Iâve been wondering about thisâŚwhy the elite defense hasnât led to better transition. I noticed many of the clips from last year were from the late season runâŚhopefully this group will see similar in-season development. Seems like Iggy is the primary culprit. Given Beileinâs emphasis on making âthe next pass,â surprised we havenât heard him mention Iggy playing like a black hole at times.
Great stuff. If I may add, I watched a little film myself over the weekend, as I was curious about the transition struggles. I believe everything Gibson highlighted to be accurate, but another point that should be noted, besides the struggles on transition plays, are the missed transition opportunities.
I understand Michiganâs philosophy in having all players 1-4 (essentially everyone in the rotation but Teske) rebound and start the break, but some guys push the ball harder than others. I also think sometimes the player who grabs the rebound misses chances to throw a hit-ahead pass to a teammate, in favor of taking the ball up the court themselves, from what I watched. The ball can sometimes advance faster, with similar spacing, with these types of passes. This isnât a selfish thing, just throwing these hit-ahead passes can create a better advantage.
To be honest, I am not sure whether this next point is a result of the large minutes burden the top 5-6 are playing, and Beilein has mentioned this in a presser, but guys just need to run lanes a little harder. Often times there isnât an immediate odd-man break and guys kind of slow down to fill their normal half-court spacing. Running hard in transition all of the time can create confusion when there are defensive mismatches and allow for delayed transition or early offense opportunities.
With how often this team creates turnovers and gets defensive stops, I really think improving the transition attack is critical to future offensive success, especially given how theyâve struggled to create easy looks in the half court.
The only issue I would challenge the report with was the early three in the first film that Iggy took. That was a wide open three, and is the same shot that Matthews and MAAR took in later highlights, but it just didnât go in.
Great stuff as usual. Thanks.
Gosh, this made me miss MAAR. Transition offense seems like it would just consist of sprinting the court towards the rim. The âpoor spacingâ video really shows MAAR being super aware of how his position affects the runout. After diving to the rim ahead of the pack he flares out to the wings to create space and options. Good stuff @eric_shap
I just watched X get his triple double for the third time. Still enjoyable. 
During the screening I focused on observing our transition game based on this Film Room. This film session couldâve taken all the bad transition plays from that game alone and still been just as effective. I remember moaning a lot during the actual game, but had no recollection just how many opps we blew. #Enlightened