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After watching Syracuse send two long, athletic guards to pester Burke around the half-court line, I suddenly knew what Shaka Smart meant about "heating up the point guard", but Burke did not overheat, so to speak...
That does not show up on the stat sheet but limiting turnovers was a huge plus.
Ok
I don't think he ever forced stuff. The games where he took a lot of shots were because nobody was stepping up and he needed to. If he didn't do that, then we lose a bunch of other games most notably Purdue, and our offense was one of the best in the country with an occasional bad game at MSU, at Ohio. The real reason we had seven losses was defense and rebounding which have been steller in the tournament.
I'm not criticizing you, but I can't understand this view, which others here seem to agree with, all with the "stats aside" caveat. I watched the entire game and did not think Burke was a factor at all--apart from the undeniable fact that Syracuse paid lots of attention to Burke. Now that does mean he was a important factor in the win, and Syracuse (and everyone else) building their game plans against him is an advantage in our favor, but this continues a trend that apart from one half has occurred the entire tournament. IMO, for the player of the year (deservedly so), and accounting for the fact that he has other talented players around him, he has not looked like it for most of this tournament. I think if you never watched him in the regular season and only saw him in the tournament, most people would be like "why does he get so much hype?"
And a better thread title. An orignal thought clearly expressed in the OP would be nice too, bro.
In this game it will be a must for the starters to step up and hit shots.
We have established that we can win without hitting on all cylinders--Big 3 shooters 5 for 29 agin Cuse. We have now beaten (at least) 3 different types of defenses that were supposed to shut us down. Anyone watching the Wichita State game yesterday knows Louisville can be beaten and has its own share of limitations. If Louisville plays great, we just got to play "greater"---if we play poorly, we just got to make them play worse. One game---however, it gets done. And the fact that Trey didn't do anything special last night just makes me more optimistic that he will tomorrow.
I should mention that MCGARY may be just as good as Burke is now, and this is NOT taking anything away from Burke..
mcgary is doing it alone inside like a superstar.
Project this tournament numbers over the course of the season and Mcgary would be all-american...
In fact he will be next year..
I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that McGary is gone. He probably got himself in the first round, but there's elements of his game he still needs to work on. And if he plays like the tourney over a season, then he's a lottery pick, and can have a more successful NBA career.
I disagree about tourney MVP. McGary has been the best and most consistent player on our team thoughout the tourney. Burke had the big 2nd half and OT against Kansas, but throughout the tournament it's been McGary.
True, but if he wasn't absent in the first half he wouldn't have had to go off like that in the 2nd half. Let's not forget that McGary had 25pts, 14reb, 3stl, 1ast, and 1blk in that game. We don't win without him either.
Obviously the offense runs through Burke, and I'm not discounting anything he's done, I just feel McGary has been the more consistent and better overall player throughout the tourney. It's not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless.
This may have been his best defensive game. 5 steals!
What should I title my threads?
Please make your thread titles as informative as possible: "Justin Feagin" is bad. "Justin Feagin leaving the team?" is good.
I knew you would be the one to post this.
About the rules of the board now, we are playing for a national title boys!!!! Go Blue!
Hardaway made the play of the game saving that Burke pass from going out of bounds. I still dont know how the hell he managed to do that, but that play may have saved that game for us. Not exactly a great game from either, but THE TEAM (THE TEAM THE TEAM) stepped up when it mattered.
Syracuse probably would have bricked the next shot anyways....but Hardaway's save did help us breathe easier faster...
So tight around here, a guy titles a thread after the best player to step foot on this campus since Charles woodson and we bitch about a name of a thread. Get off my fuckingmlawn while you are at it. Jeesh! Guys like Woodson, Desmond, Trey, and a few other legends should be the exception for the title rule around here...it could be our way of recognizing them as the "greatest," they are bigger than any of us! Either way....lets win tomorrow and be Champs!
pedestrian in this tournament save for the brilliant second half versus Kansas. Sir Charles ALWAYS performed in the biggest games. You cannot say that for Burke.
Since you decided to bring in players from other sports I would have to remind you that Marty Turco and Brendan Morrison were here in 1998. I'd say both were better than Burke. This isn't to forget to mention Denard, Jake Long, Mike Hart, and a softball player or two.
Burke has had a great season, but he is behind Grant, Rose, and Ricky Green.
"Behind" anyone if he wins it all.
Trey has a chance to win a national title how many of those people on that list can say that.
Morrison won one (plus the Hobey Baker), and Turco won two.
Football and Basketball are kings. Comparisons to Charles and Desmond are viable, but don't bring hockey and softball into this. As far as talent and exposure go, those three and Denard are the upper echelon.
Football is king. Basketball comes next, but it doesn't approach football in importance.
Didnt play well last night but has been very important to this teams run. I just said trey has been the best player to come to Michigan since Woodson, we have had good players but really none who have accomplished as much as Trey. He has lead his team to the brink of a championship. Most on your list cannot say the same.
He only ended up taking three shots. 2 were for three and was such a boost off the bench. Why not go with the hot hand? But in the end, we won, great effort by everyone. . .
And Spike were the difference, still, I'm not gonna lie, as soon as Cariss catches the ball he makes me soooo nervous, but I thought particularly Spike should have played a little more if not for matchup problems on defense...
Did someone burn a couch in AA? If this is true can we stone them?
The Daily posted a picture of a bunch of people burning a couch on their Facebook account.
EDIT: Now with aforementioned picture.
Well that's not good, couldn't they at least have gotten creative and burned like a birdhouse or something?
There are some grumpy ass people around here this morning. Embarrassing...
Hangovers. Relax.
EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY!!!!!
I haven't been this combination of happy/hungover since....oh last week after Kansas....
I think I'm still drunk.
saved this game because Stauskus was bad last night. If not for Lavert (and Mcgary, of course), we would all be discussing the disappointing games by Burke and Stauskus.
No honesty allowed!
It's because you spelled LeVert wrong...
Wrong. I'm on a phone and I gave up with the fucking capital V after three tries.
Im glad he hit a few shots too, but 4/14 isnt really breaking out of a slump.
Tim shot 4-16 last night. He did make both of our second-half threes, but overall he's had a really rough go of things since Kansas.
Somebody must be mad that we won. Closet Syracuse fan? Nothing here is redunant. But looks I can predict my score ^
Every team is selling out to stop Burke at all costs. This has opened things up for other players. Next year it will be a little tougher for McGary as he will be the target. Burke has been our equivalent of the defensive tackle that gets double & triple teamed but allows for the End and Outside Linebacker to pick up the sack.
He's gone next year
I'm not sure how anyone could question what Burke did last night or throughout the tournament. Unlike various times during the season, he hasn't dominated the ball, he's moved it around, controlled pace, made excellent decisions off the pick and roll, drawn defenders and found the open man, etc. Every team they have faced has focused on taking him out of the game and yet he's continued to play controlled, not forcing shots, particularly last night. And let's not forget the defensive job he did on Carter-Williams who had 6 inches and an attitude on him.
^^^This. You can not underestimate the impact of MCW being taken away from them by Burke. This was one of the key "mismatches" that Syracuse planned to exploit. That they could not, killed their chances.
As fans, we get too caught up in the bright and shiny objects of offensive points. Having your point guard being able to surgically pick apart the 2-3 zone while taking away a key player on D when needed is exactly what makes Burke player of the year. He is an incredibly smart, multi-dimensional player. And he's still only a sophomore.
There is no question that Syracuse's zone seems to be the pefect D to stop Trey Burke. He couldn't dribble penetrate, and that shut his game down. I was surprised that Beilien was content to leave him up top as a glorified trigger man on zone offense, as he was almost never in position to either take a shot OR make an assist from there.
The zone forced the tough plays to be made in the post or on the wings and took the ball out of Trey's hands, so the only plays he was really able to make were on the break.
This was never going to be a 20-point Burke game. Everybody on the team knew it and played a different scheme. Burke managed the game excellently. And Michigan won.
They did not need Burke to have 20 to win. That's why Michigan is still playing in April.
He did dribble penetrate a handful of times last night. Often? No. But it was done because Trey Burke is very good, not allowing the vaunted 2-3 Zone to throw him off of his game. He didn't score 20, so what. He didn't need to. He also didn't turn the ball over or force a bunch of garbage that would have been detrimental to the offense and the strategy of the game. He had a very admirable game last night, the defense being a big part of that too, of course.
