Aging In A Loop

I thought we were supposed to be really deep, but Beilein seems reluctant to use it in tight games. I fear Nik and Glen wearing down (like Trey last year).

OSU is not an elite team when they don't play with their hair on fire.  They're pretty close to elite, though, when they do that and also hit some shots.  Craft, Scott, and Williams allow them to play what must be some of the best half-court defense in the country...It was inevitable that the Buckeyes would be fired up yesterday, and they also hit some shots.  This made them the same team that nearly beat Duke this year at Cameron (they easily could have taken that game). 

If it makes anyone feel any better, I watched the game with an OSU fan (who knows his basketball) who said after the game that he thinks Michigan is the better team. 

This is the least upset I could possibly be about a ranked team of ours losing to Ohio State.  (The obvious qualifier here: that's like nitpicking the least painful way you can papercut your dong and dip it into lemon juice)

But yeah - there were enough positives to take away from this game that against all common sense I feel somewhat better about the team going forward.  There are a lot of things to improve on and we're going to endure a few more conference losses but if you were gonna lose and lose to the worst possible opponent to lose to... you should at least take something Not Terrible away from it.  Clawing your way back from 21 pts down against a good defensive team at their place qualifies.

I put this in another thread where no one will see it, but am I crazy to think that the "video" played on the Ohio scorer's table went disco-strobe when Michigan was running its set and sedate when Ohio had the ball?  Maybe it was just toward the end of the game; maybe I saw an anomaly, but it seemed at least as odd as the flagrant foul non-call on THJ (or many non-calls on Craft mugging everyone).

Yeah, we should have won.  We had chances to win.  We lost.  Sour grapes?  Yes.  Got screwed?  Also, yes.

As one of the very few (only?) people who predicted we'd lose yesterday this game went pretty much as I expected.  On the road in the B1G the home team ALWAYS get the 50-50 calls which is why it's so hard to win anywhere, much less against a very good team in Columbus.

I will be very interested in seeing how we respond against Minnesota.  Completely different style of team and tempo than OSU and while another loss would not shock me I expect the team to play much better than they did on Sunday.  

The good news for March is we're now seeing the variety of play we'll get in the tourny if we go on a deep run as expected.  And if we're to make it all the way to the Final Four we're going to have to beat talented teams that want to slow the pace down and pound the ball inside (OSU) AND talented teams that want to go up tempo and try to out athletic you on both ends of the court (Minnesota).  

mental breakdown for Michigan most of the game.  They came out flat with about 8, mostly unforced, TO's in the first 10 minutes.  Even in the middle when they were clawing back, they were mentally weak.  Only 3 contested 3's for arguably the best shooter in the country is ridiculous and largely a failure to get him open or recognize him when open.  They had several airballs.  Hardaway's backward pass/TO on the fastbreak was particularly goofy.  And the end was just plain ridiculous - I think their last 7 (!!!) shots in their half court offense were jacked up 3's early in the shot clock.  Down 2 with OSU in the penalty at the end, Burke just jacked up a 3 instead of driving and dishing.  Just ridiculous.

It was bound to happen - a mental letdown on the road against a quality team.  But Michigan should have won this game if they played reasonably smart.  And Burke's mental lapses, seemingly out of character this year, are puzzling.

There are some positives.  Michigan played an absolutely terrible game - and still were only one possession from winning on the road against a ranked team.  So they showed they are clearly the better team and a legitimate Final Four contender.  They showed great poise in coming back from a huge deficit on the road.  They showed that they can play great D most of the game.  They now have a loss to learn from and a great coach to make sure they learn from it.

I bet a very different team will show up against Minny and pull out a win.  And I bet Ohio gets a beatdown in Ann Arbor.

Here are some things that I thought about while watching the game:

• Where is the mute button?  I can't stand it when home crowds are going nuts as my team throws the ball away repeatedly. 
• I'm going to turn this off for a while now that we're down 26-6 and wait until I can DVR my way through the gruesome parts. 
• Burke cost us the game because he made it personal.  Craft has been Burke kryptonite throughout his career and he knows it - especially because OSU didn't offer him.  Obviously Craft's defense hurts Michigan's offense regardless of how Burke plays, but you could tell that Burke started playing an NBA-style game where he would just isolate on Craft and try to do everything.  The fact that our bigs were a non-factor against mediocre OSU centers and that Stauskas was a non-factor has to do with Burke not setting up the offense AT ALL.  Those bad shots at the end of the game fall more on Burke because he runs the offense for the team and is their leader.  He never really considered passing on a couple of those possessions.  Everyone focuses on that three which rimmed out by Burke when we were down two, but it was a bad shot and we didn't need it.  Find a way to get a good look from 2 or set up an open 3.
• Keeping with this theme, for the first time all year the offense ran smoother with Spike in the game.  Why?  He played under control and worked the offense.  It resulted in open looks or Spike getting fouled going to the basket.  There are limits to what Spike can do at this point and he's more of a spark off the bench, but I would have liked to see him get some run late in the game to free up Burke. 
• In addition to the awful calls Brian mentioned (which I predicted before the game because of how easily influenced refs are by home crowds), I felt like Thomas got away with a hook or elbow every time down the court.  He got two baskets and one of their offensive rebounds thanks to blatantly hooking a Michigan defender.  Now, that's a move that a lot of players try and it rarely gets called.....but it usually gets called at least once.  Watching the Burke fast break or the Hardaway hack you realize that every call went to OSU.  (Which is going to happen when we play in IU also - they will shoot >25 FTs for sure). 
• I get the bench comment....but who do you want to see?  Lavert was lost out there in his brief moments, Horford is probably a little too rusty and the 2-post offense isn't a fit for the way OSU plays, Bielfeldt isn't athletic enough, and Spike got more minutes than usual in a tight game.  I guess maybe you could try Vogrich, but he's been so iffy in garbage time and isn't atletic enough to match-up with OSU that I don't see what he brings. 

I think Nik is getting frustrated by an obvious lack of attention the past few games, especially in the opening half. Michigan needs to get him more looks earlier.  

I noticed the same thing Brian did at the time, and probably that all of us saw: Michigan tied the game and then completely melted down. Trey Burke's long, contested two after almost no time taken in possession was the first and worst of the offenses, and may have precipitated the rest of the poor offense that saw Michigan drop back down to a six-point deficit.

It's a common story--team makes a run to get back in the game, but falls off right at the end before they can win the game. Either they're tired or they are mentally strained, but they are unsuccessful either way. If Burke doesn't pull the trigger there, maybe the team settles into the "brand new basketball game" and plays the way its supposed to.

The good news? This is supposed to happen at this time of year. And there are some very real lessons that can be learned for March and April, when it really matters. All Beilein has to do is show film of those awful shots, and applications will be obvious. And maybe in two months at the regional final, Michigan will claw away a deficit, tie a game, and Trey Burke will run the offense the way it is designed to be run, and Michigan will win the game.

I completely agree on the McGary bit.  I thought he held his own defensively and was even athletic enough to make a few reverse layups.  I'm really excited about him, he's going to get better too.

Stauskas had a couple backdoor cuts but the passer was unable to get him the ball. I believe one was Morgan from the high post (somewhat understandable) and another was Trey dribbling with his head down (less so). Still a good point, Stauskas needs to cut harder and more effectively reversing an out-cut.

that a very young Michigan team lost on the road against a reasonably talented squad that gets the predictable home-cooking from the officials in front of a frenzied crowd.

This ought to put an end to the breathlessly stupid speculation that "this is maybe the bestest Michigan team ever!" as well as "Nik Stauskas is a better shooter than Glen Rice" — the guy who's held the NCAA tournament record for most points for the past 24 years.

as a replacement for Stauskus who looked totally ratteld on offense and a liabilty on Defense.  Other than that minor complaint though, I am not too worried about this loss.  They weren't going undefeated and they almost won despite all of their starters having a bad day. 

My hope is they learn from this and use that lesson to win a couple tough road games (i.e. at Minny, MSU, IU and Illinois).  Do that and we will be fine as no one is winning this conference with less than 4 losses. 

Not hard to see why M's best start ever is 16-0. Tough league, teams are really come after you when you're undefeated, and they know you well. Great accomplishment by M to get this far into the season undefeated, and hats of to Ohio State for playing with such rabid intensity.

I thought going in that we would lose at least one of the two games @Ohio and @Minny.  After seeing the comeback, followed by the meltdown... and still having a legitimate chance to win the game with 20 seconds left, I'm even more excited than I already was about this team.  This kind of game is exactly what we needed, and I think we'll come out with a markedly better approach at Minnesota, where I now think we're likely to prevail.  And when Ohio makes their return trip to Ann Arbor? Take Michigan and the over, and don't look back. We'll win by at least 15.

I am not concerened with Stauskas not getting 2 backdoor opportunites a game.  I would be more concerened with why there isn't a play JB can go to to get the best 3 point shooter in the country an open look. 

My main gripe with JB since day 1 has been his inability to draw up a play to get an easy look at the basket in crunch time.  Izzo is a master at this.  It seems to me that coming out of a timeout JB just says "alright lets get into the offense."  There never seems to be a special set.  I.e. Get GRIII on the block or get Stauskas an open look at 3. 

We are still watching one of our best teams ever, I believe.  But mostly we are watching one of the best coaches in the business...  Sans Beilen, I would have watched this game with disgust assuming that the mental errors were a sign of immaturity and me-first NBA mentality garbage that would send us spiraling into a 3 game losing streak we've all seen so many times after a UM team with a promising start loses their first major test of the season.

HOWEVA'  in this case, as stated by others, Beilein will take these kids to task for their bad shots, bad decisions, and lack of patience in film session.  Watching Coach B speak firmly to Burke on the sideline was reallly illustrative to me.  It was like a great teaching HS coach and his star player.  Burke was attentive and nodding, and Coach was intense but calm.  You just kind of KNOW that there was true learning happening.  I don't think I've seen that on a college or pro basketball court in, like, forever.  He still made some bad decisions late - the long step back three after a timeout in the second (or third?) to last possession was just mystifying to me - but I think he gets it.

Also HOWEVA' - Someone needs to slap Hardaway.  He's the only guy on this team that, at times, just disregards the entire scheme, game situation, or his position on the court, and decides to jack up a three 10 seconds into the shot clock.  Repeatedly.  Dude is a seriously selfish player.  He's better this year than last, but he should know better by now. 

It's interesting to me that this level of sober analysis by both Brian and the MGoBoarders is not typically seen when it comes to football. I get that there are fewer football games so each one is more precious and that M has had a literally unparalleled 100+ year run of sucess in football compared to sporadic bursts of success interrupted by long walks in the cold wilderness in basketball, but still.

Anyway, there's a reason they call them growing pains. They are painful, but you are growing. I was surprised at the degree to which M lost its collective shit for long stretches on Sunday, but I bet that won't happen again, at least en masse, any time soon.

Also, Matta may be a purple-faced pustule of a human but dude can recruit for and coach up defense. M hurt itself, but that was a suffocating display for a while there. I don't think OSU will be able to score enough to go very far this year with this team, but their losses will probably always be close.

1) it never occurred to me until now that no matter how catastrophic the game, you, Brian, can't stop watching. That sucks.

2) my 9 yr old daughter's team lost 18 - 2 on Saturday and that score doesn't even begin to demonstrate how bad we are. At one point, the refs had to change the rules so that the other team had to pass it around to five players before shooting. My daughter is the tallest girl out there and can take it down the court and put it in, but there were three girls on the other team channeling LeBron.



My point is, I had to watch my daughter's game but I did end up turning off our game. How much disappointment can one person take in one weekend?