Sitting Wagner in 2nd Half

Submitted by ijohnb on

I am trying to figure out the game strategy there, last night in particular.  He was a disaster defensively against Ok. St. and that was an up and down shoot out where Wagner was a little bit of a fish out of water in that game.  I was on board there.  He also clearly has a lot of learning to do with regard to the team defensive principles, positioning, etc. 

However, I did not particularly understand it last night.  He wasn't shooting well but he was at least making Oregon have to contend with a "big person" in the lane, if nothing else, and he was finishing when they found him near the rim.  Robinson also did not play well against Louisville and had jacked a couple of ill-advised shots in the first half last night.  He could not contain dribble drive at all, either.

I understand that this will possibly bring quite a bit of Beilein venom out, and equally as much "he has been coaching for 30 years I think I will go with his idea," but aside from those scorching takes, what was the reasoning there?  It would really be unfortunate if Wagner decided to go ahead and take his talents somewhere where dollars are paid next year, and I don't know if that was ideal timing for whatever clever idea lead to the decision to sit him for that stretch.  Perhaps there was something that I was missing that factored into it?

ypsituckyboy

March 24th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

I'd understand the Wagner benching more if Robinson was playing well, but Robinson was getting killed all night. Oregon was just abusing him. They'd set a pick up top, designed to iso Robinson, and then drive right to the basket. Happened at least 10 times. Should've just rolled with Wagner and Wilson together since, frankly, DJ Wilson can guard a guard better than Robinson can.

Wolverdog

March 24th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

When he got called for the block, Mo got up holding that right wrist and he appeared to be icing it the remainder of the game. From your couch, go ahead and troll and second guess. They put up one heck of a second half of the year. 

Win, lose, or tie, I am Maize and Blue until I die! 

ijohnb

March 24th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^

was arguing?  I presented a topic for discussion and that is what is happening.  In fact, your post and his are examples of trolling, not my OP.

(And for the record, he played after the "wrist injury."  It is not as though it is that obvious that was the reason, particularly when he was on the bench for nearly the entire Ok. St. second half as well).

In reply to by ijohnb

Wolverdog

March 24th, 2017 at 11:07 AM ^

If you were not aware enough to see Wagner on the floor holding his wrist and then as he was walking over to the bench struggling to flex it as the camera is trained on him. Yeah, I see it as trolling. Especially with the debbie-downers towards this team and Coach B at the beginning of the year. 

In reply to by ijohnb

billybrown

March 24th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^

i dont know you pesonally but i know your posts and you are a concern troll, espescially when it comes to basketball. oh no will Wagner go elsewhere because Belein sat him???? its stupid reactionary and you either have no understanding of how it works or you're trolling. 

ijohnb

March 24th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^

up.  I just raised a point of discussion regarding a particular aspect of the game and people like you are freaking out about it because you handle a loss about as well as a one year old baby getting his blanky taken away.  There is some good conversation going on below your non-sense if you weren't being such a whiny bitch about it.

FauxMo

March 24th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^

Sometimes, when you're at war, it's better to just not have the Germans with you. They can, shall we say, go a little too far. :-) 

My real answer? I noticed too, and have no idea why that decision was made. After the transformation in this team between January and a Sweet 16 run, however, I choose to just trust that Beilein knows more than me, and thus new more about what he was doing last night... 

 

SHub'68

March 24th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^

comments, too. I think we were a little off, Wagner never quite got going fully, then got hurt, Robinson was the best choice we had. And he did splash some key threes, which one or two during the final minutes would have put us in the Elite Eight. So...great run boys, thank you seniors, look forward to what the underclass can do next year, and thanks John Beilein for the coaching job you did to generate a nice run.
Go Blue!!!

BG Wolverine

March 24th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^

I think it's a legit question.  I wondered the same thing.  I thought perhaps he hurt his wrist more than it looked when he went crashing down that one time. It was shortly after that incident that he was not seen anymore.

blueangel12

March 24th, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^

wagner was shooting baaaad last night. the shots themselves weren't necessarily bad, but none of his threes were even close. he even missed a lot of puppies around the basket that he usually finishes with ease.

Perkis-Size Me

March 24th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

It looked like he'd injured his wrist at some point in the game. I'm curious if Beilein just decided that even putting him back out there with that injury wouldn't have done any good. Either way, he wasn't playing well last night to begin with.

Beilein knows more about what to do with the team than I do, so if he thought sitting Wagner was best, then I'm good with it. Even without him, on a night where everyone outside of Walton and Irvin played anywhere from meh to lousy, we were still in position to win it on the final possession.

sarto1g

March 24th, 2017 at 9:30 AM ^

He was way off on his shot last night.  If I had to speculate, I think Beilein decided he'd rather roll with Robinson on D on the wing vs getting lit up in the post.  Overall I think Robinson had more to contribute on offense last night and that was the difference

Naked Bootlegger

March 24th, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^

Everyone jacked up ill-advised shots yesterday.   I would rate Robinson's shot selection higher than other most other players.  I wouldn't use that criteria as a reason to bench Robinson in favor of Wagner in the 2nd half.

Wagner struggled mightily yesterday.   Let's not sugar coat it.   And if we execute a box out on a missed free throw attempt, there's a good chance nobody is creating these threads today.

 

In reply to by ijohnb

jmblue

March 24th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^

Wilson missed the box out.  If Wagner had been in the game, he'd have been on the opposite side and probably not in position to get the board.

SHub'68

March 24th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^

or absence thereof, was unfortunate. But, given our performance related to this all year, I wouldn't lay it on any one guy. I mean, replace Robinson with someone else and we could be saying the same thing. It was a team problem. Yet we had the ball with 9+ seconds to go, it was in the hands of the right guy, he got a good look at a potential game-winner, it just didn't go. It happens. Still proud of each of these guys.

Mgostats

March 24th, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^

We had a time out left at the end.  Could have had Donnal in for Duncan on the defensive end (assuming that Moe couldn't play) and used the time out to get Duncan on the court for the final possession.

Might have made a difference in preventing Bell's final ORB.

Alumnus93

March 24th, 2017 at 9:48 AM ^

I missed the first half hour of game, and began watching when score was 11-11.   What I noticed, was Wagner's abnormal shot trajectory from the three,  was crazy high.... normally all season it was 45-48 degrees, last night it appeared to be well over 53 degrees, the arc was way too high.   Sounds silly but I wonder if the floor area being painted all white, threw him off, because I have never seen him send up balloons like that...