Manny's Malaise
I want to blame the refs as much as anybody, and the missed layups by Stu and Novak were killer. However, I think the real reason we lost last night is the way we decided to depend on Manny down the stretch - he killed us on both ends of the floor. Dylan has a nice bullet list over at UMHoops describing Harris' performance over the final 10 minutes of the game - it's not pretty... I think this has been mentioned before, but while Manny has NBA potential, this team would be a lot better (as would he) by operating within John's system, rather than just trying to create for himself - drive to the lane directly off of a screen, not after standing at the top of the key for five seconds, letting the help defense set up before the drive, and for the love of God PLAY A LITTLE DEFENSE!!
January 21st, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^
But he's just trying to win. He's not a selfish player. I don't always like his decisions but I think he sometimes thinks - with at least some merit - that no shot is coming if he doesn't force the action.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^
It wasn't the officials. It was poor play on UM's part.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:15 PM ^
Agreed, but the two aren't mutually exclusive.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^
I think he really has a lot of room to improve on his decision making. A lot of time, especially down the stretch, he just drives and then suddenly jump stop in the middle of the lane, where defenders can crash on him and either poke the ball away or setup for a block. If he wants to drive, he's gotta take it to the hole hard or look to pass it back out early.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Most of the improving won't be at Michigan considering he's leaving after this year... And at this point, it's safe to say some of his decisions have cost us games. But how can I complain? Sometimes those crazy 3's go in... right?
January 21st, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^
Because he's not NBA caliber talent at this point. Not a good defender and poor judgement in an undersized body for NBA doesn't translate into much success at the next level. We love Manny because he plays for M, but if he played for an ACC team I don't think we'd be discussing his bright future in the NBA.
I'm not banging on Manny, but I don't think he fits JB's system. They play different when he's out of the game. Michigan BB would not be where it is now without him, but I don't think they take the next step with him either.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
He may be undersized in terms of weight, but his height(6'5" I believe) is pretty good for an NBA shooting guard.
It is true that he isn't a surefire NBA star, but they usually draft on potential rather than on things that can be fixed (like defense and decision making)
I am confident Manny would get drafted if he decides to jump, probably not first round, but definitely drafted.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:00 PM ^
Manny's problem is that his presumptive NBA position (shooting guard) is by far the easiest position to fill. There are tons and tons of guys like him out there. You don't draft for potential at 2 unless you're talking about a guy with MJ-like athleticism or crazy size, neither of which he has.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
Anyone else notice that UM seemed to be running a completely different offense in the first half with a lot of hand offs and curls? It seemed to be doing pretty well and it also seemed like they abandoned it and went to pure Manny at the end, which obviously didn't go so well.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
That was the most frustrating part of the game to me. I didn't think it was refereed any worse than any other Big Ten game.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^
Also, what the hell was with that little runner/shot put-style shot he kept throwing up at the end of the game? The last one was an airball from 8ft. After he beats the D to an open space for a med-range shot, I'd like to see him plant his feet and elevate for a jumper. The running floater can be an effective shot in spots, but some of those last night were ugly.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
Can he not go left or do they just really like to play to his strength of going right? Does his hamstring problem hamper him from going left?
It's frustrating to watch Sims set the same pick at the same exact spot on the floor and nowhere else 10-12 times every single game.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^
when opponents prepare for him, they tell their players he can't go left.
He may be able to somewhat, but the amount of space defenders give up to his left and shade him to the right, and the fact that despite that shading he still goes right almost everytime, suggests that when the chips are down against a good B10 defender, he can't go left.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
Part of the problem was that Sims fouled out late and was playing with 4 fouls for a while thanks to that HORRIBLE charging call. So where are you going to go for offense except Manny? No one else can be relied on unless you want someone to jack up a three pointer that has less than a 30% chance of going in.
There was one play where the shot clock was running out that Manny drove and missed but right behind him either Novak or Stu was standing wide open at the 3pt line.
They lost because they can't count on anyone but Manny and Sims. They lost because Novak missed a layup and a free throw line jumper along with Sims missing a layup. They lost because they still can't hit threes with any consistency. And finally, you can't ignore the role the refs played late in the game.
I'm sorry, but despite how bad Michigan played you can't ignore the fact that they got called for two REALLY marginal charging calls right when the crowd had gotten back into the game. That shows me that the refs were easily swayed by the home crowd. At that point it got Sims his fourth foul and took away any of Manny's chance of winning the game at the line.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
This is partially my point (or counter-argument). I think we rely on Manny too much late in games. Zack or Stu or LLP are afraid to shoot late in the game because they feel they should defer to Manny, thereby causing them to be less confident if they do take a shot. In the same vein Manny feels like he needs to carry the team down the stretch, so he tries to force things when he shouldn't. Sure Manny and Sims were the only players to reach double digits, but they took twice as many shots as everyone else. Manny only made 29% of his attempts (and missed two of his three shots from the top of the lane late, one the aforementioned airball). Stu was equivalent at 25% and LLP made 40%. I think if the team would stop thinking like its a hierarchy and just played within themselves and the guy with the open look takes the shot rather than forcing the issue to Manny they'd be a lot better off (see end of UConn game: Novak's open three). You can say the role players aren't playing with confidence, but I can't say I feel better with the ball in Manny's hands either recently...
January 21st, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
I scratched the surface on Manny in my last diary, but he doesn't adapt well off the dribble. He makes his mind up too early and because of that telegraphs to the defense what he's going to do. His defensive intensity seems to be reliant on his offensive success at times as well. I don't know what he's like to coach, but he seems like a kid that gets too high or too low depending on the situation which is why Beilein has benched him at times throughout his career. Without CJ Lee or David Merritt to lead, that kind of behavior can be very poisonous to the team.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
I scratched the surface on Manny in my last diary, but he doesn't adapt well off the dribble. He makes his mind up too early and because of that telegraphs to the defense what he's going to do. His defensive intensity seems to be reliant on his offensive success at times as well. I don't know what he's like to coach, but he seems like a kid that gets too high or too low depending on the situation which is why Beilein has benched him at times throughout his career. Without CJ Lee or David Merritt to lead, that kind of behavior can be very poisonous to the team.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
Watching Manny last night, it was almost as if he was sleep walking throughout the entire game. He looked disinterested and bored at times. Not a performance to remember in your draft year. This is a game we should have won.