Just A Lost Season For Hoops
The loss of Livers is too much for this team. Don’t have the bench this year to overcome the loss of the best player on our team. It’s just bad luck, and it’s a lot to put on Juwan this year to overcome. Not his fault, he’s got the right system place, we just don’t have the players this year.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
I'm not normally one to bitch or complain, but not trying to get the last possession at the end really pissed me off.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
for some reason almost no one in college does 2 for 1. i've never understood that. seems pretty easy to get the ball to teske for a quick shot or foul in under 15 sec. if he misses, you still get last possession with at least 15 sec.
January 25th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
Dude he got a great possession with Teske getting a 3 ft shot!! Not his fault he missed it.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
0-5 from the line (de facto 0-6 because one was a front end) in the last 3 minutes is mind-blowing. We don't know how to finish close games.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
Franz and Teske let this team down big today. Franz just isn’t good. Lack of talent on this squad. Very easy to see when Livers plays then out again.
encouraged by Howard. He has improved the D on big guys. Every time one got us the first time, he tweaked the system to improve round 2. Not his fault this team lacks any talent. I don’t always like his rotations (Davis playing with 3 min), but that will probably improve when you have better players. Right now picking average at best or not good.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:27 PM ^
Are you saying Franz isn’t talented? I agree that he isn’t playing great but his ceiling is very high
January 25th, 2020 at 2:42 PM ^
Ignore them. They're the same people who think DJ Wilson didn't deserve a scholarship
January 25th, 2020 at 2:44 PM ^
Disappointing day for him but he is a freshman and needs development time for sure
January 25th, 2020 at 6:16 PM ^
Kind of like a first year coach who is coaching someone else’s players and still has a winning record?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
agree. you can see the game is there. he just can't hit a damn shot. and that was supposed to be the best part of his game. not sure what you can do about that. his misses tend to be good looks.
January 25th, 2020 at 4:10 PM ^
As leader of the pep squad.. His talking is way better than his actual playing.
January 25th, 2020 at 5:00 PM ^
Saying as of today as a true freshman he isn’t good enough to play during crunch time on a good team. Can he develop? Sure. But his shot isn’t great and he has the weakest hands ever. Gets stripped constantly. Those are facts. Long way to go to be good.
January 25th, 2020 at 4:07 PM ^
Franz is a freshman - and he got a late start at that.
Geez, give the kid a break. You're giving up on a freshman after a dozen games under his belt?
He's already a pretty good player - he'll become at minimum a very good one.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but that's just an awful thing to say.
January 25th, 2020 at 5:03 PM ^
My Franz take is this year as a freshman. I never said he’s done or Howard should give him a firm handshake. I said he had a big part in them losing today, and as a freshman getting huge minutes right now he isn’t very good.
January 26th, 2020 at 5:07 AM ^
I haven't watched all of the games this season, but the ones I have watched I have come away with the same opinion. He is very raw and really doesn't seem ready for the amount of minutes he is getting. I think he will be a pretty good player in the next year or two, but right now he just isn't ready for the role he has to play on this team.
January 26th, 2020 at 7:09 AM ^
Lack of talent but it also seems like some talent regression. Teske was thought to be a defensive stud last year and you could just assume that any point guard facing Simpson was about to have one of their worst games of the year. Not any more. What do you think our Big Ten record would be if Beilein was still coaching here?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
I really like Juwan and a lot of the players as people, but this team is pretty much unwatchable right now. Not a single person can hit a free throw, much less a contested basket, while every opponent has at least one guy put up a career game every time.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
When a team misses 6 free throws in a row near the end of the game, and at home with only a 2 pt lead, it doesn't bode well. Michigan could have iced the game with only 3 makes and 3 misses at the FT line. That sucks!
On a big losing streak now, hello NIT!
January 25th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
I would be happy with any post season tournament at this point
January 25th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^
The free throw shooting is horrendous, there isn’t any scorers on the floor, and the defense has regressed from the beginning of the year. They are going to struggle to win any Big Ten games this year.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^
You love letting Ayo cook on a guy 6 inches shorter than him? There’s a reason everyone puts up a career high against Michigan. Find a mismatch and exploit it for 40 mins. Howard won’t double, trap, anything.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
If you don't think Michigan doubles OR traps, you have not watched them play since before the last Iowa game
January 25th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
actually, the did get much more aggressive on dosunmu in the second half up top; even doubling him. he had to give the ball up a lot. IL went into a rut with about 10 min to go. no one was hitting, except a couple drives be feliz. i'm not sure frazier or georgi even made a basket the whole second half. i would have forced dosunmu to give up that ball and make anyone else take the final shot.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
Yes this take is misinformed.
They doubled when teske got his fourth foul even. They doubled all game! They also (attempted to) trap!
January 25th, 2020 at 3:11 PM ^
Lots of uninformed basketball hot takes going on! Probably the runoff from the constant Harbaugh bitching, they needed another outlet.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:06 PM ^
Dosunmu played a great game. He also took some woefully bad shots that went in. The shot to win the game was an off-balance, midrange two from the free throw line, falling backwards and with terrible form. It went in anyway. At some point, you just have to curse the basketball gods and tip your hat to the opponent.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:39 PM ^
true, but i still don't let the guy who scored almost half the team's points take the final shot.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^
This is correct. It’s even more frustrating that the team can’t shoot goddam free throws and layups - that is NOT coaching
January 25th, 2020 at 2:47 PM ^
Man clean that crap up
January 25th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
Teams don’t practice free throws and lay-ups?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
Won’t even make the NIT. I would be surprised if they won another game this season.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
How surprised? Want to put some money on it?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
I'd love to take this bet with Northwestern and Nebraska still on the docket, what odds are you giving me with this spicy hot take?
January 25th, 2020 at 6:57 PM ^
Mr Optimism. Do you ever get off your rag?
January 25th, 2020 at 2:21 PM ^
Pack it in and wait till next year. Honestly think the NIT will be in doubt for us. The rate things are going, having a winning overall record is looking less likely by the minute.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
Bad players. Bad coaches. It's nothing to do with luck. They suck.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
2-6 in The Big Ten with a roster good enough to beat Gonzaga on a neutral court and a good Creighton team at home.
Yeah...Juwan's doing great so far. Can't do any wrong.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
There's been no Isaiah Livers for 95 % of January (we had him for part of today's game before he reinjured himself). It's probably a very different season if he's healthy.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
Missing Livers obviously hurts. He's not elite, but a very good player and a leader. Great kid.
To be fair, though, a lot of injuries across the Big Ten this year. Think Iowa and NW both have multiple kids out all year, MSU lost their best shooter a week before season, Haarms has had some injuries, etc.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:44 PM ^
Josh Langford is not their best shooter and he never was
January 25th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
MSU has the players too overcome that, we don’t. Not Juwan’s fault. He recruited zero of these players. Now I see why Beilein bolted.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
i think the frosh who replaced bohannon is a better all around player anyway. our bench was extremely thin to begin with, because 3 starters left early for the nba. you can't plan for that.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:45 PM ^
So we can't be expected to win AT HOME when playing with 1 "weird guy"?
The Juwan worship is unjustified. He has no track record to reference and they don't look well coached.
I expect an Amaker type tenure while he's at Michigan.
Made no sense to gamble with an inexperienced coach to hire after Beilein lifted Michigan Basketball to almost unprecedented heights.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:48 PM ^
You said it was the same roster as the team in Atlantis. It's not. And there's a pretty big dropoff beyond our top three guys (Simpson/Teske/Livers) so losing one of them really hurts. We've played a series of close games where our lack of firepower just killed us down the stretch. Add Livers and some of those are probably wins.
Why is Juwan an Amaker clone? Because they're both black? I think our offensive sets look pretty good actually, we just can't shoot at all. This is nothing like the Amaker teams that committed 17 turnovers a night.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:59 PM ^
you can't do much on offense when guys just can't shoot. the shots are there. there has been a significant drop off on D though. and losing matthews shouldn't crater that D. i thought that would still be a significant strength for this team. brooks >> poole on D. iggy maybe a slight upgrade over wagner; not much. but johns is better than both. but nearly everyone on this roster, except livers, has a serious flaw(s) in their game.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:48 PM ^
So after 18 games in his first season as coach, the trashing of Juwan is Justified?? Guess it’s to be expected, seems that is what this board has become.
January 25th, 2020 at 3:18 PM ^
The problems with this take:
1) Juwan will recruit MUCH better than Amaker ever could.
2) It’s clear there is a lack of talent. Howard has designed plays to get guys open, but they just aren’t making the shots. It’s be one thing if our looks from 3 were all contested, but we had a ton of open looks that didn’t fall because the team lacks shooters.
3) Beilein’s system would be hard to replicate for any new coach, and with 3 guys leaving early for the NBA, it’s clear this team lacks any elite talent. Beilein would struggle with this group.
January 25th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Pretty sure Beilein would have the same record or worse under these same circumstances this year!
January 25th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
Ehh. We at least would've had Jalen Wilson. The defense would be better and I think we would've had one of Johns, Castleton, or Nunez be at least playable. I think we would still have all our road losses but we would be undefeated at home under Beilein this year thus far
January 25th, 2020 at 3:38 PM ^
We'd have Wilson - but he's missing the season due to injury.
I don't know about Johns/Castleton/Nunez looking better. Beilein wasn't really that good at developing post players and Nunez didn't show anything at all last year.
We might be better defensively if Yaklich were still here but I think our personnel the last two years (especially Matthews) also played a role.
Ultimately (assuming the Wilson injury still happens) we're talking about losing Brazdeikis/Matthews/Poole and then Livers to injury while adding only Franz Wagner, who moreover, missed a lot of the preseason due to his broken wrist.