I agree but I think he has s nice array of spins and pivots, if he puts it all together I could see him being very very good in a year or two. All big ten good.
last night may have proved your points.
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I thought JBās comments were interesting in the post-game presserā¦he said that he was planning on taking Moe out and subbing in Mark for defensive purposes, and Donlon had to stop him and point out that Moe was actually playing great D.
Iāve seen it for more than a year now. The skill level is no comparison and the energy/motor isnāt either. Wagner blows away Donnal in those areas. IMO, Wagner played great d last night and Donnal did his usual worthless jogging around playing with no energy style of basketball. If Wagner is out of foul trouble, he must be on the court. Heās got the best post loves in the big ten that Iāve seen in a long time and can do it all. At this point, heās our best offensive player and the fact beilein still thinks Donnal plays better d is scary to me. What is he missing? I donāt get it.
What I like as well is if I remember correctly at the 10 min mark in the first half we ran one out of bounds play under the basket and someone got blocked and we had another shot at it and he yelled to the coaches to run a certain play for himself and they ran it and he scored on it. the guy just flats out wants it. He might be the only one on this team who truly does (thatās getting significant playing time) would love to see that from the others. It was so frustrating watching Irvin, Walton and MAAR showing nothing while playing terrible games.
Exactly. And when he got on Duncan for having a very lazy cut that resulted in a turnover, thatās why leaders do. I love everything about Wagner and hope he becomes more of a go to guy on offense. Kid loves the game and it shows every single game.
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We probably all agree Coach is good at half court offenseā¦and good for him for admitting that he needed a defensive specialist to take up that slackā¦He commented after last night that he wants āto run moreāā¦really? What has he been waiting for? Transition offense in basketball is like āspecial teamsā in footballā¦an integral part of the game.
We won yesterday due to Wagner, Wilson, and Robinson. Last year people would laugh at that statement if you said it.
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Good point. We donāt really have the guards to push the ball imo. We have athletic bigs but MAAR canāt dribble well enough and Walton makes very poor decisions when running. Last night was scary bad when he pushed the ball. He never passes quickly(which I teach my players) and over dribbles in to trouble. Itās very odd how he pushes the ball up.
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Youāre right, our primary ball handlers have extreme tunnel vision. Not sure if they can be coached out of that at this point which is discouragingā¦
From what Iāve seen, I donāt think so. Walton and Irvin just arenāt transition guys. They are good players and I like both, but itās just not how they play. Iām so excited because next year with Wagner and Wilson. With Teske and Livers backing them up, our front court could be pretty darn good. I think next game, Teske should come in for Wagner. Weāll see, but Iām very encouraged by the strides Wagner and Wilson have made.
You say interestingā¦ I almost lost my mind when JB said that. He obviously doesnāt think his coaching decisions had a hand in costing us the VT game. Thank God Donlon stopped him from another poor decision. And to think all of us watching the game were complimenting JB for realizing his last minutes mistake again VT having Wagner on the benchā¦
I personally believe Xavier is/can/will be the guy that can push the ball. Great vision, and superior passing to our current guards playing.
You are correct. We need this guy to play more. How many more games does MAAR have to struggle to do anything at all before we play this guy more. He is a pure point guard and Walton needs to be off the ball utilize his great 3 point shooting. Iāve said it a thousand times and Iāll say it once more, what MAAR brings to this team is best utilized off the bench. We need to find a way to make that happen. IMO, that way is starting Walton at shooting guard and Simpson at point guard.
Also, Simpson is the best defender we have. MAAR plays no defense and canāt shoot, why not play Simpson more?
When I said āinterestingā I didnāt necessarily mean it as a good thing. It is a good thing, though, in that he has given the authority to Donlon to override his decisions on that end of the court. JBās mind is obviously wired for offense, so Iām sure heād rather have Moe on the court for offensive purposes.
Itās definitely starting to seem like the utility of X+Dwalt is greater than Dwalt+MAAR; and then thereās the added benefit of X, our presumptive starting PG for the next 3 years, learning on the job and getting experience.
Thereād also be a bunch of value in sticking with MAAR until he getās back to late last-seasonās form, but who knows if/when that will happen.
People will think Iām crazy but Iād let Simpson guard ball to start the game on Saturday. Heās our best perimeter defender and his quickness could make it difficult for ball to get going. We will need to score a lot so bringing MAAR off he bench vs ucla could be a great thing for us.
Yeah, thereās no way that JB rolls with that, at least to start. But, if MAAR continues his bad play against UCLA and Duncan gets exposed on defense, maybe X plays more minutes. But being in a defensive slugfest didnt help him see the court, yesterday.
X may have good on ball defense but he still struggles with being picked, back cuts and help defense. He is not ready to start but he will need to play.
MAAR is just not a starter on any Big Ten team. Teams know how to play him now and when they bring help he is not good at passing on the move. He either shoots or if stuck picks up his dribble and has to look for an outlet. His handle is not sophisticated enough to be a creator for others or create space for an outside jump shot for himself.
If we could get consistent average defense from Duncan I would start him at the 3 and play Irvin at the 2. Which would open the floor much more for the pick and role drive and kick.
I think the team is an average shooting team. Next year we add more shooting with some handle (Poole, Livers and Brooks). I think I see why Beilein picked up Brooks for next year as we will need him out the gate.
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I imagine that having X in the game limits the playbook. Of course, to those who believe that Michiganās lone half court play is a 3-4 man weave/handoff behind the arc, they wonāt be convinced that there is a playbook to learn. It may be necessary to just have the offense run the portion of the playbook that Beilein feels comfortable that X can run in order to get him more minutes.
Has anyone addressed X passing up on a potential layup in the first half, instead kicking the ball out to a clanked jump shot? I was encouraged by Michigan trying to penetrate a bit more, especially in the first half, even when it didnāt result in a made basket. I just think that X needs to shoot that shot, even if it gets swatted into the 27th row.