Team Review After 1/4 Season

Michigan Basketball
161
No bigs ( to inexperienced ) No depth, No defense, and No elite talent. If this team wins 10-11 games in the B1G I'll be completely stunned. Even an "offensive genius" is made to look pedestrian with this roster. It is what it is and we will have to work extremely hard to get every W we can. You have to worry about their psyche now. That early benching of Irvin to start the second half was interesting. JB not pleased with his effort on D.

If JB isn’t pleased wi

I think the most disturbing thing for me personally is that seemingly every team we play has a roster that runs faster, jumps higher, and is much stronger than our personnel. Shouldn’t be that way coming off a 2 year run that we just had…disappointing

I disagree on the every team being faster, stronger thing. The only teams I saw so far that just look to have flat out better athletes are Nova and Arizona. Syracuse probably has more pure talent, but like us they are young.

Just far too much turnover in our roster. Our 2013 and 2014 rosters would have hang tough and probably played this game to 50/50 battle in the last two minutes. I now realize how spoiled we were with those teams. If we want to keep up, we have to start getting some of these top end recruits. We signed too many players that are program players and are developmental projects.

Those alley oop plays Arizona ran - we made teams look silly with GR3’s highlight reel dunks throughout his years.

I expected a lot more from Donnal. You cannot have a big man out there just handing off passes and taking bad fouls. Somehow Bilefeldt is taking the shots Donnal should be taking. He had that 3 late which he didn’t even hesitate.

The frustrating thing is we have actually had more overall success the last few years when compared to Arizona. We haven’t restocked our rosters with talent ready for go from Day 1.

Are you kidding me? Oregon was BY FAR more athletic than us, and Syracuse was decidedly more athletic up front. These type of comments make it almost impossible to have realistic dialogue.

162
No bigs ( to inexperienced ) No depth, No defense, and No elite talent. If this team wins 10-11 games in the B1G I'll be completely stunned. Even an "offensive genius" is made to look pedestrian with this roster. It is what it is and we will have to work extremely hard to get every W we can. You have to worry about their psyche now. That early benching of Irvin to start the second half was interesting. JB not pleased with his effort on D.

If JB isn’t pleased wi

I think the most disturbing thing for me personally is that seemingly every team we play has a roster that runs faster, jumps higher, and is much stronger than our personnel. Shouldn’t be that way coming off a 2 year run that we just had…disappointing

I disagree on the every team being faster, stronger thing. The only teams I saw so far that just look to have flat out better athletes are Nova and Arizona. Syracuse probably has more pure talent, but like us they are young.

Just far too much turnover in our roster. Our 2013 and 2014 rosters would have hang tough and probably played this game to 50/50 battle in the last two minutes. I now realize how spoiled we were with those teams. If we want to keep up, we have to start getting some of these top end recruits. We signed too many players that are program players and are developmental projects.

Those alley oop plays Arizona ran - we made teams look silly with GR3’s highlight reel dunks throughout his years.

I expected a lot more from Donnal. You cannot have a big man out there just handing off passes and taking bad fouls. Somehow Bilefeldt is taking the shots Donnal should be taking. He had that 3 late which he didn’t even hesitate.

The frustrating thing is we have actually had more overall success the last few years when compared to Arizona. We haven’t restocked our rosters with talent ready for go from Day 1.

Are you kidding me? Oregon was BY FAR more athletic than us, and Syracuse was decidedly more athletic up front. These type of comments make it almost impossible to have realistic dialogue.

I included Syracuse in the more talent bunch. I would include athletic ability within my definition of talent.

So if Oregon was so great and athletic, then we have a good neutral site win to hang our hat on.

I am not sure why you are getting so angry right away. Having the most athletic team doesn’t always win out. I agree it helps more often than not. We didn’t get the top tier athletes a team with our success should have gotten. And we are paying for it now.

163
No bigs ( to inexperienced ) No depth, No defense, and No elite talent. If this team wins 10-11 games in the B1G I'll be completely stunned. Even an "offensive genius" is made to look pedestrian with this roster. It is what it is and we will have to work extremely hard to get every W we can. You have to worry about their psyche now. That early benching of Irvin to start the second half was interesting. JB not pleased with his effort on D.

If JB isn’t pleased wi

I think the most disturbing thing for me personally is that seemingly every team we play has a roster that runs faster, jumps higher, and is much stronger than our personnel. Shouldn’t be that way coming off a 2 year run that we just had…disappointing

I disagree on the every team being faster, stronger thing. The only teams I saw so far that just look to have flat out better athletes are Nova and Arizona. Syracuse probably has more pure talent, but like us they are young.

Just far too much turnover in our roster. Our 2013 and 2014 rosters would have hang tough and probably played this game to 50/50 battle in the last two minutes. I now realize how spoiled we were with those teams. If we want to keep up, we have to start getting some of these top end recruits. We signed too many players that are program players and are developmental projects.

Those alley oop plays Arizona ran - we made teams look silly with GR3’s highlight reel dunks throughout his years.

I expected a lot more from Donnal. You cannot have a big man out there just handing off passes and taking bad fouls. Somehow Bilefeldt is taking the shots Donnal should be taking. He had that 3 late which he didn’t even hesitate.

The frustrating thing is we have actually had more overall success the last few years when compared to Arizona. We haven’t restocked our rosters with talent ready for go from Day 1.

Are you kidding me? Oregon was BY FAR more athletic than us, and Syracuse was decidedly more athletic up front. These type of comments make it almost impossible to have realistic dialogue.

I included Syracuse in the more talent bunch. I would include athletic ability within my definition of talent.

So if Oregon was so great and athletic, then we have a good neutral site win to hang our hat on.

I am not sure why you are getting so angry right away. Having the most athletic team doesn’t always win out. I agree it helps more often than not. We didn’t get the top tier athletes a team with our success should have gotten. And we are paying for it now.

164

I agree we need more athletes. I was expecting a lot more from Donnal and our Big 3.

Last year the reports were that Donnal was playing very well in practice. Right now he is a more talented, but same level of court IQ and production as Bielfeldt.

Donnal is capable of making the 3. It just so happens that Bielfeldt is the one taking those shots and not him.

165
You're ignoring the fact that we've lost a ton of guys to the NBA and many of our guys are playing significant roles for the first time - and many of those guys are freshmen. So of course we're going to look smaller and weaker than an Arizona. Look at their roster composition.

I love the overreactions though. I wish I had been here last year at this time to read the hyperbole. You gotta love “fans” that just shut it down at the first sign of adversity. Matt, let’s make a bet right now - I’ll take us to win at least one more Big Ten road game in addition to Northwestern. You want that action?

Not so sure about the over reactions LA. Last years team had FAR more weapons to potentially right itself offensively. This team has no clue on offense right now, and IMO a very limited ceiling as to potential growth. The more disturbing thing for the program is that this is the EXACT same roster we will have next year at this time, minus Caris and Max. Ouch. Duncan Robinson is not an elite talent by any means, just a potential piece. Hyperbole aside, this is not a very talented roster as it exists. Any elite recruit looking for PT should be running to A2.

166

It’s not an overreaction when you lose 3 games in a row, 2 to mid majors at home, and an absolute blow out…,…and show absolutely no signs of improvement. I get it, we’ve improved in the past so most expect major improvement by season end and 10-11 wins in conference play…those people are from Missouri and I think they are about to see for themselves

167

Matt, I wish I had been around to see your reaction when the team started 1-6 in conference play in 2010/2011. You must have been stalking Beilein on campus. For a guy who says past performance does not dictate future results, you are sure holding on to those losses to EMU and NJIT as if they will dictate the rest of the year, as opposed to say a win over Syracuse and a last second loss to undefeated and highly ranked Nova.

Chezaroo - get a grip, dude. “Not very talented” would be when you have a roster of guys like K’len Morris, Anthony Wright, Ron Coleman, Jarrett Smith, Jevon Shepard, and Kendrick Price. We have several talented guys on this team - Levert, Irvin, Walton, Chatman and Doyle for starters. Again, you just saw them lose to a team with several 5 star recruits, several of whom are JUNIORS in their third year of playing major minutes. Oh, and Stanley Johnson, a five star elite freshman. Do you think that just maybe, if our all juniors were still here (Nik, Mitch, Glenn), that game might have been a very good one?

By the way, as we have seen, players do improve under this coaching staff. And as far as all the negative energy about Duncan Robinson before he’s ever played a game, we are currently missing a lot of OPEN shots. Getting " just a shooter" is not a negative. Anyone who has watched one iota of college basketball should understand that elite shooters (hopefully DR is one - seems like there’s a solid chance) can be extremely valuable.

Just looked at the schedule again and I think 11-7 in Big Ten play, possibly 10-8. I have road wins over NW, Rutgers and PSU, and a home loss to Wisconsin.

A reminder, again - we were also 6-4 last year at this time, with a blowout road loss to Duke. Yes, last year’s team had more talent - that’s why no one is predicting 15-3 in the Big Ten. But it’s hardly time to throw in the towel, though of course for some of you apparently anything short of perfection is unacceptable.

168

Like I said, it simply doesn’t matter with some people, we could lose our next 3 games and this guy would still hold out hope we would be an excellent team come March. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it. I understand that and Im not going to attempt to convince him otherwise. I’ll let the season play out and absolutely stick it to him for being downright stubborn if things don’t go as he envisions

169

We are not really 6-4. The Hillsdale win ( although epic ) does not count towards tourney consideration. I don’t believe we are throwing in the towel ( far to early for that ) but the striking lack of improvement ( did we already peak: Villanova 'Cuse ) since early progress is troubling. This offense is disjointed and pedestrian, no matter how much of a Beilein apologist you are. I’m not a fan of our “talent” as it exists today, but we’ll see how that plays out. In NO WAY is it obligatory that THIS team will replicate the improvement of past editions. Youth is an excuse until it isn’t. If anybody can say this team has “improved” since the beginning of the year, you have to be blind. This offense is far to easy to defend and non threatening. With the supposed “Big 3” to build around, I’ve seen little to be excited about going forward. If this team wins 11 B1G games, even with this “supposed easier schedule” I’ll be stunned. But we can continue to predict significant improvement, right?

170

Bottom line for me, you give JB elite talent then he will give you corresponding results. The elite talent can overcome the lack of experience/athleticism. On the other hand, if JB has projects then his teams will reflect that because the average talent can no longer overcome the lack of toughness/athleticism. Does anybody actually think JB can take a majority roster filled with with average skill, below average athleticism, and no toughness…and make them elite? The man is a good coach, not Jesus Christ.

171

Like I’ve said a million times, two of our last four teams (2011 and 2014) struggled significantly out of the gate and turned things around in a big way.

I’m not predicting “excellence” for this team come March, but I also think it’s absurd to think this team (full of very young players) peaked in December.

Chezaroo, I don’t care if you don’t believe in the talent. The question is, relative to what? Arizona? Sure, I agree. Syracuse and Nova? Obviously we have enough talent to play with those guys - Cuse is a top 10 program and Nova is ranked in the top 10 this year.

In the Big Ten, other than Wisconsin, who has elite talent? I don’t see any team that scares me. Sure, we could lose to anyone the way we’re playing, but our talent is as good as anyone else’s save maybe OSU. MSU, for example, may not have an NBA player on its roster. If they do, who is it?

That’s why my 11-7 (or even 10-8) prediction is based on losing to Wisconsin at home, beating Rutgers, PSU and NW on the road, and splitting (home win, road loss) with all the rest of the Big Ten teams I see in our relative talent boat (such as MSU, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, etc).

Just as a question, if you both had things your way with recruiting and coaching, what would you change and why? You lose any credibility as a critic if you don’t have a solution. Just curious.

172

LA, I’ll give you credit for laying your cards on the table. “We have several talented guys on this team: LeVert, Irvin, Walton, Chatman, and Doyle.” This puts the onus squarely on the coaching staff to develop and show progress with those assets. Let’s see how they do. I consider that group very average outside of Caris. As far as the youth quotient, last year we started 3 sophs and a true freshman. This offense is horrible as it exists presently. I’m hopeful that your eye for on court talent is more discerning than mine, as you concede that we have the talent to improve. I’m VERY skeptical that is true. Go Blue!!

173

Well, of the three sophs we started last year, two were full time starters the year before. So right there, Irvin and Chatman (the replacements for Glenn and Nik) are at an immediate disadvantage.

The bigs right now are hurting our offense because they don’t set screens well. That can obviously be fixed. Our offense against EMU was bad, no doubt - we do not scheme well against the zone, but fortunately no one in the Big Ten plays it.

It will get fixed. It won’t be as good as last year by any stretch, but that’s a tall order anyway.

174

Hail - obviously you and I take jabs at each other from time to time, a majority of which are in a half joking manner…I’ve had private, serious discussions with you to know that you are knowledgeable and more objective than what you lead on at times.

You have been noticeably absent…what’s your take on the where things stand with the team?

175

Shut down the program, season is over guys. Might as well burn down crisler while we are at it.

176
Matt, I wish I had been around to see your reaction when the team started 1-6 in conference play in 2010/2011. You must have been stalking Beilein on campus. For a guy who says past performance does not dictate future results, you are sure holding on to those losses to EMU and NJIT as if they will dictate the rest of the year, as opposed to say a win over Syracuse and a last second loss to undefeated and highly ranked Nova.

Chezaroo - get a grip, dude. “Not very talented” would be when you have a roster of guys like K’len Morris, Anthony Wright, Ron Coleman, Jarrett Smith, Jevon Shepard, and Kendrick Price. We have several talented guys on this team - Levert, Irvin, Walton, Chatman and Doyle for starters. Again, you just saw them lose to a team with several 5 star recruits, several of whom are JUNIORS in their third year of playing major minutes. Oh, and Stanley Johnson, a five star elite freshman. Do you think that just maybe, if our all juniors were still here (Nik, Mitch, Glenn), that game might have been a very good one?

By the way, as we have seen, players do improve under this coaching staff. And as far as all the negative energy about Duncan Robinson before he’s ever played a game, we are currently missing a lot of OPEN shots. Getting " just a shooter" is not a negative. Anyone who has watched one iota of college basketball should understand that elite shooters (hopefully DR is one - seems like there’s a solid chance) can be extremely valuable.

Just looked at the schedule again and I think 11-7 in Big Ten play, possibly 10-8. I have road wins over NW, Rutgers and PSU, and a home loss to Wisconsin.

A reminder, again - we were also 6-4 last year at this time, with a blowout road loss to Duke. Yes, last year’s team had more talent - that’s why no one is predicting 15-3 in the Big Ten. But it’s hardly time to throw in the towel, though of course for some of you apparently anything short of perfection is unacceptable.

Last years team also had a 30 point drubbing loss on the road against a so/so Iowa team and the team that made the title game lost by 30 on the road against MSU. It seems Beilein is good for 1 of these type of games each year, people seem to forget those blowouts that happened under Beilein during the season because of the way the year ended.

177

My god, how hard is it to understand that the past has no correlation to this year when you have massive roster turnover in terms of impact players? Last year was last year, this year is this year.

178
My god, how hard is it to understand that the past has no correlation to this year when you have massive roster turnover in terms of impact players? Last year was last year, this year is this year.

Michigan has had massive roster turnover pretty much every year for the past 4 years… that is how college basketball is now(guys leaving early, players transferring in and out of programs, injures ending careers or ending seasons, and it happens pretty much everywhere yearly). Nobody is saying this years team is going to end up like last years team. Michigan was playing at an extremely high level at the end of last year and probably would have won a national title if McGary was healthy, but I also think it’s foolish to just write this years team off as some seem to be doing. One game at a time and getting a win at home against SMU would be a nice way to start getting some of that confidence back heading into Big Ten play

179

You can’t take one game at a time, that’s BS. The team has to be evaluated in totality in terms of their performance thus far this season. From that perspective, the prospects from this year don’t seem encouraging. Nobody is saying throw the towel in, but expectations need to be severely tempered relevant to some preseason predictions of final 4, 13-5 in conference, and a top 4 seed. I think a reasonable goal at this point is just to make the tourney and hopefully be.500 in conference play.

180
You can't take one game at a time, that's BS. The team has to be evaluated in totality in terms of their performance thus far this season. From that perspective, the prospects from this year don't seem encouraging. Nobody is saying throw the towel in, but expectations need to be severely tempered relevant to some preseason predictions of final 4, 13-5 in conference, and a top 4 seed. I think a reasonable goal at this point is just to make the tourney and hopefully be.500 in conference play.

They have played 10 games, this team needs to get a win they are on a 3 game losing streak. 1 game at a time.