Michigan 64, Houston 63, Jordan Poole Forever
HOW [JD Scott/MGoBlog]
Jordan Poole, overdosed on swag from birth, lives for this moment.
It didn't matter that he'd made only two of his 13 three-point attempts in the month of March. It didn't matter that Michigan had gone 7-for-29 from beyond the arc in the game. It didn't matter that the game had been a brutal slog of a refshow. It didn't matter that Michigan had to inbound the ball from under their own basket. It didn't matter that Poole's view of the basket was so obscured he didn't see if the shot fell. It didn't matter that he's just a freshman.
Poole was born for this. With time about to expire, he took a sharp pass from MAAR, squared up, and fired. With a defender in his face, he struck the Jordan pose as he released the shot, then fell to the ground. Our hero arose and... ran for his life:
"After the shot went in I didn't know it went in," said Poole. "I looked at the bench. I was always thinking if I hit a shot like that I didn't want to get tackled. So I was kind of trying to avoid everybody, but I gave up and they tackled me and it was an amazing experience."
Instead of a heartbreaking early tournament exit to end the Michigan careers of MAAR, Duncan Robinson, and possibly Moe Wagner, the Wolverines move on to their second straight Sweet Sixteen in the most unimaginable way.
To everyone but Poole, that is. The young man had even planned his exit strategy.
[Scott]
[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]
All photos by JD Scott.
Is the new Swaggy P.
Boys, Go Blue.
Poole Party time.
but Poo-Legend doesn't work for me. Sounds like a crap-master.
March 18th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
That would be me. I'm really good at it.
after that!
I haven't been this wired since...I can't remember.
March 18th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
Beilein and Poole would make for a perfect buddy picture---like a road trip movie or 48 Hours III.
What a fight! What a win!
tip my hat to the Manbun. That dude can flat out play. He made some incredible shots over our defenders and did everything humanly possible to carry his team. Glad he lost but dang, he's good.
He does have a quick release and can hit those long threes, but he was constantly whining to the refs every time he drove the ball towards the basket and missed a shot. I don't know how much of that they showed on tv, but at one point in the arena, fans were chanting "baby, baby" and that was mostly the Kansas fans in the area I was sitting, including two boys about 10 or 12 years old who were sitting behind me.
This. He actually slammed his hands on the floor after he missed a layup and didn't get a call. Looked like a kid having a tantrum.
March 18th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
He's NBA ready
but he's absolutely the kind of guy you love to have on your team. He has passion and he's a baller. Hate the player but don't hate the game is a phrase that applies fairly well to that guy.
Agree, but to be fair, he got fouled a LOT of times going to the basket and didn't get foul calls. The game was way over-reffed, but for some reason they weren't calling anything on Gray's drives to the basket. The contrast was stark with the rest of the players on both teams, who got a foul call the second they stepped toward the basket.
I was opposite end of the court (in the second half) from where Gray was driving, so I couldn't really tell if he was getting hacked or not, but the frequency of his whining and complaining was easy to see all the way across the court. I've seen plenty of times where Zavier Simpson gets hammered driving to the basket (not so much in this game) and he just dusts himself off and hustles back down court to play defense.
But the kid can ball. Glad we don't have to face him again.
that dude is a straight-up baller. Respect.
March 19th, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
Crappy haircut but was very classy in his comments after the game. Hope he gets a shot in the league. Whole Houston team played hard. Wagner had to give Davis a hug at the end. Man, that had to sting for Houston. Funny how emotionally powerful sports can be.
So glad to be done with Wichita, and with the W!
Got a few days now to find our offense again.
Get the hell out of there.
Take the money and run.
That whole place - with the screaming lady and the shot clocks out and the tight rims and loose refs - just seemed . . . off.
California, here we come!
will be in California. She's in the Michigan band. Maybe she's our luck charm?
Speaking of the band, I was sitting right next to the tunnel where the band came through just before the Kansas game ended. There was an officious woman stopping some of the band members. At first I thought she wasn't letting them in because it was too early for them to enter, but then I realized she was letting most of them through. I looked closer, and she was preventing anyone from bringing in a bottle of water or gatorade or whatever, and making them poor the contents into an NCAA labeled cup before allowing them to pass by.
they get crazy sometimes.
Making sure no band members get onto TV holding anything other than an NCAA-branded container is incredibly important—making sure prominent basketball programs don't provide bullshit courses to scholarship athletes would be a ridiculous waste of time.
and runs those gauzy, heartwarming commercials during every football and basketball game that tout the "student-athletes" as being integral to the whole shebang.
It's that so much of the stuff it regulates is penny-ante impermissible recruiting bagels while it ignores hookers, bagmen, and fake classes.
Every last bit helped. That 5-point play was pretty awesome too.
March 18th, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
but everybody did something to get this one over hte line. Great team win.
March 18th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Yeah that 5 point possession was astoundingly important. One big 3 from Houston the other end and I think an 8 point deficit might've been insourmountable in this one given our shooting struggles. Who would've guessed in January that Teske possibly saved us the big ten tourney championship, AND was key in getting us to the Sweet 16.
Anthony Carter, 1979.
in the second half, they made 7 FT's in a row. 4 by Teske, 2 by Robinson and then one be someone else. That was pretty wow inducing too.
For a team that shoot roughly 55% that was a key factor in keeping it close for that shot
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