all i can say is

WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT TEAM THAT PLAYED TONIGHT

that was the team that we though we would see from the jump.


I think a few things have happened to make them better. I am not a basketball guy so if you are and I am wrong feel free to point it out.

1) I like the zone and then the man switch Defense. It seems to help keep the ball outside and more importantly it's keeping the explosive players like Ivey from taking over games.

2) obviously they are playing with more fire but the offense is running through Hunter and it's showing.

3) shots are falling. At times earlier in the year it just felt like nothing was going in the basket.

4) the box score might not show it (although it will tonight) but I think Diabate and Houstan are playing meaningful minutes. There was a stretch early in the game tonight where I think Moussa scored 10 in a row and kind of took over. Michigan needs that kind of play from those two.

5) they looked to slow things down a lot and I really liked that because the run and gun that I thought that they would be so good at in the beginning of the year has not been working. Mostly because of Jones and their TOs. I was wrong and I'm glad they've figured out their playset.

Terrance Williams showed up tonight as did Houstan. Brooks must gave has some drop early because he was a different guy tonight

Great performance. Best by Michigan against a good team since??? I'm not sure when. There's a saying that you are never as bad as you think after a bad outing or as good as you think after a great outing. We were helped by the early foul trouble on The Purdue big, who only played something like 5 minutes in the first half. Also Purdue was coming off having just beaten us on Saturday and a huge win over Illinois on Tues, so a let down was probably in the cards.

It did tell me that Purdue is not a good pick to reach the final 4 as their defense is not good (statistics reflect that on the season). Almost all of our 3s were on wide open looks and as a defense you cannot allow that. In addition we had how many dunks and lay-ups?

On the positive side though our defense was as good as it has been all year and that is what will be pivotal in keeping us in games when opponents do guard us.

wshoes wrote:

Great performance. Best by Michigan against a good team since??? I'm not sure when. There's a saying that you are never as bad as you think after a bad outing or as good as you think after a great outing. We were helped by the early foul trouble on The Purdue big, who only played something like 5 minutes in the first half. Also Purdue was coming off having just beaten us on Saturday and a huge win over Illinois on Tues, so a let down was probably in the cards.

It did tell me that Purdue is not a good pick to reach the final 4 as their defense is not good (statistics reflect that on the season). Almost all of our 3s were on wide open looks and as a defense you cannot allow that. In addition we had how many dunks and lay-ups?

On the positive side though our defense was as good as it has been all year and that is what will be pivotal in keeping us in games when opponents do guard us.

I was thinking about Edy getting in foul trouble. Trevian Williams was as good or better than Edy could be. He made some fantastic, often unreal, plays and shots. I know Purdont fans will complain but I think it is moot.

Your comment about Purdue not making the final 4 is interesting. Earlier in your comment you stated you are not as good as it looked or you are not as bad as you looked. For this game think about Purdue. They are not as bad as they looked last night. It happens.

wshoes wrote:

Great performance. Best by Michigan against a good team since??? I'm not sure when.

When UM blew out Wisconsin last year. That was a good wisconsin team and Michigan made them look like a girls JV team. I think they were up by 40 at one point.

wshoes wrote:

It did tell me that Purdue is not a good pick to reach the final 4 as their defense is not good (statistics reflect that on the season). Almost all of our 3s were on wide open looks and as a defense you cannot allow that. In addition we had how many dunks and lay-ups?

Funny because I made this comment last night about Purdue not having a final four defense. It's a good point.

joe wrote:

I was thinking about Edy getting in foul trouble. Trevian Williams was as good or better than Edy could be. He made some fantastic, often unreal, plays and shots. I know Purdont fans will complain but I think it is moot.

This is a great point because Williams was going toe-to-toe with Hunter at one point and the switches that Moussa and Johns Jr were on him were a total mismatch.



Complete team effort but I gotta give Brooks the game ball because he was huge in holding Ivey to 7 second half points. keeping Ivey out of rhythm was a big key in winning that game.

Let's hope Juwan and the boys can roll this momentum into the next game!!!



Also, one more thing, does Michigan have the best bench celebration in the country? Those practice squad 3rd stringers are hilarious. I think I saw one kid pass out and get cpr to revive him after a huge Brooks 3 pt shot.