1. Overall, I like the draw. Montana has struggled against high major competition, losing to 3 NIT teams, two convincingly, and barely beat Pitt, who is arguably the worst major conference team of the past several years. They also don't shoot the 3 well, and rely on turnovers to win. I don't expect a 25-30 point win, but kind of an ugly grind. My guess is we have a 6-8 point lead at half, and then win a 68-56 type game.
2. I'd rather play Houston than San Diego State. SDSU is the type of big athletic team that could potentially give us problems offensively. There would also be a ton of pressure on Michigan to win that game. Not that we wouldn't be expected to beat Houston, but playing an 11 seed coached by a former Michigan assistant who would have nothing to lose, that's not a spot I'd like being in. With that said, I have a hunch we will be playing San Diego St. Kelvin Sampson is notoriously a terrible NCAA coach.
3. If Michigan does play Houston, Indiana fans may be rooting for Michigan as hard as Michigan fans.
4. Syracuse getting in is just infuriating. That's the second time in three years that Syracuse got a bid out of nowhere. A program that should be working on its fourth straight season without an NCAA bid now has 2 gift bids.
5. I agree that MSU has the tougher potential draw the second weekend with Duke and Kansas in Omaha. However, the key here is potential. For all we know, Trae Young takes the gift and OU upsets Duke, and Kansas gets beaten by the 8/9 seed, while UM ends up having to play UNC and Xavier.
6. There is generally two things to happen every March. There is always one team that everyone jumps on the bandwagon of that loses early. And then there's another team which appeared to play its best ball a month ago which suddenly finds it again. Arizona and Gonzaga fit the former. OU and Ohio State the latter. Because its OSU, watch OSU beat S Dakota State, Gonzaga lose, and the Buckeyes get a gift-wrapped trip the Sweet 16.
2. I'd rather play Houston than San Diego State. SDSU is the type of big athletic team that could potentially give us problems offensively. There would also be a ton of pressure on Michigan to win that game. Not that we wouldn't be expected to beat Houston, but playing an 11 seed coached by a former Michigan assistant who would have nothing to lose, that's not a spot I'd like being in. With that said, I have a hunch we will be playing San Diego St. Kelvin Sampson is notoriously a terrible NCAA coach.
3. If Michigan does play Houston, Indiana fans may be rooting for Michigan as hard as Michigan fans.
4. Syracuse getting in is just infuriating. That's the second time in three years that Syracuse got a bid out of nowhere. A program that should be working on its fourth straight season without an NCAA bid now has 2 gift bids.
5. I agree that MSU has the tougher potential draw the second weekend with Duke and Kansas in Omaha. However, the key here is potential. For all we know, Trae Young takes the gift and OU upsets Duke, and Kansas gets beaten by the 8/9 seed, while UM ends up having to play UNC and Xavier.
6. There is generally two things to happen every March. There is always one team that everyone jumps on the bandwagon of that loses early. And then there's another team which appeared to play its best ball a month ago which suddenly finds it again. Arizona and Gonzaga fit the former. OU and Ohio State the latter. Because its OSU, watch OSU beat S Dakota State, Gonzaga lose, and the Buckeyes get a gift-wrapped trip the Sweet 16.
