Michigan Basketball Snowflakes Thread

Submitted by M-Wolverine on
Mainly because a hundred of these after that game will sap my will to live.

coldnjl

January 13th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^

even a single 2 point shot during that stretch of 5 or so three point attempts would have made that a totally different ball game...

Stauskus, for all his confidence/cockiness, sure played like a timid freshman. You should be cocky only when you come through in big games. His defense was bad, poor passing that led to a few turnovers, and his lack of offense lost this game for us.

Go.Blue.Hail

January 13th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^

I don't think the whole game can be blamed on one person. I think it's clear that everyone contributed to this loss with bad passing, turnovers, and ill-advised 3's. The good thing is that these fixes are mostly mental and shouldn't be too hard to fix. If anything this game will be a great game to learn from.

ijohnb

January 13th, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^

Five had this terrible habit of sleep-walking their way out of the gate and building very difficult deficits to overcome by failing to be purposeful and deliberate with their offensive possessions early in games.  Today looked very similar to that from Michigan to begin the game, every thing was going east and west and their was no urgency to put themselves in good positions to score.  Part of that is youth.  They also have to develop more sets that they go to.  They simply cannot be all high pick and roll, that is too one dimension and can become very easy to defend especially when threes are not falling.  They have to get Morgan early touches near the rim to at least try to develop another way to attack teams. 

The road in the Big Ten is a nightmare.  Ohio got every single 50/50 call, with a couple coming early that really put Michigan in a hole.  They will be fine.  They just have to be ready to play from the tip.

ijohnb

January 13th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^

not know that this topic originated from a coaching conversation, I got lost a little bit reading everything.

So what, the Steve Fischer patented clueless deer in a headlights expression did not do much for you? 

No, that was not one of the better coached games that I have seen, but you can only do so much to wake a team up.  There is the throwing the chair method and there is the ride out the storm method.  JB trends more toward the latter and that is what he did.  They will learn not to fall behind like that as the season goes on, they need to come out with intensity and they did anything but.

Huma

January 13th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^

Uh - not sure what game you were watching ... we lost b/c of poor execution by our guards and sf in the first half. We had like 6 or 7 turnovers in a row in one stretch. Why do you think Albrecht came in for a 5 min stretch to help turn things around? Can't blame JB for this loss.

umchicago

January 13th, 2013 at 4:28 PM ^

i was disappointed that he didn't have a better game plan to deny thomas the ball.  all to often, especially in the first half, we sagged off him on D.  he then would get an open 3 or drive past the defender trying rushing toward him.

and no time ever should there be a switch where stauskus covers thomas.  that was a key play near the end.

ijohnb

January 13th, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^

is very good at basketball.  There really is no way to defend accept hope he misses threes.  That is how they defended him and he made them.  Thomas is an incredible player when he slashing and coming of intermediate screens and he kills you with that if you pressure him on the perimeter.  He is one of the best players in the conference and I don't think it was a problem with the game plan.  He is just really tough to guard.

BOX House

January 13th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^

We lost entirely due to execution. There were endless opportunities for us to take hold of the game, the young team just couldn't do it. 

Stauskas & Robinson having their worst games of their young careers has nothing to do with coaching.

EricTheActor

January 13th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^

You couldn't be more delusional or know less about what happened. Lack of composure and poor decision making in the first 10 minutes doomed this team. Beilein an staff did a great job in this game. The fact that they made a game of this and had a legitimate chance to win in an extremely hostile environment speaks volumes about this team. Everyone is deflated and dong punched, I get it. I am too. But, from what I saw in the second half, I'm still confident in M's chances to win it all.

ijohnb

January 13th, 2013 at 4:23 PM ^

was not all of the problem early but I can't say that JB coached a great game today.  I thought he made a couple of questionable decisions.  Craft got his second with about 7 to play in the first half and Burke on the bench.  I know Burke was struggling but he should have been at the scorers table the minute that they whistled Craft.  Also, absent injury I would not have gone away from Horford so soon.  We were getting clobbered on the boards and were having trouble meeting them at the rim so I think the size could have helped.  I also really think they should have ran Stauskas off of more double screens and so forth to try to get him more open looks.  I don't think they coached a bad game but it was not their A-game either.

jmblue

January 13th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^

Thad Matta was a deer in the headlights the whole second half.  That his team managed to avoid losing after completely blowing a 21-point lead at home is no great credit to him.

 

M-Wolverine

January 13th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^

But I find the reaction funny in the "football vs. other sports" sense...if this had been a football game, whether it be Lloyd, Rich, or Brady, and we came out so flat and poorly that we fell down 21, people would be calling for the firing of somebody. In basketball it was a great job coaching, when we clearly weren't ready to play.

I don't think it changes the status of our coaching, team, or season going forward. Just the way people react is curious.

jmblue

January 13th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^

It's apples and oranges.  Basketball is a game of runs, and the home advantage is more pronounced.  

I don't think the problem was that we weren't motivated/focused at the outset.  I think the team was way too hyped up (Hardaway had said that it would be "the biggest game of his life") and was tight.  There's no easy way to combat that when you've got a lot of underclassmen and are playing on the road for only the third time.  You just have to hope they settle down in time to steal the game at the end (which we almost did).

 

 

M-Wolverine

January 13th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^

And looking at Big Ten (and our) home and road record the last couple of years doesn't show that the road in basketball is that much tougher.

And my point is all the fine reasons you give are fine reasons we struggled. But those same fine reasons in football are the coaches fault. The start wasn't that much different than Alabama, but that was "Borges fault" or whoever. There's never been a bigger "on the players" game than Notre Dame, but people are STILL blaming coaching for that game.

I'm just not sure other than more passion what makes people more irrational about football.

umchicago

January 13th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^

i could agree if beilein had morgan and mcgary chucking up wide open 3s when that is not their strength.  you know, hey it's on the players, they had open looks.

borges had denard chucking passes in the middle of the field the entire first half when that is not his strength.  hence the borges meltdown.

Cope

January 13th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^

M-Wolverine, that coaches are more quickly blamed for failure in football, and players in basketball. I think I have a reason. It appears more the fault of a coach when a play goes awry in football bc a coach calls every play. Even player breakdowns can appear to be coaching alignment issues.

However, in basketball, where players seem to be just playing, without as much dictation of plays by coaches, it appears more that players didn't keep their heads when the team fails. Those are my thoughts.

umchicago

January 13th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^

you mean morgan and mcgary were launching threes? i don't think so, because beilein puts his players in the best situation to succeed.  most would agree borges didn't do the same for denard or any RB with the I-form dives.

M-Wolverine

January 14th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^

We rushed more times than we passed. And a good percentage of them were in passing situations. Sounds like on 3rd and long you'd have us run just because Denard isn't good at passing. 

I didn't even take your other point seriously because it's ridiculous to give credit for that. It's like saying Borges deserves credit for not having Ricky Barnum throw passes. 

If those were shots that you should expect our players to make (which you should; I don't disagree) then those were passes you should expect Denard, as quarterback, to make. He wasn't do the "3-point" equivalent and having him chuck it deep. They were pretty simple passes, mostly. Against a team who's main weakness on defense wasn't their front seven, but their secondary.

And my point is not that Beilein deserves criticism for what went down yesterday; just that fans will find a way to twist the same situations of players just making boneheaded mistakes and immediately transfer it to coaches in football. 

jackfl33

January 13th, 2013 at 5:15 PM ^

I don't know what schdule you're looking at. Last year alone: lose at Indiana, win at home; murdered at OSU, win at home; pummeled at Sparty, win at home; lose at a terrible Iowa team. That was on a team with incredible senior leadership. B1G road basketball is VERY difficult, especially with 5 frosh contributors.

ijohnb

January 13th, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^

I kind of thought it looked like they had just rolled out of bed before they took the floor.  No question that it was huge game but I do think they came out unfocussed.  The lack of intensity on the glass was evident from the jump.  They were flat footed and tight. Morgan especially looked out of sorts from the outset.

CWoodson

January 13th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^

1) You've come out against Beilein and his system many times in the past, so you must have been waiting eagerly for this one.

2) Anyone calling for a football coach's firing after a close loss to a top 15 team on the road is an idiot, and it's not common here (and I know you're aware of this). "Fire Borges" didn't appear the first time his playcalling appeared to doom us - it started in full force maybe the fifth time.

3) As our resident basketball expert, please explain your evidence that we were "clearly [not] ready to play." Our extremely young team came out intimidated for 10 minutes in its first extremely tough road game of the year. You can only coach that out so much - the guys just have to experience it. Beilein proceeded to make adjustments and nearly made up a 21 point deficit. He allowed Burke to settle down and (IMO) expertly used Morgan and McGary in the second half.

Losses (certainly close ones on the road) can prove that you've got a rock solid coach. I'm not sure this one really did, but you can't put this game on the coaches simply because a young team fell behind early.

M-Wolverine

January 13th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^

1. The only one eagerly awaiting anything is you. You have barely posted for a year, but leapt at the chance to misinterpret me again.

And the funny thing is, Beilein has drastically changed his system, coaches, and recruiting, so he obviously saw the need to do something different too. So he agreed with me.

2. You're just being disingenuous. It happens all the time. In Borges case it's been going on since at least MSU '11. But before that including ND. Frankly it started the day "Rich won't be running our offense" for some.

3. You make your own point. 21 down proves it. We may have had great strategy (as the rest of the game shows, we probably did) but weren't ready mentally. Youth isn't going to work as an excuse because in college basketball you are always going to be young. Nature of the beast if you want to stay good. And while coaching carries SOME blame for the start, it deserves a lot of credit for getting us back into the game.

And per usual you and everyone else seem to be missing the point. A rational reaction to this loss is a good thing. People should react similarly when the sport with the funny shaped ball is played. But they won't, because they care more about that.