Michigan Basketball Snowflakes Thread
January 13th, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^
Down the stretch there were some questionable shots, but missed open 3s don't count as stupid shot selection in my book, especially for a team that makes them at the rate we do. Just didn't go down for us today.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^
yea pathetic.. we get them to turn it over 3 times when we were down by 2, and we shoot 3 straight bad 3 pt shots give me a break.. we better blow them out at home
January 13th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
even a single 2 point shot during that stretch of 5 or so three point attempts would have made that a totally different ball game...
Stauskus, for all his confidence/cockiness, sure played like a timid freshman. You should be cocky only when you come through in big games. His defense was bad, poor passing that led to a few turnovers, and his lack of offense lost this game for us.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
I don't think the whole game can be blamed on one person. I think it's clear that everyone contributed to this loss with bad passing, turnovers, and ill-advised 3's. The good thing is that these fixes are mostly mental and shouldn't be too hard to fix. If anything this game will be a great game to learn from.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:23 PM ^
you're probably right, but if Stauskus doesn't score, LeVert would have made more of a positive impact in those minutes. LeVert is more athletic, better passer, and a much better defender
January 13th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
His defense was cringe worthy. It didn't even look like he was trying. I understand Thomas is much bigger and stronger but it was too easy on multiple plays inside the paint.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
imo, maybe 2 or 3 of the final 10 attempts from 3 were good looks. most were forced off the dribble type or long range 3s, and all were missed.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
On the other, the team came back, tied it up, and had half a dozen more chances to win, and could not.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^
Five had this terrible habit of sleep-walking their way out of the gate and building very difficult deficits to overcome by failing to be purposeful and deliberate with their offensive possessions early in games. Today looked very similar to that from Michigan to begin the game, every thing was going east and west and their was no urgency to put themselves in good positions to score. Part of that is youth. They also have to develop more sets that they go to. They simply cannot be all high pick and roll, that is too one dimension and can become very easy to defend especially when threes are not falling. They have to get Morgan early touches near the rim to at least try to develop another way to attack teams.
The road in the Big Ten is a nightmare. Ohio got every single 50/50 call, with a couple coming early that really put Michigan in a hole. They will be fine. They just have to be ready to play from the tip.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^
not know that this topic originated from a coaching conversation, I got lost a little bit reading everything.
So what, the Steve Fischer patented clueless deer in a headlights expression did not do much for you?
No, that was not one of the better coached games that I have seen, but you can only do so much to wake a team up. There is the throwing the chair method and there is the ride out the storm method. JB trends more toward the latter and that is what he did. They will learn not to fall behind like that as the season goes on, they need to come out with intensity and they did anything but.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:28 PM ^
i was disappointed that he didn't have a better game plan to deny thomas the ball. all to often, especially in the first half, we sagged off him on D. he then would get an open 3 or drive past the defender trying rushing toward him.
and no time ever should there be a switch where stauskus covers thomas. that was a key play near the end.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^
is very good at basketball. There really is no way to defend accept hope he misses threes. That is how they defended him and he made them. Thomas is an incredible player when he slashing and coming of intermediate screens and he kills you with that if you pressure him on the perimeter. He is one of the best players in the conference and I don't think it was a problem with the game plan. He is just really tough to guard.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
We lost entirely due to execution. There were endless opportunities for us to take hold of the game, the young team just couldn't do it.
Stauskas & Robinson having their worst games of their young careers has nothing to do with coaching.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^
NFL draft at least a year away for both of them....
January 13th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
forever.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:12 PM ^
Go home, coldjl. You are drunk.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
NFL playoffs and concurrent basketball, mixed with a healthy dose of Shorts Huma Lumpa and Darkhouse Raspberry ale will have that affect.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:19 PM ^
NHL draft?
January 13th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:23 PM ^
was not all of the problem early but I can't say that JB coached a great game today. I thought he made a couple of questionable decisions. Craft got his second with about 7 to play in the first half and Burke on the bench. I know Burke was struggling but he should have been at the scorers table the minute that they whistled Craft. Also, absent injury I would not have gone away from Horford so soon. We were getting clobbered on the boards and were having trouble meeting them at the rim so I think the size could have helped. I also really think they should have ran Stauskas off of more double screens and so forth to try to get him more open looks. I don't think they coached a bad game but it was not their A-game either.
January 13th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
Thad Matta was a deer in the headlights the whole second half. That his team managed to avoid losing after completely blowing a 21-point lead at home is no great credit to him.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
It's apples and oranges. Basketball is a game of runs, and the home advantage is more pronounced.
I don't think the problem was that we weren't motivated/focused at the outset. I think the team was way too hyped up (Hardaway had said that it would be "the biggest game of his life") and was tight. There's no easy way to combat that when you've got a lot of underclassmen and are playing on the road for only the third time. You just have to hope they settle down in time to steal the game at the end (which we almost did).
January 13th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^
i could agree if beilein had morgan and mcgary chucking up wide open 3s when that is not their strength. you know, hey it's on the players, they had open looks.
borges had denard chucking passes in the middle of the field the entire first half when that is not his strength. hence the borges meltdown.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:43 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
you mean morgan and mcgary were launching threes? i don't think so, because beilein puts his players in the best situation to succeed. most would agree borges didn't do the same for denard or any RB with the I-form dives.
January 14th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
We rushed more times than we passed. And a good percentage of them were in passing situations. Sounds like on 3rd and long you'd have us run just because Denard isn't good at passing.
I didn't even take your other point seriously because it's ridiculous to give credit for that. It's like saying Borges deserves credit for not having Ricky Barnum throw passes.
If those were shots that you should expect our players to make (which you should; I don't disagree) then those were passes you should expect Denard, as quarterback, to make. He wasn't do the "3-point" equivalent and having him chuck it deep. They were pretty simple passes, mostly. Against a team who's main weakness on defense wasn't their front seven, but their secondary.
And my point is not that Beilein deserves criticism for what went down yesterday; just that fans will find a way to twist the same situations of players just making boneheaded mistakes and immediately transfer it to coaches in football.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:40 PM ^
I think people are going to cut a lot of slack to a guy who has completely turned around a dormant program and was 16-0 going into the game. If Trey's shot had gone down he'd probably be 17-0.
January 13th, 2013 at 5:15 PM ^
I don't know what schdule you're looking at. Last year alone: lose at Indiana, win at home; murdered at OSU, win at home; pummeled at Sparty, win at home; lose at a terrible Iowa team. That was on a team with incredible senior leadership. B1G road basketball is VERY difficult, especially with 5 frosh contributors.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^
I kind of thought it looked like they had just rolled out of bed before they took the floor. No question that it was huge game but I do think they came out unfocussed. The lack of intensity on the glass was evident from the jump. They were flat footed and tight. Morgan especially looked out of sorts from the outset.
January 13th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^
January 13th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
officiating was officiating. I thought we settle for way too many long threes late, perhaps because of a shitty inside game, and we didn't put enough pressure on Deshaun Thomas.