Weekend Roundup, Hold the Phone Edition: March 9, 2009
/I have fallen victim to another social network, so it is with great malaise that I utter type these words: FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER. I digress...
Huge win. Colossal win. Program making win. While you can't say that Michigan did everything they could in the Big Ten to make the NCAA Tournament, you can say that they did everything they could on Saturday. It was gritty, gutsy, clutch, and any other word you can come up with that portrays a comeback when all, including the season itself, looked lost. On the road, against a team that needed it and wanted it as much as we did, we showed that we belong...that we are better. You cannot take the Gophers and not take us.
And if you could somehow take out that loss at Iowa, when Manny was pulled for the duration of the overtime collapse, when we were certain we were NIT bound, then it would be time to talk seeds...to dream of brackets. But we lost that game. And because we lost that game we cannot rest on our laurels. This team, with their new found focus and "us against the world" attitude, needs to shut off ESPN this week. They don't need to see that we are no longer appearing as the last four in or the last four out, and that as far as Joe Lunardi and the rest of the world is concerned, Michigan is a lock to return to the dance.
The problem is, I don't think we are. Some say seven, and perhaps as many as eight, teams will be in from the Big Ten. But would it be the biggest surprise in Selection Sunday history if they only took six...or even five? Despite the out of conference record of the bulk of us, I can't help but think that some bean counters from the selection committee saw Penn State vs. Illinois and said, as we all probably did, "hey, that's some shitty basketball." And that's fine. But if that is the case, then to be certain a week from tonight that Bill Martin will get a call before 8pm we have games yet to win. We need to be playing on Saturday.
The rest of the internets that you missed while combining nipples and beer.
- Someday, somebody will realize that there are more Michigan bloggers than there are other college sports bloggers combined. And guess what? 9 out of 10 of them are really f'n good. And while I myself am probably #10 in that gorilla math survey, it doesn't stop me from admiring the rest of the M-'sphere. Before the Minnesota game, Dex of the Wolverine Liberation Army took us back to his youth, and a time of extreme youth in Michigan Basketball history. More impressively, he does it without a single reference to fornication, which is odd for a man that can only be described as the Peter North of Cover it Live.
- MVictors covers a great man in Michigan history, Red Simmons. I spent a couple of seasons about two rows behind Red at Michigan Basketball games. Red was there before me. Red left after me. And Red fielded fans throughout the game coming to catch a glimpse of a Michigan icon. Seriously...he was hired by Fritz Crisler.
- Dylan offers up the Big Ten tournament bracket There's not a team in our half that we haven't beaten. There's also not a team in our half that hasn't beaten us. Iowa Thursday + Illinois Friday + Purdue Saturday = Dancing the following Thursday.
- Fanhouse says that Michigan State is in a class of their own. Fill in your own "class-less" joke of your own, and be sure to include riots and couch burning. Then remember that this is MSU's first outright Big Ten championship in 10 years. Ha.
- This year's spring game is what the media calls "intriguing."
