Where it began for 2017-18 M basketball
If you're finding this week a bit slow, have a retrospective of the basketball season via Inside Michigan Basketball.
Here's Episode 1, right after the IU and UNC games in December:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmwt-69csn0
I like the moment at about 3:30, where you can catch a glimpse of Wagner and Matthews chuckling a bit during Yak's speech, probably thinking "Who is this guy?" They know now!
The requisite maturity needed in the NBA is not very high. See Demarcus Cousins
Give the guy a break, he's just super affectionate.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
he WILL get back on D!
I think he's plenty mature enough for the NBA. I do wonder, though, if his defense and post game are ready. He tends to go to the hoop pretty softly, laying in everything, instead of forcing in the slam. I don't watch the NBA, so I don't know if this would afeect his post game, or not, as a pro. But it seems that pro's might need to be a little more forceful at the rim, seeing that everyone in that league has some pretty good talent. Outside, though, he can take a lot of tall people away from the post with his shooting and ball handling ability - and that's where he'll make his money.
Maybe it’s my homerism but I never blamed Ewing.
The problem of not dunking it is more closely tied to his problem of not having very good leaping ability. Mo is someone that I don't think would shy away from slamming it in someone's face, he just doesn't have that capability. So yes, that will be a hinderence to him in the NBA.
You know, I look around the NBA and think, "Moe would likely be in the upper tier of mature", so I am curious to know how you define the word or what you believe the bar to be for "mature" in the NBA, because there are a lot of rich man-children in that league.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Apparently being a college kid who likes to joke around is a bad thing?
March 29th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
March 29th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
If Draymond Green's dong-stomping ass is mature enough for the NBA, I think Wagner will be too.
If Kyrie Irving and his belief of the Earth being flat is mature enough for the league, I think Wagner is more than mature enough.
I think Charles thinks Coach Yak is funny...
March 29th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
OK, but how funny does Charles Matthews find Yaklich on a scale of 0-to-Nick Ward trying to act tough?
March 29th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
It began in the weight room.
And in the community.
Gotchu fam.
March 29th, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
every time someone posts it. That part at 4:51 where they say in the community is pretty cool... :)
It all comes back to that road win at MSU.
Before then, the team was playing relatively OK basketball, a couple of nice wins, some really head-scratching performances (LSU, didn't even show up against UNC, collapsing against OSU on the road).
That win showed they were truly capable of another level, when I wasn't sure at that point if they had it in them.
After the MSU win, Michigan went from a bubble team to one that everyone felt pretty confident would make it into the tourney; and then over the next two months we just climbed up the seeding ladder.
March 29th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
The collapse in Chapel Hill just started a little earlier than it did in Columbus. And from an even game, rather than with a big lead.
While the MSU win was big, I think it was the win at Texas that turned things around. They had another good start on the road, but Texas made a run early in the second half. It was looking all too familiar, but they answered with a run of their own and hung tough. I think that set the tone for the rest of the season and the win at MSU took it up a notch.
March 29th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
March 29th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
I wouldn't dismiss its importance, but winning on the road is hard and separates good teams from contenders. After the UCLA game, I was pretty sure we had a good team.
March 29th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Yeah, both were key. The team was at a crossroads at that point, 6-3 with two tough games coming up. That seems so long ago now, crazy.
March 29th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
That the Texas one was a nice one.
But we'll have to disagree about UNC. They played a decent first half to stay within shouting distance. But it was over 4-5 minutes in the 2nd half.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
And he said at the press conference before the Sweet 16 that this team's success really goes all the way back to losing at Northwestern on that hail mary play inside Welsh-Ryan. That they felt so low, and worried that they may not make the tournament that the win over Nebraska in Lincoln pre-plane crash really galvanized them. Toss in the BTT win in D.C. and they have been on the upswing ever since. The team is 38-8 since March 8, 2017. That is an astonishing run of success and a credit to Beilein, Washington, Haynes, Yaklich and the players. Let's make it a nice round 40-8 with a national championship banner.