Virginia Tech 73, Michigan 70
A thousand words. [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
This one is going to sting.
Michigan had every opportunity to put Virginia Tech away and get a quality home win only to squander it with poor defense, strange substitutions by John Beilein, and a hideous heroball play by Zak Irvin on the potential game-winning shot.
The first half went about as well as one could ask. The Wolverines jumped out to a quick lead and were up by double digits for most of the opening stanza, exploiting VT's matchup zone—something they'd seen already this season against Howard—for a series of open threes and layups. Irvin was especially hot, pouring in 15 of his game-high 23 in the first half, and solid offensive contributions from Duncan Robinson, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, and Moe Wagner combined with sloppy play from VT to give the Wolverines a nine-point halftime edge.
It was a different story in the second half. The Hokies stopped coughing up the ball, allowing them to attack Robinson and MAAR on the perimeter for blow-by layups and take advantage of Mark Donnal's interior defense seemingly every possession he was on the floor.
"[We were] just doing some strange things on defense, and it really cost us," said John Beilein.
"Sometimes we just lose that edge when you've got to get a stop, we lose that edge to get a stop. We've got to be a better defensive team than that."
Wagner had an efficient outing that left many wanting more. [Campredon]
Even though Wagner clearly outplayed Donnal throughout the game, they each logged 17 minutes, and the difference between the two was stark on both ends. VT's Zach LeDay got most of his 18 points when matched up with Donnal; he found the going tougher against Wagner and, for one possession before he fouled out, DJ Wilson. The Hokies couldn't stop Wagner, who hit 5-of-6 shots—most of them driving layups—for 11 points. Donnal did not score.
Michigan's ball movement petered out in the second half, too, and with it went their hot shooting; they shot only 12-for-30 and 3-for-13 from beyond the arc. Irvin embodied Michigan's struggles. After going 6-for-8 in the first half, making his shots within the confines of the offense, he hit only 4-of-12 in the second, forcing more of his looks. None were worse than his heroball chuck on Michigan's penultimate possession, which badly missed the mark with Michigan down one.
"We were trying to isolate him and they took him away a little bit. We know what to do when they take him away and we didn't do it," Beilein said. "It's that simple. So now we got isolated and we got all gunked up there, we couldn't call timeout, and we got a bad shot."
"I wish we had a timeout to really put something together. They blew it up and we didn't counter well."
After two VT free throws and a deflected inbounds pass, Michigan had one last chance on a sideline inbounds play with 3.7 seconds left. Wagner saved a long toss to Robinson, who got a half-decent look to tie it, but his shot rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.
"It's a great learning curve game for us, and we'll grow from it," Beilein said. "We didn't deserve the win the game the way we played those last ten minutes."
November 30th, 2016 at 10:13 PM ^
So, how bad are Marquette and SMU? Yikes, another ugly performance against a mediocre team.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^
NYC now looking like a complete mirage with Exhibit A being DJ Wilson.
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November 30th, 2016 at 11:57 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 10:13 PM ^
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November 30th, 2016 at 10:15 PM ^
This remains a deeply flawed team, one that will probably make the tournament (this conference is sorta garbage right now, which should help net some wins) but on the bubble, again. I don't think Beilein needs to be let go, but at some point there needs to be a transition plan in place simply because I don't see the situation improving immensely. He'll get a couple of good recruits in, but there does appear to be a ceiling for this team right now, and I'm not sure "NCAA 8+ seed" is acceptable long-term.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
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November 30th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^
The thing about shifting what success looks like is that you have to continue to succeed at that higher level or it starts to look like a mirage. Maybe this team will turn it around come conference play but it feels like this could be another season spent wondering where the hell that damn oasis went.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:22 PM ^
If you started following Michigan basketball in the late 90's or afterr, then yeah, you have a valid point. However, my teenage years were in the 80s when UM was a high seed on a regular basis in the tourney.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:33 PM ^
People keep pointing to the "old" Michigan as if the end of Bill Frieder's tenure was the norm. He recruited well and got some amazing players (Rice, Vaught, Mills, Grant), but his tenure looks quite a bit like Beilein's in that it was down to start as he rebuilt a bit, then got "hot" for a 4-5 year stretch and competed for a title before sort of petering out (in this case, leaving and letting Fisher take over). UM's problem is they have never sustained success in basketball. They win a title, 2 years later they are out of the tournament. Go to 2 straight finals, then can't get out of the first weekend for 2 of the next 3 years, then get popped for recruiting violations. I wasn't alive during Orr's run, but that's another 'rode some great players for a couple of years' but nothing else.
What sets elite programs apart from UM is their consistency. I don't know if it's bad luck, being a clear #2 to football and that turning elite coaches away, whatever. But I just don't see UM ever being a team that consistently looks like a national contender in basketball.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:45 PM ^
All it takes is the right coach. Florida was nothing in basketball until they got Billy Donovan, suddenly they're competing for national titles most years under him. MSU was an inconsistent program under Heathcote, then they get Izzo and they're making Final Fours every 4 years. Beilein got us to a certain point, but it's pretty clear he's not the guy to get us to that next point. That coach is out there though, and it's up to Manuel to find him.
December 1st, 2016 at 12:15 AM ^
Yeah, but even Donovan fizzled out after a while. And that's really been the only bright spot for Florida for most of their existence, a 3-year run with some amazing recruits.
MSU under Izzo would be the goal, but basketball was also bigger at MSU than it is at UM simply because Spartan football has been mediocre for most of its existence. And Izzo is a bit a unicorn; I assume once he leaves MSU regresses back to an okay team.
It might be a good hire, but I think Beilein was a good hire when they made it. The problem is that he's probably aged out of his best years at this point, and it's just as likely UM gets another Amaker or Ellerbe as a younger Beilein.
December 1st, 2016 at 12:34 AM ^
IIRC Donovan had 1 bad year before he left for the NBA, the year before that he went to the F4 with 3 straight E8 runs before that. But the point is that while Michigan may never get to the point where it can sustain success over multiple coaching tenures, finding the right coach that can consistently have us playing at a high level throughout his tenure isn't unattainable. At this point, Beilein's program is just stuck in neutral. The team is pretty mediocre, recruiting isn't great, there's just not much to suggest that things will get better in the next few years. Meanwhile, it seems like interest in the program just continues to wane, and it seems like we need a shot in the arm. Maybe the next coach turns out to be another Amaker, or maybe he turns out to be a success. That's the risk you run, but it's better than more years of this.
December 1st, 2016 at 1:04 AM ^
You might want to take another look at what Donovan did at Florida. It was a heck of a lot more than a nice 3 year run.
2 NCAA titles
4 Final Fours
7 Elite Eights
4 SEC tournament titles
6 SEC regular season titles
His last 4 years at Florida went: elite 8, elite 8, elite 8, Final Four.
December 1st, 2016 at 1:16 AM ^
His last 5 years were:
26-4, 1st in the Big Ten
28-5, 1st in the Big Ten
20-12, 5th in the Big Ten
26-8, 2nd in the Big Ten (3 seed in NCAA tourney)
24-7, 3rd in the Big Ten (3 seed in NCAA tourney)
If not winning the Big Ten title every year is petering out, then yeah he petered out.
December 1st, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^
His NCAA tournament record left a lot to be desired, but he was knocked out twice by UNC, which is no shame and once by a Villanova team that won the national title. Once the NCAA field expanded to 64, the success was maintained until Tom Goss screwed over the basketball program.
1984-1998: Two NIT championships and 12 NCAA appearances. That's 14 straight postseason appearances and the first NIT title came when the NCAA field only had 53 teams. That should qualify as sustained success.
I don't think it's false to say that Tom Goss, with a slight assist to Ed Martin, is the reason that we have not been a consistent national contender in basketball since 1998. MSU was not the cool in-state hoops team until Brian Ellerbee was given the keys to the program.
December 1st, 2016 at 7:30 AM ^
December 1st, 2016 at 8:00 AM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^
Listen man, I've lived through the Ellerbe/Amaker years, so I get that being a consistent-ish tourney team means something. But at the same time, everyone hits a wall and it's time to consider the next step. I think Beilein deserves a long rope, but at some point you can't just let him hang himself with it. I think the defense has improved quite a bit compared to years past, but this team doesn't really have any elite young players to go along with the competent (but no better) upperclassmen they have on the roster. And he isn't going to reload with stars, so it'll be a couple more years of streaky play.
I've long been on the record around here that UM is not an elite basketball program, historically. It has its spurts of success, but it's not a blue-blood program. So I'm not expecting them to contend for a title every year. But they should still be in the top 5-6 of this conference more years than not, and yet they consistently haven't been able to beat the likes of Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, etc., all teams they should be able to keep up with.
December 1st, 2016 at 5:33 AM ^
This isn't true. Beilein didn't shift what looks like success for the program. Success for the program has always meant winning championships, beating our rivals, and deep NCAA tourney runs. That we had such a long tourney drought under Ellerbe and Amaker says more about how shitty those guys were as coachces than it says about Michigan being a tough place to win at.
I pray to God that this lowering of standards never happens with our football program and a 25% winning percentage becomes "the new normal".
December 1st, 2016 at 9:08 AM ^
and a 25% winning percentage becomes "the new normal".
Huh?
December 1st, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
think in "winning" he means seasons with high level success. Like, he hopes that we never turn into a program in football that considers itself a success when it has good or great years one out of every four years.
Either that, or he thinks that Michigan basketball loses a lot more than it actually does.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:25 PM ^
its games like this that show why there is almost zero hype or interest in the hoops program right now. JB had a huge opportunity to lift this program after 2013 and he totally squandered it.
We are now a perpetual bublle team. Blech.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 10:31 PM ^
they are also lacking energy and aggression. You can tell they lack energy because on seemingly every out of bounds play, they make real lazy cuts and the defense is able to stay with them. So they are forced to throw the ball all the way to the backcourt. I want to see some hard, aggressive cuts from this team. I saw Duncan make one nice backdoor cut and Walton hit him for a layup. That was it for the whole game.
The center position is a clusterf#ck right now defensively. Neither guy can guard and Donnal is afraid to foul lest he be pulled from the game. So he lets in easy layups and gets pulled from the game anyway. He ran out to the 3 point line on one VT player who calmly drove right past him. Play under control. Play with a plan.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:37 PM ^
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November 30th, 2016 at 10:40 PM ^
because I missed the first 16 minutes of the game. Yep, when I started watching we were ahead by 13. You can blame me for this loss.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
1. Beilein is the Rich Rodriguez of basketball.
2. Michigan athletics needs a good sports psychologist. The number of big leads blown by our major programs is astounding.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:00 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:02 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:08 PM ^
Decent success for years at mid-tier programs, a short stint in the national spotlight with a couple of stars, rapid decline driven by poor recruiting, lack of defense, and low physicality, all culminating in an unsuccessful staff shake-up. It's very similar.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:20 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:24 PM ^
And Rich Rod won 4 Big East championships.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:56 PM ^
December 1st, 2016 at 12:10 AM ^
is just wrong. Beilien's success came AFTER he moved up in difficulty level, he's shown his success is not just the product of a garbage league, and he actually has, on occasion, recruited at a high level, all of which Rodriguez was unable to do even for a year or two. And basketball is inherently different than football anyway because there is so much more interconference play, that you can't have a mirage of success in a crap (high major) league. Either you are objectively a good team or you aren't.
Now, having said that, Beilein clearly has reached his ceiling, and dropped back below it to his average, and i don't think we can expect sustained success with him, so a change should be in the offing in the next 3-4 years.
But it's a completely different path than Rodriguez.
December 1st, 2016 at 5:06 PM ^
When John Beilein goes to the ACC and fails miserably, I'll concede your point.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^
Beilein's first staff shakeup preceded his most successful run. RR fired Scott Shafer and brought in Greg Robinson.
December 1st, 2016 at 8:09 AM ^
Low standards in recruiting plus an unsound strategic approach to the game that emphasizes one thing at the expense of many others.
Beilein is more level headed and he seems more capable of change and introspection than Rodriguez, but the analogy isn't a bad one.
December 1st, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
even really tell what is emphasized right now. All this talk of this really "intricate, complicated offense," it looks like they run "jack up a 3" on every possession. i don't even think the reputation as a good offensive team holds up any more.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:07 PM ^
We all know you hate John Beilein with all the force in your life but this comparison makes no sense.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
There's two explanations.
Either, Beilein called that play, an iso for Irvin where he dribbles around and burns the shot clock. If that's the case, shame on JB. Or..
Irvin went into business for himself for the umpteenth time in his career, which, if so, shame on him.
It's been stated ad nauseum during the last few years, Irvin and Walton are incapable of displaying leadership on this team, and their actions back up that claim. Neither is having an "aneurysm" any time soon, and the team will suffer under their guidance.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:02 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^
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November 30th, 2016 at 11:02 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 10:27 PM ^
Man the 2013 and 2014 classes look pretty horrible at the moment.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:46 PM ^
The team itself looks soft and missing an edge, or something. Except for Wagner. And they look like they start sleep-walking at different times during games. They don't seem to have the enthusiasm and energy they appeared to have earlier in the season. There was a point late in the second half where they were moving the ball around the horn, but no one was moving, so all the defense had to do is just kind of stand there, wait until someone had to take a shot, which was easily contested because it had to be rushed. I thought the point of moving the ball around is to get the defense to move out of position, find the open guy and get off good shots. I'm not sure what to make of what I'm seeing, but it is somewhat disheartening. Hopefully it's just a gelling thing and they come around.
December 1st, 2016 at 7:23 AM ^
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