Now that the Michigan Basketball team has reached another Final Four without a championship, it's time to ask whether the season they just played actually means anything. After all, there was no conference title in the regular season, and no tournament title of any kind. All they won was a Regional Championship in the NCAA Tournament.
Here in Spartan Country, we take pride in making a Final Four. We know how hard it is to do, and that doing so places your team in the 99th percentile of the entire sport. That's why we wear the shirts and the hats, and why we point out that every four-year player in the Tom Izzo Era has been to at least one Final Four.
But maybe not so much with Michigan "fans". These folks have been ragging on us for years, saying that we should feel like losers when our team makes the Final Four, even the championship game, without winning it all. They have actually impugned the credibility of Tom Izzo, tagging him with the reputation of not being a true "winner".
So what now, Wolverines? Does your season count for anything, or not? No conference title in the regular season or the post-season, and no national championship. Was your season a joke? If not, why not? And if not, what about all those seasons that MSU made the Final Four? What do you say about those? These questions need to be asked.
The B1G Conference certainly came out looking good, as its 4th place team ran to the final game and (with some swallowed whistles) made a game out of it until the end. And MSU looks pretty good as well, not just because of its 27 wins in a rebuilding year, but because of the 23-point beat-down of Michigan earlier in the year.
But what of Michigan? Is it true that Beilein "can't win the big one"? Are the Wolverines rightly to be called "losers"? We all need to ask these questions to anyone who adopted banana-yellow as their favorite wardrobe color during the past few weeks.
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I've always maintained that the whole body of work is important to consider. Simple minds only focus on the last game of the season or the last few seconds of a game.
ReplyDeleteWe written post SM82.
Its been a ton of fun the last few weeks watching meeeeeeeeechigan slaparinas fester at the sight of any State gear I proudly wear since their beatdown and the dismantling of the luckiest team in the conference this past season. You'd think they would be forever thankful but geeeez Louise....mad mad mad. The realization that Sparta has taken over has been magnified with the NBA kiss offs and confusion and defections in their football program. The impending beatdown in football coming this season continues to chap their love closets and don't kid yourself m slaparinas if you think The Danner will take a knee this year. I smell some slappy humiliation a brewing.
ReplyDeleteSharply written post, nice comment. Well stated and very thought-provoking. Nice tie-ins to real-world experience.
DeleteOverall, a scholarly effort. I give it an A+.