MBB: Desired Improvements and Predictions/Expectations
Please don't hammer me too hard on this, for this is my first thread post, but I really wanted to get everybody elses' opinion on where this season is going for the Men's basketball team. Lately I've been looking into the analysts' predictions and trying to get a general feel for where this team is headed, whether it be a Big Ten championship or a Final Four run. Maybe I'm looking into this way too early, but I feel that if the pieces are in the right spot, this team has the potential to do seroius damage in March, if that wasn't already given. We certainly need everybody healthy on the roster to do this, but I would like to hear from you guys, what are things we have done extremely well up to this point, things we really need to improve on in order to do damage in March, and personal expectations/predictions for this team. Thanks everyone, and GO BLUE!
February 6th, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
February 6th, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
make more free throws and play better D in the post
February 6th, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
February 6th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
I'm a bit surprized they don't have Levert or TH or GRIII playing the baseline in the 1-3-1 more- I thought that D really needed a quick, athletic guy with long arms in that key spot in that defense. Seems like we have 3 of those guys this year.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^
Are you talking about OSU, or in general?
February 7th, 2013 at 7:29 AM ^
I mean M going to the 1-3-1 more thruought the year, since they have length and athleticism for that baseline defender.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:40 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 8:36 AM ^
He's certainly not settled on offense, but defensively he's one of the best perimeter players we have.
He's definitely better than Stauskas, which is why I was screaming for offense/defense subs late in the game. Then Stauskas doesn't box out, his man gets a 2nd chance shot and...BANG, tie game.
He's a freshman that plays like a freshman on offense.
February 7th, 2013 at 8:33 AM ^
You put the long arms LeVert up top on the 1-3-1 to force traps and deflections.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:32 PM ^
Michigan will finish the season #1 and win the national title.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:33 PM ^
February 6th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^
Sweet
February 6th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^
February 6th, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
The Big Ten has done fine in the tourney lately. OSU made the Final Four last season. Trey Burke wore down last season, but that doesn't mean it'll happen again.
February 6th, 2013 at 11:51 PM ^
I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned yet, because it was the main contributing factor to my head nearly exploding yesterday. When up at the end of the game, do not take 3s. If a guy is shooting a 3 with a minute left and the team up 3, he better not have a defender within 15 feet of him, because scoring just one more point makes it a two possession game. You better get that one point. I don't even want to look back at how many contested threes we took when we were up by 2 or 3. It's like we were entirely concerned with running down the clock and didn't even care what the shot was at the end of the shot clock. Trey, it is possible to drive to the rim in 2 seconds. You do it all throughout the game. Run the clock, get some movement off the ball, drive the hoop, get fouled. Simple. Burke is the best ball handler in the country but for some reason he doesn't want to handle the ball with less than 2 minutes to go. He would rather stand for 30 seconds and then jack up a deep ball with a hand in his face. I love him, but he infuriates me at the end of games.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:22 AM ^
I mentioned it at some point (not that you automatically would see that), just agreeing and saying it annoys the FFFF out of me as well. Iowa did it tonight with Oglesby in regulation against Wisconsin -same scenario, tie ball game, not down x points, but tied.
It is just not smart basketball. I'm coming around for the three shot down two points and going for a win; I used to hate that as well but it's become prevalent and so be it. But down one or tied the amount of three pointers taken has become absurd. It's a low efficient shot and again, not smart basketball. Get to the rack and try and get some contact or look for a kick-out. The play last night before the Trey step-back fade away missed three was beautiful. A screen up top and a dribble drive and kick to the low block for McGary to throw it down. Why not try something similar?
February 7th, 2013 at 12:35 AM ^
I actually liked much of what I saw in OT. They backed the ball out and got two good shots right at the rim (Stauskas and McGary) that they couldn't finish. I'm not sure if JB was referring to the missed shot before OT but he said that wasn't the shot they were looking for. It was supposed to be a double screen...if they got the switch (which they did), Robinson was supposed to set another screen (which he didn't). Had he, Burke would have had either an open 3 or a chance to shorten the shot with a dribble or two.
There was a lot I liked in the game last night. Unlike Indiana, it seemed like there was a lot more ball movement. Michigan has to figure out how to run a half court offense against better defenses or teams that are trying to minimize their transition points. That's why I liked the motion in OT the led to Stauskas and McGary getting to the rim. The better Burke becomes at being patient and recognizing when he's got the advantage the better they will be.
I'm not as worried about the defense but only because I think they will continue to improve and Morgan will hopefully soon be back.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 12:35 AM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 12:40 AM ^
Couldn't imagine myself saying this a few years ago, but we absolutely need Morgan back for his D and rebounding.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:00 AM ^
A team that plays 3 freshmen about 70% of the time and 4 freshmen the other 30% of the time has two losses, both on the road, to the no. 1 team in the country and the number 10 team in the country after returning from basketball oblivion in the last few years and all you guys do is whine about what they don't do. Hell, they play with great intensity and maturity given their actual age and experience, and they found a way to win against a much bigger and more experienced OSU team that had beaten them 8 out of their last 9 meetings...You guys would date Mila Kunis and whine that she does not cook well enough for you!
February 7th, 2013 at 5:10 AM ^
Uhhh...If you've had her scrambled eggs before you'd be bitching up a storm too!
February 7th, 2013 at 7:45 AM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 1:20 AM ^
Hero-ball with Burke doesn't bother me. To those who say it doesn't work and it only worked once at Indiana this year clearly haven't been watching Burke for the past two seasons. I can count multiple times that he's hit the final shot of a half. Hell, Burke was 3/5 from three in the game when he went for it at the end of regulation against OSU.
The problem is his height and in a lot of those situations it works as a disadvantage because no matter how well he drives, he's not going to get a end of the game/half foul called by a defender who is at least 7+ inches taller than he is. He is going to get blocked/throw an errant pass/get an off-balanced look.
A step-back contested jumper may be a low-percentage shot, but it happens to also be Burke's bread and butter. Not that I want all of our possessions to be end of shot clock scenarios like that, but give credit where credit is due. I'd want Burke to be the one to take that shot at the end of a game.
Anyway, defensive rotations have to improve, and I think that's been touched on a lot, but to me, it isn't the rotations that are the biggest problem. What kills us is after we rotate and maybe are a step too late and someone jacks up a three, nobody knows who they should be boxing out. Stauskas gets blown by on the wing and he doesn't know who to put a body on on the perimeter. That's how we got killed with second chance points against OSU.
Clean that up, and bring a little more intensity on our on-ball defense (Burke was fantastic on Tuesday), and I think we'll be much better.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:44 AM ^
a few things, We have ZERO offense in the paint. Weve got to be able to go down low to get better looks from the perimeter.
McGary needs to play more. He reminds me a lot of Jon Brockman. When he's not in were really stuggle to get boards.
If were down by one with 10 seconds left, who gets the ball? Were lacking a pure scorer. I really think THJ is that guy but it seems that plays are always to Burke first.
February 7th, 2013 at 6:36 AM ^
Have you seen the numbers when we go into the post? We're not good at it. Our bigs all work very hard but their post games are pretty rough. The reason post touches open up the perimeter is that defenses will collapse on a good post scorer, but there's no reason for teams to double if we throw it into the post.
McGary is playing about as much as he physically can play right now. He was sucking wind in the OSU game. Overplaying him now is a great way to insure that he's worn out in March.
The final point is accurate. I do think our late game sets are getting stale. Burke wants to take the shot (not a bad thing) and has a tendency to dribble the air out of the ball late in games. I'd like to see THJ run off some stagger screens to open him for a catch and shoot/drive option with Burke penetrating as a second option a few times. I'd also like to see Burke go a little earlier than he tends to in late game situations. Right now he attacks with about 4-5 seconds left, which has the advantage of preventing the opponent from getting the ball, but limits his options. I'd like to see him go at about 7 seconds.
February 7th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
Morgan has a solid post game. We tend to go to him a lot at the start of each half and he's usually productive. He just needs to get healthy.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:46 AM ^
Boards. Get the rebounds. That was getting ridiculous last nght. That's the big thing we miss from Morgan.
February 7th, 2013 at 5:17 AM ^
This is Brady's best class so far. He seems to have subscribed to the Bill Parcells school of thinking. Build both lines. Then fill in with the rest.
Michigan is better right now than it was a few months ago. The depth is great. The talent level just shot up.
Many of these kids will get alot of playing time as freshmen. As Greg Mattison said "I play talent. I don't care what class their in."
February 7th, 2013 at 6:18 AM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^
This is easy...
- You're 21-2, so the vast majority of what you're doing is good. Don't change those things.
However, there are some things that MUST happen for us to improve...
- Run an offense, too many set plays and not enough movement, motion and off the ball action.
- Late in the shot clock, we're almost exclusively ISO, last year we were almost exclusively high pick and roll with J-Mo. MIX IT UP! 50/50 - Why does it have to be one or the other?! It has been beyond frustrating watching us go 1-4 with Burke dribbling into a tough step back jumper, the entire world knows it's coming. Go back to some pick and roll from time to time. Run a play of Hardaway or Stauskas. It shouldn't even be 50/50 like I said before, it should be 33 ISO/33 Pick and Roll/33 Run a play for THJ or Stauskas.
- Keep playing tough defense - I remember exactly when it was when the light switched for this team and we started playing defense. Just can't remember if it was Iowa or Purdue. But it was around the 12 minute mark of the 2nd half, offense was okay, but not great and suddenly we just went nuts on defense. Burke was pressuring the ball, McGary got a steal, a block, it was beautiful to watch. We have to keep doing this...we haven't let up since this game that I'm referring to.
- Learn from IU and OSU - Don't be stubborn about it. Those are two good teams. Both teams plays as tough of defense on us as we've seen all season and those were clearly our toughest 3 games of the season. It's no coincidence. We do not handle pressure well. We MUST adapt. In practice go 5 on 6 and have that 6th person protecting the basket while the other 5 help off their man, trap, and get in the starter's face.
- Play 2 "BIGs" more often. I don't know why our staff is so hesitant to play McGary and Horford/Morgan so much. I understand we don't have a super deep rotation, but GRIII can't play forever. Also it gives us an advantage rebounding the basketball which is huge. Against Ohio we started the OT with Horford and McGary and I don't believe they scored in the first 3 minutes of OT. I'm not saying extensive minutes, but 5-7 more minutes per game play 2 post players.
February 7th, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^
Once Morgan is healthy and splitting minutes with McGary I think Horford should split time with GRIII. I like GRIII just fine, but he can't keep playing 40 minutes a game. I also really like what Horford brings to the game. I like the idea of Morgan/GRIII alternating with McGary/Horford frontcourts. An offensive specialist and rebounding specialist (way over-generalizing the players I know) in each pairing. McGary can be a GREAT player but there is no doubt their interior defense and rebounding take a dip when he is playing the 5. Having Horford out there too may mitigate some of that. At this point it doesn't look like they'll get much production out of their backcourt bench.
February 7th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
B1G is brutal, we all know that, best conference in the land. We can win the B1G, we are good enough, we play poorly and are still in games which is the sign of a championship team. We play well and we can be/are the best team in the nation.
My biggest fear come tourney time is overlooking opponents, this coaching staff is great but this happens every year and it scares the shit out of me. We will be a 1 or 2 seed and we will get those lower ranked teams that can sneak up on people.
If this team is running on all cylinders, it will be hard for this team to lose.
February 7th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
Imterestingly enough, this team hasn't shown a propensity to overlook anybody. Most of their "slow starts" were against really good teams and the only non-ranked teams to really give us any trouble were Purdue (hitting 35 foot heaves) and Pitt (who I can't figure out if they are good or terrible)
February 7th, 2013 at 11:39 AM ^
There are improvements to be made on both sides of the ball, but anyone suggesting that any problems we have our offense oriented are insane. The main issue as I see it is wing defense. Our guys need to learn to close out and still be in good position to not let them drive past us. Also if one wing gets beat off the dribble, the other needs to rotate over and get a body on the weak side big men since McGary is forced to either help or give up a free layup.
Overall though, this is all nitpicking really. the team is 21-2 and does a ton of things really well. A lot of people here seem to have lost sight of that in focusing on their "frustrations" with the team.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
February 7th, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
This year is probably Michigan's best 'window of opportunity" for a Final Four. I hope that the new guys coming in next year can replace Burke and Hardaway, and that all of the freshmen stay, but the future is never guaranteed.
Coming through against Ohio was huge, and the next challenge is to beat an elite team on the road. Once they make that breakthrough, the neutral site games in the NCAA Tournament won't be that difficult.
All it's going to take is for Stauskas and GRIII to make minor tweaks that will help them get close to what they were doing against lesser teams. I look at the last two and next two games as "basketball school" for both. They are learning and adapting. I think both will grow a lot between now and the tournament, and that this team will "peak" at the right time.
We already got to see Burke and Hardaway go into the "We will NOT lose this game" mode against Ohio. They should be enough to sustain high performance until the freshmen grow.