The State of UM Basketball

It’s amazing how some can’t read and continually create straw mans

One of my first post in this very thread is Walton and Irvin are shot creators. And no, JB hasn’t shown the ability to build a dynamic offense since Nik’s POY season.

Shot creator as in a player who can create off the bounce from the perimeter either a shot for his self or a teammate at a high frequency. Don’t think DJ satisfies my definition.

Agree mostly with this

See, this is when you know it’s useless debating guestavo – we can have the best offense in the B1G and the 8th best in the country but somehow that’s not acceptable because it doesn’t fit some undefined requirement of dynamism. Yawn.

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Except it’s been defined throughout the thread multiple times. Look, youre getting the Hail treatment and going on ignore. Simply will not entertain people who can’t read.

I know this goes against prior evidence for JB but I think we run off misses a ton next year. That’s a strength for X, I bet CM will excel on the wings and our starting big guys are athletic enough to keep pace or act as a nice spot up option trailing the play. Might play well with MAAR’s skillset as well. Livers, Poole, Eli and maybe MBamba all athletic enough to make us a terror.

I don’t know enough about Donlon or Washington but could either of them convince JB to run?

I’d love to see it. The bigs will need to get used to quick pivots and outlet passes without getting duped by crafty guards for the opposition stepping in passing lanes. Shouldn’t be any reason for Michigan to not push next year, but Coach has seemed a bit exasperated at time with this year’s squad not looking to push the ball.

UM has run a lot more in the past off misses. This year, we’re only attempting 12% of our shots off misses within the first ten seconds off misses, but in 12–13 it was 19% and other years around 16%. We’ll never be a team that runs a lot off makes and will probably always use a lot of clock when we don’t run, but we have and will run more. We’re starting to run more this year too.

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Dylan just noted on twitter that our offense is the best in the B1G “by a pretty wide margin,” or .05 PPP. Not bad for a complete lack of dynamism.

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By that definition, you’re identifying Walton and Irvin as “shot creators” and you’re also saying that next year we won’t have enough “shot creators,” correct? I’ll disagree. Having watched Matthews a number of times in high school and even in limited action at Kentucky, I absolutely believe that he will be able to create shots off the bounce for himself and others at a rate equal to or greater than Irvin. And, having watched X (and I, too, have been a supporter throughout the year), I think that he will also create for himself and others. In addition, guys like Poole and Brooks will give us secondary creators from the guard position we don’t have this year.

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I’m simp lay not high on any of those guys next year as handlers outside of X as a passer and CM as a slasher. Neither are triple threat 3 level scorers who can pass at even a Zack or Derrick level imo. Poole will take a year and Brooks is a catch and shoot Eddie house type. Idk maybe someone makes an unexpected leap but I see nothing definitive. That’s my assessment and you are entitled to yours.

I’ve been saying it all year. Next year is the year I expect us to make a huge leap. It could have been this year if they had amped up their intensity and Walton has stepped up sooner combined with less zak. I know it wasn’t zaks fault since no one was stepping up really but either way.

I actually believe this roster still can be quite good, specifically if Wilson And Maar ( if they’ve continue to be aggressive) along with Walton in a zone could really finish the year strong. The talent is there. Wilson has to understand how important he is. Rebounding, d and offense. He disappears for long stretches and it’s not a coincidence its when we struggle. He’s also a very good passer.

Back to next year. I see X’s fit now. Believe it or not I think belein should find a combo guard who can shoot and handle as a grad transfer still. We won’t have the best shooting foster next year. I think we need to experiment with Wilson playing point forward next year some. I think he has the vision and playmaking ability to create shots for guys. I also think x has shown very nice vision. I’m confident he will have a high assist rate. We are gonna need one more elite shooter imo who can also handke well . I’m not confident Jordan will be ready yet.

I’m not giving up on this group. It’s clear to me if they keep playing like this that were a fringe top 25 team. Our record should be 19-6 or so imo. Also I still believe the refs stole the game at the kohl. Only game this year I felt the refs were horrid. Lots of big chances left. I also could see us winning the big ten tourney. Let’s hope dj keeps stepping up and taking over as our number two. Time for him to become a star

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This offense is very good. Ive said all year this group could be the best offensive unit we’ve had in beleins tenure. What’s sickening as they still have by realized their potential, or played a complete good offensive game outside of the first Indiana game.

It’s so versatile and they can kill you in so many ways. Dj is such a tough out. Moe and him have potential to be the best offensive front court in the country over the next year and quarter. Add in a resurging Maar and a zoned out Walton and it’s scary to think about.

Few teams in the country have such a well balanced group. If they play smart, share the ball and stay aggressive no one can guard them. I’m confident in this. I’d like to see a few more back doors especially when teams over play the perimeter like South Carolina and mich st. It’s open, cut hard and make the pass and you will keep them honest/ break their back

Now you add an aggressive confident x and oh baby it’s scary. I’d like to see donall give us a better 15-20 minutes. He’s a very nice offensive weapon. Great face up shooter and decent on the roll. No reason he can’t give us 6-10 off the bench every game. Imagine if we had Aubrey? God this roster could have been hanging 80-90 on every team if they got it together faster.

This is why playing hard and tough is so important for us. Teams can’t match our offense unless we play phantom d and give up rebounds all day. Let’s hope moe can stay out of foul trouble and out there. Big reasons we lose us our bigs aren’t in a groove and on the bench

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They’ve been using more backdoor cuts and making the passes, which I’ve been glad to see too. Could probably look for it even a bit more against aggressive Ds. That’s one thing I really like about X - when defenders are aggressive, he doesn’t just make sure not to turn the ball over, he goes hard and makes them pay. MAAR has been doing it more too. Generally, they’ve been better about punishing aggression.

I don’t know about Beilein’s best offense, he’s had some pretty darn good ones, but you’re right, this is a flexible, multi-pronged offense with multiple guys who can do multiple things.

I’m not even sure why that matters. It all boils down to points per possession. Michigan’s offense scores more points per possession than any team in the Big Ten. It’s a good offense.

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On Brooks–he may be a catch and shoot guy in the sense that he isn’t going to be a guy beating his opponent one on one in an isolation set or a big time P&R guy, but he has,IMO, plenty of ability to shot fake and create off close outs–he has good vision, he passes well, and he has enough handle to straight line to the basket. That’s what I mean by secondary creators. If CS and/or CM can create off P&R for the first pass, then having guys who can do something with the ball other than just shoot it is important too. D.J. falls into that category as well IMO.

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It doesn’t matter to anyone but a couple guys still trying to figure out why they were actually right all along that this team wasn’t going to be good on offense.

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Ok, I get the distinction you’re making with secondary playmakers and it’s credible but it isn’t one I personally value. I have less faith in CM being a PNR guy and I think most of X’s offense will be in transition or assisted next year.

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It seems to me Beilein has always favored getting down the court quickly. He’s talked about this season and the need to look for the opportunity, not the PG. Walton’s minutes may have made him dial it back a bit but I see Simpson with his quicks and vision doing a lot more of it next season. I also would like to see some Warriors-like rhythm and flow looks, maybe using Wilson or Wagner at the top of the key.

This season has definitely been different than years past. It seems like when we play our best, it’s because Moe and DJ have big games. It’s because behind Walton, they’re our best players at the moment. We have been used to the guards dictating success in past years but this year I think its the big guys who are the X-factors. I think in order for us to win big games such as vs Wisconsin, vs Purdue, @ NW, I think it’s critical for Beilein to get the big guys involved right away, sort of what we saw with DJ vs Indiana, with Walton and DJ using an effective pick n roll game. Part of the reason we have been struggling is because Moe and DJ are still young, and have been adjusting to becoming focal points of the offense.