In my opinion the best defense against Simpson is to hope Michigan shoots as poorly from 3 again next year. even in the Texas tech game, the offense generated open shooters from 3, and Simpson hit them with good passes.
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Bingo. For 2019-20, thereâs a better chance that Michigan adds more reliable shooting around the Simpson/Teske pick and roll than creating some other kind of PNR option.
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agree, but even if we hit our season average, i donât see michigan winning that game
Would have been up at the half at least.
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Really hard to say⌠Iâm not saying Michigan would have either, but there was a clear moment in that game when Michigan didnât have it coming out in the second half where you could see TT gain confidence, and then started making shots. Then Michigan started pressing (literally) on D, subbed out Mathews for more offense, which got Culver going, etc etc.
In other words, it may have changed the entire complexion of the game had Michigan been able to apply some pressure.
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I believe that. You could see the deflation.
Team had chemistry issues throughout the season mainly because they were incorporating new guys and trying to build an offense with 2 full time players with extremely limited offensive abilities.
There were indications of selfish play too but again mostly because some got frustrated by the weight of the expectations.
None of this is why the 3 guys are leaving though.
Just the times we are in and the particulars of the players involved.
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Are we worried about Simpson, the PG who led his team to the Nat Champ game as a sophomore? I think some may be missing the mark on Simpson and last year. The issue with last year was surrounding Simpson with a with 2 perimeter players who couldnât shoot and really couldnât create their own shot in any way. I think as Dylan suggested, we need better shooters and players who can play in JBâs system. I love Matthews but his shooting just was not an asset and Poole couldnât figure out how to play effectively in the offense. I often felt that Simpsonâs biggest issue last year was losing MAAR. No doubt in my mind that we would have hung a couple of banners if he was still on the teamâŚand MAAR isnât an NBA caliber player.
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I hear you on this. But Poole was damn good in the offense before JanuaryâŚit was feasible it just stopped for some reason.
The criticisms surrounding Simpson are fair in my opinion. Heâs a phenomenal player, but a very unique asset that needs a team specifically molded around his skillset to work. No matter what the surrounding pieces are though, 0 points, 1 assist and 4 turnovers arenât gonna cut it in a Sweet 16 game.
Next yearâs team could certainly be better if surrounded by good to great shooters, but thereâs always a certain element of JBâs offense that will not be fully loaded with a point guard that canât create his own offense off the dribble outside of layups and a beautiful nasty hook shot.
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I agree. I think there was a fundamental breakdown and a loss of confidence from the overall team. Simpson isnât a player who is going to carry a team offensively. He has limitations. That said, I would take him over most PGâs in college basketball. Let me ask you a questionâŚdo you think Winston would have been as effective as a PG on this Michigan team vs on the MSU team? With no McQuaid or Goins to hit 3âs at a high clip, would Winston have had as good of a year. I donât believe so. I am not trying to compare Winston to Simpson. Just saying that Winston had reliable to exceptional 3 point shooters surrounding him. For a majority of the year, Simpson, Teske and Iggy took turns carrying this team. You run up against a top 10 defense like MSU or TT and they can take that away from you and expose your weaknesses in a big way. I believe that is exactly what we saw in the MSU games and somewhat in the TT game.
To win at a high level, I believe you need a locker room all pulling in the same direction with strong leadership. A player or 2 pulling in a different direction could cause a ton of damage. If you heard the interviews with Simpson and others after the MSU loss in Chicago, it was very clear the locker room wasnât on the same page. As Nick Baumgartner wroteâŚJPoole is coming for every last hair on John Beilienâs head. I donât think JB was the only guy losing his hair at the end of the season.
see this is where I differ on opinion. biggest differnce between sophmore simpson and junior wasnt surrounding shooters on wing. MAAR was about equal to Jordan from 3 and Iggy could shoot fine, mathews was on both rosters. But wagner and teske presented completely different shooting threats, nearly 10 percent drop off not to mention wagner could take guys off the dribble. i dont see that getting fixed next year.
i think winston would have been more successful offensively because he can pull up and hit threes, as well as hit floaters in the lane and make layups, he simply has move levels to his offensive arsenal than simpson. defensively, woulda been a big down grade from simpson obviously
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Yeah I agree with most of this to some extent. I think it goes two ways though. Poole and Simpson donât seem like great personality fits as teammatesâŚneither one is necessarily in the wrong for that, I guess I think it would be as hard to play next to Simpson for some guys as it is to say itâs hard to play next to Poole for someone as motivated and tough as Simpson.
To answer your question, I personally think Winston would have solved most of the Michigan offenseâs problems this year. Poole could have been utilized in more ball screens to slide a point guard that can shoot off ball. Iggy would have had less help clogging the lane on his drives. But more importantly I just think Winston is an offensive genius and Teske, Poole, Matthews and Brazdeikis all would have had more space to to work and potentially more open shots than the ones they received down the stretch of the season.
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Yeah I agree. Winston would have been just as good at Michigan. We didnât have a shooter as good as McQuaid, but from a 3pt shooting perspective Livers > Goins, Teske >= Tillman, Poole > Henry, Iggy > Brown
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Did Teske really struggle finishing like people say? I feel like fans say that about every Center that doesnât exclusively dunk. When you get as many layup opportunities as Teske youâre gonna miss some. Every one does.
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I agree Winston has more offense than Simpson. I was suggesting would he (Winston) have been a 2nd team All American if his surrounding players were different.
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I still think he woulda been best player in big ten. iggy was as good a shooter as goins with more offensive game. mccquad was better than jordan this year, but i think that was as much focus/drive as anything else. so maybe you on to something.
I think people are forgetting how creative X sometimes looked as a playmaker down the stretch this year, fixatingâas we all doâon that handful of games when we were stymied. I do think we need another guy who can put it on the floor, and wonder where that ends up coming from. But we tend to forget that we all bellyached about Zack and MAAR, too, in their day, including about their handles.
One overlooked problem is that against the best teamsâteams with real enforcers at centerâX is not a threat to shoot OR drive. If he improves his three to the extent that he has to be guarded, or maybe develops a little floater? He came back with the sky hook last year. . .
to be fair, poole only won one big ten tourny title
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I thought the same thing. May want to change that tweet haha
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