No surprise here, but Goodman reporting on U-D and Bacari.
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I wish it were 25% defense. Heck, I use to believe that and didnāt like it. Itās just not though. The majority of the time itās 0% defense. Iām not pulling this number out of thin air either. This is coming from coachās who have sat in on JBās practice planning sessions multiple times in season.
Do you think itās a coincidence Michigan handles the pick n roll the same way 90% of the time no matter who they play? Hedging 30+ feet from the basket no matter who the ball handler is. Thatās because it was taught only that way in the first month and they roll with it. In the rare instance they try to adjust their pnr defense, the defensive rotations are awful. Again, thatās not a coincidence.
We also need to clarify what you believe spending time on defense entails. Having the scout team walking through the opposing teams sets for 10min is not working on defense.
Running specific drills in practice is how you work on defense. Hedging, help defense, post defense, sliding through ball screens, properly going under them, communication etc. These things are worked on everyday up in east Lansing (and everywhere else). When those things stop getting worked on for months at a time, thereās a problem. We all agree Michigan over helps far too much. Why do you think that is? Itās because thereās no defensive chemistry. No one trusts anyone on that side of the ball because again, the details are never practiced.
Offensively, does anyone wonder why our post players just about every year struggle with bunnies? Again, itās not a coincidence. Itās because they are uncomfortable on the block. That part of their game is rarely worked on. Someone asked why would we practice back to the basket moves/footwork when itās not part of the offense. Wellā¦ That blown Donnal layup against ND is why.
Weāve gone way off topic and I apologize for the rant but my overal point is, it wonāt matter who the assistant is, nothing is going to change until JB changes how heās ran his programs the past 30 years. I hope we land a stud assistant who is more effective at communicating the opportunities in JBās program and the university than Bacari. Thatās going to be tough though because Bacari was a good coachā¦minus his obsession with random twitter vomit.
Are you talking about Michigan teams tightening up on D during stretch runs.Is this actually true or are we witnessing a small sample size and ignoring prior games to concentrate on the here and now?
MP is right there is a lot of coach speak from Beilein. I heard him on the radio after their early win over Penn St and he said the defense was terrific and there are signs of this being a real good defensive team. I thought it was just a poor opponent in general. Letās not pat the team on the back after facing a team like that see what they are against better offensive teams. Well we got to see how they were defensively after thatā¦
A coach giving coach speak? What a shocker.
People need to stop giving any credence to what is said during pre and post game pressers. Heck, most pressers in general. Most coaches donāt want to be there and donāt GAF about them. 90% of pressers are āwe did this well, need to do this better, try and fix that before next opponentā followed by meaningless platitudes.
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Amazing we never heard about John Beilien the evil career killing tyrant until recently. Hmmm
Not a single person is claiming anything remotely close to this. Nice try though.
I am curious to see what JBās coaching tree does look like though. Anyone out there a head coach at a major university that coached under him for at least a couple of years?
This is a great opportunity for Bacari and well deserved.
No one at a major university, but several of his assistants from Richmond and WVU have gone on to HC jobs at mid majors. Some have been fairly successful.
I imagine Bacari is close to getting the UDM job, and I would be surprised if Jordan isnāt a HC within the next couple years.
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Here is our story on McCallumās story, I figure this might be of some interest to you guys.
Great seasonā¦look forward to some meetings between Michigan and Detroit when the Titans get some legs back under them, but I wish we could resume that Oakland-UM series.
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So Coach Beilein spends zero time coaching D, is negligent coaching O, hampering Coach Alexander, lazy, sub par recruiter, and has gotten the results he has over the last 5 or so years. Whatās his secret?
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Put together one of the best 2 recruiting classes in school history, not from a ranking standpoint but from a fit standpoint. We had a team full of self motivated players who had that God given burning desire to be better than the person across from them. It will probably never happen again.
My coaching friends all say JB is a great offensive coach. His practices on that side of the ball are second to none. They by no means speak negatively about JB. Ignoring defense is his philosophy. I just have a hard time accepting it when in my eyes itās half the game and equally as important as offense.
Itās ridiculous to say that Beilein āignores defenseā as it is to ignore that heās had issues coaching that side of the ball at times.
Detroit would be a great step for Bacari and a couple 100k raise per @BryanEversonPRS and a chance at a head coaching gig at age 39. Not bad at all.
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Dylan, he absolutely ignores it. Iām glad we both agree itās ridiculous.
To get back on topicā¦ Does anyone know if Bacari has continued his āuniqueā pre-game speeches? They were getting a lot of airtime during the glory years a few years back. I always wondered if those resonated with the players? (Note this isnāt criticism of BAs coaching abilities)
Just curious to get some opinions on those speeches, as I always found myself doing some eye-rolling when networks would show them then.
I think they were as much about getting guys loose as anything else. Canāt remember the last time they had one of those in-locker room shots though.
I think youāre probably right. And yeah, there was a time when nearly every game started with that inside-the-locker room shtick. Maybe the networks have gone away from them in general and I didnāt notice
If Bacari goes out and has a successful coaching career, does JB get some credit in the ācoaching treeā discussion?
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@umhoops Dylan, obviously I watch what Michigan I can but can only be so familiar with the asst. coaches. Bacari appears to have the charisma, how do you think he would rate as an X-and-Oās guy? Many at Detroit are most concerned in that area, it was one that troubled the program under McCallum (among other significant issues).
Donāt know if itās been mentioned here as well, but Lavall Jordan has been contacted by Milwaukee for their head coaching position. PantherU has gotten a few things wrong over the years, but the guy who runs it, Jimmy Lemke, has broken a number of stories relating to the Horizon league. He hasnāt insinuated how serious the talks are, but itās legit info.
If Alexander and Jordan were both to go, Iād expect Saddi Washington of Oakland to become a very sought after candidate by Beilein. If you want somebody with Michigan connections heās the obvious choice. Otherwise Iād hope we go with a more defensive coaching candidate. I can promise you Oakland is more of a defensive train wreck than any Beilein team has ever been.
Iād have to think Lavall sees the writing on the wall and will be actively looking for head gigs elsewhere again.
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