Walton has a message for Irvin haters
Edited"All the (expletive) that people give Zak ... I hate it. I hate it so much. It's like, man, what else you want from the dude? What else do you want? He's played off back surgery. He's got, like, 1,500 career points. He's made a one-eighty as a player. I remember the days when Zak would shoot a contested 3 over two people rather than pass. He's a whole new guy. I mean, dude, are you kidding me? Get off my guy's back."
March 11th, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^
I always felt Beilein's teams have been great in closing out close games until this year. Typically we have great ball security and clutch FT shooting.
This year it seems we've been missing FT's down the stretch and have had the breaks go against us. Hopefully today's game marks a return to form.
while it seems like our offensive efficiency dips. So maybe it's working after all, what do I know?
Wonderful, humble person.
I have had the good fortune to talk to h a few times. He is the sort of person who, in ordinary discourse, makes you feel better about yourself. We are lucky to have ,had him as a part of our comunity.
"As the conversation in the atrium moved on, Beilein was told, "He looks like the only guy willing to take certain shots on this team."
"Yeah, that's right, that's right," Beilein responded.
"So that's a real thing?"
Beilein, the ultimate diplomat: "That's a real -- well, I wouldn't say that, but he ... let's say, he's not the only one willing, but he's the most-likely-to-be-willing."
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/01/hero_ball_the_case_and_defense.html
Missed that at the end of January.
Walton and Irvin have been going to war for 3-4 years together. Of course you don't want your wingman taking a beating from everyone. The first half of this season, it was the worst Irvin we've seen in his career. Then he lost total confidence in his shot and it got really bad a month or so ago.
But he deserved the criticism (assuming fans are free to criticize) because he was laying enough bricks to build a 2 story house and making a lot of bad plays. But gotta say, dude has fought back!! Yes, he still chucks up the ill advised 3 now and again but he's also playing a lot smarter down the stretch. Taking it to the whole when there's an opening is where he should attack. And he did a freaking awesome job of that today. Also working hard on defense. Love it.
I'm happy for Irvin that he's ending his career playing pretty well. And without a doubt, the team's tourney life will rest a lot on how well Irvin plays in the close games. But this Michigan team is so much about 5-8 guys each game. They pick each other up and you never know who's going to be the hot guy.
Irvin's driven all of us fans crazy this year. He's also proven that he can make a huge impact as well. Here's to hoping that he continues to play the rest of his Michigan career at the highest level possible.
GO BLUE!!
I have to say, I was pretty rough on Irvin while he was going through his slump. What encouraged me to stop harping on him was during senior day against Purde, actually. DW3 played an amazing game and the entire crowd was chanting his name at the end of the game. While I felt great for Walton, I felt even worse for Irvin. I'm sure he was thrilled for his good friend Walton, but that had to be incredibly difficult to sit at the end of the bench for the last time in front of your home crowd and hear the crowd going crazy for someone else while you're playing poorly.
I've really enjoyed the way he ahs focused on defense and become a situational scorer for this team over the past few games. I was thrilled for him during the games yesterday and today. Keep up the great work, Zak!
I'm constantly amazed. This whole thread is amazing.
March 10th, 2017 at 10:25 PM ^
I've never once tweeted anything to or about him negatively.
Constructive criticism has been warranted at times, but I don't think that's what Walton was talking about. If you've looked around the web much at other Michigan sites, some of the stuff people have been saying has been truly awful. I know some people here have maybe gone a little overboard, but I've seen much worse elsewhere. The personal attacks I just can't understand at all.
I know I'm wrong, mostly, but I imagine a lot of other Michigan websites to be close to RCMB quality. The highest criticisms and vitriol I've seen here have been directed at professional adults (coaches, administrators). I've criticized Irvin too (he deserved it), but I try to hold myself under control - I realize these are kids, and it's a game. I know I flipped out during one of RichRod's MSU games (at RR), and I think I had a stroke during the Minnesota football disaster in 2014, but I've not seen anything too bad about the actual kids on here.
He takes bad shots.
No one has a bad game like Irvin has a bad game. Its a fact. I've never questioned his hustle though. Its just, when things get out of sync he doesn't seem to know how to find the groove.
This year he's done better and finding ways to contribute when its not going well. But its been an uneven season to say the least. Hopefully it ends strong.
I didn't realize that Zak Irvin hate was a thing. Then again I usually don't pay attention to basketball as much as I probably should until March.
March 10th, 2017 at 10:35 PM ^
March 10th, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^
It's fine to be critical of our players for making bad tactical decisions or for playing bad defense or for a questionable shot selection - we've all done that. Oh hell, Beilein's job is to literally use sharpies and game film to do those things. It's when people - and that does include a minority of posters here - translate that criticism into ad hominem attacks on the kids' character that I and everyone else bring out the (100% justifiable) downvote blitz. Zak Irvin (and Mark Donnal and every other game thread whipping boy) has done more to bust his ass to representing our school on and off the court than most of the us combined so, yes, I get a little pissy when Internet Tough Guys on here start shit talking him as a person.
March 10th, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
March 11th, 2017 at 10:27 AM ^
Good article