I get that you have some insight as to how much time the team spends practicing defense, based on a few practice viewings. But, that hardly seems like enough to say that Beilein “Ignores” defense and doesn’t coach it. It seems more likely that he isn’t that great at coaching it, as well as spends more (than average) time on offense. A new assistant could help improve/change both of those aspects.
I responded to you via private message.
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LOL back. So is JB, and he has been for almost 40 years. So if being hired by a school to be a HC means that you’re a defensive whiz, I guess Beilein is one several times over, right?
You still haven’t answered the question–IF we hire Donlon, why would he do so if he plans to ignore him in the very area he has proven to have chops?
Why did he ignore his previous assistants pleas to incorporate more defense into game planning during the season?
We can ask these questions all day. You are “hopefull” that JB will change his approach to running a program after 40 years.
I tend to side with 40 years of evidence that it does not matter who he hires as an assistant. Defense will get close to no attention.
I appreciate the insight, and won’t repeat any of the details (I figured that’s why you private messaged me). I won’t stubbornly deny that any of it is true, or that it does suggest that Beilein pays far less attention and time to defense, than what is normal. But it still doesn’t seem entirely comprehensive to me. Even if we ran hardly any defensive drills, tape shows that we make defensive gameplans based on our opponent. I don’t see how we could employ those defensive tweaks without practicing them, at least a bit.
And the question still holds: If JB has zero interest in improving his team’s defense, then why hire an assistant whose value is largely predicated on his defensive prowess? Wouldn’t JB just hire good offensive coaches and recruiters, if his philosophy–and his ability to dictate the implementation of his assistants’ philosophies–had no basis in defense?
Bleedblue, we make very few defensive adjustments and when we do make a defensive adjustment, it’s as if the players are being told the adjustment but have never practiced it. This is evident by the consistent poor rotations and missed assignments.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that we hedge 30 feet from the basket no matter who we are playing or who has the ball? That’s because it is taught that way pre season and then it’s forgotten about by the staff.
I’m skeptical JB can change his approach to running his team this far into his career. I hate using football analogies but it is fitting: When RR hired Greg Robinson (or even Shafer) the same question and reasoning could have been used as his reasoning why. Come to find out, the head coach was set in his ways and it did not matter who he hired as a defensive assistant.
I agree that the 30 ft hedge (which I hate) is a crutch strategy. Also agree that the terrible rotations reflects a lack of practice. But in terms of doubling, running people off the line, or giving up the 3pt shot, I think those strategic tweaks get some practice reps.
I also wonder if (1) JB felt like he had to spend more time, than normal, teaching offense to the last two teams because they were simply worse teams and he favors offensive proficiency to defensive and/or (2) the defensive woes are largely due to personnel. I don’t think that even a great defensive coach would have been able to make Duncan, Aubrey, Kam, or Mo good defensive players, at that point in their playing careers/development. Pretty sure not even Izzo, Bo Ryan, or Pitino could do much with Duncan or Aubrey (IMO)
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I was writing a nearly identical post @BleedBlue . Bear is right that JB’s always been more enamored with offense, but in the past he could rely on mixing in zones just to keep the opponent off balance. But now, he doesn’t have the horses who can execute the zones consistently, nor can they man up…and the B1G has some excellent coaches who have kind of figured out how to beat the 1-3-1 if we employ too much of it.
Maybe you have never heard of players just being bad defensively (Doyle) and having bad defensive posture and awareness (Dawkins). Sometimes players come with deficiencies that they never overcome because of bad early coaching. Under most circumstances players who have it come to college with it or the athletic ability to become adequate at it. Sometimes it won’t matter in situations where bigger is better. You may think I am giving excuses for JB but that is how I see some of the issues with the team defensively.
I don’t think moe and kam are bad defenders
Unfortunately for your theory, JB’s teams have been historically bad on the defensive side of the ball.
I do agree to an extent that the type of player you target and recruit plays into the poor team defense. Overal philosophy plays a much bigger part IMO.
And yet after nearly 40 years of running an offense his way, he changed how his offense ran and incorporated new ideas with major input from assistants.
I am skeptical as well. But he has given defense plenty of talking time in interviews since the season ended. And if he hires a guy that is a defensive specialist, it starts going from words to actions.
We will see what happens. I’ll criticize JB as much as anyone if we still aren’t putting more effort into defense. But you’re being far too absolute about it IMO.
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Admittedly, I am being pretty absolute about it. I hope Donlon gets the job and I hope defense becomes more of a priority.
We are all going to find out together.
We will save the discussion on how much JB has actually tweaked his offense for another day. 
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Windsor: Beilein ‘remodeling’ U-M for return to success
I read that this morning and it made me chuckle about how so many UM fans say things like “He is going to play a lot of 1-3-1 zone” or “He never plays two bigs together”, etc. As if he doesn’t ever change how he does things. Give the man credit for not being stuck in a rut or afraid to try new and different things.
I guess we will find out how willing he is to adapt his system when Wagner picks up 2 fouls in the first half.
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I find it interesting that seemingly everyone on this board criticizes JB for the two foul “rule”, yet it has been around for quite some time and was utilized long ago by the late great Al Maguire as well as other very good coaches over the years. I’m not saying whether I necessarily agree with the “rule” the way Coach B uses it, although he certainly knows more about his team and players than I do, but what I find interesting is that so many people on here talk as if THEY know what’s best as it relates to coaching philosophy, and Coach B doesn’t. I find THAT laughable.
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i don’t agree with this at all. There are times when auto benching makes little sense to me (veteran perimeter players without a fouling history and no depth at the position), but with bigs, where there is contact on every possession, it generally does make sense, and with Wagner, who is extremely foul prone, and will be rotated with a guy who averaged 10 and 5 in the BT regular season (Donnal), it would seem mandatory to me.
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So you really have no opinion on the matter but want to criticize the ones that don’t like the autobench. What’s next “if you didn’t play or coach the game you can’t have an opinion” line? You should just say you trust Beilein.
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So you would at least agree that applying the auto bench 100% of the time, as in the past, would not constitute “adapting”, right?
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