Anytime I feel down about this team, I tell myself that all John Beilein has to do is figure out the offense and we are National title worthy. Any time over the last 10 years, I’d take that scenario so it’s hard to feel too down about it now
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I can see 26-5 or 27-4 to end the regular season. For the year I’m preferring to be a pessimistic and say we will wind up at 32-6 on the year which is a hell of a season!
Teske was at 31% for the season before today iirc. Maybe Turgeon was talking about conference only?
I think in general it’s easier to look at good offense and say “this team is playing well!” than it is to see our defense drag a quality offense into a rock-fight and say the same…but it’s just as effective.
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Random question for the intelligent board members, but what other NCAA teams run similar offenses to Michigan?
Love that DDJ has slotted into the backup PG spot. Was surprised by how tight his defense was. Gives us more options offensively than Eli too, I think - tentatively an upgrade on both ends of the floor?
I thought DeJulius’ defense looked pretty meh. Rotations seemed off and I remember him getting beaten off the dribble a couple times (Don’t remember how many actually resulted in points). Eli’s been a good defender so far so I’d be surprised if he’s an upgrade on that end.
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I haven’t seen many Maryland games, so I was surprised to see that Fernando has absolutely no ability to turn to his left and score. Teske played him beautifully in the first half, then helped to cause a turnover early in the 2nd half when Bruno actually tried to put the ball on the floor to his left. Maybe it was a bit of mental fatigue that kicked in, but Teske appeared to yield some after that, and Fernando scored moving to his right a few times. In any case…has anyone noticed other teams making that concerted an effort to force Fernando to his left?
I was thinking about how good Maryland is going to be next year, when all of those talented freshman turn into sophomores. Then, I realized that Fernando and Smith are probably gone. That’s the type of thing I don’t like about the college game, but I get it.
Michigan is starting to remind me of the 2010 Butler team that almost beat Duke in the championship game. You could beat them if you made shots, as their offence was nothing special, but you got very few good looks against their defence. That 2010 Butler team started with a pre-season trip to Italy. Would we be OK with beating MSU in a national semifinal, then falling to Duke in the title game?
More than OK. Considering how hard it is to get to a Final Four, I would be happy if we were one of the last four teams standing. No qualifications from me after that.
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Fernando is a sophomore. But yeah, he and Smith are likely gone.
If anything, I think DDJ’s defense was a result of him trying to do much. I thought his ball denial was a bit aggressive at times and his rotations were off because he wasn’t helping when his guy didn’t pose an immediate threat. Something that is pretty correctable with a few more game reps against actual opponents vs. practice against offense and guys you are used to playing against every day.
If DDJ can give 4-5 minutes a game that would be huge. It would allow Brooks to play more off ball as the backup two for Poole where I think he works slightly better.
Plus, I like a DDJ vs. Loyer matchup vs. a Brooks vs. Loyer matchup. I think DDJ can expose Loyer much more than Brooks can.
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Maryland is clearly (to me) most talented team in the league. I really like Fernando. He gets pissed every time the other team scores. Reminds me of Alonzo Mourning; very good athlete, but not the most fluid player on the court. Too bad he’s likely going to NBA.
Smith should come back; he is lost on the court way too often, and physically he’s not ready either. Wiggins is very good and only getting better. Cowan very good. Really every guy they bring in game is at least above average athlete. Impressive team.
Glad to see DeJulius get minutes; like his aggressiveness. Surprised how short he looked. Shorter than Cowan. He has a long way to go but there is a lot to like. I don’t think he sees the court very well while dribbling, but that’ll come. Not quite ready for prime time on PnR.
Maybe this will push Brooks to a new level? Like last year when Duncan Robinson elevated his game after going to the bench in the MSU game last year. I like Brooks as a college 2, don’t like at all as a ball handler at the point. Hope he gets comfortable stretching floor and confidently stroking catch and shoot 3’s. He has it in him.
Poole is a hot mess right now. Wouldn’t be a bit surprised if coaches aren’t happy with his focus. Coach Beilein clearly referenced Poole when talking about offensive affecting defense yesterday. On the flip side few have feel for the game Poole possesses. He sees game extremely well. A couple finds he had yesterday were things of beauty. He’s due to bust out. Hopefully next Saturday in East Lansing.
Hope he shows up for a game in Ann Arbor on Sunday instead of East Lansing on Saturday 
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Sometimes facts aren’t my strong point.
I hope Poole isn’t staying up until 3:00am talking to his girlfriend and gets plenty of sleep. Whenever Beilein throws out random thoughts of things that might negatively affect a players performance, I think he’s alluding to Poole.
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And yet we completely dismantled them, coulda shoulda won by 20.
Hope someone can replicate MAAR’s performance from last year when we travel out to play them at their place.
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I don’t know that Michigan “completely dismantled them” … That game was close and if a couple breaks go a different way it could have been a lot closer. To be fair, if Michigan makes some threes maybe it is a blowout by halftime. You can play that back and forth game forever.
Overall, a good home performance. Just gotta see if U-M can bring that on the road in the league.
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I had two main reasons for saying what I said. This is one of them. The other is that we held them to their worst offensive performance of the year.
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I can’t imagine a scenario where Loyer, Brooks or DeJulius is a meaningful factor in that game.
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I think the over/under for both Simpson and Winston is 38 minutes barring injury or foul trouble… but then again, Big Ten refs so who knows how it will play out.
But I hope you’re right… I think Simpson outplays Winston head to head 9 times out of 10.