Michigan at Northwestern Discussion Thread

Exactly. Everyone on the court, barring Teske, needs to shoot the open 3s that the offense is predicated on creating. We dont even necessarily “live and die by the 3” the way we used to, because of improved defense and rebounding…Of course, my whole argument on this thread has been that we did actually, simply die by the 3, tonight.

Well that and holy crap I just broke my hand on this table stupid decisions, lol.

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If Brooks wants to earn more PT, then he has to actually do something when he’s in the game. He’s literally done nothing since the calendar flipped to 2018. I’m sure Beilein would play him more but he’s a total non entity when he’s in the game.

I would have thought Teske would be a better shot blocker. He’s got the verticality part down in playing straight up and down, but he rarely blocks shots. Only 14 total on the season. He’s really tall but I just don’t think he can jump at all.

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Eh, he’s pretty hard to score over and has altered a bunch more shots than that. Guys better at blocking on ball defending probably don’t have super high block rates, but they get guys to put up a lot of weak shots. I don’t know that he’ll ever be great at off ball blocks - it may be that he doesn’t get off the ground fast enough, forget how high. I think we’re a lot harder to score at the rim against when he’s in, I just wouldn’t give up on any of his potential. I think there’s also some shots not taken and drives not attempted when a guy that tall and long armed is in a game. I may not be directly disagreeing with you, just saying, I like Teske and will be glad to see what he can do next year and so on.

I’m not down on Teske. I do think he’s good at altering shots for the most part. I think you are accurate in what you wrote. He’s been a solid backup this year. I’m just not sold on him being a starting caliber Big Ten center who’s capable of playing 20-25 mins per game.

I’m still anticipating Wagner leaving after this year so we’ll see if Teske can take on a much larger role or if Beilein will have to play a non traditional center a lot of the time.

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I still feel up in the air on Mo leaving. I’d agree that I don’t know if Teske can handle twenty five minutes in a game. He’d sure as heck need to develop an elbow jumper.

The Teske hype train got a little out of control earlier in the year, but he can do some good things. It is tough because so much of what Michigan does right now is geared to go through Moe. If he wasn’t on the roster, you would use the center so much differently. So right now, it feels like the opposing defenses sort of get a break because they don’t have to worry about Teske picking and popping.

I think there’s a lot to like about Jon. He moves his feet well, has improved a lot in the last year. I’d say he’s ahead of anything I would have expected out of him this year.

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It’s incredibly hard to get any consistency playing limited minutes. But I’m pretty sure Coach B is playing the guy whom he believes gives us the best chance to win right now.

It might be tough for Eli going forward with DeJulius coming in next year. That kid is going to play a lot in the future.

And Simpson has two more years still.

Simpson: FGs - 68-141 .482
3PT - 18-52 .346
FTs - 23-47 .489
TOs - 30

Brooks: FGs - 17-57 .298
3PT - 10-39 .256
FTs - 8-13 .615
TOs - 13

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One thing I’ve noticed in these two games against NW is that we aren’t attacking the zone in way we have in the past - generally we’ve focused on getting the ball to the center of the zone - around the FT line - in an effort to collapse the zone, at which point we have an array of cutters and shooters for that guy to find. It was obvious - almost every possession you’d see a guy standing there with his hands up, ready to receive a pass, turning as the ball swung.

I can’t recall seeing it once last night, and maybe only once in the first game. Is the NW zone unique? We’ve generally fared well against zones but not here - did we change our strategy or, less likely, just not execute for two entire games?

On Teske - it seems like most shot-blocks come from a weak side helper swooping in, which I think Teske probably doesn’t have the athleticism for. He seems like a stout on-ball guy, nimble enough to cut off penetration to the hoop.

On one of the first possessions, we got it to Livers in the middle and made something happen. Maybe missed shot, but good look and I think we got the OREB. Plus we had the play that Mo banked in. I do wonder if that was something we had in with Livers being the key guy in the middle and when we went out we had to go more perimeter.

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I think that stems from the fact that Northwestern’s zone is much more of a matchup rather than a standard 2-3 and presents some different challenges. What is weird is that Michigan ran a lot of action in the first half that worked really well and was just never able to get back to it in the 2nd. I’m not sure what tweaks NW made.

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Wagner, Robinson and Poole should be our zone busters and only Moe had a decent game. Duncan seemed like he didn’t even want to shoot during the last 10 minutes. The entire team seemed very hesitant last night.

Poole continues to impress with his court vision and feel for the game. He just needs to eliminate the occasional dumb play.

Livers missed a jumper early on after flashing. Sucked to see him sprain ankle. He’s really the best candidate for that role. Strong, good looking jumper, and good passer.

I wonder if Wagner could flash effectively?

Matthews hit a foul line jumper but can’t recall if it was from flashing or not.

Yeah not much flashing last night, seemed they were trying to overload more than flash but I could be wrong.

I’d have to watch game again and I’m not likely to do so, but Coach Beilein was especially ornery with players using pump fakes, then doing nothing of note once they gained the advantage. Robinson and Matthews seem like the obvious culprits

MAAR did this several times as well

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Ok. I wasn’t sure since Beilein mentioned him as one who is good at getting two feet in the lane.