Michigan survives NW Snowflakes Thread
Not surprised the game was close, we always struggle with NW, especially at NW. That being said, thoughts:
- Bench is a massive issue. Brooks came in and did some positive things at the end but Livers was a no show and Davis was a massive negative. Need the bench to improve or some freshmen to develop.
- Collins was pretty aggressive with his decisions (not benching any of his players in foul trouble) and it generally worked for him, but the decision to not guard Z at the 3 point line was his best. Z was 0-5 from 3 in the second half and missed 3 straight during the 15-2 NW run. If he can't make even 30% of his 3's, that might be a strategy we see a lot more often and we might struggle against it.
- Goes back to point one, but yikes to Davis. He does not look like a B1G quality player. Either he or Johns needs to develop ASAP because we can't go all season 7 deep with Livers a backup wing and at the 5.
- That being said, a road win against a decent team at a place we struggle is a positive. Also nice to see us pick up a close win, especially on the road, after blowing everyone else out.
- I definitely thought the last 3 was going in.
Luckily the schedule lightens up, only 4 games before January and it's all body bag games and a mediocre South Carolina team. That's a lot of time to fix the issues we saw today, work towards developing a bench, and get a miracle worker to work with Z maybe?
December 4th, 2018 at 11:36 PM ^
I highly doubt Johns is at a level to contribute meaningful minutes this year. The odds are on the side of Livers/Brooks production and Teske staying on the court.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:50 AM ^
poole is the last guy to criticise. he and ziggy carried the team tonite on O.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:18 PM ^
OP took all the snowflakes.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:18 PM ^
OP overreacting on point#1. Livers will be just fine, just off tonight. Davis isn't as bad as described, either, just not going to be a high-usage player but one who'll be ok when given spot duty to give Big Sleep a little rest.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^
Eh, maybe I worded it poorly but I thought the bench was an issue when we thought we'd go 8 deep with Davis. If we're only going 7 deep and we're only gonna get 3 bench points all game, that's a pretty big issue IMO. There are a lot of other teams with a lot bigger issues, but for how good we want to be that's a problem.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:12 AM ^
Like most teams, this team has three main guys, and it's going to struggle if one or more of those guys is struggling. It's not common for college teams in this day to have a Donte Divincenzo-type player to bring off the bench on a nightly basis. If Livers and Brooks were capable of being consistent scorers, they probably aren't coming off the bench in the first place. They're going to have nights whether they collectively get you 15-20, but that was never going to be a consistent thing. So I agree it's a problem, but it's a problem in that most teams can't survive nights when one of their key options only gives them 3 points the way Matthews did tonight.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:21 AM ^
Bad take on Livers and Brooks...very bad take.
This Michigan roster is fine. Playing 7 or 8 is the ideal depth of a team...if you're needing to play 9 you're probably in trouble.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:57 AM ^
Davis is definitely as bad as described, maybe worse.
No business being in the BIG. Play Johns now.
Matthews play scared me. Worst game ever at Michigan.
Livers will be fine, yes.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:19 PM ^
Michigan is currently 4th on KenPom, although that will likely drop to 6th after these results are posted.
I’m very happy for Michigan to get out of the opening Big Ten weekend 2-0.
Michigan was never going to win every game by 17 all year; they fought through some adversity and came up big.
Northwestern scored 15 second-half points in three minutes, with the assistance of some terrible refereeing. They scored 15 second-half points in the other 17 minutes total. This team’s defense is fantastic.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^
Davis looks like Teske did in his first time two years ago. Works hard on defense, fouls a ton, basically lost on offense. Bigs take a while. He's had maybe 40 or 50 minutes of meaningful game action total. Not giving up on him. Short term though, we need a solution if Teske gets fouls because of the Big Ten road whistle. Particularly worrisome at Breslin, where Matthews, Simpson, and Teske will have two each by the under 8.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:24 PM ^
Agreed. I'm not going to say he'll never develop, he was even more raw than most bigs coming out of high school. But we need a short term solution.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:31 PM ^
I think the analogy to Teske is pretty apt. IMO Davis is a bit less stiff than Teske was early in his career, but the clumsy fouls look very similar.
Not saying Davis will ever get as good as Teske, but then again, who would have guessed Teske would get this good, this soon? Switch. Turned. On.
Bigs take time. I believe he'll get there, at least to the level of being a contributor. Hopefully he and Johns will both get big minutes in the next few games. They need the run.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:53 AM ^
except davis and teske came in the same class. davis was terrible tonite. period.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
Bigs may take a while, but he and Teske came in at the same time. I'm not saying he should be as good as Teske, because he (I think) redshirted, and was seen as more of a project, but his play tonight was concerning. We are not going to win the B1G if there are only 8 people on the roster that can play, especially if our backup center is going to be a foul machine that cripples our offense.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
Luckily that’s the last game of the regular season so the team can continue to improve.
If we can get a reliable 8 man rotation and maybe a 9th contributor that should be enough. Beilein likes to keep a tight rotation.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:37 PM ^
Teske and Davis came in at the same time though.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:21 AM ^
And one of them redshirted and the other didn't
December 4th, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^
Great win when seemingly everything was going against them. Northwestern was draining NBA type shots. Those refs were a complete joke though. It took Iggy getting clotheslined to finally shoot free throws in the second half.
December 5th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
Typical road zebras in the B1G--it's been a travesty forever.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:21 PM ^
Charles Matthews is a senior. He can't be having games like this.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^
I agree. And you can also substitute “senior” with “starter” and you’d be just as correct. Or “senior” with “Potential NBA Player”.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:29 PM ^
G league at best. Who wants a ball handler that can't handle the ball and can't shoot free throws? The league is full of athletic players.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:31 PM ^
The pre-dribble travels are soooo 2017. He had another tonight at the worst time. No excuse for that. Think first... then move.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:56 AM ^
that was a make up call after a terrible offensive foul on NW, but i get your point.
December 5th, 2018 at 6:04 AM ^
i agree. matthews JUST CAN’T have a game like this, not when he’s so important to the success of the team. trey burke never played like this when he was national of the year.
oh, wait, yes he did, IN THE FINAL FOUR, when he scored 7 on 1 of 8 shooting.
the point being, of course he “can have a game like this.” know why? because it happens to literally everybody. freaking relax.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^
I understand benching Z for a bit after those bricks late, but I thought Beilein maybe kept him down a couple minutes too long.
Thought for sure that bank 3 ball was gonna drop.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:57 AM ^
disagree. message sent.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
Was it a message, or was it keeping another scoring threat on the floor instead of Mike Griffin II.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^
Zone definitely works against our offense. Especially when the 3s aren’t falling.
average or worse teams are gonna throw zone at us ... gotta figure it out or we will drop a couple frustrating winnable games
December 4th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
December 4th, 2018 at 11:50 PM ^
which game were you watching? id they played any zone it was minimal
December 4th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
Yeah, I was trying to think back to see If they were in zone during the bad three minutes. I think it was man with a lot of doubling (and even tripling Iggy down low).
December 4th, 2018 at 11:23 PM ^
It’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten, especially against a team that has recently had Michigan’s number at their place. A 2 point win counts the same as a 17 win. 9-0!!
December 4th, 2018 at 11:23 PM ^
December 4th, 2018 at 11:30 PM ^
To be fair, didn't NW have like a 25 point lead against MSU last year and then like didn't score for the last 12 minutes or something ungodly and then lost?
December 5th, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
All the more reason to hate them
December 5th, 2018 at 2:59 AM ^
you can go back longer than 3 years, especially at NW>
December 4th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^
The season is still young. We got spoiled by the team playing like they are tournament-ready so early.
Sure our guys didn't play like the machine they've been all year; it happens. They'll improve - we've got Coach Beilein at the helm.
Road wins in the B1G are tough, and this is always an especially difficult game for us.
There's gonna be some clunkers, and we're not gonna win every game; I'm super happy we pulled this one out.
Incredible start to the season - Go Blue!
December 4th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^
Mathews was pretty brutal and went for the pump fake at end to give a “cleaner” look from 28’.
Teske & Simpson make the D formidable and to the other points about depth, it might be a good idea to get Johns Jr some good minutes.
Iggy is the other teams run stopper.
Good win, I don’t doubt J.B. anymore and trusted them to stop at the end.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
I was worried the shooter was going to lean in on Chuck when he left his feet and pick up an easy three foul shots at the end of the game
December 4th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
I don’t see giving Z wide open 3s a liability, as long as he doesn’t take them.
At one point they were playing so far off him he should have motored up, and taken it to the hoop, or dished it.
Beilein will find a way to counter it.
December 4th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
December 4th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
Non-actual basketball takes:
- Chris Collins is a fucking dweeb who deserves to lose every single game he coaches like this. I want there to be a stat at the end of the season that NW went 0-20 in conference with all of the losses coming by two points or less. Gotta get on your hands and knees and pound the floor a little harder, Pat Fitzgerald/Tom Allen
- NW students have never seen a basketball game in their life. "Airball" chants when Z had his shot blocked and, my personal favorite, chanting "Teske" when AUSTIN DAVIS GOT A FOUL AND TESKE WAS ON THE BENCH. I think that's like reverse racism? Can't even keep our tall white guys straight.
- BTN consistently has the worst, most ill-informed announcers. They have a list of like ten facts and never deviate from it because they know they'll fall flat on their face. PBP guy said this was our first game at NW since Pardon hit the buzzer beater. Completely missed last year at NW, huh? Good, let's not think about that game.
- Also I want to know what the shot percentage is against Michigan in end of game situations like that. Gotta be close to 50%, can think of a ton off the top of my head: Brust, Gasser, Turner, some Kentucky player whose name I don't even remember cause they're all the same, Pardon a couple years ago. About time a shot like that finally doesn't fall for the other team (yes, I know we've hit a few of our own, but I like being mad on the internet)
December 4th, 2018 at 11:32 PM ^
It was one of the Harrison twins. Thanks for bringing that up. :p
I didn't get the Teske chants in the first place. Out of all of the people on the roster to target, why him?
December 4th, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^
Cuz he looks like them the most?
December 4th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^
December 4th, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
Edited for grammar :P
December 5th, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
The BTN announcers are so bad. After Simpson got taken out at the end of the game and put back in, they were like "I wonder why he got benched, maybe because of his shooting woes?" Yes, you freaking idiots. Taking 4 3-pointers in a row when you're a bad shooter and in a close game will get you benched
December 5th, 2018 at 3:03 AM ^
last year was not in evanston. it was at the horizon, near o'hare airport. maybe the pbp guy meant that.
December 5th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
I don't mind Crispin that much. He kind of sounds like Dakich but just not as annoying and doesn't talk as much. But yeah, Revsine...why is he doing PBP? He's their damn in studio host.