Andrew Dakich writes open letter to fans about team's play

He apologized for poor effort, not losing (though I dunno why Dakich is the one doing the apologizing)

"Praise effort, not results."

Yikes. I think I see where you're going, but that's a very dangerous idea if not kept in the right context. Without the balance of also evaluating results, we end up with participation trophies and people who strive for nothing.

And for good measure:

"Fans have a constitutional right to expect success and have high expectations..."
–Jim Harbaugh

I'm going to disagree with you here.  Love to see the passion (win or lose) about the program and I think that seperates college athletics from the professional level.  I like seeing a spark.  I mean obviously, if those are empty words, then words are just words; however, I would love to believe that those blowouts were a catalyst for a vastly improving team.  I can deal with Wins/Losses, its more the effort especially on the defensive front that agitated me during those games.  

I googled "conoe".  Thought it was a koala thing.

just not playing hard enough on the defensive end.  Defense is somewhat about talent, but largely about effort.  Allowing all those open 3's against MSU and IU is just not acceptable. 

I've heard that after the Indiana loss, John Beilein stopped playing nice guy coach, and instituted the 'Get Tough or Die Trying' regimen. We all think of Beilein as a super nice guy, and he is, of course, but he isn't any more happy than we are with his team's effort on the court in those two games. At the end of the day, he's a division 1 basketball coach, and he knows when it's time to get tough.

He was so displeased, in fact, that he forced the team to wake up extra early for practice. To be specific, he forced the entire team to get up at 4 AM the day right after the Indiana loss. Beilein went to the living quarters of every single player, snuck inside utilizing the services of a contracted former Michigan State player, and put an airhorn on full blast right next to their ears. After they woke up horrified, he then hurled a basketball directly at their face in a dodgeball throwing motion, and told them to "get your useless sack of quitter self" out of bed, without them changing or allowing them to put on a winter coat. After gathering them all up, he made them all run, including Caris, to the Player Development Center, following behind the pack in his car, being sure to bump any stragglers so that they kept pace.

After forcing a ten mile run after they got there, Beilein then forced them all to put their dominant hand in a tub of boiling water for a full minute. Despite the screams, he said that "second degree burns are merely a state of mind, we need to get tough!", and kept going. Afterwards, he forced all of the players to sit outside so that they could eat, directly in the snow. He, of course, wheeled out a delicious spread for each of the players, the prime piece being a sub. Initially pleasantly surprised, the players then bit into the subs to discover that they were filled with broken glass. After the hysterical screaming stopped, he forced the players to go back inside, put their wounded hands in a salt and tobasco sauce combo, and forced them to shoot for hours, emphasizing shots at the rim.

Once they were done at 8PM, Beilein said that he was proud of each and every single one of them, and sat them down for a prayer. Afterward, he had a team night where they had pizza and played board games to build unity. The next two days of practice were even worse, but the results are unbelievable. He also took away their phones to emphasize basketball first.

This team is going to be ready. I just know it! John Beilein has that sense of urgency going among the whole team now. Not even Robbie Hummel could help them now. Good luck, Purdue!

You've quit on Michigan about four thousand times over the course of your time on this blog.  You are a truly terrible fan.

Beilein on LeVert: "I want to be clear about something with Caris. Nothing is clear."

— Simon Kaufman (@sjkauf) February 12, 2016

Beilein says LeVert will get out there when he's ready, "I need everybody to back off, stop projecting. Thank you."

— Simon Kaufman (@sjkauf) February 12, 2016

leave the Lord out of this.  God I hate it when people do that.

Walton is busy practicing threes and free throws.  Leave him alone and let him keep doing what he's doing.  He's been THE player who has held this team together this year.

Agree with you thatt I would've rather seen this come from Walton/Irvin/Donnal.  While I would stick 2-3 Dakiches(?) on my team anyday, the leadership and toughness needs to come from guys on the court.  I'd love to see one of the older players give someone an earful for some of the blown assignments we've been seeing.  Right now there is too much acceptance of mistakes by their teammates.

I think it's pretty telling that last year, with obviously less talent on the floor after a rash of injuries, we still never went through a 0-28 run like against Indiana.  Last year the lineup of Lonergan, Dakich, MAAR, etc showed me they have too much pride to let that kind of a run happen.  

I don't think we played Rutgers while Lewan was on the team. You may be thinking of the Akron and Uconn almost-losses where he promised that the team wouldn't let the fans down again like that and then proceeded to lose 6 games.