Morris Attitude Problem?
So does Darius Morris have an attitude problem? I saw him getting really chippy tonight, talking a lot of smack and seeming to be a bit of a jerk out there. Even the play where Sullinger slapped the ball Darius was sticking the ball in his gut and chirping in his ear.
But beyond that, I've seen him have a few run ins with Belien, at least in appearance, on the sidelines. I've seen him refuse to look at JB when he's talking to him and then tonight JB grabbed Darius by the jersey to pull him over and Darius knocked his hand away. Fairly disrespectful if you ask me. Anyone else notice this stuff? Anyone know something I don't about this? It would seem to make a little sense of his benching earlier this season.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:04 PM ^
I've noticed some of the same things but I heard Beilein after the game speaking pretty highly of Morris and how badly he wants to win.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
Morris is obviously a competitor, and these close losses to elite teams are starting to get on his nerves.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
that is the case but he needs to realize that he is part of the problem. To many times Michigan has a chance to make a run and he throws the ball into the 5th row. He's young and still makes those type of mistakes. Hopefully he has the right people around him.
January 13th, 2011 at 8:27 AM ^
But I really wish people could get "too" and "to" correct, it's a major pet peeve. Seems like nearly half the time lately people get it wrong. That, and they're, their, there.
/end rant
January 13th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
when it was a continuation of the sentence you started in the subject. I hate it when people capitalize random words in the middle of a sentence. Don't you?
January 12th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
Sometimes the camera's in the right place at the right time and stuff like that stands out. Darius has more responsibility than any player on the team right now, he's the leader, so you'd want a better attitude, but he's still a sophomore. I say much ado about nothing.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:54 PM ^
Check the culture, many of the youth these days don't like you to "square up" on them, you know, stay outta their grille. If he's a competitor, then I think his coach has already figured out how to deal with him, that's why he's the coach and the kid is allowed to play. I've coached a few of them myself.
January 13th, 2011 at 1:04 AM ^
many of the youth these days don't like you to "square up" on them, you know, stay outta their grille
Wow, that's...um....stereotypical would be the nice way of putting it. Let me guess, you keep them off your lawn too?
January 12th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
I've noticed this too. He also mysteriously didn't get the start the other week. I hate to say it because he has so much potential to lead this team to great things but this definitely has shades of Manny. One of the biggest things that held our team back the last few years, imo, was Manny's attitude (it was at the very least counterproductive). I hope DMo snaps out of it soon, this team has tons of potential for the next few years.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:37 PM ^
When they were at PSU last year (or the year before can't remember) I saw Manny during a timeout not being part of the "huddle" and later in the same game walking between the coach and the players during a timeout while JB was talking to them.
Morris needs to remember that he isn't bigger than the team. Hopefully the older players like Novak will handle it before it gets bad.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
to not always look at the coach if you're getting chewed out., players often look down, at the game etc...slapping his hand away would be disrespectful, but I liked what I saw with him showing some fire during the game and talking a little bit to the OSU players...Mich needs that...
January 12th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
The weird thing about this is that he actually spent Christmas with the Beilein family, because he didn't have a chance to fly home in time. Then for the Dec. 28 game he didn't start because of a violation of team rules, and their relationship has seemed slightly off since then. Did something happen while he was at JB's house?
January 12th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
just what exactly are you implying? lol jk
January 12th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
stale. Can't serve a young man five-week old breakfast cereal. Relationship killer, that.
I'm with some of the other comments here that I trust JB probably has a good feel of how to bring him along and that while some of these things raise eyebrows here and there, Morris is going to continue to mature and we'll see less of the petulance when he's an upper classmen. He's shown some great moments of leadership already, IMO. Just need to continue to develop that part of his role.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^
I don't think there's a serious problem or anything; it's just odd that he went from spending Christmas with JB to being (sort of) in the doghouse three days later.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
Darius accidentally knocked over the urn with John's grandmother's ashes in it, then tried to blame it on the cat. AWKWARD
January 12th, 2011 at 10:32 PM ^
C'mon Mr. B, how was I supposed to know you can't milk a cat!
January 12th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^
I bet JB touched Morris
January 12th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
He's still young and lacks some maturity. That comes with time.
2 close losses in a row to #2 and #3 has got to be frustrating for the kids.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
I don't know how many times you've had someone scream at you from a foot away but looking away while it's happening is pretty common.
I trust Beilein to nurture their relationship the right way.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^
Aside from him brushing Beilien's hand off his jersey, its much ado about nothing. Of course he isn't going to look at the coach when he is getting chewed out or talked to because he probably just did something ill-advised. Odds are he is as angry or more angry with himself than Beilien is.
As for the "skirmish" with Sullinger, I love it. I want to see these guys get chippy with kids (not too far, of course), but yeah, take some trash, show some swagger. I love the confidence. Keep bring it, Darius.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
Come on. Beilien is always yelling at the officials. We're not not getting calls because Belien won't get a technical. Good teams always tend to get better calls, it's just the way it works. Tonight was heavily skewed and there were a lot of questionable calls, but do you really think its because Beilien never took his yelling and harping too far and got a technical? I think not.
The boys just need to keep this stretch of solid ball going and have it translate. I'd hate to see them only play like this against tough competition. Let's see them play like this and run IU out of their own gym.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:44 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 10:55 PM ^
If you're that big of a fan, you should know how to spell Beilein.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
January 13th, 2011 at 8:30 AM ^
please
January 12th, 2011 at 10:57 PM ^
Also, given how perimeter-oriented Beilein's teams are, its no surprise that we don't go to the line as much as an OSU team who is highly reliant on interior play.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:23 PM ^
When you cuss and spell the coach's name wrong, it shows that you are really smart and we should listen to what you have to say about basketball.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^
shooting 3 pointers all night? We won't get any calls until we start taking the ball inside the 3 point line. OSU took the ball to the rim. That is how you get to the line.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
Morris is young, and much improved over last year. Every kid is going to have "growing pains;" if they didn't, they wouldn't need coaching. It's all part of the game, and it's all part of a player's growth.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
Can't we all just relax for a day and not read too much into everything? He just saw another winnable game against a top-5 team slip away, and he's a little annoyed. I like to see that fire versus complete indifference. He'll be fine.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:35 PM ^
he's a basketball player, aren't they all like that?
January 12th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^
We should add "most critical fanbase" to our list of accomplishments on the student t-shirts for next year. This is just plain absurd.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:56 PM ^
All in for Michigan (as long as our fanbase wants us to be)
January 12th, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
January 12th, 2011 at 11:21 PM ^
And how about this?
Did this make you ashamed? Or did it fire you up. That's what I thought.
January 13th, 2011 at 9:56 AM ^
OHHHHH, oh ok. All I have to do is say "That's what I thought" and that means I agree with you and you are right. I think there is a different situation when football is a violent sport for starters, and also the contact to start with was legal and then Woodson was defending himself. That is a different situation from starting something with someone who didn't say a word to you or touch you like Darius did several times, don't you think? That's what I thought.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:38 PM ^
We lost narrowly to the #3 and #2 teams in the country...I'm not sure it's time to criticize our best player for not liking it
January 12th, 2011 at 10:48 PM ^
Morris was chippy? Did you even watch the game? OSU was EXTREMELY chippy...Craft was by far the worst though, he was bothering me so damn much and I wasn't even playing. It may not have been noticeable from watching it on TV but it sure was at the game.
January 12th, 2011 at 10:55 PM ^
a basketball player of being a diva?
Never.
Never happens.
Ever.
January 12th, 2011 at 11:54 PM ^
He has an attitude solution.
January 13th, 2011 at 1:11 AM ^
I didn't know Daniel Horton posted on mgoblog!!!! Have you ever played basketball before in a competitive setting? If you're a truly competitive person the smallest thing can set you off if things aren't going well. Being in the midst of a tough stretch of the schedule, I'd rather see him out there kickin ass instead of getting walked all over.
January 13th, 2011 at 3:18 AM ^
Coach grabbed his jersey and Darius yanked on another part of his jersey to get rid of Beilein's grip. I didn't like it one bit but it's nowhere as bad as actual hand-to-hand contact.
January 13th, 2011 at 3:21 AM ^
boys will be boys, and whatever d-morris is as a sophomore...its nowhere even close to what manny was as a junior. im confident belien will be hard on him, and turn him into a gentleman before it's all said and done.
or maybe he will go to jail in 15 years on six accounts of fraud. who knows!?