UConn vs Michigan (Championship)

[HooperScooper]

Is Andy a UM grad?

Wisconsin. Maybe he is a B1G fan because of that.

 

[aceboon]

Katz works for the Big Ten Network, making sure his bread stays buttered

 

[superjohn]

Oh Andy.....

UConn '24





Nova '18


All fighting it out for third place-
Michigan '26
Baylor '21
UConn '23
Nova '16

 

[Gurleyman]

I’ve always maintained that when you want to do the “best teams ever” or “best teams of last X years” you have to weigh everything. Did they finish first in the regular season in conference, did they win the conference tournament, were they the top seed going into the tourney, and did they win the nattie?

Our 2024 team was 4-4.

Michigan was 2-4. Lost to Purdue and was seeded third. Villanova ‘18 was 2-4 (Xavier won the BE regular season). Kentucky ‘12 was 3-4 (lost to Vandy in SEC tourney).

 

[Bigbrad1029]

Katz works for the Big Ten Network, making sure his bread stays buttered

Katz is a goldfish, serious recency bias

 

[Inyatkin]

Rage bait, but we blew out Purdue while Michigan didn’t put away their title win until the last minute. That should decide it

 

[uh-no]

Oh Andy.....

it's all clickbait. why do we bite?

 

[BFieldHusky]

I actually think our '23 team would beat this year's Michigan team. Good matchup being able to put Jackson on multiple guys, and bringing Clingan off the bench to deal with their monsters.

 

[RuffRuff]

I’ve always maintained that when you want to do the “best teams ever” or “best teams of last X years” you have to weigh everything. Did they finish first in the regular season in conference, did they win the conference tournament, were they the top seed going into the tourney, and did they win the nattie?

Our 2024 team was 4-4.

Michigan was 2-4. Lost to Purdue and was seeded third. Villanova ‘18 was 2-4 (Xavier won the BE regular season). Kentucky ‘12 was 3-4 (lost to Vandy in SEC tourney).

I don't see it as that - you're weighing resumes. The idea here is who wins head to head, so you have to look at the matchups at point in time relative to when they won, not look at their resumes. I think if you look at the matchups player for player, UConn 24 simply wins.

Clingan was so much bigger than Mara and would move him around on the inside.
Cam/Newt were so much better than their backcourt.
Yaxel a more formed player, but Castle would give him fits offensively.
Johnson might have a slight edge on sophomore Alex, but our system would make him do a lot of chasing.

I don't see it as being really close to be honest, 10 point win.

Our 23 team didn't check any of those boxes either and I think they'd be a number of teams who did.

 

[TroyHall98]

Oh Andy.....

I saw him at the airport in Indy and he had a Big 10 backpack with him so his homerism is combined with recency bias along with abject stupidity. Our 2023 and 2024 teams would run circles around 26 Michigan. He lost credibility in my eyes with this lousy take.

 

[Scoe]

That's laughable, you had bench warmers from the 24 team and a lone starter from that team making Michigan have to sweat it out. Yes Yaxel was hurt but he played and stayed on the court. Our starting PG was playing hurt not to mention 3 starters came out for the half.

Largest margin of victory in tourney play and that was also with Hurley slowing the 2nd half down to a snails pace, and Clingan came out for chunks of the games.

 

[Scoe]

Not even James Breeding could help Michigan in this matchup.

 

[RuffRuff]

I actually think our '23 team would beat this year's Michigan team. Good matchup being able to put Jackson on multiple guys, and bringing Clingan off the bench to deal with their monsters.

I doubt it. Mara would swallow Sanogo. If he could make Tarris' life hard, he'd have made Sanogo's hard.

Healthy Yaxel and AJax matchup well. Sophomore Johnson over Frosh AK.

We can't forget how brutal that field was in 23.

 

[king conn]

Our 3rd best final 4 team in four years came within 6 points of them, which makes that ranking hysterical

 

[BFieldHusky]

I doubt it. Mara would swallow Sanogo. If he could make Tarris' life hard, he'd have made Sanogo's hard.

Healthy Yaxel and AJax matchup well. Sophomore Johnson over Frosh AK.

We can't forget how brutal that field was in 23.

That's why Clinigan would have played a lot of minutes.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I doubt it. Mara would swallow Sanogo. If he could make Tarris' life hard, he'd have made Sanogo's hard.

Healthy Yaxel and AJax matchup well. Sophomore Johnson over Frosh AK.

We can't forget how brutal that field was in 23.

Mara would have fouled out after six minutes of playing time trying to guard Sanogo, even with Breeding & Company as refs.

 

[upstater]

I doubt it. Mara would swallow Sanogo. If he could make Tarris' life hard, he'd have made Sanogo's hard.

Healthy Yaxel and AJax matchup well. Sophomore Johnson over Frosh AK.

We can't forget how brutal that field was in 23.

Sanogo got the better of Kalkbrenner multiple times that year.

I know Reed had better tournament numbers but Sanogo was MOP and deserved it. His play was flawless. Also showed up another 6'11 kid in Drew Timme.

 

[Dibbie]

I doubt it. Mara would swallow Sanogo. If he could make Tarris' life hard, he'd have made Sanogo's hard.

Healthy Yaxel and AJax matchup well. Sophomore Johnson over Frosh AK.

We can't forget how brutal that field was in 23.

There were games where our bench played better than our starters. Depth was the true strength of the 23 team

 

[FreeDogs]

My youngest daughter last night before bed:

Daughter: "Dad, who won?"

Me: "Won what?"

Daughter: "The bracket?"

Me thinking she meant our annual family competition: "Your mom and sister."

Daughter: "No. In real life?"

Me: "Michigan."

Daughter: "Oh. Who did they beat?"

Me: "UConn."

She walked away with the most evil, snarky grin on her face seeing her old man couldn't see her dagger slipping into my abdomen with each statement....