Michigan’s Beilein Says Team Will ‘Have Our Hands Full’ In Iowa Game

[SteveGarvey]

He misunderstood an earlier post of mine. Badly. I laughed because of how sorry I felt for FD for playing both of us and getting the exact result you'd expect against a program of their caliber. Apparently it was mistaken for some...implication? I really would like to get a look at Arizona. Does anybody know of any TV against their next strong opponent? I have a feeling this length of ours we keep hearing about will come into play tomorrow. They love to pass and they love easy shots. Our wingspans should thwart as much of that as they're capable of.

We are a very good team. We are not as good as Arizona. Let's slow our roll a little bit.

 

[DP5555]

We are a very good team. We are not as good as Arizona. Let's slow our roll a little bit.

It bothers me when people get up on their soap box like this. How do you know we aren't at least in the same conversation as Arizona? No we certainly do not have the talent that they have, but we can compete with anyone. As STILLBUSTER just said, Michigan only lost to Arizona by 2. Tonight will tell us a lot, but that same Michigan team has four losses to ISU, Charlotte, Duke, and Arizona. They are a playing a lot better now than they were when they lost to ISU and Charlotte, but please do not act like you know something the rest of us don't. No one really knows. The one thing we do know is that Iowa has the ability to compete with any team in the country. I don't have any hesitations saying that.

 

[bcl20]

We are a very good team. We are not as good as Arizona. Let's slow our roll a little bit.

Well, there's really no proof of this...

Arizona has struggled to beat Washington at home, UNLV, Cal-Poly and Drexel.

The only team that we struggled to beat of similar caliber is Omaha and maybe Nebraska. I don't really see anything in comparison of schedule that says that Arizona is soooo much better than Iowa that we need to "slow our roll a little bit"

 

[SpiderRico]

I think we're just as good as Arizona. Arizona isn't exactly taking good teams to the woodshed this year.

They only beat Drexel by 4...and Drexel is 10-8. They beat SDSU by 9. Duke by 6. UNLV by 5. Michigan by 2. Washington by 9 and UCLA by 4.

So it's not like we're talking about UNLV from 1990 here.

They only go 7 deep and have only 2 juniors and no seniors in their top 7 rotation. Trust me, this team can be beat by a good, veteran team on a neutral court.

 

[bcl20]

I'm willing to concede that Arizona is better, mostly because their win over Michigan is better than anything we've done (yet) but it's not a laughable comparison at this time.

 

[hawkinn3]

There isn't a team in the country that plays better team offense than we do, when we are rolling I don't see anybody stopping us. 11 deep and we are starting to hit 3s, I sure as heck wouldn't want to play us.

 

[tm3308]

I think we're just as good as Arizona. Arizona isn't exactly taking good teams to the woodshed this year.

They only beat Drexel by 4...and Drexel is 10-8. They beat SDSU by 9. Duke by 6. UNLV by 5. Michigan by 2. Washington by 9 and UCLA by 4.

So it's not like we're talking about UNLV from 1990 here.

They only go 7 deep and have only 2 juniors and no seniors in their top 7 rotation. Trust me, this team can be beat by a good, veteran team on a neutral court.

Personally, I've thought Arizona was overrated all year. I can't figure out how Syracuse isn't #1. Their resume is much better than Arizona's, although all but one of their good wins have come at home thus far (except for the Baylor game, which was on a neutral court).

 

[SpiderRico]

Personally, I've thought Arizona was overrated all year. I can't figure out how Syracuse isn't #1. Their resume is much better than Arizona's, although all but one of their good wins have come at home thus far (except for the Baylor game, which was on a neutral court).

I just don't think there's a "consensus" #1 this year. Everyone has warts or weaknesses. Syracuse is a great defensive team, but their offense this year is putrid. Arizona is a very good athletic team, but they are young and not deep at all. I still think MSU is the #1 team in the country when completely healthy.

 

[nationalchamps]

ESPN announcers for KY vs. TxAM game said NC contenders from the B1G are MSU and IA, so the media hype is burning hot for IA. If IA can win, the talk will be even more so. Also, Beilien said that IA is not as good as AZ but reminds him of AZ since they are long and rebounds well (he hasn't played this year's IA yet to really compare). Go Hawks!

Agreed. If we can somehow win the next three then look out, the media is going to go nuts.

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

Of course they will, he's being honest, but he's also using the ol reverse psychology to inflate our egos hoping we walk in with big heads. Don't fall for the flattery mighty hawks

 

[ssckelley]

Of course they will, he's being honest, but he's also using the ol reverse psychology to inflate our egos hoping we walk in with big heads. Don't fall for the flattery mighty hawks

I agree, I wish Beilein would have just come out and said "Iowa? We are going to kick their butts!".

 

[SteveGarvey]

It bothers me when people get up on their soap box like this. How do you know we aren't at least in the same conversation as Arizona? No we certainly do not have the talent that they have, but we can compete with anyone. As STILLBUSTER just said, Michigan only lost to Arizona by 2. Tonight will tell us a lot, but that same Michigan team has four losses to ISU, Charlotte, Duke, and Arizona. They are a playing a lot better now than they were when they lost to ISU and Charlotte, but please do not act like you know something the rest of us don't. No one really knows. The one thing we do know is that Iowa has the ability to compete with any team in the country. I don't have any hesitations saying that.

Don't we all make judgements in sports based on what we see? Do we believe Iowa is better than Purdue? Yes, based on our observations even though we don't "know" it. All I was doing was making an observation and giving an opinion.

We will know more about this after tonight and I hope we drill Michigan and I can come back and say I was wrong. I hope we're better than Arizona though. That would be unbelievably cool.

 

[tm3308]

I just don't think there's a "consensus" #1 this year. Everyone has warts or weaknesses. Syracuse is a great defensive team, but their offense this year is putrid. Arizona is a very good athletic team, but they are young and not deep at all. I still think MSU is the #1 team in the country when completely healthy.

I don't really think there's a consensus, either. But based on resume, I don't see how Syracuse isn't in the top spot. All of the top teams are beatable, so I think you have to go on resume.

 

[DP5555]

Don't we all make judgements in sports based on what we see? Do we believe Iowa is better than Purdue? Yes, based on our observations even though we don't "know" it. All I was doing was making an observation and giving an opinion.

We will know more about this after tonight and I hope we drill Michigan and I can come back and say I was wrong. I hope we're better than Arizona though. That would be unbelievably cool.

Fair enough. I'm all about sharing opinions. I think it's just the way you said it. You said it like your opinion was fact - "We aren't as good as Arizona" instead of "I don't think we're as good as Arizona". There's a difference in the way it comes across.

You kind of made it seem like it's a crazy notion to suggest Iowa could compete with Arizona. I don't think it's crazy at all. The NCAA is wide open this year. Most teams with tremendous talent are very young. Which leaves room for teams like Iowa to compete with the big dogs. I know it's repeated over and over again, but Iowa's depth is a serious advantage. Plus the amount of basketball these guys have played together is also a tremendous advantage. I have little doubt when Iowa is playing their best basketball that they can compete with any team in the country.