Offering Perspective on the 2018-19 Michigan Basketball Season
Well...that game sucked. People will be quick to say that they could see this coming all season and those who love to hate will rear their ugly heads today. And while a lot of the criticism is fair, there is also a ton of overreactions and irrationality.
When Beilein took over the Michigan basketball program, nobody could see an NCAA Tourney appearance in the near future. Let alone the multiple B1G championships, Final Fours, and 5 Sweet Sixteens in the past 7 years.
We should relish the fact that losing in the Sweet 16 is now a disappointment, especially given the fickle nature of college basketball. The most you can ask for is consistently making the NCAA Tourney with realistic chances at making it far. Beilein has done that with the few exceptions at the beginning of his tenure and that damn 2014-15 season.
At the end of the day, the fact is that Michigan Basketball has become a mainstay in basketball relevance again. They are now making Sweet 16's consistently and finishing in the top 25 on a regular basis. And for you skeptics, this loss does not signify anything more than that the offense was limited and the team played a bad game.
Next year, Michigan is very likely to return everyone minus Charles Matthews. That means we will have Senior versions of Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske. Iggy and Poole will return after a summer of hard work and hopefully improving their offense so we can get a go-to scorer when we need it. Our depth will be much improved as Castleton, Dejulius, and Johns will have a summer of improving and learning.
Simpson-Poole-Brazdeikis-Livers-Teske with an improved bench and some talented freshmen coming in sounds good to me. They should be preseason top 25 with a great chance of finishing in the top 10 and receiving a top 3 seed in the NCAA Tourney--again.
This was a far-fetched dream in March of 2008. Now? Now it's the expectation and a true testament to how far this program has come and will continue to be for years to come. Enjoy the ride people, we have it pretty good over here.
Bang!
Shit happens. Usually Simpson is the catalyst and he just got flat out shut down last night and made some poor choices. And for whatever reason, we couldn't BUY a freakin 3 to save our lives. Couldn't believe it - I counted about 3 that "toilet bowled" that I was sure they were going to fall and just didn't. Play that game 10 times I honestly think it's 5-5 or 6-4. It just so happened we had the "10th" game last night - the massive outlier. Such is sports. Looking forward to next year.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
The reality is the offense has been sub par for two years now and there's worry Beilein's best years are behind him when it comes to that side of the ball. He runs nothing off the ball anymore and instead relies exclusively on pick and roll. He wasn't good this year X and O wise. He should have been able to scheme up more stuff for easy baskets off the ball because you can't rely entirely on PnR when 3 of your 5 starters can't shoot from the perimeter.
Started off 17-0, ended 13-7 with three losses to our rival, no banners, and the fewest points scored by a 2 seed in NCAA history in the sweet 16. Am I thankful John Beilein is our coach and what he's done for UM basketball that the bar has now been raised? Of course. But call a spade a spade, he was bad this year on offense and was bad last year too (35th kenpom) and that was with a bunch more three point shooters. Thank god for Yaklich and the defense otherwise this is circa 2010 UM hoops.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
But isn't it possible that part of the reason the offense isn't as good is because they spend much more time in practice on defense?
Not that a team can't be elite at both, but let's be honest about this year's roster - it's a great team, but Simpson, Matthews, and Teske are much better defensive players than they are offensive. Put Trey Burke at PG or Stauskas on the wing and the look of the team changes significantly.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
But isn't it possible that part of the reason the offense isn't as good is because they spend much more time in practice on defense?
No. They simply start three guys who can't shoot. All are great defenders though and that's why they are as good defensively as they are.
Wait, so if this is all about their innate abilities and not what they do in practice, how is it that Beilein’s problem is his offensive scheme? Your arguments aren’t very consistent.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:21 AM ^
This for sure. They spend a lot of time on defense and they've developed 3 relatively unheralded guys into elite defensive players.
And I doubt too many coaches could run an offense through Simpson and Teske with no elite 3 point shooters and get 30 wins.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
How the hell do you know how much time they spend on offense vs defense. Are you at practice? People please stop. We start 3 guys who can't shoot. When you run a PnR heavy offense it stalls because everything is generated from the perimeter. That's the reason the offense bogged down time and time again this year. Stop making excuses for it. "Oh we spend more time on defense." No we don't. We are just better at that based on our personnel.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:41 AM ^
I ate practice. Maybe that's the reason.
You are an awful fan. Beilein took us to the final four last year and you say he’s lost it? This year’s team exceeded expectations although has no banners to show for it. It sucks, but 30 wins is no joke. We were a hair away from a banner.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
OK Cool, Hook Em
March 29th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
So texas tech, the team we played last night was bad offensively at 31st (worse than our 24th) and you justify that Beilein has lost his touch?
Couldn't disagree more, he is fitting to his talent. We lost three decent over achieving scorers last year (two three stars and a D3 player), we haven't had talent like the 2013-2014 teams from an offensive stand point and STILL have been a top 30 offense
You get battle or winston instead of simpson or matthews, its a different story offensively speaking.
What does worry me slightly is Poole and Livers need to take that next step in their game. Dribble drive, sound decision making in the pick n roll (Caris or Staukus level play making). This year we just didnt have the depth of offensive play makers, part due to young team, part due to skill set of certain players. I think Dejulius is key moving forward, he showed ability in high school to rise and fire and create off the dribble ala Walton
Blame lies with Beilein for choosing the players, but he is doing pretty well considering certain player's limitations.
The reality is that you will always find a way to complain. Your own misery is its own punishment, and I do hope you get better. Not only for your sake, but for the rest of the world that has to live with you.
I love perspective posts. Yea... Spring football.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
Perspectives are like opinions and assholes......
If we could have shot the 3 ball with any sort of consistency this season i don't know if we lose a game.
Still a great season overall and next year looks to be the same or even better.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Was it a great season though? After a 17-0 start we went 13-7; great seasons don't end that way. Something went wrong. To me, the team didn't get better, or at least not as 'better' as it should have.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
If winning 30 games and going to sweet 16 is garbage to you see yourself out. We have success and now the bar is raised. I guess some people will never be happy. We should fire Beilein and bring back Amaker.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
Idiots like you annoy me.
It’s not a great season. It’s a good season. Akin to 2015 football where we lost to all our rivals but still managed 10 wins.
Beat MSU once and it’s a great season.
March 29th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
Don't even compare basketball and football. One actually wins big games while the other continually drops the ball.
don't feed the trolls.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
He literally said nothing close to what you're attributing to him.
No one said anything about garbage. Well I didn't anyways, so I guess I'll stay here. It was a GOOD season; we won 30 games, we won 17 in a row. It's not about the numbers though, it's about what we saw on the court. Towards the end of the season the team played skittish, why? Too much emphasis on the defense? Between the offense and the defense, was there too much on the plate? Is the team is still too young? The rise of iso? Or maybe I'm just blowing smoke, I don't know.
I do know if we had started 13-6, then finished 17-1, THAT would have been a great season. To go 17-0, then 13-7? Not so great.
Another year of
Simpson, Poole, Iggy, Livers, Teske
With hopes of a year 2 bump from
Dejulius, Johns, Castleton
And a year 1 contribution from either
Bejema, Wilson
This team could be very, very good.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
For real, if we can just add some scoring we're good to go. I believe in Beilein.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
Also if we can get Franz Wagner
The offense has to start evolving more. Too much high ball screen. Beilein runs very few specific sets to get shooters open. They have become too easy for opposing coaches to prepare for. Then last night, the staff knew what they were up against...had five days to prepare for that defense...and there was no gameplan, no adjustments, no additions to the offense.
Jesus. Who would you rather have coaching this offense? You know it depends on the players too? "There was no game plan." What a dumb comment.
The game plan seemed to be drive and draw the help defense and then try to shoot while being guarded by 2 defenders. I know we were 1 for 19 from 3, but most of the threes were contested. The way to beat TT’s defense is to drive from one side, draw the help defender and then kick to a wide open shooter on the weak side. The problem is Iggy and Matthews are not good at driving and then passing. Z is good at that but he got too deep into the lane and got swallowed up by the defense because of their length and his lack of height that unfortunately limits his vision and passing angles.
I give you that there likely was a game plan and they thought it would work, but I don't know that I disagree about his point about it appearing there weren't many adjustments. If anything, it seemed like the second half was even worse. But we still have an offensive genius at the helm, so all is fine but yea, that was not Beilein and crew's prettiest coaching job, to say the least.
March 29th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
Disagree 100%. Time after time last night they tried to take advantage of switches by feeding Teske down low. Even worked a couple time, but the problem is Teske just isn't ready to be the focal point of an offense. He seems to get way too deep and even if he catches the ball, he's literally behind the backboard with no options for himself.
By the way, this was what many of us begged them to do after MSU switched with impunity.
As for Teske, he is far behind Moe in regards to O going thru him. When the team needed a few solid sets or stretch plays, his shooting and ability to play with his back to the basket truly limits the offense.
As for MSU, they can go to hell.
I think this team will be very good next year. We couldn't seem to buy a shot last night. I think they guys will shoot better next year. Physically they are gifted, and play really hard defense. There is a lot of camaraderie on the team which is good to see.
My wife, youngest daughter and I were at the game last night. We drove up, had mediocre seats in the 4th deck. We were there very early. I found a wallet in the bathroom stuffed with cash. I did not count it. Turned it in to an usher. Was outside our section entry and ran into a classmate who I had not seen in 35 years, Was having a nice moment with her. She is now a Judge in Grand Rapids. Then the usher brings what turns out the Tech guy who lost the wallet, who thanks me profusely. Anyway, the ushers at both entrances thanked me, and told me there was 2600 $ in the wallet. I mentioned we would really appreciate moving down for the second game in our section if something opened up. The usher eventually grabbed us and took us to his supervisor, who upgraded to club seats for most of the FSU Gonzaga game, and of course our game. Sorry to thread jack but wanted to share our good fortune and apologize if anyone came by looking for us in our section 406 to say hi.
This is nice and all but WHO KEEPS $2600 IN THEIR WALLET?
I am guessing he might have been looking for tickets for Saturday, but who knows. He alluded to that too, saying it was unusual for him but he had a reason. After I turned it in I told my wife there was a wad of cash and I guessed 500-1000, but the usher told me there were 23 100 bills, and the rest twenties. Glad I never looked :) but really just was imaging how sickening it must be to lose a wallet like that, and was hoping they would get it too him before too long, and they did.
Well done. How people steal from others is beyond me.
Man, so much for karma working in our favor. Next time, keep the money and let's see if we play better lol ;) Nice story though, always a good reminder that good people are still out there.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Funny you write that. I delusionally thought karma was on Michigan's side after that too, but I do think the ushers, who were profusely complimentary TTech guy appreciated the Michigan colors with the wallet turn in. I just couldn't believe how we could not buy a 3 or outside shot in that game, despite TTechs good defense.
It's because $2300 is below the market rate for one 3 pt basket.
Great story and a very well played ask.
I’m still mad
This March was a far fetched dream from just this past fall. I never would've thought we would have gotten a 2 seed and 30 wins with what we had coming back.
All we can be is thankful for the season the team put together.
I agree. To achieve this after losing 3 valuable upper classmen is a great accomplishment.
30 wins was maybe slightly overachieving. I think JB was able to get a lot out of this team.
They will need to find shooting next season. Yes, they will return a lot but unless someone suddenly turns into a knock down shooter it may only be a slightly better version of this squad. They need shooting to take a step forward. They need shooting, they need shooting......
March 29th, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
I think it improves. Poole is a natural shooter and he'll improve his % with better maturity and shot selection. Iggy ended up at 39% from deep. You'd take that again. Our best 3 pt shooter Livers (43%) will slide into Matthews spot. Hopefully Teske and Simpson can improve their set shots in the off season - both ended up around 30%
Coming off the bench we get DDJ and maybe Nunez, who were recruited as wet shooters. Johns and Castleton supposedly can launch from deep as stretch 4/5's. Lots of Beilein bump potential. Point is, the capacity for much better shooting is there.
Bajma and Wilson look like future studs in the making. Wilson potentially even this year as an Iggy/Livers backup. Looking forward to next season.
“When Beilein took over the Michigan basketball program, nobody could see an NCAA Tourney appearance in the near future. Let alone the multiple B1G championships, Final Fours, and 5 Sweet Sixteens in the past 7 years.”
And he’s done so by running a clean program and being a class act. Thanks, Coach B!
Go Blue!
And his first Michigan tournament team was held together by duct tape and chewing gum. The man really is an amazing coach and gets the best out of his players. Despite the rumblings on a certain Michigan message board
You're not wrong. As much as last night sucked this team is much better off than they were 10 years ago.
Who do they have coming in as freshman next year? Anybody who can step up and play a major role?
March 29th, 2019 at 11:56 AM ^
Jalen Wilson and Cole Bajema. Wilson is a top 60 type--slightly limited athleticism but an excellent shooter and great body control (at 6'7"-6'8", so not sure the athleticism makes too much of a difference). Bajema reminds me a lot of Caris--very lanky, underrated dribbling ability. Not quite as springy but a bit taller, so maybe they cancel. Needs a lot of development but could have the Caris trajectory if so. Probably a better shooter at his age.
March 29th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
There is also a lot of potential talent (and shooting ability) from the current Freshman class.