Media Day 2016-2017

if I told you guys what I really think of maar, you guys would think I’m crazy. So here it goes

A: he’s going to be first team all big ten this year or next year.

B: he’s going to get drafted in the second round in the 18 draft

Flame away but I truly believe he’s going to blow up that much over the next two years. Especially when he’s probably going to be the go to guy that the offense runs through in 18.

That 17-18 team even without bamba is going to be very good. With bamba , I think we’re a final
Fours team. I’ve said it before, if bamba signs I’m putting my money where my mouth is and putting a hundred down on us as preseason national champ. We’d probably be like 35-1, this would be great odds for that roster.

Think about the 17-18 roster. It’s kinda young but at the same there is an amazing blend of athletes jand shooters. Second year in new d, with a players who are athletic enough/ pride themselves on d.

I mean trying to keep x, Mattews and maar from killing you off the bounce is going to be impossible. If Mathews and Simpson develop and work hard like I think they will , they have monster sophomore years.

Wagner should be putting it all together as a junior and if this is the case he’s going to be a beast. Add in Poole, and livers to be off the bench and add into our shooting with Duncan, then Wilson, Ibi, teske, Davis are all developing and maybe we can get something out of at least Wilson He’ll maybe we get something out of a few of them. I personally think Ibi will be useful early.

Also maybe teske can be a defensive anchor by his sophomore year. The 16 class wasn’t amazing but if you combine it with the 17 class which I’m pretty high on then it looks good.

X /Brooks
Poole/Ibi
Matthews/ Ibi
Livers/ Mathews
Teske/ Davis

That actually has great balance and skill set If you he’s the roster that way. If we don’t land bamba, then we should go back after Donnie Tillman. What we need out of that final scholarship is exactly what Donnie would provide. I know it won’t happen but if bamba passes we could use another 3/4 tweener. His ability to rebound and create and enjoy mid range is something this class needs. I’d be very happy with the 17 class

I only think you are a little crazy because I am very high on MAAR too but I am a few steps behind you. If I am forced to guess I would say MAAR will make third team all big ten this year and second team next year. Although, I think MAAR will generate some NBA interest, I think he will go undrafted, unfortunately. His shot, ball handling, and court vision just don’t seem good enough. My hope is that the coaching staff is throwing a ton of resources his way because I think, if he tweaks a few things he is the most likely candidate to be our most valuable player.

I have come around to your thinking regarding placing a bet too: If we land Bamba then I would like to put some money down!

This group looks good to me:

X / (MAAR)/ Brooks
MAAR/ Poole/
Mathews /Robinson/ IBI
Wagner/ DJ/ Livers
Bamba/ Teske

MAAR is a good college player. But as I have said many times would serve Mich better if he could be the energy guy off the bench. His game is not suited to be a big ten first team player. Not a good distributer of the ball and his handle is not good enough to create a three point shot for himself or off the dribble (more of a set shot outside shooter).

As far as getting drafted to the NBA at what position. He has no point guard skills and is to small to be a 2 guard and would get abused by most points or 2 guards in the league.

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I think saying, “oh we won 23 games, thus we will have more wins than that” is a simplistic way of looking at it. Right now I’m thinking:

10-3 noncon:
7-0 vs cupcakes
Split real games
Win neu Marquette
Loss neu SMU/Pitt
Win @ SC
Win vs Va Tech
Loss @ UCLA
Loss vs Texas

Then about 10-12 conference wins, since I think we play I think 7 games against teams that are definitely better than us. So you win a few of those, split with equal teams, have a bad loss or two that comes out in that range.

20-22 wins before postseason is what I expect. There is some variance in the non-con though because we play A LOT of teams that are similar to us in quality.

Also, one of those wins last year was against a D-II team and thus doesn’t count for tournament consideration.

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I think it’s a little simplistic to say we play 7 games against teams in conference that are “definitely better than us.” And you know this how?

Moreover, I don’t see us losing at home to Texas. And frankly, UCLA has some talent, but they are a poorly coached and very young team. It wouldn’t shock me at all if we won that game.

I think 11-2 non-conference, maybe even 12-1, 12 regular season conference wins, 1-2 BTT wins, and a Sweet Sixteen. Obviously that all assumes no major injuries. If we end up playing Dakich at point guard for any reason, then my analysis would be subject to change.

MSU, Purdue and Indiana were all top 11 teams per KP last year and either bring back a lot of players (Purdue/Indiana) or have gotten the best recruiting class in the history of their program (MSU). And then Wisconsin was one of the better teams in the country once they hit their stride half way through the season and they return literally everyone. I think it’s fair to assume that those teams are better preseason.

Like I said, there’s some variance in non-con. It wouldn’t shock me if we went 2-4 or 4-2, I just went with 3-3 as we are very similar in quality with a lot of those teams IMO, so on average we’re gonna split those games most likely.

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I agree with you that UCLA should be beatable. As you say, they are poorly coached (Alford will give his son carte blanche to hog the ball for 40 min). I think Lonzo Ball will be a terrific, college-ready player from day one but I also think the elder Alford will find a way to squander his talent. Also, having been to a few Pac 10 games at Pauley, it has to be one of the tamest high-major road environments, kind of like Penn State in terms of intimidation factor. The lower bowl always seems half full regardless of opponent – my theory is that rich people have those tickets but don’t bother showing up. I imagine Michigan should be able to muster a decent fan turnout too.

Most of the high majors we play before Christmas have had significant attrition so I can see UM having a deceptively strong start to the season … I just hope it isn’t followed by a disappointing performance in the Big Ten.

I think two things are really key there: (1) getting quality big man play from Wagner - need him to be able to finish, and to be tough; and (2) let’s see what Donlon can do with the defense.

I think Ball will be terrific at every aspect of the game except shooting. It seems he has a green light to go (which is better than Alford having the same green light), but might be struggling to find his shot out of the rhythm of his high school system. If he finds his shot by the time we play, look out

Just checked out some of the trip highlights… I didn’t realize Leaf would be such a beast. Hope we have an answer for him.

Ball didn’t look like a horrible shooter in high school I thought.

I dont think he was bad either, but they played such a unique style of offense, it maybe affecting the types of looks that he is getting and is familiar with. The kid seems to have a head on his shoulders so would guess he can figure it out, but hopefully it just happens after the Michigan game

Bryce Alford is actually a good player. He can hit from distance, he can find the open man he doesn’t turn it over a lot. In the Pac 12 he had over a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. They still have Hamilton/Holiday in the backcourt as well. They don’t have a lot of depth inside but with Welsh and Leaf there’s no doubt they can play.at a high level.

I dont disagree with you about the overall quality of UCLA. I was trying more to speak to the player that Ball is. I think he will be an NBA all-star some day and think UCLA’s season depends quite a bit on how he does. He should be given every opportunity to succeed at UCLA, but if he hasnt found any rhythm for shooting that will make playing against him and consequently UCLA much easier.

He’s a chucker who should be playing off the ball. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of him. He can shoot you right out of a ballgame, and he’s not a playmaker. I’d agree that when he’s hot, he’s very good, but it doesn’t happen often.

They have plenty of talent, that’s never been the issue. They’re just not that well coached and don’t play as a team.

4 posts were split to a new topic: Derrick Walton named Preseason All-Big Ten

I agree – Alford never saw a shot he didn’t like. He especially loves turnaround, off-balance, 25 footers. And making behind-the-back passes into a crowd of defenders.

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I don’t buy that not well coached reference Alford got UCLA to 2 straight appearances in the sweet sixteen. UCLA never made it past the 1st weekend from 08-13 and won 2 tournament games over that span. Alford took a team that experienced very little success to playing in the second weekend of the tournament. If my program made the second weekend of the tournament 2 out of every 3 years I would be happy.