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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Michigan v. Louisville Open Thread

Michigan v. Louisville Open Thread

by | 146 Comments

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And before you bitch at me for stepping on Anne Laurie (again), it is her fault for posting right before the NCAA championship. So there.

I think I am going to end up rooting for Michigan, because I really like Beilein and unlike that douche canoe RichRod, he left the right way- when his contract was up and he never went around the state for years telling us he was a Mountaineer for life.

I kinda want to root for Louisville because of the Big East and because my sister and Johnny Unitas went there, but I think I am in the tank for Beilein. He’s a classy guy.

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I care nothing about basketball, but I lived in Michigan for a not-insignificant portion of my life, and have many friends who are still ther, or wish they were.

    So Wolverines! it is.

  2. 2.

    Msskwesq

    I agree Mr. Cole! I’m rooting for Michigan because I’m a Midwesterner and a Big 10 alum. (Iowa and Wisconsin). Go Blue!

  4. 4.

    Kathy

    Grew up as the spawn of Michigan Allumni and married to one. Plus I went to Vandy, which has improved but still not known as a sports school so I will be cheering for the Maize and Blue until I fall asleep, I mean seriously, who decided to broadcast this so late?

  5. 5.

    Schlemizel

    IIHF world championships going on in Ottowa. US beat Finland 3-0 earlier & will play Canada for the gold – Canada is currently crushing Russia 6-1.

    OH? Basketball? Be tough to top Michigan/Syracuse – those canary yellow unis against that bright orange could keep a person awake while waiting for the important 30 minutes they play the last 2 minutes of the game B-{D

  6. 6.

    Kathy

    The RichRod/Beilein comparison has a certain justice/karma. RichRod left W.Va as a douche, coached at Michigan as a douche and left in a blaze of failure. Beilein did it in the right way and is now playing for the National Championship.

  7. 7.

    marduk

    Go forth, Michigan, and careful to score a combined total of 138 points or more in your victory. For SPORT!

  8. 8.

    rda909

    Typical man. Stepping on the woman again, and with sports no less!

    Sort of like Obummer stepping all over Hillary in 2008. It was her turn, dammit! There should be a new group started here…BJUMA: Balloon Juice Unity, My Ass!

  9. 9.

    Groucho48

    About as bad a rendering of the national anthem as I’ve seen at a major sporting event.

  10. 10.

    Mark S.

    I think I’ll pull for Rick Pitino, who finally doesn’t look like he’s 26 years old!

  12. 12.

    Ed in NJ

    If Louisville wins, I collect $1288 for winning the office bracket pool. Would certainly ease the sting of the last week as a Rutgers alumnus and basketball fan.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @Kathy:

    Plus I went to Vandy, which has improved but still not known as a sports school

    What?!
    Has someone here never heard of The Jay Cutler?!

  14. 14.

    Lolis

    I am in first place in my work bracket thanks to Nate Silver. I was last place the previous two years because I picked teams based on my feelings about the city/state they were from. I have Louisville as winning the whole thing.

  15. 15.

    Todd

    Two degrees from Louisville, grew up in Louisville, live and work in Louisville.

    Go Cards!

  16. 16.

    max

    it is her fault for posting right before the NCAA championship

    Ping pong Table tennis? Jai-alai? Bowling?

    max
    [‘Foosball! That’s it, isn’t it?!’]

  19. 19.

    sb

    If the camera was any closer to the court, it would be in their jerseys. I swear, I’m getting seasick already.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    Stauskas, you have the slowest first step of any white person still currently ambulatory.

  26. 26.

    sb

    Gorgui Deng is all but rolling out a carpet for Michigan players to drive so he can try for a block. That shit gets you killed in the NBA but in the college game, you can get away with it. Louisville is closing down Michigan’s shooters and allowing drives into the paint. Cagey strategy in that it cuts down Michigan’s threes but if Deng gets in foul trouble, watch out.

  27. 27.

    burnspbesq

    @Corner Stone:

    When Stauskas, Kevin Pangos, Kelly Olynyk, Andrew Wiggins, and Olivier Hanlan lead Canada to the gold medal in basketball in the 2020 Olympics, I’m going to remind you that you dissed him in 2013.

  28. 28.

    sb

    Sorry for multiple posts but whoever is directing this should be drawn and quartered. Keep the camera still in the half court and keep the finger off the fucking zoom after the ball is released!

    /I do takes this too seriously

  30. 30.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    That shot wasn’t from downtown. It was from a second ring suburb.

  31. 31.

    Corner Stone

    Some alien lifeforce kidnapped RealAlbrecht ™ and traded him out with MechaAlbrecht ™.
    Nasty.

  38. 38.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @reflectionephemeral: I agree, which makes me less than happy that the Gophers just hired Pitino: The Next Generation. At least he believes in upholding family traditions as this is his sixth job in the last eight years.

  41. 41.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Apparently you don’t have to be a Wooden Award winner to run this offense.

  43. 43.

    Hill Dweller

    That second foul called against Burke, which will likely change the entire half, was f’n ridiculous.

  45. 45.

    Schlemizel

    @Mark S.:
    Next year you can pull for his kid, Richard Patino who is 26 and just got named coach of a big 10 school

  52. 52.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    This Buckeye fan is rooting for a meteor. But I guess Louisville maybe 2nd school to win both the men’s and women’s titles in the same year would be cool. Especially to tweak the Boyd Crowders in Lexington.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    Apparently they aren’t going to call over the back on M at either end. Ok, then.

  56. 56.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @raven: I won’t lose sleep in Michigan wins, so far they are playing good ball, and I remember Tim Hardaway Sr playing for the Golden State Warriors back in the day, the famed Run TMC (Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin)

  58. 58.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    I don’t understand basketball fouls. At least when hockey refs screw it up I can figure out how they screwed it up.

  61. 61.

    Kathy

    I hate quoting Ann Marie Cox but I loved her tweet, “I don’t know what price Albrect will have to pay in the afterlife but it seems worth it.”

  63. 63.

    All Rech

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): The threshold for a foul in basketball is so low that it makes fouls seem laughably random most of the time.

    Also, the camera’s generally not zoomed in enough to be able to tell what kind of contact there was so it’s hard to form an opinion at home.

  65. 65.

    All Rech

    @raven: You’re responding as if they were attacking the refs. All he/she said was they didn’t understand basketball fouls.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    “Let’s take this one-on-one! Man on man! Let’s shoot the rock for this Championship!”

  72. 72.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @raven: How can I officiate a game? I’m serious: I don’t understand basketball fouls.

    I also think Michigan tried to go too long without Burke.

  76. 76.

    raven

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): All levels of the sport are dying for officials. The world is so full of experts on the game who bitch and moan constantly that officiating is less and less attractive. Fouls is basketball are predicated on an advantage being gained. I remember when I reffed the association showed film of Indiana and how Knight screened away from the ball. If contact was the measure of a foul the game would never even be played.

  78. 78.

    ranchandsyrup

    What was the line on this game? I know the cards are the overall #1 seed but the Wolverines famously beat the combined soviet and Cuban forces and later the Chinese n. Korean squad.

  79. 79.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @raven: Fouls in all sports are predicated upon an advantage being gained (or a dangerous situation created). However, every sport has lots of ways in which one can gain an advantage without committing an infraction. My problem is that when I try to watch basketball I find the distinction to be completely arbitrary.

    I’m not saying that the refs are doing a bad job, no matter how much you seem to think that I am. Even when you watch a replay and the announcers go through it, I find the dividing line between what is a legal play and what is a foul, or even which team a foul should be called on, to be so vague as to have no meaning. If anything, a ref that can consistently get calls right should be praised for managing to parse that mess.

  81. 81.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @raven: I rarely do. It’s just kind of hard to avoid tonight.

    Mostly I’m killing time for the U.S./Canada World Championships final tomorrow.

  82. 82.

    Yutsano

    @efgoldman: Well I changed my mind. I’m rooting for the pretty birds now. No vested interest. Oh and my college band director went to Ohio State. And yes we gave him tons of shit for that.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    @burnspbesq:

    When Stauskas, Kevin Pangos, Kelly Olynyk, Andrew Wiggins, and Olivier Hanlan lead Canada to the gold medal in basketball in the 2020 Olympics, I’m going to remind you that you dissed him in 2013.

    Sorry about that…I seemed to have passed out in sheer fucking boredom about midway through reading your stupid fucking comment.

  86. 86.

    All Rech

    @raven: JMN is making reasonable, politely articulated criticisms of basketball which I somewhat agree with. I don’t see the need for any hostility on your part. I think you may be misreading his/her tone, because the way you’re responding is really uncalled for.

  91. 91.

    All Rech

    @raven: Hostility may be too strong, but responding to reasonable criticisms of the game with “You try officiating” and “I recommend you don’t watch” is pretty nonresponsive.

  92. 92.

    All Rech

    Well anyway I don’t know the history between you two, so it’s probably some in-joke I’m missing as a mere lurker and not regular commenter. I just find “I recommend you don’t watch” as a response to an intelligent and honest criticism to be shallow and dismissive. It’s not like JMN is acting like he’s being forced to watch the game or something, I just don’t see it as a good faith response to the type of comments he’s written.

  93. 93.

    raven

    @All Rech: There’s as much history as there is between you and me. Zip. I recommend you mind your own fucking business. Better?

  98. 98.

    Groucho48

    Michigan seems to have fairly regular stretches where it appears they have forgotten what they are supposed to be doing.

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    @Juju:

    Is it just me, or does it just seem that Michigan never fouls?

    For some reason the refs have decided that being able to reach over the shoulder of the Lville player and grab the ball is just a bonus, and not really a problem.

  106. 106.

    Corner Stone

    Man this is a hell of a championship game. Not sure what happened on this blog or anything. But damn, this game is actually interesting no matter who you want to win.
    It’s not the Sheep Valley Shearers vs the Western Plateau Wingers. These guys are balling.

  108. 108.

    All Rech

    @raven: Oh, yeah, I’ll mind my “own business” and not comment on exchanges between other people on a blog. Why don’t you suck my cock you bitter old crank.

  111. 111.

    Juju

    I’m having a bit of trouble with the highlighter yellow shoes and the uniform bottoms that look like someone went after them with a gray sharpie.

  116. 116.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Juju:

    Just home from work, and to hear the national radio announcers tell it, Louisville is getting all the calls.

  120. 120.

    RobertDSC-eMac 1.25

    Memo to my beloved Wolverines: learn how to pass the fucking ball. That killed them. FuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!

  121. 121.

    Groucho48

    Michigan had flashes of brilliance but Louisville was steadier and seemed to have a much better all around game.

    Enjoyable to watch.

  124. 124.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Juju:

    I’m in Michigan, from Michigan, and checking my FB feed, even the Spartan fans- and a few of them hate U of M- think that the Wolverines got the shaft from the refs.

  126. 126.

    Juju

    Rick Patino says he’s going to get a tattoo. I vote for Yosemite Sam on the left buttock.

  127. 127.

    Todd

    My kids want to know if I’m burning a couch. Of course, my wife is dozing on it, so that could be a problem.

  129. 129.

    Corner Stone

    As predicted. The Shaft! The Jobber! They Got Jobbed! They Got Shafted!
    Fuck you loser ass bitches.

  131. 131.

    Gian

    with the pac-12 ref scandal it’s hard not to wonder how many other college referees are infected.

    it’s such a fast game, and it’s pretty easy to make honest errors, but when the guy overseeing the refs puts a bounty on a coach of a trip to mexico or $5,000 and the coach gets a pretty weak technical foul call…

  132. 132.

    Corner Stone

    @Juju: Hells to the yeah! I honestly don’t give a rat’s ass who you wanted to win this one.
    This game brought it. It fucking Brought. It.
    If you couldn’t enjoy this game because you were whining about some shit, then you got no business bothering with sports.
    This game had everything for a damn change.

  133. 133.

    Linnaeus

    Tough loss for my Wolverines, but a great game overall. Just got outplayed at the end. No shame in that.

  135. 135.

    FlipYrWhig

    A surprisingly entertaining game… Usually I feel like college sports is a slog because there’s too little talent on the floor, but this time I was totally wrong in that assumption.

  137. 137.

    akaMom

    So who to root for… my father-in-law went to med school at Louisville, and my husband was born at University of Michigan when his dad did his residency there. My husband of course kept switching who he wanted to win as the game went on. Pretty impressive contest. Fun to see the Louisville players acting like kids after they’d won.

  143. 143.

    Paul in KY

    @Todd: We should have a BJ meetup in Louisville. I see there are 5 or 6 of us in the vicinity.

    Go Cards!

  145. 145.

    Maxwel

    The refs were amazingly incompetent. That’s saying something since they are always incompetent. Beilein (?) may have blown it when he played Spike so much in the 2nd half, instead of better players.

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