Player struggles should help solidify commits' decisions and intrigue recruits.
A major concern for recruits when choosing their school is playing time. For the One and Done types, PT is probably paramount.
Michigan has already shown what they can achieve when firing at all cylinders in Atlantis. Even now when they're struggling to hit shots, with their top all-around player injured, they're suffering some close loses.
Commits and recruits are should licking their chops recognizing that the starting spots next year won't be solidified at this rate.
Hearing things like "if a certain player is taking 20 shots, we're in trouble" should be over after this year. Imagining those shots going to Mr. Jaygup or any of the commits or recruits has me hyped already.
Missed bunnies will mostly turn into Dunked bunnies and athletic Alley Oops.
Why disparage and criticize coaches over situations they're being put in due to players not executing at an even average D1 level?
What set did Underwood call on that last play? How's Holtman doing in his non-1st year at OSU? Fred at Nebraska?
Howard took over a situation Beilein decided to bolt in the middle of the night from. Last year's roster and chess pieces Beilein and Yaklich were working with are NO comparison to this year's, and that's before Livers went down.
Ride the Storm, Bring on the Alley Oops.
Go Blue!
January 25th, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Yes. I dare anyone to name 3 players, other than Livers, on this team that would have a roster spot at MSU.
January 25th, 2020 at 6:42 PM ^
Having a “Roster spot” on MSU’s team is overreaction at its best. DDJ is light years ahead of Loyer and Izzo threw a shit fit when he didn’t get Johns. If you want me to name a bunch more I can as that team revolves around Winston so everyone else is literally expendable.
January 25th, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
Right. It's Winston, most of time Tillman, and the rest are just dudes with varying levels of athleticism and skill. But Winston is absurd so it works.
January 25th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
Key words are athleticism and skill. I argue we do not have either on our squad at this moment. You have to have roll players that play their roll. Whether that is hitting wide open threes or getting to the rim. We don’t have those guys.
January 26th, 2020 at 5:49 AM ^
Does that mean 'spot on'?
January 26th, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^
either that or he's sayin the dude is on his period
January 25th, 2020 at 6:52 PM ^
Last years class was ranked 65th in the country, the class before that was was 11th with Iggy, who is a pro now. The next highest ranked player was #70 Johns. Everyone else is outside the top 100. The class before that was ranked 43rd. The class before that was ranked 35th. That’s not a roster full of talent. I would love to hear who on our squad would get playing time on Izzo’s team?
January 26th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
So you’re just going to say last year’s class was 65th in the country without mentioning it was that high because it was only 2 guys? Also, one of those guys would start for Izzo ahead or Brown or Henry and both DDJ and Johns would be first off the bench for MSU. I mean, Kithier is getting valuable minutes for them and we have 8 guys on our team more talented than him.
I’m not sure why you think MSU is so amazing. They are good, but a lot of their record is due to them starting out with a bunch of hone games and playing NW on the road. Then they play some tough road games and, surprise, look just like most other B10 teams. They just lost by 30 to Purdue and we want to hold them up as the measuring stick in the B10?
January 25th, 2020 at 9:42 PM ^
Brandon Johns was heavily recruited by MSU, so he'd certainly have a roster spot there.
Teske and Simpson have probably earned a bench role at MSU as well.
January 25th, 2020 at 6:57 PM ^
Franz, X, Teske, and Johns were all top 100 players. If you don’t think we have talent, you’re wrong.
January 25th, 2020 at 7:03 PM ^
Have you watched them this year? Franz played overseas so I am not sure about his ranking. X, I could see play. Johns is not athletic enough and neither is Teske. I’m sorry, Wagner was a miss. I know he is young and all, but all he is good at is celebrating. He should not be starting, but there are no other options.
January 25th, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
"John's isn't athletic enough"
Well, you can just stop talking.
If you think freshman are just going to show up and know how to play and win in the B10.. You are in for a big surprise unless there is a generational talent in there. Franzs jump will be next year. You sound like a damn fool.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:04 PM ^
There are generational talents. Beilein didn’t get them. Maybe he didn’t go after them. But if you think that a freshman cannot get contribute more than Wagner can, you are the damn fool. Iggy contributed his freshman year. Burke contributed his freshman year. Many teams have freshman that get them deep in the tournament. The Fab Five were all freshman. We just don’t have that freshman, but there are many examples of teams that have freshman that contribute a ton.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:13 PM ^
Show me a time Johns got to the rim and finished strong or dunked on someone?
January 26th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Not sure if serious. Dunking ON someone is extremely rare and is a sports center top 10 play for a reason. Although off the top of my head, Johns had a back cut against Iowa that he threw down. That might have even been over someone, I don’t remember. But if you think Johns isn’t athletic, you have probably watched zero games this year and occasionally check the box score. What a monumentally dumb comment
January 25th, 2020 at 9:09 PM ^
Mo stunk as a freshman, then he became a monster later on, and was a sparty killer, much to your ire, sparty fan...
.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
Not a sparty fan, far from it. Two degrees from the big M. But your kidding yourself if you think Wagner is going to be a killer as a senior. I would love to be wrong. Based on the class that could potentially sign here next year, who is he playing over?
January 26th, 2020 at 12:57 AM ^
The big M? I bet you call us Big Blue, too.
January 25th, 2020 at 6:57 PM ^
Yes, let's blast Beilein more. The guy who brought the program out of the shit hole it was stuck in for several years. Great fucking post.
January 25th, 2020 at 7:06 PM ^
I, personally, am not bashing him. He left Michigan, he could have retired here. It was his team and his choice to stay or leave. He left. So let’s not bash the coach that was chosen to pick up the pieces and still has this team with a winning record with the best player by far injured.
January 25th, 2020 at 8:45 PM ^
Yea let’s just bash the roster. Juwan is obviously a great coach and infallible. He just needs a roster of elite talent to get this team to top 10 in the Conference.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:06 PM ^
No he needs guys that can dunk and score around the rim. Plus hit an occasional 3 and free throw. And they do not have to be the same player, but a group that can accomplish these things. Plus there are a bunch of hall of fame players and coaches that have said how great of a coach he is. At this point it’s all about opinions and I am will to take the opinions of hall of famers over yours.. He is at game 18 and has won 11. Plus the best class Michigan has seen in decades.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^
Talent will hide inabilities. However, a coach is supposed to improve his players. I’d love to hear someone point to a player who, compared to the second game of the year, is markedly better today. Providing any evidence is fine. You won’t point to one. Franz didn’t play in the second game but include him from wherever. The team is worse today than early December. Worse. Cannot hide behind lack of talent when it’s the same talent you’re comparing. I love all these folks who just assume the trajectory of the team will not have an effecton recruiting talented kids to be coached.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:22 PM ^
They are missing their best player now. It’s not a coincidence that the slide began when the best player, and the only guy on the team that can create his own shot, got hurt. Players have to play outside of their comfort level to make up for Livers loss.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
He’s under .500 in games against high major competition. He deserves some blame here, not all in the least but this roster is better than one of the worst in the Big Ten. it’s ok to admit he’s not perfect
January 25th, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
Never said he wasn’t perfect. He has made some mistakes. I expect mistakes from both the coaching staff and players. Beilein’s system was all about hitting the three. He would be struggling just as much with this team because they cannot hit open shots.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
He’s under .500 in games against high major competition. He deserves some blame here, not all in the least but this roster is better than one of the worst in the Big Ten. it’s ok to admit he’s not perfect
January 26th, 2020 at 1:34 PM ^
But they never run any plays going at the rim. They avoid it and settle for 3s. Unless the new recruits are dunking from 3 point territory, it won't matter.
Michigan has guys who can dunk. The issue is what they run and how aggressive they are. I think Juwan has a good offensive mind but the team is not responding and so its clear they need to change up the approach. But, the team is also soft on defense and makes way too many tactical errors. They don't do little things that good teams do to win games. They totally threw the game away yesterday. I think its on the players and coaches equally. But the coaches have some pretty decent pieces, they're just not using them right.
I believe in Juwan but, MAN, it is a 5 Alarm Fire right now.
If the best recruiting class in decades is this erratic next year, its gonna be painful.
January 25th, 2020 at 7:31 PM ^
I thought losing was bad for recruiting.
Until it isn't I suppose...
January 25th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
I get this argument, but another argument would be coaching/development concerns for prospective players.
January 25th, 2020 at 7:56 PM ^
Howard took over a situation Beilein decided to bolt in the middle of the night from.
This is a cheap shot.
January 25th, 2020 at 11:55 PM ^
It's not a cheap shot, it's the truth. Beilein earned the right to do that, and I'll always love the guy -- but he also bolted with minimal notice and no succession plan (which is how many of us thought his era would end). And I believe there were rumors that he bolted bc he was sick of the college recruiting rat race. I don't blame him for that. College recruiting is a bitch. Juwan is doing better than any of us could have ever dreamed, especially given the fact that he had to make up for lost time with all these recruits and try to secure the guys who thought they were coming to play for John Beilein.
January 25th, 2020 at 8:30 PM ^
Top players go to schools they think can win and also where they can improve their draft stock.
January 25th, 2020 at 8:33 PM ^
This is a weird take. Wouldn't bench guys like Nunez or Davis or Bajema also be licking their chops too, then? If someone doesn't leave the class if full.
January 26th, 2020 at 8:07 AM ^
Christopher is coming, and at least someone is leaving.
January 25th, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^
Elite recruits absolutely do not care one bit about playing time. They know they’re going to get playing time wherever they go. How many times have we seen a five star point guard pass up the opportunity to play at a school that has great veterans at the 2 through 5 spots but no PG on the roster to instead go to a Kentucky or Duke that already has three other former Top-50 PGs on its roster, or some similar situation? It happens all the time.
Recruits don’t care about PT or roster fit or championships or anything like that. It’s a business decision and they go to whatever school they think will maximize their earnings — whether that’s immediately with bagmen like LSU or Washington or long-term payoff with networks and branding like Kentucky or Duke. (How much of Zion’s endorsement deals valued at well over $100-million are due to the exposure he got playing for Duke and being featured daily on ESPN?)
It’s been demonstrated conclusively that the NCAA will not enforce amateurism rules and pay-for-play is going to be here very soon. We need to lead the charge and openly pay players. The NCAA will not punish us, just like they didn’t punish Kansas, just like they didn’t punish LSU, just like they didn’t punish North Carolina, just like they didn’t challenge California on pay-for-play. Louisville got caught paying for strippers for underage recruits and their punishment was such a weak slap on the wrist that they made it back to the top ten in like one season.
Juwan should show up to Christopher’s house with a brand new Maserati and leave it in the drive, key deliverable upon execution of the LOI. What the actual f*ck is anybody going to do about it?
January 25th, 2020 at 9:39 PM ^
I love your optimism, but Howard's inability to make these guys look competent is not going to help recruiting. It may not cause significant damage to our recruiting, but it's certainly not going to help.
January 26th, 2020 at 12:03 AM ^
He's got Northwestern talent and people expect Michigan State results -- with his best player hurt. It's not like he's out there getting embarrassed. Almost every loss comes down to the wire, but the other guys have a Dosunmu, a Lamar Stevens, a Garza, an Oturu. What does Juwan have? A gangly, baby deer German Freshman, a 6' maximum effort point guard, and a below-the-rim 7'1 four year senior big man. You swap Franz for Charles Matthews and this team is good. Juwan might not even have a G-League player on this team that he inherited, especially with Livers hurt.
January 26th, 2020 at 7:33 AM ^
You think Northwestern could beat Gonzaga, Creighton, Iowa State and play toe to toe with Oregon?
January 26th, 2020 at 7:41 AM ^
The lack of talent argument is really something. There is enough talent to be way better than they are. They are in last place. They don’t have a last place roster. Give me a break
January 26th, 2020 at 8:30 AM ^
Which team that they lost to, did they have more talent than? Which games did they have the most talented player on the floor? I'd seriously like to know.
January 26th, 2020 at 9:11 AM ^
Iowa that was easy on more talent.
So now you have to have the most talented player on the floor or to not be last in the B1G?? Come on man that take is so lazy. How many times last year did they have the most talented player on the floor?? Great example for you IU had the most talented player on the floor last year and Michigan absolutely waxed them. Do you need more examples??
January 26th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
Michigan had three NBA players on the floor against IU. IU had one.
Against Iowa Garza was clearly better than anyone else. He's what we wish Teske could be. We also beat Iowa once as well. Why? Because we had our most talented player playing, and we shot 41.7% from 3. In the loss, we didn't have Livers, and shot 32.4% from 3. I
that simple. Basketball in this age is about talent and 3pt shooting. Just like how Beilein with his amazing offense, great defense, trio of NBA players ... got waxed by Texas Tech bc they had Jarrett Culver and we shot 1/19 from 3. Why didn't Beilein just run some better sets? Why didn't he tweak the substitution pattern? David Dejulius and Eli Brooks were here then too. They combined for 19 mins and zero points. And guess who scored all but 7 points for John Beilein in that game? Matthews, Poole, and Brazdekis -- his three most talented players. Guess what Juwan is left with? All the guys who combined for 7 points.
January 26th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
So wait now TT won with less talent because they didn’t have 3 NBA players like you stated was the reason Michigan won at IU despite IU having the most talented player? Or They won because Culver was the best player on the court?
Or did TT win because they are so well coached on defense, even though they had less talent than Michigan? I think but I might be mistaken that’s where coaching comes in and the point of all this.
January 26th, 2020 at 2:16 PM ^
Texas Tech had more talent than Michigan. Lottery picks are on a different level. Plus they had another NBA player in Mooney. He and Culver combined for 32 of their 63 points that game. More than half. But those guys are in the NBA now. They're gone ...
But as you said, this is where coaching comes in ...
Texas Tech is 12-7 this year. Did Chris Beard forget how to coach? Or maybe it's about talent.
January 26th, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^
Two things:
(1) That was with Livers. The most talented player on the roster. He's been out. He came back for a partial game, and we were winning when he got hurt again.
(2) Those games were won with the exact same coach playing the exact same style. The difference? Teams we are playing now are prepared for the Simpson/Teske pick & roll/pop. They're taking that away and rolling the dice with our wings taking open threes. His players are missing uncontested shots.
- Creighton - 9 threes, 39.1%
- Iowa State - 11 threes, 42.3%
- Gonzaga - 12 threes, 52.2%
- Oregon - 9 threes, 42.1%
Without Livers, and defense prepped focused on taking away Teske rolling/popping:
- Illinois - 4 threes, 23.5%
- Penn State - 5 threes, 17.9%
- Iowa - 11 threes, 32.4%
- Minnesota - 10 threes, 35.7%
The team is shooting 27.4% from 3 in B1G play. The majority are catch and shoot, low difficulty looks. What is Juwan supposed to do about open shooters missing shots? They're open bc Teske is being taken away. So you can't force to Teske. Zavier is already leading the team in conference game scoring at 15.3/game. Livers has been injured. What else can he do but hope that the other guys on the team can hit open shots? That's all they CAN do. Nobody else can score off the dribble, score on a post up, go hard to the rim and get free throws. Teske is being schemed for, Zavier is doing all he can, and Livers is out. That's the depth of our talent.
January 26th, 2020 at 9:17 AM ^
First citing 3pt shooting as why Michigan is losing is such a lazy argument. Problems started before Livers went out once film got out. There hasn’t been the necessary adjustments.
Why can’t Juwan Manufacture more drives to the hoop with certain sets other than a high ball screen hope Simpson can get there? DDJ never gets these opportunities
Why is everything one on one try to beat your man with no off ball movement?
Why if they are such a poor 3pt shooting team are they allowed take transition 3s?
Why are non threats shooting the ball in important possessions?
Why is staff playing Davis and Teske together?
Where are sets to get Teske an elbow jumper, his best shot?
Why does DDJ take so long to check in?
Why are they trying to make Castleton a post up big?
What is the go to play in the late game situation besides dump into the post and everyone stand around?
Franz needs to start at the 4 not the 3. Bring Johns off the bench. For guard rest Franz moves to the 3. Sub patterns have been atrocious
This staff hasn’t really figured out a way to use its personal.
Now that’s all my gripes offensively. There isn’t enough space to go over their atrocious defensive scheme and planning(though yesterday I thought it was a good defensive effort)
January 26th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
I don't even know where to start...
An elbow jumper is one of the worst shots in basketball, especially by a center. This isn't 1992.
Franz can barely hold up physically at the 3, let alone against a legit 4. Tillman would bury him.
Regardless of how you shuffle the rotation, it's the same guys. Unless your argument is to play more guys, like Nunez or Bajema, who have shown nothing.
What would you like Castleton to be? He's shown no ability to be a stretch 4 or 5. This is what he was recruited as, per Endless Motor "Offensively he has good touch around the basket and a nice shot from the midrange area. Shows some flashes of back to the basket game with jumphooks over both shoulders but more of face-up post player at this point."
DDJ is averaging 6 points a game in conference play, shooting 35.8% from the field and 18.8% from 3 with 1.9 assists. So he doesn't score much, shoots like crap, and doesn't really create anyone. If he's the answer, we're in trouble. He checked in for X for 5 mins against Illinois and the team scored 2 total points.
Modern basketball is built around three point shooting and rim scoring. Defenses are taking Teske out of the equation and daring us to hit threes. We get handfuls of open catch and shoot threes every half. We can't shoot. You want to scheme rim points when your big man is being fronted and doubled? How about some back cuts with Eli Brooks? He misses at the rim consistently and shoots 44.5% inside the arc. They've been getting Wagner cuts to the rim, unfortunately he's missing FTs when he gets fouled (76.9% FT). Johns Jr has shown no ability to post up or score on a cut.
Why are non-threat players shooting on important possessions? Who the hell are the threat players?
January 26th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
All well stated, man.