Max Bielfeldt Appreciation Thread

Submitted by fortissimosca on

I know Spike was definitely the feature yesterday, but Max wasn't really mentioned in the two recaps so I thought he deserved some extra praise.  Not just for coming off the bench to grab two huge offensive rebounds, but also hitting the floor to grab a loose ball in the last minute. At that point I thought to myself "it's clear who wants to win this game more."  That kind of grit got me off the couch to put in a workout and will probably get me through some extra hours at work this week.  Thank you, Mr. Calves!

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Jeff4179

February 23rd, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

What I love seeing is players maximizing their talent, when (regardless of their level of achievement) you can't see them able to play any better.  When you see that, it's a testament to both the players' work ethic and attitude and to the coaches.  I don't recall feeling that way about anyone when Amaker was coach, but Beilein has had a lot of guys in that category.   And they range in achievement from the lower end (Bielfeldt) to the middle performers (Zach Novak and Jordan Morgan) to the high end performers (Trey Burke and Nik Stauskas).  As a fan and as a coach, it is really a joy to see guys maxing out their abilities. 

Joined: 02/23/2011

MGoPoints: 212

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 23rd, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^

I like Max because it seems he'll play like two or three kind of average games in a row where he does some cool shit and some not-at-all cool shit, and then he'll break that streak with a huge explosion of amazing in some random game.  I think usually that's called "maddeningly inconsistent" but I can live with it knowing he's asked to do some things usually demanded of much bigger players.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

Lucky Socks

February 23rd, 2015 at 3:08 PM ^

I'll toot my own horn and say that I saw this coming. It's deep within the evidence of my MGoBlog profile on several occasions. He was written off because of lack of PT. But he always had fairly productive short stints as a rebounder and general big body. Opportunity unleashes potential. It's hard to show what you can do in 4 mpg stints, ask Nik how the NBA is going.

Congrats Max, never doubted you could contribute to this team.

Joined: 01/18/2012

MGoPoints: 2745

DrewGOBLUE

February 23rd, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^

It's always fun to see guys perform well beyond expectations. Especially for someone like Bielfeldt, with many having thought he couldn't compete at the B1G level.

Gonna make the slightly bold prediction that he comes back next season following an inexplicable, 4" growth spurt over the summer.

Joined: 12/03/2011

MGoPoints: 2953