Anyone can get hot now and win the whole thing. Here’s the case for Michigan folks to stay calm & confident:
In order for Michigan to lose, we know that 2 of 3 things have to happen — and usually all three.
1. The opponent is on 🔥 (and/or has the talent of Duke). Wisconsin couldn’t miss in its W over Michigan. Rapp couldn’t miss this weekend and they still didn’t pull it off. TKR, Cluff, Smith & Loyer all got to their spots and converted on a combined 27/45 (60%) I’m Purdue’s win yesterday. In their loss to Michigan, those four shot a combined 20/49 (41%). Michigan had a lot to do with it, and yesterday they didn’t contest shots as well, and Purdue was on fire. You have to be on fire to even have a chance at beating Michigan. No pressure.
2. Michigan is off. Michigan couldn’t hit a shot against Duke, got cold in its loss to Wisconsin & missed key opportunities offensively yesterday. I wouldn’t say Michigan was necessarily “off” yesterday, so Purdue is the one exception, however points #1 and #3 here are why Michigan lost the Purdue game…
3. Michigan doesn’t adjust to the officiating. Sometimes refs call everything. Sometimes refs call nothing. Dusty mentioned it in his presser that rather than blaming officiating, they need to adjust to how the game is being called. Michigan let Purdue out physical them down low. They allowed deep entry passes, and they didn’t contest shots in the paint, as if they were afraid to get into foul trouble. We all know nobody was at risk of being fouled out yesterday. Michigan needed to adjust. And on the flip side, Mara & Morez being in foul trouble contributed to the loss to Duke. They need to understand and adapt to how the game’s being officiated. They can’t have Nickel Dimers ™️ but also have to walk that fine line of being physical and contesting as much as possible.
If Michigan makes life miserable for opponent offenses like it usually does, and adjusts to the way the game is being officiated, I don’t see them having any trouble until the final four. And if they get hot, I don’t see them having trouble at all.
I also get the vibe that Dusty was experimenting with different ways to attack with different lineups and will continue to do so through the first game of the tournament.
Kash Patel might be the most useless bastard ever. It took a “independent journalist” streamer to hack into the democrat system to expose their “protests” and he’s just catching up. Again why are we paying taxes