Michigan vs. Syracuse Postgame (Snowflakes) Thread

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

A little late? Not so much. These have been late due to all of the postgame excitement. And rightfully so!

Plus, we have to leave room for the POSBANG Threads. Annnnd I've made one of these after every win, so why stop now?

That said, now that you've had time to settle in a little, what are your thoughts on the game? The great, the good, the not-so-good.

In the end, we won and we're in the Championship Game! GO BLUE!

Thoughts? Thoughts.

DH16

April 7th, 2013 at 1:21 AM ^

From the student section, second row, of Syracuse's last drive and then J Mo's dunk and everyone going wild. I'll upload it later if I get the chance.

M_Jason_M

April 7th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^

I posted this elsewhere, but I'll say it again. For all the talk about how their defense flows so well and how it doesn't even look like a 2-3, they pretty much stood in a damn trapezoid the whole game, just sliding side to side. It was pretty clearly a 2-3 the entire time.

DakotaBlue

April 7th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^

I'm not an X's and O's guy, but each half seemed like a different game.  In the first, Michigan's offense looked great.  In the second, it was more of a fight.  Perhaps Beilein had a strategy to attack the zone and Boeheim made adjustments at half.  Anyway, Michigan got only 25 points in the second half, compared to 31 for Syracuse.  

Only three teams all year held Michigan to 61 points or lower in regulation: MSU, OSU, and Wisconsin.  Two of those three were losses.  The other was a 1 point win.  SUs zone is tough.

Great win Wolverines!

M-Dog

April 7th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^

Despite our putting on a clinic about how to beat the 2-3 zone, we won that game on D.  Imagine that, Michigan winning a big game on D.

 

Mr. Yost

April 7th, 2013 at 1:25 AM ^

I just copied and pasted...I've done it for 5 games now. Should've proofread a little better.

That said, we've kept the streak alive with the pregame, in-game, blog, and postgame (snowflakes). One more game, can't wait!

Bryan

April 7th, 2013 at 1:39 AM ^

I just came home and there is a mysterious bottle of scotch sitting on my counter. I have no idea where it came from. I'm slightly since I live alone, but I'll take it all the way to the national championship game

M-Dog

April 7th, 2013 at 1:44 AM ^

I have been a Michigan fan since 1982.  There have only been a handful of times in basketball where I have been in awe of my own team:

- The beatdown on Virginia to make the Final Four in 1989.

- The first half against Duke in the 1992 NC game.

- The Final Four game against Kentucky in 1993 to make the NC.

I am in awe of this team.  When they needed to play up-tempo and beat the press against VCU, they did it.  When they needed to gut out a come from behind win against Kansas, they did it.  When they needed to run run run against Florida, they did it.

But tonight takes the cake.  When they needed to be patient and carefully pick holes in the 2-3 zone, they did it.  This game could not have been more different than the VCU or Florida games.  But they were able to shift gears to a completely different playing style and still play like a bunch of Seniors . . . as the absolute youngest team of all 68 teams in the tournament.   

Mr. Yost

April 7th, 2013 at 1:44 AM ^

I've done this for every game, but it's getting harder and harder. I really don't care about how we played...I just want to win. That said, I'll give my thoughts, because, well, I have to.

Overall/Coaching: I thought our gameplan was excellent. The ONLY coaching thing that I hated was stalling at the end of the game. You work hard for 36 minutes to be in a position where they get out of that zone, when they do...ATTACK IT! We're smart enough not to take bad shots in that situation. I thought Coach B should've took it to Syracuse for getting out of that zone. We should've won that game by 9-10 and never had pressure free throws.

Burke: Off game, but we won. Not much he could do, it was a tough matchup. Silly "and-1" at the end of the game, but in the end he made plays when we needed them.

Hardaway Jr.: I thought he took better shots than he did vs. UF. His defense was also solid. That said, there's another level that he has that he hasn't shown in quite some time. I'm not talking about just scoring, he can play A LOT better. Hopefully it falls into place on Monday.

Stauskas: HORRIBLE matchup for him. Too much length and athleticism. That said, I thought we should've overload vs. the zone more, the corners were wide open all game but we didn't have anyone there. Get the pass to the wing and run Stauskas to the same side corner and he would've had wide open 3's.

Robinson III: Tough matchup vs. Fair, reminded me of CJ Leslie a little bit. GRIII needs another year because he's got to get stronger and tougher. Especially if he's going to play the minutes he plays. That said, he hit some HUGE shots for us and he never stops fighting on defense. His calmness was crucial vs. the pressure of the zone.

McGary: I actually thought he was a little frustrated today at times. But he never stops hustling and that in itself makes up for everything else. And my GOD, does he not have a pretty shot when he faces up? His ability to shoot that mid-range jumper is what makes him an elite level talent. 6 assists were huge, he's a great passer and has an amazing understanding of the game.

Bench: LeVert, welcome my man! His biggest thing is confidence, and you could see it all season. He's a freshman who plays like it, he gets nervous/sloppy/etc. Even his first 3 wasn't really pretty, but it went in. After that he settled down and the more he played, the better he looked. Great game, his size and length matched up well vs. Syracuse. I thought Morgan and Albrecht gave us great minutes as well. The bench really carried us at times, Horford too, he had a nice game. The thing about our bench that is so unique is that while they may not be starter-level talent, they each have a starter-level (even All-B1G level) strength...and we have a coach that can use them at their strengths.

In the end, a GREAT win. The game actually went exactly how I thought it would go. One more game, survive and advance. GO BLUE!

MichiganTeacher

April 7th, 2013 at 2:46 AM ^

Beilein: It was almost comical how much Beilein must have drilled it into his players' heads "DO NOT THROW IT INTO THE BASELINE CORNER" after we got trapped there twice in the early/mid second half. After that, our guys were throwing ridiculous rainbow inbound passes from baseline out-of-bounds out to guys who were covered at half-court. But it ended up working, even though a couple were very close calls. I'd say a win for Beilein here. Also, huge win for Beilein on recognizing that Stauskas did not have it tonight and for going with Caris and Spike, who did have it.

McGary: His shot from the elbow is indeed sweet. Look at his feet in the jumper that he hit late in the second half. There's a GIF of it around somewhere. He catches the ball in the air, turns his feet around, and lands with his feet already facing the basket. No time wasted on a pivot, etc. That's good coaching and good instincts. I don't think I saw Zeller do that once.

Burke: Played better than a lot of people are giving him credit for. Had one very nice persistent dribble drive in the mid/late second half that helped a lot. I think he should have looked to do that more, but he managed the game well enough to win. Yeah, dumb and-1 foul at the end.

Free throws: Need moar.

 

 

 

rob f

April 7th, 2013 at 1:50 AM ^

Caris cared and McGarity McDribbled like a point guard.  HAIL VICTORY!

If at least two of those three do it all again plus Trey hits some treys, GRIII hits some III's, and Hardaway is hard to stop, and we will be shouting  "WE  ONE!!"

WingsNWolverines

April 7th, 2013 at 3:05 AM ^

with everyone on S. University, St. Street and the diag and had the time of my life at the Blue Lep. Oh and Michigan is headed to the national title game. AWESOME FUCKING NIGHT. GO BLUE!!!

Yinka Double Dare

April 7th, 2013 at 4:49 AM ^

Trey's shooting was for shit but he was great at everything else. He was the primary guy on MCW in causing his awful night, he dished fine and also hit the boards. That's what a great player does. And yeah, McGary was awesome again and I really hope he stays even if we win Monday.

LSAClassOf2000

April 7th, 2013 at 8:21 AM ^

Here's some of the final line:

  FG% 3FG% FT%  Eff. FG% Off. Reb. %
MICHIGAN 39.62% 33.33% 55.00% 47.17% 37.14%
SYRACUSE 41.82% 21.43% 63.64% 44.55% 29.03%

It was great to see another excellent performance from Mitch McGary with 10 points, 12 rebounds (1/3 of all rebounds for Michigan), and 6 assists. It seemed almost like an orchestrated effort really in that, at points in the game, the starters did the rebounding and the bench did the scoring - 21 of our 61 points, many of them very timely points, came from the bench. Albrecht and Levert in particular put in some good spot performances. Trey Burke wasn't typical Trey Burke, but the reassuring thing is that we see yet again that he can fall into a role where he does the little things when the shots aren't falling and this team is still successful.