I hope your gut is correct but I’m starting to go the other way. My optimism is fading quickly. From what I saw today penn st is terrible and we really struggled with them particularly offensively.
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With the exception of Coach K & Coach Cal, all coaches lose a lot more coin flips than they win ---- especially for elite talent.
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The Michigan progam isn’t at the level of the programs Michigan is competing against. Beilein has lifted the program up to respectability but when you’re a program in the 20-30 range competing against Top10-15 programs, you’re going to lose 90-95% of the time.
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Coach Beilein follows a set of recruiting guidelines & regulations that are more stringent than the NCAA official or unofficial guidelines. That’s not saying other schools are cheating; just saying Coach Beilein won’t even toe the line.
I still see nothing to change my projection of this team as a 10-8 B1G caliber team — I’m sure there will be some disappointing “bad” loss to come; I’m guessing there will also be a surprising “huge” win out of the blue. There’s enough there to be above .500 in the conference but — barring a surprising emergence from someone like Simpson or MAAR or Watson — the team isn’t deep enough or talented enough to string together an extended winning streak against PowerConference opponents.
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He doesn’t have any options to turn to. He has 4 stable options (Wagner, Wilson, Irvin, Walton). He has a backup center (Donnal).
Robinson and MAAR have both regressed from where they were last season. Simpson hasn’t picked up the college game as quickly as most of us thought. (Watson was always supposed to be a developmental project and was a long-shot to really contribute this season or next)
I disagree about the effort level, though, especially Wagner, Wilson, Irvin, Walton. They all appear to be trying. But it looks more like a team “thinking” too much instead of “reacting” ---- on-court speed improves when the reads become “instinctual” and that seems to be missing. It’s not what you would expect with so many returning contributors — I’m grasping at straws, but perhaps the side effects of a new defensive scheme (that doesn’t explain the offensive malaise)
I agree.
Irvin and Wagner are capable B1G scorers, but put them with even say a Tim Hardaway or Manny Harris caliber at the 2/3 slot and everything falls in to synch. Walton’s shortcomings can be masked if he’s more of a catch-and-shoot stretch the defense PG. Wilson fits much better as that “garbage man” athlete. Robinson as a 6th man shooter.
That sure-fire NBA guy doesn’t appear to be coming through the locker room next season either. So the guys better learn to grasp the defensive concepts and grind out more “ugly wins” like tonight.
The effort for.most of the year hasnt been THE issue, but tonight for the 1st 30 minutes it was disgraceful.
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It’s a term to describe a head coach that calls out his own kids for something he is responsible for solely. It’s a term to describe a coach who has not instilled accountability to the program. It’s a a term to describe a coach who consistently fields teams that do not maximize their respective talents, when talent is already an issue. It’s a term to describe a coach that fields a team that perpetually has the same issues YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR. I’m embarrassing myself by simply stating the truth? It’s embarrassing that you live in denial about the on court product simply because you enjoy the man’s personality/character.
If you don’t think Wagner and Irvin have issues in terms of effort, we’re just watching 2 different games.
Wagner repeatedly watches as the opposition boxes him out without even attempting to do the same. He’s consistently late on backside rotations.
Irvin is a senior that consistently dogs it when chasing his man off screens .
Both players gamble for steals - which is certainly a huge indicator for lack of effort at any level. Listen to Jeff Van Gundy (who is perhaps the only analyst/former coach that is blunt/real), he says it all the time.
JB post game: “Their length and their quickness surprised us.”
Where have I heard that one before?
I don’t think effort is an issue with Wagner. He has very bad defensive habits and rebounding habits. He plays with plenty of energy. He gets on the floor a lot! He is just an average defender and rebounder. He will figure it out but he is not there yet.
MAAR has a serious effort issue this year. We need for Maar to fix it…JB needs to help him fix it.
Irvin and Walton are low explosion athletes and low endurance athletes, which is an an unfortunate combination of attributes, that often makes it appear they are not giving effort. To compound the issue sometimes they are not giving full effort. JB is not doing a good job of managing their minutes. I think Walton and Irvin are managing their expenditures of energy and that is not good! I would rather rest them more and play someone else so they can go all out for 28-30 minutes.
Wilson is bringing consistent and good effort.
Robinson is bringing good energy but he is limited as an athlete.
Donnal? Well his physique has not changed at all over the years and that is indicative of something…
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how can you honestly say that Coach Beilein has not instilled accountability into the program? Look at the program the decade before he came and look at it now. Players are MUCH more accountable. Maybe this senior class hasn’t been as accountable as others, but to paint that as the program as a whole???
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how can you say Beilein’s teams don’t “maximize their respective talents” on a consistent basis? Again, if you want to knock his ability to develop this year’s senior class, OK. But looking at guys he had here before? Those Novak/Douglas teams wildly over-achieved. JMorgan, Burke, Stauskas – he drew more out of them than their natural abilities indicated.
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It appears you’re stuck in the glory days. Those days are LONG gone. As of right now, there simply isn’t much positive going on. Stale is the word I would use
I think the scary reality is that this is the easier stretch of our schedule. We just came off 3 easy non-conf home games, and start with @ Iowa, Penn St, Maryland. What happens when we get deeper into the B10 conference and legs get more tired and competition gets more fierce?
Hopefully we’re just in a lull and the Big 10 still seems open outside of Wisconsin. Get things figured out, hit our shots, and hopefully the defense comes around.
He’s only been at Michigan for 10years — nothing he’s done is “LONG gone.” Heck this SENIOR class went to an Elite8. How does “LONG gone” transpire during a single class’s 4-year career? You have some legit concerns, but to be taken seriously you need to tone down the hyperbole a lot.
Be careful what you wish for. History has a way of repeating itself. These are the same claims Michigan fans/alumns used to push Coach Carr out the door — because they viewed his style as “stale” or “stuck in the glory days” and wanted a “more exciting” “more modern” brand. Look at the 7yrs of disappointment that change made.
Push Beilein out the door for the same reasons and you could be looking at the same thing with Michigan basketball.
Shoot, all Coach Beilein has done is return Michigan basketball to place where fans bitch and complain because the team “only” makes the NCAA Tournament. And by the end of this season he’ll be the program leader in coaching wins.
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He also has more losses than anyone in program history.
Dude… you were doing so well too. Just chill a bit. Callig Beilein “disgusting” is a ridiculous overreaction, specifically when it’s being said about one of the nicest and most genuine guys in the entire busisness.
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LOL you ever been told you’re a glass-half-empty type of guy?
Not criticizing your opinions, but I read this and immediately heard the “Wah Wah” tune from the Debbie Downer sketches on SNL.
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He also is tied with Frieder for the most B1G championships as our coach since the 1950’s and Strack.
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Actually, Matt is more of a “his guys or not” type of guy.
He has his guys, whether it’s Jamal Cain or Russell Westbrook, etc. and for them everything must be viewed in the absolute most positive light or you’re insane.
Then there are not his guys, whether it’s Beilein or the Golden State Warriors, and for them everything must be viewed in the absolute most negative light or you know nothing about basketball and perhaps don’t have eyes.
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Don’t need anyone to tell me I ‘was doing so well’. I’m fairly confident in my basketball opinions.
I didn’t call Beilein disgusting per se, but rather the situation itself.
I do agree Beilein is a very nice person, although local scouts don’t necessarily feel the same, but that has no impact on my outlook of his coaching ability/inability.
You know as well as I do that blog members at other sites with much higher viewership simply want Beilein fired, and now. My opinions aren’t extreme at all, in fact id say they’re relatively conservative in relation to a large contingent of the UM fan base.