Michigan 61 Ohio St. 65
That's the final line for the game but it doesn't nearly tell the story of Michigan once again fumbling away their chances of making it into the tourny. Throughout the game Michigan was streaky, dropping 8 to 10 point runs then not scoring for a few minutes, than dropping another run. ESPN.com's box score shows it the best, look at the points graph they have and notice how the Wolverines flatlined at 61 and did not score a point in the final 3:54 seconds. In fact the only point they scored after the last tv-timeout was an AND-1 free throw by Courtney Sims immediately following the commercial break. Solid job Michigan.
Unfortunately that doesn't even tell the whole story. Down the stretch the Wolverines had plenty of opportunities to score. They missed an open three with the score tied at 61. Courtney Sims missed an open dunk down by 2 with a minute and half to go. Then Dion Harris missed the front end of a 1 and 1 down by two with 48 seconds to go. Than they held up on defense forced an unintelligent three pointer, but every player on their roster flocked to box out Greg Oden allowing Ivan Harris to easily gobble up the clinching offensive rebound with 17 seconds left. So instead of capatalizing on a 6 point lead with 3 and change to go and knock off the #1 team in the country, a huge rival, the Wolverines gagged and now need to pull off some miracle in the Big 10 tournament in order to get in.
I might have been a bit harsh in calling for Amaker's head. But the fact remains, in his 6th season the Wolverines are knocking on the door for yet another NIT trip. This roster is full of seniors and experience. Their top 4 scorers are seniors, two of them are 5th year seniors. If you can't get this roster into the tournament, then when in the future should I expect the Wolverines to dance. This season is exactly how the past 6 have gone. The Wolverines never pull off the dramatic upset, they always stink on the road but are good at home, they always lose in the ACC Big 10 challenge, they beat a ton of bum teams to start the year, and the limp to a .500 record in the Big 10 despite having enough talent to succeed. And this year unlike past seasons the Wolverines have been almost completely healthy and can't use that as an excuse. This week they'll knock off Minnesota on thursday and promptly get drubbed by Wisconsin in round 2 and then off to the NIT they will go. You had your golden opportunity this weekend Tommy and you choked it away.
That's the final line for the game but it doesn't nearly tell the story of Michigan once again fumbling away their chances of making it into the tourny. Throughout the game Michigan was streaky, dropping 8 to 10 point runs then not scoring for a few minutes, than dropping another run. ESPN.com's box score shows it the best, look at the points graph they have and notice how the Wolverines flatlined at 61 and did not score a point in the final 3:54 seconds. In fact the only point they scored after the last tv-timeout was an AND-1 free throw by Courtney Sims immediately following the commercial break. Solid job Michigan.Unfortunately that doesn't even tell the whole story. Down the stretch the Wolverines had plenty of opportunities to score. They missed an open three with the score tied at 61. Courtney Sims missed an open dunk down by 2 with a minute and half to go. Then Dion Harris missed the front end of a 1 and 1 down by two with 48 seconds to go. Than they held up on defense forced an unintelligent three pointer, but every player on their roster flocked to box out Greg Oden allowing Ivan Harris to easily gobble up the clinching offensive rebound with 17 seconds left. So instead of capatalizing on a 6 point lead with 3 and change to go and knock off the #1 team in the country, a huge rival, the Wolverines gagged and now need to pull off some miracle in the Big 10 tournament in order to get in.
I might have been a bit harsh in calling for Amaker's head. But the fact remains, in his 6th season the Wolverines are knocking on the door for yet another NIT trip. This roster is full of seniors and experience. Their top 4 scorers are seniors, two of them are 5th year seniors. If you can't get this roster into the tournament, then when in the future should I expect the Wolverines to dance. This season is exactly how the past 6 have gone. The Wolverines never pull off the dramatic upset, they always stink on the road but are good at home, they always lose in the ACC Big 10 challenge, they beat a ton of bum teams to start the year, and the limp to a .500 record in the Big 10 despite having enough talent to succeed. And this year unlike past seasons the Wolverines have been almost completely healthy and can't use that as an excuse. This week they'll knock off Minnesota on thursday and promptly get drubbed by Wisconsin in round 2 and then off to the NIT they will go. You had your golden opportunity this weekend Tommy and you choked it away.
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