Game 5: Ohio at Michigan Open Thread

I consider myself super patient and understanding but man this start sure is testing me. If this team has another level against decent opponents then they sure are doing a good job of hiding it. I guess the good thing is if we keep playing this poorly then at some point all the pressure will be off as losses mount.

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The 2018 Final Four team, for one

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He absolutely disappeared in the first half but he had some things to build on after halftime

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Didnā€™t look at my phone til now since 3 minutes left. Bahahaha canā€™t believe we won

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I think Hunter,Kobe and Jett played really well the last 8 minutes of the game offensively and defensively.

Howard was talking about mental fatigue and effort.

He hadnā€™t really found his recruits though yet, right? I fear this is more an endemic thing.

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I was laughing after the buzzer to send it into overtime thinking about the meltdown on here :joy:

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Well, watching the rest of the team I felt illā€¦

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Like Dylan said, Juwan sent a message to the starters by playing the second team in the first half. They played hard and managed to catch upā€¦ Now, here is a thoughtā€¦ Yoyo did not play at all last night. This seems pretty odd to me given that he has real game experience, he plays with a lot of energy and he is usually active on defense. I thought he would be the most appropriate to inject some life into rebounding and hassle. Maybe the coaches think is not ready yet, but the way the team played yesterday, I would think that Juwan would have nothing to lose.

I can think of the Wagners, and especially Mo. He also had game time experience playing for Alba before he joined Michigan. Coach B would bring him off the bench his freshman year, and he would bring some instant energyā€¦ Just sayingā€¦

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Agreed. After Dylan and Eric did their video pinned down I was really hoping that he would be useful this year for that defense. Obviously he looks really sped up when heā€™s in the game, but just the fact that weā€™re looking to somebody to come in and give energy suggests a larger problem.

If the defensive issues are really about effort, I would like to see the coach mainstream what he did benching the five starters. Donā€™t do that just to make a point one time. Tie playing time to effort. Play the guys who are going to hustle and execute, even if they are significantly less gifted. Lots of coaches use that approach. Sometimes a guy like Tom izzo takes that to the extreme benching guys after their first mistake, but sometimes what you get as a result of that process is a team that gets pretty close to 40 minutes of mistake free max effort basketball.

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Yep. Mo was a foul machine as a freshman and looked raw at times but he brought energy and by the end of the year he was starting to get real meaningful minutes because of what he brought to the team. Also set him up well to be a major contributor the next year.

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Martelli said YoYo was a walking foul a few weeks agošŸ˜‚

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ā€œRun donā€™t walk, son.ā€ Next step please become a running foul, YoYo.

I thought he said that about Tschetter? Maybe also about Yo-Yo.

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I agree. Maybe itā€™s not a skill/ talent thing and heā€™s just catching up and needs chemistry with the guys and his x and oā€™s are not ready yet?

I felt like he was going to have a big role when you look at the roster and his skill set coming into the year.

Still think we need him if he can catch up.

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I have no concept of how ready or not yo yo is. Whatā€™s the boardā€™s pulse as to how likely it is that he contributes in any way this year?

Well, it is starting to seem unlikely he contributes. Heā€™s not getting any run at all and then thereā€™s simply a numbers game. Barring an injury, whoā€™s minutes is he taking? Kobe, Jett, Baker, TWill, and even Barnes seem ahead of him with wing minutes.

It seems we will add him to the list of long terms projects along with all of the other forwards. Thatā€™s fine, doesnā€™t mean he wonā€™t be very good in the futureā€¦does make you wonder about roster construction though given our guard depth.

It would certainly seem that at the moment the only scholarship player he is closer to the floor than is Glenn. And that may obviously not be the case even. Iā€™d add Tschetter and Jace to ACā€™s list given the usage weā€™ve seen.

Well, there is a problem with that, however. Players that come from Europe and have played professional basketball there, do not enlist in a US college to get a 4-year education. They see NCAA basketball as their gateway to the NBA. The Wagner bros is a clear example and Michigan has a good record in such path. Yoyo was not a throwback in the French league, and he was a sub to his countries national team. I am sure he had some reasonable expectations picking Michigan, that he can get some playing time as a freshman. If he does not see the floor this year, say bye-bye to him. He is not going to stick for 4 years warming the bench on a college stipend far away from home.

I remember when his name came up in this board, we were all excited with the possibilities and potential he would bring to the table at the forward spot. We followed his national team games, how he did, and in general we thought that he can offer some valuable time at the 3 and especially at the 4 spot where we were thin. I still think that he has the tools to give us some much needed presence at the power forward spot, but I am not a coach and I do not see what he does in practice. If Martelli thinks he is a walking foul machine, he needs to avoid embarrassing the young man to the press, and teach him the college game, much like coach B did, when he converted Moe from a wrecking ball to a first round NBA pick in 3 years.