UMHoops Open Practice Video
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:12 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
For visibility:
Box score of the 15 minute scrimmage at the end of the video
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:19 AM ^
Man that elbow jumper from DJ Wilson could be such a big weapon. He was hitting it consistently in that video, adds a whole new dimension to the offense.
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:09 AM ^
"Then he took us back in da house and served us pancakes"
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:26 AM ^
I am so excited to actually parlay our football season and basketball season together. It feels really good to have some nice things again. (Knocks on wood repeatedly for next 3 hours...)
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:33 AM ^
I'm sure we'll see it, so it'll be fun to see a really big lineup out there with 6'3" MAAR at PG, 6'7" LeVert at 2, 6'6" Dawkins/Irvin at 3, 6'9" Wilson at 4, and 6'10" Doyle/Wagner at 5.
I just remeber playing OSU teams in the past that had that kinda height/athleticism and being extremely frustrated. It's very difficult to do anything offensively when the other team has a height advantage at almost every position. It's also hard onn the defensive end to prevent offensive rebounds.
Gonna be a fun year.
November 3rd, 2015 at 2:42 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:35 AM ^
Duncan sighting - hitting bottom of the net twice. Looked a little like Stauskas. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
Some quick takes from a lifelong hoops junkie:
My goodness these kids can shoot. I know its a Beilein thing, but this should not be considered normal. Most D1 players are more likely to be super athletic than great shooters, and M has a bunch of really, really strong shooters on this roster, in addition to good athletes.
Is Duncan Robinson #20? It's going to be really hard to keep him off the court. Same with MAAR, and DJ Wilson is starting to look really promising.
Take those 3, and if Spike and Dawkins aren't cracking the starting lineup, and I can't imagine there would be a better 2nd unit in college basketball. We haven't even touched Kam Chatman yet.
Little doubt that this team will be significantly better than last year. I'm really excited to watch them. I know its practice, but the skill level with the mid-range and 3-ball shooting is the most exciting.
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:03 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:36 AM ^
But if either of them are playing the 4, I think their D looked pretty great. Both are super long and have good body positioning. Plus 6'10" will get them a lot of boards if they are matched up on 6'8" dudes.
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
are better rebounders than Wilson? Same goes for defense. Doyle was our best option last season, but he struggled to rebound and defend.
November 3rd, 2015 at 8:49 AM ^
looks awful so far.
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
"If you don't have something nice to say..."
This is a MESSAGE BOARD. If you aren't candid, there's no point in sharing your opinion.
November 3rd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^
Yeah not sure what you were watching. He hit some big shots. If he can play some D and rebound he has a shot to see some minutes.
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:28 AM ^
LINK See how the final offensive play for the Maize team develops . . . and notice who makes the inbounds pass, and who takes the shot that puts the Maize team ahead 33-30. He looked a lot like this guy:
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
-- guy who either didn't watch the video or doesn't know anything about basketball or both
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^
Some hot takes from those in attendance, worth skimming through:
http://forum.umhoops.com/discussion/2851/open-practice-11-2-2015
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
Caris LeVert- Looked 100% back to form. Shot looked crisp and were dropping. Had his burst. Made good decisions out to the shooters on the wing when penetration wasn't there to score. Just looks like a more mature version of himself. Fits with what they were doing. Didn't over-dribble. - from Wolverine3 in the comments
No THAT is good to hear. He also seemed to indicate that Walton is still getting back into game form so hopefully he's not too far from that. To have both of them 100% and out there is one thing that should make this season pretty exciting.
November 3rd, 2015 at 5:45 PM ^
I loved how Beilein loves his practice. Just no waste.
It is a short period of time, but I am a basketball junkie. No one stood out in a negative manner (dawkins was a little off but hurt himself in that practice).
Looked extra good:
MAAR
DJ
and Caris looking like Caris
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^
Is it weird that M doesn't inbound the ball in this scrimmage? Just curious since we have had inbounding issues, maybe as much live action practice as possible is needed.
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
Thanks, I should have watched until the end (only watched the first few minutes)
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^
Appreciate the info, I guess I was wondering if that was a standard thing at all bball practices, or just a Michigan thing.
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^
I can't believe how much offense is out there sans Irvin and Spike. It's going to be a fun year as a fan. Belien might be able to shuffle 10 guys consistently.
This team needs to take pride in their defense. They have the guns to hang with anyone in the country, the question is, can they get crucial stops against more physical teams?
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^
I was lucky enough to attend practice last week and talk with the coaches a little bit. I'm working on a post about my visit. Should be a fun season.
November 3rd, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
RIP to anybody who tries playing zone against us this year. There are so many pure shooting strokes on this team.
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
40-0 hype train is on the move... In all seriousness, this team has soooooo much potential. Healthy Walton and healthy Caris are huge for the offense and Irvin and Spike will look to grow on ridiculously strong finishes to last season. All in all, I think we'll look on last season as a blessing in disguise. Last season gave us the ability to give Dawkins and MAAR serious experience and allow them to adapt to the game much quicker... not to mention that they showed some serious ability in a few of the games in which they got serious minutes. Also last season ended up being a blessing for Wilson in many ways. Having him sit out (for whatever reason it ended up being) allowed him to take in the game's speed and how it's played, and look how that's turned out so far. In the small sample size we saw last year, he looked absolutely clueless and had no idea what to do and where to go on the court. From this video, he looked soooo much more comfortable. All in all, I think last year, as painful as it was, can be looked upon very favorably right now.
From the video, it looks like everybody can shoot. The young guys, the older guys... they can all do it... With how strong Wilson looked, I'm not sure how much of Wagner we see this year. I can see him at the five giving spells to Doyle, but he doesn't have the body to play serious minutes there yet. Not to mention that he looks more like a stretch four guy in JB's system. It's going to be hard to keep Duncan off the court with how well he shoots the ball... He'll likely play his time between the 3 and 4 spots depending on what the rest of the court looks like.
I'm not going to hesitate in saying that this is easily JB's deepest team since he's been here. It really is going to be hard to give a lot of these guys minutes considering how good the guys in front of them are. I guess that's a good problem to have especially considering how we had to give serious minutes to Dakich and Lonergan at times last season. Right now here's my minutes distribution/depth chart
Walton-25 / Spike-10 / MAAR-5
Caris-30 / Dawkins-10
Irvin-25 / Chatman-10 / Robinson-5
Wilson-20 / Dawkins/Chatman-10 / Robinson-5 / Wagner-5
Doyle-20 / Donnal-5-10 / Wagner/Wilson 5-10
That four spot has the most options and is probably the most open for minutes at this point, but our biggest question is the five spot right now... Doyle looked iffy in the video (small sample size though) and Donnal still seemed timid... I guess we'll see, but without Max B to save us, that could be a problem area again. Likely JB will gravitate around the best 8ish players and we'll start to see some guys phased out of minutes, especially if this team is going to be really competitive in the Big Ten... Right now, I think this team looks like a 6-7 seed in the Tourney, but if this team can find consistent production on offense (much more than last season) and be tough underneath the basket when needed, I have no reason to think that we can't get as high as a 2-3 seed and compete for a Big Ten title
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
You have way too many guys playing. Beilein said in one of those town hall things a few weeks ago he likes a 8 man rotation but due to depth he will probably go 9 this year.
Most games short of foul trouble some people you are mentioning wont be seen much. I think Wagner sounded like a redshirt entirely from the description. Unless Donnal takes a big jump and Wilson absolutely cannot handle the 5 I see him being a guy who only plays in case of foul trouble etc. It also seems like Robinson is going to be squeezed out of playing time.
We have our big 3 + Dawkins + Doyle as the minutes leaders I assume. Spike is going to get his for 6. Then everyone else is fighting for basically 3 roles in the lineup. I assume those 3 are going to be Wilson OR Donnal, Chatman, MAAR. The loser of Donnal v Wilson, Robinson and Wagner I think get squeezed out (again I think Wagner RS from all that has been said)
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^
I wonder how Jaylen Brown, Tyus Battle, Luke Kennard, Derryck Thornton, etc will feel watching us play in the final four?
November 3rd, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
Well, Kennard and Thornton will at least get to see it first hand since they'll be there too.
Jaylen Brown? Lolz. Give Cuonzo Martin all the talent you want. He'll still flame out in the NCAAs. No idea how he got a good job like Cal. He totally underperformed at Tennessee with the amount of talent he had.
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^
Feels good to see the guys in action, always love seeing a Beilein coached team. Moritz looks good. Gives great effort and can stretch it out too. Can't wait for the season!
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
Wait, there was an open practice? I didn't even hear about it otherwise I would have tried to be there. Wish the turnout was a bit better for the team.
November 3rd, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
Wagner has tons of upside and is electric in transition. Think he will sit this year and learn the system and develop his half court offense.
I don't think Wilson is a 4. He looks awesome but I think JB will want more ball handling, shooting and I'm not sure Wilson can guard small ball 4s. I think Wilson starts over Doyle at the 5.
MAAR will push Spike for the backup PG role. If he can shoot the 3 at a reasonable rate, there is no way in hell that he isn't in the rotation.
I prefer Kam over DR, if he can hit his 3s. DR can knock down shots when he doesn't have to move but he had a few bad misses when he was forced to shoot on the fly. Kam gives you a rebounder, a transition and maybe PnR handler, passes just as well as DR and mid post game.
My 8 man rotation come March as of today: