December 14th, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:24 PM ^
You do make some good points here. I'm honestly tempted to re-watch the game because it seemed to me, specifically in the 2nd half, everytime Walton was in the game, Arizona made a run and then Beilein was forced with putting Spike back in the game to settle things down. I think Walton will the PG of the future, just wish we didn't have to play him right now. Having him back up a guy like Trey or Darius for a year would be much better. Feel a lot like Derrick is getting thrown into the fire right now.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
Walton was just lost on the court and Arizona went on a run every time he came in today. The offense was much better with Spike today. That may not be the case in the future but for today the dropoff was clear. Walton will be good but its going to take some time.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
Dammit,dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!!
December 14th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^
YOU BROKE IT
December 14th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
What'd I do?
December 14th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
We will be a tough team to beat down the stretch.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^
We just lost to the #1 team in the country by 2. Had a lead for the majority of the game. All of our losses were close, with the exception of Duke I guess. And the cliche, we are young. Teams like this grow and learn.
December 14th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
A #1 team that played up to their billing also.
December 14th, 2013 at 5:10 PM ^
team who almost did something on their home floor.
Lots of otherwise not great teams out there who can make the same claim.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^
I agree. The comparisons to last year's team needs to stop. Walton is not going to become Trey Burke this year. I'm sorry, but guys like Trey and Darius were phenoms. That's why they both bolted for the NBA after 2 years.
Did we get off to a slow start last year? Yes. However, we had solid wins mixed in there as well.
We are a 6-4 team. I'll list the wins:
- UMASS-Lowell
- S.C. State
- Long Beach State
- Florida State
- Coppin State
- Houston Baptist
We've failed every time we have been tested; home, away & neutral. We lost to a Charlotte team that has been beaten by College of Charleston and Davidson.
I will continue to watch the games and love the team, but I'm not making any irrational goals based on progress we achieved in previous seasons. We're closer to a bubble team than we are to a B1G Championship contender.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:43 PM ^
Coach Hoke loves him some Michigan basketball. Guy gets into it like no other.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
I really think McGary looks more like a 4-year player than an NBA first round draft pick. I'll start off by saying that maybe his injury and conditioning are hampering him. However, he did not make any improvements to his game in the offseason. He needed to add some lower body strength and explosion. At 6'10" he has a hard time creeping the ball over the rim on dunks, and he can't protect the rim defensively. He's also having trouble high pointing rebounds, and opponents are simply jumping over him. Additionally, he has been stripped a lot when he does come down with rebounds (which I don't recall being a problem last year).
Mitch had a really poor game, and Beilein noticed it as well. He's a Pre-season All-American and one of his strengths was supposed to be rebounding. Mitch had ONE defensive rebound in this game. Every starter for Arizona had 2 or more offensive rebounds, and Mitch had one defensive rebound. I'm sorry but this game is on Mitch. I'm sure I'll get negged, because everybody loves Mitch and hates GR3. Everyone will hate on GR3 for "disappearing" down the stretch. Well he had 20 pts and 4 defensive rebounds. Mitch had 1 defensive rebound, 2 turnovers, and zero blocks, steals, or assists.
Hopefully it is conditioning and injuries, because I'm beginning to lean towards Mitch being a product of Burke's greatness ... and possibly never reaching that level again at UM.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
Rebounding is part of interior defense. You can force 5 misses in a row, but it doesn't matter if they get 5 offensive rebounds and make the 6th attempt. We had 18 defensive rebounds, and they had 17 offensive rebounds. Our interior defense is terrible. There is no excuse for McGary having 1 defensive rebound in 23 mins of playing time. Beilein saw it as well, and that is why McGary and Horford had a 23-17 split in mins.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
Sucks to lose, but it's still early. So many teams pack in losses early, learn from them, get "right" going into the tournament and kill it. As long as we keep improving I'm not too mad at this point.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
UM's nonconference schedule this season has been aces -- sure, they've got more Ls already than I'd like to see, but I think this will serve them well in B10 play.
Once again, much like their football team's nonconference schedule...OSU has played nobody. Don't you even say 'Marquette' or I'll smack you.
They'll pay. Oh yes...they'll pay.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:53 PM ^
than they did earlier. Real toughness on defense and rebounding continue to be a problems.
Arizona had experienced guard play, just like M last year and it showed, especially down the stretch.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
Inspried ball really, just wasn;t enough. We have no one to score inside. The B1G is going to be brutal this year, I see 10-8 or 9-9 very possible. I hope we are not a bubble team going into the B1G Tourney. If we play like we did today all season we'll be fine though and have a ceiling of a 3 or 4 seed. Most likely a 6 or 7 seed. The floor is a bubble team.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:28 PM ^
With a young team and major roster losses, you have to look at the utility of the non conference games: finding out what works with the new roster; players discovering and growing in to new roles; freshman adapting to the spotlight and suddenly playing ball on national television in insane hostile environments on the road; and most importantly coaches developing the players and tweaking the game plans to best suit the group that they have.
The team has already shown that they have what it takes to compete with the best, and Coach B and his staff have proven year in and year out that they are phenomenal evaluators and developers of talent. With continued maturation and improvement, this team could be deadly come March and I would not be surprised if we see them make another deep run.
December 15th, 2013 at 5:57 AM ^
but we play NW, ILL and PSU (and @OSU) only once in conference play. those are 3 of the worst teams in the BIG. it will be tough to get to 11+ wins in conference if we lose even one conf game at home. 11-7 is the goal, assuming we can beat both Stanford and Holy Cross.
December 14th, 2013 at 2:55 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^
Growing pains for a young team! Burke took over on both ends of the floor in crunch time and we need to find that guy. I do not believe McGary is healthy yet but still gives it everything he's got. Hat's off to Horford, excellent effort!
December 14th, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:02 PM ^
Fuck this year in Michigan sports. I'm sick of watching our teams performing just well enough that I'm emotionally attached to every. last. fucking. loss.
I mentally understand that these close losses are better than getting blown out because they mean that the program is still within an arms-reach of the top. But emotionally speaking this is turning into pure agony. I think I'm done watching Michigan sports till the bowl game... the wins just feel hollow and empty and that losses keep demolishing my emotional well-being.
(not that I expect the bowl game to be any different)
December 14th, 2013 at 3:03 PM ^
- Crowd was great
- Solid job, Dave BRAND-ON. No pep band for a nationally televised game against the #1 ranked team. I guess it was due to them overselling the student section. Idiot.
- Hurricane Spike needs to start. I love Walton but he just isn't ready yet. Things seemed to be under control when Spike was on the floor at point.
- Thank you, MGoBlueTV. I pay $80 a year for a subscription. One of the premium features is classic full games. CBS showed the last (and only) win over a #1 ranked team in 1997. MGoBlueTV is owned by CBS. You're sitting on a mountain of footage and you put NOTHING out on basketball. Oh sure, there are great football ones. But it just pisses me off that the school never shows any historical footage on basketball. Even the non-vacated seasons, I've seen diddly poo.
- Michigan would have won this game if that moron didn't call that phantom foul.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:48 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^
Man, this game killed my Saturday. I was ready to get a win, hit the gym, be productive and feel good all day. Now I feel like drinking a case of beer, eat some fast food, and spending the rest of the day taking trips outside to pee in the snow ... see how many maize "M"s I can make in a day.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:09 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
December 14th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
The Duke game where he still played despite twisting his anke a week prior to that?
December 15th, 2013 at 6:01 AM ^
the one good thing is that i think these guys really like each other and want to make some noise. if we don't make a deep run this year, i could easily see everyone coming back for their junior year to do something special.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:09 PM ^
We knew who they were....
Truth be told Arizona is the better team. They missed allot of shots up close. This team really needs to do a better job rebounding.
December 14th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
the wide open 3 caris missed near the end of the game was a big miss. Also, i thought beilein should have taken a timeout and played for the last shot after the bs foul call. Michigan could have really used this win to boost the resume. This team has alot of work to do in B1G play.