Game 12: Michigan at Minnesota Open Thread

Agreed. Minnesota deserved the W. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to learn, for the coaches as well as players.

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People think heā€™s going to play. They just wish he wouldnā€™t so much

I know its been said but Eli is the glue of this team. Carr got to where ever he wanted today minus Eli. do not think that would have happen his Eli plays.

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Yeah, it was pretty bad. Brown had only played 22/30 minutes at that point and just singlehandedly cut the game to 6 and forced a 10 second violation.

It ballooned back to 13 because Davis got stuffed at the rim, Zeb badly missed a wide open 3, Zeb had a terrible turnover, and Zeb badly missed another wide open 3.

If Brown and Dickinson are in those spots who knows what couldā€™ve happened.

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You were spared. Watching this was a very unpleasant experience.

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Oh we know heā€™s going to play, we just think he shouldnā€™t.

Davis is not a good post defender, so we really not need him against bigger bodies. Size is so overrated for post defense, or does nobody remember Xavier Tillman shutting down Garza one on one last year, or Ben Wallace being the best defender in the NBA?

Eli Books being injured to start with.

I agree to your point but Iā€™m pretty confident U-M would have still lost.

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To be fair, that was a giant head-scratcher. Seems suboptimal to say the least to take out the exact guy who essentially single-handedly created the momentum shift. I love Howard and could not be more glad that heā€™s our coach, but hard to call that anything other than just a massive blunder.

Didnā€™t start or got hurt early

  1. Minnesota good at home
  2. hard double teams of Dickinson all game and he struggled (4 first half TOs)
  3. Mike Smith 0-6 from the floor (but 10 assistsā€¦no one else could really create for others and the ball movement without Brooks was noticeable)
  4. really strange lineup decisions at times. Zeb Jackson played real minutes and a whole lot of Davis with extended unforced HD bench time
  5. Liam Robbins rained a couple threes at an inopportune time

I think thatā€™s about it. Minnesota deserves credit and played a really good second half. But Michigan players and coaches both never put themselves in position to make a serious run (other than one stretch where Chaundee had a personal run to cut it to 6 and was immediately subbed out for Zeb)

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It was just too big a spot, too soon for Zeb. He was the proverbial baby deer on shaky legs. His feet were moving much faster than his brain. Or the opposite. You get the point, his adrenaline just turned him into a walking mess.

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I am still not sure Juwan is a very good bench coach.

Beleinā€™s defensive coaching was beyond frustrating in Carisā€™s last two years. But he was very consistently a good bench coach.

Sure but he was a 1st year coach last year and not many options and feeling his way through things. He should know better his 2nd year on the job. Davis trying to go after a ball when Brown was skying for a put back was real bad.

Didnā€™t play; foot in a boot ā€” theyā€™re calling it precautionary.

What is a good bench coach?

Oh, I agree it was a bad move. But I donā€™t think itā€™s in the top five reasons why they lost this game. No one had a good game except maybe Chaundee but he got abused on defense.

This is your fault apparently.

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He had a boot from the beginning. Must have happened in practice. No one really knows from what I see. They just said out day to day with foot injury.

Playing good lineups and putting players in a position to stop opposing momentum and continue momentum on our side.

But the most important thing is to play the odds shrewdly in the last few minutes of close games. If your odds of winning are 53%, a good bench coach can get that number up to 60% by playing the right lineups and drawing up the right plays. But overdoing is guaranteed to backfire.