Brian Griese

February 8th, 2016 at 8:40 AM ^

that are *uckeye fans that live near Lima have just raved for the last couple of years about his game.  They're mad Thad never got involved because they think this could be another Trey Burke situation. I think we'd all love that.

Also, I'm a bit more bullish on our recuriting class then some, I went to watch Davis a few weeks ago and was impressed.  

Joined: 10/25/2014

MGoPoints: 30275

Don

February 8th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^

Focus almost entirely on offensive part of the game utilizing soft finesse players; defense appearing to be a complete afterthought; inexplicable coaching decisions in-game regarding personnel, strategy, use of TOs, etc; team is competitive against mid-level-to-bad opponents, but completely outmatched in talent and even some intangibles when playing good teams.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148237

Don

February 8th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^

I'm not really knowledgeable about BB beyond a surface level and I'd guess that those who are could poke large holes in my statement, but the parallels seem to be there to my unsophisticated eyes.

Part of my frustration is that when I was in school during the '70s, those Michigan teams with Grote, Staton, Britt, Baxter, Hubbard, and even Ricky Green played hellacious, in-your-face defense all game long. There was no such thing as opposing shooters getting uncontested open looks all day. I know it's a different era and every coach has his own system, but it's a rare team that gets very far in the post-season if it can't play fundamentally strong defense, and the few teams that do generally have lights-out offenses. We're far from that.

 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148237

Jimmyisgod

February 9th, 2016 at 7:49 AM ^

The MSU fans I know would take Walton first. They like his toughness, rebounding, and defense. No way would Izzo take Dawkins or MAAR, no defense. Caris goes without saying, he's a special talent. Robinson would be a reserve until he learned how to defend and rebound.

Joined: 01/24/2012

MGoPoints: 10341

93Grad

February 8th, 2016 at 10:38 AM ^

Great point and I totally agree. The game against Sparty felt like watching that RR game against Wisconsin where we had zero chance of stopping them. Unfortunately, like RR this is a problem that took years to make with recruiting failure after recruiting failure which means that it will take years to fix and I don't see this staff recruiting well enough going forward to fix it.



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Joined: 07/26/2011

MGoPoints: 13556

nmwolverine

February 8th, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^

But the breakdowns I see are correctable brain farts, like where a player doubles the man  with the ball and loses track of his own man, even when his own man is shooting lights out .  Or misplays a screen.  Be patient, they will improve on defense.  Despite my agreement with the RR comparison,  I am more worried about lack of offense with this team.  Levert's return won't change anything overnight.  Frustrating, as the sophs had so much playing time last year i thought they would play in a more heady way now.

Joined: 01/22/2009

MGoPoints: 1112

champswest

February 8th, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^

but I have an issue with certain strategies. When an opposing player is shooting 8 for 10 from 3 point range, I would tell the guy guarding him to forget about doubling and stick with the shooter. Never let a shooter get in a comfortable rhythm. Notice how Valentine got in Robinson's face right from the beginning and never let him get in a groove? I would have had Abdul-Rachman do the same thing to Forbes.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 25910

hunterjoe

February 8th, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^

Teams regularly take away our shooters yet we allow said team's shooters to go off.  My biggest peeve is why can't we get our shooters the looks that other teams can?  Yeah, I watched the game and saw they called 2 of the 30 illegal off the ball screens, but maybe we need to start doing that more?  Our screeners just kinda get in the way, okay, not really. 

Joined: 07/17/2015

MGoPoints: 9720

CaliUMfan

February 8th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^

Why is Ibi Watson still ranked so low? He is the 216th best player in the country according to 247 composite rankings. After watching his highlight reels, that is baffling. I know he was under the radar when he committed but it seems like, based on what i've seen, he should be quickly climbing now that people know who he is. It is inexplicable that is isn't. Has anyone else watched his tape and seen something I am missing?

Joined: 03/15/2010

MGoPoints: 3177