Example of our great coaching
Obviously we all know what a great coach Beilein is and he clearly loves his assistants. I thought I'd try to highlight specifically an example of the job they've done this season.
Here are the minutes from our opening NIT game against IUPUI:
- Burke - 32
- Hardaway - 30
- Vogrich - 19
- Robinson - 32
- Morgan - 27
- Stauskas - 25
- McGary - 11
- Albretch - 6
- LeVert - 0
At the time Vogrich was a starter, LeVert was on his way to a redshirt, McGary was struggling to play more than 10 minutes without fouling out, and Spike was relegated to garbage time mostly.
Let's look at what the coaches have done (with appropriate credit to the players) between then and now:
- Stauskas took the starting spot from Vogrich and became a prolific shooter
- LeVert burned his redshirt and took the bench minutes from Vogrich because he can play some defense and hit shots if needed.
- Spike is a regular part of the rotation and trusted with critical minutes against the toughest defenses in the country.
- McGary displaced a 3-year starter, is staying out of foul trouble, and is reaching his potential as a star center.
The fact that two upper classmen (Morgan, Vogrich) have lost playing time during this time and yet have maintained their solid attitude and contributions when needed is another testament to the coaches.
Even if we lose a few players to the NBA after this season I have total faith that the coaches will fit the incoming freshmen into the lineup in a way that maximizes their talent and the overall performance of the team.
Michigan is at the point of reloading now. They have so many options for next year PLUS 3 4-star players coming in.
They gotta work on the 2014 class, but things are looking pretty good for next year and onward.
As long as Mcgary and Robinson come back this team will be fine. Losing Trey and Hardaway will hurt no doubt and it may be a slow start but come january of next season they will be ready
Robinson will come back. I think you are looking at this for at least a good part of the pre-conference next year.
Spike-Irvin-Stauskas-McGary-Horford
Levert playing nearly as many minutes as Irvin, Morgan playing nearly as many minutes as Horford, Walton possible working his way to starter by big ten play, and a solild rotation of try hard guys off the bench. I think it is solid, but they do need to start thinking 2014 class.
no later than five games into the season, and Spike may get minutes at 2 position as well.
Given the roster of next season, we might see some true two post offense with GRIII plays 3 and Mitch/Max plays four.
I thought exactly the same as what goblue16 said for next year at the beginning of this year: a slow start with a lot of improvement, and possible Final Four team if they improved enough.
Instead, we got a fast start, a "freshman wall near the end of the Big Ten schedule," and a quantum leap, just in time for the tournament.
I am hoping the "prolific shooter" Stauskas shows up Monday and not the Stauskas that played in the Cuse game. He can be very on but also very off and we are going to need his scoring in the championship game
While I don't disagree with you, I think LeVert's defense was a pretty big positive for that game. He's clearly a better defender than Stauskas
That's the beauty of this Hydra-team: when somebody is off or the opponent's defense chooses to take somebody away, there is somebody else that steps up.
If you knew that Trey and Nik would be held basically scoreless last night and that Nik would also struggle on D, you would have predicted that we lost in a blow out.
Caris, Spike, and Jordan save the day against the 2-3 zone in the Final Four. Are you kidding me??? Fiction, man.
Hydra = excellent analogy. This is our lineup:
Can't stop all five at once.
It wasn't so much that he shot poorly against Syracuse as he couldn't get the shots he likes. To their credit, unlike Florida, Syracuse took them away - he got a couple of rushed jumpers and one off a dribble. To our coaches' credit they pulled him. As Stauskas gains more experience he'll handle that pressure better.
He should get more space Monday night and hit some - one reason why I like Michigan in this game.
Really saying the same thing - he was taking shots in a manner in which he wasn't comfortable. It wasn't just an off shooting night in the way you normally think of it. His normal shot just wasn't available. I expect him to bounce back tomorrow night.
I have always been a fan of Morgan, but honestly I cannot say enough about how he's handeled this new B1G/NCAA tourney lineup. Just look at yesterday, they put him in and he collects those 2 massive charges late and I have a feeling he will get even more usage tomorrow to really get Dieng out of the game...very happy we still have him for another year
Yes, he deserves every bit of credit for this Tournament run as anybody on the team.
We will need him big tomorrow night. Louisville will try to come at us hard in the interior to score their points and foul out McGary. Morgan is the guy that can back that down.
The best coaching move I've seen all year was electing NOT to foul vs. Kansas.
I don't think people realize how gutsy that really was. We were down 5 with under a minute and Beilein plays it out.
I don't know if he's ever met Ray Jackson but he "let his nuts hang" on that decision.
...also, the most underrated PLAY of this entire tournament was that play. Jordan Morgan. Everyone wants to talk about how he can benched or this 50/50 call from last night. No go back to THAT play. We force KU to drive late in the shot clock and Morgan comes off his man and does the same thing he did last night! He jumps in the path and puts his hands up and forces an off-balance shot. THEN he goes and get ths rebound from his man that he orginally left!
That decision and that play will still with me forever. One of the best coaching moves I've ever seen (because it worked) and one of the best individual plays I've seen that no one talks about.
If KU makes that layup they're up 7 with like 40 or so seconds left, the game is probably over. Instead they miss, Burke gets a quick layup, fouls with 12 seconds, they miss the front in of a 1-and-1...then, THE TREY.
None of that happens without Beilein and Morgan.
You win.
Actually, we all win.
This season has been the best i have ever seen and this success will carry on for a while. When Beilein took over he was landing some highly touted recruits with the notion that Michigan will be back. Now he can back up this claim and i think you will see recruiting continue to shine. As long as the coaching staff remains and we get great recruits even decent ones we will see a lot more final fours in the future.
Someone in another thread mentioned the coaches of the last three teams Michigan defeated: Bill Self, Billy Donovan, and Jim Boheim. When Michigan prevails against Louiville, Rick Pitino will be added to the list. There is no question that Beilein is a great coach, and I think more and more coaches will be paying attention to his offensive philosophy after the tournament is over.
When Bo shut down Oklahoma's option in the Orange Bowl in 1976, there was a parade of caoches that came through Ann Arbor to learn how it was done.
There will be the same parade of coaches coming through A2 this year to learn how to beat the 2-3 zone. Boheim should have retired during his press conference.
Syracuse had 7 other loses you know. When your hitting 30 footers it isn't that hard to beat the zone, once we started missing those in the second half Michigan was getting .72 PPP, so basically nothing.
I love Beilien, but we hardly put on a clinic on how to beat the zone.
I thought subbing out a cold shooting Stauskas for Levert and his defense against a hot shooting Fair helped turn things in the first half.
I had questioned many times during the conference season why Spike and Levert were getting minutes in pressure situations in "big"games. I see the brilliance in those decisions now.
Our stand on D turned that game around. We were in trouble up to that point. We still struggling to figure out the 2-3 zone on O, while Syracuse was jamming the ball down our throats on D.
Shoring up our D bought us time to work on the zone. Anybody who says that Beilein is just an offense coach is crazy.
Had to go with LeVert in the 2nd half. Stauskas was struggling. LeVert was hot, and since we were ahead, we needed defense more than offense at that point anyway.
I think that a big part of this success started when Beilein changed his assistant coaches.
I've thought since the moment Beilein decided not to redshirt LeVert that he was coaching for a national championship. That choice, along with the way they have developed McGary through the season have been brilliant.
They're going to be mainstays that help Michigan stay on top for the next 3 years as well.
They're going to be the guys that in 3 years all B1G fans are going to be like "omg, haven't they graduated yet?!"
Personally, I think Burke and THJ are gone. I think GRIII stays, especially since he's such good friends with McGary.
The person that no one talks about is Morgan. He and the coaching staff are going to have to make a decision there. Morgan's got another year of eligibility. Does he stay? Does he say "I'm done with basketball?" Does he even get a choice? Does he transfer to a school where he can play his final year as a graduate student?
Morgan would be AWESOME to have back next year. Especially since we have a scholarship for him. I'd love to see him come back and help lead this team.
If Morgan leaves, it will only be because he leaves on his own. He is a key part of this team, despite the count of minutes.
...especially knowing that we have scholarships available.
I think he'd have a significant role next year.
We'd have all of our post players back except McLimas and we'd be getting Donnel.
"The fact that two upper classmen (Morgan, Vogrich) have lost playing time during this time and yet have maintained their solid attitude and contributions when needed is another testament to the coaches."
It certainly is a statement about the culture around the the program, which is one where the team is paramount and everyone realizes that they have a role to play and that it is important to Michigan's success as a team. Even when you heard the starters interviewed after last night's game, they were not hesitant at all to mention the enormous contribution of the bench. It shows mutual support and it is something that really does bolster this team in a way that isn't necessarily tangible through what we see, though you can get a sense for it in the box score. "The Team, The Team, The Team" is a core value, and it shows.
The best part about this is that it is not just politically correct lip service to the upper classmen. They actually do play key roles on this team and in this tournament run. Nobody has to fake any praise.