Agree there shouldn’t be any excuses about why UM can’t beat State. Especially because MSU’s lack of depth really hurts their ability to hack, punch, and hold.
(That said, I wouldn’t take Irvin over Bridges. He’s making some freshman mistakes but he could quickly become a double-double machine.)
No doubt - I’m just surprised compared to Ward and Bridges how timid Langford looks.
Ward and Bridges seem like they’re ready. Winston seems emotionally ready but physically too slow. Langford just seems unsure of himself.
I expect by the time we see them some 20 games in, the experience and time should help Langford and Winston pickup their game more.
EDIT Add: I’ll also toss in here, Simpson and Ibi weren’t heralded like the MSU Freshmen so that’s a little different IMO …and that I agree - I REALLY wish we had gotten Langford.
This MSU team will be a lot different when we face them than the product we saw at MSG - Not just because of the natural “Izzo Progression Rate” and “Freshman Progression Rate”, but because that Kentucky team has athletes that we don’t, and Kentucky defends really, really well.
Certainly UM will be a (hopefully) better product when we face MSU as well, but I wouldn’t look at MSUs first two games and draw any conclusions about how we will compete with them in 2 months.
I’m wondering where MChem83 is. He spent all offseason insisting that Beilein wouldn’t play Wilson and Wagner/Donnal together.
I searched “MChem83” and his name was quoted 3 times on MGoBlog:
I am pretty sure massblue was responding to MChem83, who has a pretty long record of extreme negativity toward Michigan’s football team.
MChem83 shows up on the phone ap but not here. Hence the knob slobbering of his hero MarkyMark Dantonio doesnt show here.
Where’s MChem83? Still sticking with your “guarantee” that Rutgers is going to get within ten?
So it looks like we aren’t special. He’s just as negative everywhere else.
Yeah I am not sure about the whole Irvin over Bridges. Bridges is very good defensively he can use his bulk and quickness to negate Irvin who lacks quickness himself. I still think MSU can do that on the perimeter they can still put out guys like Nairn/Winston/McQuaid/Harris that’s plenty of depth on the perimeter to rough it up. We are also forgetting teams/players adjust to the referees and games in January/February are called much differently than games in November/December.
I’d take late 2015 Irvin over what Bridges has shown so far. Current Irvin? Ehhh, even with Bridge’s hilariously bad 67.8 Offensive rating and 31.1% usage rate the huge potential is still there. I’d want to see more games before making that call.
On another note, UCLA had a ridiculous 91 possession game against Cal St. Northridge last Sunday. Michigan has had 8 games with more than 70 possessions in regulation since the start of the 2010 season. That will be a very interesting match up tempo wise.
They are hitting 55% of their shots and one guy in Welsh has taken the 3rd most shots 21 and has only made 6. Not including Welsh the team is hitting 60% of their shots not bad. They have also been living at the line with 63 FT attempts, Michigan still doesn’t have the quickness to get into the lane and get to the line.
As bad as Bridges’ Kentucky game was (could not have been worse), the first 4 minutes of the Arizona game alone showed how good he can be. I cannot believe Irvin or Bridges is even a conversation one guy is a top 10 pick talent and one is a 4 year college player that isn’t considered top 20 at his position in the country.
Bridges is way better than Irvin. Irvin is probably better suited to a high-usage offensive role because of his mid-range game, but he’s not THAT good at it. Bridges is a great rebounder/defender and can contribute on offense with energy/cuts to the baskets/offensive rebounds/etc. I think Bridges has been massively overrated by most of the media, but he is still a very very valuable player. He’s gonna be forced into a higher usage role than he should be because of MSU’s youth and lack of creators, but the rest of his game is better than what Irvin provides, IMO.
I too thought that the preseason hype for MSU was too high, but by the time we play them they will be much better than what you see from them right now. Not saying that we can’t/won’t beat them.
I think you answered your own question about his whereabouts. It took all of about 7 minutes of the first game for his big prediction to go up in flames.
I thought the preseason hype was fair until they lost their two bigs. They would have absolutely pounded people on the glass. Media didn’t really change their rankings after that though.
I’ll be surprised if Bridges isn’t one and done.
I don’t see that, Reegs. Neither Schilling nor Carter would, in my opinion, have put up better rebounding numbers than Goins and/or Ward have done to date–MSU outrebounded Kentucky with the guys they had. Their problems have stemmed from a horrific mess of a half court offense, something neither Schilling nor Carter would solve. And playing 2 bigs together and moving Bridges to the 3, something they could have done with the guys who are down, wouldn’t have helped solve the issue either, as it would have isolated Bridges away from the basket, and taken a perimeter threat away.
Obviously, MSU would have been better with two rotation players available. How much better, though, is open to extreme debate. The numbers put up by Schilling and Cater over 3 seasons each are far from imposing in any statistical category.
I think MSU will get a lot better–history says that this will happen. However, that improvement, when/if it comes, will come more from contributions from Eron Harris (who has been awful), increased production from Langford and Winston, and more consistent play from Bridges than it will from a return of either or both of their 2 mediocre bigs.
That doesn’t mean it will continue though. I like what I have seen from DJ thus far but I want to see how he plays against better competition before believing Wilson/Wagner is some staple of the team moving forward.
Wilson at the four is pretty obviously going to be a constant this year. Maybe he plays more or less minutes as the season goes on and maybe he plays spot minutes at the five, but the idea that he won’'t play alongside another big is even more crazy now considering he’s only playing the four.
Also the notion that Zak Irvin is better than Miles Bridges? Huh? I bet any coach in the country would take Bridges and slot him into the four spot.
As much as a change in defensive philosophy and emphasis was the main goal/story this offseason (rightly so), the change in offensive philosophy–at least to date–has been pretty remarkable, and has centered mostly around Wagner and DJ. I’m not even sure it’d be wrong to say that we’ve ran more pure post-ups over the last two games than we did in all of last year’s non-conference, and Wagner/Mark/DJ/Duncan have been attacking the offensive boards way more.
Who knows if the production from post-ups and offensive rebounds will continue (I doubt DJ has many more 14 (!!!) rebound games in him), but the change in philosophy could be sustainable.
It might end up being that way when we consider they’re pretty much just a 7 man rotation at this point. The defense the past few years was the biggest concern but I don’t like the way the offense looks and the team isn’t exactly shooting the ball well. If the offense continues to only shoot 43% will we still see Wilson/Wagner or will it be Robinson?
I was under the impression the debate was on four years of Irvin or one year of Bridges, with the Irvin argument being that Bridges won’t reach close to his full potential by the end of his freshman year but will still jump to the NBA.