I think my main concern about the offense is three point shooting or lack thereof. We have always been a high volume 3 pt shooting team. One of our big advantages recently is we hold opponents 3 pt attempts down and always outscore teams from the 3 pt line.
This year, I think we will do a good job limiting 3 pt attempts again but I just don’t see us taking or making a ton of 3’s. Even Beilein after the game last night said Poole is really our only high volume 3 pt guy.
I like that we have guys that can get to the rim but I do worry the offense will lack efficiency if we can’t do damage from the 3 pt line.
“He’s still a bit of a black hole once he catches the ball and he’s going to have to develop a counter. He was whistled for two offensive fouls today and teams will load up on his bully drive to the rim.”
In so doing, he stated, AS HAS EVERYONE HERE, how talented and necessary he is to our offense this year. Is this “ridiculously overblown?” “Sweeping and directed?” “Hand-wringing?”
I just don’t get the reaction here. NOBODY is ripping Iggy, but rather just stating that he has things to improve upon. We have a team which has more offensive limitations than many in the Beilein era (albeit a much better defensive team), and in particular, less shooters. If we don’t succeed on offense, it won’t be Iggy’s “fault,” but if he improves quickly, we have a chance to be really good. That’s all anyone is saying.
My biggest concern is that Brazdeikis will cross a campus street with his head down and get hit by a distracted motorist. That might have worked while he was in high school in Canada, but now that he’s up against American cars his own size he’ll be in trouble.
Anybody else worried that none of our players seem capable of underhanded slam dunks? It seemed one of the announcers was aware of this weakness of ours, always noting in his in-game-commentary that we executed another “overhanded slam dunk”.
Matthews had a perfect opportunity on his dunk and he went with the boring normal two hander. Clearly he hasn’t worked hard enough in the off-season. He can kiss the NBA goodbye.
Thanks, bounce and gtfomycourt, for adding a little levity here.
Iggy has an exceptional knack for getting to the rim and scoring, and he does it really well. As he develops better vision and the ability to find his teammates, he’s going to be even more special. If he develops a consistent and reliable outside shot, especially from three, and I think he will under Coach B, I think he’ll be almost unstoppable, certainly unstoppable by most college teams.
I’m glad Iggy plays for the good guys, and I’m looking forward to his continued development under this coaching staff.
“His performance tonight fit the scouting report: he was aggressive getting downhill with or without screens (committing a few charges in the process), was ambidextrous driving and finishing, and made several baskets through contact. He was pretty efficient even though he missed his only three-point attempt (and passed up a couple of possible looks from deep), got tunnel vision while attacking the basket and didn’t record an assist.”
Trying to make this board out to be “full of flame wars” is weird considering how few flame wars there are compared to most internet forums. This is one of the least hot headed places around. Mgoblog has about 10 a day. 24/7 has them between mods and normal users. Hell, they have them between insiders and normal users.
Regardless, disagreement seems to have come on the “head down drive” thing which I think pretty much describes his game. Does it define his career? Obviously nobody is saying that. I personally thought the stranger comment was that his three ball is “not a factor.” This seems like an odd thing to declare after one exhibition game.
I’m not too worried about Brazdeikis this year. He doesn’t need to be knockdown from 3 to be effective, he just needs to be capable and do enough from deep to make opponents respect it. I think he will be a low 30% ish shooter from deep this year personally. But if he can continue being effective from mid range and in, and be a good free throw shooter who draws a lot of fouls, I’ll hapilly take it.
I do worry quite a bit about the overall shooting ability of the team this year. Outside Poole, i don’t see other players who are willing and comfortable shooting a lot from 3. Isaiah Livers is capable but I feel like the staff has to beg him to even shoot, let alone at a decent volume. Eli Brooks and Dejulius have potential, but I don’t think Dejulius will get a lot of shots drawn up for him nor will he hunt them much. And Brooks is in a somewhat similar spot as well. And he needs to have confidence. Similar-ish problem to Isaiah I suppose. This season will be an interesting one that is for sure.
