I appreciate that glass-half-full approach, but I’m having trouble adjusting. I really thought that Beilein would get a tournament championship at some point before he retired, and that this upcoming year would be the first of several in which his teams could potentially swagger into the FF like Nova did last year. If you have a run of years from 20-23 or so with two or three that have a crack at it, you figure one can get those lucky bounces that UVa got this year, and take it all. It’s hard to let go of that, but certainly I need to do it.
This year I guess I’ll have to satisfy myself with beating expectations. They’re ridiculously low for a team with two anchors like Z and T and a wing man in Livers.
That too. Can imagine how Z feels, going 0-3 against State, perhaps reading what the scouts thought about Poole in those games, and now coming into this year basically kneecapped in his ability to seek redemption. I hate that for a senior like him or Teske.
I don’t blame you whatsoever. This really stinks, especially after the last two seasons where Michigan finally commanded the respect that Beilein and his teams have deserved for so long. Finally had a season where UM was top-10 basically the whole year and getting big attention for much of the season, especially that first half.
It really felt like UM would be rolling from now on without any real off-years. But ultimately what we have now is what we have and I do think it’s gonna be a lot of fun at the very least. I think A lot of fans stopped caring as much about those easy-win games, but now even when we have a freebie game, watching Juwan’s new coaching style and seeing the new crop of players will be fun almost no matter who they play.
And on top of that, recruiting should be a lot of fun. I think things will be more “exciting” for better or worse, but ultimately, for fans who only value winning (I can’t blame anyone who thinks that way) it just wont be as fun, because without Beilein, the floor is a lot lower.
Last thing I promise, but also on the bright side: this site is gonna be a lot of fun especially over the next couple years. Between Juwans coaching style breakdowns, recruiting, player development, etc, I imagine the content on this site will be as informative and interesting as ever with the coaching change.
Not disagreeing with any one thing in this story but the format drives me crazy. Of course it is super entertaining, but it always just feels to me like guys can take pot shots anonymously at kids. If you are so confident in your eval, put your name behind it. I have the same problem with the anonymous coach says X about team Y things during the season.
I get that they can’t actually put their name behind it either, but the format just seems a bit unfair overall.
Yeah I totally agree. But I think the fun positive in the format is that you end up with unadulterated feedback on the players. Poole’s eval reads like it was straight from the UMhoops comments section of the third MSU game
Those are fair criticisms. As a fan I’m just so hungry for non-coachspeak/playerspeak/beatwriterspeak comment that I didn’t even think of that, but it’s fair to point it out.
Thinking it over though, one point in favor of the format is that it’s a blend of however many scouts, and not just one, so that tamps down the usual anonymous-source limitation that someone is possibly spinning the reporter for their own agenda. It’s not as if trashing a kid in this format is going to cause them to slide to you at your pick.
I hope it happens for Poole. I don’t disagree with the reviews that are critical of his current game, but I do think he has good talent and could develop into a nice rotation player.
Givony on ESPN has just one Michigan draftee – Poole at #41 to Atlanta. Certainly seems like Poole is going to for sure get drafted in that 40-50 pick range. Don’t think Milwaukee takes him that early, but they could. They could use another shooter to develop I guess.
I just don’t see how Iggy doesn’t get drafted… I get that he had a bad combine but his potential seems pretty high, he had an awesome season, and most people thought he would be a definite first rounder if he stayed another year. I bet he gets picked for sure.
