Mark Donnal is the story of the Illinois game, justifiably, but in some ways Caris is the most important narrative. I sure hope Mark continues to play well, even if not quite as dominantly as yesterday, but I’m becoming more and more confident that Caris is going to bring it each and every game. Having that top-line guy is just so valuable for Michigan, because there will be games where Duncan Robinson goes off, or maybe Wagner or Ricky are feeling it, and Zak and Derrick are going to be pretty good pretty consistently. But look at what Caris did yesterday: he scored the first nine points, keeping the team in it, fed Donnal and others consistently, took it to the whole consistently, and knocked down 3 of 6 threes.
Really, besides the SMU game, Caris has brought it every game, even the other losses. Sure, the ball stuck a little early, but especially with Zak recovering and Duncan finding his groove, and Caris coming back from injury too, it was understandable. As much or more than anything, Caris gives me confidence we’re going to do pretty well in the B1G.
Agreed and its frankly what worries me most about the future. Caris does everything for us and we don’t have anything close to a replacement on the current roster. Maybe Ibi develops into that some day but it won’t be in 2016/17.
Do you think LeVert has become more north and south in his drives? If so, why?
I’m thinking it is primarily to take advantage of the new rules, but also to eliminate some of the low percentage 2’s as, you pointed out recently.
Don’t be worried. Dawkins will step up. A lot of the problem is confidence. Last year he was forced to step up and take shots/ plays for him and through his hands. Same thing will occur next year. Not to mention walton looks like a beast and Irvin is developing a nice all around offense. Rahkman can score and Robinson is self explanatory. Throw in development of Wagner/ Wilson and then the other bigs. Upper class men will be tough. More shots/ looks to go around once Caris leaves. This roster is filled with talent and with guys who could develop and blow up out of no where. Offense by committee. Could kill people in many ways. This roster has that potential to. Our offense looks better every game. What was so great about last game was the balance. Not just chucking threes. Running nice sets/ driving to rack, driving and dumping,and pick and rolls. Set good picks/ cut with purpose. All this will lead to open threes. It was very encouraging. Should have won by 20. A twenty point road win against Illinois is impressive.
I just am worried we will get lost in offense sometimes. It happens and they get in a funk and the clock winds down and they throw up bad shot. This team is to talented offensively for that non sense. Run good curl screens/ pick and roll. Feed the low block. Whatever happened to hitting the back door too? Hard to keep d honest if we never hit it. It’s open a lot too. Need that for b’s Motion to work as then teams can’t overplay us on the three point line.
I can’t help but watch cal sometimes and wonder why brown choose them over us. I know the connection but I really thought we had him. With him this team would be amazing. Cal is a waste of his talent. If he came here we’d be a final four caliber team. Imagine Walton and levert driving and leaving the bounce passes for him. Or a pick and roll with levert and brown? Or fast break with Walton him and Dawkins! Our d would be average to. Enough to win conference. Levert Walton Irvin brown and donnall. Decent d. Plus that could be a good rebounding team.all five would be capable
The offensive production today with out Caris was pretty encouraging. Not a good opponent, but it was nice to see the offense clocking so well without its best player