I’m pretty confident Juwan isn’t doing any 2.5 hour sit downs to discuss his style of play next year. 
But we will do the pod anyways.
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Ex-Wolverines have ‘great expectations’ for Juwan Howard at Michigan
King added he thinks there will be an uptick in post touches under Howard as well as “a healthy mix of establishing position in the post and then kicking out and swinging it to the opposite side or throwing cross-court passes instead of the more slant action that Beilein had.”
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While I loved JB there was nothing more frustrating to me than watching a possession devolve into just swinging the ball around the perimeter at times as the shot clock wound down. Having an option down low to compact the defense will be a welcome sight at times.
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I still kind of feel like low-post touches aren’t a thing around which to structure an offense. A tool in the kit, but, in college can you count on freshman centers to draw doubles and kick it out? There’s not a ton of Ethan Happs.
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When shots are not falling from behind the arc having the ability to get to the line either via the drive or post touch sure can help stop runs.
Yup. I prefer the drive. I like the post-up ability as a tertiary piece at best. Ideal to manufacture shots with action; when that’s not possible it’s great to have a perimeter that gets in the pain and finishes off the dribble; and failing that it’s nice to have a big guy to dump it into or who can punish switches.
I forget where – was just searching – but a while back I read a data-driven piece about how Embiid’s not particularly efficient back-to-basket, which jives with what I’ve noticed and felt.
Agreed. Plus unless Castleton is it, we don’t have that guy this year/next. But if they’re planning on using it as a dump down after a switch to get a mismatch (guard on Teske/Livers) and/or looking to compress the D and swing it that might help end of possession stuff.
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There were times last year that Michigan did a bad job of getting the ball into the post against a switch. That was an issue with personnel and execution more than what Michigan wanted. Poole struggled to make that pass, Teske struggled to seal his defenders and Simpson’s lack of shot made it easy to deny when he had the ball. That is also very different than playing through the post.
I would not read anything really into comments about Michigan’s system (especially from anyone other than Juwan Howard) until we see it in action. That being said, Michigan is going from one of the elite offensive coaches in college basketball, there are going to be some growing pains along the way I would say in terms of what you’ve come to expect offensively.
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I’m more concerned with the three point scoring than points in the post. It will be an interesting year for sure!
Yeah, right now we just don’t know. The idea of posting up more often in those circumstances where you wished Michigan posted up more often might sound great. But would a 10% drop in 3-point volume be worth it to use all of those possessions in the post? The answer is no, probably not, because those possessions would generally be lower EV.
More interested in Teske’s overall growth this year than any other player. To good a passer to be rendered almost an afterthought in offensive sets.
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Comments are dribbling out though, and they aren’t from the horse’s mouth but they are at least clues. Just saw Sam Webb quoting Kessler’s trainer:
“Based on what we’ve been told (the system) is going to have a little bit more screen-and-roll involved in it. You would expect that from a coach coming from the NBA ranks. So, I would expect that. I’m not really sure how open it’s going to be, but they know that’s the thing (being looked at).”
“They know how we feel about the inability to show us the style of play, so they’re going to do everything they can leading up to the decision to try to show us what that would be, even if they don’t have the time to actually show it in live action. So, they’re working on that.”
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Not freshman centers most likely.
Just from what I’ve heard lately I’ll be stunned if Michigan lands Kessler
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Yep, I don’t have inside info but tea leaf reading it almost sounds like he’s considering Michigan just to be nice. Seems like we’re not close to top 3. Which is why I’m glad he’s deciding early, so we can rip that band-aid off.
Like that article posted above. He had more good things to say about Beilein than anything. And the main talk in their camp has been style of play, then they get to Michigan and talk about how they can’t know their style of play.
Almost impossible to play “more screen and roll” than Michigan played over the last 5-6 seasons.
But again, thats just part of a sales pitch to Kessler. Which is fine, just don’t take it as gospel for what Michigan’s system will or won’t look like.
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I’m not in disagreement with this, but this has been an ongoing conversation with some hoops friends, and discussed in a couple game threads as well…
Was this because the personnel couldn’t execute, or were they actually being coached to expose the big on perimeter defense instead? Going back to DWalt, we’d be screaming at the TV to feed the mismatch in the post (along with Dan Dakich). Yet, the guard almost always tried to make the play. Just seemed after a while like that was what Beilein wanted, despite what he’d say in the pressers
There are many times that a guard taking a shot against a switch is a good outcome. That’s true and that’s something that Michigan worked on a lot. But if you listened to Beilein over the last two months of the year, he mentioned several times that they needed to get the ball inside against the switch at certain times and they failed to do so.
Most years, our guards attacking against the switch was a better shot. DWalt, Levert, Stauskas, MAAR, Burke, etc. were going to be far more efficient than posting up no matter how small the defender. And for the beginning of last year it was as well, when Poole was great. X can attack switches, but any big man guarding him can sag off which makes it easier to defend than against someone that can pull up at any time.
Successful execution on getting the ball inside on a switch was almost non existent during the Beilein era.
Just felt like post game presser lip service ad nauseam.
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