Well that sums it up nicely
The most interesting thing is after Penn St people were talking not necessarily here but in other places that we got a nice glimpse of what this team might look like next year without Caris. Well they were without Caris last night as well and are we sure we like this roster in the future without Caris?
To be honest, scoring 70 vs a top 5 defense (if not the top defense) without Caris makes me feel pretty good about next year. Especially after seeing last yearâs squad struggle mightily to reach 60 (and sometimes 50!) without him, Iâm not sure how you wouldnât be encouraged.
How do you feel about the defense allowing the 41st adjusted offense in the country to shoot 76% in the 2nd half yesterday? They missed only 2 shots inside the arc during the 2nd half. In other words this is the 3rd straight year Michigan is hovering around 100 in adjusted defense.
I can tell you one thing I donât care if you score 70 against a top 5 defense if you allow the opponent to shoot 76% in one half of basketball you wonât win the game.
Now that is an excellent pointâone I definitely wonât refute. However, Iâve resigned myself to any team with this coaching staff to have a miserable defense (with or without Caris). So might as well run up the score if you canâŚ
Michigan had 10 total team assists last night.
You arenât going to win games with 10 assists very often. Having LeVertâs ability to create for others (he leads the team in assists) would have at least given Michigan a fighters chance at going blow for blow with Purdue. No way was Michigan going to stop Purdue. It just wonât happen. But LeVert is elite offensively and could have gotten more open looks for guys like Duncan.
Can we put the built-in excuse to bed. Purdue was leaps and bounds a better basketball team than Michigan with or without Levert. The eye test doesnât lie.
Can we put calling it a built in excuse to bed? Michigan played without itâs All-American level player, struggled offensively (10 assists is not good), and played a really good team on the road. Those are facts, not excuses.
Why do you believe Michigan wasnât going to stop Purdue? Is this based on just how poor defensively Michigan? It better be that because it isnât based on how great Purdue is offensively. Hammons did his thing and I wasnât surprised by that. What surprised me was how the defense couldnât stop Davis and Hill, 26 points 7-14 from the field, 7 rebs, 8 assists in 51 mins. So Michigan doesnât have anybody that can stop Johnny Hill or Raphael Davis that doesnât give me a lot of hope moving forward.
good point.
We didnât lose to Purdue because of a lack of offensive production. If we did, your point would have merit.
Yes, that is why. Michiganâs weakness is defending the post and Purdue is averaging 25.2 and 12.9 from the C position.
A lot of Purdueâs open looks came from Michigan being forced to collapse on Purdueâs bigs. It was pick your poison. I watched Purdue get a similar amount of amount looks against Vanderbilt and shoot 2 for 19, so that making Purdue beat you from the outside isnât a terrible strategy.
As we all said, Michigan likely loses that game even if LeVert plays. LeVert would have still been a big help in creating offense for others and helping decrease the damage of the two huge runs Purdue went on (I think both were 12-0 runs?) by Michigan not coming up empty as often.
My point does have merit. Iâm not saying we win with better offense, but youâre eyes are closed if you didnât see Michigan struggling on offense outside of MAAR. No one else was able to create their own shots last night and that is echoed by a team total of 10 assists.
Having LeVert in the game would have at least helped Michigan go punch for punch scoring wise with Purdue and make it a better game. Instead, Purdue scored at will and Michiganâs two big droughts ended up:
- Giving up the lead (Late 1st half).
- Letting the game turn into a blowout (Late 2nd half).
hailtoyourvictor,
I donât know how you deal with it and keep coming back, but I applaud you for your posts.
Unfortunately, this place has been run down by told ya so and gotcha takes from people that make it hard to believe if or why they are fans or even here.
Bless your heart sir.
lol, there is so much bad blood between posters on this forum. itâs kind of incredible.
Iâm happy to hear there are still some believers out there. Sometimes I get out of line and Dylan has to give me a warning. As long as I avoid the banhammer Iâl keep fighting the good fight, though.
Some of the guys that disagree with me are still valuable posters with good insight. A couple, though, feel like they could actually be straight from RCMB (Google it) disguising themselves as Michigan fans to take potshots.
This is not good. Itâs also not a death blow to this team.