Jamal Crawford documentary
October 24th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
For all the people who say the Brian Ellerbe era were dark years, they clearly weren't around for Jamal Crawford headband mania at Crisler. It was so much fun while it lasted.
Hell, I'm sitting here wearing a pair of the Nike replica shorts from that season.
October 24th, 2014 at 10:43 PM ^
October 24th, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
Yeah, those were eight great weeks. It was good to see him find NBA success. From a distance, it seemed an imploding situation that could've taken a real talent down with it.
October 24th, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^
Yeah, and there have been some good individual moments in the RichRod/Hoke years too.
Ellerbe's tenure remains the lowest point in U-M basketball history. We were a disgrace on and off the court. Avery Queen, Maurice Searight, Dom Ingerson, Kevin Gaines, Josh Moore . . .do I need to go on? We recruiting guys who were getting in trouble when they were still in high school.
I was a student then, and yeah, the headband thing was fun. But that fun start to the season gave way to a collapse (which began even before Crawford's suspension) that ended with the 51-point beatdown in EL.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:43 AM ^
Hey, I'm not disagreeing. All I'm saying is Crawford was fun to watch. Yikes.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
It does feel sometimes like you're trying to rehabilitate Ellerbe on here for whatever reason.
My four years coincided with Ellerbe's three years as our permanent coach and Amaker's first year here. It was pretty bleak on the whole. Yeah, the half-season that Crawford played was probably the highlight - he was fun to watch. But that team played absolutely no defense, didn't have a discernable offense besides "Jamal, do something," and had the usual off-court garbage that always happened under Ellerbe.
Part of Crawford's legend here is that he got suspended just before the wheels were likely to come off, giving that season a "What if" aura when it most likely was just going to be an NIT team anyway, and Crawford a one-and-done.
October 25th, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^
I'm not trying to rehabilitate shit.
I've consistently explained/semi-defended the decision to hire him (as much as it pains me to do it), as it was truly was the only logical choice at the time. That's what happens when you're under scandal, you fire your coach five minutes before the season begins, and Brian freaking Ellerbe is the only guy on the staff with both zero ties to Fisher and head coaching experience. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Michigan chose Ellerbe. It made sense, even if it was less than desirable.
What happened after is pretty clear--nobody saw the incomptence continuing to such a high degree. And for all his faults, Ellerbe at least tried to tell his guys not to take money from Ed Martin (how many posters with "DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THIS MAN" do you have to hang in the locker room?). They did it anyway. His recruits were dirty, he was a fairly shitty coach in spite of the talent around him, and didn't benefit from the cloud hanging over the program.
All I'm asking for, as someone who followed those teams pretty closely, is a nuanced, contextual approach instead of the kneejerk "Ellerbe bad, let's move on."
October 25th, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
How many weeks in an era?
October 25th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
an autographed headband from him laying around somewhere. it's one of my odder possesions, b/c the headband is so ratty.
October 24th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
October 24th, 2014 at 10:52 PM ^
Crawford was the only real glimmer of hope the program had and we got dong punched back then too. Each subsequent team pretty much only had one star player at a time:
Blanchard, Horton, Dion Harris,
Lester Abram, and Bernard Robinson,
October 25th, 2014 at 2:45 AM ^
If not for that bizarre NCAA probe, we probably make the tournament that year and build some good recruiting classes off that experience. When we had our full lineup we almost beat Duke.
Also, if Crawford didn't turn pro after the Frosh year, then Bernard Robinson would've played with those two at the same time since he was a year late.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^
We were 12-5 with Crawford. His last game was a 35-point loss at Indiana, and we were about to face the meat of our schedule. Pretty hard to imagine we'd have made the tournsment, given the total lack of player/team development that occurred under Ellerbe.
Crawford in all likelihood was only going to be a one-year player. He didn't get along with the coaching staff (and reportedly got into a fight with an assistant) and his NBA stock was always high - he was a lottery pick, after all.
As for BRJ, he got in trouble off the court a couple of times under Ellerbe (par for the course) before Amaker got him to straighten out. Not sure what would have become of him had Ellerbe stayed. Amaker, while not as successful as we'd have liked on the court, managed to turn around the completely toxic locker room that Ellerbe left behind.
October 25th, 2014 at 3:30 AM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 8:31 AM ^