Michigan-Minnesota MBB postgame snowflakes
All of the elements of an upset were present, and it took them all for Michigan to go down:
Road game: Don’t know what helps Minnesota play so much better at home, but kudos to them.
Motivated team: Carr and Robbins came to play, and the early post doubles were very effective.
Good guard play for the underdog: Once Carr became a passer, without Eli Brooks it was going to be tough sledding
Rough whistle: the clothesline on Smith was inexcusable, and tough calls seemed to take Michigan out of their element.
Uncharacteristically poor shooting: rough outing for Dickinson and Wagner.
Poor guard play from the favorite: Mike Smith is going to need to reevaluate his passing lanes and decision making. He was clearly not prepared to contend with Minnesota’s pressure on drives.
What did you notice?
January 16th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
That game was straight fucking garbage.
Taking out Brown for Zeb at a crucial moment proved disastrous, gotta learn from this.
EDIT: Eli missing really threw our rotation off, lots of guys didn't shoot well at all and Minny was throwing up garbage and going in.
Gotta give them credit though, they came to play and we just didn't.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
Texted my boys as soon as Zeb went in "I'm not sure he's ready yet." He quickly confirmed that.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:09 PM ^
Yeah man, that text by you was prescient unfortunately, sigh.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:41 PM ^
Next time maybe text Juwan instead
January 18th, 2021 at 2:16 PM ^
Can confirm.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:50 PM ^
20 turnovers.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
Hey, even the 15-16 Golden State Warriors lost 9 games. On to the next one....
January 16th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
Yep, agreed. We played a bad game, plain and simple. It happens though over the course of a college basketball season. This is still an excellent team. No one is going undefeated in the best league in college basketball. For the team, just can't let it effect your psyche. Don't let one bad game turn into two and so on. I expect we'll see a better performance in their next outing.
Sorry to piggyback, but does anyone know the eligibility status with Chaundee? I know he is listed as a senior on the roster listing, but curious if he has a path to another year of eligibility or if this is definitely his final college season. I knew he would contribute, but he's exceeded any realistic expectations I think anyone had for him. Would be great to have him back next year as a leader for a young, but talented team.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:20 PM ^
The NCAA has ruled that the 2020/2021 is a free year in college sports - eligibility wise. Rosters next year can go over limits. So all seniors can come beck. It will be more a question of a crowded roster & playing time.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:32 PM ^
Thanks for the clarification. To your point regarding playing time, I would agree and have to assume that is part of his calculation as well. I have no doubt he could make a professional career overseas, or at least get some FA looks from the league after this season.
On the otherhand, if there is one position where it might make sense for a guy to hang around for another year, it's the two spot. The front court and small forward spots are going to be ultra-competitive for PT next year, but I think he would see plenty of minutes at the two and I'd imagine be a team captain and honorary starter for the '21 season.
Obviously we'll have to wait and see though.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
The pivotal stretch. Needed Brown and Dickinson out there.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:05 PM ^
Yes, this was disastrous and I can’t think of any excuse for it. ZJ has not shown anything this year to suggest he was ready to help us mount a comeback.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
Williams played a lot of minutes earlier in the season. Not sure why he’s disappeared out of the rotation. Based on in-game evidence this season, he’s much more polished than Zeb.
January 16th, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
Because Williams can’t shoot?
January 16th, 2021 at 7:08 PM ^
Well Brown did look completely frustrated right before that run - felt a couple fouls went against him, got blown by a couple times by Carr, and his shots were coming out halfway down. Pretty sure it was Juwan taking him out to try and settle him down. Didn’t work because he picked up a quick foul after that.
I was more upset by Livers and Smith attempts at hero ball. They were both pushing a little too hard to create for themselves ... When things aren’t going well you don’t double down on that stuff by pushing the ball up the court, hitting fadeaway jumpers, etc. You slow the game down, play within your offense, and continue to pass yourself into good looks.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
Zeb does not look ready yet, and yeah that was a bad stretch. But there were limited options with brooks out and some foul trouble. You can’t play the same 5 all game. I think Zeb will be good for us down the line, he’s just not quite there yet.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^
Bringing in Johns or Williams and moving Livers and Wagner down a position would have been a better option than a trigger-happy mistake-prone freshman.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
Might be true and I think Howard might do exactly that given the same situation again. I think Howard was looking for guard help as smith struggled a bit and he decided to give Zeb a shot. It just ended badly.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:11 PM ^
Juwan benching Chaundee killed our momentum and any chance of winning this game
January 16th, 2021 at 4:28 PM ^
I think that's a bit harsh. We were going to lose this game anyway with the way other guys were having bad games.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:41 PM ^
We were only down by 6 and had momentum... that's a completely winnable game and Juwan literally killed the momentum and I don't think that's a harsh statement
January 16th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
That was also just a fluke timing event....the subs for Brown were already sitting on the sideline waiting for a chance to come in to the game when he made the great defensive play and then the 3 pointer to get us back to 6. We can question Williams and Zeb in at that moment but I think they saw Brown as exhausted prior to that sequence.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
"... killed the momentum ..."
This ("MOMENTUM") is a highly overrated idea. It's oversold by commentators and accepted without thinking by too many fans. Players (even in high school) are way more resilient than most people think.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
Not sure about that. Brown hits a three, then forces a turnover on the ten second... he was slated to be benched at that point, but man, I wish they had kept him in there.....gotta reward that effort of his.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
Minny Defense was fantastic. I’m not sure Michigan ever got too comfortable
Hunter, Smith, and bench were awful.
Well done, Minny.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
ZJ is not ready. He’s NOT ready. Putting him in for CB, unless he was exhausted, what a terrible mistake. Keeping him in to let him jack up threes and turn the ball over. It was frustrating to watch. A lot of guys played bad, and the shit reffing was piling on (every flop was a charge in M, block on M, call Johns for a travel while Carr walks all over the court). But this was the biggest error. Keeping Dickenson out was a mistake too. Let him work it out and try to regain his footing. No chance to come back with Davis in for extended minutes.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
If Brown had to come out, I would have preferred bringing in Williams and moving Wagner and Livers down a position.
Edit: Johns would have been a better option, too.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
I think Zeb is fine if you need 5 minutes at the PG spot in a game. He can initiate the offense, pass and make a few open shots. But he is clearly not ready to play the 2 and have any sort of scoring responsibilites
January 16th, 2021 at 4:21 PM ^
Nunez is probably a better choice than Zeb for an emergency couple of minutes at the 2 spot.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:46 PM ^
NO...
Absolutely Not.
January 17th, 2021 at 8:02 PM ^
Based on what?
January 16th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
With Eli out, Zeb is the next man up. There just simply was not another roster option. It was a frustrating game to watch for sure, but keeping it in perspective it was one game. One of Juwan's key contributors was out, which required him to reach deeper into his reserves and play new lineups to account to Brooks absence.
I agree Zeb's not quite ready for prime time, and I expect he's going to be a good player down the road. But under the circumstances, he was needed to spell Brown in this one.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:50 PM ^
Like I said, ok, if he was exhausted. But I have a hard time believing CB needed to come out because he was tired.
May not have ultimately mattered, but it did not look like a smart strategy for putting us in the best position to win. I also agree with others that you could go big if you really need fresh legs and slide Livers or Wagner to the 2.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
Eli is the glue on offense and he really helps defensively with his quick hands.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
Beat Maryland
January 16th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
Does anyone know why Chaundee was taken out of the game right after hitting a big three and then immediately forcing a turnover? I felt like we were poised to make a run, but taking Chaundee out seemed to shift the momentum back to Minny.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
"to teach him a lesson"- Dan Dakich, Genius Color Commentator, 2021
January 16th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^
Dakich is the worst color guy in all of sports broadcasting, even worse than Aikman. It’s mute time if he’s on a game.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Aikman is really good.
January 16th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
If you like obnoxious platitudes. He never says anything interesting or new, which must be difficult for a player who played so long to dumb it down that much. My old ass Uncle who watches a handful of games every year has more interesting comments about the action.
Buck is actually better than him, and that’s saying something. But that duo is mute city every time.
I’d take any other NFL color commentator.
January 16th, 2021 at 7:33 PM ^
Good god, Dakich. About 80% of what he says is pro-Michigan/anti-M’s opponent and it’s still unbearable. You’d think M fans would be fine with announcers making negative comments about an opposing player, but I would say out of a 2 hour broadcast, almost literally 45 minutes were devoted to Marcus Carr’s flaws. For goodness sake, move on!
I’m not here to defend Carr, but he’s a high-usage slightly above-average player with a lot of warts, there are like 15-20 players like him in the B1G, do we really need to talk about him that much, good or bad?
January 16th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
I blame it on the fact whoever started the game thread against Wisky didn’t do it today
January 16th, 2021 at 7:53 PM ^
My apologies. I was thinking of starting a second half game thread. I’ll be ready for the turtles.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
Zeb Jackson needs to sit on the bench until garbage time.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
I get that he needed a few minutes with Brooks out, but I would've done everything in my power not to play a freshman opposite of Marcus carr
January 16th, 2021 at 4:09 PM ^
Smith-Wagner-Livers-Williams/Johns-Davis would have been better than Zeb being in there.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:05 PM ^
This may end up being the worst game this team plays this season, which is both disappointing in the present and encouraging for the future.
From top to bottom this was just a poor outing. The multiple mismanagement’s by Juwan and the staff were backbreaking; especially subbing Zeb in for Chaundee after he had just made a 3 and created a TO.
The carelessness with the basketball is tough to swallow. Both Dickinson and Smith seemed overwhelmed by the intensity of Minny’s defense.
Also, there were multiple shots that guys seemed tentative or tried to get too fancy about; Davis trying to dunk over Robbins, Franz trying use a cute finger-roll with no backboard in transition, Johns putting up the weakest layup off the front iron. I think the team confidence was down at this point.
The other really disappointing aspect today was the team FT shooting. This has not been an issue for them so far this season. Yet today we got bit by the cold stripe streak bad. Shooting 50% from the foul line will hardly ever get it done, especially when you’re losing AND the refs are not being generous with the whistles.
I believe they’ll bounce back with Maryland and Purdue next, but I’m worried about the matchup with Illinois. Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn are both better players than their Minny counterparts.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
It took all of the elements for us to go down? We lost by 17 and were down by more when the starters were pulled
This wasn't a ref job, we just got beat straight up
January 16th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
It was close enough through most of the game. Michigan probably comes back if just one of those mitigating factors is removed.
January 16th, 2021 at 4:29 PM ^
I never implied that it was a ref job. But I am implying that a shift in any one of the elements that I mentioned could have made a significant difference in the outcome. Perhaps this game would have gone from blowout loss to close loss with better decision making from Smith or our bigs not missing rim bunnies.