Game 1: Norfolk State at Michigan Recap

Struggling in early games against the zone particularly is preferable to just plain struggling. Teams might not play it that much, and it’s also something that the coaches can target specifically. I think a lineup that includes Brooks, Poole, Livers, and Teske will end up okay against the zone.

Poole has to learn to balance hunting shots and facilitating.

Nice to see Brooks and Livers looking good, and Teske too.

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Separate note, definitely don’t want to see 5 mid range jump shots from Teske per game. A couple of them were even contested.

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With my 20/20 vision, I will say that we didn’t do a good job last night of going with the hot hand. For a first game, you are trying to work on a lot of different things, I get that. But, if this is a mid season game against a zone, you need to find more minutes and more plays for guys who are scoring, in this case, Livers and Brooks.
We won’t win many games this year when Poole isn’t among our leading scorers.

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Re: the comment in the recap about defensive rebounding and reverting to needing guards and wings to crash boards more…how much of that do you think is due to the fact that Teske is being asked to rim protect so much more than Moe was last year?

I feel like there like there is a little bit of a conundrum in terms of offensive vs. defensive production. It seemed clear last night that Brooks and and Livers are the best shooters and two of the four best offensive players in general (along with Poole and Iggy). The problem is the four of those guys play the same two positions and the other three positions are occupied by our 3 best defenders (and some would argue also our three best players). It’s going to be interesting to see how Beilien tries to balance the minutes for Brooks, Poole, Livers and Brazdeikis while not compromising the defense that this team is going to hang their hat on.

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I’ll be surprised if Poole isn’t a top-2 shooter from three percentage wise and # of attempts by the end of the season.

What about Charles at the 4? Crazier things have been done and he is obviously a strong defender who understands the team concepts. I realize you are giving up rim protection in that case, and I agree it would be better with both Livers and Johns in together, but if Johns isn’t ready this gives you that 5-out look on offense. Some combo of X, Eli, Poole, and Iggy could fill out the other three spots in that lineup. Would probably want to stick with the first three to keep as many strong defenders on the court with Livers at the 5 as possible.

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While Iggy’s performance was a little disappointing, it’s no big deal in the long term. He’s a freshman and he did show us some nice flashes. He will be fine, maybe great.

The guy I’m worried about is Charles. He is now in his 4th year of college ball and he still lacks judgement on when to drive, or not. Atrocious free throw shooting. Weak outside shot. Why is he getting the minutes?

So rather than replace Iggy with Isaiah, I think I would replace Charles with Iggy and then start Livers at the 4. This is all based on what I saw last night. Just one game, so no reason to get too excited. But I was seriously disappointed by CM.

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Wouldnt it make sense to play Livers at the 4 on offense and the 5 on defense when Johns is out there with him? Livers still has the opportunity to develope as a wing on offense and there is a more simplified offense set for Johns?

Thought the same exact thing. Teske was settling for these far too easily and missed too many to justify. Against a 6’8" forward I wanted to see him in the post more.

First game hot takes! Have now seen calls for Iggy, Poole, and Charles to be benched! And someone on another site said X should be benched so Nunez can play more.

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Yes, that is basically what I’m saying. It is feasible to play Johns at the 5 because Livers can defend the 5 if need be.

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I’d rather just not run as much offense through him. Throwing the ball into Teske consistently in the post isn’t going to be winning offense IMO.

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Where is the hot take?

I agree. But with with Teske having a MASSIVE size advantage on any of the forwards NSU threw out there I was hoping to see more out of his post moves. Like you said though, dumping it into Teske isn’t going to consistently work. This is probably one of the very few games were it would.

I think calling for Poole and Charles to be benched is somewhat of a hot take

Was that in the post you responded to? I must have missed it. The post you responded to was about Livers/Johns as a 4/5 pairing.

I share your concerns with Charles. I’ve never been part of the consensus that he will likely get drafted, I just don’t see him as a player likely to make any major developmental growth skill-wise at this point in his career and without that happening I can’t imagine an NBA team would select him even late in the 2nd round.

I had no worries on his role at Michigan until last night however. I think I was focused all offseason on how the loss of MAAR, Duncan and Moe would affect Simpson negatively, but last night it was Matthews that stuck out to me. I think he has to thrive in a low usage finishing role, but I’m not sure there is a low usage finishing role on the wing this year without quality shooters at all the positions around him. And with Iggy, Poole, Livers and Brooks available to play the 2-4 and Simpson pretty much locked in for huge minutes at the 1, I’m not sure there’s a need for Charles to go 30-35 per game like we all expected.

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Yes. Absolutely. The problem is that Z and Matthews have a lot going for them, but neither seem able to shoot. I think it’s psychological with Matthews because his shot doesn’t look bad. Z’s jump shot on the other hand . . . . Teske has more promise, but he hasn’t been called on to score consistently. I hope that the battles continue all season but in a positive way where everyone is constantly improving and pushing each other. At the moment, I’m not sure who can play 2 positions.

A lineup of Simpson, Brooks, Poole, Livers and Teske is a legitimate possibility. If we were going against a heavy zone team, that’s probably our best shooting lineup.

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