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Big questions abound:
When does Michigan play Tulsa? What channel is it on?
Michigan plays the Golden Hurricanes on March 16, 2016, at approximately 9:10pm. The game will be shown on TruTV.
Who's going to win???
Both teams love to shoot threes and struggle in the paint. Here's MLive:
Haith, who Michigan coach John Beilein says he has known "for many, many years," runs a team that's reliant on turning opponents over, controlling the ball and scoring. Tulsa ranks 10th in the country in turnover margin (3.5), 53rd in forced turnovers per game (14.4) and averages 74.0 points per game.
Tulsa's inclusion has been called a "massive blunder" by analysts. Michigan's inclusion was promptly questioned by CBS's analysts, who mention that Michigan has a habit of getting blown out by good teams and beating low-level teams. So it's not a true matchup of nobodies, but apparently people aren't thrilled about either team getting in.
Michigan is playing, essentially, a more experienced but extremely similar opponent. Which means if we get good Michigan, the three's will fall early and the Wolverines have a real chance to make it to the Round of 64. If we get bad Michigan, we'll see a bunch of ugly one-on-one basketball and bad three point shots and porous perimeter defense allowing Tulsa's guards into the lane.
Wow...Really looking forward to this one.
YOU SHOULD BE. Here's two reasons to root for Michigan:
1) If the Wolverines win, it helps make this less-than-satisfactory compilation of B1G teams look better.
2) Notre Dame v Michigan...if John Beilein's squad picks up a win. So we can't get it in football, but a hoops showdown is a nice conciliatory prize.
Big picture. Michigan Basketball. Go:
We all love John Beilein very much. We also question his refusal to double team Purdue's bigs in the B1G Tourney. But he's not going anywhere. 6 NCAA berths in 9 years at Michigan. No scandals.
Worrisome though, is Michigan's continual inability to get a big, or to develop a big. This ongoing issue hamstrings Big Blue every year. You have to imagine the national success + the Michigan name would equal at least 1-2 bigs coming to AA, either a super-athletic project or a super-savvy but undersized big...So let that be a goal.
Predict something:
I think Michigan plays a back and forth with Tulsa (similar to that Northwestern game), winning with clutch shots...then gets murdered by the more talented Irish.