IU v MICH: Tale of Two Teams

Sunday 10th March 2013, once the Men's College Basketball is over may well come down as an important date for the two teams who played each other that night - Indiana Hoosiers and Michigan Wolverines - with the Big 10 regular season title on the line.

For the Hoosiers, it was the opportunity to win a Big 10 title for the first time since 1993 when Bobby Knight was in charge; for the Wolverines it was the chance to get a tie of the same title and also warrant a top 5 ranking before tournament week.

Michigan were up, and yet contrived to miss three free throws which would have put a knife in Indiana.  And yet a team who have been hot and cold for much of the Big 10 conference play, decided to be anything but ice from the line and throw away the chance of a big time victory.

The failure from the free throw line, allowed Indiana to have a chance and if you allow a team containing Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo the chance to get a victory; those leaders will come to the fore.

That is conceivably the difference between these two teams who end up with only one more loss than each other; yes if Michigan had won, they would have finished 26-5 which is Indiana's finishing record.

Cody Zeller put away the go-ahead shot with 13 seconds remaining, yet it felt like an eternity as it rolled on the rim and then fell through the net to garner a 72-71 victory in Ann Arbor.

Whereas, Indiana could call upon two Wooden award nominees in Zeller and Oladipo to come up big and want to take the final shot; for Michigan it seems freshman Trey Burke went awol. Burke had 20 points but off of 20 shots, which is poor; Zeller had 25 points off of less shots.

Burke came to a standstill once Oladipo went man-to-man on Burke near the end of the 1st half, this caused Burke to worry and it did unnerve his play.  Oladipo gained another notch in his Player of the Year resume in  nullifying Burke last night.

What does this mean for both teams heading to the Big 10 tournament?  Indiana will not be concerned by losing their first round match, as it seems they are assured of a #1 seed in the tournament proper.  For Michigan, they would need to win the Big 10 tournament and hope teams like Duke, Kansas and Louisville all lose early also.

This loss could result in Michigan dropping from a #2 seed to a more likely #3 seed based on their level of wins this season - three of the six losses came by a margin of three points or less.  Their best win was probably at home to Michigan State Spartans by one point; there has been no dominant victory.  Unlike Indiana who beat Ohio State (then ranked #10) on the road 81-68.

The question marks remain again over the play of Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr who whilst being a great backcourt pair; the pair have not got that marquee moment like Zeller has had on numerous occasions this year.  Nor can they explode like Ryan Kelly has for Duke, and nor is the supporting cast as strong as say Ben McLemore's fellow Kansas Jayhawks who can step up if the freshman is having a rough night.  For Burke and Hardaway; the pressure of carrying the team appears to be too much to burden them with; this makes them fallible to an early tournament exit if they cannot sort out their defence, they can score for fun but then so can their opponents.

In other Big 10 results last night; Wisconsin held off Penn State 63-60; Michigan State defeated Northwestern 71-61 and Ohio State beat up Illinois 68-55 at home.  The Spartans and Buckeyes would have shared the Big 10 title with Indiana and Michigan had the Wolverines held on.  But for Indiana, there was a party that had been delayed by 20 years, Cody Zeller was ready to celebrate.

College Basketball March 9th Recap

In the 2nd Saturday of March for many sides it is the last game of regular-season games before the lottery of conference tournaments.  Yet it remains as the final opportunity for some teams to gain momentum before the  tournament.

In recent years, conference tournaments have lit the paper for college sides to catch fire just in time.  Look at UConn three years ago who were not even on the bubble but yet got into the NCAA tournament on account of winning the Big East tournament in Madison Square Garden thanks to Kemba Walker; they won five games in New York and then six more in the tournament.  Think also of VCU who won there conference title and eventually got to the Final Four.

On Saturday night however, we saw a lot of sides suspected of going deep into the tournament treating the final regular-season game as a means of trying out the bench; how else can you explain Kansas losing 81-58 on the road to Baylor, having known a victory would secure a Big 12 title.  Bill Self has to make do with his 9th consecutive conference title.

Syracuse are struggling big time on the offensive end after so much season hype, they were woeful on the road at Georgetown, as they lost 61-39 as the Hoyas secured a share of the Big East title.  The Orange are struggling because they have no cohesion, now they may look to Louisville and see that if you make a Big East title run you may make the Final Four, as the Cardinals did last year.  Louisville though had stingy defence, something the Orange do not employ at this current moment.

The Tar Heels from North Carolina had been gaining some momentum in recent weeks and secured an at-large tournament bid but they came undone at home to Duke who throttled them 69-53.  Duke remain a good team and with the return of Ryan Kelly to the line-up look a dead cert for a number one seed and another final four run for Coach K.  Although the ACC title went to Miami who beat Clemson 62-49 to secure the crown.

Current National Champions Kentucky did themselves no harm at all by defeating Florida Gators 61-57 at home, the Wildcats under John Calipari have done well to regroup following the injury to Nerlen Noels and should now have done enough to warrant a tournament bid.  A deep SEC tournament run in a weak conference field should secure it.

My dark horse tip for the tournament remains the UCLA Bruins, who won on the road at Washington 61-54 to secure the Pac-12 crown.  The talent the Bruins have in Shabazz Muhammed and Kevin Anderson make them an intriguing team and one some teams would like to avoid; their defence has got better and we know they can score.

The Big 10 climaxes today (Sunday 10th) with Wisconsin travelling to Penn State; Ohio State hosting Illinois, Northwestern travelling to #10 Michigan State and the titanic tussle between #2 Indiana at #7 Michigan featuring a star-studded line-up of eventual NBA talent: Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Bracketbusting

After the latest merry-go-round of bracket busting, resume altering games from prospective #1 seeds falling to in conference rivals, to mid-majors still fighting above their weight.  For everything this season of College Hoops has lacked in quality, the sheer quantity of teams capable of making a deep tournament run bodes well for March madness.

The latest #1 seed to fall was Indiana who lost on the road to Minnesota Golden Gophers last night, whilst this is not the worst thing in the world to happen to the Hoosiers, who will likely be overtaken by Gonzaga on Monday (if they themselves do not lose) - it must be noted that it is the second time Indiana have lost the game immediately after being made the top ranked National side.  The reason they lost though was they lost the board battle to Minnesota 38-25, led by Trevor Mbakwe's personal tally of 12 (6 offensive) and gave up 40 points in the paint, in a 77-73 loss.  Mbakwe accounted for a huge block on Cody Zeller that benched the would-be Wooden award winner for several crucial first half minutes.

For Minnesota it was a much needed win, they remain 7-8 in the Big 10 but 19-9 overall with a weak remaining schedule with Penn State (8-18) at home, followed by a dual road trip to Northwestern (13-15) and Purdue (13-14). The chance to finish 22-9 coupled with some big RPI wins will guarantee an at large bid, most likely one of 7 from the Big 10 with Illinois on the bubble probably.

Indiana though, have a tougher run-in at home to Iowa (17-10) is ended with road trips to Ohio  State (20-7) and then #4 Michigan (23-4).  Indiana are one of those teams that seem to alter when on the road, which is unusual considering the experience in the squad, yet the rebounding is now becoming an issue that teams can exploit.

Florida so often thought of as a definite #1 seed for the tourney, are trying their best to become a 2 or 3.  They lost on the road to a resurgent Tennessee, and the injuries Billy Donovan's side have had to compete with seem to have started taken their toll, they missed Will Yeguette (knee) and Michael Frazier II (concussion) as in a tight contest they lost 64-58 to the Volunteers, who are making a late charge for the tournament as one of the last four in.

Florida should win the SEC title but how many SEC sides will get in.  Missouri have fallen off the radar, Ole Miss have been inconsistent, Kentucky are still coming to terms with the loss of Nerlens Noel (and face Florida at home in the last regular season game on March 9th) whilst Tennessee themselves have three winnable games (at Georgia, at Auburn, v Missouri) the chance to have a 20-win season is attainable and something that was unthinkable a month ago. Kudos coach Cuonzo Martin.

Kansas seem to be that sort of team that people either respect because Bill Self is able to take a team of would-be's sophomores and other parts to create a side who is able to compete for a school's 9th successive conference title, or they are the sort of Manchester United - the big noise that gets the favourable calls on the road.  Yet just like those Red Devils, these Jayhawks whilst making it hard for themselves know how to win ugly after playing ugly that nearly railroaded their conference campaign.

Kansas beat Iowa State in OT for the 2nd time this season helped by a career night for Elijah Johnson who had 39 points (11 in OT), yet it was the charge no charge call at the end of regulation on Johnson that overshadowed a highly intense game.  The Big 12 have said the officials got the call wrong, Johnson converted both free throws to tie the game and take it to overtime.

Kansas are now looking like a possible 1 seed - depending on other team's finishes - they have games remaining versus West Virginia and Texas Tech at home, then a road trip to Baylor.  Whilst Ben McLemore has gone a bit cold of late, Jeff Withey is a solid leader and if they keep getting big performances from others such as Johnson or Travis Releford; the team can make some noise.  On their day they can hang with any team.

Along with Indiana and Kansas, the other teams to consider for National Championship title contenders are Duke, Miami, Gonzaga, Georgetown, Louisville and perhaps New Mexico or Butler, the perennial Cinderellas.

One thing for certain is the bracket should be fun to fill in.