Re: The Ohio State 2016-17 Thread: Let's give this another Schott
This Buckeye team has been consistently inconsistent. Your frustration is certainly warranted. And yet...
Michigan does deserve some credit. They brought a different approach to the rink Saturday. Rather than try to trade goals with the Buckeyes, their first commitment was to take away odd-man rushes and tenaciously defend the slot. It was noticeably different than the first three games. You might say that the game plan went against their program's DNA; yet they pulled it off. Granted, the fact Nagelvoort was excellent in goal was a big part of the story. Still, I have to grudgingly respect what Michigan did tonight as a team.
Do we really know this? The pairwise is quite volatile. And some seem to be under the impression that if we sweep the four remaining games, it will be enough.
Don't get me wrong. Running the table does look like an unrealistic expectation, given the results to date. But I'd like to keep rooting for it, unless elimination from at-large consideration really is official -- mathematically speaking.
Originally posted by osualum86
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Michigan does deserve some credit. They brought a different approach to the rink Saturday. Rather than try to trade goals with the Buckeyes, their first commitment was to take away odd-man rushes and tenaciously defend the slot. It was noticeably different than the first three games. You might say that the game plan went against their program's DNA; yet they pulled it off. Granted, the fact Nagelvoort was excellent in goal was a big part of the story. Still, I have to grudgingly respect what Michigan did tonight as a team.
Oh well. It's official now ... this team will have to win the BIG Ten Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament as they have slipped to 18th in the PairWise. They will not move up enough spots against Michigan State and Wisconsin (provided they win all four games against those teams, which seems unlikely) to ensure that they get in above the lower-ranked teams that will win their conference tournaments and get auto-bids. They needed to get up to 12th or higher, which they were before tonight. That is a lot of pressure to put on themselves, but then, they put themselves in this position with inexplicable losses to inferior teams. Now it's basically win the BIG Ten Tournament or the season is over.
Don't get me wrong. Running the table does look like an unrealistic expectation, given the results to date. But I'd like to keep rooting for it, unless elimination from at-large consideration really is official -- mathematically speaking.
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