Tepid right now. What that national commentator is doing is getting some vibes about what "could" happen by season's end. And this could be an AWFUL season: the range of outcomes includes getting repeatedly blown out, game after game, in the Big Ten. It COULD be very embarrassing. And that kind of messy result becomes reality where you have alot of underclasssmen, and too many "sixth men" not only starting, but attempting to lead the way. (Douglass and Novak - Don't get me wrong, I love those two, but they are, by rights, complimentary, not trail-breaking guys.)
If we win 5 to 7 games this year, Beilein could be sitting on some pretty warm coals. The other disturbing factor, I think, is that he hasn't shown any facility for getting the "home-state" guys away from MSU (and even Central.) Maybe it's dwelling too much on the past, but no college team in Michigan has roundly succeeded without having a predominance of the best players out of Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw. Beilein, as far as I can tell, not only has had little success recruiting in Michigan -- it's not at all clear he is focussed on doing the kinds fo things you need to do to build that base. That's not good.
Also, in response to the post by Go Blue in Tx, it's not true that everyone but the Freep said "that's how every school does it." UM's attention to compliance was mediocre, at best; more to the point, it's structure for insuring compliance was wretched, and capable of being easily subverted (which it was, by RR and his Home Boys, Labadie and Draper, who took a wrecking ball to the monitoring process) . Not that UM's Compliance people aren't good (in fact, they had almost nothing to do with bringing about the violations, and were very conscientious and thorough.) There just weren't enough Compliance people, the reporting was skewed, and the "winks" from Martin and RR killed what system there was. And, in fact, when Compliance Head Van Horn gave the problems to Martin, he not only didn't back her up, he BURIED every problem he could, while violations were ongoing.
In very sharp contrast, if you take a close look at Texas AD Deloss Dodd's Compliance structure and implementation, it has been superb in every way, and they don't have any practice time funnybusiness because it CAN'T happen in that structure. UM has as much money, should have an equally good compliance structure: Bill Martin ran an outlaw program, and actively engaged in coverup after Jan 2009, to try to keep the violations from BTC and NCAA -- when had an affirmative duty to REPORT .
Danielson's right, as long as LSU's official "institutional" calendar for class vs. no-class vacation confirms that this week was a vacation week for students. (I haven't checked that) See NCAA Bylaw 17.1.5.6
17.1.5.3.6 Vacation Periods and Between Terms.
Daily and weekly hour limitations do not apply to countable athletically related activities occurring during an institution’s term-time official vacation period, as listed in the institution's official calendar, and during the academic year between terms when classes are not in session. If such vacation periods occur during any part of a week in which classes are in session, the institution is subject to the daily and weekly hour limitations during the portion of the week when classes are in session and must provide the student-athletes with a day off (see Bylaw 17.1.5.4), which may be a vacation day.
This team will be long on heart, short on soul. Douglass and Novak are the heart, great role players. Manny Harris and DeShawn were the soul of the team: size, strength, savvy and "man-up" ability in any Big Ten game. Both had weaknesses, but both were legitimate forces in the Big Ten. Darius Morris showed a few flashes of dominance, but remains a question mark.
Belein is a strong character, very solid coach, with a strong system. Hardaway may be a go-to guy, but too many freshmen (particularly ones with names which roll off our tongues easily) have that label and end up spinning out of control at least until they figure out the college game. So any reasonable estimate is that Hardaway contributes on a somewhat small scale this first year.
What's it add up to?: This is going to be a very rough year. Michigan will win a few big surprises. We will get POUNDED by a number of teams, due to lack of size, heft and experience. In the end, we will be very lucky to make the NIT.
--0n a slightly related note, is anyone else annoyed by Beilein's habit of publicly berating players, on the sidelines, when he pulls them out? I just think it's so counterproductive, and he does it so frequently. It's counterproductive since (as I think Connie Mack said) you're not going to teach during competition. . In fact, Mack said he always waited 24 hours to say anything. Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I think I've noticed it negatively affects his credibility and effectiveness with his players. You watch: sometimes he does it so long that he'll miss the entire next play.
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Tepid right now. What that national commentator is doing is getting some vibes about what "could" happen by season's end. And this could be an AWFUL season: the range of outcomes includes getting repeatedly blown out, game after game, in the Big Ten. It COULD be very embarrassing. And that kind of messy result becomes reality where you have alot of underclasssmen, and too many "sixth men" not only starting, but attempting to lead the way. (Douglass and Novak - Don't get me wrong, I love those two, but they are, by rights, complimentary, not trail-breaking guys.)
If we win 5 to 7 games this year, Beilein could be sitting on some pretty warm coals. The other disturbing factor, I think, is that he hasn't shown any facility for getting the "home-state" guys away from MSU (and even Central.) Maybe it's dwelling too much on the past, but no college team in Michigan has roundly succeeded without having a predominance of the best players out of Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw. Beilein, as far as I can tell, not only has had little success recruiting in Michigan -- it's not at all clear he is focussed on doing the kinds fo things you need to do to build that base. That's not good.
Also, in response to the post by Go Blue in Tx, it's not true that everyone but the Freep said "that's how every school does it." UM's attention to compliance was mediocre, at best; more to the point, it's structure for insuring compliance was wretched, and capable of being easily subverted (which it was, by RR and his Home Boys, Labadie and Draper, who took a wrecking ball to the monitoring process) . Not that UM's Compliance people aren't good (in fact, they had almost nothing to do with bringing about the violations, and were very conscientious and thorough.) There just weren't enough Compliance people, the reporting was skewed, and the "winks" from Martin and RR killed what system there was. And, in fact, when Compliance Head Van Horn gave the problems to Martin, he not only didn't back her up, he BURIED every problem he could, while violations were ongoing.
In very sharp contrast, if you take a close look at Texas AD Deloss Dodd's Compliance structure and implementation, it has been superb in every way, and they don't have any practice time funnybusiness because it CAN'T happen in that structure. UM has as much money, should have an equally good compliance structure: Bill Martin ran an outlaw program, and actively engaged in coverup after Jan 2009, to try to keep the violations from BTC and NCAA -- when had an affirmative duty to REPORT .
Danielson's right, as long as LSU's official "institutional" calendar for class vs. no-class vacation confirms that this week was a vacation week for students. (I haven't checked that) See NCAA Bylaw 17.1.5.6
17.1.5.3.6 Vacation Periods and Between Terms.
Daily and weekly hour limitations do not apply to countable athletically related activities occurring during an institution’s term-time official vacation period, as listed in the institution's official calendar, and during the academic year between terms when classes are not in session. If such vacation periods occur during any part of a week in which classes are in session, the institution is subject to the daily and weekly hour limitations during the portion of the week when classes are in session and must provide the student-athletes with a day off (see Bylaw 17.1.5.4), which may be a vacation day.
This is unbelievable -- I have been trying to figure this out for 18 months!
This team will be long on heart, short on soul. Douglass and Novak are the heart, great role players. Manny Harris and DeShawn were the soul of the team: size, strength, savvy and "man-up" ability in any Big Ten game. Both had weaknesses, but both were legitimate forces in the Big Ten. Darius Morris showed a few flashes of dominance, but remains a question mark.
Belein is a strong character, very solid coach, with a strong system. Hardaway may be a go-to guy, but too many freshmen (particularly ones with names which roll off our tongues easily) have that label and end up spinning out of control at least until they figure out the college game. So any reasonable estimate is that Hardaway contributes on a somewhat small scale this first year.
What's it add up to?: This is going to be a very rough year. Michigan will win a few big surprises. We will get POUNDED by a number of teams, due to lack of size, heft and experience. In the end, we will be very lucky to make the NIT.
--0n a slightly related note, is anyone else annoyed by Beilein's habit of publicly berating players, on the sidelines, when he pulls them out? I just think it's so counterproductive, and he does it so frequently. It's counterproductive since (as I think Connie Mack said) you're not going to teach during competition. . In fact, Mack said he always waited 24 hours to say anything. Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I think I've noticed it negatively affects his credibility and effectiveness with his players. You watch: sometimes he does it so long that he'll miss the entire next play.