MBB vs. North Carolina Game Thread

1)  Jones sucks, always goes to his right, creates nothing. Good god.

2)  Michigan can't shoot, like really can't shoot. Worst 3-point shooting team they've had in . . . forever?

3)  Johns has regressed, no confidence

Wondering if TWill will ever put one up from distance. Or is he as I suspect a below average shooter out there. 

The good news is we're still in the game down 2 at the half. But man we just haven't had any flow on offense , yet again. Jones is so frustrating to watch. Bright spot was Houston and Diatabe off to good starts . 

So six and a half games in and it’s just painfully obvious that this team has zero identity. No cohesion, no idea of what each person is supposed to be doing on either end. They aren’t bad, just look confused. Even Hunter looks sorta lost. 
 

I’m not sure what the answer is either. Juwan needs to find a 9-man rotation that works and he hasn’t yet. 
 

Part of the problem is that without Livers and Franz, the front court is filled with guys whose shot you don’t have to respect. Teams can double or sag off on Dickinson. Nobody can really create their own stuff besides Diabate and maybe Brooks. It’s a lot of talent, but a mess on the court. 

This is a team of players, but it is not a team.

Wow. Another defensive disappointing half of defense. Even some UNC misses were wide friggen open. 

So we're not calling for Harbaugh to be fired this week. Does that mean - Fire Juwan! How can we be losing at halftime? Ridiculous!

(This is sarcasm in case you can't tell) 

To be honest, this is probably the best they’ve looked this year given the competition level and environment.  I still think Johns can still give you something, so I’m ok with trying to let him work it out on the second unit.  But Jones looks like a total bust.  Goddamn do I wish we hit the portal for a just a shooter type because that would make a huge difference.

If any of the following players are on the court for Michigan, you can be sure that the opponents will sag off and help to Hunter or just double him straight up: Jones, Johns, and TWill. But also can’t let Hunter off the hook, he is playing with very low energy, is consistently bullied on the glass, and somehow has fewer post-moves than at the start of this season? He’s had a rough stretch of games since Seton Hall and needs to get back into form ASAP.

If Jones is running ball-screen PNR, the opponent will always go under the screen since he is a complete non-threat to shoot from distance.

Offensive identity to this point is: let Eli run PNR and try to get him downhill, Diabate post-up or face-up game, Houstan spot-up shooting. That is it. 

WHY IS HOWARD PLAYING JONES!?! So annoyed at the rotations this year. Please coach, roll with this a while. It has to work better than what we are doing!

PG - Frankie/Brooks 

SG - Brooks/Kobe

SF - Houstan/Kobe

PF Diabate/Williams

C - Hunter/Johns 

Basically give Johns/Williams both a bit of run, whoever plays best that game, takes most of backup minutes 2nd half.

HOWARD TRY IT! 

This is going to be a rough season boys. We have a deadly combination of lost freshmen and upperclassman who started on 3rd base thinking they hit a triple. We are seeing that Franz was a better 18yr old than ANY of our current 5*’s. Livers was the only thing making Johns & Dickinson function and Mike Jones was a rock. 

Other than Moussa, who on the team shows any passion out there? They all look lethargic as hell. 

The secret is out.  We are extremely bothered by perimeter pressure.    And NC is constantly blowing up the high picks.  

Backdoor cuts are available.   Let's profit off of the pressure.  

I really hope we emphasize shooting more in recruits than just athletes. I don't really care if an athlete will do better in the NBA, I rather they be good for Michigan. The spacing is just atrocious, and it really seems to bog down the offense. They need more cutting at the basket and less hesitancy when someone has a wide open 3 in the corner out of the ball screen. The lack of a threat seems that they just collapse on the ball screen and ignore the kick out. If Jones was better at finishing or running the offense, maybe Eli could get more of those looks. 

It's hard to be optimistic about this team

They aren’t good right now. Johns and Jones pretty much don’t need to play. Juwan was on a team of pretty good young players as I recall so he should know better than anyone that the best players play. If that means growing pains with Collins at the point, so be it. 

Playing like butt again. The offense is stagnant and UNC has learned how to exploit our drop coverage. We need to mix us our sets on offense and switch to a hedge while mixing in some zone. We are too predicable on both ends and it shows. UNC is not a better team, they are executing better and our coaching staff is not doing our guys any favors.

Devonte Jones never looks to the post and it is killing our flow. We don't have playmakers on the outside so everything needs to flow through the post. I know that is not how he did things at Coastal but he needs to get with the program. Honestly, the best five in the first half didn't have Hunter or DJ on the floor. 

Boy do I miss Franz and Livers. Not to mention the chemistry and fun the team had. 

Remember when Zavier Simpson was struggling early in the 2017-18 season? Coach Beilein took him out of the starting lineup for about a half dozen games or so. It gave Simpson the chance to see and hear what Coach Beilein was needing from the pg position, and it allowed him to get his confidence restored with limited game time, and practice time. It took some pressure off of Simpson, and he came back playing much more comfortably. 

That's what Coach Howard needs to do with Jones. It is painstakingly obvious that Jones cannot get it done right now, and his continued starter minutes are hurting this team.

Take care of the ball, and Hunter not pick up cheapies and you win the game, this is not a good UNC team but they are capable of beating us, specially if we are playing like this. Come on boys, go blue!

Lot of mistakes made to only be down 2.  Good to see Diabate shooting well. 

I don’t understand how Kobe can’t get minutes. This is maddening that Jones sucks up the PG mins 

3 on Hunter

Hunter has regressed big time on defense.

That's a foul?

Fuck these refs man

Can’t ignore Dickinson’s poor play this year.  He’s not going to be an All American.

Fucking horseshit foul calls 

Bullshit call. Two in a row. 

Sorry, but that's a bad coaching move by Coach Howard. You don't let your best player get his 4th foul 90 seconds into the 2nd half.

Michigans on the verge of being blown out

What did Dickinson do in the offseason?

It was a foul. Here comes a bullshit makeup call

Nice flop 

Jones puts his head down and cannot see the floor 

Well this game is looking over if Dickinson is being shut down for most of the half. We're about to be horrendous to watch. Also that's a foul on Love, Dickie, he grabbed Eli's arm and then flopped.

I'll never understand some of these foul calls on Michigan players

Exactly what is our offensive plan. No over the back???? There's the make up

Would be great if Dickie V could close his pie hole for a minute. 

Put Collins back in