They didn’t seem to have a super good plan for what they were going to do when the ball was forced out of Edwards’ hands, though, and obviously, UT was going to force the ball out of CE’s hands.
UM’s Jordan Poole grows into role, out of slow start
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He’s gone from Aaron Craft to Grayson Allen quicker than anyone could’ve expected.
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There always seems to be that “one guy” at Duke, doesn’t there?
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Seth Davis musings;
- Is Michigan coming down to earth? It nearly lost at Northwestern last Tuesday before escaping by a deuce, and it looked just OK in beating South Carolina by 11 on Saturday. I spy two flies in this ointment: One, Zavier Simpson’s inability to make jumpers is allowing defenses to play off him, which makes the Wolverines easier to guard. And two, beyond Isaiah Livers, John Beilein is getting almost no production from his bench. I know I’m picking at nits, but conference play is coming, and such flaws tend to get exposed.
He asks legitimate questions but KU (Stanford, NM St), the Zags (Wash), and UVA (VCU) also struggled to get passed lesser teams this week. Don’t know if it’s coming down to earth or just learning what it means to get every other team’s best shot.
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BREAKING: Team doesn’t win every game by 20 points.
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I felt that the South Carolina game was not the most ideal matchup: length and strength, if not a lot of scoring finesse. Blue did what they needed to do. Northwestern was on fire shooting in the second half and yes, length was a problem. Also, while Northwestern isn’t elite, but they are a decent team. Again, Blue did what they needed to do. To Seth’s specific points: sagging off Zavier potentially allows him a step and a half of momentum to blow by or shift on the drive to open up a post dish. I trust he and Beilein can and will find a counter to this strategy (though late-game FT shooting still worries me greatly). Yes, bench production is a minor concern but will be more concerning to me if Johns or DeJulius don’t get important game minutes in the next three guarantee games. If it means we lose a game here and there due to getting them vital game time, so be it. Long season.
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I don’t reject what Davis is saying on the one hand. On the other hand, our offense is starting to “take off”, imo. Poole, Livers, Iggy and Brooks are looking very good from 3. I also think Matthews is doing pretty good from 3 and I believe Teske can hit much better too.
I love the way Poole is looking in pick and roll situations.
If people are starting to think we are not really that good then they should get their favorite team to meet ours in Crisler. We will see what happens.
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I don’t think Michigan is fading. As I expected, other teams are narrowing the gap because they are improving as they figure out who they are. Also, when you are one of the top teams, you are going to get everyon’e best shot.
Michigan still has room to grow.
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Can’t beat UNC and Purdue by 15+ points every week.
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At this point, if CM gets in foul trouble and/or turns into a bricklayer, we’re just a very good team. OTOH, if CM is playing well, this team is awesome.
That’s the story today. But the season is long and some players will develop, while others players will stagnate.
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Michigan is going to lose some games guys. So when it does everyone needs to take a breath and not over exaggerate the minor problems this team has (bench production, free throw shooting, etc). In the grand scheme of things, Michigan will be fine! We got 6-7 quality players and will get one or two more (Davis, Johns or someone else) to step up and contribute more in the near future too.
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Only thing I take away from @Northwestern and South Carolina is Michigan will be hard to count on for covering spreads against mediocre/bad teams.
I’ve said it before but I love how the team finds another gear in the big games. I DO think they’re prone to a letdown and I honestly worry more about the “should wins” than “tossups” in conference play. I’d probably look to take the points in games with big spreads.
Taking a deeper dive into free throw shooting, it really isn’t a team problem, it’s a three player problem. Matthews 58.1%, Teske 54.8% and Simpson 41.2% drag the team average down to 66.0%. Those three can hurt us over the course of the game, but in late game “must foul” situations, we have three players that are elite and can handle the ball (Poole 80%, Iggy 81.4% and Livers 83.3%). We could even sub in Brooks (65%) for Z and improve that position by over 20 points. If Livers is inserted into the game in that situation for either Teske or Matthews, that only leaves one player on the floor that is a poor shooter.
It would be pretty easy for Beilein to design late game inbound plays to feature our best free throw shooters and then sub back in with better defensive or rebounding players.
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In terms of bench points, for reference, Nova had 7 points in their two Final Four games combined from guys not named DiVencenzo. They basically went 6 deep last year with Cosby-Roundtree just filling in a bit.
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With Purdue’s failure at Texas offsetting Iowa’s Cy-Hawk win, it looks less likely that the B1G can overtake the Big 12 in KenPom’s conference rankings. The lead over the ACC has increased though.
Barring a conference-wide collapse in December, it seems very likely that we’ll see a whole bunch of B1G teams in the NCAA tournament - maybe a new record. Any team with 10 conference wins will be hard to leave out.
Purdue might find a way, though. The Boilermakers have whiffed on all their chances at a signature win in the non-conference schedule, as well as their only shot at Michigan in the regular season. If they don’t knock off MSU or at least Wisconsin, they had better win a whole lot of other games.
Maryland doesn’t have much meat on its resume yet, either thanks to some very unambitious scheduling.
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Former Ohio State big man Micah Potter transferring to Wisconsin. Don’t see Big Ten to Big Ten transfers all too often.
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You forgot that you’re posting on a Michigan forum! Pretty common around these parts!
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