Some opinions here, please...

Perhaps I'm being extremely naïve, but what would be terribly wrong with coach Howard ("partially") THROWING the game?  Start the starters and play them for TEN MINUTES, then empty the bench, final score be damned?

We have nothing really to play for, with the B1G regular season title and B1G tournament top seed in our pocket, and unless we tank in the conf. tourney (lose first game), an NCAA one-seed as well.

It just troubles me that should we go all-out to earn a Sparty Sweep, a turned ankle by any of the starters might not be nearly as innocuous as Isaiah's apparently was. And Izzo's Idiots' next nasty elbow might break Franz's or someone else's nose, rather than merely earning a Flagrant-1 (Illini star guard Ayo Dosunmu sustained his facial injury against---WHOM?). And countless other injuries incidental to the game of basketball could hit us at any time.

I see our circumstance as similar to that of an NFL team with a regular-season game to play, having already clinched homefield advantage throughout (unless of course they're working toward a perfect record, which we aren't).

Thoughts?

Mike, I have been thinking the same thing, though I was thinking more along the lines of just playing the starters in the 20-25 minute range as opposed to the more usual (except for center), 33-35 minutes. I'd be OK with your approach though.

No way. It would be the height of arrogance to not bring it all to a MSU game. Plus, dogging it in the last game of the season is no way to get ready for tournament play.

1st things 1st its in sparty ville so its going to be a bloodbath. 2nd michigan won't want toquit against the Sparty. I understand the concept rest and recover, but its going to be hard to back off and live with it being that its MSU. 3rd it could mean MSU not making the dance Michigan would be happier than hell to be the cause of that. I think the only reason this was even scheduled this way was to give sparty a chance to get into the NCAA, Michigan had nothing to gain with playing MSU back to back

To set the record straight, I'd be 1000% for stomping Sparty into the NIT...IF I were given a failsafe, water-tight GUARANTEE of no injuries to our key personnel.

The most important four weeks of college basketball's season are about to begin. And I've heard and read too many times (including from our legendary Bo in his book) coaches regretfully asking, "WHY didn't we hold him out of this game?"  "If only he hadn't been in the game so late..."

And if ANYONE honestly believes a win tomorrow matters more than the NCAA tournament---I won't waste my time responding to such lunacy.

MSU will be all out, assuming they must win. We just finished celebrating a conference championship. Incredibly (to me), the analyst consensus is that the Thur game was officiated too tightly (which is BS, we got fouled on every single drive to the hoop).

Tomorrow is going to be MSU bully-ball to the max. I want very much to win, and don't suggest less than top effort by each player when on the floor, but I do think limiting minutes makes sense. Johns Jr, and Zeb Jackson and Williams could all use more court time because due to fouls or injuries, we may really need one or more of them in the tourney

dwoody wrote:

No way. It would be the height of arrogance to not bring it all to a MSU game. Plus, dogging it in the last game of the season is no way to get ready for tournament play.

All of this ^^^

the artist formally known wrote:

1st things 1st its in sparty ville so its going to be a bloodbath. 2nd michigan won't want toquit against the Sparty. I understand the concept rest and recover, but its going to be hard to back off and live with it being that its MSU. 3rd it could mean MSU not making the dance Michigan would be happier than hell to be the cause of that. I think the only reason this was even scheduled this way was to give sparty a chance to get into the NCAA, Michigan had nothing to gain with playing MSU back to back

All of this ^^^

...wshoes wrote:

...MSU will be all out, assuming they must win....

...Johns Jr, and Zeb Jackson and Williams could all use more court time because due to fouls or injuries, we may really need one or more of them in the tourney...

This ^^^


I also want to point out that while UM is pretty much a lock at this point to get a #1 seed there is a difference in the regions for the #2, #3 and #4 overall seed. The #3 and #4 seeds are going to be in tougher brackets. If UM has a chance to play all out and win impressively and Baylor stumbles along the way then Juwan is going to play for that #2 overall.

I also want to touch back on something I said in a previous post. These two games  against sparty are going to set the tone for the rivalry for the next two years. Juwan can really start to turn the tide in the rivalry because based on the rosters as they stand now and the recruits that both teams are getting Michigan should be better team through 2023.

I say they keep the foot on the pedal and play all out against sparty.

Shoes, I was disgusted with the officiating Thursday. We may have gotten fouled but the refs completely took that game over.

The first 4 fouls they called, 2 on us and 2 on them, were all bullshit calls. There was absolutely no continuity to the game. And it wasn't sparties fault.

I thought it was horrendous start to finish.

joe wrote:

Shoes, I was disgusted with the officiating Thursday. We may have gotten fouled but the refs completely took that game over.

The first 4 fouls they called, 2 on us and 2 on them, were all bullshit calls. There was absolutely no continuity to the game. And it wasn't sparties fault.

I thought it was horrendous start to finish.

Joe, I'd have to go back and look at those four fouls specifically, but on nearly every drive to the basket we took and for that matter every contested rebound, MSU bodied or hacked us. Franz' frustration was very visible in this respect. We want guys to drive inside to get to the hoop but when they get fouled and it isn't called, there is a concern that they start settling for outside shots. MSU basketball defense is a bit like their pass defense in football: they foul on every play knowing the officials won't call all of them.

Brooks goes down. Rolled his ankle. Let's hope it's not too severe.