PublicSector

February 9th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^

Beilein made the same mistake against Ohio and Evan Turner in the B1G Tourny of 2010. Not defending the inbounds pass allows the offense to stay in rhythm and get makeable shots. When Laettner scored against Kentucky - no one on the inbounds. Put a guy on the inbounds the pass is likely to be shorter, out of rhythm, and in today's game would have provided an opportunity to foul. Beilein is a great coach - does good things but based on his explanation today and in 2010 - this is one part of the game he doesn't get.

ca_prophet

February 10th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^

... or we would be front and center.  Hope the players aren't whining about the refs too.

It's worth noting that even after that desperation heave to tie it, we still could have won in overtime.  We didn't, they got it done at home - kudos to them.  We need to beat MSU and hold serve against Indiana at home and hope that we can still outdo the Hoosiers to win the B1G.

 

hfhmilkman

February 10th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^

We need to remember there are four freshmen playing significant minutes.  Despite the heart breaking loss I like the position of this team for a run in either tournament.  Winning the Big10 regular season would be nice.  But I thought that was going to be really hard with such a young team.

I will agree with the others I would prefer to defend the inbounds pass with my tallest player as it makes those bullet passes much more difficult.  In the case of this specific event a running 40 footer is still a crazy shot.  

wayneandgarth

February 10th, 2013 at 12:02 PM ^

Everytime LaVert shoots, its effectively a turnover.  I was at the game, and you could see WI not even covering him outside the paint.  They wanted him to shoot.  He's also of course the guy that didn't foul (althought that was a prayer shot)

jasonmkeith

February 10th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^

The team will learn and hopefully appreciate an opponent more after that miracle shot. Its all about March, in my opinion.

We have had our "Mercury Hayes" moments, as well.

Go Blue.

dragonchild

February 10th, 2013 at 5:28 PM ^

Honestly, I don't feel as bad when this sort of stuff happens.  What do you do, question the gamecalling?  Wisconsin's best chance of winning was a contested desperation heave from halfcourt.  Generally when a team is THAT cornered, you've done your job.  It was a total fluke that it went in.  Run the same scenario 100 times, and Michigan gets the W 99 times.

I get WAY more pissed when the loss is obviously preventable (bad coaching, botched execution) or due to some injustice outside the players' control (bad officiating, scandal).  If it takes desperation half-court shots at home to beat Michigan, I'll take this bunch over any other college team in the country.

TheGhostofYost

February 10th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^

It was kind of a fluke, but it also wasn't a miracle.  With 2 seconds left, we let a guy running full speed towards his strong side square up to the basket.  College players can make those shots. If we put a guy on the inbounder, that play never has a chance.