-That set at the end where Brooks got fouled reminded me of the one that got Derrick Walton his and-1 to win the game at Nebraska his freshman year. It’s a great set to run late after a game full of screens and fake handoffs.
-Brooks gets in trouble going hard to his left and trying to spin blindly back. Needs to tighten up that handle and not get into messes that way.
-Like to see guys guys playing aggressively. That hard cut by Simpson to get the pass from Matthews was huge.
-It really helps to make shots. Still in large part a make or miss game. Also, winning is better than losing.
-Our defense (47) is only four spots below our offense (43) on kenpom. If shots start falling, we may be on to something.
Yeah this defense is different and unprecedented in their scrappiness and getting hands on the ball. They still play bad defense too often but they get after it unlike any Coach Beilein team I can remember.
Simpson is going to be a captain and probably as soon as next season. What hands!!! I am looking forward to his matchup with one Cassius Winston. That matchup is going to be feisty.
I am unconcerned with Robinson; his shots will fall and this style of D fits him as well as any style could. He did have 4 steals today.
My day after thought, how in the world did Moe not get called for a travel on his breakaway dunk?
I/we get mad at horrible officiating when it happens to us. Obviously, I’m glad it didn’t get called there but still holding the refs accountable either way. That was so blatant, that was awful by the refs ha.
Also of note to me, Matthews footwork has been great. Maybe it’s been talked about before and I’ve missed it, but I continue to be impressed how he operates down low.
Although it ended up being a foul instead of a steal, I liked Simpson’s attempt to take the ball away from Gyorgy Goloman with 16 seconds left in regulation. Goloman is 6’11" and was holding the ball over his head. Simpson, at 5’11" maybe, nearly got a clean steal. It was a good aggressive play on a poor foul shooter.
Great win. This is a hobbyhorse of mine, but I wish this sport would wake up and play more non-con games like this on campus. Between the low-major games, the pre-conference tournament and the postseason tournaments, you only get a handful of interesting home games a year. Such a shame, since the home crowds are what sets this sport apart.
Is the football team no longer fair game? What did I miss? 1 out of the last 14 against Ohio State and we’re complaining about taking shots at the football program? If our football program was dominant we’d be demanding even more out of coach Beilein and it would be ridiculous…
This team just needs to find some consistency . The talent is there to be pretty good but it’s about settling into roles still and for guys to bring it consistently. Beileins rotations I think are part to blame. He needs to find poole 15-20 min a game. We need his offensive spark. I still think it’s essential to get Mathews and Wagner some run at the 4. We need teske and poole out there as much as possible for the second unit.
It was a huge win in a game we should have lost. Kind of counters the game we should have won vs Ohio st. I think we are most definitely a tourney team but it’s a bit frustrating because it was clear to me we were better than st or lsu and should have won both games. We’d be looking pretty good right now had we won those two games. Had we beat lsu we would probably have lost to notes dame ( our next opp had we beat lsu right?) but still have been 8-2 with a bunch of nice wins and two good losses.
As of now wins over ucla, vcu, and Indiana are pretty good this early. I expect vcu to look better later in the year as they do well in their conference almost always. If we beat Texas on the road we’d have a pretty damn good resume so far. I think we can and will if we show up. I just hope beilein tinkers with a small ball lineup or the big man line up much more.
I’m very confident we do well this year if we find ways to play are best 8-9 guys. Poole and teske can really push our bench to a strength. Not to keep hating on Duncan but I don’t see a reason anymore why he should play more than 20 min a game. The idea of a Eli/x maar Poole Mathews Wagner look just makes much more sense to me for large portions of the game. End rant
Our shooting % needs to pick up a little bit and it would solve a lot of problems. The offense, IMHO, just seems a little off or a little slow in movement. Maybe too many new guys playing big minutes. Hopefully, things improve soon. We have a good team.
I smell a final 4 over the next three seasons. Possibly two. Call me crazy but I think we will. Next year we could have a very very good team. I expect zavier to continue to get better. A back court of Eli/ zavier and poole is very intersting. I think you see Eli start than get off ball minutes with zavier. I don’t see dejulius unseating them although I do love his game. I’d redshirt him potentially. I really love our guards futures.
When you look at the talent level coming in it’s scary. There are going to be some tough transfers I’d imagine. next tear we will have Eli,z, Poole,Mathews, ignas,John’s, livers, teske and maybe moe all deserving of big minutes. That doesn’t even include dejulius, ibi or Davis as well. You could argue all three might be worthy at that point. castleton will have to wait a year or two I’d imagine. This will be by far the most talented Michigan roster top to bottom I can think of. The days of beilein can’t recruit are over. I think the nation and the youth have awoken to what we all knew. If you want to get better and go pro this is where you go to improve and compete at the same time.
Also I don’t know where I’d post this but this thread has been most active so I’ll put the question here. Why hasn’t moe used the behind the back move that we all loved last year, at all this year? Not only was it extremely pretty and flashy but it was also quite effective and he often beat his man with it. You guys know what I’m talking about. He used it once or twice a game last year. Always caught the d by surprise and he often got to the rim with a step on his man. Thing of beauty from a big man.
I didn’t gauruntee anything but I think we will get one soon. Possibly two. People also said the same thing last year when I made similar early season predictions when we were struggling. We were a rebound away from elite eight and I think we would have gone final 4. It is very optimistic and a lot couod happen to prevent it but the talent is there for big time runs just like it was last year. I mean if we had dj right now I think we’d be final 4 bound this year. Sweet sixteen at worse.
If moe and Mathews come back I think anything short of the elite eight would be a failure. I’d imagine we’d be a top ten team for sure. Even with just Mathews I think we will be the best team in the conference. Maybe maryland too with Jackson back.
If you examine our roster with just Mathews back it’s very good. Even if we get nothing from the freshman. I’d imagine ignas at the very least will give us big time minutes starting or off the bench. I’m extremely confident in eli and z next year. Both of them will be very good. Z is going to prove a lot of people wrong and be a huge winner here. A true 4 year leader and good college player. Eli is going to be an offensive star. I’ve seen enough of Jordan to see that he is going to be a special scorer and player overall. I would not be surprised if he made a huge jump abs was a star next year.
Mathews is clearly a star. Another year to work on his shot and fundamentals and he could be scary good. First team big ten followed by a top 20 pick. Livers hasn’t shown much but a few flashes but I have little doubt he will be a offensive stud himself. Teske has shown he’s a beast. Our defense is way better with him and he’s shown he can face up too and I see him owning the paint. I actually think he has second team big ten potential. He can score rolling or posting. I’d imagine if moe wasn’t here we’d be hearing a lot more from opposing coaches and media about him.
Add in ignas who might be the best frosh since Burke or Mitch and John’s who should give us great minutes and man this team is going to be very good. I don’t see a weakness on next years team. Hell I’d be confident in our second unit over some teams first. I don’t see a weakness next year. Plenty of scoring, shooting, slashing, rebounding will even be good. Possibly the best d in beileins tenure… tons of two way players.
Add in beileins development skills and the big ten should be worried. No more getting pushed around in the paint or beaten iff the dribble. The young guys have the most active hands I’ve seen in this tenure. Poole, Eli,z and Mathews are constantly tipping balls and getting strips/steals. This will only improve. Add in that they can play more aggressively cause john and livers are waiting and we could see some next level d with what should be a offensive juggernaut.
Hell im even confident that Davis is going to give us some nice bench minutes at center. As you can see I’m very excited but we all know what coach b is capable of and he’s never ever had talent at this level. Next years team has 5-6 potential pros on it in my opinion. Of course I’m getting ahead of myself but it’s what predictions and boards like this are for. It sounds outrageous now but so do most this early.
I can’t wait to see how coach uses Mathews, livers, ignas and John’s. They are such great prospects. He’s never had tools at the 3/4 like this before. They are going to be such a versaitle/ skilled group. I can’t wait for the next two years. Hell im still excited for this team too. I could see a run in us.
Never had talent at this level? As talented as next years team could be I have a hard time believing it will have 6 NBA players on it like the 2013 team did.