2022/23 Basketball vs 2021/22 basketball at this point- No need to panic!

Panicking? Who's panicking? I'm not panicking. Are you panicking?

I agree with what you're saying. We're seeing a young team grow up before our eyes. Hunter is getting doubled and tripled quite a bit now. The key to the season so far is if the kick-out pass results in enough made buckets.

This fan base is notorious for writing off the basketball team.... This is an annual occurrence, dating back to the Coach B days.   Through January and early Feb. the team consistently improved, hitting their stride around big 10 tourny time and then making a run in March.

Very young roster, they'll improve and finish the season strong, at least that's what typically happens.

GO BLUE

I am panicked and have been... Why? Cause I do not think we are a very well coached team at this point in time. Some of that may be youth. Having said that Howard needs credit for Bufkin's improvement which is very visible at this point in the season. He has come a long ways, Howard needs credit for a true freshmen holding down PG duties admirably with low turnover rate. He needs criticism for our PG roster and overall roster management in the last year. Maybe Frankie and the Shannon things are out of his control leading to some of these struggles. We have been renting PG's for years and in a game where guard play wins and especially wins in the post season we need more in that area. I thought this team was cooked after the Iowa meltdown. Really thought that was the start to a deep slide but credit needs given where its due. They came back and battled especially Bufkin after a horrible finish in that game which can rattle a young guard. They are slowly getting me to nibble on the hook again.... 

Jett Howard is at 40.2% from 3 after a blistering 7-13 against Iowa and 4/6 against Northwestern

It will be very interesting to see how Dug improves this year. Last year Devante Jones really started playing well towards the end of big ten play and that helped us get over the hump. Dug will almost certainly improve over his career, but in order for Michigan to make the jump into a sweet 16 contender they are going to need consistent improvement from Dug. 

Neither the Minnesota loss nor the UCF loss were as bad as the CMU loss. Both of them finished last year around 100th or so on kenpom while CMU is currently about 280th. Had last year’s team had that bad of a loss on its resume, they would have at least been in a play-in game if not out of the tourney altogether.

Right now, Michigan isn’t even one of the first 8 out on Lunardi’s bracket. Kentucky is his 7th team out. Michigan needs to win a bunch of games to just get on the bubble.

I love the freshman class they are exceeding my expectations as far as impact on the game. The wins will come i know they will this next 10 game stretch is key. The only issue is our best non-conference win is pitt and we have a loss to central that is worse than what we had last season and could leave us out of the dance

Oh, sure, I go and clear the shelves at Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork to make sure that I'm ready for the rest of the basketball season and NOW you tell me that I DON'T need to panic?

T'anks for nuttin'.

Hunter looks complacent. Williams looks disinterested. Baker and Cheddar need more minutes. They need to sort out their crunch time execution. 

don't tell me what to do. I am going pull panic mode until selection sunday.

Without going back and verifying this, I also feel our scores last year were way more lopsided than they have been this year.  Although the team has not looked that great so far this year, we have had several very close losses.  If this continues to happen, then we are obviously going to have a subpar year, but I believe our team is improving and will turn a lot of the close losses that happened early in the season to wins in the 2nd half of the season.  Or this is all just wishful thinking.  I wise man once said "no man knows the future."  Go Blue!

I agree it's not time to panic but for me it's because me expectations going into this season weren't all that high to start with.  Losing two starters to the NBA and the transfer portal changed the dynamic of this team dramatically before the season even started and then we promptly went out and lost our starting PG for the season to injury making a thin position even thinner. I will say I've been dissapointed in Hunter's effort in some games but I dont know if that's due to physical issues he's dealing with or something else.

Looking at the remaining schedule I have us going 18-13 overall, 12-8 in B1G,  heading into B1G tourny meaning we're going to need at least one, maybe two wins to be on the right side of the bubble on selection Sunday.  Losing the Iowa, CMU and Virginia game are killers but that's the way she goes.

If Jett wants to be an NBA lottery pick, be needs to learn to go left. He's horribly predictable. 

Nice try but these two teams are totally different and it’s simply not a good comparison. This years roster is badly flawed and it would take a miracle to make the tourney at this point. 

Yes, there's no need to panic.    

If fans on this site had their way, we would have fired Coach Beilein and Harbaugh before their most successful years.  We most likely wouldn't have had the recent Final Four and college football playoff appearances.

Have a little patience with both this young team and Coach Howard. 

They're growing as a team, and it's fun to watch.

Next step: win the games that are decided by a few points.

I believe their tough schedule saved them last year. They don’t have that this year

Not even panicking. More just resignation that this team is not good and the roster is poorly constructed due to internal and external factors. Barring a great run over the next 6 weeks, I don't think the big dance is in the future at this point, so I am just hoping for the NIT.

If we do make it, we're going to be a miserable draw for some team poor dam that is expecting to play a real 12 seed.

just need to go 12-8 in big ten play to have a realistic  chance. i don't see that happening. unfortunately, they blew too many close games they could have easily won. flip a couple of those and they would be well above the bubble line right now.

FIRE BAKICH!!!

Last year we beat San Diego State who was a top 25ish team on Kenpom most of the year and we ourselves were ranked in the 30s even with the losses. We also didn't have a crippling loss like CMU on the resume. We are in a much worse position now then we were then and we were bubble team who had to finish middle of the pack in the conference. 

This year the conference is definitely worse than last year, so there are probably more teams that will toe the line between Q1 and Q2 throughout the year, so finishing with a winning record in the conference is important to even have a shot. I don't think you can argue that this team is in the same spot as last year's team, when they're definitely in a much bigger hole at this point. 

Will the team improve? I think so, I think Kobe and Dug will get better and that will help, but Michigan will remain a mediocre team just like how last year you could tell they were overall average at this point and stayed average the rest of the year.

While they did make the sweet sixteen last year they got probably the best draw to do so of all the double digit seeds. 

I agree with your analysis but I would suggest dropping the non-conference games and look at the 3 point % you highlighted over the 6 conference season games:    

Dug 43%!!   Bufkin 35% and Joey Baker 43%.....plus, Hunder Dickinson 43%, Jett 44%

Last year's team had Twill at 41% as the lone player above 40 over the conference season. 

Now, we just need to get a therapist to hypnotize Hunter and convince him opposing team is wearing Maryland uniforms before each game.

you must be new here.

There are a few reasons I still have concerns:

1) The Big Ten is better than last year.  The depth of quality teams extends to everyone except Minnesota and Nebraska.  And Minnesota ended up going to OSU and winning last week.  There are no gimmes the rest of the way.

2) That Quad 4 loss to CMU - coupled with no Quad 1 wins at the moment is a resume killer.  I believe we are currently the 10th ranked Big Ten team on Kenpom and 50 overall.  I don’t think we were ever this low last year.

3) 6-5 non conference record means we probably need 12 conference wins plus a win in the conference tourney.  That would get us to 19-14 and squarely on the bubble.

4) Roster construction.  We had 3 true guards and one is now out for the season. If anything happens to Bufkin or Dug, the season is over.

5) Our only true road win is over Minnesota.  They are the #175 team on Kenpom last I checked, worst in the Big Ten.  Blew our shot at a huge road win over Iowa last week.  Need to pick up at least one more on the road and win all of our home games just to get to the 19-14 mark I mentioned above.

We’ve dug ourselves a HUGE hole and squandered opportunities for signature wins (could have beat Kentucky or UNC, and should have beaten Virginia).  The reasons for optimism:

1) The youngsters are improving.  Many say we are poorly coached, but I see huge improvements from the freshmen, particularly Dug and Tarris.  Having Tarris develop is huge because he has the quickness to defend pick-and-rolls that Hunter just can’t.  And Tarris can handle switches to smaller, quicker guards much better.

2) Bufkin.  To me, he’s our best overall player.  He may not shoot like Jett when Jett is on, but he is a menace defensively (hands in passing lanes) and he has an advantage being a lefty when he gets by people for bankers off the glass, defenders always seem surprised he’s shooting with his left hand.

3) Hunter.  This is a make or break one.  He hasn’t exactly been terrible, but he also hasn’t been great.  I think there’s more there and I think going with the Twin Tower look could unlock his game for the rest of the season.

4) Tschetter.  Guy is a bull in a China shop.  4 fouls in just 10 minutes yesterday.  Obviously he can’t be on the floor long if he’s fouling like that - and his offensive game is limited right now - but he’s a hustle magnet and seems to give the team a spark when he goes in there.