MBB haters have gotten an early start

Also, they're playing professional teams.

That's a tough piece!  It's not going to be an easy season - a fact that Beilein knows well - but I think it's great to get the youngsters some good, off-the-record competition.  At least expectations are low.  I'm still happy to keep hope alive! 

...says:

dariusmorris1 I hear a lot of BS but I never sweat it

That article does at least serve a purpose - how bad should we be losing to pro european teams?

I mean, the only thing I have to go off is baseball.  During pre-season a pro team (scaled back) will play college teams and those college teams typically get shellacked.  And that's baseball - where if October has taught us anything - any team can win. 

But is there anything in the recent past (since college players began to play pro ball in Europe) that suggests a 30 point loss to a pro team is a really bad sign?

[EDIT: I find it really hurts the article's credibility when at the end he states that Huggins' squad barely relied on JB's recruits to get to the final four.  DButler was a JB guy and the team's best player by far.]

How about the fact that more than half the Michigan roster is playing in their first games as Wolverines?

So, here you have a very young collegiate team trying to gel together for the first time in actual game compeitiion versus established professional teams with players who presumably have played together for x number of years and who have vastly greater experience and are much more physically mature.

Were there people actually expecting Michigan to go 4-0 on this trip? That article is idiotic.

for the European trip is nothing more than a side trip to Dumbfuckistan.

Rough piece.  So let's get this straight.  Beilein is dismissed for getting to the NCAAs with two of Amaker's players, but Huggins doing the same with Beilein's players is great coaching.  Give me a break.  We have good players coming up.

Followed by an overseas trip where they play four games in a week, and everyone is getting playing time.  There is a shorter shot clock, and a deeper three line, plus playing quarters like the pros.  If anyone thinks they had a serious chance at winning games, they are delusional.  This is about seeing what they need to work on before the season starts. If nothing else, the posts are making me like this team as much as the one two years ago.

Keep in mind in Europe:

24s shot clock, not 35.

Wide lane.

Nearly NBA distance 3 pt.

Our team is full of 18 and 19 year old players.  European teams likely full of 23 - 30 year old men.

I withhold all judgement until we play games that actually count.  Until then, I'm happy that the players and the coaches get to enjoy a trip overseas and play some prime competition.  Most importantly extra practice sessions where we're breaking in several new players and new coaches.  Hopefully that translates to "hitting the ground running" when season practice begins.

for his post is Michigan's performance in Europe, and yet the extent of Matt Snyder's "research" on the opposition seems to be a list of college alma maters, which...fuck you Matt. I really do wonder how a lot of these sports media people get their jobs. The lack of any responsibility in preparing a piece before its published continually astounds. Michael Kay recently said something along the lines of "if you want to know the value of a pitcher, you look at Wins and Losses. ERA maybe if you want to get into fancy stats." Not to sound all Buzz Bissinger, but there just isn't any barrier to entry.

This is pre-season play. I think Snyder is being way to hard on these kids. Not to say they arent playing hard but I'm sure they arent playing at mid season form either. If we use Snyders metric to measure teams abilities based on pre-season success then the Detroit Lions should have won the Super Bowl in 2008, and we all know how that season turned out.

Everybody's been focusing on the article itself, and we're missing out on an additional wrinkle that HHW mentioned: this article was linked to by the UM Basketball Twitter account. What the hell?

It's too early to draw any conclusions on Beilein.

In his first season, he played with 0 of his recruits.

In his 2nd season, he played with his first class - a class that he had literally 25 days to assemble.

Last year was his first real class, and he landed 2 top 100 players (Morris, Vogrich) and a somewhat well-thought of PF (Morgan). Morris showed promise as a ball-handler and defensive player, Vogrich wasn't quite ready.

This year's class has a top 100 player (Smotrycz) a fringe top 100 player (Hardaway) and a third guy with 2 NBA players in his immediate family (Horford)

Next year, he has another top 100 player (Brundidge) and a guy CLOSE to the top 100 who could very well slide in (Burke).

In other words, he's barely had a chance to to play with the "talent" he's recruited, He deserves to get that chance.

It's Burke BTW, and don't forget Mclimans, maybe you didn't, but he looks to be one of  4 or 5 freshman getting significant minutes this year.

Stupid piece to write.  These games might as well not have a score associated with them. They are great experience, plain and simple.

"a possible replacement for recently booted point guard Laval Lucas-Perry was found in Tim Hardaway, Jr" This writer is laughable. The above is one of my favorite recruits. I don't think Michigan will have a hard time replacing a guy that averaged 5 ppg. How about replacing our top 2 scorers jackass? Also, he pokes fun at the international rosters, but he fails to remember that basketball is THEIR JOB. They spend all day working on their game and their livelihood depends on their performance. They are also MEN. There's a big difference between playing against other men for years, while aside from Novak, Douglass, and Morris, none of our guys have played meaningful minutes against anyone other than high school guys. And if I'm correct, the teams we're playing, their season's ended in June. Ours ended in early March. So obviously, they're a little fresher than we are. Forgive us Mr. Snyder, if we aren't dominating these teams like you think we should.