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Snoozefest '10 Comment Count

Tim

lickLOLer.JPG

Michigan 60 Iowa 46, Michigan 11-10 (4-5 Big Ten)

At times in the second half of Michigan's win over Iowa on Saturday, I was literally afraid I would fall asleep in press row. The game had long ago devolved into Michigan's players putting in about 50% effort, and more often than not, trying to make spectacular plays that ended in turnovers. There's almost nothing of value that we can take from that game.

I say almost, because it was a continuation of Michigan's improvement in defensive efficiency since conference play began. Here's a graphical representation of that, in terms of their rank in adjusted efficiency (which takes into account quality of opposition) since conference play began. Each data point comes from the preview for a particular game (so the first IU point is at the end of the non-conference season other than UConn):

efficiency.jpg

The defense has gone from mediocre to quite good. Offensively, there has been some improvement since the Indiana game, but the poor offensive performance against Iowa was at least partially attributable to guys not taking the game seriously when it was clear Iowa couldn't score, at least from this observer's point of view.

BULLETS

  • Tons of offensive rebounding for Michigan, but they aren't going to make their living by picking up their missed shots in most games.
  • Dude, Iowa is so bad. Michigan could have won by about 40 if they'd played with intensity for the entire game. Yet the Hawkeyes have still managed to knock off Indiana and Penn State, both of whom gave Michigan trouble.
  • DeShawn Sims could have dominated in the paint even more than he did. That's scary.
  • John Lickliter. Just, wow. Props to the fans for cheering his made 3-pointer.
  • Check out Dylan's postgame for a more complete breakdown.

PHOTO GALLERY

UP NEXT

The Wolverines travel to Evanston to take on the suddenly-competent Wildcats tomorrow night. Northwestern is gunning for their first NCAA tournament bid EVAR, and knocked of Michigan in Crisler Arena 68-62 last time these teams met.

Comments

krogoblue

February 1st, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^

on offense - especially on the break. Looking to make the low percentage pass in traffic all to often. And don't get me started on the missed layups! I agree, the defense has improved but still need to work on blocking out to cut down on offensive rebounds. Shooting percentage still a mystery. Never seen so many bricked shots.

Joined: 01/16/2009

MGoPoints: 2

BraveWolverine730

February 1st, 2010 at 8:08 PM ^

I gotta agree that Iowa is an absolute terrible team, but it was good to see the team separate from them so the game wasn't in doubt. It was another good defensive effort and if we continue to play defense this hard we'll give ourselves a chance in every game from here on out(yes even @OSU and @MSU). On another note, I gotta give some love to my boy in the M&M costume from the photo gallery. Most definitely the best costume at the game.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 4188

BlueintheLou

February 1st, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^

Ok. I'm glad someone finally mentioned this, Tim. John Lickliter is absolutely one of the worst basketball players on the planet. How he is playing, even for Iowa, even with his Dad as the coach, is simply mind-boggling. He has the worst stroke I have ever witnessed. He puts no arc under the ball, and the fact that one of them actually went in is stunning. There aren't many college basketball players I think I can beat, in fact there were none, until Saturday. John Lickliter is the worst college basketball player in DI.

Joined: 09/13/2008

MGoPoints: 4872

Raback Omaba

February 1st, 2010 at 10:16 PM ^

Lay off the Lickliters a little, especially John. A long time ago, when I was much younger than I am now, I knew the Lickliter family. They lived in the Ann Arbor area for a short period of time (perhaps a year) while Todd was on staff at EMU. Didn't know John at all because I am older, but I remember playing on a basketball team with his older brothers who were quite good at basketball (of course, this was in comparison to me, and I am no Lebron James.) Nevertheless, I knew them to be a good family and a churchgoing one at that (I put stock into those things.) I am from the school of thought that Iowa, while a great state school, should not be good at basketball. They have no true recruiting base, and I can't see a strong contingent of ballers chomping at the bit to make their way to Iowa City. It's pained be deeply that they've had a better decade long run than our team has, despite the cloud hanging over our program. Having said that, Lickliter's tenure has been bad, even by Iowa standards. I hope it gets better - Like I said, from the little that I've knew them, they were good people. Go Blue.

Joined: 03/07/2009

MGoPoints: 1629

matty blue

February 1st, 2010 at 11:10 PM ^

i'm sorry, but if you don't want to expose yourself and your son to accusations of nepotism (or worse), you probably shouldn't put him out there when he so CLEARLY doesn't belong. nobody who saw one minute of his time on the court could think anything else. look, i get it - iowa is undermanned, and they need warm bodies. but i guarantee you there are five guys on that campus who could walk on and beat him out. he's short, desperately slow, and spent most of his time standing in the corner waiting for someone to pass him the ball. he didn't even really show any of the coach's son "grit" that you see so much - on at least two occasions in the first half, he was open for a second, didn't get the ball, and did this exasperated, throw-up-his-arms turn toward his father (on the bench at the other end of the court), as if to say "see, dad? they're not passing to me." that kind of thing has to do wonders for morale , by the way - the coach's kid, whining to his dad about not getting the ball... i'm sure you're right about the lickliters being good people...but the father is absolutely killing that program five different ways.

Joined: 08/01/2008

MGoPoints: 39147

imdwalrus

February 2nd, 2010 at 12:35 AM ^

Is there any reason that the graph's vertical axis is oriented the way it is? I figure it's probably that way because it was a default in Excel or some crap like that, but it'd make more sense to orient it in the other direction for this case - if a lower ranking is forward progress (which it obviously is), why not show the team moving UPWARD on the vertical scale as they get better? That said, the team is improving either way, so yay!

Joined: 10/31/2009

MGoPoints: 797

Erik_in_Dayton

February 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^

They took OSU to the wire at home and did the same to MSU in East Lansing. They didn't play with much energy in this game but don't be surprised if the game at Iowa is a competitive one.

Joined: 12/03/2008

MGoPoints: 58983

Feat of Clay

February 2nd, 2010 at 3:59 PM ^

I don't know crap about basketball, and I was sitting up so high we were rows above where any parachuted Hungry Howie's coupon would ever land, and even I could tell that Lickliter fellow did not belong out there. I didn't realize until know he was the coaches' son. He just stuck out like a sore thumb, the way he moved. We had some Iowa fans around us; there was a lot of quiet despair wafting about. Their shooting was just terrible.

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 3759