FINAL SCORE: 51-34 Badgers. That's as close to a high school game as you'll see a Big Ten game come; no wonder no one respects the Big Ten conference. Michigan must've shot less than 20% on the game for field goals, and...really, there's no way to describe that game other than by that stat. Wisconsin played badly and still scored 50% more points than we did. I don't know what words to use to talk about how Michigan plays; it isn't that they don't have the talent to win these kinds of games--they do--and it isn't that Beilein is a bad coach--he isn't. I'm not sure if it's that they aren't confident. But they do little dumb things. They pass to two teammates who are next to each other and neither one tries to grab it. They pass up good shots and take dumb ones. They play hard on defense and then leave somebody uncovered for an easy basket. I think that once Beilein gets smarter players things will be better. The only thing I can think of is that Amaker recruited about the dumbest guys in the world. Let's not knock the offers to Stu, Cronin, and Novak; they might just introduce the kind of intelligence you need to win in the Big Ten.
1:51 -- Now Bo Ryan brings out the former team manager whom Lavin describes as a "pepper pot deluxe" after Gibson throws up the air-ball three.
1:50 -- Nice way to finish the season: Bo Ryan sends in his freshmen back-up types with a minute and a half to go. I've never seen a Michigan game this bad.
1:44 -- Wisconsin gets two offensive rebounds and a possession lasting nearly (edit: MORE than) a minute, and ends up on the line. Michigan falling apart.
1:41 -- Grady passes up a wide-open lay-up that he skillfully created and passes to Harris, who clangs the three.
1:40 -- The hole gets deeper as Michigan continues its remarkably cold shooting and Wisconsin chips away. 46-32.
1:34 -- Anthony Wright continues to be our only real scorer, horrifically. Three-ball, cuts the lead to 10.
1:31 -- Ron Coleman's contribution: committing a foul on what should have been an easy rebound, then helpfully complaining to the ref. NOT gonna miss him next year. Thank you again, Tommy Amaker.
1:28 -- Gibson is apparently becoming a monster. A good inlet pass leads to an ALMOST Zach Gibson 3-point play, but he barely misses the shot. He hits 1 of 2. Nine-point lead, 38-29.
1:27 -- Gibson gets the great block!
1:18 -- Some foul trouble starting to emerge for Wisconsin. Merritt draws the foul on a good drive and shoots 2, drains 2. 37-28, Badgers.
1:16 -- GEEZ Wright is a good shooter. Another deep three-ball.
1:13 -- Out of control, Lee throws up a bad lay-up and Wisconsin returns for the pretty transition pass and monster jam. Score: 35-23 Badgers, with Wisconsin on a 9-0 run after Michigan's opening 5-0 run. Beilein calls timeout.
1:09 -- Commercial break. DeShawn Sims goes soft to the basket and gets the ball rejected right to a fast-breaking Wisconsin player, but M slows them up. Ant Wright deflects a cross-court pass out of bounds. I think that guy is going to be good for us going into the future.
1:07 -- The inevitable answer, and the lead is back to 8. Michigan needs to tighten up their D now. Harris's offensive struggles continue...he just missed his eighth shot straight.
1:04 -- OHH, WRIGHT! A trey from LONG distance lessens the lead to three.
1:03 -- LUCK! Ekpe Udoh drains 2 FTs! Six-point game.
FINAL THOUGHTS BEFORE SECOND HALF: Really no thoughts, just horror. Michigan shot 21%, according to Steve Lavin. Uhhhhh....
FIRST HALF THOUGHTS: Michigan's best assets: the refs and, evidently, the basketball gods, to an extent. Bo Ryan gets a totally unjustified technical, and nearly all questionable calls went Michigan's way, as well as some unquestionable calls that shouldn't have gone our way. Wisconsin's shooting, luckily, has been relatively poor. Blue's rebounding and defense has also been decent. The bad parts: turnovers and shooting. TOs aren't reaching Purdue Game Level yet, but they've been pretty bone-headed, and Manny Harris is again the worst offender. He, by the way, has only 4 points. It seems that a sort of Jordan Rules system works well against Michigan, since the rest of the team's offensive function is to pass around aimlessly until Harris takes a three or drives the lane. As for the shooting, Michigan has scored three treys...two by Gibson, known for his nearly statue-like coordination. I think our shooting is still below 30%...*shudder*. No Udoh blocks of any kind, but he did basically jump on top of someone, so that was cool.
SCORE AT HALF: Wisconsin 26, Michigan 18
12:44 -- LUCK! Sharpshooter Bohannon only hits one FT out of two.
12:42 -- Good work by Sims to grab his own rebound and draw the shooting foul in the last minute of the half. Makes one...two FTs. 25-18.
12:41 -- Gibson hits the three and has half of Michigan's points. Where am I?
12:40 -- Evidence against my "paying the refs" theory that I forgot: Zach Gibson is punched in the back and the foul is called, but Ekpe Udoh didn't get the same consideration when he got punched in the face. Racism!
12:38 -- Michigan commits the smart foul against the three point shooter. Great work. Trevon Hughes hits 3 to extend the lead to 25-13.
12:37 -- Paying the refs pays off again. Out of bounds "off Wisconsin."
12:34 -- Michigan timeout. Our shooting is, not to put too fine a point on it, about 5th Grade Girls' Team level right now. However, with a few exceptions, our defense and rebounding have been as good as one could reasonably expect. The problem with that is that we also needed to have as good an offensive performance as one could reasonably expect...and that hasn't happened. Still, it could be worse. And we do have SOME fans there, anyway...
12:33 -- Wisconsin extends the lead to 9, 22-13. BUT...we got a "Defense" chant going for Michigan. WHAT!?!?
12:32 -- Oh my. The refs umm...we might've paid them. Traveling called on Wisconsin.
12:30 -- Speaking of luck, Wisconsin commits their seventeen thousandth turnover.
12:29 -- AHHH!! Zach Gibson hits the three to signal the apocalypse!
12:28 -- Oohh...clarification. The fire was actually aimed at Butch, but the refs misjudged it and gave him a T anyway. Luck is on our side so far!
12:24 -- Fire from Bo Ryan's eyes engulfs a referee and he gets a technical foul as Michigan defends well and David Merritt (he's back!!!) gets a tough rebound. Impressed with Michigan's defending and rebounding, but their offense is just horrific so far. Eight turnovers, on pace for around 25 for the game. The scoring has picked up, however: 15-9.
12:18 -- NICE job by Lee to gain control and dish to Sims for the lay-in. 13-7.
12:17 -- GEEZ this game is ugly. Michigan gets the first points for ANYone in about 4 minutes. 10-5 bad guys. Oops, too soon...13-5.
12:11 -- Merciful commercial break. Did I say low-scoring game? Wisconsin's pace will put them at 80 points, Michigan's will put them at 24. I have to assume that's going to change, just hopefully not because Wisconsin's third string will be out in the first half. 10-3 Badgers.
12:10 -- Harris hits a three for Michigan's first points...after 4.5 minutes of play.
12:09 -- Yet ANOTHER turnover by Michigan right at the beginning of the possession, and 10 points for Wisconsin, all lay-ups.
12:07 -- Wow. Michigan offense gets worse. Wisconsin's 6 points are all lay-ups.
12:05 -- Amazing lay-up in transition for Wisconsin. Bad turnovers for Michigan, but good defense. Low scoring game so far probably helps Michigan as much as anything...4-0 Wisconsin.
12:02 -- Wisconsin wins the tip. Here we go!
PRE-GAME: It's time for another edition of Michigan basketball liveblogs here at TW2! Well, the Blue managed to win their 8-9 game against Iowa in Indianapolis yesterday, destroying Iowa in the first half. Both teams decided to call a cease-fire in the second half, a move one observer described as "Zzzzz," and another as, "death-defyingly boring." Today Michigan has a chance to prove that their 3-point loss at Wisconsin wasn't a fluke, but will most likely prove that they're still a team in progress. But hope springs eternal here at TW2, which is why I'm still talking about Michigan basketball and not (currently) crying. And with that!...
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