Congrats to Darius Morris and Jordan Morgan
...for leading the Big Ten in assists and shooting percentage, respectively. They each finished first by a pretty comfortable margin.
Big Ten stats:
http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/confldrs.html
This basketball team has really brought our fans more together. Now if they can make a run in the tourney... oh man. Where will aMAIZEing happen?
I am a huge Jordan Morgan fan. I am anticipating a fierce competitor next year after 8 months of hard weight training.
The hardest part of the offseason will be the anticipation of how good this team can be next year and how they meet those expectations. I would hate for it to be basketball 2009 or football 2010 again.
Morgan's progression after his injury goes to show that we have good assitant coaches. Also his development shows you how good of a talent evaluator JB actually is. IIRC, Michigan was Morgan's only Big 10 offer.
Wow. That is impressive, considering that Morgan wasn't playing last year and Morris wasn't playing well. Great combo for us, hopefully for many more years to come.
Anyone else see a preseason top 25 team here?
I believe going into next season they will be worthy of a top 25 preseason ranking. That said, after what I've seen from the football and basketball teams over the years going into the season with high expectations, I don't think it matters much. I'd prefer they get very little hype through the offseason and gain respect through their play.
I would love for the good guys to go into the season ranked and still gain respect through their play. Wouldn't it be nice for the team to be hyped and actually perform in accordance with that hype?
I agree, though, that the prseason rankings are meaningless, other than potentially framing a season-long discussion of seeding (or epic failure).
I am very excited for next year as well, but lets enjoy the ride that the rest of this season has to bring.
Easily a top 25 next year. All of those close games we lost and the horrible start to the Big Ten will be erased with this years experience. Can't wait.
I really hate to sound like Negative Nancy, however, the best part of this season has been exceeding expectations. Seriously, I wondered how they would get to 10 wins let alone on the brink of an NCAA Bid. Talk about top 25 makes me nervous. I'm kinda paranoid that way, but doesn't mean others should be as well.
Morris's assist-to-turnover ratio is really impressive. It will also be very important going forward into next year.
Yeah my bracket is goign to look a lot better with Michigan in the Final Four
Couple of other stats: we were 9th in FT%??? Very un-gritty of us, and led to one epic stomach-punch loss and a couple of other Pepto Bismol games. Hope we get that corrected in the offseason.
Also, OSU shot 50% AS A TEAM from the field. That is just absurd.
Fuckers.
Beilein's teams traditionally have shot well from the stripe, so I'm confident that that will be worked out. What's cool is that our biggest liability there (Morgan) turned it around and drilled some huge FTs the past few games.
Our defensive numbers are actually pretty good. We definitely need to improve our rebounding numbers if we are going to become a top of the Big Ten team.
You can't teach height. If our starting PF was not 6'4 I have a feeling our rebounding numbers would be much better. Imagine if Novak was even 3-4 inches taller what a beast he would be on the boards with his toughness and tenacity.
Our team will need solid defensive rebounding numbers. Beilein's philosophy just doesn't focus as much on the offensive rebounds. Wisconsin does two or three things, defensive efg%, turnover margin, and three point shooting, really well which is why they are elite.The thought of having multiple slashing options next year coupled with our three point specialists make me giddy.
All this aside, beat Illinois on Friday.
BTW, the Big Ten awards show is right now on the BTN. Two awards announced so far:
Player of the Year - JaJuan Johnson.
Coach of the Year - Matt Painter.
Edit: The All-conference teams were just announced. Morris only made the third team for both the coaches and media. Hardaway didn't make it.
Morris made 3rd team all Big Ten. Hardaway Jr. was unanamous for All-Freshman team. I personally thought Morris deserved 2nd team honors, and Jim Jackson agreed.
Yeah - I definitely thought he was more valuable to us than Lighty was to OSU. I thought Morgan should have made All-Freshman, too.
Is anyone else reminded of Shaq when they look at Jared Sullinger? They both have the same cross-eyed stare, although Sullinger has a slight lisp.
Morgan should send Darius a thank you card for his FG%. (Not a knock on Morgan, just an apprecattion of Darius's ability to feed him. Great combo)