Basketball Injuries
Beilein says it isn't an excuse, but it is what it is... a young team fighting both injuries and a massive learning curve is going to struggle.
"We have a couple of injuries that have been significant in these games that have (made it) hard for our guys to practice and do things, but it's not an excuse," Beilein said.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/12/john_beilein_says_mic…
December 11th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^
I have a feeling we'd be merciless mocking Izzo if he said the same thing.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
Probably because Izzo complains about injuries after every single loss. This is the first time I've ever heard Beilein talk about it.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
He didn't say this in a post-game presser, and he didn't say anything as dumb as "weird guys." Also, I don't recall Izzo saying that it wasn't an excuse.
December 11th, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
his defense, I did find nearly all of those guys to in fact actually be weird.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
is making a late career out of it. If Beilein goes that route, let us know.
December 11th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
December 11th, 2014 at 10:03 AM ^
Well I guess I won't be making fun of Tommy I anymore.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
I think injuries are absolutely an excuse. If your best players are injured and not playing, then you're going to lose more games.
December 11th, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^
more like fake JH imposter....
December 11th, 2014 at 10:32 AM ^
How does Harbaugh play in to this? Do you think he would prevent injuries?
December 11th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
Sup, Fake WD.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
Classic!
December 11th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Get out of here Dave Brandon and stop trolling WD. It's not his fault you got fired.
Edit: Fake Wolverine Devotee comment was deleted and now mine makes no sense.
December 11th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
December 11th, 2014 at 2:55 PM ^
I had no idea what any of you were saying.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
that we're really, really not deep. If Walton is slowed, if Zak is unconfident (and maybe going to remain somewhat one-dimensional), if Caris is less able to simply take over games and be the hero than we might dream. . . there's not a lot left there, much as we love Spike's pluck and occasional sparkplug power.
December 11th, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
take-over-game-ness will resume on course. A 2-3 is somewhat of a nightmare for him if he is the guy being keyed on. He was effective against Cuse in the Final Four because he was being ignored, but against a streched 2-3 where he is being shaddowed it is no good. They sag on him if he tries to flash and extend on him if he is on the perimeter. He is a good shooter from 18-19 feet but does not have Spike or Stauskus range so he really can't shoot them out of it.
Caris is a massive headache for man to man teams(almost everybody) because of his first step, high basketball IQ, and athleticism, but when you can make him just a shooter his effectiveness is really limited. I think Levert is going to storm back, it is the rest of the team that I am worried about.
December 11th, 2014 at 10:42 AM ^
The rationalization is strong with this thread.
Injuries aren't a made up excuse. It's like Get Jim Harbough said, when your best guys aren't their best, it hurts your team. Hurt MSU (and Michigan) last year, has hurt both this year.
December 11th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
It is what it is, hate to say it but Coach B just went Izzo on us....
You're better than that Coach! Saying its not an excuse, but still stating that it is an issue, is in itself an excuse. I hate that...
December 11th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
Of course it's an excuse, and a legitimate one at that.
Edit: Meant to quote the OP.
December 11th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
lack of success in the last two games. Perhaps, an explanation for less than better performance without raitonalizing away the performance or denying it
It's clearly not an apology, and because it doesn't seek to excuse the performance, you can understand what he's really driving at: I don't coach our guys to play the way they're playing at the moment. It also sets up a reason for not winning on Saturday against Arizona, which I didn't expect anyway.
Still, Izzo has the margin of error in putting all his eggs in one excusable weird guy basket because he's made more successful omelletes over the years and still got his team to the Sweet 16 last year despite failing his personal passing go mark of Final Four status with every class he's ever recruited.
I just think Beilein is a little frustrated with his team's play and failure to get into his offense quicker and guard the other team better either inside or out.
What I do notice is that teams are taking advantage of Michigan's lack of inside game by extending their in-your-face defense whether man or zone to the three-point line and forcing longer possessions with less effciency. You gotta go the hoop more and then go back out to get better and more open looks.
December 11th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
So people get pissy when a coach mentions injuries but also get pissy when they do. Seems reasonable.
December 11th, 2014 at 2:29 PM ^
have just made no comment at all. Speechless is what we all are after losses to NJIT and EMU at home in back to back games. Any guess on the oods of this happening ???? There was a better chance that Dave Brandon would return as AD than losing both of these games. Well at least we'll have a bowl game to watch .... uhh .....oh FUCK IT ! C'mon 2015.
Go Blue!