Michigan 64, Houston 63, Jordan Poole Forever
HOW [JD Scott/MGoBlog]
Jordan Poole, overdosed on swag from birth, lives for this moment.
It didn't matter that he'd made only two of his 13 three-point attempts in the month of March. It didn't matter that Michigan had gone 7-for-29 from beyond the arc in the game. It didn't matter that the game had been a brutal slog of a refshow. It didn't matter that Michigan had to inbound the ball from under their own basket. It didn't matter that Poole's view of the basket was so obscured he didn't see if the shot fell. It didn't matter that he's just a freshman.
Poole was born for this. With time about to expire, he took a sharp pass from MAAR, squared up, and fired. With a defender in his face, he struck the Jordan pose as he released the shot, then fell to the ground. Our hero arose and... ran for his life:
"After the shot went in I didn't know it went in," said Poole. "I looked at the bench. I was always thinking if I hit a shot like that I didn't want to get tackled. So I was kind of trying to avoid everybody, but I gave up and they tackled me and it was an amazing experience."
Instead of a heartbreaking early tournament exit to end the Michigan careers of MAAR, Duncan Robinson, and possibly Moe Wagner, the Wolverines move on to their second straight Sweet Sixteen in the most unimaginable way.
To everyone but Poole, that is. The young man had even planned his exit strategy.
[Scott]
[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]
All photos by JD Scott.
because we couldn't make shots otherwise. Couldn't hit threes. Couldn't hit layups. Ugh.
Glad we're out of there. Houston is a really good defensive team but we also could not make a shot. I think we airballed four 3s. At least three of which were wide open. Woof.
Ok St last year. Now THIS!
I can't stop saying, "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
(edit: corrected, I thought L'ville game was on St. Pat's day last year)
WHAT A WIN!!!
I HAVE TO BE UP AT 3:45AM TO RUN THE LA MARATHON (my first) TOMORROW MORNING BUT I DON'T NEED SLEEP THE POWER OF THE MICHIGAN SHIRT I'M WEARING WILL CARRY ME THROUGH.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS!!!!!!!!
Let's bring the Poole Party in full force to Los Angeles!!! SEE YOU AT STAPLES!
Good luck tomorrow! "Use the surge of fear and adrenaline to sharpen your decision making!"
Thank you so much!!! The Office is my second favorite thing besides Michigan and that's the best cold opener of all time.
Go Blue!
Enjoy the moment, the first is special.
March 18th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Good luck at the Marathon and let the energy of that win keep you moving!!!
March 18th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
Hope it went well for you!
Go Blue!!
Update: It was great! 7 minutes under my goal time (3:53:00) and felt strong the whole way. The Go Blue's helped! Lots of Wolverines in SoCal!
March 18th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
Under 4 hrs for a first marathon is awesome. You are truly a Michigan man!
To all the negative F$&ks on the 2nd half thread
- go back and read your shit and chill out for the West Region
Go Blue!
i had to close the game thread for the second half.
it was some bad juju.
Shout out to Simpson for playing incredible D once again, this time against man bun. Such a strong defender. Had to beat the refs in both of these Wichita games. So glad to be going home with a win! What a game!!!
Good practice for Berry.
to make our free throws, we shot 70% including 8 of 9 at the end. It was the other team that missed at the end gave us a chance to win.
I knew that missed free throws were going to cost a game.
I just thought it would be ours.
Props to X/Z, who couldnt hit a shot but Gray needed 24 shot equivalents for his 23 and a few of his hoops were notably when Z wasnt on the floor. And Z led the team in rebounds to boot.
As much as Mo was maligned for his first 3 halves of the tourney, 5/9 from the floor was big. And Teske big too, defense and those 2nd half free throws.
Isaiah Livers has a golden arm - Shea who? Kelvin Sampson gives Christmas gift in March - leaves Johnny Unitas alone with perfect vision. That decision by MAAR - incredible composure. That play by Beilein- sheer genius. That shot by Poole - forever in tournament lore! And then coach B going into the locker room with goggles and full poncho- absolutely priceless! This is one of the all time endings for college b-ball fans!
He couldn’t run baseline either, have to put someone on him there.
Fully agree on that. No clue why they put five back and didn’t deny MAAR.
March 18th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^
You don't want to foul MAAR there (and with this crew, it was a possibility) so I can see giving him a little space, but I definitely would guard the inbounds in a dead-ball situation like that.
Incinerate the white uniforms
Was huge. Also, we went 6-6 on 1 and 1 FTs... very clutch and key to staying in it.
Was worried MAARs final shot was going to be a missed layup he makes 19 out of 20 times, but nope!!! JORDAN POOLE.
Pressure is off now, let’s go back to the underdog mentality and take over LA!!!
It's been over an hour and I still have no words (not much of a voice either, just from yelling at home).
Just WOW!
I've watched this about 100 times now. Enjoy the shot. But also enjoy all the reactions. The bench, the cheerleaders, the band, the fans in the stands...Manbun. Just beautiful.
I loved his ‘catch me if you can routine’. In fact, my personal favorite part is when he used the security guard as a blocker to run the end around and avoid the entire mob.
Everyone reacted except Ibi. Ibi must have expected that to happen.
When the ball goes through the basket, he just lowers his arms in a way you'd do if the shot was no good, and then slowly jogs down the court after Poole with no obvious signs of celebration while his teammates are going apeshit chasing Jordan.
it's like he thought we lost when the shot went in
This is gonna be like the magglio alcs walk off or the Stevie y 2OT winner where I watch it years later and all I can do is cry.
because that's exactly what Blake McLimans was yelling at Trey when he sunk the 3 vs Kansas
Located a recording of the Shep / Mills radio call:
Produced the Michigan game for our station here at @WWJ950 @ShepMatt and @terrymills_ pic.twitter.com/wNzHAW3cox
— Mike Ventimiglio (@mivento) March 18, 2018
Awesome. Also, that monitor is labeled NEWSBOSS. lol.
Unbelievable shot. The reaction at the bar was insane. So much fun. I could only reference the trey Burke shot to compare it. The ensuing high fives and hugs were amazing. Love this team.
I'm still struggling to accept that fact, because while I was screaming in delirium the thought occurred to me, "Am I on drugs? Is this reality?" But then I remembered, "I don't do drugs," and started celebrating again.
I still feel high.
Awesome comments! Still celebrating.
Haven't seen that mentioned.
That it is a three point attempt.
But for the record, I am glad the refs blew that as well - just made the memory that much more dramatic.
I'm still crying. Craziest shit ever. And bless JB for drawing up that play. Forgive the other 39 min!!!
But ref put 1 arm up on the contact then 2 hands to signal it was a 3 point attempt.I'll check with my Ref friends tomorrow.Doesn't matter but Poole was fouled.
One hand up means "the shot is a three point attempt." One hand up with a whistle means "a foul has occurred on a shot, which may or may not have been a three point attempt." Two hands up means "a three point basket has been made."
The whistle wasn't blown. Live, I thought Jordan flopped to try to draw the whistle, which was never coming in that situation because officials "don't want to decide a game" -- never mind that refusing to blow the whistle when a player is fouled is also deciding the game. On replay, it was pretty clearly a foul on the follow-through, but I still maintain it probably wouldn't have been called.
Honestly, I'm glad they just left it. Blow the whistle at .5 seconds stops the clock and gives them a chance for their own miracle. Plus half the magic was the legit buzzer beater. Don't throw a whistle into the middle of it, even if it's deserved.
March 18th, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
Would not have been called. Shouldn’t have been called. However, if chin fouls are getting whistled, maybe it should have.
I actually came to something like the opposite conclusion regarding the foul:
I thought it might have been a foul initially--that is, on the intial replays from behind Poole--but once they showed a replay from a different angle where you can see the space between their bodies, it seemed quite clearly not to be a foul. (The original game view from the side is actually pretty helpful, if not perfect.)
According to the view from behind Poole, his body crumbles and flails out at the perfect time and it seems impossible that it couldn't have been a foul, but in fact the defender flies right by without contact--or with very minimal contact, all of which is initiated by Poole after he breaks from his natural follow-through to flail his arms and legs out sideways.
So I thought the refs were right not to blow the whistle, because it just wasn't a foul.
As others have noted, Z made Gray work really hard to get his points. Teske also had a big impact defensively and helped Michigan make it through this bogged down game.
As for Poole, ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
So happy for Jordan, he deserves it!
Can see Mo about to approach Davis in the background too. Great pic.
THAT WAS PAYBACK FOR GIVING US JOHN O'KORN, HOUSTON
/s
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