I feel like Poole is playing… chastened. He’s not tremendously efficient, but there aren’t as many bad shots, and a lot of them are late-clock efforts where someone needs to get the ball off and it may as well be him. He seemed to deliberately retreat on occasion from drives that went nowhere rather than try to hero his way into a turnover or a brick.
It’s obviously huge to see Castleton emerge. It seems Livers has been freed not having to play the 5 anymore; when was the last time he saw serious time there? I’m intrigued by the possibility of Livers having minutes available elsewhere now, which could allow Beilein to experiment with Livers at the 3 and Matthews at the 2, filling the hole in backup minutes there.
Respectfully, I can say that it WAS the right move because it was the decision of our outstanding and incredibly experienced coach, Coach Beilein, a future Hall of Famer, and a decision supported by our assistant coaches.
I think Coach B has earned the right to make decisions that he believes are for the good of the team, that he thinks will ultimately help us win, without being second guessed on here.
Just trying to emphasize how much I agree with the decision by Coach B. I hope this isn’t going to be another grammar lesson!
Edit: And I’d support it next Saturday if it happened again. Not trying to be contentious. This is something in which I believe, in the philosophy, and in Coach B.
I don’t love the auto-bench, but you have to do it, especially on the road with 19 minutes to go. You may trust the player in that situation, but do do you trust the refs? And I’m not trying to go on a ref conspiracy rant - I’m just pointing out the inconsistency of calls in general.
And along with others’ point about him being more rested for the stretch run and the fact you tend to foul more when tired, I’ll add that when you are playing in foul trouble, you tend to play passive defense to avoid another foul.
As for the “you are ugly” chants, maybe its the broken window theory, but seems pretty harmless to me.
This. (I know you meant “left X in with 3 fouls”). As you said, Beilein explained it very well. Cowan would have gone at him constantly to try and pick up the 4th foul, which would have gotten X out of the game until the under-8 timeout, at best. This has nothing to do with perceived inconsistency of officials. Players commit fouls, often because they just happen to be in the wrong position at the wrong time. It’s not always something that is under the player’s control. Any basic drive on which X couldn’t establish LGP could easily have resulted in that quick 4th foul.
My biggest problem with the benching of Simpson was that Brooks came in at PG for a stretch. I’m so sick of that experiment. More DDJ please.
On another note, I love this observation from Dylan: ‘Beilein talked a lot about Maryland “cross-matching” the three and the four position which meant that Brazdeikis was guarded by a three rather than Jalen Smith, a more traditional four. Brazdeikis being able to attack a smaller player seemed to be a nice change of pace for him and is a benefit of Livers playing some three.’
When Iggy plays like a star on offense, this is a different team. Hopefully Beilein can recreate this type of lineup occasionally even after Matthews returns. I’d also be curious to see today’s starting lineup with Matthews in there for Poole for stretches.
I didn’t notice that at all(which doesn’t mean it’s not true). Instead I noticed him forcing the shot against two defenders and Bruno swatting it. This happened at least twice.
I know people are “sick of that (Eli) experiment.” First, it’s not an “experiment” at all. If you think I is I suggest you sit down with Coach B and ask him about it. Second, Eli plays outstanding defense. With Eli in the game Coach B was able to play X off of Cowan for stretches. He was able to do this because on the defensive end, Eli allowed him to do that.
Is Eli having a problem shooting? You bet, and it pains me to say it because I simply don’t call out or even criticize our players publicly, but Eli himself would say it’s been a struggle, as would Coach B.
I agree with the rest of what you said in paragraphs two and three. I also agree that we need to continue to see more DDJ, the kid is gonna be another X…well, sans the hook shot. Nobody has that!
My thoughts on Eli, as a former college athlete (not basketball), is that he looks visibly scared on offense. His confidence is sapped, he’s not entirely under control, and what he really wants is someone to pass it to before he blows it (in his mind).
It’s hard to succeed that way, and I’m not sure how you coach around it. With our already extant offensive issues, playing another literal zero at PG makes life very hard in that side of the ball.
He did move his feet great to pick up that charge.
IMO that’s why you gotta keep shooting, like the coach says to do. Teske yesterday late in the second half had a few possessions where he swung the ball without even thinking, just like Brooks does. I was assuming he was done for the day attempting threes. Then he sank that dagger…
