Its pretty simple - 1) they played a #2 team and score 15 points above that team's average for teams they play. 2) Giorgi's inside play was very good considering the competition, and 3) Ayo scored 19 in the first half. 4) we actually got more than a few passes to the rim for baskets. 5) More than a few blocks at the backboard.
Yes we made dumb young team stupid plays (usually at the moment of closing the gap) and missed some bunnies. Its frustrating but did you expect a 10 point win tonight?
Sorry, you can't run the team down, and then say "Oh, well Michigan didn't play well". Most seemed to play close to their averages and Simmons had a season high as I recall. Give some credit to the boys when due - they had something to do with Michigan not playing well.
Who did I throw under the bus? No one. The team IS making a ton of execution errors whether you would prefer to sugar coat it or not. Is saying we're 4-12 running the team down? Just stating a fact around here seems to make people emotional. We were down 12 with 4 minutes to go, and I personally never felt Michigan was doing any more than needed to keep the game under control. And why would they? They simply didn't need to assert themselves much against us. So while I suppose you can spin it that we made a game of it because we "only" lost by 10 our own home floor, I disagree.
To directly answer your question, we played about where I expected, but my expectations are really low. We lost right about where the line was --think when I checked it was +8.5, but it moved a couple points depending on the site.
You are free to evaluate this team and say they're getting there where ever "there" might be for you. In fact, every team needs that kind of support. More power to you. I'm looking for certain signs of improvement as well, believe it or not, and I saw things that you probably did not and formed my own opinion. What i saw said we're a long way from where we should get to, and might struggle just to stay out of last place. I sure hope they improve enough to do so, but I could see it happening, and that concerns me because the worse we are, the farther we need to go to get back to the dance in a future season.