Squad 100 moving on to 101

They will probably hang around and be a bubble team again. They won’t win a B1G title next year but a coach in his 10th year who laments not having senior starters and having 3 at his disposal and 1 other junior starter should be eyeing a B1G title. Beilein is very stubborn in how he does things in order for this program to reach higher he needs to change as much as the players need to improve.

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Cry less lol

You are correct. The idea of him redshirting this year in hopes of getting instant eligibility next was my thinking. Either way, he shouldn’t see any time next year.

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Yet you said you’d choose Painter of Beilein? Pretty stupid. Think about that for a second.

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You literally said they lucked into it. Did the earn it through a grueling 18 game conference schedule (no imbalance) or did they “luck into it”?

Like I said, RCMB would really love some of you guys.

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Personally, benchmarks within the tournament are a bit silly. If we would have beat ND and SFA and got to the Sweet 16, would that mean the team was good? Not in my book. We have been an average team most of the season. Even if we got to the Sweet 16, it wouldn’t change that we are an average team. Just that we were an average team playing at an above average level for a handful of games.

Losing last night didn’t change my opinion of anything. Just like when we got upset by Ohio in the first round, it didn’t change my feelings about a very good season. Tourney is all about match ups and if you can find your groove in a small sample size of games. The best team doesn’t win in most seasons. Usually just one of the best teams that is playing well.

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There was imbalance… There were 18 conference games and 11 conference opponents. So there are four teams that you missed for a second game. I’m not sure how that affected Michigan, but probably favorably based on their advanced stats.

You can’t take away that B10 title from that team or Michigan, but if you played that season again they probably don’t win it.

So when I mean, ceiling like 11-12, I mean something like the a low top 25 team as the ceiling.

It is hard to predict right now. Teams change players leave and join teams and guys get bigger. Based on how we finished with lack of depth and our starters playing 30 plus minutes which shouldn’t happen next year I like what I see for the future but a lot can change.

Yes at this point in their career, yes. Painter is much further along right now than JB was at the same age.

I would choose painter over JB right now. Nothing has changed. I think they are both average coaches so give me the younger guy.

If they’re both average, why would you take the younger guy? The older one would move on quicker. I don’t think Painter is going to get any better. He’s already spent 11 years as a HC at a B1G school in a talent rich state.

That’s an interesting way to look at it. I’m not sure. My thought process was he has time to improve where the older guy is more than likely on the decline.

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With no immediate impact player, Next years success will depend on Wagners improvement and improved ability.

He could simply elevate this team to the next level. Or we will be the exact same team again next year.

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I don’t think Painter is going to get much better. His style of play is high floor/low ceiling IMO. Whereas JB’s is more low floor/high ceiling. And that can be seen by their finishes in conference play and NCAA tournament. Purdue has finished outside the top 4 in only four of his 11 seasons. JB in 4 of 8 (though I would argue it would be a little different if Caris was healthy, and McGary not suspended, but Purdue was also without Robbie Hummel for 6 of his 8 seasons, or so it seemed, so I guess it’s probably a wash). But JB has more conference titles and a much better winning % in the NCAA Tournament.

Which is why JB is frustrating. As has been stated many times, when we have the jimmies and joes, we are a great program. When we don’t, we’re average.

I’m always a little surprised that people don’t watch or comment on the Beilein interviews. The guy does a very good interview, and his reasons for in-game decision-making are always out in the open there. Instead it’s like there’s a hardcore group that wants to slag him no matter what, another that defends him no matter what. There’s plenty of meat there for serious conversation, but I don’t think the average attention span here can manage it.

Moritz is now 18; he is going to be very, very good. We have been abysmal at the 5 this year, and that can be laid at Beilein’s door–he recruited Donnal and Doyle and they haven’t been effective. But Donnal is going to be quite adequate next year backing up Moritz, we will have Teske and (maybe) Davis. We are going to be strong at the five, stronger at every spot on the floor. (A good conversation is about what happens at the four.)

I do think that Beilein exhibits stubborness at times, is a little slow to react at others. I think this year has worn him down some. But win seven more games than the previous year after losing your seniors, an NBA guy–this is only a reason to get the long knives out in the paranoid world of anonymous internet fandom.

What I am most curious about is which assistant(s) leave and what kind of new help Beilein gets with recruiting.

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Can’t this be said of pretty much any team? As in, when you have good players you are good. What am I missing in your statement?

I would say that when we have the talent, we are a great program. Coaches like Painter, IMO, don’t capitalize off the talent they get. I think JB, in most seasons, gets players to outperform where they would be in most other programs. There’s only been two seasons in which we underachieved IMO (this season and Manny’s junior/Peedi’s senior year). Every other year we’ve met expectations or surpassed them IMO.

We have the chance to be ‘special’…just wow. We clearly lack the talent to be special, perhaps good, but certainly not special.

The problem, in a general sense, is the expectations for most are too low. Bubble team shouldn’t be acceptable IMO.

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What do you mean by impact player? I don’t think X is going to come in and pull a Trey Burke, but he can definitely have a freshman-Walton type impact either starting or off the bench.

I agree. Michigan is a big enough name and program to expect more than that as a program. But I also evaluate each season in a vacuum. Next year (without really looking too in depth at the rest of the conference), I expect an 11-7 conference record. That should be good for a 6-8 seed, depending on who the wins come against and what we do in nonconference. So if we do that, I can’t critique the season as a whole too much. But I can still critique the overall status of the program even if we technically perform to our capabilities for that season.

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