Agree with that…they will need to get over the 40% threshold to have any type of season.
But now with Moe shooting them and the occasional Donnal three…Everybody shoots them…maybe we need to go to 35 a game?
Big one tonight… Texas has plenty of talented/five-star type of kids… but can’t really shoot it.
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I don’t think it logically follows that because we haven’t been running much that Beilein wouldn’t want to add that to the repertoire. They’ve had a lot on their practice plate this year early on, and the D emphasis is paying off. Lot of people here said Beilein would never emphasize D, right? Some of them no longer visit.
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Agree I don’t think beilein is averse to running. Its just that the team hasn’t been able to do a lot of the things you need to do to be able to run. you first have to be able to get consistent stops on defense, not exactly a strength of this program until this year. You can run off makes but it’s a much riskier proposition and often leads to high turnover numbers or bad shots.
Even if you are able to get stops, you still need them to either be off live ball turnovers (not a strength of this Michigan defense) or clean rebounds (also not a strength). Michigan frequently has to rebound as a team which means even when a big grabs the rebound cleanly there is not a ready outlet player nor other players ready to run since they are all focused on rebounding.
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The 2 guys who seem to be struggling the most with the shooting — at least compared to preseason projections — are Robinson and MAAR.
Duncan’s defense has improved from “black hole” up to “poor” but he’s not putting pressure on opponent defenses with his shooting range. Under 40% shooting from the field; 37.5% from 3 (with only 1.5 3’s made per game). To be valuable he needs to be over 40% from 3 with high volume. And it’s not like he’s taking/missing contested shots, he’s getting open looks and not converting ---- especially against power-conference teams (I don’t care that he can go 2-for-4 from 3 against Kennisaw St)
MAAR has also become a 1-trick pony; he lowers his head and drives to the rim. Once he starts his move to the hoop there’s no option of a mid-drive pull-up jumper or a drive/dish. Shooting under 30% from 3 and under 40% overall from the field, teams are sagging off him and preparing to challenge his drive at the rim — as VaTech did to create a few blocks.
If Robinson can return to elite sharp-shooter or if MAAR can develop into competent shooter, the floor spacing will open for the offense to flow.
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It’s all about the confidence with Robinson. Praying he acquires some; he could be the difference between our getting into the tourney or making a little run.
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I agree. I said before he showed he can adjust. I think he should stress it with this group. Let’s see.
Also I don’t agree that no one has shown back to the basket moves. Wagner has shown them. I know you didn’t post that. Just answering two posts in one. Wagner has showed that skill. He just doesn’t get a lot of chances so we don’t see it much. I truly believe he has that in his game with the foot work and little flips/ baby hooks.
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Just a quick note to add on the transition discussion. Heard beileins post game on the drive home, he specifically mentioned all the stops the team is getting and that they need to figure out how to run more and get easy looks off it in transition.
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Walton can not run a break, I see why we struggle/ don’t do it now,
Heard him say similar things on the ESPN post-game interview…he said something along the lines of somehow we’ve become a non fast-break team and its driving him crazy. Whether we’re successful at it or not, I have a feeling that this is going to be a point of emphasis moving forward, because we’re simply not that great of a half-court offense.
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We had a ton of opportunities to run last night and didn’t – it was driving me crazy too.
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Maybe the can do a simple inbounds pass from under the basket. I don’t get why every time the are inbounding the ball under their own basket it seems so hard for them to do.
Same with press breaks
Ive been perplexed by that for two years…They have no effective out of bounds plays. Simple coaching fix which doesn’t get attention.
I think the team has done a solid job breaking the press this season in limited opportunities. They aren’t pushing the ball down the floor for finishes at the rim, but they haven’t coughed up the ball very many times when pressed.
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We have not been crushed by the press in the backcourt. When I’ve watched we’ve had one to two inbounds 4 seconds in, which is stressful. By not punishing the press we’re left with effectively 20 s to run the offense, sometimes less after positioning, which often forces us into click heaters rather than quality looks.