I work overnights. Glad we won but I really felt with the way we played late we almost deserved to lose. Not to be negative but I see the individual talent to make noise. I don’t want to waste it. For one you gotta hit those free throws. Second when the clock got down to six seconds donnall should have wrapped him up. Instead he fell for the fake drive hesitation pull up. You know he can’t drive there. No need to be on your heels just play the three and then wrap him up before there’s a shot
Some positives? Of course we won ',although I feel Maryland is overrated and I always felt we matched up well with them. We were missing levert and didn’t particularly play well and still won. Just shows how much potential there is if we move the ball better and make better choices. We hit a lot of tough shots late in the shot clock going one on one.
Also our decision making still kills me a lot. We have chances to seize a game and we blow possesions. And it wouldn’t be a thread of mine if I didn’t complain of our use of Aubrey. I really feel like he is the key to this team being a contender. I’m not sure why we don’t run sets for him and get him more looks.
We barely run any sets for our players. You have to find your game in the offense for the most part.
I disagree with your Aubrey take. I don’t think he has the talent to be anything other than a role player at Michigan. Below average defender. Below Average Ball Handler. Average Shooter. Average Strength. Average to above average Athleticism.
I agree with the ball movement we saw. It was the best of the year in my eyes. I also love that we weathered Maryland’s storm late and won. This team needed to know that feeling if it wants any chance of making the tournament.
Aubrey played 12 minutes and had 4 shot attempts. At least one of them was off a BLOB that was set up to get him a jumper IIRC. Thought they got him involved and he gave a nice lift in transition with the dunk and with that drive in the second half.
Aubrey used 20% of Michigan’s possessions while he was on the floor, more Duncan, MAAR or Donnal.
Don’t really agree with the notion that he was underused, you have to be on the floor to get more involved if that’s what you mean, but who wanted to take Zak or Duncan out?
I didn’t think saying he had above average athleticism was a bad thing. He’s probably the most athletic player on Michigan. He can certainly leap. If that’s solely what you use to define an athlete, then I’ll concede, he’s a good athlete.
His stats are also awfully inflated against the cupcakes we have faced.
He’s shooting 31% from 3 and 30% from 2 against ranked opponents. If he’s as athletic as you think he is and as good of a shooter as you think he is, those percentages should go up as the season goes on. I hope they do. It’ll be fun to revisit in the week’s to come.
I simply referenced the whole of his work. If you want to piece out stats against just ranked opponents, fine. Cherry pick all you want bro. You’re the one that called him an average shooter when the stats say otherwise.
Actually Dylan although he hit some clutch shots I felt Irvin was sloppy again and not making good decisions for a large stretch of the game. He makes me nervous a lot and wastes a lot of possessions. For a junior I think he still makes a lot of iffy mental decisions. Just what I see. I think we’d be better off giving Aubrey more of his minutes if lever comes back. Irvin is best to me as the glue guy when he lets the game come to him while contributing heavy on boards and d. Trying to think of a good comparison but can’t. Maybe Caron butler with the wizards?
This game made me really love Donnal as our big. 8 points and 9 rebounds is good for me, and how he played in the clutch moments was spectacular. I’m really hoping we have a full team for a really good and hot Iowa team. Would love to see how we are at full strength against a top B1G team.
Didn’t Donnal have mono a year or two ago? I had mono 10 years ago and don’t think I’ve fully recovered. Doesn’t help I sit on the couch and eat Doritos but still - that stuff can mess with you. I think he lost a lot of weight last year and was “sick” which I think took a lot out of him. And it messes with you mentally when you physically can’t go. I hope he’s getting back to peak performance because he’s become a huge spark.
Had the same thought–8 points 9 rebounds against a team with a serious front line: Beilein will take it. This spells real hope for Michigan going forward. What would be nice now would be to see Doyle become a reliable second-line guy for them, come in, go with energy for long spells.
We led basically from start to finish against the #3 team in the country, without our best player. And you come up with this kind of post. Love this board.
I just think they have the potential to be very good. To make a run they gotta clean up little things. I thought it said something that they won short handed and didn’t even play that great.
On the Donnal Point: Although the stats don’t look great, I thought Donnal played about the best defense he could given his athletic limitations. He made Stone work for almost every shot and gave up only a few easy ones. Add to that the fact that about 8 points and 4 rebounds of Stone’s were those awful Wilson minutes and I think it comes out to be a decent game.
I am completely shocked at Donnal’s improvement. Even in the Purdue when his stats were bad, I thought he looked way better than the Donnal we were used to. He’s not getting dunked on on post-ups anymore. Really competing.
It’s weird how far Doyle has fallen. I used to be the most confident when he was on the floor, but now I’m just as terrified when he’s our center as I am when Wilson is. If Donnal hadn’t made this huge leap there’s a huge chance we’re 2-4 in the Big Ten right now.
He’s basically doubled his turnover rate this year. I would say a lot of that is confidence driven. Statistically that’s really the only difference between this year and last for him.