Unverified Voracity Runs Actions And Is That Weird?
Beilein, analyst. Basketball dad is working with BTN now, and has some things to say about Hunter Dickinson:
That was a lot more detailed than I thought it was going to be. My expectations were something along the lines of "He's in what people call 'the post', and… okay he's got his back to the basket, which is weird, I always taught my players to look at it—oh wow he turned around okay I see where this is going… huh. Well, I never."
Instead he knows many things about the thing he never did.
Beilein was set to debut as a color guy for BTN but the Nebraska-Purdue game was postponed (say it with me: May Madness). That's going to be weird even if I imagine they'll keep him away from Michigan games. Looking forward to him talking about the basketball game in front of his face instead of whatever Andy Katz's deal is. QUIT RANKING DELIS ANDY KATZ.
[After THE JUMP: dunk tech FACTS]
Various actions. I watched Maryland-Indiana last night, which I do not recommend. It was rough. The announcer called it a "slugfest" at one point, which is accurate if it means there are a great many slugs in one area. It was not accurate if it means two guys throwing haymakers at each other.
I had a deja vu thing where I remembered watching some Big Ten game between middleweights several years ago. The thought was the same: "this does not look like a Michigan game." Maryland's always been a team that barely runs offense. Indiana does a bit more, but once Armann Franklin went out with an ankle issue those Purdue-ish elevator screens left the offense because there wasn't anyone worth elevator screening for. What was left? A lot of aimless dribbling and the occasional Jackson-Davis post-up. Very little of it looked like an intentional response to what the opposition was doing.
Meanwhile I keep sticking compilations of Michigan actions in these posts because they don't stop coming. Here's a response to Northwestern blitzing screens:
Juwan Howard Wrinkle: Spain PnR+Hammer
— LAbound (@LAbound2) January 5, 2021
Michigan up big v NW late & Juwan looks to be experimenting
This looks like to be Spain, but NW blitzes ballscreen so Franz can’t set backscreen for HD
But look at opposite side - Eli directing Livers + setting a flare/hammer screen pic.twitter.com/bVtMcoFtWa
That is a long, long way to recover off a blitz.
Here's six actions off a particular set:
Michigan scoring on 6 different actions out of Motion Weak, a set popularized in the NBA by the San Antonio Spurs: pic.twitter.com/0XXeDwaihY
— Eric Shapiro (@eric_shap) December 30, 2020
I've made this point before but Michigan is not just running Dickinson into the post and hoping he's able to bull his way into good post position. They are seeing what the opposition is running and finding various ways to exploit it. The number of bad possessions—defined as dribbling around aimlessly and getting locked into a late clock iso, obviously TOs are a bit of an issue—this team has is incredibly low.
Unprecedented. Pretty good!
#Michigan center Hunter Dickinson has shot 55% or better from the field in his first 8 games with the #Wolverines. That's tied for the longest stretch of any Division-I player to begin a career in the last 10 seasons (min. 5 FGA in each). #B1G #B1GMBB #MICHvsMD @B1GMBBall @bigten
— BTNStatsGuys (@BTNStatsGuys) January 1, 2021
Collins on Michigan. Chris Collins's team has played MSU, OSU, Iowa, and Indiana:
“We really haven’t seen that kind of size and physicality and length in any of our games we’ve played yet … I thought it really knocked us back. That front line of Wagner, Livers and Dickinson — they’re big, they’re long. On both ends, the size really bothered us. They physically imposed their will in a lot of ways. I thought they had great balance.”
NET looks less weird now, but still weird. The initial release (probably) didn't have games from Sunday, so it didn't know that Colgate lost to Army after hammering them by 40+. Now it does and they've fallen to 46th. (More evidence for the Sunday theory: Minnesota made a major move up, seemingly because their 17-point win over OSU on Sunday got included.) Still vastly too high, but this is a descriptive ranking with no priors attempting to rank a Patriot League team when Army appears to be the only Patriot League team that's going to play any nonconference games. There are going to be a ton of weird outliers this year.
I merely report facts. Chin-up == tech.
Nice follow jam for Issa Samake. @DrakeBulldogsMB | @ValleyHoops pic.twitter.com/N3WlNi9TH2
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) January 5, 2021
In this way you can determine for yourself whether a hang on the rim is going to get a tech, moments before it is called. This dunk put Drake up 34 so, like Chaundee Brown, you should look at this tech as a necessary cost of being rad.
Talking with Stu Douglass. Extended podcast interview with Stu Douglass here starting at about the 30 minute mark:
Douglass is also hosting his own podcast these days, and he got an okay guest for Episode One.
Grant Newsome's injury. The alumni magazine checks in with Newsome and gets some details on what was a touch-and-go situation:
That’s until the physical exam continued and the doctors asked Newsome if his leg or foot was tingling. It was, and it was numb too. This started a whole battery of vascular tests.
“You get a sinking feeling, ‘This isn’t as routine as I initially thought,’” Newsome remembers.
Upon realizing Newsome might be experiencing a dangerous lack of blood flow, physicians paged the vascular surgeon on call. Matthew Corriere, M.D., an associate professor of surgery at the Michigan Medicine Frankel Cardiovascular Center, flipped off the U-M game on his TV at home, just a few miles away, and got in his truck.
“They were concerned he had a posterior knee dislocation, which is when the artery gets pinched between the femur and tibia bones,” Corriere says. “There’s a very real risk of leg amputation when this happens so it’s a high stakes situation.”
Ban cut blocks on OL on the edge.
A gold medal game. USA—featuring Cam York, Matt Beniers, and Brendan Brisson—and Canada face off for the WJC gold medal tonight on NHL Network at 9:30.
Etc.: Chris Webber's creating his own Fab Five documentary. Entire NCAA tournament is going to be in Indiana. New Vandy head coach Clark Lea hires 247's Barton Simmons as a kind of GM-type guy. Quinn on Donnie Kirksey and his relationship with Juwan Howard. Paye checks in #7 overall in 24/7 latest mock draft.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:34 PM ^
I recommend John Beilein shy away from calling the game a 'slugfest' in his commentating debut...
January 5th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Ha! That was good.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
Screw Chris Webber. Always and forever.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:16 PM ^
You know something... he was a 19 year old kid who made a mistake and tried to cover for program by lying... so be it. Sucks. And now its about pride to him. So be it.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
More than that, his father was mixed up in it and may have actually taken most of the money. I think this is at the crux of the problem for Webber, and why it's so difficult for him to acknowledge responsibility.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:24 PM ^
Let it go.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:40 PM ^
How do I put this? John Beilein is way too smart to be a color commentator.
January 5th, 2021 at 3:40 PM ^
Who knows? It could be a Tony Romo-like situation.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
Robbie Hummel comes across as a pretty smart color commentator and he's one of the best in college basketball at what he does. I'm interested to see Beilein do color.
January 5th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
I hear 'ya. But I just love listening to him comment on basketball since, obviously, his knowledge and experience is so vast. You know what he is saying is the truth - unlike the hot methane gas you hear coming out of some of these so-called on-air commentators.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:27 PM ^
This is one of the reasons I loved JB's halftime and postgame interviews. He always told it like it was. Told the truth. So refreshing compared to someone like Izzo. Even after losses.
January 6th, 2021 at 10:41 AM ^
If he can deliver his knowledge on air as well as Tom Crean did, he could make additional millions color commentating. Crean is a douche, but he could explain the game better than anyone else on TV that lonely year he did it for ESPN.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
Paye to the Lions? As much as I'd love one of our guys to play for the Lions, I want Devonta Smith. Pairing him with Golladay, Hockenson and Swift would be a nightmare for opposing defenses.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:46 PM ^
I saw that the lions gave up the second most points ever this season. I would draft exclusively defensive players unless a super value offensive pick is available.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:51 PM ^
You would think, but it is the Lions.
January 5th, 2021 at 3:07 PM ^
Lions doesn't have a WR except for Cephus under contract for next season so they need to draft WRs as well, preferably the one who can run and separate.
January 5th, 2021 at 3:23 PM ^
So you would rather lose 49- 35 over 35- 21. Ok, I get it. Any thoughts not directed at the defense at this point is a huge mistake. The idea that the Lions will win by outscoring its opponent in an offensive shootout is outdated.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:06 PM ^
I like Paye but never thought he was 7th pick in the draft good. I'm on the Devonta/Fields bandwagon for that first pick. They have so many holes, they need to get the best available player (unless its a TE).
January 5th, 2021 at 11:20 PM ^
Golladay is gone, you guys treated him like trash even when the offense is clearly bad without him.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
Clearly Brian was unaware of Katz's Deli in Austin, TX. It never closes! Well, until it did permanently.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:48 PM ^
Okay these labound tweets showcase my lack of basketball knowledge. Eli is basically standing in the corner that entire clip. What screen is he setting?
January 5th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
I see those tweets and my thought is basically "mmhmm I agree. Ball in hoop good"
January 5th, 2021 at 7:00 PM ^
If Dickinson wan't open on the roll, Smith could have passed to Livers for an open corner three with Eli in position to screen #1 on NW.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:52 PM ^
The Colgate note reminded me: I think the back-to-back games that mid-majors are playing is a Covid year oddity (I don’t recall this many of these college hockey-like weekend series in the past). The results of these series have been... bazar.
Brian gives the Colgate v Army example above (40 pt win followed by loss), there have been many others like it (another example is BSU vs SJSU - 50+ pt win followed by a 1 pt game). Kind of an interesting artifact of the season. I’d be interested to hear how the professional gamblers are playing those, or if they’re staying away.
January 5th, 2021 at 1:53 PM ^
This is the second time written and also in the podcast where Brian claims the Chaundee T was with a huge lead (specifically 26 points). In fact, it happened in the first half with Michigan up by 8, the dunk made it 10, the free throw from Kopp put the lead back to 9.
Yes, this seems an oddly specific thing to be wrong about (or to even bring up). But I find it ODD.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
Definitely kind of a weird thing. Reminded me of Bacon's book about Rich Rod where he described in pretty significant detail some game scenarios at Purdue which were completely fictional. May just be some small glitches in the simulation...
January 5th, 2021 at 2:13 PM ^
Bacon seems to have fictionalized/embellished parts of the Harbaugh courtship story in Endzone as well.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:28 PM ^
I still think the technical on Brown was bogus. What he did was in the best interest of his own safety. When you are going up to dunk and know that you have two defenders in hot pursuit, it should be in a players right to hold on to the rim until he's sure that he's not going to be fouled and that the defenders have passed by. If a dunker lets go and a defender low bridges him by hitting his lower body the guy could go down for a nasty fall.
If a guy is all alone and does this it is entirely different and may merit a technical.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:03 PM ^
Back out Livers' dribbling attempts and the empty dribbling possessions go down to near zero.
January 5th, 2021 at 2:07 PM ^
Beilein has forgotten more about basketball than 99% of us will ever know, and it's fun to hear him share some of that knowledge. I do wonder if he makes a run back to coaching at some point.
I'm really impressed by the basketball team's flexibility this season; feels a bit more balanced than I expected with little prep time.
I don't really get Webber wanting to do his own Fab 5 doc, but since he wasn't part of the 30-for-30 one I assume this will be...more agreeable toward his viewpoint.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
I was thinking about this a few days ago: does Beilein come back? He was already close to retirement. He was coming off major heart surgery a few years back. He might have 5 or 6 more years left in him but the only thing the guy is missing from his illustrious career is a national championship. I would imagine the only job he'd take is one from a decent sized school/national power to make recruiting easier. Indiana might be a good bet once they let go of Archie Miller. Indiana feels like a team on the brink of a long losing streak. As Brian noted their offense is currently comprised of "give the ball to Jackson-Davis and clear out" and "meh".
January 5th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
Love that Juwan dialed up a backdoor lob for Chaundee on the next play after the tech.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
"Michigan is not just running Dickinson into the post and hoping he's able to bull his way into good post position. They are seeing what the opposition is running and finding various ways to exploit it."
I remember hearing Harbaugh say something very similar. Something like...football is a chess match. We run plays to see how you defend them, and then we are going to counter that. Then you'll adjust and we will counter again.
I feel like Harbaugh lost that somehow. It is so fun watching Juwan adjust, and adjust quickly.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
Can't wait for Beilein broadcasts to turn into 2 hours of him explaining exactly how to torture the defenses of both teams on the court.
January 5th, 2021 at 4:05 PM ^
I love Juwan Howard, but I also love and miss John Beilein. Like, if they could both co-coach Michigan somehow and just win national titles every year that would be ideal
January 5th, 2021 at 4:54 PM ^
So you assumed Belein was going to make an idiot of himself and give a 3rd graders analysis and were surprised when he game such a competent analysis? That seems pretty harsh. I thought we liked Belein around here.
January 5th, 2021 at 6:37 PM ^
I obviously don't know the details about what happened at the time of the Fab Five or why Chris couldn't be a part of the documentary with his teammates, but he's kind of come across as an egomaniac. He also is terrible as a color commentator. That said, it will still be interesting to hear his side of the story.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:15 PM ^
I’ve come to the conclusion that a sports columnist or commentator has jumped the shark once he or she starts concluding their columns or comments with a ranking or discussion of things other than their sport, like Peter Gammons talking about rock bands, Pat Forde and his places to eat, Peter King and his beer, and so on. Not that these people aren’t allowed to have an opinion outside their sport of expertise, but to think that we care what their opinions are on these topics smacks a bit of self-importance.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:15 PM ^
I still haven't fully adjusted to the fact that Beilein isn't our coach anymore. When he was breaking down that last play and he referred to Mike Smith as "Michael Smith", my instinctive reaction was "How do you not know that he goes by Mike and not Michael?" Then it occurred to me that there's no reason he should be expected to know that.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:09 PM ^
I don’t laugh out loud when reading too often, but I had a pretty good chuckle reading the paragraph immediately following the Beilein’s Blueprint video. Too funny XD
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