Well the John Groce era ends with the Rutgers game and this game. We have good guys on our team and they play hard. My wife (a UM grad) and I watched the game, and I commented to her on the UM steal in the second half where 3 or 4 of our guys dove after the loose ball, and the UM guy end up with a break away dunk. Our guys wanted it.
You want to be for our guys. You want Groce to succeed. But the fact is they had to beat the worst team in the conference to make the NCAA for the first time in years, and couldn't. So then they had to beat an evenly matched team (8-9 game) that they split the regular season with to have a decent shot at making the tourney, and they got blown out. Everybody wants Groce and this team to succeed, it is just not happening. With decent talent Groce can win a few big ten season games against average teams, but we fade in crunch time.
There are so many fundamental things that we do poorly. Boxing out, spacing, help side defense, picking up a dribble w/o a plan, etc. It seems like we are team that just doesn't have good habits or instincts. People can talk about chemistry. I don't think we have bad chemistry, I think we have good guys that play hard, I think we share the ball, etc. I wonder if it is not good habits, instinctively doing the right thing, that makes a team greater than the sum of its parts as much as chemistry.
I still have not changed my opinion. I wouldn't fire Coach Groce to hire another MAC one hit wonder. But I sure hope JW has an ace up his sleeve to play.