Wisconsin AARRRGGGHHH, Michigan FFFFUUUUUUU
Halftime stats on the left, final stats on the right, via scacchoops.com
If you're expecting a reasoned, informative recap of the game, I highly recommend stopping right now and looking elsewhere.
Still here? If so, you are either in search of schadenfreude or have a remarkably strong will to make your life miserable.
Michigan lost to Wisconsin 68-59 in a complete abomination of a "basketball" game. The halftime box score resembles something from a middle school junior varsity game in which all the players are blackout drunk. The Wolverines held a three-point lead at the break, courtesy of Wisconsin's inability to hit anything (5/29 from the field). The Badgers made it appear, momentarily, like Michigan had discovered how to play defense.
Then the second half began, and the Wolverines remained stagnant on offense while entirely forgetting how to guard the perimeter. After hitting 2/13 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, Wisconsin connected on 6/9 three-pointers in the second—most of their looks came without so much as a hand in the shooter's general vicinity, let alone a legitimate contest.
Trey Burke did his best to stop the bleeding, scoring 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Tim Hardaway Jr. (14 points, 5/9 FGs) admirably returned from a sprained ankle to knock down a couple big shots. Nobody else cracked double digits, however, and any semblance of an offense rapidly devolved into the "Trey, go do something" strategy. Burke was forced to jack up 15 shots in the final 20 minutes; no other Wolverine attempted more than four.
Major culprits included, well, pretty much everyone. Ryan Evans scored nine of his 13 in the second half, abusing Glenn Robinson III and Hardaway down low—Robinson struggled so much that Spike Albrecht took his spot in the lineup down the stretch. Jordan Morgan started but played just eight horrible minutes, turning the ball over three times, completely unable to hold onto the basketball. Nik Stauskas went 1/8 from the field. Burke had an uncharacteristic four turnovers, though given the circumstances it's difficult to lay much blame on him.
A guy who shoots free-throw jump shots, a redheaded Art Garfunkel, and Ben "#@*#$@" Brust combined for 28 second-half points, going 4/8 from two and a perfect 5/5 from three. If there's a College Hoops Fan Hell, it is watching that game on a continuous loop while Bo Ryan waves the last bottle of whiskey in existence in your face, refusing to let you drown your sorrows.
Michigan will still play in the NCAA tournament, of course, and there's even a chance that I'm willing to watch basketball by then. They won't play Wisconsin, mercifully.
F*** Wisconsin.
is " Burke was FORCED to jack up 15 shots in final 20 minutes..." I love Trey but he needs to cut the 'heroball' down about 33%.When we cut the Wis 10 point lead down to 2 (thanks to a pair of 3balls by THJ) THJ didn't see the ball again til it was to late (hint for coach B-how bout a called play for the hot hand?) Trey is great but lacks the knack for finding the hot hand and making the other 4 guys better.THJ & Nik go long stretches without touches,that's on Trey and Coach B.
March 16th, 2013 at 10:33 AM ^
Trey, THJ, GRIII all need to commit a charge per game.
Also, I'd liked to have seen this lineup:
Burke, THJ, GRIII, McGary, Morgan
I think it would have been helpful when Bo Ryan went with the "inside out" strategy. GRIII was getting abused by Evans, and Beilein never adjusted until it was too late.
This loss, while annoying, isn't worthy of the "100% worst thing ever tag." The Big Ten Tournament's not that big of a deal. We come away from the BTT in the same position we started, as a likely #3 seed in the tourney.
we're 6-6 in last dozen games and our flaws are becoming obvious, even to the most optimist fans.
I'm not saying all is fine and well, but if you dare to click on the "100% worst thing ever" tag, you'll see that this game isn't in the same league as the other horrors with that tag.
Not 100% worst thing ever....hell last Sundays FT meltdown was far worse
1. GRIII can't hit free throws consistently
2. All our Bigs have trouble holding onto the ball in the paint
3. Trey Burke is trying too hard to do too much
4. Not good enough defense down low
5. No toughness
6. Not enough leadership
It is what it is.
Rebounding
March 15th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
Unless Michigan plans on leaving the Big Ten, they need bigger players and those bigger players need to learn to defend the post.
I had it taped was but then saw a telling text. Oh well. My night was not wasted. Glad I missed. Without watching anything let me take a guess on some of its elements. Crtical point for the program and everyone needs to be accountable.
Brandon - Is Beilin the guy to take this talent to an el ite level? Doubtful.
Beilin - What can you do to stop being outcoached? Most teams improve as the season progresses. Future doubtful
Burke - NBA talent. Are you a leader? or a ball hog. Take a lead from the football team and stick around and be a leader.
Team - Young. Not experienced. Every player has multiple weaknesses that need to be addressed.
Hello Spring football. Bball is over for this unless you want to waste your free time. Go Blue! I'm behind you but this program has way too many holes. Assume if I watched the game I find more facts to support why I'm looking ahead.
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I know this was a frustrating loss, espcially in contrast to last years Novak/Douglus gritty overachievers. So for those who say Beilin cannot teach defense what about last year? This was one of the youngest teams in all of college basketball with five freshmen in the nine man rotation. We also knew that all of the freshmen were incomplete projects. Staukus could shoot but little else, Robinson was a late bloomer, McGatry was way overrated and raw as an offensive player.
There are certain kinds of freshmen who are polished players and are obvious one and done products that are only in college because the NBA will not let them go directly to GO. None of our frosh fit that description.
I am also frustrated as I must admit I do not like the current character of this team. But expecting Beilin to have a final4 contender with such a young unseasoned team is unreasonable. No one else could have done better. If this group of freshmen are playing like this two years from now, then we can say Beilin has a problem.
We get so spoiled and expect teenagers to be a finished product. I remember the first fab 5 of Relford, Wade, Tarpley, Jokich, and Henderson. Even with Eric Turner they were not so hot with Eric Turner leading the way either. Its crazy that we say an offensive linemen is not worth poop until is 3rd year in the program and now we demand late bloomers and hidden gems to perfect their first year.
Given the way our recruiting has gone, I'm not too worried about our future talent level. We may be talking about Irvin, Walton et al the way we talk about Burke, GRIII, and the rest right now.
Burke may be very hard to replace individually, but it's also possible that in the future, we won't have to be so dependent on one guy.
Only the most polished are the supefreaks go the first couple years. No one on this roster is remotely close to a one and doner. We had the good or perhaps misfortune of losing two PG's after two years. Looking at what Moris has done in the NBA I question his decision to go early. Not sure how well Burke will do.
What I can say is I doubt there any more one and doners on this current roster. Robinson has major problems everywhere. He currently is the guy with the really deep voice who wants to go into radio and freezes up. He will be back at Michigan in 2015 unless he is a fool and an NBA team is even more foolish. Ditto on McGary and Staukus.
So I feel pretty good that we will have more experience the next couple years. And then if those experienced players are making the same mistakes then we can fault the coach.
Soft teams don't make it past the sweet 16
Soft teams don't win championships
Soft teams lose games they should win and win games they should lose
This is a soft team and I am still happy to be a fan
Div. 1 BB teams that excel with three or more freshmen playing the minutes Michigan does are extremely rare. In the NCAA tournament junior-senior laden teams far more commonly meet or exceed expectations.
March 16th, 2013 at 12:31 PM ^
March 16th, 2013 at 11:34 AM ^
Beilein is a very, very good coach.
People are overreacting. Michigan's struggles this year happened after their only experienced post defender (Morgan) got hurt. His defensive movement of late has been pretty poor. On offense, he lost the ability to finish he had early in the year. Watch the first few minutes of each of the last three games and it is obvious he is playing nowhere near the level he played before the injury.
A lot of our losses were close. A completely healthy Morgan and I believe we beat Wisconsin at Wisconsin, Penn State at Penn State, Indiana at home and we win the Big Ten Championship outright.
About the bitching on how our bigs get abused. Well, Michigan chooses not to constantly double-down when the ball comes inside. They often protect the passing lanes to prevent kick-outs for open looks or to cutters. So, you will see a lot of opponent's bigs handle Michigan's bigs one-on-one. You also see some missed assignments anyways where a cutter beats a defender to the lane for an easy two. That is not scheme, it is mostly lack of recognition due to inexperience.
About the bitching on rebounding. We rebounded right with Wisconsin yesterday. Our poor rebounding games have been against State and Indiana. Two teams that are just a lot bigger and more mature then Michigan. Beilien finally went with two bigs in the Penn State game and it paid off. I thought he should have that against Wisconsin yesterday as well.
Hopefully, a week of rest will help Morgan's ankle and confidence. His play is the key to going deep into the tournament.
Beiline is RIchRodian because the structure of his offensive and defensive philosophies are similar to that of Rich Rod. When we were losing by a few points to Wisconsin in the closing minutes, what was the strategy? We played 4 guards and Mitch McGary. We went extremely small... and that small lead Wisconsin was enjoying turned into an insurmountably devistating lead. Beiline tried to do something that would help us take the game back, but ultimately made things far worse.
The standard philosophy Beiline has is to put three guards on the court at all times and make 3-point shots to win games. This is equivalent to Rich Rod playing small fast guys and getting them in space to make big plays. It's the same philosphy. Defensively, it's much of the same as well. We are trying to trap a lot and get turnovers so we can convert them to fast-break points. I like that idea but it can't be the foundation of your offensive production.
I really believe we need to change the way we think about basketball in Ann Arbor. What we are doing now is not going to work. We need three big men on the court at all times. We need to play help defense and contest more shots, especially in the paint. We need to push the court and run the fast-break when the opportunity arrises but we shouldn't build our offensive on that idea. What our offense needs to consist of is our point guard driving into the lane, pulling double teams, and kicking the ball out to a shooter or a big man in the post who is open for a dunk.
This is what Larry Brown did as the coach of the Pistons. The Pistons weren't good because they had the best athletes on the floor. They were good because this strategy works. You need a foundation in defense and an offense that can create open looks by creating number disadvantages for the other team.
At least we're not the only team that can't beat Wisconsin. Indiana just got Bo Ryan'd also.
Bo Ryan's a heck of a coach. He's 11-0 against Crean.
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