Michigan vs. Kansas Postgame (Snowflakes) Thread

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

A little late? No, not this time. Last night, there wasn't going to be a sober thought posted. If you weren't (legally) under the influence of something, you were under the influence of Trey Burke, Mitch McGary and Michigan Basketball.

That said, as we wake up...I still wanted to make a thread to get everyone's thoughts on the entire game. Last night if someone would've spoke of the first 37:30 it would've been "neg city," I think today is a good time to evaluate the entire game.

Also, I'm 2 for 2 in making these threads (after wins), let's make it 3 for 3.

Thoughts? Thoughts.

P.S. - The Michigan vs. Florida game is at 2:40 on Sunday. (I've seem 2:20 and 2:40...just be ready at 2:15)

GoWings2008

March 30th, 2013 at 8:14 AM ^

The first 37:30. like you said, they just didn't have it.  They couldn't take care of the basketball, they had some short range shots that they just couldn't get in the basket and they were letting Kansas get some easy shots.  As the game progressed, esp in the second half, even though they were still down, Kansas had to continually work harder for each point.  I think this wore them down and made the comeback possible. 

UM never gave up, kept shooting their shots and they started falling.  Some TOUGH play underneath where they'd come down with a rebound I didn't expect them to get -- McGary played so tough.  GRIII and Stauskus had some key plays.  It was so much fun to watch them make plays that we've seen them make all year. 

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 8:30 AM ^

McGary played better defense that most thought.

He was actully playing off the gameplan. There was a video posted on here that interviewed him 2 days ago where he called Withey a "leverage big" and said that you have to play behind him.

He did his job, and did it well, but I think being a freshman hurt a tad and he didn't adjust. He played as tough and you can play from behind Withey. The guy was just taller and kept making those silly shot put layups over McGary.

Morgan came in and immediately fronted Withey, something McGary (in the interview) said we weren't going to do. It clearly got Withey off balance as he had to work for his spot in the post rather than backing down into it. I think this was just experience.

Both players did a fantastic job on him, one just had the experience to make an in-game adjustment.

Mitch has got legitimate size to hang with these post players though, he wasn't given an inch. He's played like that all year. I just love that he's not rattled or scared. Even when he played @ IU vs. Zeller. He was like "so what?" And went right at him.

Last night on offense, sure Withey got a couple blocks on him. But how many times did McGary go at Withey and get a layup? What about Mitch facing up right on Withey and "shooting the J" *Chappelle voice* right in Withey's face? Again, he went right at him.

2Blue4You

March 30th, 2013 at 8:21 AM ^

With under ten minutes left I thought "This is not fun at all and I wish everyone would leave my house. Why do we do this?"  I now look back on yesterday evening as an epic night.  Great fun!  Still in shock.  

I'll take the missed 3-pointer at OSU earlier and the heart breaker against Indiana for this.  Amaizing! Go BLUE!

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 8:41 AM ^

It was weird, I actually dreamed that Trey would hit a buzzer beater to win the game 2 nights ago.

The thought came from "when was the last time Michigan hit a last second shot?" I suppose it was MSU at home last year. But I feel like that was a tie game when we shot. I'm too lazy to look.

It just seemed like everyone else had the last second luck on us this year. I felt like it was our time and I actually woke up yesterday morning with this feeling like we'd won off a last second 3.

All game I had this in mind, but we couldn't get close enough for it to really come to fruition...but then we did, it was glorious. We had subs.

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 8:21 AM ^

I'm not going to focus on the final 2:30 and OT because there is already a thread for that.

That said, this is a little more "downer" than it should be. This isn't me being a pessimist, this is just because I'm not going to focus on that euphoria ending.

Overall/Coaching - I thought Michigan had a GREAT gameplan going in, I just didn't think they had to right personnel running it. Offensively, it was put Withey in the pick and roll...or drive and kick. This is the reason Burke only had 4 shots in the first half. But I thought the plan was very smart.

Again, the problem was who was on the floor. Their size was REAL. My God. 40 points at halftime and 34 in the paint? It was embarrassing as it stretched into the 2nd half. I even compared it to that Wisconsin (football) game where they ran like 22 straight times on us. It was like "when are we going to adjust?" We finally did around the 2:30 mark.

The adjustments were frustrating because they seemed obvious. Morgan HAD to play over Horford. Horford was a PF in that game. McGary was holding his own all game, but in the way he plays, he'll never play 40 minutes in regulation...and we don't want him to. I think everyone can again they'd rather have 33+ of REAL Mitch than 28 minutes of REAL Mitch and 10 minutes of exhausted, ineffective, foul prone Mitch running around.

In the VCU our staff did a GREAT job with the subs. We came in with LeVert early, it didn't work. We went Albrecht. For whatever reason in this game, we stuck with Horford for far too long before going with Morgan.

Horford isn't a bad player, he's just a finesse player. He's a PF against KU, but he's a C against a smaller VCU.

Individual Thoughts:

Burke - He struggled early, but he got his game in gear in the 2nd half...it wasn't just at the end during the heroics. We went on 3 runs in the 2nd half and he led them all.

THJ - Struggled last night. Didn't take bad shots. Hopefully they fall vs. Florida. Defense wasn't nearly as good as it has been the past 2 months, looked a step slow. I think Tim has a big game 2.

Stauskas - Pretty much the exact same game as Tim, although at times he played solid defense which helped Michigan stay in the game.

GRIII - He was overmatched for much of the game. You have to play him to stretch the floor, but when he wasn't hitting. I really thought we should've went Morgan/McGary or McGary/Horford or Morgan/Horford so we could get rebounds and get them out of the paint. That said, he made 4 HUGE plays for us. A 3-pointer early. 2 steals and finishes. And 1 acrobatic lay-up off the hustle 50/50 ball. It is likely neither Horford nor Morgan makes these plays.

McGary - It's just fun watching this kid get better. Think back at the beginning of the year. He was fun because it was just all heart and hustle. He was energy. Now he's putting talent and skill with it. No disrespect to Burke, McGary's may be our MVP this tournament. Luckily we have both and don't have to chose.

Bench - I like the Spike/Burke lineup, just didn't think this was the game for it. KU wasn't applying pressure. I think it was ineffective because we should've gone big when we went small.

LeVert is rattled on offense, he looks like a freshman. However, his defense is awesome. It's weird how he always gets stuck guarding the last second shooter...I think that's 4 or 5 times now (2 in this game).

Biggest props to Morgan, I thought those 1 minute spurts were going to kill his morale, that's almost worse than sitting on the bench  for the entire game. That's saying "okay, you're a role player, you're only in to give that guy a rest"...Morgan didn't let it get to him and he was our anchor on defense late in the game. I hope people remember Morgan in this game because I thought his defense was the best on the team in this game. McGary should be the starter, but Morgan is a solid option at the C position.

In the end, this team didn't quit. They were overmatched inside and they just kept fighting. THAT is the biggest key to this game. They believed. I've said it a million times, if this team plays hard and controls the things they can control (hustle, heart, energy, effort, execution)...they're talented enough to beat anyone. They showed it again.

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 9:02 AM ^

I marked it in the Breaking Down The Final 2:30 thread...he does get him a little on with the body (hip to hip), but the refs weren't calling that. They blew the whistle because they thought he fouled the shot, like you said, it was all ball and the sad part was that it wasn't even close.

One thing I didn't mention above.

KU's play in OT was a handoff to McLemore on the right side. THJ makes an underrated defensive play by just staying on his man and not allowing the pass to McLemore. This turns out to be huge as the sacktapper chokes and makes a terrible play.

umfan323

March 30th, 2013 at 8:22 AM ^

I was wrong, i thought we would lose...I figured we would be out rebounded but surprisingly we won that stat GR3 and McGary did an amazing job on the boards...If we can do the same against Florida we will win

Canadian

March 30th, 2013 at 8:26 AM ^

Well last night I didn't believe what I saw and really didnt believe this morning either. Had to check the old interwebs to make sure I didn't suppress a for sure loss and dream up a magical ending. But alas it ACTUALLY happened.

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 8:35 AM ^

I won't let you have it. I just, I feel sorry for you.

To wake up and see what you missed had to be great. But to actually miss it live and in real time is a million times worse. It was the NCAA Tournament!

But if we came back because you turned it off...then Godspeed to you, thank you, you're a true Michigan Man.

Please keep that in mind for future games. #sacrifice

Buck Killer

March 30th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^

Every time I would watch Michigan would get pounded. I turned it, so I wouldn't have an aneurysm. I would look on score mobile and we would be back to 2 possessions. I turned it back to the game and boom 10 point Kansas run. Oprah, Allah, or some higher power didn't want me watching. I turned it off with 6 minutes left, took a doubleshot of Jaegermeister and went to bed. I woke up and saw an image of Jesus on my phone. I clicked score mobile and said thank you Tom Cruise for this gift you have given me. I will record the Florida game and watch it after we win. Go Blue, and thank you baby Jesus!

GoWings2008

March 30th, 2013 at 8:49 AM ^

I had similar thoughts, but I did think, "Eh, the beer is cold.  Its the tournament.  Why not."  And so glad I did.  I'm thinking of going back and watching the DVR again...at least, the final 2:30 of it. 

Bluemandew

March 30th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^

I was watching the game at my dad's. With about 7:00 minutes to go he says im going to bed. I yelled at him to sit his ass back on the couch so he did. When Trey hit the shot to send it to overtime I looked at him and said I would be breaking down your bedroom dooor right now if you had gone to bed. He just laughed.

dinsdale613

March 30th, 2013 at 8:33 AM ^

I remember at one point McGary said he had never lifted a weight in his life before he came to Michigan.  That is a terrifying thought for the rest of the country.  McGary out played the most feared big man in college basketball as a Freshmen with little experience.  Give him an offseason of training and conditioning and he will be close to unstoppable next season.

Mr. Yost

March 30th, 2013 at 8:38 AM ^

Well said. He's getting better because he's just now tapping into his potential.

This is why GRIII needs to come back, because he hasn't tapped into his yet, but it's there.

The difference between the two is McGary is going 100mph while he's learning, growing, etc. Now the talent is starting to catch up with the energy, but whether he scores or not he's always effective.

NFG

March 30th, 2013 at 9:03 AM ^

Bilas said on ESPN radio yesterday that Hoke needs to get him (McGary) to play DLine and TE for his team because he'd immediately make an impact. I wonder if he would actually make any impact. One could hope!

Cold War

March 30th, 2013 at 8:47 AM ^

Thank you, Trey and Mitch. Nik and Tim, you have to pick it up a bit.

We have to play two bigs more often. GRIII gets abused too often by legit fours. I even saw Spike on the floor for a stint when he wasn't playing the point. Not sure what the point of that would be.

 

Bluemandew

March 30th, 2013 at 8:57 AM ^

Trey amazing game Mcgary amazing game couldn't have done it without either one of them. But I  keep flashing back to that 50-50 ball GRIII picked up off the floor used the rim to protect the shot from Withey and put it home . He had 13 points and 3 steals not amaizing but six of those points came down the stretch. Morgan only played 5 minutes but when he played he was effective getting to the line twice and snagging 3 boards. Timmy only ten points 1-3 from behind the arc but his one 3 came when the team was struggling to get it going at the end.

Not trying to take anything away from the two guys who carried us last night. But the whole team stepped up at the end playing with heart and grit. I love this team.

GoWings2008

March 30th, 2013 at 9:11 AM ^

they looked pretty good.  FGCU looked okay, not quite the same form they had been in the previous 2 games, but still.  One other nice thing about the next round of games, at least we get rid of at least one of either Duke or Louisville.  Amirite?

MichiganTeacher

March 30th, 2013 at 9:12 AM ^

FGCU looked legit, and the Gators were down ten, like 24-14. Florida was ice-cold shooting to start. But they stayed composed and came back. By the first couple of minutes into the second half they were up a lot and never looked back.

Off the top of my head, if I were coaching us, my pre-game points would be a) force them to choose shots other than threes and pressure their guards because they're most dangerous when jump-shots are falling, b) be opportunistic on offense and look to drive because the paint will be much more open than it was against KS, c) play our game - we don't need any tricks or gimmicks or changes to beat these guys.

WorldwideTJRob

March 30th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^

Was at the game last night, if we can put a body on Young and Prather we will be ok. They absolutely killed FGCU on the boards last night. Also Murphy will be a tough matchup for GRIII, but he may be our best option on him because I don't think our other bigs have the foot speed to keep up with him.

MichiganTeacher

March 30th, 2013 at 9:05 AM ^

If we play defense for the whole game like we did the last three minutes of regulation and overtime, we will be the best team in the tournament.

The emergence of McGary and the confirmation of Trey as NPOY is as fun as anything to watch.

LSAClassOf2000

March 30th, 2013 at 9:13 AM ^

As I sit here drinking coffee to revive the portion of my brain that may have been put to sleep by Guinness last night, the finish of that game still runs through my head and all I can say about is, "Wow, awesome!". 

Here's the Game Flow stuff from StatSheet - (LINK). It shows you in graphic form some of what we were all watching last night. Suddenly, shots begin falls, the offensive rebounds begin happening and the defense (in the form of some key steals) appeared, and what was starting to look bleak suddenly became poetry somehow. It really was a great sight. 

When the game ended, I thought back to that preview thread which contained a post from a Kansas blog, and how they were fearful of turnovers. While we won that battle by only a 13 to 10 margin, they were right about this, as it seems Kansas' ball discipline began to break down in the last five minutes of regulation (not that nutpunching is a great way to start the game if we're discussing discipline). Our TO% was 13.3% to their 17.3%, but game where each team happened to have 75 possessions, it becomes significant. 

One other thing - it was great to see McGary in beast mode yet again in a game, getting the double-double along with Trey. McGary was all over the boards for Michigan too, with 5 of the team's 14 offensive rebounds (Robinson had 5 of them as well), but also about one-third of all the defensive rebounds too. Things like that make me wonder about how much better he will be next year when he is already pretty damn good, from the look of it. 

UMgradMSUdad

March 30th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^

Kansas' play was uneven throughout the year, but when they are on their game, they were definitely deserving of a number one seed.  They played probably their most complete game of the year through most of the game, but Michigan was still able to hang around, never getting blown out like a lesser team would have with Kansas playing at that level. Then Michigan stepped it up a notch to finish out.

Michigan took their best shot and still prevailed.

Mgoscottie

March 30th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^

our offense made their defense look bad but our defense was embarrassing for the majority of the game.  I thought we would lose because we just kept throwing away chances.  I think we threw the ball out of bounds after a defensive rebound, we missed a lot of free throws and missed some layups on breakaways.  And I was mostly ok with our first two wins, making the 2nd weekend and probably getting everyone except for Trey and maybe one more back next year after losing to a good Kansas team that is playing well, but then probably the best run I've ever seen us have in basketball as long as I've watched happened.....

snowcrash

March 30th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^

Kansas looked like the better team for most of the game, but if our free throw shooting had not been so poor (9-17) it wouldn't have been as close as it was. Our interior defense got abused for most of the game, but we actually rebounded better than KU did: M rebounded 11 of 38 misses, KU 7 of 31.

When Burke chucked up that shot at the end of regulation, I thought NO!...(ball in the air)...oh good.

johnthesavage

March 30th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^

The only two guys to go 21 and 14 in back-to-back tournament games.  It's pretty incredible how good McGary has been in this tournament, he has been our best player.  And I think that crotch shot they took at him must have been premeditated, it happened early in the game, it was clearly something he wasn't going to get away with .. I think Kansas was a little scared of him and tried to get in his head.  And holy cow, that did not work.  I never thought McGary could be that good against a team with interior defense like Kansas.  If he is going to keep playing like one of the best big men who have ever played in this tournament, this is a team that can definitely win the national championship. 

TyrannousLex

March 30th, 2013 at 11:45 AM ^

They say that going deep in the tournament is about peaking at the right time. Last night looked like a team that found its moment to start peaking. A very, very talented team that's fallen short in more than its fair share of crushing defeats this season could have given up. Given the team's youth, it would have even been understandable.

Instead they rose to the challenge. Intangibles matter on a level playing field of talent, and UM may well have the most important intangible for a championship team. They should believe that they can beat any team, any way ... no matter how improbable it seems. It wasn't flukey. They just kept doing their thing, stuck together, and won what might well be one of those history book games. For all Trey did, it wasn't hero ball. When they look at the film, they'll see McGary scrapping, GRIII scooping a ball from the floor and playing it just right, Morgan with so few minutes playing excellent defense when it mattered most. Trey's heroics don't win the game without his brothers' less heralded heroics.

Let's hope that those kids are looking at each other and seeing a team that can't be beat when it sticks together and refuses to quit. Championship teams all share a belief in their own invincibility. This Michigan team just might have found that, and done so at just the right time. I won't be surprised if they come out against Florida and everybody just has the stroke to hit any shot they choose.