Hoops Snowflakes (Oregon)

Wilson has been thoroughly underwhelming so far. I remember last game he came in and promptly collapsed on defense (allowing an easy 3) and turned the ball over on the other end. Beilein may be tinkering with the lineup a bit as it still is early. Rebounding was the big issue tonight and I think that's the biggest issue with the LeVert, Irving, Walton Jr., Spike and Doyle lineup that's now become popular. Caris can come out of his shooting slump any time. Need to shoot better from beyond the arc. This is much more fun than watching football.

Rebounding and interior defense have my peak interest right now... We really struggled on each.  In addition, we need to start pieceing together this offense.  We know what Walton, Irvin, and LeVert can do, but I would like to see Chatman really develop in the system.  There were flashes from him, but he still looks lost.  Once the offense gets clicking, this team has a high ceiling.

Doyle was a great surprise.  This was ugly, though... Refs didn't help, but the offense was stagnant for much of the game, and we couldn't buy a rebound.  If we can get Donnal in on this like Doyle was involved tonight, this team will get much stronger.

Need more from Chatman.  Wilson not ready.  Irvin clearly the next star.

He didn't have a huge game but I bet this was special for Chatman, getting a win against his home-state school.

 

Wilson's still figuring things out. He's a liability right now, but once he gets it, he'll be a good one.

I don't expect Doyle to nail down the center position right now (but maybe later on). We will probably see rotating guys having big nights, Doyle tonight, Max a couple of games ago. Hopefully, someone emerges in a month or so.

Wilson is lost.  Don't think he'll make much of an impact this year.  Still needs to adjust and needs to spend some serious time at Camp Sanderson.  But he's very skilled and I really think he's going to end up being the best of this freshman class.

But has Donnal played at the 4 at all in any of the games? Just wondering if 2 bigs have played at the same time yet.

Wilson is not an impact player in year 1 with this roster.  I didn't expect that going in, and seems to be coming through so far.  That said, he has perhaps the second most room to grown of any freshman on the roster behind Chatman.

On Chatman, once the game slows down for him (something that McGary and Stauskas seems to indicate happens around March) he will be a critical piece of this team.  We keep seeing flashes, but Kam still has a ways to go.

I hate the moniker "Michigan's Big Three" but they are delivering so far.  Caris and Walton are showing a great ability to get to the rim which helps the rest of the team.  Irvin is doing what he needs to do, and seems to be closer to a freshman level Stauskas in terms of "not just a shooter".

Dawkins has so much potential that may well not be tapped this season.  He is all kinds of athletic but has to get his mind and IQ up a bit before I think he's really threatening for minutes.  Just hope he continues to have a solid 3 point shot.

Spike... don't know where to begin.  He's still just Spike, but that means so much more now that he's Junior Spike instead of freshman/sophomore Spike.  He and Walton should not be working together as well as they do, but that tells you a lot about how multiple years in Beilein's system treats you.

Donnal I do think is going to lose playing time to Doyle progressively.  That said, I think Donnal fits a really nice niche on this team as the "finesse" big that has some range.  We haven't seen that yet, but as long as that's his reputation and scouting report, that helps us.

Doyle.  I am 100% convinced that if Doyle is somehow not the starter at the 5 by B1G play, he will be the starter before the season is out.  He's not McGary, he's not McGary-Lite, but he is the most physical presence in the frontcourt for this team.  That is something we need.  Moreover, he seems to have decent hands and a good IQ.  We don't need him to be a stretch 5 like Donnal, but we need him to be better at cleaning up the defensive glass.

On DReb.... I'm half convinced Beilein is coaching it such that the Bigs don't rebound themselves, they box out or tip out to give guards the rebound.  Donnal is always tipping, and Doyle seems more focused on staying on his guy when he's focusing on boxing out.

Did anyone else notice the jerseys? Translucent above the chest, solid jersey material below. Players would have looked super hot if they had boobs. Is this a new tweak? I never liked the shooting star thing on the shorts, and definetly don't like this. I be angar. 

Most freshmen are lost at this juncture.  Let's be patient.   I think we'll get sporadic production from the 1st year players.  Doyle will be hot one night, while Donnal or Chatman will chip in more on other nights.   Enjoy those moments of potential, just as we enjoyed glimpses of Irvin's talent last year, Levert the year before (remember that Caris didn't even see any PT until well into the season), Darius Morris, etc..   They'll learn the offense slowly.  They'll learn their defensive obligations in due time.   When February rolls around, we should have a few solid contributors from the first year class.  

I was thoroughly impressed with Irvin's handle and ability to take the ball to the rim.  His motion was smooth and ball security was great in traffic.  I know that THJ and GRIII each struggled to create on their own by taking it to the rim, but were still deadly with their shots and athleticism.  Irvin seems to have taken the track of Morris, Stauskus, and Caris.  Just very impressed after seing very little of that part of his game last year.

I also think that Caris puts too much pressure on himself sometimes on offense.  He's taken some early shots that were not necessary that he didn't last year.  I think this will change quickly as he becomes more comfortable with the young players and they grow in the system. On the other hand, his defense just seems to be getting better.  He uses his length well to get in passing lanes, and his strength gains are huge (I constantly have a hard time identifying him because of how much bigger he's gotten).  I think he will be our best outside defender in a while. 

but we have to make sure we block out. We run over 95% man defense so there is no excuse like when we ran a lot of 1-3-1.

Never could pull away from Oregon, but that was kinda expected.  Glad to see the rotation go so deep - 11 I think.  Good win away from home and for the Freshmen to be a part of.  Tight until the very end.