PolSci we lost Spike last off season. Hip surgery on both hips… That’s a kiss of death.
And we were very lucky Irvin wasn’t lost. Back surgery on a young man like that. That’s concerning
Amen, Mattman!
I am glad someone is agreeing with me. Preach it bud!
Spike was expected back this season. He had he same surgery that Bielfeldt had.
Right we want the team to do well. Today was the opposite of how they believe they need to win. They boxed out, got rebounds, created turnovers. Their shot wasn’t falling and they stayed in the game due to those other areas.
The last part is the most important thing we need to see this fight consistently, most fans don’t want to admit it but we never saw this against Indiana and MSU. This isn’t a type of thing that has to go away it’s something that needs to be embraced.
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I don’t care that Spike was expected back and that’s what everyone was told. My goodness some of you believe everything that is said. Guy had two major hip surgeries! Then he went on the court and looked like he was 50!!
And everyone complains about Irvin but kid has battle back from back surgery. That isn’t an easy feat.
Whether it was naive to expect him back or not, not having him is a loss. Given how well Bielfeldt recovered from the same surgery and the timeline, it WAS expected that Spike would be able to work his way back, if not at the beginning of the season, then during the season. Are you a surgeon? Do you know something that the rest of us don’t beyond your skepticism about just about everything?
Correct me if I’m wrong but Bielfeldt did not have double hip surgery like Spike. Again, my memory is fuzzy here but didn’t they find a lot of issues during his 2nd surgery. A Tear and multiple fractures?
If that’s the case, it’s a tad different recovery timeline wouldn’t you think? I’m no surgeon though.
No you’re right Max had one hip surgery and Spike had double.
I don’t need to be a surgeon to figure out coming back from double hip surgeries in a short amount of time isn’t likely. Plus he struggled bad at times last year just to play. Sometimes just paying attention to things allows you to figure stuff out.
Here is a good article for you:
Also didn’t help it was a genetic condition. But I’m not a surgeon
Spike had the second hip done 6 weeks after the first. So, theoretically, his recovery would be 6 weeks longer than Max, who was healthy for pre-season practices, and better than ever. Given that Spike is much lighter, you might expect that he’d put less stress on the healing hips. Didn’t work out that way.
Sane the injury wasn’t the same. Spike has a genetic issue with his hips that plagued other members in his family. Spike was also in worse shape than Max was I think that was pretty clear from how he looked last year.
It’s a shame what happened to Spike. Guy gritted out every ounce of ability
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Chezaroo, I agree that you are a realist, and I believe that you are somewhat of a centrist on this board. I, for one, really appreciate your support for our kids and coaches, and your honest assessment as you see it. Please know that what follows is not a criticism of you. I, too, was at the game yesterday unlike another poster on this board who, to paraphrase, has refused to buy any UM merchandise or attend any games this year because he doesn’t “approve” of the way we play, saying we are way too soft, among other criticisms. What I saw yesterday was a toughness and a “refuse to lose” attitude. Defense is what kept us in the game and it was our defensive rebounding that kept Purdue from getting their usual second chance opportunities. As has been the case all season, our guards led us in rebounding, which IS JB’s defensive rebounding philosophy, by the way, as odd as that seems to us traditionalists. I loved this win. It was exciting. It was exhilarating. It was, in the end, electric! I am so glad I drove from GR to see my beloved Wolverines play with toughness and grit, and simply refuse to lose.
I agree with you that it is the responsibility of our coaching staff to demand this level of effort every night, but as a realist myself, I also know that it simply isn’t going to happen every night. Maryland last night is an example of that. Being perfectly honest, maybe Maryland at our place is another example of a team playing with less than it’s full effort. Even Tom Izzo, who preaches toughness and grit as much as anyone, was not able to motivate his players to play with the kind of effort necessary to defeat Iowa at either venue or to beat Nebraska at home.
Yesterday I saw our team play the way I have seen John Beilein teams play so many times over the last several years, with heart and guts. Coaches may demand but players must respond, and yesterday Zac and Derrick responded and led their team to victory. Zac, after a lackluster first half, responded in the second half with DEFENSE on that 6’10" five star, Caleb Swanigan. He played a good floor game and he rained threes, finishing 4-8. And Derrick, wow! WOW! 0-9 shooting, and then BOOM, a terrific driving, heavily contested layup, two great rebounds at 6’ tall and rising up among the trees and four critical free throws. Game over.
I know you know this. You, too, were there. You experienced the crowd EXPLODE as Zac hit those threes and as Derrick grabbed those rebounds and made those free throws. 15.8 seconds, swish, swish! 4.0 seconds, swish, swish!! GAME OVER! You and I and 12,000+ fans witnessed a team, led by Zac and Derrick, who have been roundly criticized on this board, REFUSE to lose. Too bad there are others who refuse to buy a ticket and therefore were not there because they DON’T APPROVE of the way we play, like anyone really cares whether or not they approve! It’s their loss. I’m pretty sure neither the team nor the coaching staff noticed that they weren’t there.
I’ve seen this kind of effort, this heart, many times before with Coach Beilein teams. I know you have, too. Others seem to have forgotten. Coach Beilein’s methods and demeanor may be different than that fiery little Izzo character up the road in EL, but he, too, has gotten Michigan teams to dig deep and to win, sometimes with the odds stacked against them, sometimes when out manned.
So, let’s just enjoy the reality of a great win, and let’s hope the team will continue to play with this kind of resolve the rest of the way. I, for one, believe the coaching staff and leaders like Zac and Derrick will demand that kind of effort. I hope Caris is able to fully come back and help lead that effort, too. But, being real, we must acknowledge that this team will play some very good teams in the coming weeks who will also have much for which to play. Some of those teams will certainly be more talented than we will. Some of those games will be played away from home in very difficult environments against teams that desperately want to win. To be honest as well as real, I’m hoping we will win two of those five games. Certainly I hope our players and coaches go into those games with the mindset that they expect to win, and I hope we play with great emotion and energy in all of them, win or lose. I will continue to be proud of this team and our coaching staff. I will continue to support them. As a longtime Michigan fan I know you will, too.
I just find it so difficult to read negative, and in my opinion, unfair comments on this board from posters who probably couldn’t carry Derick Walton or Zac Irvin’s gym bag or Coach B’s clipboard. So…I’m out of here. This will be my last post on the board. I used your post as my forum to express these thoughts because you are honest and real, and while I may not always agree with you, you are truly a Michigan Man. Like Sane, you ARE pretty sane. Actually Sane is always sane! You seem to be knowledgeable, although I think Sane is the most knowledgeable person on this board. I will read the front page because I really appreciate Dylan’s analyses and insight but I’m done with the forum. While I have enjoyed reading comments that are well thought out and fair from posters who understand that these players are student athletes, kids, who are trying to make it on the basketball floor as well as in the classrooms of one of America’s premier universities, I’m just not interested in reading the kind of negativity that comes from some posters. I consider much of it unkind, unknowing, and quite honestly, uncalled for, most of the time. I waste too much time reading it and when I respond I REALLY waste too much time writing those responses. LOL! So… I go in peace. Hail to the college whose colors we wear. Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue! GO BLUE!!!
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If this team fights that hard and plays d/ rebounds and remembers to attack the rim as opposed to taking bad shots or just chucking threes, this team could be dangerous. Many guys can kill you on this team. Let’s hope that sane fire and aggressiveness is there night in night out. If so we could win a lot of games. We have more talent then these teams. It’s about showing it. I’ll take our talent over any team remaining minus Maryland and I mean it. Just play hard d up and be aggressive and smart and were a sleeper to go deep
Lol. Nice announcement.
You’ll be back.
It surprises me that people get so upset with criticism. I think you should keep posting because debate and differing ideas makes the board better imo.if all the posts were unrelenting support and everything is peachy when it’s not I think it would get stale and cheesy. To each their own though.
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Right.
This board is very civil. Probably one of the most civil Michigan sports forums out there. I think someone was just looking for some attention is all.
Gritty win vs Purdue – nice to see them take it to Purdue’s bigs a bit and get a few more boards and stops than usual. Without the benefit of being a stats guy, I couldn’t help but wonder, though, if we match up better with Purdue than with IU, MSU or Iowa because Purdue was willing to play at our pace whereas those teams can push the pace relentlessly… it seems like in previous years, the team has being able to compete with faster-paced, turnover prone teams by good (selective) transition play but this season we just haven’t had the horses for it. We’re pretty lucky that we only face MSU and Indiana once… though I wouldn’t mind another shot at them in the BTT for redemption. Anyway, food for thought.
Of course the first game of the year I don’t go to is this one lol. I’m not going to lie though, a huge part of that is the new person next to me this year. Constant screaming and yelling and he’s not exactly the most knowledgeable, so it gets frustrating. I’m just happy this team showed me that it CAN win with toughness. Now we need it more consistently.
This is what people were talking about after Saturday. They go out play defense, work hard on the boards, create turnovers and play with an intensity we haven’t see much of this year. The very next game they go out and lay an egg. They do everything the opposite that they did on Saturday. They fall in love with the 3 pointer which they aren’t shooting well right now and can’t recover. If this is the team we see the rest of the year they probably only get 1 more conference win, who knows about the conference tourney.
Sigh. I don’t get this team.