something positive from tonight? Nah, just a load of crap.

has greatly improved this program, doesn't mean it's unfair to question him.  And right now, there's a hell of a lot that deserves questioning.

1. Does this team ever spend any time practicing against a full court press??  For god's sake, we couldn't handle the vaunted Penn State press!  Every time a team presses us, we look like we've never seen this kind of thing before.  With Burke at the point, there's no reason we shouldn't be making teams pay for trying to press us.  Instead, IF we get it past half court, we wait for the defense to set up, instead of attacking.

2. Going along with that theme...our offense is pretty decent, but it could be even better.  We should be pushing it upcourt every chance we get.  That's when guys like GR3 and McGary are most effective.  Off makes, off misses, we should be trying to push the tempo.

3. I HATE the way our big guys are taught to hedge and occasionally trap out top.  We pick up tons of fouls 30 feet from the basket, and McGary and Horford are slow to get back to their man.  When we do try and "trap" out top, it's the most token trap ever.  If you're going to commit two guys 30 feet from the hoop, then go for the steal!  Rip the ball away!  Instead, they give the guy space and let him survey the court for a 4-on-3 advantage.

There's a lot of other stuff, but I just don't have the energy...

Miami lost to wake. It's sports anyone can win any day, that's y we love it.....

between our football teams inability to play on the road and Now the basketball team picking up the habit I am losing all of the hair on my head...

what a weak, pathetic, performance.  We need to get our shit together fast. And with IU and MSU coming up this could go very poorly.

jdon

We will lose. We have a bunch of lanky and young guys who don't get dirty on the ground. When you get beat down and hacked, you start executing and shooting the way we did the last three minutes of the game. I had a " taping" incident and only taped that time period. When I turned it in we were tied. We looked like the team that was going to lose and fulfilled that prophecy. Tired, exhausted, passive, not confident....after basically a week off. wtf. Unbelievable.

the gap between the top and bottom in big ten is close enough that even these obvious upsets are unable to avoided.

michigan had "it"  in december but do not now. the important question,  can this team be focused and energized for the important games coming up?

On the plus side guys, Denard is up by 6k votes for the cover vote.

An embarrassing defeat. No one deserved to wear the shirt tonight. No leadership, no accountability.

Stauskas had a shocker, too reckless with the ball. Turned it over numerous times and let the opposing player glide in for a layup. Someone needs to get in his face and let him know that's NOT okay.

GR3 had a disastrous last three minutes, couldn't squeeze a loose ball he had in his hands, then missed a lay-up before bricking a three...

Also would like Bellein to take a technical or two once and a while. Tonight would have been perfect when we were up 15 and Penn State hit seven straight free throws, with the refs treating Colella like he was Jordan.

Just swallow the tech there before it gets out of hand.

Brutal performance, this team is going to get upset early in the tournament.

Yeah, that's about right.  Never has a thread been more appropriately titled.  

Evan Turner, John Gasser, Ben Brust...

Add Jermaine Marshall to the list.  31.5%  3pt shooter goes 6/10 against us.

Another neutral court comment might cause me to lose it.

T_T

I know when I saw JB, the X's O's coach, turn red from yelling @ Stauskas at the timeout that the problem goes bigger than X's and O's. It's a young team and we all realize that, but someone has to step up.

Who is this guy on this year's team?

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The lack of focus and effort on D is truly pathetic.  At this point, I would prefer to see Novak and Douglas back on the court, at least you could see and feel the energy and effort 100% of the time.  

This team has a ton of talent, and they play soft, lack mental toughness and really lack the ability to dig down deep.  I would also seriously start to question either the focus on conditioning or the use of the bench.  If the players cannot put the effort into D, they neeed to rotate more often.  I would rather see someone less talented on the court giving 100%, than continue to watch lackidasical effort on rebounding and defense....with their level of talent it really is beginning to piss me off.  

I see too many guys starting to bolt out trying to get on the break vs. blocking out putting in the effort to stop second shots.  I really wonder just how much effort and focus is placed on any of these items in practice vs. getting repetition on shooting.  Indiana, MSU and OSU simple play much more physically and with more mental toughness....and this should have been a 15-20 point win minimum with the talent difference, and the whole they are young, lesson learned, etc is just BS.  Getting outhustled by players without the same level of talent is becoming a habit, not an exception.

i want to believe that this will make us stronger but i think we are too young and soft for that to happen...if it does that will be a HELL of a coaching job.  i have to think that just like none of us believe in this team anymore the team doesn't either.  maybe trey and morgan and MAYBE, big maybe, hardaway does, but there is no way the young guys can withstand this...the heartbreaker against wisco, the blowout to sparty, and now this?  the swag is gone.  if it comes back somehow the coaches and leaders (not really sure who they are) will have done an incredible job with bringing the youngsters back from the edge.

Anither Stu reference might cause me to lose it too. Love him cause he's a past Michigan guy, but come on.

To me, it looks like too many guys are trying out for the NBA.  I don't feel any chemistry among the players.

                  1.  The last 40 seconds was the worse coach-team dynamic I have seen at Michigan since RR's final game.  You HAVE TO DECIDE WHETHER TO FOUL OR STEAL IMMEDIATELY.  It shouldn't even be a decision you make then and there on the court, it should be part of what you practice, .e.g if there is 1 minute left, we play D/ if there is less than 35 seconds we foul immediately/ if there is 59-36 seconds left we try for a steal in the first 8 seconds and then foul.  Instead the team just stood there.  They didn't try to steal or foul.  I honestly thought they were going to let PSU dribble out the clock because that's what they seemed to be doing.  That's inexcusable in a HS team. 

2.  I think we can put the whole, "once big bad ass Jo-Mo is back in the hizzy we're going to be awesomzz at d-fence dudz!!"  theory to rest.  He's a good defender, but the way the perimeter players are playing it would take fucking Bill Russell to fix it.  He's also a very limited offense player, just like every post player at Michigan in what seems like forever (Sims was ok offensely, I guess).  Also, he's terrible at free throws.

3.  I think this blog needs a new Game-Stauskas .gif.  It should have an opposing player making a wide open three as Stauskas stands, arms down at his sides, looking at the teammate right next to him who is screaming "FUCKING SWITCH!!"   This team switches almost every goddamn pick on the perimeter anyway, so it shouldn't be that hard. 

That might be a bit harsh, but he's fast becoming my least favorite player on the team.  He is really just a jump shooter because he can't finish in any sort of traffic (he managed a charge one on one with a defender tonight).  He's prone to jacking up wild shots.  His defense is bad and his passing is inconsistent.  Oh, and his handle is mediocre to the point where I get nervous whenever he handles the ball.    He'll improve on all of this as he gets older, of course, but he may well end up a mere chucker.

4.  Bad defense is contagious.  When somebody is crap, everyone does subtle things to try and compensate, like watching his man while your guy cuts to the basket.

5.  I've still never seen Caris LeVert do anything to impress on defense other than managing to touch an opposing player with the absolute minium amount of force needed to draw a foul.

I believe (if I can still add correctly) that Penn State closed on a 33-12 run. 33-12!! THIRTY THREE TO TWELVE. How humiliating is that

Bye bye 1 seed. Of all the teams to lose to PSU didn't even seem like an option it's awful but regardless this team has a little time left to make a run. Lets hope this loss lights a fire under their ass.



If little bro lost this game the university may be on fire and not just couches. Thank goodness we just get on a blog and reasonably dissect the poor play. C

So, after stealthily trying to watch the game while at work and succeeding, only to watch us lose to Penn State, I almost lost my shit. At work. I literally had to go outside and calm the fuck down.

This probably isn't the place, but I think I'm gonna relax about my sports teams for a while. The wins don't feel as great and the losses feel worse. I'll still get my MGoBlog fix every day, but if I've got something else to do and a game is on, I'll check the score when I can. If I'm not doing anything and the game is on television, I'll watch.

Can't live and die with every shot, pass, pitch for eight damn teams (Michigan FB, Michigan BB, Michigan Hockey, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, Bears, USA Soccer) anymore.

I just can't.

Good luck guys.

I can't believe we were ranked in the top 5 and then proceeded to lose to App, er, Penn State.

Insert your favorite Michigan athletes and coaches were appropriate and this is what I wanted to yell like after the game

It was an absolute CHOKEJOB!...I'm talking!

At least we controlled our own destiny for a little bit.