Wagner is our best player and it really isn’t close in my opinion. We need to work through him for our offense to be at its best.
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His feel on the low block is really really impressive. I like that we gave him more opportunities in the second half. I am generally a huge hater of post offense, but Mo in the post is way more effecient than any guard ISO/pick and roll we have.
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I agree he needs to be the focal point and fed early and often. It’s a huge mistake otherwise. He should get fifteen shots a game. Seriously.
Also once again spreading the touches around and getting it out of Walton and Irvin’s hands is important. Those two are solid pieces but neither should be the focal points or who we should be forcing sets/ touches through. This team is definitely better when the ball is moving and being shared instead of Irvin hunting for his shot. Balance and moe are our true strengths.
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Another thing is that while it’s good to get the freshmen into the game, after seeing them play extended minutes against one of the worst D1 teams out there I can see why their time is so scarce. They all have a very long way to go.
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Records are nice, but real minutes for Michigan’s freshmen are a real win
ESPN’s most recent Bracketology has Michigan as an 8-seed…which is toward the better end of where I though this team would be pre-season.
(As an aside, I would be VERY happy if Michigan was awarded the path ESPN’s current Bracketology slots for the team — first round rematch vs VaTech with Baylor sitting as the potential R2 matchup…keeping in mind that Baylor seems to annually underachieve in the postseason)
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That would be an incredible draw…although I will say this is not the year to be an 8 seed IMO. Duke, UCLA, Nova, Kentucky, Kansas, UNC are all strong and the drop off from there to the 7-10 range is a big one. I’m still hoping we can play our way into at least a 7 seed by season’s end and be fringe top 25 come tourney.
Is our strength of schedule seriously over 100 and 9th/10th in the big ten?
Why are you surprised by that? We have done a poor job of scheduling for years. It’s like they don’t even know the RPI exists.
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Normally, SMU, Marquette and Texas would be higher rated than they are this season.
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Michigan was 2nd in conference in Non-Conf SOS two seasons ago.
Robinson starting in place of Rahk
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And Rahk in after 50 seconds for Duncan?
A LOT of transition attempts today. Are we sending more guys out in transition than usual?
Can I get a tick for the number of Irvin missed dunks this year?
Coach Beilein said the transition game was hampered by something Walton was or wasn’t doing. I didn’t understand his explanation, but they did look to have a different approach to outlet passes and transition today.
I think maybe Coach Beilein was saying Walton was coming back to the ball on a defensive rebound and rebounders were looking for Walton instead of looking up court.
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That is my biggest knock on Beilein’s tenure at Michigan. He hasn’t improved the scheduling in relation to computer rankings.
I get there’s some level of “luck” in the scheduling — I don’t think anyone would have predicted Texas as struggling this much — but there are ways to schedule “guarantee games” without submarining computer rankings.
Ibi Watson’s shot right now… woof.
Ibi looks like a kid to me who needs to get comfy or in a groove.
Yep. What’s hurting us is there’s no midtier teams on our schedule anymore.
Six high-majors is actually a lot, but we haven’t played the MAC or Oakland/UDM since the EMU loss two years ago. (Would be very interested to know if this is just happenstance or now policy.) So pretty much all of our non-high-major games are basically byes.
The benefit of course is it decreases the odds of another EMU, but you get what you pay for in the RPI.