JB made two Sweet 16s at West Virginia with less talent than Michigan will have next season. There are plenty of examples of teams without 1st round NBA talent making the Sweet 16. Good thing for Beilein at Michigan is that he has been good at identifying 1st round NBA talent so the years with Burke and Stauskas don’t count.
It’s funny that you have such faith in the future of the program while also taking pains to trash next year’s starting SG at every opportunity.
Seems contradictory, unless you think Michigan will be “rebuilding” while Watson and Poole add weight and learn the system. If so, that doesn’t look like success to me.
I like your posting, Windsor, so please don’t go the route of that other guy and make up lies about my stance. Go back and look. I have always liked and given props to MAAR’s defense and have only been critical of his struggles on offense. Pointing out very legitimate concerns about his offensive play last year and early this year are far from trashing him at every single opportunity.
That being said, MAAR has shown flashes of what he can offer on offense. I’m hopeful that he will be able to fix his offensive issues and be a plus player on both ends of the court next year. At the very least, he will be a more capable starter than Stu Douglass ever was and Michigan won a conference championship starting Stu Douglass at SG.
That’s a good point. I would also add usually to make a run in the tournament you need high level talent usually in the form of NBA talent, some luck, and it helps if you’re a highly ranked preseason team. People laugh but 75-80% of teams ranked in the preseason top 20 make the sweet 16 that isn’t by accident imo. For example in 2013 Michigan had to face a lot of highly seeded teams. In 2014 they got some good luck facing Tennessee, and Kentucky. When they were eliminated by Ohio that year their next game would have been against South Florida. When Wichita St made their run nobody mentions facing a 13 seed in the sweet sixteen, they beat some highly seeded teams but got some luck. Butler makes runs with NBA guys like Mack/Hayward.
It would be interesting if we were to have a discussion on who you think can play in the NBA from this current group. Levert is obviously one of them the next one in that group might actually be Wagner.
At the end of the day the bar should be higher with this program, amazing practice facility, recent tournament success but it isn’t really translating on the court.
Why is MAAR starting next year? Ohhhhh, because we’re losing Dawkins early, amirite???
Levert is likely a lottery pick. I have seen both Irvin and Dawkins in some of the internet mock draft sites. Irvin I could see on a bench somewhere. I think the Dawkins thing may have been a typo. I could see Wagner playing in the NBA at some point.
MAAR with three straight penetration buckets to start the game. I don’t think Irivn has had 3 penetration buckets in a game.
Great start to this game by MAAR. That doesn’t change the fact that were you mistaken about his drive-n-dishing.
maybe the assist part would be there if there were someone to dish to but Belien has done a terrible job of recruiting big men out side of McGary.
Why does it pain you so much to concede that Irvin has been better at creating offense for others?
Irvin’s shot is broke, no argument there. But at the very least you should be able to concede that Irvin has been better at creating for others.
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Wow you are insufferable. I never said Irivn couldn’t distribute the ball.
The bottom line is Michigan is getting destroyed for the third time in 9 games so who gives a shit.
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You said:
“They can all improve, of course, but MAAR is the only clear drive and dish guy beyond Walton at this point.”
All I was pointing out is that Irvin has been better at driving and dishing.
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MAAR is not a PG.
MAAR is our best penetrator and finisher around the rim, and that’s not debatable. He’s the only one with a skill set to go toe to toe with an SMU/MSU/Maryland/Purdue.
I’d like to see a Walton, MAAR, Levert, Irvin, Doyle starting lineup going forward. Robinson Dawkins and Wagner off the bench. Stick with those 8.
I don’t think it will matter though. We don’t have the overall talent to compete at a high level. I’m hoping this team can at least pull it together to play in the NIT or sneak into the NCAA.
I’m fine with you saying that, but you can’t get upset when I call out someone for calling MAAR a better drive-and-disher than Irvin when Irvin has been impressive in that aspect (if nothing else). I’m fine with that rotation, too.
You won’t find me getting upset on here…ever.
Okay, well do you at least see my point?
That was hard to watch. What in the world happened to Levert today? Didn’t even look like he wanted to play. Chapman, donnal, spike cannot play against good teams. I’m sticking by this, playing dj a lot these next 4 to 5 games will pay off big time down the road. 3 losses now is no big deal, with the nice big ten schedule we have the tournament should happen. MAAR may need to start now instead of Dawkins. Then come the rebounding problems but then again tonight Dawkins started and it didn’t help one bit. Irvin was a big let down tonight. These players do know that while running offense they can make plays right? Every time I pass is made, they just look to pass media rely before an attempt to do anything even goes through their mind. First 3 plays of the game when we were slipping all these screens and not setting them I knew bad news was on the way. It’s a shame. I love beilein a whole lot, but he must find a way to get guys with higher ceilings to play the 4 and 5 spot. Dj must play more, his length and athleticism is a must and Doyle nor Wagner have done a stellar job on defense. Starting to buy in to this negative talk about beilein and recruiting. Why do big time guys not want to play for him?
Not saying his shot was finally falling, but how was Irvin “a big let down” tonight with 9pts, 9 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal? He was one of the bright spots.
People have been saying we have way too many one dimensional players. I just don’t think it’s true.
If you’ve seen my other posts I am one of a very few Irvin supporters. I mean that by his shot. It isn’t coming out of his hand correctly or consistently at all, hence how he hit the top of the backboard in a corner three. What we saw last year is no fluke at all in the development of his all around game, I love it. He had some great drives last night using his size to get some really good shots.
Wow, that game was garbage.
Unfortunately, even if Walton had played it would have had no effect on the bigs getting pushed around like paper dolls inside and on the glass. Someone on MGoBlog pointed out that SMU beat Yale by 2. Helps put things in perspective.