ijohnb

February 5th, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^

Wagner should come off the bench.  He ALWAYS picks up a foul in the first 4 minutes of the game and ends up sitting for the next 6 minutes anyway.  Right now, when this happens it disrupts our flow and other teams capitalize on it.  Beilein should put him in after the first TV timeout so he can waste that one foul whenever and not need to sit because of it.  It would get other players into the action a little bit earlier and allow Wagner to play without the fear of that foul and getting benched.  There is too much of a stop-and-start aspect to his presence in the lineup right now.

rc15

February 5th, 2018 at 2:52 PM ^

HOT TAKE RESPONSE -

You should (almost) never sit someone due to foul trouble. If they don't end up fouling out, you wasted extra minutes they could've been on the floor. If they do foul out, you maximized the minutes they were able to play.

Unless someone adds additional value for being on the floor in the last 2 minutes of the game vs. the rest of the game (85+% FT shooter). you should just maximize the number of minutes for your best players and not care when those minutes occur.

ijohnb

February 5th, 2018 at 3:02 PM ^

Players are typically benched for foul trouble not because of fear from the coaching staff that the player is going to foul out, but because of the self-preservation instinct of the player not to commit fouls once they have a couple.  Players want to play the whole game, so a player with two fouls in the first half or one that picks up a third early in the second are cautious to avoid picking up additional fouls and tend to play timid.

That may not be the case for Beilein, however.  I think that part of Beilein's auto-bench policy is that he sincerely hates when his players foul and it may be partially a punitive measure.

rc15

February 5th, 2018 at 3:12 PM ^

I do understand it if you're essentially punishing a kid to remind him not to commit stupid fouls. And I can see it being a disadvantage if a team is directly attacking a big to try to get him out of the game, and he's playing passively to avoid another foul.

On the other hand, how often does a player miss 10+ minutes in the first half, to end up finishing the game with only 2 or 3 fouls?

Also, refs know who is in foul trouble. If a player has 2 or 3 fouls in the first half, the next one is probably going to have to be blatant to get called. Same for fouling out in the 2nd half if its not in the last 2 or 3 minutes.

BlueLava009

February 5th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^

I feel as though sometimes the 5 seed gets a bad matchup on purpose.  Brackets love parity and thats the matchup the underdog always wins.  I'd be willing to bet it happens for often than not the 12th seed is really a 7-10 seed seeded as a 12th....

greymarch

February 5th, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^

UM plays at NW Tuesday, at Wisc Saturday.

 

NW played UM tight in AA a few weeks ago.  I am expecting UM to lose at NW and win at Wisc.  I am also expecting UM to barely stay in the top 25 after this week.

 

Perkis-Size Me

February 5th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^

So I haven't paid too much attention to Auburn basketball (I doubt most Auburn fans even remember that they have a basketball team), but to anyone who has seen them play this year, are they for real?

Your traditional SEC powers in Kentucky and Florida are down this year, by their standards, and Auburn hasn't played either of them yet. They do have a good win against Tennessee, but the two teams they lost to, Alabama and Temple, are not good teams.

Are they just beating up on a bad SEC conference, or do they look the part? 

charblue.

February 5th, 2018 at 4:38 PM ^

to warrant negative thinking. They just deal with the situation and play the schedule. Nobody critiques how you won after you won, they only check the record and summary of details and make an evaluation. So, if your ranking goes up even if your play is't stellar, it's better than playing great and not getting ranked. It is what it is. This team will go as far as it's ability takes it, don't worry about the challenges or circumstances, life always intervenes in the process.

uncle leo

February 6th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^

Even through winning games. And you can't just wipe away the win against Minnesota as nothing to fear. There's something that reared it's ugly head again, and could have very well cost them the game. Free throw shooting. 

When the team gets to the national stage, the lights are brighter, and those misses are that much more important. This team needs to figure that s*** out in a hurry.

goblue16

February 5th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^

If we can go 4-2 in the last 6 with a win against OSU and win 2 in the big ten tourney we should land a solid 6 seed

Year of Revenge II

February 6th, 2018 at 7:16 AM ^

The team has solidified its national cachet.  What's more, they have done it with defense and rebounding.  It has been pretty ugly lately, but they have found a way to win.

Let's hope the shots start falling.

L'Carpetron Do…

February 6th, 2018 at 9:38 AM ^

it's hard to tell if this team is overrated, underrated or just right.  I love Beilein teams and I'm hoping for that patented Beilein February Surge (TM) but they've looked pretty pedestrian at times and not worthy of a #20 ranking.  At the same time, they've looked like one of the best teams in the country against State and Purdue.  

I've always complained that recent Beilein teams don't play up to their potential and often play flat and with no sense of urgency.  But this team hasn't been playing well and they're #20 right now. It makes me wonder where the ceiling is. It's likely much higher. 

I really hope they get their shit together tonight and play with some authority down the stretch.