Basketbullets: Binghampton

Stauskas is getting a little wild driving to the hoop.  

I see Spike has been working on his Jerry West pose.

Binghamton was added to the schedule a few years back, when they were trying to jumpstart their way onto the Div I coll basketball season for financial reasons.

they had a coach who made them good and competitive (briefly) by bringing in what netted out to foreign criminals.   Lots of problems.  One kid beat and raped another student before skedaddling out of the country.........lots of disciplinary measures, players and coaches dismissedl.

this game was just a vestigial part of that effort.

The real reason, if I remember correctly, that UM stopped playing Oakland was that they couldn't agree on a venue.  I think Michigan wanted to do it at the Palace, get credit for a neutral site, while Oakland wanted home and home?  Or maybe UM just wanted to play the games at Crisler?  Anyway, it wasn't because Oakland was getting too good.

As for road games, next year we'll be playing @ISU and likely @ an ACC team, in addition to the Puerto Rico Tip Off and Arizona at home.  That's 5 (or 6) neutral site/road games, plus another big-time home game.  So if we start out with a couple patsies just to get the ball rolling, that leaves about five more games.  We got to have a couple relative cupcakes in there for exams/winter break.

All that said, I do think the cupcakes could be a little less cupcake-ish than the bearcats were, but on the whole we are moving in that direction.  I wonder about getting some 2 for 1 deals with MVC teams or other regional top level midmajors.   

I know that Kenpom is the holy word of basketball around these parts but any system that ranks a team 8-1 ahead of an undefeated team that handed them their only loss on a neutral court is flawed.  Just like the RPI is flawed but for different reasons.

You can excuse it, rationalize it and try to explain it but its flawed and the Pitt #7 - Michigan #8 ranking shines a bright light on its failings.  That is why humans, good, old-fashioned humans, make the selections on who makes the tourney in March.  They may use any and all of these quantifiable metrics to help make their decisions but at the end of the day people make the call and I'm glad they do.

I share the writer's concern as to hardaway's falling shooting percentage-----however, it looked to me that binghamton packed its defense in so tight to the rim that good driving opportunities were rare for hardaway, and almost everyone else.  

Someone mentioned this on umhoops and Brian mentions it here somewhat but the important thing is that he has not lost it mentally. He plays pretty good defense, rebounds, and puts pressure on the opposing team when able to drive the lane.

Ideally maybe he takes a few less threes and drives more but I'm very happy to see him not let any emotions he may have about his shooting affect the rest of his game.

He has to continue to stay positive and eventually the shots will fall. I'd rather have him go 2-9 or whatever against Binghimton and have him go off at the three point line against a Big Ten team or other high major team further down the line. Just keep putting them up in practice and eventually it will translate to the game.

Well, when he's recrutiing he can say they'll be playing #3 ranked teams in the big time on National (even if it's BTN) TV. The whole rest of the schedule consists of 2 more appearances on ESPN3.  Families like seeing their kid on tv if they can or can't make it to home games. 

Now, you probably don't want the recruits actually WATCHING the game, but any pub that makes it feel a little more like the big time helps.  I mean, this is a program that has corners of their website still featuring the previous fired coach-

http://www.bubearcats.com/sports/mbask/coaches.html

(Mark Macon shout out).

I'm not sure we need to have weekly fretting about RPI. Is anyone concerned on if we're going to make the Tournament or not? Yeah, it might have some small factor in a 1 seed or not (if it even gets to that...lots of road to travel before that), but I'm guessing the eye test probably plays as much of a factor with actual wins and losses at that point over the ratings.  I'm not sure there's a huge difference between being a 2 or 3 seed. And if we're fighting for middle of the rounds positioning THIS season, we have bigger problems than scheduling.

And I get what he's saying; but I'm not sure saying flawed logic + flawed logic = better logic than just flawed logic. Maybe it compounds and is even worse. I think that's the right attitude to take that realize the stats in this case are dependant on what the person making them up thinks is important, and correcting is good. Generally speaking I think the reaction he gets in that statement/question are from those who insist that the ratings are completely accurate without flaws. And just because Wisconsin then or now probably didn't suck doesn't mean they ever deserved a #2 rating. If a team that looks like the #30 in the land ends up being the #15 and you had them the #2, I'm not sure that's a logic victory. 

But really all these things suffer just like the polls or the recruiting rankings....they don't mean a lot till the full season is in, and just present opportunities to look stupid early; but you can't just do one list a year, because then no one cares about you.

We played this a lot in high school and I know the concept well.  You have to be agressive with it.  There are holes that the offense can exploit if you are not trapping the ball and causing the offensive player to make a quick decision.  As the 1 - 3 - 1 shifts with the ball it leaves the back side of the defense open to cross court passes (short corner is where you want to get the ball for easy layups).  You need the offensive guy not to have time to see that and react.  Trapping at halfcourt with both the sideline and half court line in play is ideal, so that would not be 'too' agressive. 

We would sometimes play the defense at 3/4 or full court depending on the other team's skill at breaking presses.

NOTE:  All zone defenses have weaknesses.  Most presses are broken if you can get the ball into the middle of it.  The 1 - 3 - 1 is a more aggressive defense because it really commits your defense to the ball side/middle of the court.  The traps are important to cause panic/confusion/limited sight lines.

I was thinking the same in terms of defense against zeller. Bring in Horford to block his shots and defense. Use the old pistons strategy against shaq when he was on the Heat. Use to bring in Dale Davis the 7 footer who rarely saw time just for that series and get extensive minutes.

/Dale Davis'd

Bing is the flagship state school of NY and I think they made the tourney in '09.  If I remember correctly, they used to be better, but they had a scandal and some of their basketball players got arrested for almost killing another student at a bar.

I don't think we have to worry too much about the schedule becoming too soft.  Beilein has always favored challenging non-conference schedules.  Don't forget that we've played the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the Preseason NIT, our end of a home-and-home with Arkansas and now a game against WVU in Brooklyn.  Realistically, you're going to need a few "breathers" in the schedule in between the marquee matchups. 

The announcer made the following comment last night:

Michigan is 9 - 0 for the first time since the 1988-89 National Championship Team. 

That was an interesting comment. 

Then, he followed it up with this:

Rumeal Robinson, Eric Riley, Terry Mills - That was a heck of a team.

I wonder if Glen Rice was watching that game.  I am sure Riley would have been happy to hear that comment. 

Leaving Rice off the list of three players mentioned is like stating that the Bulls of the 1990s had a heck of a team with Luc Longley, John Paxon, and Horace Grant. 

The announcer made the following comment last night:

Michigan is 9 - 0 for the first time since the 1988-89 National Championship Team. 

That was an interesting comment. 

Then, he followed it up with this:

Rumeal Robinson, Eric Riley, Terry Mills - That was a heck of a team.

I wonder if Glen Rice was watching that game.  I am sure Riley would have been happy to hear that comment. 

Leaving Rice off the list of three players mentioned is like stating that the Bulls of the 1990s had a heck of a team with Luc Longley, John Paxon, and Horace Grant. 

The depth of Bigs stretches to four from what I've seen this season. Bielfeldt doesn't get much PT, but when he has, he's been really impressive.

Coach B is going to have a tough problem on his hand next season. It doesn't look as if McGary is one and done, then Morgan, Bielfeldt and Horford return, and Donnal is added to the mix. At this point I don't see why Donnal wouldn't RS.

Coach B's recruiting has been off the charts. The bench already goes 10 deep, with probably only one departing after this season (Burke), and 3 highly regarded recruits coming in next season.