Michigan at Iowa Discussion Thread

Michigan Basketball
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7pm - ESPN2

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I can’t see a way we lose this game. I’ve watched them a few times now and vs any decent competition, they have looked pretty bad. Not sure what their defense is ranked or anything but I haven’t seen them defend anyone well. What is Iowa’s best win?

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Iowa is on the improve lately and they have the low post scoring ability to really abuse Moe down low. Really like to start off the New Year with a win but it won’t come easy I fear.

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As I wrote in the preview, Michigan can’t defend post-ups and Iowa can’t defend ball screens. Iowa throws the ball in the post all the time and Michigan ball screens constantly. Will be interesting to see what wins out.

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I think you underestimate the curse of Iowa City!

@umhoops, in the preview you talk about what their zone and man defenses grade out to. To get those numbers do they have people go through every possession of all games to find what a defense was playing?

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Synergy breaks down games by possession yes. So each possession will be tagged with either man to man or zone defense (they also track play types like ball screens, isolation, spot up, transition, etc.). Worth noting that an offensive rebound is technically a ‘new possession’ in Synergy speak because they record putbacks as a play type. That’s why you will usually see me reference the percentile rank more often than the actual PPP number when possible. Also worth noting that those numbers aren’t adjusted by SOS like KenPom or something like that.

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JB is 3-5 at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Those three wins were in his first four seasons and two of them were OT. It’s a tough place to play. Not saying we won’t or can’t win, but road games in this conference are tough. Not a lot of easy places to play.

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Winning conference games on the road is NEVER a given.

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Early game on a Tuesday and the students shouldn’t be back yet so it shouldn’t be the craziest environment Iowa has produced. It should be a very winnable game.

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Last year’s game was on New Year’s Day. FWIW. Still a conference road game.

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I know it’s not easy but Iowa is 0-6 vs top 100 teams and we are ranked around 40 in every poll or ranking metric I’ve seen. This is a should win and I don’t see it being a big problem honestly.

ESPN’s rpi ranking has us 3rd in the big ten and Iowa 13th.

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Hopefully the fact that we’ve already played two true road games in tough environments will help alleviate some of the “early Big Ten road game” symptoms.

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I hope that Jacksonville game knocked off the rust. As Coach B said, that level of play gets us beat against most anyone in the BT. It wasn’t surprising to see us play that way after all the time off and the calendar date, just hope that tune up got us tuned up as needed.

Ugh, reading the optimism in the CBB general thread has me scared - Carver Hawkeye is a den of nightmares. I don’t know how others feel, but if we could somehow win tonight it’s a great win in my books.

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Seemed Michigan was at their worst when Wagner and Robinson were in the game, and they still won convincingly.

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Livers is a star in waiting. I think it portends well that Coach Beilein has him flashing to the middle against zones. Shows great trust in Livers as a freshman.

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Whoever had Livers and Z going 11-15 from the field and 5-7 from three, along with 10 assists - take a bow. Nice game young’uns.

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The way Livers plays with his energy and hustle (on top of his big time talent), I honestly would love to see him be the 6th man next year. Even if he outperforms Iggy/Johns.

Play as many minutes as he deserves, starters minutes, but I just love him in that role as a GREAT spark off the bench.

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Delighted by the result. Can’t wait to sit down with the dvr for this one. Dog has minor surgery tomorrow, so I couldn’t put her through the stress of watching with me. It’s an accomplishment to win at Carver-Hawkeye.

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Big game for him. Beilein has always loved his potential.
He has been a pleasant surprise to me, I was always skeptical of his game after seeing him multiple times in HS.

Confidence is an intoxicating elixir.

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Always love the guy’s demeanor.

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