Sunday, March 07, 2010 - Drew Montag

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #21 (03/08/2010) – The (Merciful) End Of The Regular Season

The Week In Review

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, and they won one and lost one.  On Tuesday (03/02/2010), they beat to Minnesota 83-55 in Crisler Arena, then on Sunday (03/07/2010), they lost at (#11) Michigan State 64-48.  The win and loss leave Michigan with a final regular season record to 14-16 (7-11 in the Big Ten).  The Wolverines ended up tied for 7^th place.  They’re the #8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which starts next week.

The Minnesota game was Senior Night, and it went very well.  All three of the seniors played well, as did the whole team.  It was one of the better games Michigan has played this season, and they won convincingly.  It was fun to watch.

On the other hand, the Michigan State game was miserable.  MSU went on a couple runs, and Michigan couldn’t stop them.  Once they got the lead up to double digits, it was over, even though it was still in the 1^st half.

Oh yeah: I was not impressed when Coach Beileinstarted his regular lineup on Senior Night instead of the seniors.

Game And Individual Statistics

Once again, here are the “streamlined” stats.  If you want to see the full stats, check out MGoBlue.com for the Minnesotaand Michigan Stateboxscores.  Here are the highlights:

• Michigan shot very well in the Minnesota game, and reasonably well in the MSU game.  They just had too many turnovers in the MSU game.
• Michigan was outrebounded in both games.
• No one hit double figures in both games.  Three players (DeShawn Sims[23 points], Manny Harris[22], and Stu Douglass[10]) had double figures in the Minnesota game, but only one player (Zack Gibson[10 points]) hit double figures in the MSU game.  Think about that: the high scorer for UM in the MSU game had 10 points.  Sims had 9 points, and Harris had 4 points.  4 points.  Ugh.
• The bench actually helped out in both games: 15 points vs. Minnesota and 16 vs. MSU.

The Big Picture

It is still mathematically possible for Michigan to make it to the NIT.  With a record of 14-16, they would need to win 3 games in the Big Ten Tournament, and lose in the championship game.  If they win the championship game, they’ll go to the NCAA Tournament.  However, given how they’ve played all season, the most likely scenario is for them to play in the CBI (College Basketball Invitational).

Here’s the 2009-2010 schedule/results:

See my Big Ten Reportfor a complete rundown of the Big Ten last week, and the full schedule for the Big Ten Tournament.

The Upcoming Week

As you can see in the schedule above, Michigan plays in the Big Ten Tournament next week, in Indianapolis.  Their first game is on Thursday (03/11/2010, 2:30 p.m., ESPN2), they play the #9 seed, Iowa.  If they win, they get to play the #1 seed (Ohio State) on Friday at noon. Tune by, and cheer on the Wolverines.

Go Blue!

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