MBB vs. UCF post-game snowflakes thread
If you had told me about midway through the first half that we’d win by 22, I would have stared back at you slack-jawed.
The defensive energy when Dickinson steps on the floor is palpable. We love Big Country, but he’s not going to be able to deal with long athletes who can move their feet, and UCF had plenty of them.
Along with him, Brown, Williams and Johns matched the speed and intensity of UCF. 49 points of the bench, led by Brown’s 18. They are going to log heavy minutes during B1G play.
Smith did a nice job breaking the 3/4 press.
Not sure why there was such negative feedback on Christy Winters-Scott’s commentary. I didn’t find her any better or worse than Hummel or Bardo, and all three of them have enormous amounts of basketball knowledge.
What did you all notice?
December 6th, 2020 at 6:11 PM ^
We really took it to Oakland after falling behind early.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:24 PM ^
UCF tried to emulate what Oakland did and... WHADDYA KNOW... our coaching staff learned how to adjust to it!?! What a novel concept!
December 6th, 2020 at 7:01 PM ^
True, but it's much easier to adjust the play of 5-10 guys on a basketball teams than it is 20-30 guys on a football squad. Different levels of inertia.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
I dunno, most every other football team and coach have figured that out other than OURS!!!
December 7th, 2020 at 2:01 AM ^
Nope, not buyin what your sellin
December 7th, 2020 at 7:36 AM ^
I said it's more difficult, not impossible (or terribly difficult either).
I'm not sure why anyone would think it's equally easy/difficult to change the scheme/planning of a football team as opposed to a basketball team. One is much larger and more intricate than the other.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
Williams is earning his minutes. Eli has got to do a better job taking care of the ball, but boy is he quick to get a hand in a shooter’s face.
December 6th, 2020 at 11:43 PM ^
Williams in that slightly hunched over posture of his looks like he's ready to pounce at all times. I like what I've seen from him.
December 7th, 2020 at 9:27 AM ^
I caught him live at a high school game last year after he committed and that was the number one thing I noticed about him. He looks like he’s on the prowl!
December 6th, 2020 at 6:18 PM ^
My only issue with Winters-Scott's commentary was that there was way too much of it. She never shut up. I would take her over Bardo though. I actually really like Robbie Hummel
December 6th, 2020 at 6:26 PM ^
Yeah she wasn't bad but Hummel is legit good. She kept referring to Chaundee as having a wry smile though, which is wrong considering he's grinning ear to ear. Is there even a better color commentator than Hummel on BTN?
December 6th, 2020 at 6:36 PM ^
No, Hummel is by far the best. He is knowledgeable, doesn’t over-talk and keeps it mainly on game action.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Hummel has earned his position to also broadcast on ESPN. He’s better than Jay Bilas. Just as knowledgeable and immensely less smug
December 6th, 2020 at 7:26 PM ^
I think Hummel is good. Bilas is good. Agree he’s kinda smug, but at least he was talented back in the day. For total lack of knowledge only matched by his unearned arrogance there is nobody worse than Dan Dakich. That dude is an ass clown.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:45 PM ^
Love me some Double-D! He has the perfect combination of Humor/Knowledge when calling a game. Like how he’ll call out someone like Izzo or Bill Self when they do wrong. Most commentators will suck up to them in contrast. He has a little prick in him but I can tolerate it.
December 7th, 2020 at 2:05 AM ^
Te each is own, but as much as Dakich can be and ass clown, he is a good balance of entertaining, fair, and arrogance.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
At first, Hummel sucked ass at this job. He has really improved and is pretty damn good now.
Nobody's better than Bilas,...come on.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^
Never could listen to Bilas. Shut the sound off when he’s doing a game.
December 7th, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
Bilas will not stop whining about something until he has sucked all the life out of the game. The guy is unbearable.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:31 PM ^
I almost spit out the tea I was drinking when I read OP say that Bardo possesses a wealth of basketball knowledge. That’s an infinitely hotter take than anything in the mgopodcast fuego box section.
I’ll take her over him all day. The one thing is that she was trying way too hard at the end to make the game close. With about 5 minutes left UCF hit a three and she excitedly goes “And UCF is refusing to go away!” The three took the margin from 31 to 28.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:42 PM ^
I don't care much for Scott but I really find Winters annoying. She has obviously pre-composed monologues about various subjects and when she starts one she doesn't seem to be willing to break in to check in on what's happening on the court. And she doesn't wait until the game is no longer contested before starting one. Also, she frequently has really odd choices of words. In this game, it seemed jarring when Brown came down, hit a midrange shot and she said (if I remember correctly) "That was fierce."
December 6th, 2020 at 6:23 PM ^
Zeb has so much potential. He’s just too excited when he’s on the court. Needs to settle down a bit. PG position will be stocked for next year
December 6th, 2020 at 6:28 PM ^
I liked Zeb's change of speed on two drives, he can really crank it up. Didn't finish on either one though. It will come, he's gonna be really good.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:52 PM ^
Agree with both of you, I am waiting for the night he hits his shot, because he will be a problem if he can settle down and the game slows down a bit for him. Kid has talent and the ability to change speeds is disgusting
December 6th, 2020 at 6:24 PM ^
Not that Dickinson isn't better than Davis, but things didn't change when Dickinson came on actually. It was when Williams and Johns came on as well that Michigan went on that run in the first half.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:09 PM ^
The big frontcourt was huge for Michigan. I wasn't sure about the fit between Williams, Johns and Dickinson but they made it work. They played productive minutes when they played together and they clamped down on defense and rebounded the hell out of it. It was a pleasant surprise seeing this unit starting the turnaround.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:52 PM ^
I thought that Davis played well. His numbers are good for the minutes played and he did some good things that didn't show up in the numbers. Of course, he certainly wasn't the defender Dickinson was but everyone's defense was bad and people were blowing by their defenders. The defense was so porous it wasn't primarily Davis' fault.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
I thought Christy Winters-Scott did a nice job. She's clearly knowledgable and has a good voice and vocabulary. Didn't lapse into constant cliches. Maybe she was a little verbose but I get the impulse to try and be interesting despite a lopside game.
As for the team, nice effort after the first 10 minutes. Both the offense and defense are clearly worse when Davis is in, just a function of his limitations. He'd be better with a more ball dominant PG and if the secondary guys, Livers especially, had a better handle. IMO, which ain't worth much.
Zeb Jackson is clearly a work in progress. Game needs to slow down for hiim on both ends, but if he can get dialed in he's going to be good.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
Good voice? Really? I found it very grating. Also, she tried way too hard too many times with puns and slang.
All the knowledge in the world won't help on TV if your presentation is lousy.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:28 PM ^
Oakland must be tough!
December 6th, 2020 at 6:29 PM ^
Might get negged for this, but if Wagner wasn't on our team I'd hate him. He always looks like he's complaining and frustrated, even sometimes when an opponent gets called for fouling him.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:35 PM ^
That's like 40% of the point of having a Wagner. The other 60% is the immense talent.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:40 PM ^
....and the other 50% is when Mama comes to town!
December 6th, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
I wish he'd loosen up a bit - right now he needs a dose of his big bro's goofiness.
Surely things aren't going his way on the court lately (fouls / shooting), seems like he could lighten up and focus on what he can control to impact the game.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:02 PM ^
Easily the worst thing about the Juwan era is it seems autobench is even worse somehow.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
Didn't Johns come back in with two in the first half?
December 6th, 2020 at 9:01 PM ^
Are you watching the games? Franz played up until he got his second foul. Ive seen that several games. Beilein was like a robot with it.
December 7th, 2020 at 12:22 AM ^
Not sure what you think you're arguing. Howard has had a hard 2 foul 1st half auto bench this year and last year. Beilein didn't bench guys for 1 foul.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
He runs over a defender on like 3/4 of his drives. That's not gonna work when we start playing B1G teams
December 7th, 2020 at 12:41 AM ^
If he becomes a more than decent passer it'll open up his game immensely it seems. Right now you know when he is determined to shoot, which is like 80% of the time the ball is in his hands. Only a few particular true scorers can get away with that, raw athleticism and touch with the ball help to allow being a black-hole.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:30 PM ^
The strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack. We have the best depth in years. We can go 9 deep with no drop off and by later in the season it will be 10 deep when Jackson gets up to speed.
i love watching this team.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:52 PM ^
When was the last time Michigan had this formidable of a bench? The Fab Five brought Pelinka, Eric Riley, James Voskuil, and Michael Talley off the bench, but combined they scored less than Brown. The 12-13 team brought Jordan Morgan, Spike, Caris, and Horford off the bench, but Spike and Caris weren't quite Spike and Caris just yet, and Horford was a bit player.
December 6th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^
Morgan started the whole year except when injured in the middle part of the season. McGary was actually not as ready to go as Hunter is right now. Also, Vogrich started the first couple of games over Stauskas, and Levert was headed for a redshirt. That team came out on fire out of the gate, but they really didn’t get their rotation set until March
December 7th, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
If there was a game with Davis, Livers, Wagner, Brooks, and Smith versus Dickinson, Johns, Williams, Brown, and Jackson, I'd be inclined to think the bench might win. The only issue is the guard play might hamper the bench a bit too much. If you split Brooks and Smith up, I'd take the bench team.
December 7th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
According to Williams, the starters have been kicking butt against the rotation players in practice.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:32 PM ^
Love the energy Williams brings. Looking forward to 4 years of energy, scrap, and hustle to the point where opposing teams can't wait until he's gone. Dickinson coming off the bench isn't the worst thing in the world--he could get more run against the opposition's bench.
Didn't think the announcing was bad, though she did talk a lot. You don't have to fill EVERY bit of space.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
Not biased at all, but I think we need to recruit more DMV guys.
December 6th, 2020 at 7:35 PM ^
Username checks out ?
December 6th, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
By far the best thing to see was the defense put the clamps on someone.
Chaundee may be a streaky shooter but he’s consistently getting the looks and has to keep shooting. He seems to have a smooth midrange game as well.
The backups basically carried us in the first half which was great to see. Dickinson and Williams looked great. As Williams gets more and more comfortable, his minutes need to match up with Hunter because they have a great connection
December 6th, 2020 at 6:59 PM ^
I don't understand how Davis is getting more than 10 minutes a game. With Dickinson being the far superior option and Johns being a solid option who arguably deserves more minutes, there is no reason that Davis should be playing ~13 minutes