I feel like the Big 10 tournament this year is going to have a lot to do with who in the middle tier of our conference plays themselves in and who plays themselves out. The seeding is going to be interesting.
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First challenge for a lot of these teams: get to 10-8. Get there and I think most teams will be safe. At 9-9 or worse I think you better be ready to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament.
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All plausible points and I agree, I think they did come out a bit more focused on D than O.
I also agree on the elite offense, which was my concern in an earlier thread a while back. They’ve been elite statistically, and they are a great offense no question, but I don’t see them outscoring better teams like you mentioned. (Or at least not consistently doing that I should say)
We’ll find out tomorrow night if they keep it up and can slow down Indiana enough. Big, big one tomorrow.
I put forth a thesis like this a few weeks ago; it’s my hunch that something like what you describe happened. I don’t think that Beilein has neglected defense because he hated it in the past but because getting the offense flowing took a lot of practice time. I’m sure they’ve been eager to avoid any sense of panic, but it could also be that when they went back to the D for a few practices the players just found themselves in a fog.
On a related note, if Beilein ever DID find himself with a bunch of one and dones, could they really function in his offense? It’s not just a matter of players being bright, as the coach has several times noted. . .
I think our basketball team is very similar to Oregon football.
With a great QB at the helm (Burke, Mariota), we have one of the most prolific, efficient offenses out there. Ask Florida how good it was in the 2013 tourney game against them.
And when the offense was great, both teams were good enough to make it to their respective sports’ championship games, where both teams lost close games to very good teams (I’m thinking of the Oregon loss to Auburn, not OSU).
But with a lesser QB at the helm, and worse talent at the other positions, the scheme is still good, and the offense is still very effective against average to bad defenses, but it struggles against the better teams.
Meanwhile, defensively, neither team has ever been “good,” but they’ve been good enough to win at a high clip because the offense is so good. But when the offense takes a bit of a dip, and the team loses more games, the defensive deficiencies become far more noticeable and significant.
And Oregon football, to me, is a pretty great template for how to build an excellent program (though they’ve struggled the past few years) when you aren’t a blue blood program, and your state doesn’t have a ton of local talent. They built a great system, and found players to excel in it. And I think JB did much of the same thing with Michigan basketball, which is also not a blue blood program.
With that said, of course Oregon football (two recent title games) was operating at a higher level than Michigan basketball, and obviously it wasn’t infallible, as Helfrich is now gone.
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Generally agree; and for me Michigan basketball like Oregon football was incredibly fun to watch–truly innovative: I just part ways with people who think we’re not fun to look at.
I’m not wholly in agreement about the QB, though, at least not in theory. In Beilein’s mind I think that ideally his teams could score from any point on the floor, and create from any position. Which is in part why I made the observation about veteran play and experience. Arguably, losses to the NBA and injury may hurt cohesion on a Beilein team more than a plug n’ play outfit like Kentucky.
Still (arguing with myself now) having lots more of the offense flow through the bigs this year, and only really getting clear that it would be that way 1/4 of the way into the season, also has to have required practice time and adjustment.
P.S. Real men are cool with the shoes. 
Thanks for that, who knows what we get out of this team down the stretch, feel like we could end up below that prediction easily or slightly above. Obviously would need more than that to get into the tourney.
Those Kenpom season projections look about right.
Thomas Bryant had 1 rebound tonight.
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I love it too
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We had 6 guys in double figures. 6 guys made a three. Every rotation guy made at least 50% of their shot attempts.
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James Blackmon took 3 shot attempts total tonight.
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While our defense was pretty bad tonight during the competitive portion of the game, I love the fact that we totally got into Thomas Bryant’s head.
Yeah IU had like 26 points the final 10 of the first half
Yep that moment where DJ grinned was incredible. Really fought back. I think holding JBjr to 3 attempts is pretty impressive. If we can imploy the same tactic to MSU with Bridges and make Tum/Ellis/McQuaid take shots we will blow them out, but that’s much easier said than done
The key to that game is very simple…DJ Wilson cannot get punked by either Bridges or Ward, which ever of the two he guards. If we can limit one of those guys we can compete. If we get punked by both of those guys its going to be a long night indeed.
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Just got back from the UNC game and saw the score. What??? What happened tonight?
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