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.
Showing posts with label Michigan Wolverines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michigan Wolverines. Show all posts
Monday, 11 March 2013
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Michigan v Minnesota Preview
Following on from two victories for the underdog in College Basketball - namely Wisconsin Badgers defeating the pre-season #1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers in their home court, and then last night the Maryland Terrapins defeating the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Whilst both are considered upsets, both have back stories and followed trends. The Badgers have now won 11 straight versus the Hoosiers, and Indiana Head Coach, Tom Crean has never beaten Bo Ryan's squad during his four years in the job. And NC State continued their trend of losing the game after they beat either Duke or North Carolina; they easily defeated Duke at home (the Blue Devils themselves had excuses as they were without big forward Ryan Kelly). The Wolfpack are 1-7 now in the game immediately after they now defeat one of their big ACC rivals.
So whilst on paper the results may be a surprise, they should not necessarily qualify for an upset.
Tonight, we have another one of those maybe games when #5 Michigan travel to #9 Minnesota for another huge Big 10 clash. The Big Ten has got a huge game every night now, seemingly the strength of the conference is more stronger in Basketball terms than Football at the moment.
Michigan are 16-1 having suffered their first loss of the season at Ohio State on Sunday 56-53, where they shot a season-worst 38.3% from the floor and had 13 turnovers. Minnesota are 15-2, themselves also coming off a loss to Indiana 88-81, in what many considered the best performance by the Hoosiers all season. However, Indiana followed that up with a loss at home to Wisconsin as noted above. Therefore, both sides are in need of getting back into the winning habit.
Where will this game be won? Well expect a lot of physicality from the Golden Gophers, Tubby Smith's side led by Trevor Mbakwe who has 8 rebounds a game, and led by Andre Hollins and Rodney Williams who both hit double digits regularly. Much like Ohio State did also, was attempt to stifle Trey Burke who shot poorly and struggled to dish out dimes to his team-mate Tim Hardaway Jr.
Also, due to the physicality of the Golden Gophers, the Wolverines have to make sure they do not foul too often as Minnesota average over 20 trips to the foul-line. If Minnesota can force Burke to look for a pass instead of a shot, they may have half the job done. When a National Player of the Year is not doing his job of leading from the front then the team ethic of the Gophers may have a chance to shine.
Expect a close contest with winner lucky to hit over 70 points, but if the Gophers win, will it be considered and upset? Or just another indicator that the Big 10 is the best conference in College Basketball this season?
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Whilst both are considered upsets, both have back stories and followed trends. The Badgers have now won 11 straight versus the Hoosiers, and Indiana Head Coach, Tom Crean has never beaten Bo Ryan's squad during his four years in the job. And NC State continued their trend of losing the game after they beat either Duke or North Carolina; they easily defeated Duke at home (the Blue Devils themselves had excuses as they were without big forward Ryan Kelly). The Wolfpack are 1-7 now in the game immediately after they now defeat one of their big ACC rivals.
So whilst on paper the results may be a surprise, they should not necessarily qualify for an upset.
Tonight, we have another one of those maybe games when #5 Michigan travel to #9 Minnesota for another huge Big 10 clash. The Big Ten has got a huge game every night now, seemingly the strength of the conference is more stronger in Basketball terms than Football at the moment.
Michigan are 16-1 having suffered their first loss of the season at Ohio State on Sunday 56-53, where they shot a season-worst 38.3% from the floor and had 13 turnovers. Minnesota are 15-2, themselves also coming off a loss to Indiana 88-81, in what many considered the best performance by the Hoosiers all season. However, Indiana followed that up with a loss at home to Wisconsin as noted above. Therefore, both sides are in need of getting back into the winning habit.
Where will this game be won? Well expect a lot of physicality from the Golden Gophers, Tubby Smith's side led by Trevor Mbakwe who has 8 rebounds a game, and led by Andre Hollins and Rodney Williams who both hit double digits regularly. Much like Ohio State did also, was attempt to stifle Trey Burke who shot poorly and struggled to dish out dimes to his team-mate Tim Hardaway Jr.
Also, due to the physicality of the Golden Gophers, the Wolverines have to make sure they do not foul too often as Minnesota average over 20 trips to the foul-line. If Minnesota can force Burke to look for a pass instead of a shot, they may have half the job done. When a National Player of the Year is not doing his job of leading from the front then the team ethic of the Gophers may have a chance to shine.
Expect a close contest with winner lucky to hit over 70 points, but if the Gophers win, will it be considered and upset? Or just another indicator that the Big 10 is the best conference in College Basketball this season?
Follow me on twitter @1amsports
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