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ricky doyle
2014-15 oregon
ricky doyle is mitch 2.0

Michigan 70, Oregon 63 Comment Count

Brian

I told you I told you all

Michigan has a new starting center, I think. Ricky Doyle came off the bench to provide ten points, a monster block, and three offensive rebounds. The most critical of those came with under a minute left; Doyle looked for passing options, found none, and then displayed savvy beyond his years by following a single power dribble with an up-fake and a bucket that stretched the Michigan lead to five. Once the ensuing jacked-up three landed safely in Zak Irvin's hands it was time to exhale.

In the aftermath Michigan has a very odd Beilein-era win. Michigan shot just 13 threes against 33 twos and got to the line a whopping 29 times. Oregon's game plan was to shut off Death From Above; they succeeded but Michigan was diverse enough to scrape out the win anyway.

Defensively Michigan was proficient when able to corral Oregon into a half-court game. Star Oregon guard Joseph Young shot just 5-16 and only cracked 20 points with a series of desperate late forays that got him to the line—in one case, questionably. As a team, Oregon shot 26% from three and turned the ball over 14 times.

Rebounding was the only thing keeping them in it. Oregon grabbed almost half their misses. That's an issue that will have to be addressed. With Oregon's multiple bouncy 6'6" guys crashing the boards the centers were overwhelmed—neither Donnal or Doyle got a single defensive rebound.

But that's a win over a Pac-12 team that looks a bit better than its preseason predictions; Villanova is tomorrow after the Wildcats dismantled VCU by taking care of the ball and punishing the press—stop me if you've heard that one before. Doyle will again be key as 'Nova brings more size than any opponent to date.

Comments

UMfan21

November 25th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^

Very solid win over a good team.  This will help come March.  I'm sure the team learned a lot from this game.

Nova will be a very difficult test.  I don't expect us to win this one.  But I expect it to be a "good loss" situation.  This team will have to take it's lumps at some point, and losing to Nova would not be "bad".  Hope I am wrong, but I'm ok if they lose competitively.

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 51217

egrfree2rhyme

November 25th, 2014 at 12:27 AM ^

Doyle showed some real promise.  He looks like he'll be a hell of a player by the time he's an upperclassman and may be pretty serviceable down the line this year.  With that said, we are going to get destroyed on the board by a few teams in the Big Ten.  Oregon's not a big team and they rebounded 15 of their 33 misses.  

Overall, it was a good, gritty win for a young team. 

Joined: 08/21/2012

MGoPoints: 2238

Hail-Storm

November 25th, 2014 at 10:02 AM ^

to hear the crowd recognize him after his big play.  You could just see his confidance as he stood in the paint. 

I also thought one of the announcers made a great point when the other one called him McGary light.  Pointing out that he had just turned 18 as a freshman vs McGary who came in at 20 years old.  I don't think he and McGary have similar play styles, but I think Doyle will become a good player in his own right. 

Joined: 06/07/2010

MGoPoints: 9749

Steve in PA

November 25th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^

Energy.  Mitch always reminded me of the energizer bunny or a Labrador puppy in that he was always doing something when he was on the court.  Doyle did the same thing last night and seemed to not suffer the affliction many big men have of standing, waiting, and reacting.

I'm sure Doyle will have some horrible games as a freshman as his urge to do something will get him out of position.  But, as the season ghoes the coaches will channel that energy into being productive and being in the right place.

He's the only big guy I've seen so far that comes out and hedges HARD and recovers.  He forced the offense way out several times last night.

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 6327

Hail-Storm

November 25th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^

reminded me a lot of Morgan.  He got into those lanes well.  His energy will be great. I think his game will translate well into a bigger Jordan Morgan with a better midrange shot.  I hope he and one or two of the point gaurds can get some pick and roll offense together.  I think his midrange jumper will add an extra dimension to that game. 

Joined: 06/07/2010

MGoPoints: 9749

mtlcarcajou

November 25th, 2014 at 12:34 AM ^

We went through phases where we just didn't check our man, guys flying in. But at the end, with Walton getting d boards, you know everyone was finally clued in. 

More worrisome is who will stop a decent post with strength and moves. Especially if we start dropping to help and the post can pass. 

But good win. The O is coming along, not enough motion off the ball really, but Oregon's D was so badly overplaying the 3 that with guys like Caris, Irvin and Walton you have to penetrate to the hoop. Would have loved a leaper inside for a game like this - guess what they want Wilson to become eventually. 

That top 5 could be really dangerous down the stretch of the season, especially if Doyle shows he can get out and run.

Joined: 02/19/2011

MGoPoints: 1024

DBMCT

November 25th, 2014 at 12:39 AM ^

There was a M band playing tonight but clearly not our band. Anyone else at the game tonight know if they were just some local high school kids or something? They could barely squeak out the victors and played like only three times.

Crowd was probably 70-30% M but hard to tell with all yellow between us and Oregon. Barclays is a nice place to watch a game. Go Blue!

Joined: 09/23/2013

MGoPoints: 23

michmaiku

November 25th, 2014 at 7:19 AM ^

... First time for my girlfriend at a major conference CBB game, and she loved the Nova & VCU band even though they were 'bad'. Told her "M" would be better based on what I heard in Ann Arbor over the weekend, then couldn't believe my ears. By the way , alumni band @ Yost was fantastic Saturday.

Joined: 04/09/2013

MGoPoints: 4616

alum96

November 25th, 2014 at 1:06 AM ^

For teams we are unfamiliar with it is going to be helpful to look at size of their lineup as our defensive rebounding was pretty awful.  Cut Oregon's offensive rebounds in half and this was a blowout.   Part and parcel of the small lineup we are running out there for much of these games.   And Oregon is not particularly large.

Quick look at Nova shows a 3 guard lineup.  Which is good for us.  Of their 9 starters vs VCU only 4 are forwards/centers and 1 had minimal minutes.  But 2 of those 3 are pretty large guys - one is 6'11, and another while 6'6 is 255 lbs (reminds me of Texas a bit there).  The other forward is 6'7 and 235 so they are going to be tough to move. 

I will be interested to see what Beilein does with this 6'11 dude - I assume Donnal continues to start but only Doyle seems to have the bulk to really match up.  Donnal seems 'svelte' for his size even if he doesnt weigh much less than Doyle.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82301

DingoBlue

November 25th, 2014 at 1:28 AM ^

Very tough.  I can't say I'm expecting or even hopeful of a win.  But I am hopeful of a great learning opportunity for the freshmen of both a tournament schedule and skill growth.

Joined: 02/21/2012

MGoPoints: 1328

DingoBlue

November 25th, 2014 at 1:40 AM ^

But they looked very capable of a great half-time adjustment against VCU.  Even though I think now that VCU is perpetually overranked early season because of their First Four - Final Four run (kudos to that team though for what it accomplished).

Joined: 02/21/2012

MGoPoints: 1328

DingoBlue

November 25th, 2014 at 1:46 AM ^

Every single game in basketball is a separate game.  That said, I think the safer bet will be on Nova's size and experience.

We have a chance, but it's going to take a stellar outing from Walton, LeVert, and Irvin to make it happen.  I know Irvin and LeVert played a lot today.

Edit: I will say I think if we were playing against VCU tomorrow, we would perform similarly to Villanova.  We can handle pressure defense pretty well.

Joined: 02/21/2012

MGoPoints: 1328

UMgradMSUdad

November 25th, 2014 at 2:11 AM ^

 One of "Oregon's multiple bouncy 6'6" guys crashing the boards" that got mentioned in the open thread, Dillon Brooks, is a Freshman who had 7 boards and scored 14 points. Oh, and by the way, he's from Mississauga Ontario. Did Michigan completely overlook him in recruiting?  

Joined: 07/02/2011

MGoPoints: 13178

MGoBlueChip

November 25th, 2014 at 5:06 AM ^

This was a good win - with the typical Coach B team frustration we will see all season - a team without a post star will always get manhandled on the offensive glass and it happened very very often last year it seemed. The freshman (not including Ricky MF Doyle) didn't do much - chatman cannot shoot, donnal plays soft and dj Wilson came in for about 3 seconds committed a dumb foul I think and then never made it back to the floor. Dawkins had a nice dunk. I still liked the win basically playing without Walton and not raining three's.

Joined: 09/28/2011

MGoPoints: 521

Salinger

November 25th, 2014 at 7:35 AM ^

but was surprised to see Bielfeldt with only 3 minutes on the stat line. Not that I'm complaining since it sounds like Doyle had a great game, but I was just curious if anyone cared to speculate on why he got so much run in previous games but then was pretty much marginalized for this game?

My guess is that with the increase in talent w/ regard to competition, JB wanted to stick with his more versitile, athletci players? What say you Mgo community?

Joined: 01/11/2011

MGoPoints: 5409

True Blue Grit

November 25th, 2014 at 9:06 AM ^

His experience down low could have helped get some more defensive rebounds, since the freshmen couldn't get it done.  Donnal needs to REALLY pick up his game very soon - especially in regard to scoring in the paint and rebounding.  Oregon had way too many uncontested offensive rebounds in this game.  Part of the problem of course, is Beilein's unwillingness to put 2 bigs in the lineup at the same time.  Doyle should definitely get more minutes too.  Wilson has a ways to go it looks like.  

Early going, Chatman hasn't been settiing the world on fire.  But with most freshmen, we need to be patient I think for a while.  

Joined: 01/21/2011

MGoPoints: 32234

m1jjb00

November 25th, 2014 at 8:16 AM ^

Maybe.  He looked great.  But, man.  Max looked great prevously.  Coaches must be wondering whose going to start tonight.  It's like they're taking turns.

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 8063

bronxblue

November 25th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^

We'll learn way more about this team tonight against Nova, but it was great to see the team overcome some issues shooting and the obvious rebounding limitations.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171037