If you want to dominate in a perennially over-rated Big 12 and then lose early in the NCAA tourney–leaving plenty of time to evaluate your NBA draft status–Bill Self is your guy.
2015 without Levert or Brown…we’ll have to use teamwork haha
2015 with Levert would be an exciting team.
2015 with Levert and Brown…buy your Final Four tickets now.
From the film I’ve seen, Jaylen Brown doesn’t need to dominate the ball to be really good. I think he could be really great for us, and yet really efficient, based on superior talent.
With that said, come on MattD - the 2012 team that tied for the Big Ten title with MSU and OSU (both #1 seeds as I recall) wasn’t “good”? Come on. If you want to say that team wasn’t capable of winning a national championship, that’s fine. But they won a share of the Big Ten title (something Michigan hadn’t done for 25 years) and landed a #4 seed in the tourney. That’s a good team. Elite? No. But still pretty good.
UM finished 1st in B10 in 11-12, but only 4th in 12-13. By utilizing the conference championship logic to gauge a ‘good team’, that would indicate the 11-12 team was good, whereas the 12-13 team was not. Nothing could be further from the truth, the 11-12 team was average/above average while the 12-13 team was elite. I always maintain that using conference record/championships as the barometer is a joke. Just because we hadn’t done it in 25 years is indicative of how pathetic of a program we are vs anything good about 11-12 in my view. There is a reason everyone picked Ohio to beat us in the first round and it came to fruition - we simply weren’t a good team and everybody knew it
It might be a harsher view but it was certainly a very flawed team. It was a team that looked bad down the stretch against Minnesota, OSU, and Ohio. The team defense was much better than the past 2 years but 61st in kenpom wasn’t exactly strong, also the 42nd luckiest team in the country. It was a flawed team that maxed out their potential in the conference. It didn’t translate into a dangerous team in the tournament.
Look, I’m not saying conference title is the definition of “good,” but winning the Big Ten in a year where the two other co-champs are #1 seeded teams (and we beat both in the regular season) means you’ve done pretty well.
Of course the 2013 team was elite, and better than the 2012 team. No one disputes that. But we were still “good” in 2012 nonetheless.
As far as losing to Ohio, I didn’t see “everyone” picking that. But either way, Ohio was itself a pretty good team, as they demonstrated by winning their next game and taking #1 seeded UNC to overtime in the Sweet Sixteen. I know UNC did not have Kendall Marshall, but that was still a very talented and big team, so for Ohio to do that, they were good.
The nitpicking, though, is so over-the-top. Yeah, that team had flaws. Most teams do. Michigan State got to the Sweet Sixteen that year and scored what, 44 against Louisville? So we didn’t look great against Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten tourney? So what? Hey, Wisconsin didn’t look great against us this year in the Big Ten tourney. And yeah, OSU handled us the next day. They were really good. It happens. The fact is, the Big Ten was quite good that year, we won a piece of the title, and we beat the other two co-champs in the regular season (and also lost to them). By any objective measure, that was a good Michigan team. Elite? No. But good.
Rutgers beat Wisconsin this year, and Wisc is a Final Four quality team…is Rutgers good? I think the point of this is, just because a team wins a conference championship, has a decent record, or beats X team does not necessarily mean the team is good.
In any event, we’re a bit off topic (myself included)…so I’m going to refrain from further dialogue unless Brown related.
Webbdog- care to explain how Oubre Jr. leaving early from Kansas is good for Michigan’s chances with Brown? You really need to explain your stance if you disagree with people, especially when your stance doesn’t make sense.
MattD - when a team wins a share of a conference title with two other teams that are #1 seeds, and also beats those teams in the regular season, I’d say the team is good. If Rutgers had tied Wisconsin for the conference title this year, and had earned a #4 seed in the tourney in the process, yes, I’d say they were good. Since they didn’t come remotely close to doing any of those things, it’s a terrible analogy.
Sure, in a given season, winning a conference title isn’t that big of a deal. But in 2012, the Big Ten produced two #1 seeds in MSU and OSU. It was a good conference, and winning a share of it along with those two teams is meaningful.
MattD - when a team wins a share of a conference title with two other teams that are #1 seeds, and also beats those teams in the regular season, I'd say the team is good. If Rutgers had tied Wisconsin for the conference title this year, and had earned a #4 seed in the tourney in the process, yes, I'd say they were good. Since they didn't come remotely close to doing any of those things, it's a terrible analogy.Sure, in a given season, winning a conference title isn’t that big of a deal. But in 2012, the Big Ten produced two #1 seeds in MSU and OSU. It was a good conference, and winning a share of it along with those two teams is meaningful.
Absolutely. That team was average/slightly above average in terms of talent, but winning an 18 game round robin season means they came together and outplayed their talent. Good talent isn’t a prerequisite for a good team. It usually turns out that way, but there’s no way you can say the 2011-12 Co-Big Ten Champs weren’t a good team
I’m sure it’s just a bad game, but Jaylen Brown hasn’t looked too sharp tonight.
Literally 10 seconds after I say that, Brown steals an inbounds pass and throws one down.
Just FYI, during an interview with Jay Williams at the scriammage Brown, Brown listed Michigan first when listing schools.
Sorry to the folks who read Rivals and scout… Posted it there too. Not a huge deal, but we’re in it
My impression from the all star game: Brown is awesome at everything, except he is not a good shooter from free throw and beyond. His misses, even free throws,were way off. My new theory is he is aware that his shot is not good and he is coming to Michigan to fix it. The sampling size was obviously small. Does anyone know what his shooting percentage is from outside?
Seems like it could’ve been one of those nights for Brown…from the stats I’ve been able to gather it seems as though Brown may be a below average shooter from FT or 3, but not horrible by any means.
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Jaylen-Brown/Summary/52544
I still don’t think Ben Simmons is better than Jaylen Brown…
Not sure what it means Brian Snow on Scout says Cal Coach and Swanigans dad go way back
“Michigan State #Spartan fans, don’t hold your breath for Caleb Swanigan. Cal-Berkeley bound w/ Ivan Rabb & Jaylen Brown sounds very legit.”
Well when he commits on the 11th to Cal, then I will believe the rumors of a package deal.
Wow Cuonzo Martin would be king for a day at least. Glad Martin is at Cal though and not replacing Painter at Purdue.
just a side note, did we offer Brown during his visit?