The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

I'm really liking the lack of Kansas-style teams in the rest of the tournament. Match-ups with Louisville and Syracuse are more favorable for Michigan (although Wichita State doesn't seem to want to go away).

Really? I feel like Louisville and Syracuse both have some pretty big mismatches when you match them up against Michigan.

[lonewolf371]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Really? I feel like Louisville and Syracuse both have some pretty big mismatches when you match them up against Michigan.

Louisville plays the press style like VCU and Michigan has the guards and ball handling to beat it.

Syracuse plays the zone and Michigan has a vast array of jump shooters and a very strong offensive rebounder in McGary. What tears Michigan apart are teams with ridiculous shot blockers and athletic perimeter defenders, a.k.a. Kansas.

Obviously not saying that Michigan would beat any of these teams but match-up-wise it's better than Kansas.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Louisville plays the press style like VCU and Michigan has the guards and ball handling to beat it.

Syracuse plays the zone and Michigan has a vast array of jump shooters and a very strong offensive rebounder in McGary. What tears Michigan apart are teams with ridiculous shot blockers and athletic perimeter defenders, a.k.a. Kansas.

Obviously not saying that Michigan would beat any of these teams but match-up-wise it's better than Kansas.

Regarding Louisville, I feel like their depth and ability to just physically impose their will on everyone would be too much for Michigan. I don't think Michigan can handle Louisville's frontcourt.

Regarding Syracuse, Burke is easily at his best when he can run the pick and roll. The zone should be able to adapt to/limit that pretty well. Michigan seems like a lesser version of Indiana basically, and Syracuse did a fantastic job getting out on shooters and forcing them to put the ball on the floor. And like the Indiana game, unless Michigan decides to play zone, Syracuse will have at least one or two mismatches at all times.

Not sure who Michigan will put on MCW, but if it's Burke, he'll beat him off the dribble all game and either draw a foul, score, or dish to an open teammate when the help defense comes. If Burke is on Triche, Triche will likely be able to do much of the same (but to a lesser extent). And beyond that, it'll likely be a pair of 6'6" guys on Southerland and Fair, so Southerland will most likely be able to get his shot off pretty easily, and Fair will have a size advantage on his man.

All of Syracuse's losses this year have come against teams with elite defenses. Michigan isn't that good of a defensive team. If they don't come out knocking down their 3's, I think Syracuse will be able to win this by double digits.

Edit: But at any rate, this is March Madness. You never really know how things are going to shake out until they happen, but I was personally hoping we'd be matched up against Michigan rather than Florida. Good luck to you guys too though. Even if the season ends for Syracuse on Saturday, I consider it a successful season to have made it this far.

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Regarding Louisville, I feel like their depth and ability to just physically impose their will on everyone would be too much for Michigan. I don't think Michigan can handle Louisville's frontcourt.

Regarding Syracuse, Burke is easily at his best when he can run the pick and roll. The zone should be able to adapt to/limit that pretty well. Michigan seems like a lesser version of Indiana basically, and Syracuse did a fantastic job getting out on shooters and forcing them to put the ball on the floor. And like the Indiana game, unless Michigan decides to play zone, Syracuse will have at least one or two mismatches at all times.

I'm disagreeing mainly because of the coach factor and Michigan doesn't have undersized guards well as relative to Indiana. John Beilein is no Tom Crean as well. Beilein has dealt with the zone a majority of his career. So He'll be ready for it.

MCW will be a tough matchup but Burke is underrated defender. MCW will have a good game but I dunno if he will "have his way".

Also Cuse struggles to score. and that's when they're zone is at it's best.

Should be a nail bitter both team has matchup advantages.

[IlliniM1ke]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Syracuse better shoot better than they have been if they want to beat Michigan by double digits, Michigan doesn't have a completely inept offense like Marquette.

[lonewolf371]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Regarding Louisville, I feel like their depth and ability to just physically impose their will on everyone would be too much for Michigan. I don't think Michigan can handle Louisville's frontcourt.

Regarding Syracuse, Burke is easily at his best when he can run the pick and roll. The zone should be able to adapt to/limit that pretty well. Michigan seems like a lesser version of Indiana basically, and Syracuse did a fantastic job getting out on shooters and forcing them to put the ball on the floor. And like the Indiana game, unless Michigan decides to play zone, Syracuse will have at least one or two mismatches at all times.

Not sure who Michigan will put on MCW, but if it's Burke, he'll beat him off the dribble all game and either draw a foul, score, or dish to an open teammate when the help defense comes. If Burke is on Triche, Triche will likely be able to do much of the same (but to a lesser extent). And beyond that, it'll likely be a pair of 6'6" guys on Southerland and Fair, so Southerland will most likely be able to get his shot off pretty easily, and Fair will have a size advantage on his man.

All of Syracuse's losses this year have come against teams with elite defenses. Michigan isn't that good of a defensive team. If they don't come out knocking down their 3's, I think Syracuse will be able to win this by double digits.

Wow you're confident.

I'm not interested in debating at this point and I'll just watch the game, but Michigan and IU aren't the same team at all. IU is far more defensive, while Michigan has a lot more creativity on the part of their guards. Mitch McGary is also a stronger offensive rebounder than Zeller, which is one of the biggest weaknesses of the zone.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

I'm disagreeing mainly because of the coach factor and Michigan doesn't have undersized guards well as relative to Indiana. John Beilein is no Tom Crean as well. Beilein has dealt with the zone a majority of his career. So He'll be ready for it.

MCW will be a tough matchup but Burke is underrated defender. MCW will have a good game but I dunno if he will "have his way".

Also Cuse struggles to score. and that's when they're zone is at it's best.

Should be a nail bitter both team has matchup advantages.

Also, it'll be interesting to see Boeheim vs. Beilein again. I think Boeheim is 9-0 against him in his career up to this point, and I believe he's undefeated against Tom Crean as well (but only something like 3-0).

And I know Michigan isn't going to come out with two 6 footers at the guard positions, but one of Syracuse's big guards will have a 6 footer on them, and the two forwards will both have size advantages as well.

Regardless, should be interesting to watch the MCW-Burke matchup/watching to see how well Michigan's ball screens work against the 2-3 zone.

[IlliniM1ke]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Wow you're confident.

I'm not interested in debating at this point and I'll just watch the game, but Michigan and IU aren't the same team at all. IU is far more defensive, while Michigan has a lot more creativity on the part of their guards. Mitch McGary is also a stronger offensive rebounder than Zeller, which is one of the biggest weaknesses of the zone.

I'm assuming he hasn't watched Michigan play much this year.

Michigan has the pieces necessary to give the zone problems and Beilein will attack the zone how you're supposed to unlike whatever Crean was trying to do. I think Michigan is a lot more likely to beat Syracuse by double digits than Syracuse is to beat Michigan by double digits, the Syracuse zone will probably slow them down but Michigan is still going to get theirs, if Syracuse comes out looking like they did against Marquette offensively they'll get buried.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Wow you're confident.

I'm not interested in debating at this point and I'll just watch the game, but Michigan and IU aren't the same team at all. IU is far more defensive, while Michigan has a lot more creativity on the part of their guards. Mitch McGary is also a stronger offensive rebounder than Zeller, which is one of the biggest weaknesses of the zone.

Michigan is something like 170th in offensive rebounding in the country. Indiana was one of the best in the country on the offensive glass this year.

But I agree that offensive rebounding is one of the biggest weaknesses of the zone.

It should be a good and interesting matchup of styles, and like I said, I'm honestly surprised that Syracuse made it this far. Just saying I personally like the way Syracuse matches up.

[lonewolf371]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Michigan is something like 170th in offensive rebounding in the country. Indiana was one of the best in the country on the offensive glass this year.

But I agree that offensive rebounding is one of the biggest weaknesses of the zone.

It should be a good and interesting matchup of styles, and like I said, I'm honestly surprised that Syracuse made it this far. Just saying I personally like the way Syracuse matches up.

Yeah, obviously I was talking about the tournament instead of the regular season. Throughout most of the season McGary hasn't been starting, and he certainly hasn't been playing as well as he is now. Most of the year it was Jordan Morgan, who is a better defender but obviously not as good of an offensive rebounder. But since the tournament has started McGary has been starting, and Michigan got more offensive rebounds than Kansas and nearly matched Florida despite Florida missing a lot more. Having watched McGary the last few games and Zeller the whole year, I don't think the play on the offensive glass is even close.

[Psyblast]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Michigan is something like 170th in offensive rebounding in the country. Indiana was one of the best in the country on the offensive glass this year.

Yeah, those numbers really matter after McGary's performance in the last three games.

Kansas felt confident about their rebounding advantage, too. I'm pretty sure Withey is still looking for pieces of his dignity that McGary smashed over his head.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Lol, ok guys. Anyways, I have exams to study for. Good luck on Saturday. I think it will be a good game. I think Syracuse will win, but no result would really surprise me, especially with the ups and downs that Syracuse has gone through this year.

Regardless of who wins, I just hope one of our schools can beat Louisville in the Finals (assuming they get past Wichita).

[lonewolf371]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread

Lol, ok guys. Anyways, I have exams to study for. Good luck on Saturday. I think it will be a good game. I think Syracuse will win, but no result would really surprise me, especially with the ups and downs that Syracuse has gone through this year.

Regardless of who wins, I just hope one of our schools can beat Louisville in the Finals (assuming they get past Wichita).

You know, I think every team Wichita has played in the tournament has been better than them (except for La Salle), yet here they are. They won't go away.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

You know, I think every team Wichita has played in the tournament has been better than them (except for La Salle), yet here they are. They won't go away.

I know. I'm praying they pull it off. Just hard to look at it on paper and think they will. Here's to hoping.

[Psyblast]

Re: The Official 2013 "Running Commentary of Every Single Game" Thread