The State of UM Basketball

I love the roster next year. Wilson, maar, and Mathews all have to be ready to take on bugged scoring roles. Maar has to be searching for his shots. I think next years team could be awesome, particularly defensively. I hope that Belein adjusts his offense accordingly and recognizes his strengths more. Lots more post action, fast breaking, slashing and overall a higher lefty commitment to defense, this is how this squad wins and wins big. If they try to shoot 30 threes a game and just outscore teams were in trouble. Even teske bring the big off the bench will be interesting and solid defensively.

I mean not just being a homer here but bamba is the perfect fit for next year. First off thereā€™s no doubt in my mind Belein will make him a superior all around player than any other coach in terms of skill/ improving his body, but on top of that he would be the perfect anchor for this team. Trying to score on a line up of x,maar, Mathews, wagner/Wilson, and bamba would be ridiculous. Dj starting would make a lot of sense defensively and his offense is great but I think you have to start moe in that scenario still. Heā€™s just too good offensively and you want to ensure that lineup can put up points. Bamba would counter his poor d perfectly.

Man what a. Embarrassment of riches weā€™d suddenly have. Iā€™d bet on us to win it all preseason with good odds.

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What about a defensive lineup of:

X/ MAAR
Mathews
DJ
Bamba
Wagner

Mathews is going to be very strong at the 3 but I am more and more convinced that DJ can/might play 3 in spots next year, especially with Bamba on the team.

Wagner and DJ will make a jump next year and will know what to expect. What they will need to do is continue to get stronger and improve their defense. With Matthews sitting out this year the team really needed Ibi to give them something. I think the team lost at Minny partly because of tired legs late in the game. Both Walton and Zak were gassed. Freshman will have to perform next year period. Hopefully they can get any shakiness out of the way during the preseason part of the schedule. Will need solid defense and the ability to knock down open looks and run offense through the Wagner and DJ.

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Random question but when can we take another preseason trip? Believe it is every 4 years but might be wrong and cannot remember the last time they went to Europe. Think it was less than 4 years, would be great if we could do next year for the extra reps with the freshman.

Was wondering that myself. Looks like the team did a tour of Italy before the 2014-2015 season.

Lol Iā€™m watching the Kentucky mizzou game and valentine is reffing. They just referenced him as TV teddy and mentioned his controversial calls from Sunday. So far this game has been called well. Maybe he felt the heat from Sunday. If they called this game on Sunday we win by ten

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Did he T up someone for heading to the Gatorade bucket a little too hard?

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That sequence was straight out of pro wrestling. All that was missing was Jimmy Hart (yes, Iā€™m old) sneaking over by Beilein, smacking the floor, and scurrying away. The ref turns around and slaps the T on Beilein. The crowd pops.

Why did Teddy feel the need to come over to the announcers and explain the tech? Technical fouls should be pretty obvious calls, right?

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Not that I agree with the call AT ALL, but I do think Saddi was throwing a very minor tantrum up on the main floor (though walking away), and obviously Teddy had enough. JB didnā€™t seem to have a beef with it as much as the in-game calls.

Again, extremely ticky tack call - one that certainly had an impact on the game (coupled with the fact Saddi was upset about a terrible call in the first place).

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There was a call earlier in the game where MN was called for an offensive foul right in front of Pitino and he LOST IT. The whole arena could hear him. Twice as bad as what any Michigan coach did.

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I thought Duncan was intimidated last night. He didnā€™t want anything to do with Rutgers. I thought he went into full Mike Griffin mode, and heā€™s not of any value to this team if he does that

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Robinsonā€™s shot fakes were horrible last night. Not ready to shoot=not ready to shot fake. The off balance and awkward pumping in the air is just a waste of time. It is not going to fool anyoneā€¦

I wasnā€™t able to watch the game yesterday but his pump fake game is much worse than last year IMO. He needs to be able to attack off the dribble after it to take the next step in his development.

Heā€™s resorting again to standing still and not moving a lot on offense. Of course he still really hasnā€™t developed any type of game off the bounce so heā€™s still limited on what he can do to a defense.

I thought heā€™d be able by now to make more use of the shot fake and sidestep that he had worked on last season.

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Yep, thatā€™s exactly what I was thinking of. I believe it was against Maryland at home last season where he hit two huge threes after getting his man to fly way past him from a pump fake, and he replicated it several times throughout the season. I havenā€™t seen him do it this year in a while.

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Robinson has also been better lately cutting away from the ball and has gotten some layups out of it, but he needs to do it more consistently.

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Yeah heā€™s the only guy who consistently takes advantage of backdoor cuts.

Maybe because defenders are told in scouting reports if you donā€™t leave your feet heā€™s not going to go by you he will just merely step aside and youā€™re still close to him.

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It also seems like heā€™ll hesitate a little bit on the catch a lot, and if that happens he practically never ends up shooting it. I feel like our team needs a lesson in tendency breakers.