Yes I did pony up the money for Big Ten Plus so that I could watch a Rockets victory.
So the MAC hasn’t done terribly this young basketball season, but it certainly could have been better. (Specifically looking at you Kent State MBB, who could be the talk of not just college basketball but all the sports world that isn’t watching the World Cup had they not lost to the #1 team in the country by five points.) I could totally be arguing a 12th ranked Golden Flashes team should be number 1.
Anyway, back to tonight’s action.
The Toledo Rockets took on a ranked Michigan Wolverines in women’s basketball on Thursday in Ann Arbor. The Rockets have put together a nice season, but have a pair of back-to-back losses to Duke and Penn State which hold them back a little bit. (Though, it must be noted the PSU loss was by one measly point.)
The Rockets take on a 9-0 Michigan team that is ranked 14th in the AP, and 12th in NET rankings. Michigan is in the Big Ten, which has five teams in the top 20 NET rankings and 10 in the top 50. This is kind of a big deal if you like sending two teams from the MAC to the NCAA Tournament. You need wins against teams like that if you are going to keep hope alive.
Well, like most Ohio sports fans, I succumbed to our inherent negativity.
I blocked the game out of my mind and wasn’t going to keep track live. I especially decided not to watch it once I realized I had to pay 15 bucks to sign up for a Big Ten+ subscription that I probably wouldn’t use the rest of the year. Of course curiosity killed the bank account, so I caved and checked the score with minutes left to play. Toledo was winning!
I whipped out the credit card to give the conference that already has everything even more money, and I was not disappointed.
Well, actually I was a couple of times. Toledo made some mistakes. More importantly, though, they hit some key buckets and free throws, and played great defense. One of my favorite moments was the fact that the Michigan star, that was playing kinda bad up to that point, hit a bucket with mere seconds left (like 40).
However, the Rockets pulled it out, bringing home a great win for the strength of record fir both Toledo and the MAC as a whole in the process.
The Rockets jumped out to a good start, and their defense did their thing to keep them in the lead. I noticed they hit close to 50 percent of their shots for the game, which confirmed what I already knew: when this Rockets team can score, they can beat just about anyone. I’ll probably watch this game again and actually analyze it at a later date.
But for now, I am going to enjoy the win. And all of you should too!
TL;DR: The Rockets knocked off a P5 team that was ranked! FLY THE FLAG!!!