3 games?
We are #5 nationally in fouls committed. Not #18.
absolutely not. One game had foul call issues. At best we are 1-2 against them in a perfect referee world.
They have a much more robust offense than we do and are more able to adapt. Bad matchup? Sure. Will we route teams they have issues with? Sure. Is the vice verse true? Yes. But play these teams 10 times on a neutral floor with perfect refs and we will not like the result.
See them in 2019-2020.
There’s actually no reason to be upset. I mean, if you think about it, you pretty much did beat us three times but for the choking and indigent, no-money Sparty spending our last eight cents on buying off refs.
Hats off to you, good sir, on your team’s impressive technical season sweep over us. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I’m here to man up and acknowledge the clearly better team.
You won a big ten championship and the FIRST THING you did is go to mgoblog. This is why you and your entire fanbase is and always will be little brother
It was the ninth or tenth thing I did after the game, ranking below mowing the lawn, so... yeah in fact it wasn't a super high priority. I ambled over here at a positively leisurely pace to drink in some hard-earned schadenfreude.
First 8 things were have sex with all your hillbilly family members, then headed here. Have fun getting railroaded by Duke (or probably losing to Louisville again before that can happen)
Geez, man. What's so bad about the first thing?