Michigan/PSU Postgame Thread
Post-game thoughts...share away!
EDIT: I'm choosing to share some of my thoughts in this OP because some drunken jackass wants to neg every post. Fine by me, all you can do is downvote this thread and that does nothing to me or my thoughts as far as visibility.
There are waaaaaaaay too many of you guys freaking out and overlooking that we just had the toughest stretch of ANY team in college basketball in terms of scheduling. You're also overlooking the fact that we didn't have our best big man for ANY of it...and didn't have him today. J-Mo doesn't do a ton, but he plays defense and gets rebounds. That's exactly what most of you who are bitching...are bitching about. Why do you leave out that caveat?
Michigan allowed 70 points ONE time in the 6 games prior to Morgan's injury. This is where I feel the defense "clicked" for Michigan and we were playing MUCH better on the defensive end.
Also, you fail to note the fact that we just played THREE top 10 teams in 10 days! ...and the other game? @ Wisconsin. One of the toughest places to play in the country.
So don't overlook those two HUGE facts just so you can whine and complain. Sidenote, no other B1G contender will have a stretch like we did. It's unfair and unfortunate.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:46 PM ^
but we are weak defensively. We give up easy, open outside shots, allow penetration and are only average rebounding. Good defensive teams are going to take away a lot of our offensive. We need to be able to do the same to theirs.
February 17th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
We are also one of the youngest teams in the country. It's a huge leap from high school to Big Ten basketball.
February 17th, 2013 at 3:09 PM ^
but most of the time we don't. Usually we play ok D and sometimes we play really bad D. Especially in big games we've seen the D fail to show up. I wouldn't put any money on us suddenly consistenly playing good defense once the tournament comes around. We get flustered on the big stage
February 17th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^
I don't know about "great" defensively. But they were playing with more confidence. Until the latter stages of this game, everyone on the floor was going on Stauskas whenever they could. And he knew it and was not playing aggressively, stopped moving his feet, etc. He looked better late. I think that charge call got him going.
The big thing from this game is that the guys who needed to feel good about their games with the layoff looming ... Stauskas and GRIII ... ended up probably feeling pretty good.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
Need to work with bigs on defensive rotations. We're giving up layups on junior high sets like scissor cuts off the high post.
Thought Stauskas showed some toughness after a rough start. He dialed up his defensive intensity in the second half. And I thought that GRIII brought some nice energy.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
Note: I only saw the 2nd half, I'm actually watching the 1st half now.
First off, good win. We needed a W more than anything.
Positives:
Obviously it was good to see Burke, Stauskas and GRIII playing well. Particularly the freshman. I also thought Coach B did a good job of mixing guys in, however, I would've liked to get Burke and GRIII more rest (especially in the 2nd half). Sometimes, I think we forget about GRIII in terms of a breather.
I LOVED that we mixed in zone. That was very good to see, we haven't run that nearly enough this year. I think we need to run some 2-3 in addition to the 1-3-1.
I also thought we handled the press as good as we've handled it all season.
What I liked most about what I saw was the edge that they played with. There was an anger that guys had...it was good to see.
Snowflakes:
We should've blown this team out. They're not good.
Even though we were at the line all game, they missed a number of calls.
McGary played what I think was his worst game of the season. Wasn't bad...he just wasn't effective. Hopefully he can bounce back against Illinois. I still think he plays too many minutes. He's a freshman and his minutes have gone up with J-Mo out. We HAVE to be comfortable playing Max B or McLimas for 3-4 minutes to give these other guys a rest.
Speaking of rest. Can we PLEASE play 2 bigs together so GRIII can sit? PLEASE! Kid played a GREAT game, but I'll be damned if we wear him out with extended minutes vs. the worst team in the conference.
We played Vogrich so THJ could sit a little bit (and yes, it hurt us...but so what, we won), why can't we play some of the post bench players a little bit so GRIII doesn't play so many minutes?
All in all, solid win. I like the mentality and the attitude we played with more than anything. This team IMO is going to be fine. In fact, I think this next game vs. Illinois will tell us a lot. A solid win then, then a blowout win over PSU and I truly think we win out the regular season.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
played 33 min. i don't think that's overplaying him. i do recall one of the earlier games when he played 40 min and was ineffective.
that said, bielfeldt could play 3 min per half to spell him; like spike does for burke. just don't make those substitutions at the same time please.
February 17th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
For a freshman who is trying to keep his legs...33 mpg is far too much. Especially when he played 40 and 41 minutes vs. IU and OSU.
What's wrong with sitting him for 4-6 more minutes in the next couple of games so we can play 2 bigs? I think it would help us rebound as well.
Play 33+ vs. the elite teams. No need for him to be playing 33 minutes against the worst team in the conference.
February 17th, 2013 at 3:13 PM ^
You have to keep a couple things in mind:
First, we had to make sure we won this game, and he was one of our top players.
Second, this was his first big game in awhile, so you want to keep him out there and maximize the good feeling for him. No one wants to go to the bench when they're having a hot day.
Third, this was our only game in a 12-day span, so fatigue shouldn't be a concern going forward.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:18 PM ^
Hah. We know!
February 17th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Our defense is PUTRID. We look lost. Running around screens, over-extending and giving up layups, losing position and giving up 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances..... wow, are we bad on that end.
We may be home early from the tourney unless we get better down there.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Once we get Morgan back and healthy our rebounding and defense will vastly improve.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^
...say it again, I don't think enought people heard you.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
about Morgan? If he's 100%, I would have rather seen him than Mitch for most of the game.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
He only played 7 minutes and didn't look great. Guessing he isn't 100%, but hopefully the week off will help.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:15 PM ^
It's always nice when OSU concurrently has an appoinment with Dr. Scholls.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:15 PM ^
Between Horford, Morgan, and McGary, it would have been nice to get one point.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^
Ok then how about more rebounds than fouls?
February 17th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
Look at Mr. Demanding over here
February 17th, 2013 at 2:15 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:15 PM ^
UN-AC-CEPT-ABULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is MICHIGAN!!!1!!!!!!!! WE win all GAMES by a MIMimujm of 93 POINTS1!!!!!!!!!
/ WingsNWolverines
February 17th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
I like your Mlive impression
February 17th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
The team looks tired. Hoping that the down time will give them a chance to rest and get some practice in before the final stretch.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:28 PM ^
We need to be playing our bench more against PSU, Illinois, PSU than we have since early in the year when we were playing the directional Michigan's.
Just get these guys rested up/healthy. Everything post-PSU (round 2) will be more important than pre-PSU (round 2). Let's go at that stretch as close to 100% as we can.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^
I agree with what you are saying about resting our guys, but this team is nowhere near good enough on the defensive end, for us to think any game is a guaranteed win. That includes home against Illinois and at Penn State. We are very capable of losing either of those games.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:18 PM ^
....March will be madness.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
and I cannot decide who I want to win. First I see Wisconsin's carrot top and I'm like "gosh I hate those guys" then I see Aaron Kraft and I'm like "gosh I hate that guy". I think if they could both lose this game I'd be happy
February 17th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
Michigan is the 8th youngest team in country. Combine that with playing in the toughest conference and I can understand the challenge Beilein is facing.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
Tom Hamilton is the annoying announcer. He is the play-by-play man for the Cleveland Indians. You have no idea how right you are about him being annoying.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
Yeah, MSU looked amazing against Nebraska last night and against Illinois 2 weeks ago. MSU has 2 wins away from the Breslin that can actually be considered good, and one of them was at a neutral site. That means MSU has exactly 1 good road victory against Wisconsin. MSU is good, but they haven't proven much other than they play really well at the Bres
February 17th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
We need everyone to be involved and we'll be good.
For example, in the past 4 games it seemed GRIII and Stauskas disappeared, but our bigs -- specifically McGary -- were doing well. Now, today, our bigs were not good -- missed layups and 0 points between McGary, Horford, and Morgan, but it was nice to see Stauskas and GRIII back.
If we can get that production from GRIII and Stauskas as well as our bigs, then we can go deep into the tournament.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
The Nittany Lions are shooting 40% on twos, 26% on threes for a 40% effective field goal percentage. All three of those shooting statistics rank last in the Big Ten. Penn State turns the ball over once every five offensive possessions, second worst in the Big Ten, and rebounds less than 30% of its misses in Big Ten play (9th B1G). Just how bad is Penn State’s offense? At .87 points per trip in league play, the Nittany Lions are on pace to be the worst Big Ten offense in the KenPom era (2003+) and the only team to score less than .9 points per trip other than 2004 Penn State.PSU today: 44% 2pt, 33% 3pt, eFG = 54%, 1.05 PPP
February 17th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
This bears repeating: Big Ten Geeks found, just before his injury, that Jordan Morgan was the league's best defender, according to "stops" generated when his man has the ball.
http://btn.com/2013/01/28/big-ten-geeks-oladoeverything/
Not having Morgan has been a significant blow to our defense.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
GR3 is a monster when he is allowed to run. When good defensive teams shut down the transition game GR3 struggles...and so does Michigan. Trey Burke as a passer makes Michigan Basketball scary. Trey is the reason we are in the BIG title hunt. If Trey can determine when to be "the guy" and when to distribute better, we could be in the NCAA title hunt.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^
What's up with Jordan Morgan? I don't understand letting him play for 2 minutes then pulling him. Either let him rest or play the guy. He seemed to be quicker today than past games, so I was confused with him being benched. A 75% Jordan Morgan is better than a healthy Horford.
Which brings up Horford. What does he bring to this team? He has little offensive game, as everytime he touches the ball he seems to panic. And on defense he just gets pushed around. He should not end this game with just one rebound. He is just too soft to playing right now in my opinion. I would love to see Bielfeldt play more. Every time he is in the game, he seems to be crashing the board and pulling in offensive rebounds.
Lastly, anyone else feel like we should switch up our defense more? Teams have figured out Michigan. They put their center on the top of the key, and force Hardaway, Stauskas and Robinson to defend one on one in the paint which they struggle to do at times. I feel like we should play more zone to help this. Or even play two bigs on the court at the same time. Our man to man right now is not working as we are getting killed in the paint and on the boards. Somethings got to change if we want to make a run this year.
Sorry for the hate bigs, but zero points combined by you four just has me shaking my head.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:24 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
I moved the original thread to a comment here.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^
February 17th, 2013 at 2:35 PM ^
Thank you, nothing worse then seeing 36 topics discussing the same thing
February 17th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
I think they are testing the ankle out . . . unfortunately it hasn't been good enough for him to stay in.
February 17th, 2013 at 2:34 PM ^