Basketball: OMG Soooo Gross

Yeah, Michigan got off the BU schneid yesterday, but good god, man:

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
25 Brown, Graham....... f  1-3    0-0    3-4    1  2  3   4   5  0  4  0  1  17
32 Abram, Lester....... f  4-7    1-3    1-2    0  4  4   3  10  0  2  0  0  32
44 Sims, Courtney...... c  1-2    0-0    3-6    2  6  8   2   5  1  2  1  1  26
04 Horton, Daniel...... g  6-10   2-3    7-8    0  1  1   1  21  1  2  0  4  38
05 Harris, Dion........ g  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  1  0  0   7
01 Smith, Jerret.......    0-2    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  3  2  0  0  21
15 Shepherd, Jevohn....    2-7    0-0    1-1    3  2  5   1   5  1  0  1  1  20
24 Coleman, Ron........    1-3    0-1    0-0    1  1  2   0   2  0  2  0  2  14
31 Hunter, Chris.......    1-5    1-2    0-4    1  3  4   3   3  1  3  1  3  18
50 Ba, Amadou..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         1  3  4             1
   Totals..............   16-39   4-10  15-25   9 24 33  16  51  7 19  3 12 200

Mmm, that's an ugly meatball. Note the further appearance of the Incredible Disappearing Courtney Sims, who launched all of five shots against an America East team featuring no one taller than 6'8". Ryan didn't buy my theory that Sims got sent to the bench for being useless against decent defenders, but this is the kind of thing I'm talking about. Michigan's defensive rebounding also dipped ominously to 66%. Michigan escaped with a win only because the Terriers couldn't throw a Jew into all the money they stole from Michael Jackson (OMG j/k!) as BU went 18 for 52.

Another grim note: Harris' extended absence was due to a foot injury that sounds ready to linger painfully all season:

The right foot injury that has bothered Dion Harris since the summer flared up in practice this week and forced the University of Michigan junior to miss most of Tuesday night's game.

That sounds like it could be something like plantar fasciitis, which would likely ruin his entire season.

The good news? Michigan did force 18 turnovers of their own with what sounded like hounding defense and Daniel Horton saved Michigan's bacon with efficient scoring. Ironically, Michigan probably would have been better off had he jacked up a three every time down the court instead of attempting to get his frontcourt involved in the game.

I couldn't watch the game, being DirectTV-free, but "Cheapo" on the Wolverine did. I highlight some concerning statements:

...I believe that TA was frustrated with the some of the players' lack of energy and focus. There were a few minutes in each half where the UM starters (Abram aside) seemed to go listlessly through the motions. By the way, in the second half there were a couple of doozy UM defensive breakdowns--e.g., one half-court layup with ABSOLUTELY NO ONE stopping the guard.

Fourth, I agree with the poster who said that Ba was inserted partly as a lesson that those with hustle and effort play. FWIW, Ba looked a lot better than I expected. He's all thumbs when he receives a pass (his confusion/fall after receiving a pass near the court's out-of-bounds line looked pretty funny). But then, most of the UM bigs were bobbling passes under the bucket. More importantly, Ba tried to box out, whereas our other bigs seemed to not want to focus on that aspect of the game (I can't believe the number of offense rebounds BU snagged!).

Urgh. That's the kind of stuff that bothers me about Amaker. Two seniors and a junior in the starting lineup and the scrubbiest scholarship player on the roster gets to play because he understands the idea of standing between his man and the rebound.

I mean, if Tom Izzo was a cartoon, this is probably what he'd look like:

AAAAAH! REFEREE I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!

This is how I envision Amaker:

"Fundamentals make my tummy ouch."

Let me quote myself:

What is Amaker doing during practice? I hope it's more than "let's play really good this weekend, guys!" followed by Abram raising his hand and saying "let's play well, Coach," followed by Amaker saying "Yeah! That's the ticket!"

I dunno, I like my student-athletes to be scared #$%*less by their coach. I mean, not Bobby Knight scared, but Red Berenson scared. I could see Amaker in a Care Bears episode as Friendly Mr. Coachy.