Question on tonight's matchup
I can't help but think of the mismatch Hutchinson (and Diabate) have against Villanova's front court. Their tallest player is 6'9". Villanova lost to Purdue where Edey put up 21 points.
Am I overlooking something?
I am having trouble believing that their back court can keep up with that.
Hutchinson is likely to be drafted. /s
#1 overall.
Shit. This is what I get for posting too early in the morning.
Sorry everyone
Mods please delete.
So, I have been a big proponent of full contact basketball. Brad Davison would finally get his comeuppance.
think about hutch on a hoops court. 6' 7", 280 or thereabouts. even if he can't shoot, you know he will own the paint in terms of rebounding and position. 35" vertical IIRC. i bet he could do some damage down there.
who's going to take that charge? yeah, i got your pick and pop right here....
March 24th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
At 6'7", he'd better have some kind of shot else his effectiveness would be quite limited.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^
As a basketball player, Hutchinson would be like Max Bielfeldt, if Max’s body was built entirely from his calves.
March 24th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
Hutchinson probably wouldn't play a lot as he would lead the NCAA in flagrant fouls. However, we would win a lot of games as the other team would be forced to play walk-ons due to injuries.
March 24th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
and you could finally figure out what might be said in those useless 10 second 'huddles' they have during stoppages of play.
1: who's going in the paint with that dude?
4: not me, i'm just the power forward. center's job
5: no man, no can do, ah, bad ankle. hey how about our all-around guy, 3?
(3) seen walking away from huddle toward the 3 point line shaking head
March 24th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
I would have enjoyed at least having Hutchinson play against Wisconsin as a counter to Brad Davison.
I love the smell of #hottakes in the morning.
I think Aidan Hutchinson would match up well with Villanova's "backcourt."
For real: You're missing the big picture, which is that Michigan is playing a seasoned, disciplined, reasonably talented team that's considered the best #2 seed. It won't be an easy game.
Exactly, it isn't like they have been playing the 6' 9" guy because it hasn't been working well for them. This isn't an Izzo situation.
Well, no. But matchups are a thing, and not every team has a front court like Michigan's. It's undeniable that Michigan should have a huge advantage in the post both offensively and defensively. Maybe Villanova was able to get away with playing a 6'9" center for much of the year. It clearly didn't go well against Zach Edey and I hope it doesn't go well against Michigan either.
Of course it won't be an easy game, but this is an area where Michigan should be able to take advantage of a clear matchup advantage.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
I'm laughing to myself just thinking about a circumstance where being 6'9" is small
March 24th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
The OP raises a fair question. It's not a hot take to question whether Nova can stop Dickinson, who might be the biggest defensive mismatch they've faced all season. There aren't that many 7-foot stars left in college basketball. Then on top of that, they have Diabate to worry about.
If you watched their game against OSU, they had some trouble defending Key and Young in the post, and those two aren't normally huge offensive threats. If Young had not been forced to leave the game with a concussion, Nova may not have held on.
The flip side is that our perimeter D has been pretty dodgy and we might find ourselves trading 2s for 3s.
jmblue, I think you're missing the point. If everyone "raised an interesting question" this board would be littered with one-/two-sentence posts that aren't information-rich. I think the bar for posting should be a little higher than "Hey, here's what I'm thinking on a single question."
It's a message board. We have a NCAA Tournament game in a few hours. I think discussing the game - and how our undersized opponent is going to defend Dickinson - is perfectly re
The fact that your lazy reply got a ton of upvotes is evidence of how this board has deteriorated. Yes, Jay Wright's a smart coach. But his team ranks 133rd in the country in 2-point defense. It's not a "hot take" to wonder how it's going to fare against our frontcourt.
It all depends on which Moussa shows up. The double points Moussa or the 2 early fouls and sit Moussa.
Sometimes it’s not a bad thing that those are the two choices. When bad Moussa shows up the second foul is kind of a relief.
Last year, I expected the B1G's bigs (Dickinson, Cockburn, Williams/Edey, Liddell, Garza, misc. Sparty) to go all manbearpig on the NCAA competition, but only Hunter came shining through. Now he has a bigger front court running mate in Diabate. That will help. Still, on defense Brooks, Collins, and Jones are going to have to run Nova's gunners off the line and contest the hellfire they will launch.
Excelsior!
6'9 is too tall for a offensive tackle. He'll be slow off the snap. I could see Hutchinson dominating the line of scrimmage and getting multiple sacks tonight
I think his eye paint will throw them off. Also, yes you're missing something. We are on a timely 2 game run, but let's not act like we're rolling hoes. Nova is a very good team and will punish us if we turn it over and don't play great defense.
Dickinson always needs to have a big game.
At this point of the year all the teams are good
Well, Hutchinson’s tiny arms aren’t going to do him any favors rebounding and contesting shots. That said, I don’t think any of the coaches considered these matchups, and I’m disappointed you posted it the morning of the game because someone could tip off Jay Wright. I imagine his game plan involved having his guards check Diabate and Dickinson, and this could cause him to rethink that strategy.
Hunter was announced as a 6-1 center last weekend, so he may have trouble going against a 6-9 guy.
The Tennessee backup point was listed as 5’1 all weekend on the screen graphic. He was short but pretty sure he wasn’t that short.
That Ziegler kid was TN's best player...
Yeah, sure, 'Nova will go right at Hutch and take the rest of Michigan's defense out of the game.
But what 'Nova will do is avoid Dickinson in the paint and shoot 3's from all over the court. There is virtually no chance they will force the ball into the paint and try to get their 6'9" bigs to feast. All forays into the paint will be attempts to get a free bomb thrown from downtown Austin (yeah - I know they're playing in San Antonio).
As said earlier by someone else, if Michigan can be successful in running the Cats off the 3-pt line, they have a chance. But that chance lives and dies by how Michigan shoots from outside. So Michigan needs two things:
- Slow down Nova's outside shooting
- Hit consistently from outside
Get those two things - Michigan wins. Get one, it'll be a fairly close game that could go either way because Hunter and Moussa should be okay. Get neither and we're looking at a blowout in the wrong direction.
We could use Hutch in the post for some intimidation. I mean, you get him flying out to cover a 3 attempt and the shot will be altered mentally. I would love to see DeVincenzo rain fire with Hutch boring into him. (But still glad he's not playing - fuck that guy...)
March 24th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
But what 'Nova will do is avoid Dickinson in the paint and shoot 3's from all over the court.
I don't think this is what the OP is asking about. The question is more about how they're going to defend Dickinson when their starting "center" is 6'8".
My guess is they'll double him and dare our shooters to come through.
Did I miss the star chart with the dangerman indicators this week? Despite the typo it is an interesting question. The Hunter Dickenson advantage paid dividends against TN.
Bonus: Who would win in a fight Hunter Dickenson or Hutchinson? I have to give Hutchinson the edge on killer instinct, but 7'1" with long arms is a big advantage if the fight doesn't immediately go to the ground.
i know you're just joking, but it wouldn't be close. hutch would wipe hunter out in about 5 seconds. strength, speed, quickness, agility, aggressiveness, physicality and that's before you get to the part that most hoops players in fights look like they're trying to swing their purses at one another.
March 24th, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
Eh... that is a bit of an oversimplification. Basketball players seldom actually fight. Fighting is taboo enough in basketball that everybody just does the "don't make me...." pose while waiting for people to get in front of them to "hold them back." It is a contact sport but not an aggressive enough of a physical strength and contact endeavor that players are already in a fighting mood.
Hunter is 7'1 and damn near 280 pounds. I would not want to see him angry. Before I could render an opinion I would need to get a pretty detailed account of what they were fighting about.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
i'd bet money that hunter has never, ever been in a fight, or at least not since 3rd grade when tommy tried to take his bike at recess. on the other hand, hutch has been involved at the highest level in the most violent of team sports on the planet and is tuned to physical contact that makes basketball game contact look like slow dancing and hugging it out.
and that's besides all of the objective criterion i listed above, all of which tilt heavily in hutch's favor. real-life fighting of a tall guy isn't like a televised bout. it's slip/block his long jab, in you go and he can't get you off and he can't get leverage. hunter would be on his back in a nanosecond. game over.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
I have observed in my life that this kind of detailed analysis is helpful to determine a likely outcome, but it does not take into account the "freakout factor" of a participant that can tilt the bout. Yes, smart money is on Hutch. However, if it was about a girl and Dickinson was the aggrieved party, I would want some popcorn for the occasion.
Somebody help this man out with an edit.
Individually they can't. But Villanova is a well-coached team that plays very smart. Our posts will likely see double teams coming from different places throughout the game to slow them down and make them think. They're also likely to adjust how they cover Big Dick's passes out of double teams.
Our guys on the perimeter can't just stand around and wait. They'll need to cut out even screen on the weak side to open up shooters when Nova doubles the post.
This is going to be a fascinating matchup. Two different styles, two great coaches, plenty of time to prepare for each other. This will be a next-level watch. And yet, the game will hinge on the most fundamental of fundamentals: make your shots.
Frankie Collins is starting at the 5 tonight
Only because Blake Corum is running the point. Just give him the rock and let him juke his way to the rim.
northwestern wildcats, 'nova wildcats, what's the dif? go blake, go.
I was at that game. First time back at the big house since 2018. Felt good to be home.
If Villanova is consistently hitting three's, as there is a decent to good chance of them doing, I think they're happy to live with the results of giving up whatever they need to in the paint with Dickinson. That likely will not be where the game is won or lost.
It will be won or lost in these areas:
1) If Michigan can run Villanova off the three point line with some semblance of regularity (they won't be able to all game) and force them to consistently have to beat Michigan inside or take highly contested threes, there's a chance.
2) If Michigan can do that and also hit at a good clip from the outside, the game likely becomes a coin flip. In other words, if there is ever a night for Houstan to break out of his slump, this is it. If he goes 0-6 from beyond the three point line again and only manages 2-4 points, Michigan is toast. Villanova is not a team you can have a bad shooting night against and live to tell about it.
These are things that Michigan can do, but it'll be tough to them both at the same time against one of the most well-coached teams in the country, against arguably the best coach in the country. Several things have to go right for Michigan to win. Villanova just has to keep doing what its been doing already.
March 24th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
"Villanova is not a team you can have a bad shooting night against and live to tell about it."
It's not ideal, no, but this isn't entirely a true statement. Baylor beat Villanova early on in the season by 21(!) points shooting only 39% from the field, and 25% from 3, with an EFG of 31%. That's a pretty bad shooting night. And not only did Baylor live to tell about it, but they also dominated the game despite it. Granted, a huge caveat applies here: Baylor's defense is >>>>>>>> Michigan's, particularly the perimeter kind.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
You're technically not wrong, and maybe I should've said "In Michigan's case, you likely can't have a bad shooting night and live to tell about it." But that was kind of implied. You're essentially comparing apples and oranges.
As you alluded to, Michigan does not have a Baylor-esque defense that it can fall back on in case the shots don't start falling. Baylor's great perimeter defense plays right into defending Villanova's biggest emphasis of attack: raining hellfire down on you from three point land. Michigan does not have the personnel to do what Baylor did, and certainly has nowhere near the capabilities on defense in general. There's a reason they were a 1-seed, the defending national champions, and we are an 11 seed. Also, it helped that Baylor played Villanova at home, and Michigan is not.
That's why I think in this situation, if Michigan has a bad shooting night, they're almost certainly going home, barring a completely uncharacteristic horrendous shooting night from Villanova as well.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
Michigan might not have the depth to do it, but if Frankie starts at the 1, they're a lot more capable of staying with Nova's backcourt--the obvious weak link would be Houstan in the starting 5 (his length could help contest shots from nova's guards he can't stay exactly in front of on picks/screens, etc.). They did a much better job of defending an even bigger (in my opinion) defensive mismatch against Tennessee, and scored rather well against Tennessee's better, clipping an efg of 51%.
That's all to say that Michigan isn't playing like an 11-seed right now. They could play closer to Baylor's early-season defensive level against Villanova than their own when they were really struggling. I don't anticipate Michigan will go back to its early-season struggles tonight.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
And games that happened at the beginning of this season are almost as irrelevant to right now as games that happened last season.
March 24th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
For Michigan's sake should they get past Villanova and face Arizona in the E8, I sure hope so.
These two teams are an interesting matchup-from the coaching side too. I can see there being quite a bit of variability to the ebb and flow of the game and don't see either team dominating. Should be interesting-this is a winnable game for our maize and blue...but the will need to play very well.
Hutch Hunterson and Dick Aidanson
We lost to Iowa whose tallest player was 6'9".