Agree but he played pretty poorly in tourney last year. Mo carried us against Loyola.
Not sure how unpopular an opinion that actually is but I agree. Hardly any shooters except for inconsistent Poole, and no one who really creates except Simpson but he's limited by his 3 point shot and size. Iggy can be great sometimes, but when teams pack the paint against his driving he still just tries to bull his way through. Hard to recall him every kicking it out or looking to pass this season.
Having Aubrey Dawkins on this team would be nice. He's been great for UCF this season.
March 10th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
Wouldn't he have graduated last year?
Logged in to agree!
I remember commenting to last season to several people, "Every time Michigan needs somebody to make a play, seems like MAAR is the one to do it."
Here's hoping Charles Matthews can get healthy and be that man the rest of the way this year if Michigan is to get very far.
March 10th, 2019 at 12:41 AM ^
Certainly miss MAAR, but it's going a bit far to say the team misses him more than Wagner (who just killed it in his first NBA start).
We also need Elite talent at the 5. The 5 produced a total of 4 rebounds for us tonight.
Surprised you havent been downvoted to death for this take. I agree with you
Teske was gassed and had no legs because Beilein left him in too long in the 2nd half. They got good minutes from Castleton but Beilien didn't put him in in the 2nd. He waited way too long - let State go on that prolonged run and didn't sub out Teske until like 3 minutes left and then it was Johns who was ineffective.
Also Matthews was out and Poole gave up a bad board to McQuaid on a putback. The rebounding all around was bad.
It's wrong to say he's not talented. He held this team together all year.
Nobody is saying hes not talented, at least that I know of. Hes not the reason why we lost tonight by any means.
Game completely changed on the phantom travel on Teske that should have been an and one and 4th foul on Winston.
The game changed two minutes before halftime. MSU was +22 from them on.
One observation. Reason we try slowing it down so much vs. running more? I do feel like our team is setup to run and gun more. JB is all about slow. Not good when you have as many guys as we go who aren’t great shooters.
I'm not sure either, but in all of our losses we seem to do this. Maybe in the wins too, I'm not really sure. You can see the drought coming. Beilein wants to run certain sets, but the players just seem to be more involved when they are up tempo and doing their thing. They move more, etc. Last 4-5 minutes we get into set plays and get bogged down. Granted, Iggy and Isiah were on the bench.
We have six guys who can play. They would be gassed by halftime.
Not sure we're getting Matthews back. Ankles can be worse than broken hands. Lack of depth was always an issue with this team. We saw that tonight. Also inconsistent shooting.
Just ask Nick Ward
ZING!
Next year will depend on 3 things: 1) no unexpected attrition like Iggy or Poole (not expected) 2) Dejulius taking a Sophomore leap and 3) Castleton improving and ready to play a lot of minutes.
We need a better outside shot from the point, even if its half the game. We also need a better inside, outside presence at center.
I think Michigan will be a lot better next year. I feel like DDJ is 1-100 on 3's but we know he can shoot the ball. He's going to be much improved I bet. Same with Castleton and Johns. Right now it doesn't seem like Iggy or Poole will be leaving but you never know.
I'm really hoping one of Wilson, Bajema or a redshirt Nunez become a much needed outside sniper for us. Our outside shooting is awful
DDJ can maybe be that next year, but yes, definitely would be nice to have a guy who just sits out there and nails 3s.
I want DDJ controlling the offense. Maybe he can come around screens and shoot threes. We need that corner sniper and we are sorely missing it. I'd rather run the 1-4 with Iggy or Livers than the 1-5 with Teske. Castleton looks to have a better feel around the basket than Teske does. Rotations will be interesting next year for sure.
Well DDJ may control the offense, when he's in as the backup PG.
To even insinuate that Jordan Poole is going anywhere is preposterous. Where exactly is he going? He's not even a good college player. Is he retiring? Is he changing sports? Is he transferring? Because he sure as hell isn't going to the NBA.
Poole not a good college player? He never gets wide open looks. D’s have him, prolly Iggy as well, as our main guys. Teams plan around stopping him. He makes some dumb decisions at times, but not a “bad” player.
Hate to break it to you, but Poole and Iggy are gone. Teske is going to declare and give the combine a shot. Simpson won’t let this be a bubble team next year, but will he the talent of a bubble team.
Iggy would have an extremely outside shot at going but Poole isnt going anywhere unless hes done with college.
It wasn't the only factor, but that was a one sided game in terms of officiating. That whining asshole Izzo got Iggy fouled out, the last 3 calls being absolute BS. One team was allowed to play aggressively, the other team got a quick whistle. MSU definitely made shots, but they had virtually no foul trouble by comparison. U of M definitely has less depth at this point, and Ward might determine MSU's future in a negative way. Teske and Simpson both lost their match-ups on top of the tilted whistle. Makes it almost impossible to win.
It’s really baffling why Coach Beilein went back to a hedge + recover coverage vs the MSU pick and roll scheme in the 2nd half. We were absolutely destroyed in the first contest because of it and we were promptly abused in the 2nd half once again.
We were really solid defensively in the first half by switching.
Said the exact same thing earlier in this thread. Truly effing moronic. Beilein got his ass handed to him tonight. Bady outcoached. And the 41-18 rebounding edge MSU had is white collar UM being back. Add in the 24-2 run MSU had in the 2nd half and John Beilein had a horrendous day at the office.
It hasn’t been Coach Beilein’s best year from an Xs and Os standpoint, but he’s proven he’s an elite coach in that regard so I’m going to withhold judgment until March/April and I’d suggest we all do the same.
I agree that record aside, Beilein has not been at his best this year. Some of that might have to do with the talent, but the players have not responded as well as past years. Matthews regressed as did Brooks & Davis. Poole didn't make the needed jump, nor did Livers. Teske simply can't play with the best centers in the league and has faded big time. Simpson, aside from tonight has been mostly good when not trying to launch 3 pointers. The freshmen have been real slow to develop. It just seems like for whatever reason, the coaching staff didn't connect this year. I don't expect this team to make any noise in either upcoming tournament.
The exception has been Iggy. He is the best player on the team.
26-5 isn't too shabby.
You're right.
This team is only going to lose 7 games. Not a bad year on paper, but I still stand by my comments that the team and coaching staff didn't connect this year. Hard to believe Beilein has had the success that he has with such a disregard for rebounding.
Teske can't play with the best centers in the league? Fuck off. Did you see the Maryland game the other day?
I love Beilien but he made a number of strategic and tactical errors in the game. Switching up the defense in the 2nd half was one. There were others too and its frustrating and surreal to watch him get outfoxed by fucking Tom Izzo of all people. I believe in Beilien but I hope he can sort this stuff out. It's a little unnerving they're not on the end-of-season tear we've come to expect from his teams.
What bothers me is that Michigan so rarely plays its best game or close to it. It looked like they had it tonight but then they fell apart. In almost all of their losses they found a way to beat themselves. I would love to watch a Michigan team play a great game and just happen to lose from other extenuating circumstances. When they play at or near the top of their game they're unbeatable. It's frustrating to see them throw away winnable games.
I hope this fires up this team for next week. They should want to beat State so bad it makes them sick.
Don’t know if him being available would’ve made a difference.
With the way the game was called, probably not. Hard for any team at any level to overcome a 30-7 imbalance at the FT line
He bogs down the offense* but there’s no denying his value on the defensive side - on the ball & rebounding.
Poole is atrocious, Teske has actually gotten worse on PnR d, - the PnR game is broke and good teams are taking advantage of it
Man that was bad basketball.
*Offense blows anyway but Charles should be the high screen guy while Teske should sit in one of the corners until it’s time to go back on D. Poole should be in the other corner.
Agreed. As much as the offense sucked (once Brazdeikis and Livers got benched in the 1st), defense and rebounding were worse this game, and that's definitely something Matthews would have helped with.
People are talking about how Beilein's teams haven't ever been good at rebounding, which is mostly true, but they've definitely been better the last couple years. They're not supposed to get owned that badly on the boards. With 5 minutes left out of a timeout, Michigan still had a chance but needed to play really well down the stretch. Then State had possession for like a minute and a half of game time.
Also, as others mentioned, fuck waffle guy. I can't believe they had him on the screen for so long. There was nothing creative or funny about him to even mention him for a second. Just a drunk bro who grabbed a piece of an old shitty Halloween costume or something.
Wait, I thought we don't talk about injuries...at least that's the impression I got from the MSU thread the other day...
we folded like a bunch of bitches tonight. End of story
This particular team isn’t as good in the half court as they are in transition.
This particular team should push pace as often as they can - that is not to say take shots early but rather mitigate the terrible iso ball which makes this offense so hard to watch.
Michigan has had the good fortune to have guys who could get their shot or get to the rim.
This year not so much, and it’s been dreadful to watch, notwithstanding the brief love affair w Simpson hook shot.
I thought for sure him dunking i. Warmups was a good sign . Why would you have him wind milling dunks if he couldnt go ?
Here's my opinion on this and its exactly that. Beilein has now went to the title game twice and because of that he looks more to the tournament than he does regular season. Hes won a share of the crown and hes won the bigten tourney title. After blanking MSU last year, these games were more important for Izzo this year. Dont get me wrong, Beilein likes to win and he would love to have the win tonight..but hes not going to do it at the expense of not having Matthews when it really counts. There was a time when Beilein put more stock into bigten titles than a run at a Natty but times have changed and I think his outlook has as well. Just my .02 worth.
Bexause you need him 100% next week. The tourney is the most important thing, JB knows we need him when the season is on the line.
I thought the offense would have been better but I agree defense and rebounding were seriously compromised without Charles. I hope he is back soon
In the end this has been a very unusual season from what has normally transpired under Beilein. Team usually has at least one good non conference win but also some head scratching losses. Then a late January/early February swoon followed by some big end of season victories. Team peaked too early this season. Plain and simple. Also should have bought more alcohol on the way home from work. Had to resort to drinking the rest of some weird wine that the wife has in the fridge.