Whose bandwagon are you on/off ? (MBB)
We’re well on into the B1G portion of the season now, and as usual, we’re debating who should be getting more/fewer minutes, etc. Share with us your thoughts on who’s looking good, or who doesn’t have the right look out there. Who’s winning playing time, and who should sit? (in your view) Who’s staying, and who’s looming for a change of scenery?
I’ll give you an easy one. I expected Nunez would have found his shot by now. Wrong. Also, I thought that Austin was going to be given a firm handshake. I may be wrong about that. He seems to understand that his job is to rough people up in the middle, and he seems to be willing to do just that.
So, who’s on your hot list or not list?
January 29th, 2020 at 3:28 PM ^
Franz still infuriates me too often.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:31 PM ^
I’m ON the Franz bandwagon. I think his shot will take longer to return to him. I think that he’s still knocking off rust, and he’ll be really good, once we get to the final product. To me, he’s doing pretty well for not being %100.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:43 PM ^
Do you remember Mo as a freshman? Franz is well ahead of him. He's a true freshman, my goodness. Just pray he stays another year.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:51 PM ^
Where exactly would Franz go at this point?
I get the NBA drafts on potential, but Franz has not showed he’s ready for an even faster, more physical league than that which he’s seen in the Big Ten.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^
Exactly. I am actually secretly happy that he hasn't looked like a one and done. This is somewhat of a transition year anyway. I am excited to see what he can do in his second year alongside the incoming freshman. (PS. Don't give away my secret)
January 29th, 2020 at 4:52 PM ^
Yeah good God. Think of the potential team next year:
Livers
Wagner
DDJ
Johns
Castleton
Bajema
Todd
Dickinson
Jackson
Williams
Christopher (Hopefully)
That could end up being the most talented Michigan roster since the Fab 5.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:26 PM ^
Still not clear why Bajema didn’t play last night... Not a good sign.
January 29th, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
Nope. No doubt some of those guys transfer out.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:01 PM ^
Don't forget about the broken wrist too. Obviously a lot of his mistakes are mental, but shooting could partially be bc of the wrist.
When I played ball in college, I broke my ring finger on my shooting hand playing in our open gyms after summer conditioning. I didn't feel like I was shooting normally that whole year. I felt like I was tinkering and tweaking every time I practiced or played, bc I was actively thinking about it. I can't imagine breaking a wrist right before the season started.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:31 PM ^
Shooting is only a small part of it for me. He just seems to always follow up a great play with a bad one. Late in the game yesterday he managed to get stripped twice in about 5 seconds, got a tech, and took a shot that felt like it was from midcourt. He just needs to clean that up.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:43 PM ^
I think that's mostly a function of being raw and being forced into a primary scorer role before he should have to be. He presses at times, but it's hard to argue that he's wrong for doing it, bc nobody else aside from Simpson and very occasionally Brooks/DDJ can create for themselves or others.
The wrist and shooting issue comes into play because that's usually a crutch for a freshman. Shooters can shoot. That's the thing you fall back on. Like Stauskas as a freshman. He started out just hiding in corner and waiting for open threes. Those gave him the confidence to build into something more. Wagner had his primary weapon damaged before the season even started. Judging by the confidence he shoots with, and the film of him playing overseas, he's a much better three point shooter than the 29.3% we're seeing now. If that gets up to 35% we'll be head over heels about him, even with the silly freshman mistakes. A lot of his misses have just spun out or hit front iron. It's not like Dejulius who is taking leather off the ball when he misses. I think Wagner is right there, and the farther we get from his wrist issue the more his percentages will rise.
January 30th, 2020 at 5:18 AM ^
He just seems to always follow up a great play with a bad one.
In other words, he's inconsistent - and isn't that the short definition of "freshman?"
Or of "Shea Patterson."
January 29th, 2020 at 5:36 PM ^
For kid who should be a sr in High school here and tough injury to start the year , his 10 ppg is solid ! He had 18 8 and 3 steals last night and wasn’t a good game at all . Great up side
January 30th, 2020 at 12:19 AM ^
Dumb ass as usual
January 30th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
I hope you made sure to downvote with all of your accounts.
January 30th, 2020 at 3:21 PM ^
You are a pud without the balls to say this shit to anyone's face.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
I like this team and believe if we have all our pieces we will be formidable. Now it’s possible we lose too many games but I’m hoping we win just enough to see what this team at full strength can do on a neutral floor again.
Also props to Brooks for playing well in a spot we had to have it last night. I’m hoping he continues to blossom this weekend when I’m there live to take in our Wolverines against the Scarlet Knights.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:37 PM ^
On the Franz bandwagon...too much preseason hype...he looks good for a true freshman
Off the Teske bandwagon...what has happened to this guy?
January 29th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
Teske 2019: 9.5pts, 7rebs, 2blks, 0.7stls, 0.9ast, 52%FG, 59%FT, 29%3PT
Teske 2020: 13.7pts, 7.7rebs, 2blks, 1.2stls, 1.2ast, 53%FG, 69%FT, 26%3PT
Teske has improved almost across the board statistically. The regression on defense is teamwide. If an opposing teams center isn't going off its one of their guards. Every game an opposing player is setting a career high. IMO this falls more on Howard than the players. Michigan allowing Yaklich to walk and the defense regressing is something we all knew was likely when Yak left
January 29th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
A change I liked last night was in the second half on defense they had Teske stop collapsing in the paint against the pick and roll - and he was hedging to stop the drives to the basket. It really slowed down Nebraska. Given the lack if Nebraska size it worked perfectly.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:19 PM ^
I'm beginning to think it wasn't as much Yak as it was the athletes on the team. I'm a closet Longhorns fan, have been since childhood. Don't tell. Texas isn't a great defensive team. I questioned my eye test so I checked KenPom and NCAA stats (first two on Google search). Confirmed, not great. On KenPom, Michigan is even better this year in adjusted defense. Yaklich had great defenders. Chicken or the egg, maybe. However, Texas is about the same in defensive stats this year as last. Maybe it was the guys, guys.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:32 PM ^
Texas is 56th on D this year after being 26th last year. Think it's more likely that we're missing Charles Matthews than it is that we're missing Yak.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:17 PM ^
Thank you. It's exponentially easier to play defense with 4 athletic wings.
Without those 4 wings, we're basically mismatched across the board. Simpson is trying to guard the primary scorers that Matthews was locking down last year. Which also takes Zavier out of that pitbull on-ball-defender role that he thrived in, hounding opposing point guards (remember that poor Texas Tech A&M guard).
Nebraska was just shooting over the top of Eli Brooks last night. Same thing Illinois and Penn State did. It's not necessarily bc he's a bad defender, it's because those guys should be defended with wings built like Matthews, Poole, Iggy, or even Livers -- and Brooks should be guarding 1s and 2s. Instead he has 6'5" Aso Dosunmu shooting over him like a manager in pregame warmups.
Howard's specialty was defense (and individual big man coaching) for the Heat -- for one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. His defense would be just fine with the guys Yak and Beilein had last year.
January 29th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Johns pretty much is a wash to what Iggy brought defensively, but can’t match the offensive output.
Wagner isn’t on the same planet yet when it comes to Matthews on the defensive end
Plus we don’t have a guy like Livers coming off the bench like we did last year.
Brooks probably is a technically better defender than Poole, but he’s giving up 4-5 inches.
It all plays into this. Simpson can lock down nearly any PG in the country, but now he’s gotta guard the guy Matthews would have guarded. This allows for more spacing on defense, and iso’s Teske a lot more.
Teske and Simpson are being put in very difficult situations because they are the best defenders we have, but have to do things that even for them is uphill battle
January 29th, 2020 at 8:02 PM ^
Well if it were all Matthews, then how does one explain the great D performance when he was out for most of the year?
January 29th, 2020 at 9:30 PM ^
It was having interchangeable wings, with a lockdown PG, and a 7' big in the middle. Everything changes when you don't have those wings.
For example, people are screaming for the double in the post. We tried to double against Garza in game #2 against Iowa. Simpson and Brooks were just bothersome gnats when they collapsed down. That's a different story with Iggy or Matthews coming to help -- two guys who could muscle up or literally jump up and defend the rim from the help side.
Another example. Against Dosunmu we were giving up 3"-6" no matter who guarded him. And anyone you switch with is giving up 3"-6". Last year even if Matthews got screened, he's still able to switch with Poole who has a 6'7" wingspan.
Our defense lost height, wingspan, and athleticism that can't be replaced by Wagner, Brooks, Johns Jr, and DDJ.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:43 PM ^
When I was in HS we had a dude that won 3 state championships in wrestling and 3rd his freshman year. Despite winning every match his junior and senior year and all but 2 his sophomore year, he always talked about peaking at the right time which was the district, regional and state tournaments.
I'm hoping Howard has everyone tee'd up to peak in March/April.
January 29th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
I am off the simpson bandwagon. Not sure what has happened to him from a defensive standpoint. His bulldog mentality is more of a french poodle mentality. It just seems like he has checked out.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:21 PM ^
Because instead of just being focused on hounding the other team's primary ball handler, he's tasked with trying to take away the other team's primary weapon. He's being asked to do things he shouldn't have to do, on both sides of the ball. He came here to be a pass first point guard who pressures the opposing point guard. Instead he's being forced to be the team's leading scorer while trying to slow down 6'5" wings who nobody else on the team can slow down or even bother.
January 30th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
Opposing teams primary ball handlers at times have been driving to the hoop at will against Simpson when last year it seemed he was a better on ball defender. Taller shooters getting shots over Simpson while he is playing tight D is not his fault. But when teams call isolations against Simpson to beat him 1 on 1 it is an issue.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:29 PM ^
No way on earth he has checked out.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:36 PM ^
The guy is on the mid season Wooden Award list, weird bandwagon to jump away from
January 29th, 2020 at 5:36 PM ^
The guy is on the mid season Wooden Award list, weird bandwagon to jump away from
January 29th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
ON:
Brooks. This guy clearly put a lot of work into his game this offseason. Without Brooks dramatic improvement this team would be bottom of the Big Ten. Last season Brooks didn't have a single 10pt game. This season he already has TEN 10pt games and a few 20pt games
Franz. Our expectations were probably too high. Franz looks good for a true freshman and is oozing of potential. Once he gets better handles his driving ability will be lethal. He could become the most complete offensive player Michigan has had in decades
Yaklich. This teams defense went from one of the best with him to one of the worst without him. Yes we lost Matthews, Poole,and Iggy but Matthews was the only above average defender in that group so the defense shouldn't have fallen off a cliff this bad.
NEUTRAL:
Simpson. This will probably be met with downvotes I love Simpson but this program needs a scoring PG. You need a PG you can trust late in games to hit a shot or make crucial FTs. Simpson cant do this. His steals are down, His fouls are up, his rebounding is down, his FT% is down. He has improved his 3pt shooting % a bit but its still bad.
OFF:
Castleton. I really thought this guy would make the biggest jump of that 2018 class. Instead he hasn't improved at all.
Nunez. This guy is NOT Division 1 quality. He is a "Shooter" who cant shoot. He throws the worst bricks Ive seen. They aren't even close to going in. And he doesn't offer anything else. Poor on defense and doesn't even attempt to get rebounds.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:53 PM ^
I'm with you on nearly everything here. I had a laugh about your comment in regards to being a bottom half league team without the development of Brooks, being that we are absolutely a bottom half Big Ten team at the moment....
January 29th, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^
I think he meant bottom as in 14th, not bottom half.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:19 PM ^
I really disagree with the Yak takes. I think the players are more important in this year/year decline, and on defense in this era of b-ball I do think the old adage of only being as good as your weakest link is true. We’re missing Livers (mostly) and Matthews from last year and really haven’t replaced them with plus defenders, let alone a +++ defender like Matthews. Now, with livers out, we can survive on D only if we play lineups that can’t score.
As another piece of evidence, Texas is pretty average at D this year (by the eye worse than last year) and gets lit up every time they play a team with a pulse.
I’m also confused why it’s on Howard that Yak walked (note: the person I'm replying to did not say this, a poster above did). Either A) he didn’t get the head job and was leaving no matter what, or B) Warde/AD wasn’t willing to pay him. In what world could Howard have done anything to keep him?
January 29th, 2020 at 6:36 PM ^
Last years defense was anchored by Matthews, Teske, and Simpson. I understand Matthews was very important, but we retained 2/3 so we shouldn't be THIS bad. The last time I seen defensive stats for the Big Ten Michigan was dead last in opponents points per 100 possessions. I think the reason for the defense going from Elite to Horrible is at least 50% because of Yaklich leaving
Im going to put on my tinfoil hat for a second. Yaklich has no incentives to perform at a high level at Texas like he had at Michigan. At Michigan he needed to put an elite defense on the court to show off his talents as a coach. At Texas it will actually benefit him if Texas fails because Shaka will be fired and Yaklich will be one of the top candidates to replace him. I don't think it is a coincidence that Yaklich left Michigan for a program where their head coach was on the hot seat. That was a strategic move by Yak
One more thing, If you do watch Yaklich at Texas he isn't as involved as he was at Michigan. At Michigan he was standing up and yelling at players almost as much as Beilein. At Texas he mostly stays seated.
January 29th, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
You’re implying that Yak is intentionally tanking at Texas as a defensive guru so that he gets a shot at the head coaching job next year? No way.
had he come in and Texas went from good to elite, he’d be looking at all kinds of head coaching opportunities across the country
January 29th, 2020 at 11:51 PM ^
Yeah that is a interesting take to say the least.
Very seldom is signing up with a lame duck coach & subsequently producing even worse results than prior to arriving a “strategic” move or good for future opportunities.
Yak was a good coach for us & had an undeniably positive impact on on defense. He also, as many have pointed out had some truly special defenders who fit in certain spots that we simply don’t have this year & neither does Texas judging by the regression.
January 29th, 2020 at 8:05 PM ^
Nunez looks like he's shooting like he and Baird did last season at the end of games where they'd chuck it up to get on score sheet. It's as if he is still doing this, in haste. Someone needs to tell him to take his time..becuase he really does have a sweet stroke when he isn't hasty with it.
January 29th, 2020 at 9:12 PM ^
Just Not A Shooter?
January 29th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
I am off the Nunez bandwagon and have burned the wagon and killed the horses. I am on the Free Cole Bajema bandwagon until he proves to be as bad or worse than Nunez.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:05 PM ^
Nunez: 144 minutes, 15/48, 41pts, 1reb
Bajema: 30 minutes, 7/9FG, 18pts, 3rebs
Honestly I have no clue why Nunez is still getting playing time over Bajema. 1 rebound in 144 minutes is beyond pitiful. It cant be a defensive thing that gives Nunez the playing time over Bajema because Nunez is also bad on defense
January 29th, 2020 at 5:31 PM ^
There have been rumors on the pay sites that Bajema has looked comically bad in practice. Brian casually referenced it in a tweet last night I believe. I'm not saying Nunez is better. I think they both might be awful, especially if Baird is getting clock.
Another note, Bajema's stats came in garbage time against Houston-Baptist, UMass-Lowell, and Presbyterian (and one hoop at the end of the Gonzaga blowout). Baird is a 50% shooter on the year in the same situations.
January 29th, 2020 at 5:45 PM ^
I know the Baird takes are hot right now, but honestly last night he gave us exactly what we needed. A body on D, a passer on O that didn’t miss shots and didn’t turn the ball over. I’m not sure Nunez or Bejema could have provided that.
January 29th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Its true Bajemas stats have come in garbage time because he isn't used at any other time. But Nunez also plays in garbage time. Bajema has looked good shooting the ball when he gets a chance.
Bajema might look comically bad in practice but Nunez looks comically bad in games
January 29th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
So if Bajema has only played in those four games there is your answer. I believe the redshirt rule is playing in four. If this is correct we, evidently, will not see him the rest of the year.
January 29th, 2020 at 4:06 PM ^
On the Brandon Johns bandwagon. Remember DJ Wilson in his second year? He couldn’t crack the rotation above guys like Donnal and Doyle. Then come year 3 he was a 1st round pick. I’m not saying Johns will be that but he’s similar in the way that he’s a little awkward (DJ was early on his career) he is very athletic, and if he can get it together he could be a great option at the 4
January 29th, 2020 at 5:32 PM ^
He either needs to add some quickness to be a legit wing defender, or add some strength and become a post option. He's stuck as a tweener now.