SILVER LININGS WOOO Comment Count

Brian

2/27/2013 – Michigan 78, Penn State 84 – 23-5, 10-5 Big Ten

SuperMarioVsPSU[1]

zero: searching "Penn State Michigan" on google image search gives you all stuff like this

ONE! Though I compared Penn State to Gopherquest, I did not start a NittanyQuest. Therefore I have not wasted a lot of effort and brought disaster on the basketball team with hubris.

TWO! Vegas lines will adjust to something that is more in line with reasonable expectations for the tourney.

THREE! butt

FOUR! Now not making the Final Four will be okay, if it comes to that. We'll all be like "okay, Sweet Sixteen or whatever pretty good, program keeps moving in the right direction let's get some age up in here."

FIVE! Pat Chambers is having a pretty good day, and he seems like a nice dude.

SIX! why do i have these sores all over my body

SEVEN! If you don't remember what you did I'm pretty sure you can't be prosecuted for it. Michigan's defense in this game should start hitting itself on the head with mallets tout suite.

EIGHT! I was going to be out of town for that Indiana game anyway.

NINE! Kenpom stopped doing his weekly recaps so I don't have to see Michigan featured in both the "biggest upset" and "unlikeliest comeback" categories.

In related news, FUUUUUUU

image

That doesn't start moving off of 90% Michigan win until the game tied, at which point Kenpom thought Michigan was… 80% likely to win.

TEN! In this trying time I have discovered a terrific support group of people who will come through for me in the event that I become addicted to heroin to forget this game.

ELEVEN! that aint even close to true im just talking about my wifes cats one of whom is a dick

TWELVE! I am fulsome in the glow of life today. Yea, truly the miracle of my existence is made clear, because now I can compare that to something precisely as unlikely as random chemicals coming together in a self-sustaining, evolving process that leads to intelligent life in a empty, cold, hostile universe full of nuclear explosions and little else.

THIRTEEN! The team shot 66% from two!

FOURTEEN! I have a job that is rather flexible when it comes to hours kept, so I did not have to wake up at seven this morning to go into work. This would have been awkward because I was boxing a donkey at that time.

FIFTEEN! Allegedly boxing a donkey.

SIXTEEN! Officer, I have never seen that donkey in my life, nor did I kick its donkey ass six ways to Sunday at seven AM, but if I had I would like you to trust my judgment as to how necessary this alleged vicious beating was.

SEVENTEEN! It may have been Tom Zbikowski in fact.

EIGHTEEN! Basketball is stupid anyway, and is for stupids, and this is not at all a reaction to the events presented me. I am totally in control of my brain.

NINETEEN! also butt

BULLETS

So… that happened. The offense was basically fine except for some crappy three-point shooting and excessive turnovers. Kenpom shows Burke with six(!), which seems vastly wrong. As mentioned, they shot 66% from two, and against Penn State 1.13 PPP should be enough to win the game. /Northwestern 2000'd

The defense. Jebus. Even if you want to set aside the 50% three-point shooting, which you probably shouldn't since Jermaine Marshall didn't have a bad look, Michigan forced just nine turnovers and put Penn State on the line 27(!!!) times to their 20. Jordan Morgan's return did little to staunch the bleeding; it was in fact Morgan going gonzo trapping a guy who shoots 44%/25% that opened up many of the floodgates.

I'm sure that Morgan was told to do this. I don't have any idea why. Those traps did nothing except force Michigan to play 4 on 3 once they were broken, as they always were. This led to fouls and open threes. It's asinine. It is a Tubby Smith substitution pattern. Morgan is outside the three point line—way outside—and this unbalances the defense to such an extent that it's almost impossible to recover. The alternative is a softer hedge that maybe gives up a pull-up jumper more often but… this is Newbill we're talking about. That's a shot you're trying to get.

Meanwhile, Stauskas caused Beilein to channel Bo Ryan momentarily. As I've been saying for a while, Michigan's lack of fouling is actually a symptom of a passive defense that does not force the issue much. Stauskas is the king of not fouling, and that's to the team's detriment. He could have put a Penn State player on the line in transition; instead he just got out of the way and gave up the layup.

In this one we got the passivity (9 TOs for PSU) and put the opponent on the line.

Zone. Michigan should have at least tried to go zone in the first half when Penn State was shredding that hedge. Penn State is not good at basketball and teams like that tend to have no idea what to do when they are faced with a different defense. Sticking with man to man seemed like a thing Michigan was trying to practice in the home game against Penn State; here it ended up costing them.

The wrong direction. Michigan's defense is definitively headed in it. That doesn't make sense given the youth of the team—they should be improving faster than more veteran outfits. The Morgan injury may have something to do with it, but he played 24 minutes in this one and Michigan still got torched. The problems are many.

Comments

yoyo

February 28th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^

Stauskus's defensive woes go way beyond not fouling.  He rarely helps.  I've never seen him step up to take a charge.  He gets caught watching other players instead of his own allowing them to get open without the ball.  It's infuriating.

UMaD

February 28th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^

This is the first sign that MGoBlog is willing to look at Stauskas as anything but the epitome of what Basketball should be. Despite the premature hero-worship here, Stauskas is and has been a defensive liability to extent that his 3 point shooting and blouse-wearing may not be enough to offset.  Michigan needs him to grow, but we may have to 'wait til next year'.

This is where this team could really use Stu Douglas - a perimeter defender to lead (by example) and point kids in the right direction when they mess up.  Instead we get learn-from-your-mistakes - of which there are plenty for the freshman.  Hardaway could and maybe should be playing the leadership role, but his skill set and role have dictated he do other things until this year.

It's a shame that there isn't another veteran or that Vogrich isn't something more than what he is.

True Blue Grit

February 28th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^

Unfortunately, all the senior guys who'd normally be providing it, get almost zero minutes per game (McLimans, Akunne, and Vogrich).  Those are the guys who'd normally be kicking the butts of the freshmen and sophomores to get them to play better D.  It's hard though for guys who are not playing much at all to tell guys who are they should be playing better.  Maybe one day Michigan will have a more balanced roster where we actually have senior starters again.  

Blue and Joe

February 28th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^

Something I don't like about college basketball is how it takes a long time to really figure out how good a team is. I still believe Michigan is a good team, but we are finally discovering that they are not the world beaters we thought they were. That being said, the Big Ten is brutal. I still like our chances against other teams on nuetral courts.

UMaD

February 28th, 2013 at 12:15 PM ^

preseason ranks are typcially a better predictor of postseason success than late-season results.  The midseason world-beaters thing came from an inflated record but they hadn't played many elite teams yet.

I'd argue that this team is pretty much exactly what it was expected to be before the season started.  Maybe Burke is a little better than we thought but other than that - no real surprises, right?

jg2112

February 28th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^

Regarding the defense:

This is the first time the freshmen are likely playing legitimate defense in their lives, and it clearly shows. AAU ball is not known for its defensive fundamental development.

Furthermore, there is almost no time to improve on these fundamentals during the season. In-season off-time is mostly left to recovery and game-planning for the next team. To expect them to improve on skills they don't possess is just not realistic. They improve on defense from March - November.

Give Beilein this offseason to help these youngsters process what they've been through, and work on defensive positional and team play, and I think they can improve to at least being average by next season.

Arizona Blue

February 28th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^

I was just about to make this point. The problem with the defense is not one question of athletic ability but mental awareness. This team has no fucking clue how to play team defense and how to anticipate the next pass. We slide way too late and are softer than ice cream when someone tries to put a body on us...our half court d is fucking horrible and the only thing that will make it better is pain and time and more pain.

 

Bluegoose

February 28th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^

We have no heart; we are not tough enough; we did not (cannot) finish. With 2.4 seconds left against Wisconsin (it seems like quite a while back now), Michigan's season ended. Once the defense goes, and it seems to just completely go away, the offense is instantly in a dither and lost as well.

They had a chance to win out, and now I cannot see how they avoid losing out. Scratch it off to the fact that they are so young (their best player is just in his second year for crying out loud), or to the fact the freshmen have hit the mental if not physical wall....whatever...but I just don't see how it isn't over.

Ho hum.

The Squid

February 28th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^

I really hate this No-Heart crap. As if the team was insufficiently interested in winning a Big Ten title or would have won the game if they'd just tried a little harder. This despite the obvious problem that they don't know how to play good defense. The No-Heart Theory says that they know how to play defense but just can't be bothered, which I think is really insulting to a bunch of kids who work harder than any of us probably know.

(Yes, I know Burke said it. He was angry and said something pat get his inteview over with. I'll bet he's taking it one game at a time and is just glad to be here too.)

 

M-Wolverine

February 28th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^

But, yeah, I think if they tried a little harder they could have won THAT game. I mean, this thread alone goes over Nik Stauskas and his lackadaisical defense.  And he's hardly the only one. To say "they just don't know how" is a poor excuse. They've almost completed a full season, and it isn't the first time they've played basketball. We're not talking about why they're not shutting out the Hoosiers; it's why they can't keep the worst team in the league from setting season offensive highs.

mGrowOld

February 28th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^

TWENTY:  I no longer even the least bit worried or upset that my company has scheduled a dinner for customers the evening of April 6th followed up by a trade show running through April 8th in Philadelphia that I am expected to attend.

At one time I thought I might want to be in Atlanta during those dates.  Not anymore.

Willhouse

February 28th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ^

Blergh.

I am still not ready to give up on this team, but this loss is more confusing and concerning than the MSU beatdown. Up 15 with 10 mins left, and this happens? Where is the killer instinct?

I saw a poster mention a few days ago that Michigan team's - both in football and basketball - lack that killer instinct to crush opponents, and lack that hate for MSU and OSU that fuels them do so well against us.

Are we recruiting kids that are just too passive? too nice? Where is the fire? the anger? the spark? Even Burke was saying that the team showed no heart. WITH A CONFERENCE TITLE AND NO 1 SEED TO PLAY FOR!! How can that be? Is this on the coach for not instilling that in them?

These questions will be answered in the next few weeks, I suppose.

profitgoblue

February 28th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^

I've always felt that way about football and it appears as though basketball joined up as well.  It is infuriating to watch games that should be blowouts turn into close games and/or losses.  I'm not sure what it is.  Football always found ways to keep inferior teams hanging around, close enough to strike and it burned them several times.  Its definitely frustrating and it seems to me like the truly great teams do not seem to suffer from this same infliction.

switch26

February 28th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^

My dad and I were discussing this the other day during the ILL game.. It seems everytime we get up on an average team or poor team we just let them hang around and hang around..

 

Once michigan went up 15 or whatever when they hit those back to back 3's they just fuckin gave up... everyone just stood around waiting for burke to do it all..  Then stauskas for some reason was handling the ball and turns it over for an easy basket.  I knew it was over at that point..

Kilgore Trout

February 28th, 2013 at 11:58 AM ^

And that is likely to hold true even more this year when there really isn't a top of the line dominant team out there. As long as UM can do well enough to get placed in Auburn Hills, I don't think there's a huge difference between a 1,2, or 3 seed. I don't think a Final Four run is out of the question.

jg2112

February 28th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^

They certainly can if they regroup. Teams get hot through the playoffs every single year even though the ground level view of one loss might make you feel bad.

They only need to win 4 to get to the Final Four. What team have you seen this year that is a shoe-in to do that? Anything can happen.

jamiemac

February 28th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^

I tweeted this out, but bears repeating here

Penn St, TCU and South Florida all have just one league win apiece

And they came against Michigan, Kansas and Georgetown.

It was a choke job, but also something that isnt that unusual within the CBB world. It reminded me of how IU crapped a game away at Nebraska last year. That loss didnt stunt the progression of IU's program. Nor will this loss put a stop to Michigan's hoop Renaissance

WolvinLA2

February 28th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^

Wrong. If you read any threads last night you'll know that life is over as we know it, anyone associated with Michigan basketball sucks or is an asshole and it's a goddamn miracle the sun even came up this morning. Michigan fans in Hawaii aren't even sure of that yet.

VintageBlue

February 28th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^

Thank you Dude.

Despite the perspectivityness of your post, I prefer to reside in the camp of the other Lebowski, the millionaire, where indeed everything is f!cked and the plane has crashed into the mountian.

jamiemac

February 28th, 2013 at 1:01 PM ^

But all we need to do is look at recent NCAA Tournies for hope.

LVille lost four of 6 to close the regular season last year. Made the Final 4

UConn lost 4 of 5 and 7 of 10 to close the regular season in 2011. Won it all.

VCU lost 4 of 5 to close 2011 regular season. Made the Final 4

MSU lost to NW and Penn St at home in 2009. Made the title game

 

M-Wolverine

February 28th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^

But teams are really always just turning it on by the start of the NCAA's.

Louisville was the Big East Tourney Champ and won 4 in a row going into the Tournament.

UConn was the Big East Tourney Champ, and won 5 in a row going into the Tournament.

2008-2009 MSU did lose to those teams. They could afford to. They won the Big Ten by 4 games.

So, yeah, I'd rather follow them than the VCU model.

ChelseaRick

February 28th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^

Can last night's loss actually be a good thing?  Yeah it was embarrassing and made me angry enough to turn it off with 4 minutes to go in order to save my 50" from having the remote thrown through it.  BUT, if they learn from this, if THJ and Trey take control of this team in the locker room because of this game...  Trey said they lack heart.  Maybe our starting back court will use this to spark the team, just in time for our biggest bball enemy. Maybe THJ will turn into Novak and instill heart and determination.   I think last night's loss could be the tinder that sparks the flame.  Maybe I'm just hopeful. 

Belisarius

February 28th, 2013 at 12:15 PM ^

For whatever reason, I've been pretty at peace with this. Usually a loss would send me into a funk, but not this time.

This particular silver lining, however is not why. If they were going to learn from abject humiliation, they would have gotten their act together after the Michigan State game...or in the week layover before Illinois. What we have is what we have. Nothing is going to change before the end of the season.