Hello guys,

Should be a interesting match-up.

Been reading your site and decided to join up.

I think some of you guys "lump" a few Michigan fans into a bigger pot than most Michigan fans. If you read our couple of articles already on the game and also some of our message board post you will see that our site at least believes Ohio is a very good team.

Some I think have the wrong idea of Michigan.

We don't play much 1-3-1 anymore. Don't worry some of our own fan-base still goes off what Coach Beilein did at West Virginia as well. When we run a zone it is more of a 2-3 variety, but use it like a match-up zone and defending the players like a man to man.

We mostly play man to man defense (80%) of the time.

Where Michigan has struggled this season has been against big, physical, athletic teams such as Michigan State, Ohio State, and even a team like Minnesota that is a very athletic team.

To me this game comes down to three things. Which team wants it more, what team is prepared, and what team shoots the ball better on that day.

Michigan has shown this year that they can play with anybody in the country (that is good and bad) and a lot of it comes down to their shooting.

If Michigan struggles shooting it could be a long night or a short tournament run.

Mostly comes down to three players for Michigan. Trey Burke if he plays well, if Hardaway Jr shoots well, and if Jordan Morgan can stay in the game and get involved in the game this team could get on a hot streak.

If Michigan doesn't shoot the ball well from the outside and Morgan is on the bench more than on the court Michigan could struggle on the inside, Hardaway struggles shooting the ball could be in trouble and a lot of it comes down to his first couple of shots. If he makes them he seems to do well, but if he misses his first couple he seems to get in a bad funk. Burke has been a warrior the entire game and his worst game was probably his last game against Ohio State.

Should be an interesting game/match-up.

Again nothing against Ohio, but I think this game comes down to Michigan's shooting more than anything. If Michigan is shooting well they should win, if they are just doing "okay" will come down to the wire, and if they shoot poorly like they did against Ohio State they are likely going home early.

One last note, I think people are making to big of deal about this whole "Ohio" thing as well and not just here, but in the media, etc.

Foxsports.com has us as 6pt underdogs on all the books they quote

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/53174/10-midmajor-stars-that-could-bust-brackets 

Stevie didn't exactly get a lot of opportunities the last two games as Groce decided to ride DJ as long as he could.

Great post, Eroc.  Good to have you on here. 

No knock on GBM but UMHoops is one of the best team-specific blogs I know of.

They're doing some breakdowns of Ohio before the game.  It's good stuff.

http://www.umhoops.com/2012/03/15/film-room-ohio-defense/

Eroc,

Thanks for coming on here and providing insight on Michigan and the game on Friday. It's been refreshing to get a viewpoint from the other side.

Let's hope for a great game..winner has a great shot for sweet 16.

FLeon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjt0eDb9Ww

Exactly!

Congrats to the Bobcats on a terrific win over MI. Looked touch and go during the last 7 minutes (which is all I got to see, truth be told), but the "D" hung in there and the two free throws with ~6 seconds on the clock sealed the deal.

Great game!

I don't think I heard one OhioU out of either announcers.  Mix, take notice of how real professionals do it.

www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/17848621/oh-my-no-14-seed-ohio-shocks-no-3-michigan

Listen to Groce in this postgame interview. At around 30 seconds in he starts breaking down a little when talking about what the win means for the university and Athens.  You can tell it means a lot to him.  We're going to really miss coach Groce when he leaves next year, but it's been a great ride.