Michigan Nebraska open thread
January 9th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
Wow. Wow. Wow. What a finish, two road wins already, that feels huge. I love seeing the team ecstatic and celebrating together. I felt like our team had such chemistry together last year, it felt like a brotherhood even from the outside looking in, I like seeing that this year's team seems to be heading there too.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
These frequent close games overwhelm me.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:07 PM ^
GRIII had a pretty complete game; came back to finish strong after starting that way. Nik has got some nice stuff going with the bigs. Great to see Walton take the ball to the rack at the end on the road -- we'll need lots more of that to do well in the B10. He's moving smartly in the right direction.
BUT, we have got to get better defending guards off the dribble. Got to get better at that, or Craft is gonna go 30/10 on us. Twice.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^
Offensively sure. The interior (including the help side) defense was abysmal. And someone make a free throw. This team has to get better defensively to compete at the top of this conference.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:10 PM ^
Glad you missed that but please make that shot the next couple times this year.
We all would appreciate that
Thanks
January 9th, 2014 at 11:10 PM ^
to see this outcome and a new OC hire.
Tranquility.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:11 PM ^
I'll admit I couldn't watch that last possession, but I'll take the win haha
January 9th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^
Practice free throws this week. And defense.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^
Nice road win for seeding.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:15 PM ^
Question: Did my heart stop?
Answer: Yes! Still not sure how I got it going again.
What an exciting game and hopefully a good learning experience.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^
Because mine was going so fast I had to take some good calming breaths to stop myself from shaking.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
Thank you 2014
January 9th, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^
3-0 in the league with 2 road wins.
Doesn't matter against who.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:22 PM ^
Or how. Keep it going!
January 9th, 2014 at 11:37 PM ^
We learned from losing all of those close games in the non conference schedule. It was painful at the time but the learning experience is already paying dividends on the road at Minnesota and Nebraska.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:38 PM ^
I'll take the win. Any BIG road win is a good win, but I hope coach B has those guys shoot 100 free throws each tomorrow. Can't give away free points like that and expect to make a deep run in the BIG/Tourney.
January 9th, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
Winning is always good on the road, but against OSU, MSU, and Wisconsin, I'm just not sure this team can do a whole lot.
January 10th, 2014 at 3:04 AM ^
The team needs to improve in all areas, no doubt. As of now, they're probably an 8 seed in March. But it makes me laugh when there's this common assertion that poor FT shooting equals death in the tournament, or that shoddy D in January spells doom for the future.
They couldn't shoot FTs when it counted last year, either (remember Indiana? Hell, remember Syracuse?) and they almost won the title. Their defense was mediocre all year, too, not far from where it is now (and that's with 2 NBA players on the roster). The defensive collapses of 2012-2013 at the hands of CMU, PSUx3, and Wisconsin faded from memory pretty quickly once the tournament rolled around.
Like I said, the team definitely needs work. However, these minor issues don't necessarily portend to any future failings. A win is a win, and everyone will forget how sloppy it was within a week or two. Getting lit up by Nebraska in January isn't great, but it isn't a death sentence, either.
January 10th, 2014 at 3:15 AM ^
BTW, out of 351 teams, we are 32nd in Team FT% (.745). This news surprised me, but there you go.
January 10th, 2014 at 8:14 AM ^
That speaks volumes of how bad kids shoot free throws now days, when I grew I was told free throws are the most important and easiest shot to master, muscle memory.
P.s I only played through 8 grade.
January 10th, 2014 at 7:03 AM ^
Nebraska isn't a top team, but any road win in the Big Ten is a quality win. This team will get better as the year goes along.
I know we've still got to go to Sparty, OSU and Wiscy on the road, but we've played a few tough road games this year already. Beilein will have them as ready as they can be.