Observations from Carver Hawkeye Arena

Submitted by iawolve on

 

You could say I was lucky to have seats behind the team this afternoon, but then your definition of lucky means that you enjoy pulling out your own hair and gnashing your teeth.

 

I think Novak played with a concussion

The guy got the hell beat out of him early on. Obviously he had no shot which is not my only concern, but Morris was continually moving him into position in the second half. The pained look on Morris’ face every time they went into their offensive set showed me that something was up when he had to constantly keeping moving Novak to the correct spot on the floor. He was simply not "present". A Hawkeye fan behind me exclaimed that “they finally got that guy to foul out” when Novak went to the bench in the overtime, I said they probably did him a favor.

 

Hardaway shoots threes from the same 10 feet on the floor

Again, not sure if this was evident, but the guy launched all his threes from the left side within about the same 10 feet on the arc (not that I am complaining he was awesome to watch up close). Not sure if that is by design or the guy just loves that spot on the floor. On the flip side, Devyn Marble always shoots his pull up jumper just shaded and forward from the right side of the free throw line. Maybe it is a way to keep young shooters in a groove.

 

Beilein the Mad Substitutor

I was surprised how quickly guys were getting gassed after little playing time in the first half. Maybe it is a conditioning issue or maybe it was the fact that it was a street fight near the basket. I was surprised at what was being allowed away from the ball and near the ball. I think Beilein was pulling out guys too early and we did not seem to have any flow in the first half. It seemed less due to our talent and more to do with chemistry. The 5 on the floor before halftime had no idea how to play together (no fault of theirs).

 

Smotrycz needs help to release his talent

During the second half warm ups, I watched that guy drain 9 of 10 three pointers. However, he looked lost away from the ball, did not work aggressively to set up his shot and the ball was not going off his hand correctly during the game. The guy will kill you at HORSE, but man, he needs to translate it on the court when it matters.

 

Officiating? Was there any? Maybe just the bizarro kind

When I watched the game last year at CHA, I had a similar question. I guess I really don’t know what traveling or behind the back actually is since it seemed like calling both were random walk occurrences. When Iowa fans talk about how bad of a call it was that went against a Michigan player, then what you saw on TV was worse in person. Beilein deserved that first technical and probably a second as well. He was beside himself early on and was correct in his actions. 

Wolverine In Iowa

February 19th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^

We were higher up in the corner behind the Iowa bench.

IAWolve, your initials aren't MW, are they?  I'm RK -- lost your phone number.

U-M was quite lucky that Iowa fell apart there in the second half.  Iowa kicked our butts in the first half, but then Hardaway took over.  He looked great driving at the basket, and God bless our FT shooting for once.

mGrowOld

February 19th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^

And here I was really happy with the results today until now.  Thanks for straightening me out.   Now i know we actually sucked.

Sheesh dude....we freaking WON.

bleedzblue

February 20th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^

If that is too much reading for you then this site might not be up your alley. Like when Brian, Tim or Tom write on the front page, it's more than a couple paragraphs and it's usually very good content that requires a little bit of reading and reading comprehension. You and teamort2 would make a great couple.

Hope this helps!  Good luck. xoxo

jmblue

February 19th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^

Beilein may have deserved his T, but I don't understand how the Iowa coach was allowed to walk well onto the court to complain (it happened at least twice).  College basketball officiating is just weird.  I've heard college refs have to work insane schedules - like being in five cities in one week.  Maybe they're too jetlagged to call games well.

MGoBender

February 20th, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^

"Eddie Hightower and Jim Burr are two of the worst officials that I've seen."

Sorry, but this is stupid.  There's a reason they've worked X NCAA finals and work full schedules.

Basketball officiating is highly regulated and evaluated.  If you do poorly you don't get games.  It's that simple.  I got the chance to speak with the director of the ACC's officials once.  He says his officials are required to be correct in 90+% of calls and no-calls and 100% in the last 4 minutes of the game.  That's tough.

chewieblue

February 19th, 2011 at 10:59 PM ^

This team has lots of reasons it shouldn't be all that good but they continue to play really hard and to execute well in tough spots.  That speaks to good coaching and having kids with solid character.  

Coach B is getting more out of these guys than could have possibly been expected three and a half months ago. 

Kudos to the players and staff.  Now let's get two of the last three.

Uncle Rico

February 20th, 2011 at 10:10 AM ^

 

Those refs were brutal, from both sides.  They completely took Novak out of the game.  3 of his 5 fouls could have easily been called a charge.
 
To me, the "big 3" on this team are now Morris, THJ and Morgan.  Novak may be MVP, or the glue, or what have you, but when those 3 are on, this team is at a different level.  
 
Unfortunately, Douglass shot poorly (again - he's either hot or cold), and I agree that Smotz looks lost most of the time.  
 
Looking forward to next year if I  may:
- Will be nice next year when JB can insert Brundridge or Burke instead of Akunne.
- Both Horford and Smotz will be much better next year. 
- Add in another year of JB coaching up THJ
- Add in another year of Bacari coaching up Morgan
- Add in another year of Morris becoming older, stronger, working on his jump shot.
- Add in another year of coaching, strength for Vogrich.
- Add in Brundridge and Burke.
- Oh, and see if either can attempt to unseat the veterans, Novak and Douglass.

 

Finally, some depth AND talent.
 

MH20

February 20th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^

This was, indeed, their first Saturday conference home game of the season.  In fact, it was only the second Saturday home game of the season for Iowa.  Truly weird scheduling.

Date Opponent Result Tickets Audio/Video Video Highlights
  Sun, Nov 14 South Dakota St. L 69-79 -- -- --
  Tue, Nov 16 LA Monroe W 68-40 -- -- --
  Fri, Nov 19 at Xavier L 73-86 -- -- --
  Sat, Nov 20 at Alabama W 55-47 -- -- --
  Mon, Nov 22 at Long Beach St. L 72-78 -- -- --
  Fri, Nov 26 SIU Edwardsville W 111-50 -- -- --
  Tue, Nov 30 at Wake Forest L 73-76 -- -- --
  Sat, Dec 4 Idaho St. W 70-53 -- -- --
  Tue, Dec 7 Northern Iowa W 51-39 -- -- --
  Fri, Dec 10 Iowa St. L 72-75 -- -- --
  Sat, Dec 18 at Drake W 59-52 -- -- --
  Tue, Dec 21 Louisiana Tech W 77-58 -- -- --
  Wed, Dec 29 (23) Illinois L 77-87 -- -- --
  Tue, Jan 4 (2) Ohio St. L 68-73 -- -- --
  Sun, Jan 9 at (11) Purdue L 52-75 -- -- --
  Wed, Jan 12 Northwestern L 71-90 -- -- --
  Sun, Jan 16 at Minnesota L 59-69 -- -- --
  Wed, Jan 19 at (1) Ohio St. L 48-70 -- -- --
  Sun, Jan 23 Indiana W 91-77 -- -- --
  Wed, Jan 26 at Penn St. L 51-65 -- -- --
  Sun, Jan 30 at Michigan L 73-87 -- -- --
  Wed, Feb 2 Michigan St. W 72-52 -- -- --
  Sat, Feb 5 at Indiana W 64-63 -- -- --
  Wed, Feb 9 (13) Wisconsin L 59-62 -- -- --
  Sun, Feb 13 Minnesota L 45-62 -- -- --
  Thu, Feb 17 at Northwestern L 70-73 -- -- --
  Sat, Feb 19 Michigan L 72-75 -- -- --
 
  Date Opponent Time Tickets Audio/Video Video Highlights
  Sat, Feb 26 at Illinois 7:00 pm Buy Tickets -- --
  Wed, Mar 2 at Michigan St. 6:30 pm Buy Tickets -- --
  Sat, Mar 5 (11) Purdue TBA Buy Tickets -- --

 

Lloyd's Boy

February 20th, 2011 at 12:33 AM ^

Were those of you at the game also surprised at how many fans Iowa was able to get at Carver? I was impressed. Given the fact that their team is certainly having a down year, I was expecting an empty building. Very fun game to be at. It was good to see Michigan finish a game well and make free throws when they were crucial. Away games in big ten basketball are not easy to come by, even against lousy teams like Iowa. Keep it up fellas.

MGlobules

February 20th, 2011 at 7:55 AM ^

late in the season, I think these guys do get worn out. The sked plays in M's favor in this, because they get three-four days before the next game each time out. MSU will be coming in on just a day's rest, which has to help.

michfan4borw

February 20th, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^

a day's rest? or 3-days rest?  I think MSU gets 3 days between its games against Iowa and us. 

Your misstatement made me look at the schedule though, and it's nice to find out that Michigan has nearly a week to prepare for MSU at home. 

MSU will be clawing for everything to keep its streak alive. 

We have to take care of business though against Wisconsin first.  Bo Ryan always has his squad ready. 

Go Blue!

Steve in PA

February 20th, 2011 at 9:58 AM ^

Going from your observations and what I noticed last game, it seems like conditioning is not good.  I'm surprised by that at this point in the season.  Could it be that they are practicing too hard or, more likely, there is a virus/cold making its rounds through the team.

Does anyone ahve any insight?

Wolverine In Iowa

February 20th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^

I just think the guys are ragged out from the season.  They were very active in a prolonged warm-up session that started about an hour and a half before game time, and I'm sure they'll be ready for the last three games and the tournament.  I remarked to the coaching staff at the beginning of the game that we had had no injuries this season to really speak of, and the S&C coach, Sanderson, jokingly said it was because of the quality of the S&C program.  Then I immediately regreted making the comment because I thought I'd jinxed us.

LSAClassOf2000

February 20th, 2011 at 10:19 AM ^

......well, I call them "uncomfortable wins". Yes, we won, but not without having to delve into our generous stash of tension-relieving devices, or in my case, drinks. 

Particularly this season, watching Michigan basketball has been an intriguing experience - we have no business winning even as often as we do, but we play hard and somehow manage to get critical moments to go in our favor. Either we are the luckiest team in the Big Ten or "the little team that could". Speaking to the latter  option, if we could get into the Tournament, that would be a fitting cap to the season. It isn't mathematically possible to give more  than 100%, but some of these guys make me wonder sometimes....