Glorious win, but the two things that will stand out for a long time for me are Dickinson ripping down rebound after rebound down the stretch, and Isaiah really proving transcendent. Guy is just so smooth. I’m sure his draft status inched up today.
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Izzo’s cartel is about to crumble into dust.
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I’m not one to jump to those conclusions but there has to be at least a hint of that here.Even if their fans don’t realize it and its a sub-concious thing. Martelli is great and thats no knock on him but its a pretty absurd notion to be reaching for if I’m a state fan. Howard had some serious tutelage working under Spoelstra.Guy knows his stuff clearly and certainly deserves credit for building an elite staff.
It’s just crazy that they are this good. I don’t know about everyone else but I sort of overlooked this year because of the class coming in. Thought we’d be a solid 7-9 seed NCAA team, did not imagine we’d be a 1 seed this point of the season, not be mention just being a crapload of fun. Coach Howard was to some degree a risky hire coming off of a legend like Beilein, but what we’re seeing is what we were all hoping a couple of years ago.
I just love Michigan basketball, always been my preference over football even during that crappy run of years, so great to see this program emerge as a giant of the sport once more
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I was expecting top half of BT, 4ish seed in the tourney. Didn’t think we’d be THIS good. Smith and chaundee have been even bigger than I was expecting.
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There are Michigan fans like this too. “Ok he can recruit but let’s see the Xs and Os keep improving” isn’t something any Michigan fan should say anymore. Definitely stuff left to prove before before you call him a good/great coach, but c’mon already with some of this stuff.
Listen, I know a thing or…well a thousand, about coaching, and I’m telling ya, Juwan can coach!
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That’s strange. The only argument I’d be willing to hear from a Michigan fan who’s paying attention is “let’s see it in the big dance.” For obvious reasons I could buy that but I’m not to worried about it personally.
I’m reminded of this quote from Jalen:
" Just to be clear, when you say “cultural overtones,” you mean racial overtones?
Correct. And one other point I want to make with that: it is laughable to me when playing experience gets equated to any other type of experience, including coaching. When you play—for example, somebody like me, who has been playing my entire life—for some strange reason that experience gets diminished when it’s time to talk about powerful positions in sports—like, He doesn’t have experience. There is no bigger experience than being in the foxhole, in the huddles, and out on the floor—being a part of the game plan and being game-planned against. But also all the people you learn from: your teammates, the coaches, how to navigate with the media, how to navigate with the fans. Instead of it being, He doesn’t have experience, it really should be, He has more experience than almost anybody walking the earth."
Combine his playing career with spending six years on the bench under the tutelage of Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra.
It was understandable to question how Howard would perform when he was first hired, but he’s answered any questions about his coaching acumen by this point. And to turn around and give all the credit to Martelli when we aren’t running an offense that looks anything like what he ran at St Joe’s? If Howard was a white former player with his track record they wouldn’t just outright dismiss his basketball intellect.
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Also just the fact that they give all the credit to Martelli and not Saddi Washington who was here under Beilein. How much do you wanna bet if Howard had retained Yaklich instead of Washington that they’d just give Yaklich the credit instead of Martelli?
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Great post here, and a great Jalen quote for the situation. I think it’s definitely true to say that Howard has some great assistants who I’m sure helped bring him along in the process of transitioning to a head coach, and especially in how he had to adjust from the professional to the college game. That being said, there has been no indication in Howard’s career as a player or a coach that he doesn’t know his stuff in regards to the ins and outs of basketball.
I’m sure a lot of this assumption about Martelli comes from the fact he has been a head coach for such a long time. But it’s also worth noting the guy who some people have credited as the real head coach isn’t ever Washington or Eisley.
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Dang you beat me to the punch as I sat and edited lol
Agree with all of the points you guys are making, but also think it is more ridiculous message board trolling than something that people actually think.
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That’s most likely true, still thought it was an interesting little discussion. I definitely think it was much more of an opinion prior to last season though
You are a fortunate soul who has never gotten lost at the RCMB.
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I feel like pretty much any team could say this about their rivals’ message board. This forum isn’t completely public so it’s a bit different and its size probably produces a bit more positive of an atmosphere, but let’s not pretend like, say, mgoblog is a bastion of rationality.
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The other element is that Phil Martelli is friends with basically everyone in the national media or college coaching community, so people always go out of their way to speak about him. And he loves to talk and gives the media all sorts of great quotes.
Howard Eisley is sort of the opposite in this case… He’s never really been connected to the college coaching/media community and seems to hate to talk to the media. So no one really talks about him.
Saddi is the one who deserves more positive praise for both the transition, Michigan’s recruiting and just the general success of the program over the last couple of years IMO. I think he’s coming up to the point where he’s going to have a chance to be a head coach soon.
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Absolutely. And a lot of coaches who have been around forever have tons of connections. All part of the equation no doubt
MGoBlog game threads make 4chan look like Sesame Street.
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I feel grateful to have only really been on here and not other forums from what I hear.
On the other hand, maybe my Izzo conspiracy theory will get more traction if I head over to Mgoblog and spread it around 
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