Overrated or just underachieving?
During the broadcast of the Boston College game the broadcasters spoke about how Michigan was probably just overrated. I personally believe that they were probably overrated to start the season at #15 but, I also think that we are young and have a lot of younger players that will only get better at the season goes on and maybe by the end of the season Michigan could be deserving of a #15 ranking. My biggest worry so far though has been how terrible our defense has been at times, against good or decent teams it has been pretty bad....
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 PM ^
Both.
I didn't think this was a top 15 team, more like 25-30. But they're not playing anywhere near that.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:36 AM ^
I think they are a bit of both right now, but I would lean toward underachieving! The things I am disappointed in are the defense and the lack of inside game. Would like to see them drive the lane more, and give the ball to Sims when he works hard to get position.
Still, its fun to watch them!
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 PM ^
My bigger worry is if they regress this year, what do they do when they lose Sims and Manny?
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 PM ^
It's already as if they are playing without sims. I hope he picks it up soon.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:40 PM ^
was rather upsetting in that regard because the few times they did actually get him the ball he had good looks and just missed. He was quick with his moves and most of the time the double team hadn't come over yet to help. But, Sims missing early I think that was part of the reason they just started settling for outside shots.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 PM ^
the freshman should mature, i mean morris is a big time recruit so he hopefully he pans out to be pretty good. But manny is so good its hard to replace a guy like that, his points, rebounds and assists will have to be taken on my a variety of guys probably. but did you notice tonight manny doesn't drive to the basket almost at all in the first half. Ive noticed this in the last three or four games he and the rest of the team settle for a lot of bad outside shots. Manny is probably best when he's driving to the basket anyway, he needs to get more aggressive.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 PM ^
It's difficult to believe that this is the team that beat Duke, UCLA, and Clemson and gave Oklahoma all they could handle last year. What on earth happened to Deshawn over the summer? And the defense...cant play man, cant play 1-3-1, cant play 2-3, how did they win any games last year at all?
I dont know what to think. Alien posession? I pray that by the end of the year they can improve to the point that they started at last year. The team on the court right now looks like straight garbage.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 AM ^
finding its mojo down the stretch.
There was a good deal of magic/overachiving toward the end of the year. I thought the team would pick up better than they have, but there's no reason the team can't recapture the magic.
In fact, we better pick it up, because we won't have the UCLA & Duke OOC victories on our resume.
17 Jan 14, 2009 Final 23 @ Illinois 24 - 10 51 - 66 L
18 Jan 17, 2009 Final 35 Ohio State 22 - 11 58 - 65 L
19 Jan 20, 2009 Final 48 @ Penn State 27 - 11 58 - 73 L
20 Jan 24, 2009 Final 80 Northwestern 17 - 14 68 - 59 W
21 Jan 28, 2009 Final 35 @ Ohio State 22 - 11 54 - 72 L
22 Jan 31, 2009 Final 16 @ Purdue 27 - 10 49 - 67 L
23 Feb 05, 2009 Final 48 Penn State 27 - 11 71 - 51 W
24 Feb 07, 2009 Final 5 @ Connecticut 31 - 5 61 - 69 L
25 Feb 10, 2009 Final 4 Michigan State 31 - 7 42 - 54 L
26 Feb 15, 2009 Final 80 @ Northwestern 17 - 14 70 - 67 W
27 Feb 19, 2009 Final 47 Minnesota 21 - 11 74 - 62 W
28 Feb 22, 2009 Final 123 @ Iowa 15 - 17 60 - 70 L
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:13 AM ^
That 2-7 stretch looks a lot worse than the 4-8 one. I mean, man, that was rough...
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 PM ^
Damn, Michigan athletics have hit rock bottom. Why God, why?????
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:42 AM ^
Juliana Paz is hot.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 AM ^
Yes indeed.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:37 PM ^
Remember if they don't get two miracle comebacks and an LLP shooting barage at Minnesota, this team doesn't make the tournament last year. A lot of things went right for them last year. I think they overachieved last season. Perhaps it went to their heads a bit.
I think they will be ok in the end, but I think a reasonable best case scenario for this team is matching last season's outcome. They play a considerably tougher non-conference schedule and are in a deep and murderous conference.
Basically, you can't shoot under 30% for the first 35 minutes of a game and hope to have a chance against reasonable opposition.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:38 PM ^
It was too early to rank them #15. This team was one of the top 32 in the tournament last season and really didn't add a lot of immediate impact. Morris needs to become more acclimated; that will happen with time.
Luckily, I didn't see much of the game, but it's pretty obvious that the team will have problems with physical teams for awhile, and maybe all year. Wisky still looks like the most horrendous matchup for UM in the Big Ten this year.
But they will improve as the season goes on. Once again, we are in the position of having to be patient when we want improvement to happen yesterday. I'm tired of this patience crap, but will soldier on and hope that by next year, it is all sorted out in both footabll and basketball.
Besides, it still beats the crap out of being a green and white fan.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 PM ^
This team certainly wasn't a #15 squad, but they're also not playing close to their potential. The threes from last season need to start falling again, the D needs to settle down, and there needs to be serious growth at point.
I took issue with announcers dismissing Michigan as "just overrated" and even as "a bad team," though. I wish they'd just acknowledge that preseason rankings are largely unfounded and meaningless rather than throwing our (or any other) team under the bus because it fucks up some expert predictions.
Six games in, it's really hard to tell what exactly is going on as far as this particular question is concerned. We tend to freak out if we're not performing to whatever level the rankings predict us to be at when it can't possibly mean anything before a young team is given time to grow into itself.
Come February, it'll be very clear whether this team was an underachieving #15, or a hopelessly overrated unit.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 PM ^
I think people had a good reason to rank Michigan so highly. More experience, more depth, more talent. I'll go with disappointing with a little bit of overrated. One reason is this article:
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1023881
It seems like Michigan needs to learn how to become a more solid unit rather than a smaller undermanned one that needs to play up to competition, if that makes any sense. It's like the puzzle pieces are there, but they don't fit yet. That's my guess. Hopefully Beilein can right the ship soon because I feel that Michigan need a signature out-of-conference win if we want to make the dance again.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 PM ^
A little bit of both overrated and underacheiving. Still a young team and they will get better as the season goes on. I see effort but not sure I see the passion yet to really get after it like they did last year. They may have read a few preseason press clippings. That will change with Beilein coaching them up.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:02 AM ^
I think getting back to the tourney was a big motivation for this team last year. I see a lack of heart and push at the moment. I hope the team finds what it's looking for.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 AM ^
Me too. If they don't find "it," they may not be in the tourney this year.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 AM ^
They will have to play well in Big Ten play to make the tourny, with how bad we have played out of conference
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:38 AM ^
They will have to play well in Big Ten play to make the tourny, with how bad we have played out of conference
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:42 AM ^
i don't blame them, this shit is hard
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:30 AM ^
i got neg banged all over last time, but i'll post it again. Manny and peedi should not be taking 3s. manny is one of the best players in the country a driving to the hoop and drawing contact. peedi is easily our best rebounder. stop taking 3s, especially with 20+ seconds on the clock.
i will say it again, i will be a happy man if manny and peedi don't shoot a 3 the rest of the season.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:33 AM ^
I tentatively agree, Manny needs to drive to the lane and get contact, or kick it out.
Even if we're not talking about rebounding, we need that physical presence inside, why was Peedi not in the paint all game? I understand he had the fouls, but even after starting fresh in the second half, he was nowhere to be found.
I think there's been some mismanagement going on in a few respects, to put it mildly.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 AM ^
SIZE. Gotta have Big men to win when your offense isn't clicking right. If they had a decent big man the entire offense would be able to get through this. If you are a shooting team and you can't shoot, well? They are 1 average scoring, decent rebounding big man away from actually being an elite team. Its too bad Manny & Sims will be gone before that happens. I hope the guys we recruit over the next couple years turn out to be some great players. I wanna win!
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 AM ^
There's no answer but underachieving. This team showed what they could do last year. Now they're missing wide-open layups and airballing free throws, and DeShawn Sims hasn't done much of anything so far in his senior year. This team has been very disappointing so far. They have the capability to be a very good team, but they're just not. Maybe David Merritt and C.J. Lee were better than we thought...
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:36 AM ^
I can tell you right now this team will not make the NCAA Tournament. It sucks but is true. I think CJ Lee and Merrit added an intensity that is gone.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:38 AM ^
The problem is poor shooting from the charity stripe and from beyond the three point line. This type of offense was more effective before the three point arc was moved back three years ago. Until this team starts to shoot better and has someone other than Sims to work the paint, it could be a long season.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 AM ^
"This type of offense was more effective before the three point arc was moved back three years ago."
This may be true, but it does little to explain the dropoff from last year to this year.
The free throw shooting is what confounds me the most, but if you're not hitting threes, STOP SHOOTING THREES. I was at the bar last night with a female friend, so I couldn't watch the game as closely as I wanted. But I swear to God that I didn't see Michigan score a single basket. Not one. I'm not even joking. I was there from the beginning of the game until there was 1:45 left in the second half, and not one shot went in while I was looking.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 AM ^
but Coach B certainly has to shoulder some of the blame. He simply refuses to play 2 bigs together for any reasonable duration of time, and it's killing us. When he inserted Gibson in with Sims(only lasted for about 2 minutes) and/or Wright(another 2 minutes in the 1st half) we were plus 6 by my count. Our D looked MUCH BETTER, and we cut the BC lead from 11 to 5 at about the mid-point in the 1st half. It's obvious to me that Gibson needs to start WITH Sims, I love Novak and all, but the reality is that the kid is just too damn small to play PF. You're not going to win too many games when your paint defender in the 1-3-1 is Novak/Douglass/LLp, it's just not going to work. It's not like we're lighting it up from 3 so Coach B needs to play 2 bigs, its just that simple.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 AM ^
among Big Ten programs for the vast majority of the last two seasons, and so far this year they're continuing that. You're simply not going to win very many games against even half-decent teams shooting 38% overall and 23% from the three. The last three games we're shooting 18-79 from beyond the arc. Considering how poorly we rebound, missing 61 shots is a killer.
Hugely, hugely overrated. If we make the NCAA, it will be by the skin of our teeth at the very end. And if we don't quickly improve our overall play, even making the NIT isn't a given.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 PM ^
Pretty simple really the team is just too small. We have good players, unfortunately they all play the same position. We are also a young team that is going to figure some things out and play better as we move along here.
The future is bright. When we can put together a front line of 6'10" 7'00" and 6'7" combined with the guards we already have, we will be a completely different animal to contend with.
Last night we shot horribly, when we do we look bad. Better shooting combined with more defensive intensity will make for some entertaining games this season. I am looking forward to see how the team responds to this difficult period.