Yup, the VTech loss stings. Hopefully we took something from it, but it’d be nicer to have learned the lesson from a win.
We’ve been looking for Mo more often as the season has progressed. Biggest issue is still Mo getting in foul trouble. No touches when you’re not on the floor.
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That game might actually have been the worst I’ve ever seen a team at getting to the basket off of drives. Walton’s floater in the second half was the only basket we got from a drive to the rim (in the flow of the offense) that I remember in the entire game. Maybe I’m forgetting something but that was brutal.
Irvin had a two or three. Duncan had an and one drive.
Ahh yes Duncan’s drive, although that was a major travel that luckily came after an awful call against us on the other end. I now remember one Irvin layup earlier in the game and then he got fouled in the second half. I think that’s actually it. I’m pretty sure over the entire game we had four successful drives. That will limit us a ton during the big ten season, and I really hope to see better flow in the offense and harder cuts to make up for it.
The offense was totally out of sync tonight. So many reasons why imo. I was just making a post about tonight’s game and realized it was als long as a news article that most wouldn’t read anyways. This is why I’m such a big advocate of maar though and would like to see him featured more like last year. Especially in games like tonight they need him to be aggressive and try and create a good look at the rim. The other unit stalled out and I wanted to see him come in late and try and make something happen.
This offense has a lot of potential imo and nice parts but they need to be synced up and all used correctly. As you said cut hard, share the touches and find the open guy. Like that moe was getting his touches though, that was an offensive positive
Where did all those “MAAR will be the best player on our team next year” guys go?
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For the good of the team, I hope MAAR can re-find his game over this Christmas Break. He’s a good complementary player when he’s on ---- and has plus-defensive ability.
I agree. The way Duncan has been playing. I’d love for him to start the first few games of the big ten to see how it goes. I don’t know what has happened to MAAR, but I’m pretty sure his numbers across the board are down from last year. Seems that way anyway. Hope he turns it around.
MAAR is what he is mostly a head down driver who can finish. He has been game planned at this point. Also, he is not a plus defender but better than Duncan. Under normal circumstances he would be a depth player coming off the bench.
Scoring wise, I think DJ Wilson has the most upside. His jump shot within 10-12 feet is a weapon waiting to be utilized. Against Furman he has a 7 foot turnaround, over a smaller guy, and he unselfishly and unwisely decides to pass the ball to Wagner, resulting in a turnover. Shoot the ball DJ!! If he misses the shot Wagner has great rebounding position to clean up what I would consider an unlikely miss.
Wilson makes some head scratching decisions, but he really seems to be a cerebral player. I’d like a reporter to ask Coach Beilein his opinion on Wilson’s basketball IQ ceiling, I would bet he thinks it’s rather high. The screen Wilson set for Robinson that resulted in a wide open three is a good example. Wilson “saw” that play way ahead of time and set it up perfectly, making some non verbal gestures to Robinson about what was about to ensue.
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I’m here still. I think moe is the best guy now. But if we were picking up teams I’d take Walton or maar second. I like Wilson too but taking moe first I wouldn’t take Wilson second.
His defense was good yesterday. He caused multiple turnovers. He’s not really featured. With him I think it’s all mental. I think he needs to assert himself more and stop taking a back seat especially when things aren’t going well. I have total faith in him still. I expect a big year from him next year when he’s featured more And it’s not “zaks team”. Also it seemed like he had a ton of assists two games ago.
I’ve noticed that Wilson makes very few bonehead plays of the kind that even very good players do. As his usage and involvement rises, that might change, but I agree that he seems like a smart player. Could be why he was slow to integrate last year. . . pure speculation, obviously.
@umhoops I noticed that Irvin’s two point percentage is above 50%, but I could’ve sworn his mid range shooting has been okay at best this year. Out of curiosity, do you know what his percentage at the rim this season is?
Virginia Tech is beating Duke by double digits with 4 minutes left. Very possible our 3 non-conference losses won’t look bad at all come March.
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And they sealed it with an off the backboard one handed oop…nuts. No Greyson but this game wasn’t close throughout
How about Georgia tech beating Carolina by 10+? Wow
Michigan’s 3 out of conference losses don’t look bad (although SCar has struggled the last 2 weeks), but it would help UM if Marquette or SMU were to heat up to give the team a key non-con victory ---- the Texas win doesn’t look like it’s going to carry much weight come selection Sunday
Our losses are all fine. It’s more the missed opportunity of beating Virginia Tech. I think they are very good but we should have won that game. An 11-2 non-conf. Season would have made for a rock solid resume heading into the Big 10 season.
I think SMU is going to win a lot of games. They are 12-3 now and outside of Cincy should be the best team in their conference. I think Marquette is good too but the Big East is pretty deep. South Carolina will be fine if they get Thornwell back. He’s their best player but he’s been suspended.
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Agreed we were better than tech. Really blew that one