Beilein was magnificent!
The contrast could not be more startling.
Last night, Indiana looked like it had never even heard of a 2-3 zone before, and Syracuse simply demolished them. Just like that, the B1G's best team was gone.
Tonight, a team that was capable of abusing all of Michigan's weaknesses played solid basketball and got production from all of its key players. Withey was a force underneath the basket, and every time McGary was matched up against him one-on-one Withey got the better of him.
Yet somehow McGary produced 25 points, Burke had 10 assists, and Michigan won a basketball game they had no business even keeping close, against a team that was as bad of a matchup as Michigan could imagine.
And Beilein must receive the credit. Unlike Tom Crean, he did not shrink from the moment; he put Michigan in a position to succeed. In a game where Michigan had to score effectively and efficiently against a strong defense, Beilein devised a strategy that put them in the right place. McGary scored 25 points--but never when he was posting up Withey. Beilein moved Withey all over the court on screens and switches, and used movement to get McGary in position to score.
Somehow, Michigan's offense found all the right spots to keep scoring, even when Burke started cold. Somehow, Michigan was in all the right places to score. Somehow, Beilein was able to keep Michigan humming.
Beilein was masterful.
Both deserve credit. Beilein has coached them up, and they are executing.
Contrast with MSU at the end of last night's game. They were down 10 points with 2 to 3 minutes to go too, and made the same boneheaded decision twice. They decided to go for a stop instead of a foul twice when they got the lead down to about 7, and let the shot clock get to about 5 to 7 seconds both times before making a boneheaded foul. Duke sank all four FTs and put the game away. Izzo obviously did not tell them to foul in those situations...they just didn't execute.
Our guys listened to coach and made some great plays. They forced some great stops down the stretch. Great team effort. Last 2:30 was all heart.
With that said, anyone who does not give Beilein the credit he deserves apparently slept through the Ellerbe and Amaker era. Beilein has put our program back on the map. A B1G championship last year, 4 out of the last 6 against Izzo, the Elite 8 for the first time in 20 years, and wins over top programs like KU. Plus, his recruiting is still going strong. I hope we get at least another 10 years out of Coach B.
Go Blue! I'm having a sub for breakfast.
hit that shot we would be killing coach B. This team does not play defense. The amount of uncontested layups was absolutely absurd. He used the 1-3-1 for about two minutes but he needed to play it more and force Kansas to beat them from the outside. It worked out but it was still frustrating. Still have nightmares over the Indiana game where he allowed Zeller to have his way down the strectch.
March 30th, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^
We simply can't run the 1-3-1 this year. It seems that every time that we break it out, the other team gets a wide open look from 3. There's a reason that we only see it for one play each game. Hopefully, they'll practice it more in the off season and we'll be able to deploy it more effectively next year.
March 30th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
You might be killing him, but I think most reasonable fans would understand that Kansas was a very tough matchup for us.
Also, while Beilein might have been fortunate that Burke hit that 3, he was unfortunate earlier that his team missed so many FTs and open 3's. We normally shoot 71% from the FT line and 39% from 3. If we had shot those percentages, it would not have needed to come down to a miracle.
March 30th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
March 30th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
Mitch announced a vague gameplan with no specifics which everyone does. Plan B was Plan A and it worked well until Kansas made a run and Trey went unconscious.
March 30th, 2013 at 12:38 PM ^
were to get him in the air, and get him in foul trouble. Not a whole gameplan, just what McGary was going to try with Withey. After those two attempts, I did not see any more fakes or flops.
I wonder how often, when we see something like the nutcracker play or Zeller's fake nutcracker play, we are seeing the coach's hints being carried out clumsily, or we are seeing players' own ideas. Not one bit to compare John Beilein's tactics to Tom Crean's, for headfakes and taking charges are nothing like staging a flagrant. Speaking of which, in IU's loss, I thought Zeller upended that Syracuse guy on purpose, and risked a concussion. He was pretty frustrated by then.
March 30th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
March 30th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^
Just waking up from last night's, uh, celebration. My head is pounding.
What a fantastic time for Beilein to come through.