Michigan vs. Okla St. Postgame Snowflakes Thread
That game was a reminder that something like a 6-7 point lead with a minute left is not necessarily an adequate cushion. Ok State seemed to score in about 3 seconds on many of those final possessions. Good thing we made just enough free throws.
on the defensive side of the ball. If you let the other team zoom down the court for an easy basket, it takes very little time off the clock. Then you get into the FT shooting derby which can be dicey. It likely would have gone better if we contested the ball up the court more than we did. Oh well. That was a quality against a very good team. I thought OSU played a much better defensive game than they usually do - mainly on the inside.
You're right. And swapping the quick twos for free-throws worked out (barely!). Also, OkSt got the prayer three-pointer off the glass, and the final shot which was basically uncontested.
Everything is a battle - this team is being tested against dramrically different schemes and perserveres
For the record, Kenpom is GOD.
do YA THINK perhaps the committee should take Ken Pom into account when seeding the tournament?
Alternatively, Hollis can fucking pick and choose knowing he can create massive ken pom misseeds and profit, thanks to the out of date RPI.
What the hell happend to the defense? I mean, I knew they were going to get their points...but whew. I suppose they did drop 85 on Kansas, and without two desperation 3 chucks (Death to Backboards) it would be the same number. But daaamnn, they have some work to do.
We had 15 defensive rebounds. Okie St had 16 offensive rebounds. Okie St's shooting percentage was largely a function of uncontested putbacks.
If we had even had an average rebounding game, we likely win by 10 points or maybe more. Games like this demonstrate how badly we need a strong inside rebounding guy; someone who takes up space and doesn't let people take the ball away from him. Wagner was out of position most of the time and Wilson often gets outmuscled.
Mo Bamba please report to the front desk. A call is waiting for you on the courtesy phone from Messrs. Donlon and Beilein.
don't get me wrong, our defense was atrocious, but some of the offensive rebounds came from us scrambling so hard, handling the pick and roll not very well, getting so out of position... we didn't have the right guys in position to rebound. So the bad rebounding was part and parcel of the rest of the bad defense/good offense from them.
Evans finished with 23 points on 26 shots, mostly on the inside. They had 16 offensive rebounds but we knew that would happen.
The rest of OSU scored 68 points on 38 shots. Evans had 12 assists.
Win is a win, which means there's no wrong answer, but I think MGoBlog folks were correct in that they could've let Evans do his damage and shut everyone else down. Carroll had 19 points on only 8 shots!
I think MGoBlog folks were correct in that they could've let Evans do his damage and shut everyone else down.If it were that simple, every team would do it. And yet...
not the plodding Badgers.
We just played the #1 offense in the country. Survive and advance, man, survive and advance.
I'm a little surprised that Robinson is not a better free-throw shooter. Statistic I'd like to see: guys with the biggest gap between 3-point shooting percentage and free throw percentage.
He's a career 86% FT shooter
I guess I should have checked the stats! For some reason I thought he was lower. Maybe I'm just bad luck and he misses when I'm watching?
ETA: Looks like 82% for this year, so a little bit lower than last year. Maybe I should be more surprised that DJ Wilson shot almost as well this year (80%) or Zak Irvin only makes 2 of 3.
Those were high, high pressure FTs with no Michigan players on the lane and I wonder if he got a bit spooked. I certainly was, and I was just sitting (well, standing and twitching) at home.
High pressure FT's that a good shooter would have/should have knocked down. Could have cost us the game. Not once, but TWICE.
some banging!!!
They couldn't stop talking about Evans but Walton had more points on half as many FG attempts. If we can play any semblance of D or rebounding against Louisville, I think we will be OK.
Man rarely do you see a game go such "chalk" in terms of preview - two teams that shoot the lights out, one team with expected massive rebound advantage, ends with a 1 point win to the favorite (KENPOM'D)
I thought we'd win by a bit more as I thought Mo would have a big game inside considering his matchup but take it an advance. Whew.
That last minute tho...
OkSU deserves a 6 seed. Check their KenPom ranking.
Style points mean nothing in the Big Dance. Every win is a good win from here on out.
OSU is one of the best offensive teams in the country. Had to know Michigan was going to have its hands full today. But they survived and that's all that matters.
On to the next one.
Hail Kenpom.
Hail the three ball.
Hail this team--who continues to be some of the most fun I've ever had watching BBall.
kenpom had it 78-77
We had the best player in the country in football. And, we have the best player in the country in basketball. Go Blue!
when they voted on all conference.
That they wanted to light (another) fire under Derrick?
Snowflake #1: Shoot 73% from 3 point line, we'll win many games.
Snowflake #2: Wagner's defensive rotations and help sucked butt in the 2nd half. JB was smart to play Robinson in the final stretch.
Snowflake #3: Everyone hit big shots, and we needed every one of them. OK St. was a tough matchup.
the #1 offense in the nation, per KenPom. Is it weird that I actually like the Louisville matchup better than this one? If we can grab 5-10 more rebounds against Louisville, we will win that game too. Michigan just went 12 rounds toe to toe with the best offense in the nation and WON! How many times has this fanbase been able to say that?
The #1 offense torched us for 91. That's going to win most games.
What we did was run the #133 (or whatever) defense through a wood chipper.
I said it was a game of efficiency. Man, they killed us on the boards, and Evans did his damage as expected. But their defense suuuuucks.
I think it took some serious nerves to stick with the expected plan. It's hard to look at the Massacre of the Boards and everybody not Jawun Evans torch us, but they finished a combined 7/16 on threes and Evans himself jacked up 26 shots. It worked, so all's well that ends well.
But this is a snowflake thread, so I'm gonna snowflake. We expected Evans to do his damage and the defense to shut everyone else down. I still think that would've worked as well, maybe even better. Even if Evans doubled his points, keep him off the 3-point line and OSU would've had a tougher time keeping pace. As it is, the rest of the team went 21/29 from the field; Evans had 12 assists. Combined with 16 OREBS. . . yikes yikes yikes, that's scary.
They didn't turn the ball over, and shot the lights out. As good as Okie St. was, we were even better.
Neither team broke tendency. We were just a little bit better at what we do.
I feel like the trade of 2s for 3s worked out. But it was certainly problematic how rarely there were possessions where Ok St missed a shot and Michigan got a clean rebound. It felt like it almost never happened.
I disagree in that OSU's defense was not that bad IMO. Yes, we scored a ton but that was only due to insane shooting. I thought for the most part OSU played at least average, if not better, defense. Cowboy hats off to them.
We are tournament-tested sharpened steel right now. We are ready to take on Louisville.
Can't wait to read a bit why Wagner didn't play big minutes. Also, I pooped myself (twice!) that game
1st half: Fouls (obviously)
2nd half: Defense. In my view, he really struggled defensively.
This team has been Walton's team for years, even when Caris was still here. It's always been a case of "they'll go exactly as far as Walton takes them." What a joy to see Walton playing like a tournament legend.
Derrick Walton or Trey Burke? The world may never know.
stepped up in this game.
Walton was absolutely magnificent.
Irvin and DJ made some clutch shots, MAAR and Robinson had key contributions. Wagner didn't have a big game, but his return in the first half sparked us.
Keep it up - Go Blue!
Craziness. From the absolutely horrible start for both teams to the NBA Jam second half. I feel like the early, tight whistles really set up Ok State to play their game by benching Wagner and forcing Michigan to mothball its hands game (remember that bogus call on Robinson for getting all ball on the layup?) and allow OSU free reign when they drove the lane.
I want to say that Michigan stepped up and made the key defensive stops to be the difference, but that never really happened. They just hit the 3s they needed to, and held on when Robinson biffed two key 1-on-1s.
What's great about this team is that they've learned to win in so many different ways. On Sunday, in all likelihood (because that's how it's been lately) Michigan won't be able to get the 3s to fall at all. But they'll be right there in the second half because Wagner has a monster game or Wilson is making key passes to beat the press or they're oddly getting a bunch of shot blocks or something.
Ok, I'm going to go fall over now.