September 20th, 2012 at 11:06 AM ^
He believes that the Wolverines will contend for a national title. "We got high hopes!"
September 20th, 2012 at 11:14 AM ^
The article raises good questions about the transition that the offense will seemingly need to make. I share in everyone's high hopes for the season, but there are hurdles for the team to jump over.
September 20th, 2012 at 11:19 AM ^
September 20th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
Good article. The point about meshing new talent with the existing system is a valid one, but I think not a concerning one. I think Beilein will do an even better job than Borges of adapting to the talent he has.
One point not mentioned by the article is that big men don't have to catch the ball in the post to improve your offense. We run a lot of pick and roll, and who would you rather have setting picks, Zack Novak or Mitch McGary (not to disparage Zack, but size is size)? Everything from picks to stretching the defense to offense off of turnovers can be impacted by having better big men. That improves the offense without fundamentally transforming the half-court sets. I expect we'll still see a lot of the shuffle offense from Beilein.
September 20th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
September 20th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^
The second question intrigued me, because we were so perimeter-focused without much presence in the post, that I looked at where other teams in the Big Ten fell into those same statistics that were mentioned in the entry. Taking the top five finishers in the Big Ten standings from this past season, you get these rankings in the NCAA statistics:
Off. Rebound % | FTA/FGA | Eff. FG% | Turnover Rate | |
Ohio | 58 | 122 | 58 | 24 |
Michigan St. | 96 | 132 | 40 | 35 |
Michigan | 276 | 331 | 22 | 37 |
Wisconsin | 238 | 305 | 129 | 10 |
Indiana | 210 | 15 | 6 | 97 |
It will be interesting to see how the transition to a more interior offense will look. If the incoming talent can contribute early and often, I think we would achieve some balance both inside and out and probably do fine up to and including postseason run. This will be an interesting season for that reason alone.
Great, insightful read. Thanks for sharing.
September 20th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
It's still going to be a question of how quickly the new players begin to realize their full potential. I am guessing it starts to happen in February and March.
Further up the road, it's going to be a question of how well JB can balance four-year players with one and two year players. The NBA is starting to look like "women's" gymnastics in the Olympics: anyone over 20 need not apply. Roster management in the NCAA is coming down to how many "glue guys" you can mix into the four and five-stars.
It's a great "problem" to have, but I would be in favor of the NCAA doing what they do in hockey or baseball: allow them to be drafted but stay in college if they don't sign. I would still like to know where the money is going on this seemingly nonsensical agreement with the NBA.