Notre Dame 70, Michigan 63
[Joseph Dressler/MGoBlog]
A five-minute scoring drought. A struggling star player. Iffy post play and equally iffy substitution patterns.
Michigan charged out to an early lead against Notre Dame and controlled much of the game. In the end, however, a familiar set of problems cost the Wolverines the game and capped the season in unfortunately fitting fashion.
Zak Irvin couldn't recreate his recent late-game magic, missing the potential game-tying three-pointer from the top of the key after a discombobulated final possession. Irvin finished the game 4/16 from the field and 1/9 from long range. Derrick Walton temporarily broke out of his shooting slump with a 4/7 first half and looked on his way to a great all-around game; he crashed to a halt in the second, going 0/6 from the field over the final 20 minutes.
The short version, via FiveThirtyEight.
For Notre Dame, forwards Zach Auguste and Bonzie Colson each went 4/5 from the field. Michigan's best counter to them in the post, Moe Wagner, hit all three of his shots but played only eight minutes; a questionable charge call for his fourth foul swung the momentum and quite possibly the game in favor of the Irish. The foul negated a Wagner layup that would've given Michigan a two-point lead with 5:39 to play; when Wagner finally reentered with 1:01 on the clock, Notre Dame had a three-point lead and the ball. In the interim, Mark Donnal blew a critical layup.
Clutch late shots by VJ Beachem (game-high 18 points, 7/7 FG) on the perimeter and Colson in the paint gave the Irish the margin they needed to advance. Michigan will be left to wonder: What if John Beilein gave Wagner a longer leash or at least played him ahead of Ricky Doyle? What if Irvin and Walton could play well in the same game? What if MAAR shifted to the point instead of sticking at the two while the team went two scoreless minutes with Andrew Dakich running the offense? What if that official called a block? We now have a long offseason to ponder the answers.
On the plus side, Michigan didn't lose to a 15-seed today.
I'm ashamed of the goddamned negativity around here. Our team - minus two senior leaders - managed to scrape their way in the tournament, win their play in game, and as a clear 11-seed underdog took their 6-seed opponent down to the wire in the tournament. And yet people bitch and moan.
Honestly was the first game I watched all year. There were problems, yes. Deficiencies, yes. But I don't get the handwringing around here. Y'all talk as if this team is awful. It's not. It was good, but not great. It had clear deficiencies. And with 0 seniors, it was inexperienced and thin at key psitions. Walton was pretty bad last night in teh 2nd half but the team was asking too much of one guy all year.
It did pretty good considering all of that, and it's shocking at how many people just do not understand that. Yes, we should expect more. And we will...NEXT YEAR. This year, they did probably about as well as they could have.
I mean, Jesus people. This is a coach that took Michigan out of it's funk as a program and into a championship game, and it's shocking how many of you have just given up.
That's my one and only basketball snowflake of the year. I'm proud of the team for fighting. I'm not proud at all of the (seeming) majority of commenters on this blog. Your expectations are way out of whack.
A thousand upvotes. Were it possible.
We've been saying this about the bigs for the past 9 years.
Beielin ain't changing. It is what it is at this point.
Inexplicably awful post recruitng.
I honestly doubt whether you've watched this team for nine years.
March 21st, 2016 at 11:05 AM ^
I honestly don't give a fuck what you think. Mmm k pumpkin?
March 21st, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^
No, but they can tell a player to call a timeout....
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I've been surprised by the various comments that Michigan didn't seem prepared for ND's switch from zone to man coverage in the second half. Given Michigan's success against the zone in the first half, I assumed that ND would try something else in the second half and would have thought our coaches would have anticipated that.
That led me to think more broadly about Michigan's second half adjustments. It seems to me that there were a number of times when when needed a good start to a second half and simply didn't get it (e.g., Purdue) or needed to maintain a lead and couldn't (e.g., ND) because the other team seemed to make adjustments when we didn't.
Can/has anyone done a systematic look at how we do after half-times? What if we looked at how Michigan did in its games in the first five minutes of the second half and/or up to the first TV time out in the second half to see if there is a pattern here?
March 21st, 2016 at 10:55 PM ^
I know it's a cliche but "wait till next year". That will be the year to judge coach Beilein by - no excuses, but the ceiling is very very high.
At the 1. Walton is going to be extremely experienced, and lets face it he is good. Instead of Dakich providing minutes when Walton needs a rest it will Xavier Simpson (see video at bottom) Mr. Basketball Ohio, 30 pt average, at 5'11" was the best player in the state, dominating for the D1 state runner-up. UM should have the best point gaurd minutes in the country.
At the 2. MAAR who came on as UM's best dribble drive guy in years. He will be big time experienced next year, and hopefully coach B better uses his unique skills. Walton/MAAR/Simpson should be the best backcourt in B1G. If Dawkins played minutes he would be a better than average B1G shooting guard too.
At the 3. A super experienced Zak Irvin should be a much better than average shooting small forward. Seems to have discovered he's at his best shooting 2 pointers with unique shooting form. Robinson should be a 3 but may get minutes at the 4 - he showed he's more than a shooter and should actually shoot better next year. 3 star Ibi Watson probably redshirts.
At the 4. We have the volume with some experience. I'd like to see Wagner get minutes there - that's the highest upside. Chatman and or D.J. could contribute with the additional experience - both, but especially Chatman, flashed upside. Coach B may want to play an actual second big at the 4 given the roster and the fact everyone else in the country does.
At the 5. I'm probably higher on 3 star 6' 10" Davis than most anyone. Given his senior year stats I see him immediately starting. (23 out of 24 double doubles)
http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/austin-davis/u-EVYBkPEeS00gAmVebEWg/gen…
If not Davis then there's at least an improving, experienced Donnal. Big men get better with experience and he is trending up. I see him making more 3's, and maybe just maybe dunking rather than the finesse finger tip rolls. 4 Star Teske at 7'1" or 7'2" is still growing. If he doesn't redshirt and plays well enough to demand minutes then we are in the unprecedented situation of too many bigs. Doyle with all his experience will not see a lot of minutes.
Not sure there's enough scholarships but Spike could request another year - he might want to be part of what may happen next year - Walton/Spike/Xavier what point guard play that would be!! Walton won't have the bad minutes due to tired legs.
Simpson is #5 on Lima in the following video:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIO2nvBWJlwAYx00nIlQ…--?p=Lima+Senior+Vs.+Westerville+High+School&vid=86488d691955696fcde84f7ee30c66f5&turl=http%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVS.421542694253%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D168%26w%3D300%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPkeOt3FTT9I&tit=HS+Basketball+%7C+Lima+Se…
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