We Are the Ones Who Knock

Julie Jacobson / AP

If ever there were a Big Ten Championship game that was tough to get up for, it was this one.  As much as a matching banner and Purdue revenge were unchecked boxes on the to do list, the previous afternoon felt so good, it would be tough to feel better.

But we do.

After dodging a bullet on Thursday, Michigan manhandled three of the top four seeds of the Big Ten en route to back-to-back Big Ten tournament championships.  

We have reached that point in the season where we all start to doubt John Beilein’s team. Apologies will start just a few weeks later.

— umtailgate (@umtailgate) February 7, 2018

The team you punched a wall about less than a month ago just cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden.  The team you wrote off into a "maybe next year" scenario is the only team to have beaten every one of the other 13 Big Ten teams at least once.  Some, like Michigan State, they beat twice.  The team you questioned even as recently as this week, wondering if they could upset some of the top tier teams in the Big Ten and make a run at a banner, has dominated.  And they were not upsets.  Michigan was the team to beat.  Michigan was the aggressor.  They are the ones who knock.

Wagner was named "Most Outstanding Player" of the Big Ten tournament, but Moe insists the award belongs to his teammates.  And he is most certainly correct.  Jon Teske was the man on Thursday, filling in for Wagner when he got into foul trouble, and again today, when he actually had more minutes than Moe, as Coach Beilein tried to throw every option he could at Purdue's mutant Ivan Drago.  

Mutant Ivan still had 23 points on 9-12 shooting.  HOWEVA, Teske and Wagner combined for 31, so there's that.  Zavier Simpson has gone from being benched early in the season for PG by committee to on the cusp of a Burke or a Walton (minus FT%).  He became a focus of a few timely articles, and all are worth a read:

• Zavier Simpson: Michigan's alpha dog
• Michigan's Zavier Simpson ready for Cassius Winston, Michigan State
• The story of Zavier Simpson and the defensive dogs of Michigan

That last one is behind the paywall at The Athletic, but you should throws those folks some cash, they make a good product.

Anyway, seems like X could become that tournament guy we've been looking for, but the truth is, there are so many role players on this team that can carry them a game, a round, or even to San Antonio.  

Some questions remain:  Will free throws eventually bite us in the ass?  Can we just practice free throws continuously until the tournament?  What will be the effects of this long layoff?  If we play in Detroit instead of Sparty, will they cry for a week, a month, or forever #disrespekt?

Well, we've got 11 or 12 long days to find the answers.  For now, enjoy the championship, and hope that we don't cool off too much in a fortnight.  

Oh, and get yourself in a bracket picking mindset, the field is released in a week (so weird that it's not tonight...friggin' Delaney) and it will be time for the 19th Annual UMTailgate.com tournament challenge.

Congratulations to @umichbball for taking the 2018 @bigten Conference Men’s Basketball Championship!! We’ll be shining in their colors for the rest of the night to celebrate! #B1GChampions #B1GTourney #goblue

A post shared by Empire State Building (@empirestatebldg) on Mar 4, 2018 at 3:54pm PST

Go Blue Forever

Outright? Please Exit Left.

NYPost.com

There's something different about watching Michigan play Michigan State, at least for me.  I grew up in an era of complete dominance of Michigan over all things Sparty, and I had the same nervousness then that I get today.  In short, I can handle a Michigan loss, but I just absolutely despise when there's a Michigan State win.  They used to be few and far between, but these days they are a slightly more frequent, and I have a real deep hatred that comes out when it happens.  So I am filled with angst and turn to superstitions as the game progresses.  No relaxing or celebrating until 0:00.

When your life work is just trying to be relevant, to just get noticed outside of the Lansing State journal, your demeanor in victory (or even in defeat) is so off-putting.  Sparty's love to elbow you in the ribs after a win...or even a Sportscenter Highlight, "Hey! How about them Spartan's?  Big win bro," "How about them Spartans?  Did you see that dunk on SVP's Top 10 last Thursday?  Killin' it bro."  Every interaction with them feels like a little kid coming at you with "Are we relevant now?" "OK, how about now?" "And now?"

The best thing that's happened to Michigan State athletics in the past 3 years is Harbaugh sub-tweeting at Dantonio.

Saw Coach D comments on continuing to "focus" on how "he" can beat Michigan. Congrats on turning around a 3-9 team, plagued with off field issues. Good for BIG to have him back.

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) December 4, 2017

It's as relevant as they had ever been until they harbored a rapist for 20 years and ran two athletic teams rife with sexual assaults.

The Michigan Basketball team however, seems to be able to treat it like any other game.  They're business-like dismantling of Michigan State looked like any other Michigan game this year against any other opponent, including their previous whooping of the Spartans in the Nasser Center.  To be honest, though Michigan had trouble hitting some open looks, I felt like they were more open than they've been in most games.  What I'm saying is that they could have won by a lot more.  Smart, well-coached basketball is kryptonite for Izzo and his group of underachievers.

I said it coming into the game, and it's clear after the game:  Michigan is the better team.  The Spartan's lucked their way through so many crap games this year that it's difficult to remember when they have played well.  The reality is, Michigan needs to play better, both in order to repeat as Big Ten Tournament Champions, and to make a run in the tournament.  They need to know that Sparty is not the benchmark, and there will be more difficult matchups ahead with teams with similar talent to MSU but that actually play well and are well coached.

Also, let's finish this shit tomorrow and hang a banner.

Go Blue

Big Beat Red

Beilein:  Hey Tom, what's a good place for steak in East Lansing?

Tom:  Sorry John, we only talk about basketball.

Beilein:  How about you John?

John Engler:  Sorry John, we only talk about basketball.

As the second half progressed, I kept waiting for that Cornhusker run, especially with the momentum they seemed to close out the first half with.  In Michigan-speak a "Cornhusker run" means that I was waiting for the Wolverines to go 5+ minutes without scoring.  I've reached a point where I expect it, and I can handle it (somewhat) with an elevated heart rate and clenched fists.

But threes kept falling.  And when they weren't, Michigan was finding easy baskets or getting second chances by way of offensive rebounds.  As much as everything seemed wrong yesterday and the score made no sense, everything went right today and the score made no sense.  It felt like Michigan won by 50...even though it strayed into single digits a few times late.

The Wolverines advance to play the Spartans, who haven't lost since January 13th.  I think you remember January 13th.  Anyway, 2pm tomorrow.  I'm remaining humble.  No trash until the business is done.

Shower Thoughts:  There's only three commercials on the Big Ten Network: Duluth Underwear, Michael B. Jordan and Stone Cold Steve Austin blow up a cable box, and mops.  Not sure how that's sustaining a network, but I can only assume they are cutting costs by not paying their announcers.  They are getting what they pay for. 

Go Blue

We Almost Had Two Weeks Off

It's tough to beat any team 3 times.  We were starting cold...Iowa played last night.  Iowa shot the lights out in the first half.  Mo fouled out.  Rahk fouled out.  We couldn't hit free throws, going 18-32 from the line.  We couldn't hit a three, going 3-19 from deep.  Matthews blew some bunnies.  We were out-rebounded.  We got in foul trouble.

And the cherry on top?  Zavier had one of those 5-second calls that have to be followed by a game tying 3...and the basketball gods obliged for Iowa, sending the game to OT.

In OT, a Duncan Robinson three was the ONLY field goal made by the Wolverines in the entire 5 minutes.  And despite all of these things...and it looked even worse than the sum of those things mind you...Michigan managed to win by 6.

It made no sense.  A little of this, a little of that, a little Teske, a dunk by Poole.  But it was not enough, except that it was.  Weird.  I don't know how they won, and neither do they.

So it's revenge time with Nebraska.  This is not going to be easy, and despite the fact they are the 4 and we are the 5, the fact remains that we are in the dance and they are not.  They need this, we do not.  The only motivation Michigan has going for it is that Nebrasketball handed us our ass in Lincoln.  That and the bullshit 1997 Coaches Poll.

Way Back When-sday Pic of the Week

November 17, 2007 - Not sure who shit in Justin's cereal, but me and the ladies couldn't be happier.  Maybe he knew what was coming, a 14-3 loss to the Buckeyes in a festival of frustration.  Man, I miss that tuft of hair I once had. 

Flashback to the game page here: Ohio State 2007