Some things to say about how U-M will improve, but also this:
The bad: At the 11:17 mark of the second half, Reynolds committed a hard foul on Levert as he attempted a breakaway layup. Beilein was incensed—not only because there was no flagrant foul called (the refs didn’t even check the monitor), but also because none of Levert’s teammates stuck up for him. Beilein recognizes that this is a potential long-term problem. “The good news is we’ve got a bunch of nice kids off the court,” he told me. “The bad news is we’ve got a bunch of nice kids on the court.”
Yeah, I think it’s clear to everyone that this team is soft. Doesn’t have the competitiveness that made the 12-14 teams great. Those teams were way smaller but never had this much of an issue with rebounding.
Coach Beilein challenging the players through media.
Not coming to Caris’ defense is an issue. Spike and Caris are the leaders but who’s going to be fearless enough to step up for Caris in that situation? I’m not sure who was on the court at that time to come to Caris’ defense.
Wagner would do something in a heartbeat but I doubt he was on the court. Other than Wagner, I can’t think of anybody who would step up. Maybe MAAR, yeah def MAAR
An anecdotal observation from the game against Xavier: Wagner commits hard foul against Reynolds. Reynolds looks around incredulous, like, “what was that?” Then he and Wagner pair up for the ensuing inbounds, and Reynolds gives Wagner a slap on the posterior. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but I think it was a good thing.
I was so busy applauding Caris’s chutzpah in getting angry that I didn’t notice that no one stepped up to help. But as Davis says in the article, you can’t squeeze blood from a stone. The way Farr and Reynolds pushed our bigs out of the way for rebounds was scary. We’ll see what happens in the Bahamas, but my sense is that–especially with Zak and Spike not yet rounded into form–this season is going to be another long, slow build.
Couldn’t you make the case that this is pretty much the same team as last year? They were pretty soft last year as well. Maybe this is their identity and it’s not exactly something that changes with the flick of a switch.
Coach B recruited these personalities intentionally. For lack of a better term, this team need’s a little more hood on it but that would require JB changing his recruiting philosophy.
Spot on, MPBear. If the program wanted a lean, mean backboard-shattering rebound machine with zero jump shot and a bad attitude, there’s nothing stopping them from recruiting one. Its not like Steve Fisher, Rick Barnes, and Matt Painter have a monopoly on these dudes. You can still have 12 other nice guys, though.
Exactly all these players are his kids. This is the vision he has for the team. Does anybody believe Donnal is tougher than when he walked into Michigan? Physically stronger? Sure I can buy that but still extremely timid and certainly zero hood with him. I am convinced a lot of these great bigs in college Beilein would ignore because they’re not great passers or can’t hit a 17 foot jump shot. The interesting part is that Brimah is just the tip of the iceberg for Michigan. They will be running into guys like Davis/Costello/Schilling, Haas/Swanigan/Hammons, Bryant/Bielfeldt/, Stone/Dodd. Unless these guys change their attitudes pain is coming.
Agree across the board. Its funny that you cite Bielfeldt, who was often overwhelmed as a five but looks perfectly solid as a four alongside an utter beast like Bryant. Even OSU – a very young and rather bad team – may end up looking good against us due to their sheer muscle inside.
So…
Does Indiana have “hood” on their team? They just lost to an ACC bottom feeder (Wake Forest).
Does Ohio St. have “hood” on their team? They lost to UT-Arlington and La. Tech.
I agree that “hood” is a very problematic term in this instance. However, a bit of a nasty, moody, me-first streak can be desirable in an interior big man (if not a PG). “Selfish” is a good thing when it comes to rebounding.