Lay off of Teske
Jon Teske didn't complain sitting as a freshman. Jon Teske didn't complain that JB went twins all of 37 seconds his entire sophmore year only getting real time when Moe was hurt or in foul trouble. Jon Teske didn't complain from the bench when Nova dominated us in the paint while Duncan put up a donut and played 'which Nova jersey can I pull completely out of an opponents drawers'. Jon Teske didn't complain last season when the "big three" completely ignored him in November and December. Jon Teske didn't complain that JB forced him to play stretch 4 when he's the quintessential pivot. Jon Teske didn't complain about having to high ball screen on offense and hedge onto opposing point guards on defense while our wings sat in the corner watching our seven footer be by far the most active player on the court. Doesn't stop there, after being the most active player on both ends, watch the film, they let him go one on four on the offensive glass. Teske has earned more hall passes than defensive specialist Billy King did for Duke. Fast forward to this season. Teske is finally in the role he was meant to play. He's spent three years of college under coach B practicing how not to foul on the block. Not learning how to play tough defense, pull a rug or draw an offensive foul but to make opponents work without contacting them. "stay on the floor" "two foul rule" etc etc. Teske has to figure out how to be more successful on post defense, I am sure he knows this. As a fan base, please realize Teske is the George Bailey (It's a Wonderful Life) of the Michigan Basketball program. He has sacrificed all selfishness for the team. The least we owe him is some time and space to work through this. If you want to throw some stones throw them at Beilein for neglecting the post for the three years.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:22 PM ^
You can't tell me what to do! You're not my dad!
January 13th, 2020 at 1:37 PM ^
Sounds like he might be Teske’s dad.
January 13th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
Or his brother. Should we expect a twitter rant soon?
January 13th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
My dad doesn't tell me what to do. My wife, on the other hand...
January 13th, 2020 at 4:42 PM ^
Had a wife that did that...gave up half my 401k to move on, and it was the best damn investment.
January 13th, 2020 at 3:18 PM ^
That's supposed to phrased as, "You ain't my daddy!"
January 13th, 2020 at 1:22 PM ^
then as a SENIOR this shouldnt be happening...Good Grief
January 13th, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
I agree with the OP.
Coach Howard is widely known to develop bigs. I'm sure Teske is incrementally learning somethings completely new and unlearning stuff from the last three years. I'm sure Howard and Teske sit in the film room with other bigs and see what they did right and what they could do better.
My humble prediction: by the time the B1G Tourney starts, Teske will be a much better center (an all y'all will be praising him).
Grabelnyc will eat a lemon if I'm wrong.
January 13th, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^
Is he known to develop bigs? I'm not saying he isn't, I just hadn't really heard of this. Yes, he coached Hassan Whiteside who was a mountain of athletic potential and realized most of it under a good, large coaching staff. Are they other examples because the list seems fairly short right now.
Also, Harbaugh was widely known as developing QBs....are we cursed?!?!?
January 14th, 2020 at 4:37 AM ^
Adebayo
January 14th, 2020 at 11:09 PM ^
Love this. Love lemon and egg on the face. Teske wiped all lemon and egg off my face Against Purdue at the Garden two years ago when my mantra was to play him more, twins and such, and he’ll do it again. Not sure of Howard’s coaching but I know that Teske has much more to be realized in the right situation. Start with cutting off the post so he can pass. Then, hang on offensive boards when he gets a piece. After that, let him foul the opposing big once or twice early. Then Teach him to draw a charge or pull the rug. Other guys fall into place and we’ll have something.
signed,
Teske’s shoe shiner
January 13th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
I thought Michigan Basketball wasn't going to have a "reduction in workforce" until the 5 stars got here. I'm really sad to hear Teske got laid off.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:26 PM ^
I don’t think really anybody is being hard on Teske to be honest. More irritation is being directed at Howard who now has ample evidence that Teske is a pretty poor post defender. I think Howard is getting most of the ire that would typically be going to the player.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
exactly this. who's hammering on teske? he's pretty much reached his ceiling and needs help when a talented big goes one-on-one with him in the post. he's still a great player, and one that we can absolutely win with, just not with the current strategy of letting him go one-on-one it seems.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:41 PM ^
God I'm sorry It's me. All last night and this morning I've been hammering on Teske, albeit in my car, shower and other private places where i didnt think anyone could hear. Guess i need to be more careful.
And while we're on the subject of people who need to be left alone - can you guys PLEASE leave Brittney Spears be?
January 13th, 2020 at 2:01 PM ^
Thank you, mGrowOld. I was going to insert the very same thing, but you beat me to it.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:51 PM ^
YEs - that last sentence - I agree completely. I think he is just playing as he is being coached. And these are the results. People seem to forget that he was phenomenal last year (Simpson too). And while he was surrounded by 3 other phenomenal defenders last year, he was the linchpin of that defense and opposing players couldn't do ANYTHING against him. Watch some games and check some stats from last year.
Teske has a TON of ability and up to this point has been a great on-ball and help defender and shot blocker. Someone also pointed out that his usage on offense has increased and he's being asked to do a lot more on offense now. But at the same time, the coaching staff is sending him no help on defense. This team - under a different but very effective scheme last year - emphasized defense. That is not the case this year. And if the offense isn't hitting, you have to adjust the defense. It's always easier to adjust your defensive effort and efficiency than it is to adjust your offense.
Honestly - letting one player kill them is a gamble that hasn't really paid off for this team. If they would make simple adjustments to slow that player down and put the burden on this teammates to make shots, Michigan might have won this game and beaten Illinois and Oregon and would've had a more comfortable win against Purdue. Luckily these seem like easy problems to fix.But the coaching staff hasn't fixed them yet and its making the rest of us nervous.
January 13th, 2020 at 7:25 PM ^
He's the same defender that has been dominant in past years. He can be used better, as was done last year.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:38 PM ^
Wait. It's your opinion that Teske is a pretty poor post defender? Wow. Bad take.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
uhhh, unless your take is that teske is a very poor post defender, there's not a lot of ground to stand on after big ten play so far this season to argue otherwise.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:05 PM ^
Really? What have you been watching? Ok, let me rephrase. Teske is “getting abused like no other 7 foot player I can remember seeing in the BIG right now but is still a remarkably good post defender because feelings.”
January 13th, 2020 at 2:55 PM ^
I have been watching above average defense by Teske considering that he is getting iso'd against some good players and not getting any help. Also consider that he is being asked to be much more of a factor on the offensive end which is no doubt detracting from his usual rock steady defense.
The last 4 or 5 games don't wipe out seasons of evidence that he is a very good defender. Watch the games and ask whether an average big man would be doing any better.
January 13th, 2020 at 3:17 PM ^
I think Johns was noticeably better on Ukoru yesterday. He got a couple of stops and what should have been a tie up. How much did Teske do on offense yesterday? What did he have in the second half, like 2 points? Look, I’m not even a guy who is hard on Teske, his limitation are obvious, but he is getting outplayed by every big man we play.
January 13th, 2020 at 3:25 PM ^
I do agree that Johns played better yesterday. Not saying that Teske played especially well but he is a good defender and it's the usage and circumstances that are making him look bad. Of course he doesn't have the mobility of a Johns but he has always been able to stay in front of guys and then alter their shots. Bottom line is if you are matched up with a quality big 5 feet from the basket and the guy can spin (and has plenty of time to do so), you are going to need some help from time to time. He is not getting any. Even a wing player coming down for the block once the big commits to the baseline would help.
January 13th, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
That is a really good point at the end there. You’re right, there is not doubling and there is NOT DOUBLING. Michigan is certainly doing it in all caps. I wonder if Howard is trying to teach Teske iso defense, and this is the crash course he thinks Teske needs. It doesn’t add up to me that the whole rest of the team is not doing what Howard wants and Teske is just an innocent bystander. Whatever it is, we are eating some hard losses that really, really should be wins.
January 13th, 2020 at 7:39 PM ^
Your memory is too short. Common sports bias, so it's not surprising. One good game against Garza Friday and I'm sure you will have forgotten all about it.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
This post stinks
January 13th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
actually it's ok, it's just the title came out wrong it was supposed to be Layup off of Teske
January 13th, 2020 at 1:32 PM ^
Put down the booze Mrs. Teske.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:35 PM ^
Thanks for the post Teske's dad
January 13th, 2020 at 1:36 PM ^
tl;dr
January 13th, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
Bullshit. When I asked Jon Teske about help with building a small home for my family, he told me to fuck off and go ask Potter.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:46 PM ^
Missing the coaching of Luke Yocklich could be the difference in the Teske defensive drop off this year. Just my take. Hope he and this year's coaches figure it out soon.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
Yoklich could coach with Rudddddock.
January 13th, 2020 at 7:43 PM ^
too late he went with Bielien
January 13th, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
Teske is just fine. A really good player. We just need to double sometimes, it's clear.
Not every time, keep 'em guessing. But you gotta do it sometimes. Even a quick swipe at the ball from a guard to give the opponent's Big Guy another thing to deal with. C'mon JH! Get it done!
January 13th, 2020 at 1:54 PM ^
I'll layoff if he stops giving up layups.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:57 PM ^
I'd like to see everyone's ranking of the Top 5 most athletic players on this roster.
Livers would be #1, but he's injured. John's Jr. would be #2. After that, it's a crap shoot.
We knew what the roster limitations were before the season started, and that was including a now injured Livers.
How quickly amnesia has set in for what was Ethan Happening against Wiscy last year with astronomically better defensive pieces to work with.
But please continue with the downing of the coach who's already gotten adequate help coming down the pipeline. Players who would start at 3 of the 5 positions tomorrow.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
People just want Howard to try something different...see Brian's post on the main page. You can be happy with what's coming next year and try something different.
January 13th, 2020 at 3:41 PM ^
Last year they had Matthews and Livers who could very effectively guard at least 2 and up to 4 different positions on the court at any given time. Helps with rotations tremendously if you wanted to try to double or send help.
With Livers out, the rest of the roster can barely guard 1 position effectively.
Matthews' athleticism cleaned up A LOT of mistakes with his help defense. That makes a ton of difference from what we're used to seeing.
The most telling stat to me was that we had zero dunks, which usually happens when the defense is out of position.
Add in missing some easy layups, poor wide open shooting from deep, and not being able to drive and draw fouls... That is most concerning going forward.
January 13th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
As soon as he can jump over a lunch box I will stop
January 13th, 2020 at 2:00 PM ^
There is a difference between saying "Teske is a bum" (not true and I haven't really seen that here) and "Our post defense has been pretty bad and that is a problem in the Big 10 this year" (totally fair)
This difference is lost on the OP
January 13th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
Either Teske is a terrible low-post defender or he's the unluckiest big man in college basketball.
I'm starting to side with the former.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
Teske has been pretty serviceable in the post offensively. That is a reflection on Howard’s coaching and Teske’s coachability.
He’s regressed significantly with his interior defense. Numbers don’t lie and a passionate defense of Big Sleep doesn’t mitigate that. Last year, even on switches he could check guards.
He’s been a good representative of Michigan hoops and I think everyone pulls for him
January 14th, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^
He can still check guards. Teske is 2nd on the teams in steals. Granted that’s without knowing how they calculate steals. He has a lot of deflections that don’t get counted as steals even with a change of possession. He’s also 1.4 higher in blocks than the 2nd person at 2.1. I would also bet he’s got the most blocks in the country without fouling on the ball. That’s beileins teaching. So is it Livers never helping on the offensive glass. We’ll see.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
The hot take artists on the game threads and in your group chats (a) are not going to read this and (b) even if they do won't listen. So there's really no point in writing all of this unless it makes you feel better.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
I gave Teske a high five at the going away "pep rally" at Crisler when they were on their way to the Final Four last time. He's very, very tall.
That's it, that's my story.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
If given the chance, please report back any comparisons between last year's and this year's high five form and execution.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:18 PM ^
Bottom Line: Howard is going to get everything he can out of the roster that was left for him and Livers being hurt does not help at all. Michigan will be better than ever have before with the recruits he is bringing in next year. he is also developing those on the roster to mix n with those players coming to AA. Teske is playing at the level he is probably capable of playing at right now. Hopefully they will make the tourney this year but they will exit early too. This was to be expected.
January 13th, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
Lay off Teske? Kinda like he's doing to the other team's big man?
Relax, it was a joke.