Michigan

[Shooter McGavin]

That game with UConn was in Boston.

Yes.  I did not mean to imply it was on their home court. 

Worded poorly.

[GoldenEagles03]

Not sure who wins, but I'm guessing the final stays within a 5 point margin of victory for whoever wins.

Look forward to seeing if we "belong".

[JakeBarnes]

Feeling the nerves this afternoon.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Josh Clark plays well, but struggles.

[brewcity77]

I think tonight all comes down to the extra possession battle.

We're top-11 in offensive and defensive turnover rate. Michigan isn't great in either regard, and while Cadeau probably won't stay at his current 37% TO rate, he's never been a great ball protector. We should be able to turn them over and shouldn't be at a terrible risk of them returning the favor.

Rebounding wise, we've been dominant on the offensive glass while Michigan isn't providing much resistance defensively. On the other end, they're good not great on the offensive glass, we're average on the defensive glass (huge improvement over our usual god awful). Can our bigs create extra chances and hang with their front court, or are our numbers inflated by the level of competition we've seen?

If we can win the turnovers and hold our own on the glass, I think we get the win.

[K1 Lover]

Let's pray Josh's performance tonight doesn't look anywhere near as bad as the hand in this image.

[Shooter McGavin]

NM

[Newsdreams]

I intentionally brought my championship blue today.

They have all lived in Ann Arbor since the 80s, and never had any connection to Marquette until meeting me.

Except for the peninsula

[SoCalEagle]

Nigel activates his glutes, puts in 20+ points.
Fru's going to get a double double.
Josh Clark plays well, but struggles.
Adrian hits several three pointers.
Royce carves up the middle.
Ian leads the bench in EGBs.

MU by 3.

If all this happens we better win by more than three.

[willie warrior]

Michigan is evil and must be destroyed!

we must change the Lake Michigan to Lake Wisconsin. Or compromise and change it to Lake Marquette.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Alex comes in and plays like a beast scoring 20 points. Clark scores 18 with 3 blocks.

[Uncle Rico]

we must change the Lake Michigan to Lake Wisconsin. Or compromise and change it to Lake Marquette.

Renaming lakes is for low IQ mouthbreathers

[The Sultan]

Renaming lakes is for low IQ mouthbreathers

Did you forget who you were responding to?

[wadesworld]

Hope Nigel only took the first half spread and not full game.

Otherwise about what I expected. Fru getting 2 fouls hurt a lot. Pick and roll coverage with him on the bench is...problematic at best.

[SoCalEagle]

Those 3s are gonna kill is.

[GoldenEagles03]

Not sure who wins, but I'm guessing the final stays within a 5 point margin of victory for whoever wins.

Look forward to seeing if we "belong".

Narrator: Tonight, we did not belong.

Hopefully that changes by Sunday.

[🏀]

Nigel activates his glutes, puts in 20+ points.
Fru's going to get a double double.
Josh Clark plays well, but struggles.
Adrian hits several three pointers.
Royce carves up the middle.
Ian leads the bench in EGBs.

MU by 3.

This wasn't a list. It was a Choose Your Own Adventure.

Marquette by 3? That meant Marquette players home by 3am.

[CountryRoads]

Thankfully it only counts as one loss.

[brewcity77]

I think tonight all comes down to the extra possession battle.

We're top-11 in offensive and defensive turnover rate. Michigan isn't great in either regard, and while Cadeau probably won't stay at his current 37% TO rate, he's never been a great ball protector. We should be able to turn them over and shouldn't be at a terrible risk of them returning the favor.

Rebounding wise, we've been dominant on the offensive glass while Michigan isn't providing much resistance defensively. On the other end, they're good not great on the offensive glass, we're average on the defensive glass (huge improvement over our usual god awful). Can our bigs create extra chances and hang with their front court, or are our numbers inflated by the level of competition we've seen?

If we can win the turnovers and hold our own on the glass, I think we get the win.

This aged poorly. Won on turnovers, but lost points off turnovers. Had more offensive boards, but lost OR% rate.

Why? Murdered on eFG%. 60.5 to 43.7, despite 9 more FGA. Ouch.

[wadesworld]

This aged poorly. Won on turnovers, but lost points off turnovers. Had more offensive boards, but lost OR% rate.

Why? Murdered on eFG%. 60.5 to 43.7, despite 9 more FGA. Ouch.

What were the total rebounding and offensive rebounding % for each team?

[DoctorV]

This aged poorly. Won on turnovers, but lost points off turnovers. Had more offensive boards, but lost OR% rate.

Why? Murdered on eFG%. 60.5 to 43.7, despite 9 more FGA. Ouch.

Alls this to say that Marquette looked like crape.

Forget the stats, the eyes told the story.

That should have been a 30+ point loss for Marquette, easily. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the box score and saw that MU made more 3s than Michigan.

There were several times during the game where I thought to myself that Marquette was very lucky because Michigan was not capitalizing and should have blown the doors wide open much worse.

Unfortunate, but it's what I saw. Marquette couldn't get inside, couldn't get an easy shot, and when it did they missed. It's two best players were cheeks tonight. Confidence was shot. They never even huddled. Communication was poor. Body language brutal. No one smiled, no one looked like they had fun, even when they made a great run early. They seemed outmatched in the post like last season and often times a step too slow.

The entire building knew they were cooked, overmatched, and had little to no chance or the firepower to compete.

Very unfortunate and caught me by complete surprise. Short of a miraculous shooting night from gutsy Colin and a nice game from Adrien they lose by 30/35+

Sunday is a new day, and I'll be there again to witness it. Despite everything I said above, the narrative will hopefully change on Sunday.

PS- I had a wonderful time with my son despite the performance. The crowd and staff were great, they gave him a certificate for his first UM game and it was an overall positive experience, and that's all you can ask for.

On the way out I took him to meet Nigel's parents and that was worth its weight in gold, because not only did it make him smile when he told them that he loved Nigel and that he is amazing, but it also made them smile despite the tough night.

He comes from great, and salt of the Earth parents. That makes me completely confident he will be back to himself in no time.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that the pressure is immense, and much worse because of the $. I know, everything thinks cry me a river he will be fine with all that money, but it's not that simple. Kid wants to make so many people proud, including Marquette nation, his parents, and himself, and that money is secondary to lifting that burden, I promise you.