Seems to be that he is a glorified garbage man at this point. The only thing we utilize Mitch for in the half court offense at this point is screen-setting. The only game I recall where Mitch had significant involvement on offense is the FSU game.
Can’t help but to think we are not utilizing one of our most dangerous weapons on offense and probably the clearest path to getting free points at the FT line.
I really wish the coaching staff would do a better job of implementing Mitch in the half court offense, whether it be post isos, high post playmaking, or pick and roll. Too often Mitch is just a spectator on the court taking up space on offense.
I know some people think he doesn’t have a back to the basket game, but I think he has improved significantly in that regard. I’ve seen Mitch make baseline spinmoves (Long Beach), drop step up and unders( FSU), reverse spins moves (Coppin State) and I think it’s worth exploring the potential to add some post offense.
I think JB is freezing him out because of his poor FT shooting. That and measuring the usage of our 3 lead guards (Levert, Walton, Spike) will be very telling on how far our offense will grow, as far as utility and adding wrinkles.
In previous years it was understandable because quite frankly, you weren’t going to get much post offense from Novak and/or Morgan. That in conjunction with having Trey Burke as your lead guard justifies not utilizing the post. This year is different, neither Caris, Walton, or Spike are going to score 20 points a game, and carry the team to victory on a consistent basis. That being said, why would we not utilize Mitch’s skillset and size. Coach B has utilized post players in the past, namely DeShawn Sims. So I wonder why the lack of utilizing Mitch this year…seems odd and counterproductive if we’re being honest.
I semi-agree. I hope they get him more involved in the post and at times he is so open and the guards just don’t bother passing it to him, which from the look on his face, really frustrates him. Despite the fact that he didn’t finish on that reverse spin against the double team today, he really showed how skilled he can be with ball and that he can find a way to take a high percentage shot. I don’t like how he has to be the garbage man as you put it, because using him as such is a slap in the face to his talent. However, for the most part today was a bad example of not feeding Mitch. Coppin State used a zone for a good portion of the game, which kind of made it impossible to pass it to him in the post, plus when we did he often got triple teamed. I think Beilein needs to stress to the guards to look for Mitch when they have the ball because he is our best chance of a high percentage shot. I’m not sure how much of them not giving him the ball is a result of very limited practice time and possibly they aren’t used to having the convenience of a big guy that can finish (as opposed to Horford, Morgan, and Bielfeldt) in the post. I want to see more PnR action with Stauskas/Levert and McGary as well, as that could be really effective. Let’s hope that he will be used more with time and the fact that he has been injured for quite a bit of time is the reason why Beilein doesn’t have as much trust in him just yet. He is too much of a threat to have him only shoot 5 times (with probably 2-3 of those shots being tip ins) in a single game. Another thing that needs to happen for Beilein to give him more chances is that McGary has to calm himself down a bit. He has been running a bit wild since he came back, and I know that’s his play style but we don’t really need him running the ball downcourt. I love his energy, but at times he seems a bit reckless with the ball and I am really surprised that he doesn’t turn the ball over every time he decides to run baseline to baseline with the ball.
His FTs look much better this year, although his % isn’t great. Much better arch, vs. last year’s line drive type shot. When he misses this year, it isn’t by much.
For Michigan to be the best we can, and for us to keep getting top notch PF/C players, Michigan has to start getting him more involved in the offense (whether that be set plays for him or simply much more passing in the offense rather than just one pass and shoot). I am probably the only one, but I would really like to see more of the West Virginia offense that JB ran (all the back cuts).