Yeah, that appears to be the reason. That’s interesting though since I think everyone assumed that they were going to try to start Livers at the 3 next to Johns (and maybe bring Franz in as a 6th man) and Johns has definitely been better than Nunez so far.
2 Likes
But if Eli, Isaiah, and Franz are three of your best five then Isaiah is playing the four.
I get the reason for Nunez starting is keeping the rotation intact, but I also question this because of the talk of Franz being the 6th man/super sub. With what we have seen from Nunez thus far, I gotta think Franz slides into the starting spot. A DDJ, Johns, Castleton bench does provide some flexibility and I can see a spot role for Nunez as a shooter off the bench.
That being said, I agree with the idea of starting Nunez now, as painful as it might be. Now is the perfect time to get him game reps with some consistent minutes to see what we have there. Unfortunately, we might be finding out he struggles as a defender at this level…
1 Like
Dude you just seem to like complaining about everything. Don’t be so negative.
4 Likes
Franz as the 6th man only made sense if Livers was starting at the 3 and Johns at the 4, which a lot of us expected. Then Franz could sub in for Brooks at the 2, Livers at the 3 and for Johns by having Livers slide over. With Livers starting at the 4 that kind of rotation isn’t in play.
2 Likes
KY certainly does less with more every year no matter what month. I love it every time they blunder, it’s personal with me, not everyone should feel this way.
I noticed this as well, but it seemed to me to be more of a reflection that our wings were letting some blow bys and backdoor cuts past them and it was either teske come over for weakside help or give up a layup. I think him preventing the layup (which he often did) is worth it even it means giving up the offensive rebound. It seemed to be the larger issue was no rotation by other defenders to grab his man. With livers height, he should have more than 2 boards.
1 Like
Yeah based on how the rotations have played out I think it’s pretty clear that Franz will slide into the starting spot currently held by Nunez. Nunez gets a couple spot minutes after he gets subbed out the first time, which will probably be his role when everyone is healthy. It is funny that so much talk was about Michigan’s jumbo lineups and now we’re tossing three 6’ PGs out there as our go to lineup.
2 Likes
It really only takes one player to miss an assignment to give up a bucket. Hopefully, rotations are the kinds of things that UM improves greatly at with practice and actual game experience. Especially with so many young players seeing time.
The things I’ve most loved to see early on and what have encouraged me this year and moving forward:
-Brooks is a legit Big Ten player.
-Livers shotmaking. I don’t care about playmaking, but everytime he shoots I think it’s going in.
-Howard’s grasp of offensive and defensive concepts. He clearly knows his stuff. Love what Michigan is doing on both sides. It’s surely beneficial to have a couple upperclassman Guards leading the way. But through 2 games I think we can eliminate any idea that he’s in over his head as far as basketball strategy goes. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering he was mentored by a great coach (Spoelstra) and was being interviewed for NBA jobs.
8 Likes
What in the …
Dylan’s mentions are always a tire fire. If I were him I’d be driven insane
Hahaha wonder what percentage of this board you have muted 
1 Like
LOL. I don’t really mute many people to be honest. One time I muted Harbaugh and Devin Bush during that whole fracas before the MSU game and then forgot and thought something was wrong with my Twitter account for a few months.
1 Like
Now that. . . is a take. I don’t think even Eli’s biting on that one.
I think’s it just that you won’t let it go. While X may have made a mistake or two more in the first half, that was trumped by having made more plays in the first half.
I just re-watched 2H (entire game is posted on youtube), and the judicious use of Oklahoma really paid off. 2 possessions using the set, and 6 points (a Livers 3, and a Teske 3-point play).
For one thing Mr. Simpson still prefers to be called X not Z. You must have been watching another game most the rest of us watched . X played great BOTH halves.
1 Like
Just to flip this in a more positive direction, I definitely had some nagging worries about how X was going to fare in Juwan’s new schema. Any doubts were put to bed quickly Tuesday night.
Beyond this, as I page back through some of these threads in my head, thinking especially about players we wondered about, it looks to me like a lot of them have been settled positively–Eli is more than solid, Isaiah is going to get buckets, Teske is at times a monster, and Michigan is going to be in most of its games. Get Franz solidly in the mix and you begin to talk about about a team with some ambitions. Loved the fact that Robbie Hummel was so enthusiastic, too.