R-E-L-A-X: It’s Alright That We Lost.

We were all mad yesterday around 2:20, the buzzer sounded, overtime was over and our Boilers lost 74-70, to that damn pesky Michigan team.

No, Moe Wagner didn’t light us up, this time it was D.J. Wilson, who scored 26 points. It seems like it is always one player that gets the best of us. Painter haters will blame it on CMP, but CMP can’t make those free throws (where we great all year at), the layups that rim in & out, or for Dakota going ice cold on Friday.

But, the more I think about the loss, the more I think I am okay with it. Hear me out.

For starters, we got a hot Michigan team. Kenpom had them rated at 24, we were 14th. Compare their Kenpom to Wisconsin’s, which was 23rd yesterday. UM was so bad early in B1G play, that they are seeded 8th, so not really excuse, but more of a bad draw for the team that won the regular season B1G Title.

We have been considered a 4 seed in almost all bracketology for over a month. It was going to be extremely difficult to work up to a 3 seed, even with a run in the BTT, it just seemed out of reach. In fact, most experts still have us in as a 4 seed, I have only seen one with us at a 5. A 4/13 match up plays into our favor, but let’s avoid that 5/12 game. If we won the BTT, I still believe that we would have been a four seed, the NCAA loves the teams that are 3 seeds. We were never going to pass up teams like UCLA, Baylor or West Virginia, the NCAA thinks those teams play in the toughest 2 conferences in college basketball.

With that being said, winning the BTT wasn’t probably going to move us up seed, so what is the point of winning it, other than bragging rights? We already won the regular season title. by 2 full games, so other than getting tired legs, by laying 3 games in 3 days, what is the benefit? None really at all, unless we really thought we could move up, which was unlikely. If we would have won the BTT, our last game would of been Sunday afternoon, the guys would have stayed up to watch the NCAA draw, then went to practice the next day with CMP’s new scout plan. Doesn’t this seem a little rushed? Now, we have Saturday & Sunday to relax, watch the show, practice for a few days, then fly to our destination.

If we had a deeper bench, I wouldn’t be as worried about tired legs. Last year’s team, we went nearly 10 guys deep. This year, we are at 8. Guys get tired. This is going to be a nice break for the 8 guys that get regular play night in and night out. Quite honestly, I like the shorter bench, CMP seems to have it pretty much figured out at this point too.

Hopefully, the players take this loss similar to the Nebraska loss. When we got beat by the Cornhuskers, it really lit a fire in them, as we rattled off 6 wins in a row. If that happens again, well you know what we will be, National Champions. This team is still special, we still have the B1G POY and possible NPOY, Caleb Swanigan. If we can get the right draw in the NCAA’s we will be in good shape, as we will g as far as Biggie gets us. For perspective, last year, IU was the one seed in the BTT, got beat in the quarters and ran off to the sweet 16, wouldn’t you be okay with that too?

You can look at this post in two different ways. Am I making excuses for getting beat by a Michigan team? Sure. I am trying to mainly get us to all relax. It is okay to get beat, and as fans sometimes we get too worked up about it. Don’t worry about the BTT loss, but if we lose round 1 in the NCAA I will be right there next to you freaking out. But, until we see what happens in the NCAA tournament, I am just asking everyone to R-E-L-A-X.