BBall team is too short and can’t shoot. Can’t coach that.
Juwan got shafted with a roster that makes no sense especially without Livers.
Can’t coach players to grow. I’m done seeing Franz pretend to be his brother for the rest of the year. Hit a fucking shot kid then scream like a maniac.
The new croots should be salivating at playing time for next year.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
Actually you can teach shooting. That’s why people are employed as shooting coaches
January 25th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
It’s fairly evident at this point no one on this team is good enough to hit wide open shots. I’m confident the coaches know how to teach players to shoot.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
Unfortunately the one guy who probably can is injured again. Poor damn Livers.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^
You can also tell your team to drive to the basketball more and shoot 3 footers and not 22 footers.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Who on this team has a consistent floater?
DDJ is the only one with a semblance of it.
X finally started going into people in the paint but couldn’t even hit free throws.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:04 PM ^
I thought they did a great job attacking the basket in the second half. They scored almost all their points on layups.
Against PSU I thought they shot way too many 3's. Today not so much, at least in the second half.
It's really hard to win in today's basketball if you can't make 3's.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^
You can only teach shooting to a degree imo. It’s mostly a natural ability. The guys who made 3s in middle school, are the ones who are making them in college.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:39 PM ^
who fucking cares!!!!!
January 25th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Cry, crybaby.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
Can't coach shooting?? Seriously?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
I don't know about that, but I'm curious if Wagner's game catches up to his chest beating at some point.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:12 PM ^
Go make you're life better and find some happiness because you wont get it with U of M sports anymore.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^
This.
Might be time for an early vacation from the board. Having so many similarly-minded people to my own thoughts makes for a depressed fan.
January 25th, 2020 at 8:13 PM ^
Gotta agree here. I pulled back a lot from FB once it became obvious that 10-2 / 9-3 / 8-4 regular seasons will be the norm.
I was pretty invested in MBB after the Bahamas but this team is painful to watch. Looks like mostly checking out until next season is the prudent play.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:12 PM ^
Wagner totally biffed those free throws at the end. He should feel bad. I'm sure he does.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
Simpson isn't immune, he missed 2 as well down the stretch.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
And another miss by Austin Davis. Five straight missed free throws in crunch time to end the game.
(Technically, if I didn't overlook any in the play-by-play, it was six counting Colin Castleton's miss on his second attempt with 11:20 to go, but getting one point on a possession w/ 11:20 to go doesn't feel like a game changer.)
January 25th, 2020 at 2:15 PM ^
Simpson missed two, Austin Davis missed front end. Free throw shooting was baaaaadd. Plus the b.s. bail out call on Teske for their two free throws to tie it at 62
January 25th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
I though that was a good call Teske’s leg can’t prevent Frazier from driving to the rim.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^
If he was set it can and he was
January 25th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
If it was just Teske's leg, it was a BS call.
But Teske also extended his arm and the Illinois player ran through it. I think that's a legitimate foul.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:32 PM ^
except he had already lost the ball. but in real time it looks like a reach foul.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:56 PM ^
Wagner's misses when Cockburn fouled out was worst of all. He made a great play to hold his position against that behemoth. Thought he was sure to close the game out.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^
Simpson, Wagner and Davis ALL missed crucial FT down the stretch. I counted 0 for 6. It was a total team miss on that one.
I was hoping there wasn't going to be a way the team would lose a game down the stretch. Missing FT was unexpected.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^
That's ballgame right there. You cannot miss so many free throws at the end of a tight game and expect to win.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
Didn't like we didn't do a 2 for 1 at the end.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:18 PM ^
Timeout could have helped communicate that
January 25th, 2020 at 2:57 PM ^
Timeout lets Illinois sub in a rim protector. Howard knew he had a mismatch in the post, and he got Teske a bunny inside. Teske blew it. Excellent awareness and coaching by Howard.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:06 PM ^
I agree about the 2 for 1. Kind of surprising because of Howard's NBA style. That's an automatic move in NBA.
Cockburn fouled out, so I'm not so sure they had a rim protector to put in, did they?
Teske did have a great look. How did we lose that game? Incredible.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
I'm basically ok with a 9 man recruiting class at this point. Castleton, Brooks, Nunez, Davis, and even Johns dont have a future with this team. Johns is really puzzling but 19 minutes of the most ineffective basketball I've seen.
Also, how did Teske become a worse Graham Brown? 1/6 from 3 too, stop shooting big sleep
January 25th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
By too short you mean playing 7-1, 6-10, 6-8, and 6-6 at the same time? If you mean X got dominated by a guy 4 inches taller I agree. Sure we can play a big lineup or small lineup (3 guys 6-2 and under) at any time depending on matchup. But to say we’re too short is hysterically inaccurate.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
Yeah to me the bigger problem is a lack of athleticism and dribble drive.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
Really? We had a million layups today. Almost all our scoring came from drives to the hole.
Simpson, DDJ and Wagner can and do attack the basket. Teske has some nice post moves - though his missed bunny at the end really hurt today.
It's shooting, folks. We can't put the ball in the basket from the field or the line. IMO that's basically the whole problem.
January 26th, 2020 at 10:10 PM ^
I agree. This teams ability to dribble drive is no where to be found. Simpson’s hook shots look great when makes them but why a player have to resort to that shot. Take it to the hole and make a floater or layup or get fouled. But he can’t make a free throw either.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
Make the free throws at a decent clip and we win this game. Just unbelievable how it seems like for years now we choke our free throws away as the other team doesn't.
When was the last time one of our players went off making crazy shots? It seems like at least 1 guy on the opposing team this whole year makes difficult shot after difficult shot for their team. We don't have anybody who just gets hot.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
Last time I recall one of our guys making a crazy and game winning shot was Jordan Pool in 2018, and he even wasn't the same guy in the 2018-19 season (the next season).
January 25th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
brooks did against iowa but we lost anyway. i get your point though.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
Team FT shooting was fine until Simpson took over as PG.
I love the kid, but it hurts when the PG can't shoot FT's - especially a distributor like Simpson who has the ball in his hands so much. He's really in a funk now - no confidence at all in his shot.
Today was a disaster. Five straight missed FT's - and Wagner missing two. Incredible.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
Can you coach free-throw shooting or going for a 2-for-1 or doubling the guy that’s killing you when you know he’s going to be taking the last shot?
January 25th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^
Your last 2 points most definitely fall partially on the coach. Howard needs to call for the 2for1. Its as simple as him yelling it from the bench. Every coach calls for it unless he knows for certain his players are already going to do it.
And he is also in charge of giving defensive assignments and coaching players on what to do in late game situations such as doubling or guarding the perimeter/paint
January 25th, 2020 at 2:21 PM ^
Also, fuck you.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
You and Nervous Bird are the same poster. Just admit it.
Waiting for the fire Juwan thread.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
Burning straw men again, I see.
Me: I loved the hire when it happened, but Howard’s in-game coaching has been horrible and the team has been regressing every game since the beginning of the year.
You: Oh, so you want him fired? Well I’m going to make an entire thread about why that shouldn’t happen.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:41 PM ^
That may coincide with losing your best player..
January 25th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
They're not too short. Sure, it would be nice to have a big guard, but that's not why they're losing.
Teske and Davis did a great job on Cockburn today, and our rebounding was fine.
Michigan missed 5 consecutive FT's down the stretch. Shot 9% from 3 in the first half. That's why they lost.
It appears the early season was a mirage - this team simply can't shoot well. Their offense is working - there were a ton of great looks. They just couldn't make anything but layups.
FT shooting and 3pt shooting usually go hand in hand. This team, sadly, is bad at both.
5 straight FT's. Sigh.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:25 PM ^
I thought the defense was fine today. The shots Dosunmo made can’t be defended by Brooks X DDJ due to length.
We don’t have Matthews this year. It is what it is.
The shooting on offense is a disaster. Open looks left and right.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
The kid made a super difficult shot FTW. Credit to him. Simpson was right in his grill, and he had to fully extend just to get it off.
If any of our guys made FT's down the stretch or if we could shoot at all from outside it wouldn't have mattered.
Michigan played a good game. Marginalized Cockburn, rebounded well, very few turnovers, attacked the basket. They just can't shoot.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
Don't know what's happened to their shooting. Remember they beat Iowa 103-94 at home in December. They are colder than the weather at this point.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
Agree, I thought Penis-Ear* played pretty well down the stretch in spite of missing a free throw and a short hook over Cockburn. (And his missed free-throw came after an offensive rebound of a DDJ shot.)
*A term of endearment
January 25th, 2020 at 3:50 PM ^
I get that some nights a player doesn’t shoot well. What I don’t get is how the whole freaking team can’t shoot the ball! Not one guy can get on a hot streak?