#10 Texas tech v #11 W Virgini

Submitted by MGoOhNo on January 25th, 2021 at 9:37 PM

Two highly-ranked teams playing what amounts to an ugly pre-high school, club-level style of basketball is so hard to watch after experiencing UM’s run through the Big10.
 

Really makes you appreciate the coaching and quality at UM and in the conference.

Dribble air out of ball. One pass. Recipient makes one move. Chucks it up. And that’s only when they’re not trying to run out AAU style on every miss. Woof.

Only 14 more days of this...but at least we can eat outside at restaurants again in LA! Of course it’s 45 degrees and rainy this week, but small victories.

 

 

mwolverine1

January 25th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^

These types of teams are very athletic and compete defensively. Looking at Torvik, TX Tech is #7 nationally in takeaway % and #5 in free throw rate. West VA is #8 in offensive rebounding %. All areas where Michigan struggles. Don't assume these teams aren't any good just because they don't play the same way as Michigan.

Joined: 11/23/2009

MGoPoints: 13592

bronxblue

January 26th, 2021 at 12:02 AM ^

Yeah, both of these teams are basically defense-first outfits so I'm not surprised they would have different styles.  They both have top-30 offenses per KenPom as well as Torvik, so it's not quite as bad as people are describing them.  That said, I do feel like the Big 12 gets a lot of "they are so athletic" talk similar to how SEC teams are talked up in football despite ample evidence that teams from other conferences are just as athletic.  Like, Baylor is a very athletic team full of experienced, older players, but Texas Tech and West Virginia aren't quite in that class physically.  Michigan, in my opinion, is underrated athletically because they are so smooth that it almost looks effortless on offense, yet I'd put this starting 5 against virtually any other unit in the country and expect them to be able to make a lot of plays on both ends of the court.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171745

mwolverine1

January 26th, 2021 at 7:57 AM ^

Michigan is #3 for a reason. We're really good and I would take our team against any other too. And I prefer our style of play to the TX Tech style of play. But just because we're good doesn't mean other teams aren't.

And other conferences generally recruit better than the Big 10, so it's not surprising they're considered more athletic. Michigan's 2021 class is the first Big 10 class to be in the Top 5 since MSU's 2016 class (Miles Bridges, Cassius Winston, Josh Langford, Nick Ward class). I predicted that Juwan Howard would be the best recruiter in the Big 10, but that was mostly because I didn't consider it a particularly high bar. He has exceeded expectations easily. With Michigan's recruiting prowess combined with the schematic and skill focus, the future is bright.

Joined: 11/23/2009

MGoPoints: 13592

outsidethebox

January 26th, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^

Both teams are solid-not discounting them...they would challenge Michigan aplenty. However, objectively Michigan is better-perhaps even significantly better. 88-87. Michigan allowed 82 points its first game of this season-none since...and it is likely neither of these two would reach 70 on our favorite team. I do not see either of these two limiting Michigan's inside-outside balanced attack to under 80.

Joined: 01/23/2017

MGoPoints: 18816

FireUpChips

January 25th, 2021 at 11:18 PM ^

Don’t forget what Texas Tech did to us a few years ago with a terrible offense... This Michigan team would run circles around that team but still. 

Joined: 12/06/2020

MGoPoints: 7645

4godkingandwol…

January 25th, 2021 at 11:54 PM ^

For those interested, another terrible game is ASU - Arizona. Arizona looks okay, but ASU is god awful. Watching to see Josh Christopher. He’s having a pretty rough game though his season stats aren’t bad. The quality of play is just horrible for him and his team. 

Joined: 08/06/2008

MGoPoints: 31309