By hail I don't mean the rainy sleety stuff. The state of Michigan has had more than its fair share of arctic temperatures and ridiculous amounts of snow already this winter. The last thing Michigan needs is a serious dose of hail. BTW -- whatever happened to global warming? Funny, or maybe not, how Michiganders haven't heard anything about that lately.
No, this is about the University of Michigan's men's basketball team. They are now the undisputed Big 10 conference hoops champs. Hail, hail, indeed, the champions of the west -- or so their fight song goes. Actually, given UM is in the eastern time zone of the USA, their fight song hasn't made a whole lot of sense for a very long time. But let's ignore that little detail. And their Rose Bowl record when their football brethren REALLY went out west, as well. Not so good. Ahem.
Just last year, to most everybody's surprise, they made it all the way to the NCAA championship game before bowing out to a clearly superior Louisville team. Sure, they lost a couple star players to the NBA, who are currently toiling away for gawd-awful pro teams. But that's the way it goes. Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway aren't big men on campus anymore, but their bank accounts have fattened up considerably. At any rate, especially after losing big man Mitch McGary to back surgery, few expected UM to be a serious contender this year in even the Big 10, let alone on the national stage.
Yet here they are, and hats off to the Maize and Blue for what they have accomplished. Along the way, they swept their home and home series against arch-rival Michigan State -- both games by convincing margins. Few would have predicted that to happen. The Spartans under head coach Tom Izzo had been the dominant program in Michigan since what seems like forever. And who the hell was this John Beilein guy that inherited a dysfunctional Michigan program a few years back?
Currently, UM seems to be getting stronger and on a roll, while MSU appears to be trying to figure out how their collective lug nuts got so loose. The once mighty Spartans' wheels have seriously wobbled, of late. Once #1 in the country, they've lost 4 of their last 6 games, and tumbled down the polls. Can and will they get their act back together when the NCAA tournament lights go on? Maybe. Underestimating Tom Izzo teams is usually not a very good idea.
But right now, Michigan is in a much better place. And look around at the rest of likely top seeds in the NCAA field. Syracuse is in free-fall. Arizona is very good, but definitely beatable, as is current #1 Florida. The pesky Dukies under Coach K? Never underestimate them either, but they seem a touch off from their usual standard of excellence. Perennial power Kansas looms, but historically they've been long on hype and short on results when crunch time comes.
Virginia (25-5) and Villanova (26-3) certainly sport impressive records -- but few would consider either to be of national championship caliber. San Diego State at 25-3? Please.
Wichita State is the wild card. They made it to the Final Four last year before bowing out to Louisville in the semis. And if anything, they've gotten even better this year. Yes, many dispute their "strength of schedule", but how can one argue with a perfect 31-0 record, the only remaining undefeated team?
Bottom line? Its going to be a crap shoot. There's probably 8 or 10 teams with a legitimate shot to win it all -- and Michigan is definitely one of them.
So why not?
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