Will Beilein teams (nearly) always be outmatched at the 4?
Looking at the game with a short Tulsa squad and it seems like a good match-up for us, particularly because Tulsa can't exploit our lack of height at the 4 position. Zak Irvin is a stocky 6'6" but is usually forced to guard guys a fair bit bigger than himself.
That got me wondering if being undersized at the 4 is something Beilein teams will always struggle with on the defensive end. Given that our main sets are four out one in, Beilein ideally wants a player that's 6'7"+ who can put the ball on the floor and shoot well from outside. However, any player like that is going to be a hot commodity. Project-type guys like Uthoff are tough to predict and the ones that obviously fit the mold (TJ Leaf) make for a tough recruiting pull. Given the rarity of the ideal 4, it seems likely that Beilein will frequently be forced to roll with the less rare 6'5"-6'6" guy who can do the things on offense that his system requires and we'll end up having to pay the price on the defensive end.
Think this will continue to be an issue down the line? Mo Wagner may fit the bill but I'm not seeing anyone else on the squad who has the 4 skills and size to fix the problem once Zak leaves.
Beilein made the elite 8. That was after going to the national title game and despite losing 3 NBA players (the national POY, another NBA draft pick, and (via injury) Mitch McGary).
Beilein's been 'hanging his hat' on that for all of a year. A year in which he lost his two best players to injury and both his returning centers to unexpected attrition. (I didn't even include the 2 guys they lost to the NBA)
You're probably really mad about this year - when Michigan again lost two key players to injury (including probably it's most talented player since Jamal Crawford) yet still made the NCAA tournament. Total outrage.
I appreciate having high standards for Michigan basketball, but one can't just ignore the recent success or the context of the last 2 years. Michigan SHOULD be contending for Big Ten championships year in and year out, but there will be down years, like there are for every program.
Beilein got Michigan to that point of contending and sometimes winning conference championships (from the Amaker-nothing). 1 or (maybe even 2) bad years don't change that.
Even this team is a good break or two away from being back in the Sweet 16, inexperience, injury, warts, and all.
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I sincerely thought you were joking. Where have you been the last few years? Too bad, you missed some great basketball.
Some big news i feel coming after Michigan is done with the tourney
I don't mind attrition, I just hope it's not Wagner or Chatman. Those guys have the most upside, by far.
Horford and Morgan had a few years to gain strength and experience. You've seen the leap Donnal has made in Year 3. You saw Bielfeldt go from unplayable liability to 6th man of the year.
A lot of our problems stem from having had to put freshman and sophomores who are raw out there in starting roles before they are ready. Imagine how much more positive we'd all be if Doyle and Chatman had had red-shirt seasons and had 3 years of eligibility left to grow and improve.
Talent can make up for inexperience and experience can make up for a lack of talent but Michigan has failed to recruit well the last 2 years and lost all their experience too. That explains the entirety of the issues we had this year and especially last year.
And yet -- the team still made the tournament.
The future is bright.
In one season, Beilein lost Morgan, McGary and Horford. He was forced to play Doyle as a freshman and move Donnal from 4 to a 5. Most bigs take time to develop. Even the great Frank Kaminsky who won POY wasn't much as a sophmore.
The entire frontcourt was gone, to be replaced by raw-as-hell freshman (and a 6'6 guy they didn't invite back).
Donnal was never a Beilein 4 and never will be a 4. If he was a 4 he would have replaced GR3 instead of the hodge podge of freshman wings (MAAR/Dawkins/Chatman) that ended up playing alongside Irvin instead. Most of the C minutes went to Doyle (18 mpg) and Bielfeldt (15 mpg). Donnal got some minutes too but Michigan needed him just as badly at the 4 as at the 5.
March 14th, 2016 at 11:28 PM ^
Northwestern folk do not like us, by the way. They seem to resent the whole good-school-but-also-good-at-sports thing.
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