Article on Michigan Basketball Mentality / Immaturity

I am hoping for the same as you. Having said that, if they haven't "gotten the conviction" at this point, then they won't. I am hoping but the trend doesn't make me feel too optimistic. Go Blue and beat the Bucknuts

The home loss to Minnesota is looking like it could be what keeps us out of the tourney, barring a late run by the team

Every reporter is always searching for a narrative.  Seems like we win when we hit our threes, and lose when we don't.  Sure wish we could find another gear defensively - major shortcoming of the team.

Why is there a Freep link disclaimer?

Because this board has a lot of people/sites that they don’t want on the page. A little overboard IMO but it is what it is. 

Leave it to ab MGoblog poster to hold a grudge because of articles written a decade ago.

This is what can happen when you lose the top five of 8 players and replace them with true freshmen.  Franz was the torch carrier and made everyone accountable.  He would rip into Dickinson and forced him to not let up on D.  Now watch, the key area is a turnstile. Franz would be going apeshit to make certain that didn't happen.   Need another player like this and sounds like we don't have it yet. 

@KennyHiggins might "defensive intensity" come as a consequence of increased team maturity and consistent emotional commitment? It's a narrative, sure, but sounds closer to reality than spin.

Seems more of a team culture thing to me rather than age. We have Brooks, Jones, Johns, Hunter and T Will that have Soph and up eligibility. The two people who are freshman who get extended minutes are Moussa and Houstan. We also have Nunez and Faulds on the team with a lot of experience. I don’t think it’s youth, its either player personalities or the team culture or a combo of both. 

It's the point in the season where freshmen are no longer freshmen. They all need to step up tomorrow, especially Houstan.

As an aside, Cohen is a legit veteran beat reporter. I'm not sure why he left his old job to join the Freep, but he's a welcome addition to the program's local coverage.

I understand how energy and leadership can help you to defend and rebound better, and perhaps commit fewer turnovers.  But does high energy and leadership help you to be a better shooter?  Because the other main reason besides poor defense that we are losing games is we are a really inconsistent shooting team.  And that includes missing way too many open looks.  I just don't know how that is going to be corrected without a lot more coaching and practice, or new players that are better shooters.

Young team replacing a lot of top tier talent.  Sure, lots of room for improvement.   HD rocks. Eli very solid imho. 

Yikes. At least in basketball, you can change culture quickly, unlike in football where there are so many guys. See Novak, Zach. 

But it's pretty disappointing that the team is just going through the motions so often. It does explain why we either win by margin or get completely blown out. 

I haven't really enjoyed watching this team play, record aside and this confirms that the effort, energy etc isn't there.

Kinda shocked that Johns so tricky m readily admits that players are phoning it in. Must just be a given this year in the locker room

I have to say. That is quite alarming. That should be unacceptable behavior and I don’t know who to blame for that. 

I watch a lot of B1G basketball and I’ll tell you I have yet to see one team that plays at peak intensity every game. I’ve seen every team come out flat and/or lazy at least once. Not saying it’s not a bigger problem at UM but every team has this problem to some extent.

Johns has come out flat pretty much all season.  I am still waiting for him to put together a big game and No I am not counting his performance against Nebraska in December as a big game.

For those who don't know the Freep history, here's one of many samples:

https://mgoblog.com/content/jihad-second-journalism-type-substance

It's an easy WWW search: mgoblog freep jihad

For those who don't read closely, the Freep can be pretty clickbaity. It employs a guy (Rainer Sabin) whose principal purpose (by appearances) is to bait UM fans.

If trying to secure a spot in the tourney doesn't get you up for a game, I'm not sure what would. I don't really buy that.

This is a team relying on young inconsistent players, has suspect shooting and ball-handling, and playing a meat grinder of a schedule.  It's concerning though that it sounds like there is a lack of leadership.  

2 wins and in

It’s the coach’s job to keep them sharp and hungry every game. Not what you want to hear. 

Even though the freep has an extremely poor reputation for journalism, these quotes are directly from players and coaches going on record.  There is no narrative here other than the one the team is letting be known by the public.

I don't think I've ever read quotes like this from a sports team.  I'm sure its happened before but for players and coaches to openly admit to a lack of commitment is interesting to me.

Lost a lot of veteran leadership last year. Wagner was a loss, as was Davis, but Livers was huge. A senior who’d played for a national title, a playmaker who’d seen it all. 

It’s tough to replace that, but it’s Howard’s job to do so and so far he hasn’t. It’s also on the players themselves to step up and adopt that mentality (can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink it).

If Michigan hasn’t adopted the right mindset by now, with their backs literally against the wall and postseason hopes very much in doubt, then it’s safe to assume they won’t before the season is over. 

It seems to me that the urge for a clear reason is an understandably human impulse—I seek it too—but misses how much team sports, especially before the pros, are learning processes.

By that I don't mean the conventional idea of "learning," that there are facts or skills that either get learned or don't. That's a linear notion that misses how learning works in much more complicated and roundabout ways in life, from newborns to elders.

Much—most?—of that complicated sense of learning is what we've seen with this year's men's basketball team. Moments of progress. Setbacks. Breakthrough where they seem to finally get it. Stumbles that make the breakthroughs seem illusory. More progress that suggests the breakthroughs were legit. And so on: nothing's linear. Learning's complex, contradictory, confusing, and usually seen best from a long view long afterward.

HP - Love your Volodymyr Zelensky avatar!!

Down with:

That was their third game in five nights. They were shell-shocked after the first 13 minutes. Yet they came back and made it a game in the second half. These arguments are both cliched and singularly inapposite. They're just a middle of the road team this year--not for a lack of talent, but out of youth, lack of more lethal shooting, a couple of bad breaks. Love me some Phil, but they're not going to increase their emotional age between Friday and tomorrow. They are going to get one more night's sleep. But OSU is talented, veteran, and at home. We may miss out. 

Plus one for "inapposite".

It's an interesting article but it also reads like every article written about a bubble team.  UM was vastly overrated coming into the year, as we all sort of assumed that losing 5 important pieces from last year's team and replacing them with unproven and/or unknown players would go on without a hitch.  Clearly that didn't happen, and so UM is trying to back it's way into the tourney.  It's disheartening as a fan but also not unrealistic.

A lot of people are rightfully pointing out that the freshmen have underwhelmed and that's hard to argue against.  But I'll cut 17- and 18-year olds more slack when they're playing their first year of college ball.  Eli is a good player and guys seem to respect him but as noted in this article he's not a hellraiser or someone who gets in guys' faces.   Dickinson is talented and seems like a bedrock for the team.  You can point to times this year when they took control of games and pushed UM forward. 

But guys like Johns were expected to ascend into leadership roles on and off the court, and thus far we haven't really seen it.  His most memorable time of the season was when he was benched after tying his shoe while the other team was racing down the court.  So when he says stuff about effort and being focused, I sort of cringe because that's a lot of what this team is missing.  They need someone like Johns, a former top recruit with lots of talent, to have stepped up and led, and the fact he hasn't has left a large gap on this roster that was never filled.  

If UM makes the tourney I could see them getting bounced in the first round or making a run to the Sweet 16/Elite 8.  They're that streaky.

The way I see this team is that Brooks and Jones would be the obvious choice as leaders, but they simply don't have enough talent night in and night out to really be the catalyst for the whole team. Some nights, yes.  Others, they make some decisions you would expect from a freshman. 

As good as Hunter has been, he's energy simply wasn't there last game early on and hasn't been at times all season.  He still gets his numbers, but his effort from the tip against MSU is what this team needs to see.  Not sure if that is sustainable throughout a season.  I'm expecting him to bring it tomorrow.

Maybe I am just too simplistic, but any time a team is struggling during the season, this always comes up. It's never just "they are not that great." There are always things about culture, locker room issues, etc. 

This team dug itself a deep hole; Covid and canceled/postponed games didn't help.

Since starting conference play 1-3 (including losses to Rutgers and MN), Michigan's gone 9-6 against a condensed schedule heavy on tournament-bound teams.

They're still maddeningly inconsistent with both outside shooting and defensive intensity, but this team has improved significantly. 

HD becomes a dominant force more often. Houstan is vastly improved and seems to be finding his stroke. Jones is far more consistent - he's attacking effectively and limiting the dumb turnovers/fouls. Collins and JWill are giving us better minutes.

Every year we suffer through some stinkers. Unfortunately our poor start gives us less leeway. Iowa game was a lost opportunity to get off the bubble, now we have to beat the bucks or make some big noise in the BTT. 

Earlier in the season we lost a bunch of games because we simply could not shoot. More recently we seem to lose when we don't play enough D.

Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin all were able to score too easily. If we're gonna win tomorrow and make noise in the BTT, we've got to step up the D and not let opponents go crazy shooting the ball.

Go Blue! Beat Ohio!

Maize and Luke 

March 5th, 2022 at 3:37 PM ^

I watch a lot of B1G basketball and I’ll tell you I have yet to see one team that plays at peak intensity every game. I’ve seen every team come out flat and/or lazy at least once. Not saying it’s not a bigger problem at UM but every team has this problem to some extent.

I agree. Could also be that the new freep reporter (Cohen) has not been indoctrinated to the freep's anti-Michigan agenda.

If Martelli dons the yellow sweatsuit tomorrow we’ll be fine. 

Team 101

If Martelli dons the yellow sweatsuit tomorrow we’ll be fine. 

Personally,

I'm hoping he wears a MAIZE sweatsuit!!!!!!

Nothing earthshatteringly new here. Everyone is responsible for the realities here. Isaiah was a/the heart and soul last year and  he had a solid group of willing contributors. This year, from the player side, there are zero leaders-Brooks is a good follower. I believe TWill has it in him but you cannot expect a sophomore to carry such a load by himself. Next year will be interesting. 

I love this coaching staff but they hold significant fault here for not putting this group in a better position to succeed. 

I'm pushing 68 and still immature as fuck. I ain't throwing stones.

Good article and makes a lot of sense from what I've watched all year with this team. Say what you want about the freep but these are quotes from the players and staff. 

Short term to this is we desperately need a win tomorrow and this team is capable of doing so. This issue long term is another discussion.  

I gotta say, the trash talking / posing that Dickinson, Houstan, Moussa do is pretty cringey…..do that when we’re a top 10 team, not when we’re a bubble team. 

Well it's disheartening to hear that they don't try very hard. That's not a very good culture to have around, where some feel they're good enough to not play hard. Eli can always do so much, maybe he's vocal but you see him constantly telling people what to do, where to be, what they did wrong. 

If Dickinson leaves after this season, this roster will probably be even worse at every aspect, so I would hope that the mentality at least improves.

In an amazing lack of self awareness BJJ makes a statement like that. He literally is  describing himself but deflecting like it’s others. Woof

To be honest, I've always thought Williams would develop into this role.

This is also one of the challenges with transfer PGs. Rarely do you have someone join the team and become the clear alpha.

This is actually my concern with the Michigan football defense. Who is the alpha? Who is the leader?

We had Hutch, Ross and Hawkins last year.

On this basketball team you have Brooks, but he's a leader by example. We lost Wagner (alpha), Livers (alpha), AND Brown (alpha).

Put even one of those guys on this team and it's firmly in the tournament.

@KilgoreTrout

I agree that this is the transition cost between Beilein and Howard, but I would push back a bit that some of the guys they lost would have been major contributors.  Castleton has been good at Florida and he'd be an asset, but DeJulius's ORtg on this team would place him significantly behind every starter and defensively he'd be just as limited as guys like Jones and Brooks physically.  Johns wasn't great under Beilein and for whatever reason never really improved beyond his spot play in Howard's first year.  He just seems like a miss and I can't imagine it's a coach issue at this point.

The roster construction wasn't great this year but they were also hurt by guys that were expected to contribute in some way this year (Johns, Nunez, etc.) just never getting there.  This off-season will be interesting because I could see anything from a complete overhaul of the starting lineup to 2-3 guys coming back. 

Because of articles written 12-14 years ago, Freep links need a disclaimer?

From what I've seen, the team has 2 main flaws. They can't get stops when they need them; teams will go huge chunks of halves scoring on nearly every possession. The other issue is shaky-to-downright-bad outside shooting. One additional solid "3 and D" wing and this would be a completely different (probably top 10) team.

I’ve been saying it all season.