Michigan basketball....the perfect team?
We all know this to be true. Others are feeling it too; enough to write about in The Ringer
November 30th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Post is about an article on our basketball team possibly being the best in the nation and all the comments are about Pep.
Didn’t you folks get the memo?
WE’RE A BASKETBALL SCHOOL NOW!!!
November 30th, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
Michigan football is a brand. Basketball is where the banners are hung
November 30th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
The basketball team is great, but has 3 weaknesses IMO:
Lack of depth, especially no real backup to Teske.
Lack of a lights-out 3-point shooter (though Livers is shooting a crazy high 57% on only three attempted 3's a game. I'd like to see him shoot more)
Free Throw shooting. 62%.
As long as Michigan keeps outshooting their opponents 46%-34%, they are going to be in good shape. Just for reference, last year Michigan shot about 47%, but their opponents shot 43%.
It was 45-45 in Big Ten play so that 34% is going to come up and the 46% will probably go down once Conference Play starts.
November 30th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
I'm not worried about depth because JB rarely goes more than 8 men rotation. If you're not in it, you're not playing
November 30th, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
I love the conclusion, that we're awesome, but man a lot of the analysis along the way to get there is real butt. "Underwhelming recruiting class", 4 star Iggy, being surprised that Simpson can defend, calling Matthews a guard, etc. I like the outcome and The Ringer generally but this feels like a real slapdash, poorly written piece.
November 30th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
“Slapdash, poorly written piece,” so, basically, typical Mark Titus.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
Article kinda lost me when they said we had "an underwhelming recruiting class." Literally our best since 2013?
December 1st, 2018 at 3:23 AM ^
Well he said that's what people were saying but it's not actually true because of Brazdeikis. But yes, it was a good class anyway. I guess he means because it wasn't full of McDonald's AA but who cares? Obviously Beilein can get by without those players.
November 30th, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
This entire article was taken down half a notch with the shot it took at the football team at the end.
But I couldn't agree more with the whole of the article, I love this team
November 30th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
What’s so remarkable to me about the defense is that it seems so effortless. They don’t appear to be exerting themselves. They’re just always in the right spot.
November 30th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
Funny the guy watches a few games and now he is Michigan basketball’s biggest fn fan. Why compare a basketball program to a football program. A lot of click bait going on over our program.
November 30th, 2018 at 10:15 PM ^
This is the best start that I can remember for Michigan basketball. We look like a Big Ten and National Title contender. If North Carolina, Villanova, and Providence are actually good teams then we have truly been impressive. Purdue will be another good test. If we can beat Purdue by double digits I’m definitely buying the hype on this team.
I thought we were going to take a step back this year with the loss of Moe, MAAR, and D-Rob, but we might be a better team. Iggy has filled the gap well, and others are contributing more as well. I’m cautiously optimistic about the season. A lot can change, and the Big Ten is very good this year.
December 1st, 2018 at 1:19 AM ^
Addressing your three top scorers.
I miss maar. He was an assassin. However he was too unselfish and didn’t demand the ball. Iggy plays more selfishly. Not a criticism but a compliment.
Duncan did not have a good season last year. By my view he didn’t score efficient points In the games we needed him. His defense was poor in the beginning of the year and then he managed to find success in gamesmanship. Sometimes quickness and positioning but he also relied on tugs and holds. This was exposed against nova. His fouls per minute was awful if memory serves
Teske vs. Moe. It’s really moe/teske vs teske/Davis except that JB doesn’t play the #2 at 5 very often. When comparing teske vs moe its easy to say moe is a dynamic scorer that was highly coveted in the nba and I would agree. I begged Beilein to play moe more from the rafters at Barclays vs ND as a frosh. I loved Moe and still love Moe. it pained me that donnal and Doyle played over him. That said, Teske is a net gain. He was unusually motivated against Unc so it’s not fair to only look at that game but he did block five shots, contend 5 more, and who knows how many others he curtailed just by being there. Moe was fundamental, he could shoot, he could ignite the crowd. He could NOT intimidate the opponent on defense. Teske does and can. And does and will. Even Davis is intimidating. Last year 4 guys worked their tushes off to stop opponents for 25 seconds only to have moe who was often afraid to foul, let a big score in the paint.
Now we have teske in place. He blocked 5 shots and affected and effected many others against Unc. Teske didn’t sniff foul trouble. Stats say he had 3 fouls. I remember one was a reach in (he aided 3 steals), and another was while blocking out for a rebound with position. Don’t remember third, also don’t remember teske fouling one shooter (opponent free throws) which is almost unheard of for a shot blocker.
we’re lucky to have iggy, lucky Mathews stayed. Lucky Z is the fastest player in the country. We’re just lucky. Hopefully we never run into a team that tops us from three by 15-20% and we never have to play Duke. Any team can lose but likely we won’t.