Ethical basketball snowflakes
February 17th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
I don't think a Michigan-connected coach is the answer. There's not enough top talent in the state anymore, and you're always competing with MSU for what talent there is. Michigan needs to find the basketball equivalent of what New Jersey has quickly become for the football program (or California for the baseball program—Bakich and his staff, who have deep ties there, is landing recruit after recruit from that state, including some highly ranked players). Hire an assistant who can consistently bring in talent from a new, talent-rich territory (somewhere outside Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.)
February 17th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
But man, the Chicago hoops scene can be a bit unethical to put it nicely. I thought the state of Michigan would be a good starting point because we should have developed relationships by now with some of these programs. It might be harder if we don't have many long distance relationships worth exploring in this capacity. Either way, I'm all for bringing in someone on the high school or AAU level.
February 16th, 2016 at 10:57 PM ^
LOL. When will people stop blaming the assistants and start blaming Beilein. He already fired all of his assistants once. It's not the assisstants fault Beilein is allergic to defense, waits to offer kids until after their sophomore years, doesn't value post play or rebounding, etc.
How about we hold the guy who accountable for once. He's not changing. This is the way he's been his whole career. Jack up a bunch of 3's, don't foul, don't rebound, don't play defense, and recruit like you're at a mid major.
But yeah, let's just blame it on the assisstants and not the guy who hired them with a 3 million dollar salary.
February 17th, 2016 at 9:36 AM ^
Give me a break.
I've been to Beilein practices. You can believe I'm lying or not, but Beilein's practices are heavily focused on team defense. You're an idiot to say or think that any D1 coach with Beilein's success "doesn't play defense." That doesn't even pass the basic logic test.
They are undersized. They are missed two key players. And, yes, Beilein struggles to sign junkyard dog type bigs. That's a result of playing an open, spread, system. The problem right now is that we're missing the guy that can drive and dish. Walton - and I love Walton - isn't creating shots like he needs to be. Irvin is coming along, but he's still awkward and working on that role (e.g. last night's travel).
February 17th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
because beilein built his team that way. it's his fault.
February 17th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^
I don't think I will. Beilein recruited every player on this roster. He has no one to blame for the problems on the team but himself. Let's face it if LeVert wasn't hurt last year he's not even on the roster this year. It's not an excuse he's not out there. Beilein has a host of soft 3 stars on the way next year. Literally every team he's coached plays piss poor defense, doesn't rebound, and relies heavily on the 3. You can't win consistently like that.
He recruits like he's the head coach at Butler.
Would be better off at a mid major and not at a school like Michigan. Frankly sick of watching this crappy brand of basketball.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:17 PM ^
Beilein needs to take the leash off and let Meyer and Bacari do some actual recruiting
February 16th, 2016 at 9:21 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:27 PM ^
If so, check the staff's outcall rates.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:22 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 11:09 PM ^
and like teammates and stuff. And they hired Chambers specifically because he's a Philly guy - and seems like after years of failing he finally got a few guys at once. Also seems like an alright class but may not be much more than that.
February 16th, 2016 at 11:58 PM ^
Not every program that recruits well is dirty. Beilein's methods are just extremely outdated. Jeff Meyer has a reputation for being a great recruiter and Bacari is a guy who should connect with these high schoolers. I don't think they're the issue as far as recruiting goes and replacing them with new assistants will just yield the same results.
February 17th, 2016 at 9:37 AM ^
What are Beilein's recruiting methods that are outdated?
February 16th, 2016 at 9:20 PM ^
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February 16th, 2016 at 9:20 PM ^
we played a freaking awful game tonight.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:21 PM ^
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February 16th, 2016 at 9:30 PM ^
mitch was just an odd ball; an extreme exception to the beilein rule
February 16th, 2016 at 9:47 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:54 PM ^
now another stigma is brewing w regards to guards in that it's a gimmick offense. how have our nba guys been doing so far? thj, burke, morris, stauskas, gr3 have all stunk in the nba and it's hurting on the trail.
the answer is it's time to go in a different direction. i'm grateful for what beilein did but it's over.
February 17th, 2016 at 2:58 AM ^
February 17th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^
good coaches can coach more than one system. beilein is a one trick pony.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:56 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^
February 17th, 2016 at 12:14 AM ^
the combo of Morgan and Horford is light years better than Donnal and which ever big man you put to pair with Donnal..
February 16th, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) February 3, 2016
February 16th, 2016 at 9:39 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:24 PM ^
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February 16th, 2016 at 9:26 PM ^
I disagree. The one we beat in Beilein's first year was pretty bad. They were one of our 10 wins that year.
February 16th, 2016 at 10:31 PM ^
We won the NIT that year!
February 16th, 2016 at 9:25 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:25 PM ^
This was pretty much a must win. This was probably the worst OSU team for the last 10 years.
Snake bit when playing in Columbus.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:38 PM ^
I'm pretty sure you're wrong. And a dumbass.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:57 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 11:11 PM ^
it was fucking OSU.
That was a pretty passion free performance.
February 17th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
michigan players and coaches, hoops and football, simply do not bring the same intensity to rivalry games as OSU and MSU players. it is completely obvious if you watch the games.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:35 PM ^
They have just as many Final Four appearances and more deep tourney runs than us since Huggins took over. I think they've missed only two NCAA tournaments since he took over.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:49 PM ^
I think Beilein would've been done. The MSU game is what turned this whole thing around. If Sparty wasn't so fractured that season, they probably beat us and we continue trending downward and Beilein is shown the door. I wouldn't trust Brandon to make a good coaching hire, so it's probably best that he didn't can Beilein.
February 16th, 2016 at 10:41 PM ^
I wouldn't trade Huggins for Beilien. Hugs is shady as shit.
February 16th, 2016 at 11:18 PM ^
It's a FInals appearance vs. a Final Four
It's an Elite 8 against two sweet 16s
Also 2 conference titles vs. zero conference titles
I reject your premise.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:36 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:48 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:36 PM ^
I was just intrigued by the title "Ethical Basketball Snowflakes", thinking perhaps we were preparing for something unfortunate to happen in the way of basketball hot takes. That's NEVER happened before *bangs on door, shouts at Bolivia to be quiet for a moment*
Actually, I was going to remind people to stay light on analysis because if you were watching the game on television, chances are you didn't really see the game. It may very well have been another game. Also, if someone was there, if they could provide a detailed summary for those of us who had to watch on ESPN, that would be splendid.
February 16th, 2016 at 9:38 PM ^
Given Beilein's reputation as an offensive mastermind. However, it seems like forever since we saw the offense firing on all cylinders against a respectable opponent. Some of that is obviously due to injuries, but still.
It shouldn't be that easy to prevent Duncan Robinson from getting open looks, and it shouldn't be that hard to find easy buckets against teams that focus on preventing those looks. Overall, there've simply been way too many bad offensive possessions, especially this deep into the season.
Whenever Beilein's time is up, I personally hope our next coach is defensively oriented for two reasons. First, because sound defense is far less susceptible to variance than Beilein's offense has proven to be, and second, because I've seen countless instances of good defense leading to easy offense, but it's hard to come up with many examples of the inverse.
February 16th, 2016 at 10:50 PM ^
February 16th, 2016 at 9:38 PM ^