I think Buffalo would have been a good matchup for Michigan (because they are so transition-dependent). I don’t think anything about Texas Tech makes them a particularly good or bad matchup… but they are just really good.
You would rather not play a top 8 KenPom team in the Sweet 16.
A guy on Reddit just told me Michigan almost never plays against great defenses, so he’s expecting Michigan to turn it over a lot. I told him to expect to be disappointed. What a strange take.
One thing for this Michigan team, I think I’d rather play a team that is tilted in quality toward one end of the court. In other words, I’d probably rather play a team that is 1st on D and 30th on O than a team that is 10th in each. At least I think so.
I also don’t think TTech can overwhelm UM with one on one athleticism across the board.
But yeah, when you’re really good, you’re not much of a good match for anyone.
Oh no doubt, I was rooting for Buffalo due to their transition-dependent nature making them highly vulnerable to a poor offensive game opposite Michigan. Not saying Michigan would’ve won by 20 but I certainly think that TT showed what a Michigan/Buffalo game could’ve looked like.
Tough matchup. I’d suspect the Texas Tech folks are saying the same thing with a touch more gnashing of teeth.
Possessions are going to be paramount! Take care of that ball like it’s your infant!
Can’t afford to have Poole getting too sassy with the ball. He needs to walk that fine line between creativity and responsibility.
If Matthews gets in early foul trouble, what is Beilein’s counter to defend Culver?
The team cannot afford him to revert to errors in the first 3 minutes of either bad fouling or poor pivot foot placement/travels on offense.
For me I trust the M d in the hands of X and CM. On o Iggy and Livers no dribbling in transition or in congestion let the ball handlers take care of that. For everyone PLEASE no lazy humpback passes period! I just feel the shots are going to fall. All you west coast M fans at the game be loud like Crisler and like Staples was last year.
Is it crazy to think Livers could stick with him? I thought he acquitted himself nicely in the games Matthews was out
Obviously UM is very good preventing TOs, but X can have problems with TOs, including 7 in the last two games. He had at least 3 in the losses @Wiscy, @Iowa, and @PSU (6). Of course part of that is having the ball so much and the offense depending on his passing - there’s sometimes a fine line between a Teske dunk and a TO. But he’ll have to be very judicious with his passes on Thursday.
Matthews went through a run of bad TOs but has mostly turned it around. With Iggy, Charles, and Poole it might be more about shot selection than TOs. Iggy and Charles will have to be smart about when to drive, when to take fallaways, etc. Poole will have to know what (and when) is a good shot.
TTech also can give up some offensive rebounds, and a bad shot later in the clock might be better than a TO.
This is also my thought. I can see Michigan having trouble scoring, at least in stretches, but I also think that trying to guard an offence with as many options and counters as Michigan’s will be difficult for TTU. I just can’t see TTU’s offence getting anything close to consistent good looks against Michigan’s defence.
I may be underrating TTU. They lost on a neutral court to West Virginia, and I’m not sure that a true national contender does something like that.
That’s why I have confidence in Michigan for Thursday. TT isn’t good at protecting the basketball, Duke forced multiple turnovers on a neutral court. Michigan doesn’t rely on one guy, that’s why they are lethal. TT relies mainly on Culver and if you can limit him, it would be huge.
Poole has to play better defensively, he cannot stand around and let shooters get open looks!
Texas Tech flashed a 2/3 zone against Buffalo. Is that something they do a lot?
Yep. Mentioned that somewhere in the preview. They’ll throw out zone occasionally and can also match back up to man out of it.
Am I missing something about Texas Tech’s turnover issues? They turn the ball over 18% of the time which ~11-12 TOs per 65 possession game. Michigan is at 13% which is ~8 per 65 possession game. Are we relying on a 3-4 TO advantage to give us the win?
Part of the reason 3 pt randomness has fallen on the low side for Chris Beard teams is because they have continually played a garbage non conference schedule.
Last season teams shots 32.3% from 3 against Tech, good for 33rd in the country. In conference play teams shot 34.7% which was 5th in the Big 12. The two best teams they played were Nevada and Seton Hall who shot a combined 23-50 from 3 against them.
This year teams are shooting 30% against them this season, good for 15th. The only good teams they played in the non con were a healthy Nebraska and a Duke team that is terrible at shooting. Teams shot 24.3% against them from 3 in non conference. In conference play teams are shot 33.5% from 3 against them, which is good for second in the Big12, but the Big12 as a whole shot 35%. A 1.5% difference is pretty insignificant.
At Arkansas LR he had a top 50 defense that played in a garbage conference that ranked 29/32 conferences in 3 pt shooting, and that’s including his team that 5% higher from 3 than the conference average in those numbers.
Their best weapon on O will be guarded by our best weapon on D. They don’t have a lot of other great options like we do. We have 5-6 guys who can get it going. If we make some 3s and don’t turn it over we are going to win.
M’s Achilles Heel imo: no adequate substitute for Simpson and/ or Teske. TT might be in same situation with Culver.
Their big men get in a lot of foul trouble too. 4.5 (Owens) and 5.5 (Odiase). We need to be aggressive going to the basket. I read somewhere (here?) that they don’t mind giving up the baseline, which happens to be one of Iggy’s favorite moves. If he goes strong and can draw some fouls it could soften them up. Drive hard to the rim, maybe dump off to Teske when they collapse into the lane.
They like to force the baseline and force turnovers from there. On the flip side, Iggy could drive baseline and end up turning it over and/or putting up terrible shots consistently.
It will be something to watch for sure.