Michigan MBB @ Northwestern Open Thread

the use of moving the ball upcourt with the clock stopped as the buzzer draws near.

I think a team is more likely to score if it inbounds the ball from near halfcourt with 2.4 seconds left than if it inbounds the ball from underneath its own bucket.

Now we only had one timeout left when NW tied it up, so the players would have had to have been taught what to do in that situation.  But watch three Michigan players walk with their backs to Spike as they approach halfcourt as Spike calls Michigan's last timeout with the game tied 59-59 with 2.4 seconds left.  (Spike really had no choice.)  Had one of them made themselves available safely, by getting across half court and then coming back to the ball to be sure no one from the opposing team could intercept it, we could have called an immediate timeout and had the ball out of bounds near mid-court with about 2.0 seconds left.

The subsequent inbound will likely be caught within 2.0 dribbling seconds of shooting range.  At the very least, if no one was open, then Spike could just call "Fire" or something, toss it to the NW free throw circle, and let the clock run out.  That's the worst case scenario.

You have to move the ball with the clock stopped.  It could have been done twice.  By calling timeout before an inbounds, we limited ourselves to one opportunity to move the ball upcourt with the clock stopped (and we blew that, too.)

M does not deserve to win this game. What a fucking joke. Also, I love that Beilein has Spike inbound AND cover the opposing inbounder. How does Beilein not understand that is just wrong on both ends?