Michigan Tuesday: Lost Moments

When your team loses in a National Championship game you think about lost moments.   You think about how the likes of Burke, Hardaway, GR3 and even McGary could head to the NBA.  Which would seal the fate of next years team.

You try to rationalize what went wrong during the game.   The bad calls or missed shots.  If this game was played in December everyone would be talking about what a great game it was and how two teams fought until the end.   But when it's the last game of the year we get to hear about the "genius" of Pitino and how Louisville started what they finished as the #1 seed in the tournament.   I went to bad last night not mad like when we lost to Nebraska or ND in football but disappointed that this team missed a chance at history.

What gets lost is Spike's un-believable performance in the first half or Burke basically putting the entire team on his shoulders and trying to win.   It's hard to have the proper perspective after a loss in a championship game.  It's just too soon.  

76 points should have been enough to win this game but it wasn't.  I sure don't know what was happening under the basket after Louisville missed shots but it sure didn't seem like basketball.  Michigan showed up at 9:26 to play a basketball game and roller derby event broke out.   Maybe that is what basketball has become at the NCAA level?  Which seems strange to me because the Big Ten doesn't exactly play a finesse game.   I realize that NCAA basketball will never be the NBA but isn't a foul a foul?   Is Pitino a genius or is he taking advantage of a "unique" brand of bad basketball?  He clearly failed coaching the Boston Celtics.  He said something interesting leading up to the game.  He said his two guards always get into foul trouble, which means he is teaching that style of play.   Again is that smart or bad for the game?  Hard to know after a tough loss, isn't. 

Still I have to believe Michigan cost themselves this game.  Too many missed shots from the line, poor rebounding/WWE WrestleMania under the boards.   It seemed the quick Louisville guards kept getting a high ball screen, then would blow the layup.   There would be a three second wrestling match that ended with someone throwing up a prayer under the class.   If you have ever watched a youth basketball game, it sort of looked like that.  Someone misses a shot, everyone grabs the ball, someone travels and then throws the ball up hoping it would go in.    There is always a ton of jump balls in youth basketball because everyone is grabbing the ball at the same time.   See last night for another example of that. 

Last thing I am going to say about the officials.  Do you think they watch ESPN at all?  Can anyone remember one charge being called last night?  I sure can't.  Do you think they heard all the talk about Morgan's charge call and flipped way over to the other side?  I saw probably 3 clear charges that were called blocks. 

I wish I had the proper perspective to write a post about how great this team was, how the Fab 5 were all there together again, how Michigan is back on the basketball landscape, how the future is so bright, how Beilien matched wits with a coaching legend, what a pleasure it was to have Trey Burke in the Maize and Blue for two years, how McGary became a force in the last month and what a great accomplishment it was to get this team to the Final 4, but it's just too soon.   Way too soon.