The Ball Goes *IN* the Hoop, Guys!

With the lack of inside presence teams are able to easily stay outisde on our shooters. The only person who ever takes the ball inside is Manny and he seems to not get aggressive until the second half, and this puts so much pressure on our shooting. BY not driving the ball to the basket our shooters get less good looks, and for some reason they still take these looks. If michigan could get to the basket more and get simms going on the insde it will open up the outside shots for us, but with no inside game its pretty tough.

But really the concerning thing to me is the D. Its flat out terrible. It's every man for himslef out there, I can probbaly count the number of times someone has come over to help on someone elses many on one hand. The defense just must rotate better and help to be successful. And the 1-3-1...thats has been terribel if you ask me. yes it has created some turnovers, but most of these turnovers have come against temas not as athletic as us. The most athletic team Michigan has played so far Marquette, kileld the 1-3-1, which leads me to believe that it will get killed when we get into big ten play. Also 1-3-1 and any zone really leaves the wings open and inside if u can get the ball into the top of key, but with this team its been terrible so far. If the ball is anywhere near the key its almost always two points and the wings have been wayyy to open all the time. But really it comes down to defense is mostly about hustle, and this teams doesnt seem to hustle much on that end unfortunately.

Believe it or not (and this comes from someone who played organized ball) I believe the loss of Merritt and Lee has impacted the team quite a bit. They both were excellent vocal leaders, and they were pass first guards who both defended better than Darius Morris does at this point.
Another thing that has changed this year is that Stu Douglass and LLP are both playing the point, which they didn't have to do last year. This has, IMO, affected Douglass' shooting as well as affecting where the offense starts in the half court. LLP is shooting better, but I think that both he and Douglass are having to defend out of position this year more than last, and this is a team that already had to overcome size limits last year.
I think they'll come around, but it's definitely an uphill battle.

the problem is with man to man. no one helps out!!! the BC game was perfect example when the one guy had how many easy layups because guys weren't rotating??? its happened in every game this year. man to man works off of help D and switching on picks.

the 1-3-1 is working fine because they are creating turnovers out of it. but like any zone defense there are holes that makes it easy to break. with the 1-3-1 the whole goal is to trap the guy bringing the ball up and force him to make a bad pass. what you don't want is that guy to make a pass down to the corner, because the zone is broken(this is also how you break a 3-2 zone). by having the ball in corner, everything is now on the player running the baseline. he has to be able to get over there and get a hand up, so another defender can come over and trap. if they are late with the trap then its a easy pass to the foul line or a skip pass across the court. if you get the defenders running side to side you'e won, because sooner or later someone is going to be left wide open.

also with ANY zone defense an aggressive guard will break it. look at what marquette did. they drove to the basket for easy layups or dumped it off to a wide open player.

zone D's work by quick rotaition and talking on the floor. if the D isn't calling out cutters, there is no way of knowing when someone just cut to the basket for a easy layup or dunk.

Good post, Tim.

Man, if Stu and Zach can end the season with last year's shooting numbers, then Michigan will get its fair share of Big 10 wins and be right back in the mix when its all said and done.

As for tomorrow, I just hope the guys can delay that creepy, eerie, cool, intimidating Rockchalk Jawhawk chant as long as possible. Hey, if the students only feel comfy breaking that out in the final minute that means Michigan at least gave them a helluva run for their money.

WSJ has Kansas winning with a 99% chance....SHOCK THE WORLD!!!

did not go to the sweet 16 last year. That, however, does not lessen the impact of the surprisingly ineptitude shown thus far to do the things that got them to the NCAA tourney last year.

The major problem with the three point shooting to this point, in my opinion, is the lack of confidence in the shot and the hint of hesitation that you see when ever any player takes one.

Michigan's glaring lack of an inside presence on defense will not be cured this season, so I think that there best odds for success are just to become a complete run and gun team. Pull threes, threes in transition, threes off the dribble, threes, transition hoops. They seem to playing like the future of the program rides on every possession, and it making the team VERY tight, from whistle to whistle.

Michigan is a streaky shooting team, however, they are also a very contagious team. The only way for them to get out of this shooting slump is to make shots, and the only way to make shots is take them, as many as possible until they start falling. Beating Kansas is unlikely, but I think they should play this game with the intent of getting out of this slump, one way or another. Even if the three (or shots in general) are not falling until garbage time, just take them until they go in, and remember them going in. A short hot shooting streak can take care of the shooting woes faster than one might think.

Made sweet 16.
Lost no one of importance. Distance from players lost to NBA potential = distance from earth to sun.
Retained two upperclassmen projected to be in the NBA draft after this year.
Recruited a top 100 player at a position that previously was led by a walk-on.
Everyone else gets a year of experience.

Brian, what would you say - all things being equal - if another team had the year we are having? Objectively speaking.

need to turn around fast because as it stands now Michigan is about the 8th best team in the conference (considering what I've seen from most of the teams).

An upset over Kansas would put Michigan back into the discussion as a possible Tourney team-- a decent 10-8 record in conference (very optimistic) probably won't be enough unless there's an outofconference upset somewhere... or unless Mich beats MSU or Purdue twice. 12-6 is probably the marker for getting back into the discussion since the hole they've dug is so deep.

a good shooting team to begin with. They were pretty bad at shooting the ball last year. Surprisingly, they're shooting the ball overall better than last year.

Their defense has gotten worse this season compared to last season. Although they're forcing turnovers at a very good rate, but they need to do a better job of defending. Their FG defense regressed big time. That is the main culprit of Michigan's sudden regression.

It will be really nice if they make them this Saturday.

How sweet would it be if their shots decide to finally start falling this Saturday.

Pretty ridiculous that Sims is our best 3 pt shooter who actually plays on a consistent basis.

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I'm pretty much on board with this. I think there's probably some shot selection factor in all of this, but after watching for it in the last few games, it doesn't really look like they're taking too many bad shots. They just aren't making them, and that's really what it comes down to for me. Anyone who's played basketball knows it's a game of feel and momentum in every facet of the game. I've never played at anything near this level, but I know that when the shots are going down you get a little bit more energy for the defensive end and for rebounding. Conversly, when they aren't going down, it really drags down every aspect of your game. I think this team has a chance to get hot and make a run and still get to those preseason goals, but the shots have to start falling.

is mostly about effort, especially factoring in who they've played, as they haven't been at a significant athletic disadvantage so far this year.

The 1-3-1 lends itself to more steals, as well as more open looks, but Michigan is not in the 1-3-1 all the time.

At the game I went to against Houston Baptist, they looked lazy, esp. in transition.

I've seen the same things in other games as well.

There is a third factor, and it's form. This is supposed to be something that is cured by the many, many reps in practice, but it looks to me that Douglass, and to a lesser degree, Novak are inconsistent in their form. Douglass especially appears to be drifting back or to the left on his jump shots, even when they're open. They're just not going to go in consistently when that happens.

douglas is frustrating to me. he's got a sweet shot but he ain't hittin. unfortuneately, he often passes up wide open 3s, yet takes 1 or 2 dumb attempts per game. those attempts kill his %. douglas is a microcasm of the OPs thesis: when you have a good open look, take the shot; and don't force anything. (this goes for you too manny).

i do think novak's % will improve. he actually rarely takes what i consider a bad shot.

the key to UM's success is these two guys getting better. if douglas continues to struggle, give vogrich his minutes.

And it matches with my gut feel. Unfortunately, too much damage may have already been done for an at-large bid...

They will shoot 3's better when they play better D and rebound better to set up transition 3's, which are usually more in rhythm and better looks.