That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
I always love the Players Tribune - but this was the best read Iāve seen on the site.
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Totally dig the article. Real voice of a college student there. Not to turn this into a recruiting thing, but I hope Bamba reads this.This sounds like the real deal that he has been talking about
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That was my exact thought. Coming from the perspective of a highly skilled international kid who plays his position. I would imagine Bamba would enjoy this read quite a bit
Wonderful read! Is this Moe Wagner character a college kid or a professional author! Thanks for sharing MaizeBlue10, and thanks Moe. Weāre sure glad you are at Michigan, too! Now about that triple doubleā¦And, hey, pretty high praise for Ann Arbor, second best city in the world behind Berlin!
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LOved this team really disgusted at how that ended though. I mean if we just donāt give up a rebound on the foul shot things are looking very good. Itās very hard to give up a rebound on foul shots imo. We pretty much gafe the game away.
I really donāt like leaving moe on the bench. I missed most the game and Iām sure he was bad, but he makes us what we are. I also think he gets that board or helps our offense or comes out a net positive. I like Duncan but he isnāt who I want in over moe in a tight game season on the line.
The rebound wasnāt over Duncanā¦
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It was a very competitive game that hinged on a few plays either way. Nobodyās perfect. Only thing I can fault them for is lack of experience. Next time we wonāt be so jacked up.
Maars play is making me nervous going into next year. Very up and down this year. Shocked he regressed.
he needs to find his inner beast mode. still too passive.
He only regressed the last two games
Hopefully next year he runs a lot of pick and roll. This year he seemed like he just floated on the perimeter too much.
Looking at his advanced stats, they look virtually the same as last season except he shot better from the floor. I think heāll have a more consistent role game to game next season as heāll be an upperclassman and we have no idea how ready X, Poole and Brooks will be. Iām not too worried about him in particular.
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Rahk was incredibly efficient in the conference season but the question will be, can he maintain something close to that efficiency and up his usage rate. Without Irvin and Walton, he would seem to be the guy to take on a bigger role and more responsibility. Can he handle late clock situations?
Even if Simpson improves a ton, there will be major drop off in PG play so we will have to see if Rahk has another level he can take his game.
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Just shows what a weird game last night was. MAAR is usually the mentally strong guy making the play when they need it. I think he was the most nervous last night of anyone who played. (Understandable, you just donāt usually see him that nervous)
The pull up three in transition, a couple errant passes, he wasnāt his usual solid self. Tough to get that pick me up for momentum when heās been that guy a TON this year.
This is the one ādown sideā to Derrickās stellar play, it puts into perspective just how much we will miss him. We wont make up for his (and Zakās, to a degree) contributions with like-for-like swaps, because he was simply too good for that to be possible; we will need Mo and DJ to play wellāas they did this seasonāand consistently, which they didnt do this season. I think consistent, good play from those guys can compensate for a lot of production, but we will need X and CM to really step up, to make the system work.
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I definitely agree CM and X are the biggest keys. In my opinion, I would put CM as the biggest. I donāt think heāll mimic Levert at all, but if he can be a Levert lookalike, that would be HUGE. Heās going to be someone we really havenāt seen at Michigan before. That mix of GRIII/Irvin/Levert, lockdown defender, and welcomes contact so heāll be tough on the boards.
The defense next year has soooo much potential. Freshmen are freshmen but those guys all can provide offense off the bench. Biggest question is how can that offense function with X and CM replacing Walton and Irvin.
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I think we are going to need major contributions from next yearās freshmen, especially Poole and Brooks. Watsonās development would be nice, also.
Iām really glad Derrick and Zak played like this in their last games. Really high level, and a great standard.
Coach B really made some positive strides in the last 2m getting this team together and showing what was possible.
DJ and Mo need to be a lot more consistent. I hope yesterdays game put some of the first round chatter to bed. Definitely put names in for the eval, but the two looked really rough, and hopefully this is a non-issue and both are back. If both can actually contribute significant minutes/points next year, we can probably survive the integration of the freshmen/CM and some X growing pains.
The only thing that hung with me as a critique of yesterday (aside from the blown boxout/rebounds and DJās lack of physicality) was the lack of a non-iso play drawn up for the last two possessions. The last one, I get with the clock where it was but the prior one where DW drove and got stuffedā¦ Watch Xavierās play from last night. Great play, great execution, and Iād hope we had 3-4 of those sorts of plays we could run to get 2s easier than 1 on 3 iso drives, and step back fadeaways.
Really happy DW got to steer things, and for him and Zakās final performance.
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Same. I think x will be alright but he has shown a major penchant for fouling. I just canāt see him playing more than 25 minutes a game. Brooks better be ready.