Well that was an unfortunate game, but M played as hard as they could given the circumstances.
The fact that a Michigan team whom many didn't want in the tournament beat a Clemson team that could have easily won the ACC, and then was down 1 point at half and down 3 points with under 10 to go against an Oklahoma team that is a number one-caliber team (according to some people), is a wonderful end to Michigan's season.
I've never seen so many fouls called on one team in a basketball game, and couldn't believe some of the calls, but that's beside the point. If the referees wanted to allow a physical game, they should have not been paying homage to the great Blake Griffin the entire game -- I watched the CBS broadcast when I got back to Ann Arbor, and it was so obvious they didn't even care that the game was being called unfairly, they were just amazed at the specimen wearing number 23. It's a sad thing when in college basketball a player that many have designated the next prodigal Son of the NBA is allowed to do whatever he wants, and all three referees look the other way. Listening to some of the other games on Sunday during the drive home, there would be a call, and one of the other referees would run in and overrule it, almost as if they were working as a team to get it right. I didn't see that happen when the ref from the other side of the court called a ball out of bounds on Michigan when it had hit Blake Griffin's foot in front of the ref in the corner in front of Michigan's bench.
When Oklahoma is allowed to play its starting five the entire second half for lack of fear of getting in foul trouble, and Michigan was rotating three guys in every few minutes, there's a disparity in how the game is being called. When Manny Harris is called for a reach-in foul when standing still, Deshawn Sims gets called for trying to get a rebound, and C.J. Lee gets called for diving for a loose ball (my favorite one, because the CBS announcers say, "Oh, if only he hadn't thrown his hip into Griffin, that was a clean play"), there is most definitely something wrong.
It didn't make Michigan lose necessarily, but it certainly was a factor in preventing them of having a fighting chance to win, and that they only lost by 10 says that Beilein is an amazing coach and Blake Griffin can't shut down a team that he was being allowed to bulldoze over. I expect OU to get stomped by Syracuse next weekend, and if the refs treat Griffin the same way, then Michigan has a legitimate complaint to the NCAA.
Yeah...that guy right there. He's a tool. When he's allowed to stay in the game when he bleeds through a sleeve that the referees waited for him to put on, and bleeds through his nose, and plays with blood on his shorts, and doesn't come out of the game, there's a problem. When Sportscenter and every other media outlet refers to OU's win as "not quite a blowout," there's a little bit of bias. But fear not, there's a bright future for Michigan basketball.
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