Jay Bilas comments?
Our victory over Duke was of course made a little sweeter because Jay Bilas was commentating for the game. (For those who don't know, Bilas is a friend of Tommy Ammaker and publicly bashed the Michigan athletic department for firing him and bashed Beilein during Michigan's rough season last year.) I hope he felt like the jerk he is watching Beilein take his alma mater behind the barn. Anyway, I was watching the game at a bar and didn't have sound, so I was curious whether Bilas acknowledged or remarked about his past Michigan bashing during the broadcast. Anybody hear anything?? Just curious...
December 8th, 2008 at 2:30 AM ^
I watched the entire game and thought he did a great job. Lots of good things to say about Manny, Sims, Grady, etc. and even Beilein. Plus, he spent as much time talking about UM as he did Duke, which was a refreshing departure from Mr. Vitale.
Still good to know he was burning up inside after all those comments last year.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:32 AM ^
Thanks for the info - I appreciate it. I suppose that maybe Bilas's evenhandedness shouldn't be too surprising (what was he supposed to do - continue to bash UM while its team consisting partially of walk-ons and freshmen are beating down the almighty DUKE?). I would have liked to have heard at least an acknowledgment of his past negative statements. I suppose I'm asking too much.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:45 AM ^
Surprisingly, Bilas was actually pretty positive throughout the broadcast and spoke highly of Michigan's players and Coach Beilein. I was shocked at how much he praised Michigan, and to the best of my knowledge, I don't recall him making any reference to Amaker or previous Michigan teams. I do remember one quote he made after Michigan scored on a back-door layup that was kinda stupid funny:
"Michigan is a great university with lots of buildings, but sometimes they leave the back door open."
December 8th, 2008 at 8:20 AM ^
bilas was very positive about michigan----but he talked like a guy who knew that about five supervisors were listening the whole time
December 8th, 2008 at 8:43 AM ^
he was a bit toooo positive. like he got some flack from his producers or something beforehand about the TA stuff.
i think he came off as disingenuous, at best.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:06 AM ^
Jay Bilas is the best color guy on ESPN. He actually knows what he is talking about and he stays very neutral throughout the whole game. If you knew nothing about Jay Bilas when watching the game you would have never known that he went to Duke. He had a lot of great analysis also of both teams.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:10 AM ^
Hello, Jay Bilas?
December 8th, 2008 at 10:24 AM ^
Let's be honest - Bilas, at no point, suggested that Beilein wasn't a good a coach, or that he wouldn't succeed. He actually said the opposite of that. What he DID say was that Michigan fired Amaker too quickly, and that Beilein was over-stating how bad things were. His full comments:
""Say What, Again? I detest having to bring this up again because I love John Beilein and think he was a great choice for Michigan, and that he will do a good job there in time. But, what is he talking about?! Beilein has taken great pains to suggest that his players don't know a basketball from a bowling ball, that his players are "learning how to play college basketball" and that when the Michigan coaches "give their wisdom to them, it's got to be almost a Montessori experience." What?! Beilein makes his players sound so stupid and clueless that it is insulting. First, and I say this as a guy who thinks that basketball is far more complicated than most seem to understand, to refer to your own basketball understanding as "wisdom" seems a bit much. Knowledge, yes. Wisdom, take a pill. Even John Wooden wouldn't refer to his own knowledge as "wisdom." Second, if your system is so complicated that you need to refer to recruited athletes and students admitted to the University of Michigan as the basketball equivalent of toddlers, maybe you should simplify things so you can compete favorably with Harvard, Central Michigan or Western Kentucky. Beilein has no depth (because of attrition), but Manny Harris (consensus top-50 recruit), DeShawn Sims (consensus top-50 recruit), Kelvin Grady (heavily recruited) and Ekpe Udoh (heavily recruited) are all good enough and smart enough to be competitive. Heck, Purdue is full of freshmen and sophomores, and its players are not being referred to as if they are idiots. Michigan is off to its worst start in 25 years, and it is not all the players' fault. Nobody is complaining about the poor play because Beilein deserves time to do it his way. Nobody asked me for my advice, and I understand that. But, if I were in Beilein's situation, I would quit making so many excuses and save my breath for teaching. Or, maybe I'm not smart enough to get it, either.""
None of that is saying Amaker was awesome, or that Beilein is awful. What it's saying is that Beilein was over-stating how awful the situation he inherited was. And you know what? If he compares teach DeShawn Sims to teaching Montessori (which is a teaching method reserved for PRE-SCHOOLERS) then I'd say that's a valid point. People aren't wrong every time they say something bad about Michigan.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:52 AM ^
and the fact that he feels like he had to take offense to Belein's comparison because of how it indirectly reflects on the coaching efforts of his former teammate is part of the reason. Its not just with Michigan either. I seem to remember him getting fairly butthurt over the treatment of Quinn Snyder at Missouri.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:08 AM ^
Yes, it is primarily used in preschool/elementary education, but it is the *method* that Beilein is probably referring to. That is, Montessori is about self-directed experiential learning that is adapted to the level the student currently is at. The teacher/coach introduces the material and the student works at it, interacting with the environment and adapting to their skills/abilities as they progress. Learning by doing and all that.
So I don't think he was nearly as insulting as you or Jay Bilas took it.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:47 AM ^
If that is the case,
and that is really how Beilein meant it,
than this statement from Bilas: "Or, maybe I'm not smart enough to get it, either." is spot on.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:32 PM ^
Montessori is indeed a method of teaching, and not limited to preschool. Assuming you meant elementary education to mean the 5/6 grade, it is even used beyond that for the 7/8 grade (or 6/7/8 grade depending on the grouping). The method is not widely adopted, so only larger schools tend to offer it through the 7/8 grade. There are also many schools that adopt similar methods without calling themselves Montessori schools, and some of these includes high schools.
While the teaching method is not for everyone (it looks like chaos at younger grades without knowing what's going on), graduates of Montessori schools are often very self-motivated, responsible, self-confident and intelligent. At least the ones I've met. So I agree, it's not nearly as insulting as some are/were taking it.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:06 PM ^
Bilas has actually made many impromptu rants about Michigan basketball over the last few years. What makes comments like this one comical is that he was arguing just the opposite when Amaker was around. He preached for patience with the coach in his sixth year, then turned around and attacked a coach in his first.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:34 PM ^
Chitown, I know you actually try to lend a voice of reason on here, which is appreciated, but I'm not sure why you're defending Bilas. Beilein was probably a little more qualified to comment on his own players than Bilas ever will be.
After reading the Bilas comments again, I can see where Michigan fans might be a little chapped. I wonder if this was Corso talking about Rodriguez this year, if you would have the same reaction.
FTR, Bilas gets paid to provide commentary. I have no problem with him. He's a Dukie, who was defending a fellow Dukie who he didn't think got a fair shake. I just don't think its unreasonable for "Michigan fan" to be upset with him.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:44 PM ^
Eh. My fandom of Rodriguez is probably no different than my fandom of Beilein - I think they're both really good coaches. But I sort of agree with his basic point that for Michigan to claim a talent deficit to Harvard and Western Kentucky is sort of...Bullshit. And I did take his Montessori comment to mean that he was comparing his players to 4 year olds. As OC has shown, that may be a misunderstanding.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:42 PM ^
I am paraphrasing, but He makes some comment about how John Scheyer's on the ball defense has improved by leaps and bounds over the offseason, and about 2 seconds later Manny Harris jukes him out of his shorts and lays it in unguarded, and then like 3 possessions later dunks right in his face. He also seemed to have some difficulty naming some players on Michigan. (although to be fair, so did I for the last 10 years or so)
December 8th, 2008 at 4:12 PM ^
to improve leaps and bounds at something and still get burned at it. and to be fair, manny harris does that to everyone. didn't feaking Collinson even have a difficult time guarding Harris?
December 8th, 2008 at 4:00 PM ^
Bilas is normally a fine analyst. He just seems unable to be objective when his friend Tommy Amaker is mentioned. During Amaker's last two years, he took every pain to stress what a crappy job/program Michigan was, and how hard it was to recruit there (which, ironically, probably didn't help us win over any recruits watching on TV), and how Amaker needed a seemingly unlimited amount of time to turn things around. Then Beilein took over and suddenly his shtick was all, "Come on coach, don't complain, you're coaching at Michigan and reaping the fruits of Tommy Amaker's recruiting harvests."
Now that we're winning, though, the subject of Amaker should never again come up and Bilas should be able to be objective again.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:15 PM ^
as objectivity. We actually discussed this in a high level course. Objectivity is a word created by people who want others to perceive them as having no bias in order to make what they say seem more important. In reality, every person in biased in regards to everything. It is of human nature to take sides in issues. Every person on this board would have the same biases if they were thrown in front of a camera to talk to millions of people. The point is, we shouldn't complain about people being biased because everybody is. There is no such thing as objectivity.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:20 PM ^
My head hurts.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:21 PM ^
sorry dude. It's exam week. I'm in an intellectual mood :)
December 8th, 2008 at 4:24 PM ^
Substitute "objective" with "professional" and the point stands.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:29 PM ^
to expand just a tiny bit, we came to the conclusion that objectivity was created by professionals.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:08 PM ^
awesome
Dr. Worm's head after reading this=asplode
December 8th, 2008 at 4:26 PM ^
i'm generally against the unhinged rant. and that certainly qualifies