Burke-Floor General and Defense
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. . .
The Daily posted a picture of a bunch of people burning a couch on their Facebook account.
EDIT: Now with aforementioned picture.
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.
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.