Wolverines on the Verge of History
Shortly after 6 p.m. tonight on CBS, the Michigan Wolverines will have their name announced and will be in bracket pools across the country.
This will mark the first time the Wolverines are in the NCAA Tournament since 1998. That’s 11 long years. In the Big Ten, Michigan has the longest drought of any team except for Northwestern. The Wildcats have never made the tournament.
Michigan did what they had to do this season picking up signature victories against Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Illinois, a road win versus Minnesota, and a near upset on the road against UCONN who just happened to be the No. 1 team in the land at the time. They also avoided too many bad losses with their worst loss coming at the hands of Iowa in Iowa City. This was the game where Manny Harris was benched in the overtime period. Most fans remember that one.
The key to this year’s success was focus, drive, coaching, the effectiveness of the role players, and the two stars who the ball went through time after time with Harris and Deshawn Sims. I feel like Michigan played their best basketball down the stretch with a near road win against Wisconsin, a win on the road against Minnesota in the final regular season conference game, and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament (BTT) against Iowa.
Although, Michigan lives and dies by the three point shot as they showed you in their second round loss to Illinois in the BTT. ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas said it best today on College Gameday “If Michigan makes their shots they can beat anybody, but if they don’t their rather easy to beat.” This will determine how far the Wolverines will go in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Michigan is expected to be a No. 10 seed tonight by most bracketology experts on the web including ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That means Michigan would see a No. 7 seed in the first round followed by most likely a No. 2 seed barring an upset from a No. 15 seed.
Teams I feel would cause problems for Michigan in the tournament would be Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Arizona St, Tennessee, and Texas. Now some of these teams would cause problems for any team in the tournament. You have heard it thousands of times your success in the Big Dance is determined by matchups. Michigan doesn’t match up well against teams who have athletic big men down low that can score the basketball or teams that run a fastbreak offense with full court pressure defense. All of the above mentioned teams have one of these two qualities.
Teams that I feel Michigan could upset would be UCONN, Kansas, Oklahoma, Duke, Villanova, and Xavier. Michigan’s first round matchup could be against the following teams: Tennessee, Texas, Butler, Boston College, Texas A&M, Oklahoma St, Marquette, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Siena, Utah St, USC or California. One of those teams will see the Wolverines and as you can see the first round game isn’t going to be easy for Michigan.
Michigan has shown they can play with anybody this season but they could also lose to anybody on any given night. Which Michigan team will show up? One thing is for sure they have exceeded expectations this year and any wins in the NCAA Tournament will just be icing on the cake!
This will mark the first time the Wolverines are in the NCAA Tournament since 1998. That’s 11 long years. In the Big Ten, Michigan has the longest drought of any team except for Northwestern. The Wildcats have never made the tournament.
Michigan did what they had to do this season picking up signature victories against Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Illinois, a road win versus Minnesota, and a near upset on the road against UCONN who just happened to be the No. 1 team in the land at the time. They also avoided too many bad losses with their worst loss coming at the hands of Iowa in Iowa City. This was the game where Manny Harris was benched in the overtime period. Most fans remember that one.
The key to this year’s success was focus, drive, coaching, the effectiveness of the role players, and the two stars who the ball went through time after time with Harris and Deshawn Sims. I feel like Michigan played their best basketball down the stretch with a near road win against Wisconsin, a win on the road against Minnesota in the final regular season conference game, and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament (BTT) against Iowa.
Although, Michigan lives and dies by the three point shot as they showed you in their second round loss to Illinois in the BTT. ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas said it best today on College Gameday “If Michigan makes their shots they can beat anybody, but if they don’t their rather easy to beat.” This will determine how far the Wolverines will go in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Michigan is expected to be a No. 10 seed tonight by most bracketology experts on the web including ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That means Michigan would see a No. 7 seed in the first round followed by most likely a No. 2 seed barring an upset from a No. 15 seed.
Teams I feel would cause problems for Michigan in the tournament would be Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Arizona St, Tennessee, and Texas. Now some of these teams would cause problems for any team in the tournament. You have heard it thousands of times your success in the Big Dance is determined by matchups. Michigan doesn’t match up well against teams who have athletic big men down low that can score the basketball or teams that run a fastbreak offense with full court pressure defense. All of the above mentioned teams have one of these two qualities.
Teams that I feel Michigan could upset would be UCONN, Kansas, Oklahoma, Duke, Villanova, and Xavier. Michigan’s first round matchup could be against the following teams: Tennessee, Texas, Butler, Boston College, Texas A&M, Oklahoma St, Marquette, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Siena, Utah St, USC or California. One of those teams will see the Wolverines and as you can see the first round game isn’t going to be easy for Michigan.
Michigan has shown they can play with anybody this season but they could also lose to anybody on any given night. Which Michigan team will show up? One thing is for sure they have exceeded expectations this year and any wins in the NCAA Tournament will just be icing on the cake!
Labels: Michigan Basketball
posted by Justin Hoff @ 3:26 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Although we didn't make it past the second round, I thought we put up a valiant effort against one of the better players in the country. We also had to fight against the refs, and it proved to be a little too much, but watch out for us next year. Big time trouble for any opposing team.
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