Exactly, I thought our defense played pretty well and then once the shot went up, It was like the possession was over. We stopped competing once the ball went up like everyone knew we were going to get the ball or something. Another thing is, I love the way Teske came in and played, he looked pretty good. If Wagner doesn’t want to stop fouling and complaining about everything, I’d love to see Teske out there more. I’m also not sure us switching every screen like we do is a good thing, D.J.'s help side defense wasn’t much of a factor as it has been. His one on one defense has gotten a whole lot better though, guys made shots over him but the shots they made were pretty tough. I’d like to see us stay with our gays and rely more on help side D than to just switch everything. I’m not concerned at all about this game, a tough road game this time of year isn’t something we have to schedule, but I’m glad we did.
@AlbrechtShotFake That is true. Our help side defense was not much of a factor tonight. I think that will be addressed rather quickly. D.j. is our best help defender and when he is switching everything, It’s tough for him to be in hep side position at all times. What Iv’e been saying for a long time about our teams is that we don’t have rim protection. We have one now and he needs to be closer to the basket and not chasing guards around IMO.
For sure, but he switched a ton and I think that hurts our defense more than it helps. He is our elite defender at this point and needs to be closer to the rim. But again, our defense was good for the most part. Our offense was the problem tonight. We weren’t back cutting or getting separation. Weren’t hitting open shots. Correctable things, but we’ve got to work on them and hammer those points home.
Are we talking this year? As a class going forward? It’s just hard to judge a freshman after 5 games in Beilein’s system. Caris LeVert didn’t even play for 6 games, Tim Hardaway Jr. played huge minutes but really struggled early on, Muhammad and Aubrey both grew into roles as a freshman, etc.
Yes there are established players ahead of X, Ibi and Jon, but it’s just too early to judge what they are going to become right now. I do think it is important that all three guys get more minutes in December ahead of Big Ten play.
My very first post I said this year. Your last sentence was my biggest point they haven’t been playing any close games for the most part I don’t think this one was very close either but still nothing much from any frosh. I guess I would be surprised if these guys were going to get any PT in games like Va Tech/UCLA/Texas so that leaves pretty much only a handful of games where they might get time.
Unfortunately, this roster is still glaringly short of legitimate shot creators and any semblance of explosion around the rim. It is what it is.
To watch the offense get pushed so far out of its sets and not adjust a lick on the fly, is very disappointing. Do we not have an alternate plan to combat teams who attempt to deny the catch?
Well, from what I know about basketball, you back cut or drive to the hoop. Most teams can’t do what South Carolina did to us because you need long athletic guys at all positions and they have that. That team is going to be a pretty decent team this year, we didn’t lose to a bad team by any means.
I agree it’s too early to judge the freshmen – although we can probably agree that none is the kind of instant-impact type that we would hope to get from time to time.
Still… why not play Watson a bit more last night? I mean, sure he’s behind a “senior leader” in Irvin, but Irvin was a disaster last night – a turnover machine with atrocious shot selection. I’m not sure any freshman could have done worse than that. Might as well see what he can do.
Point being, it’s game #5 of their freshman year – it’s impossible to tell where they’ll be in December, January, March, next year, etc.
Just like I’m sure Josh Langford is going to be a hell of a lot better in a couple months as well.
I’d like to see Simpson and Watson get more run in some of the guarantee games coming up, because I think there comes a time where Michigan needs them, but U-M isn’t really in a spot where they have to play them 20-30 minutes per game or anything like that.
Simpson needs to be on the floor more,a lot more. He can defend really well but once he touches the ball on offense, it’s like he is scared to do anything other than look to pass real quick. Obviously he is a freshman and is still adjusting, but he can not be our back up point guard and be timid if we are truly trying to keep Walton around 30 minutes a game.
Agree… for a guy who had a reputation as a supremely confident scoring PG, he still looks very timid making offensive plays. (I did like his one take to the net where he got fouled IIRC.) Needs to get his confidence up. He does look very active on D though.
I’m not saying that either is going to be Josh Langford, at all. I’m just saying that you can look across the country and there are very few freshmen that just step in and are great – especially if they don’t need to play major minutes.
We’d know a lot more about X if Derrick Walton wasn’t here… instead he’s played just a smattering of minutes and hasn’t done a lot. That doesn’t mean you can say he’ll never make an impact. We don’t really know yet.
Even when X plays, I think everyone would agree that we’d rather give MAAR more opportunities when Walton is on the bench, right?
Superior shot creators? they aren’t that and I’m not sure anyone expects them to be that. Can they both get a decent shot up, yes. Hearing Beilein say he wants them developing in practice before they do in games is something I do not want to hear. I’m all for playing Irvin/Walton 25 minutes a game vs these lower level team and letting Watson/Simpson figure things out on the go. We are really going to need both of these guys in the big ten and they’ve got to get this timid state of mind out of their system. Show these guys they can succeed vs division 1 opponents and then star teaching them in practice. To say that these guys aren’t play makers after the very few minutes they’ve played is not wise. They were thrown into a tough environment in a very poor game situation and handled it exactly like I thought they would. I want both of these guys playing 15 minutes on Saturday and I don’t care who has to see less minutes.
Not giving up on either as well. Just don’t see any sincere potential to fill the gaping roster chasm for a dynamic athletic shot creator to emerge from them.
Is it possible that they will fill a role going forward? Potentially sure it is. But at what impact?
This roster needs athletic creators and finishers that can mitigate opponents that have the length, athleticism, and quicks to deny us a catch. Yesterday was painful to watch how overmatched we were in that area. Where does the future roster help come from going forward? Mathews?
I wasn’t even really thinking about next year’s team, still focused on what this group will end up.
Looking at next year…
I just think we have no idea what X is going to look like next year, or honestly what the offense is going to look like next year.
If you want something to overreact to early on, how about that MAAR hasn’t really taken the next step and hasn’t shown that he can be a playmaker (that includes distributing).
You bring in some athleticism and length (Matthews, Livers) and shooting (Poole, Brooks). You hope Wagner continues to develop into a playmaker. The whole thing is definitely going to look a lot different, that’s for sure.
If you want to talk about Coach Beilein’s recruiting, then talk about it. His recruits have rarely done well vs. physical and strong teams like South Carolina showed last night. His WVU teams always had a tough time vs. Pitt as well. He wants long athletic guys and doesn’t want to put too much bulk on them. He isn’t going to recruit those “bullish” type players that are “men.” It’s his philosophy and I don’t think that’s going to change at this point of the year.
It’s still super early in the season, much like Vikings fans in my neck of the words, there is no reason to overreact good or bad to a good or bad start, unless you are the Browns. Every team needs to get better and I’m sure they will, but so will everyone else.
Last thing, if you are playing against a team that is just as tall as your team is but is stronger and more athletic, that usually doesn’t bode well on the offensively end for a team like UM. You are relying on a ton of playmaking from Walton, Irvin, and MAAR with drives and pick and rolls, while Beilein’s offense has kind of become non-existent. Frank Martin’s squad took them out of everything and made them very uncomfortable.