B-Nut-GoBlue

January 21st, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^

WE CANNOT FUCKING PULL AWAY. That Teske shot is so lame...we've got them on the edge and setrle for that which we could get virtually any time in our sets. Go for a better look guys...effff

Joined: 09/30/2011

MGoPoints: 43665

yossarians tree

January 21st, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^

Am I the only one who hates the way the P.A. guy calls a Michigan three pointer? He sounds like a wounded elephant having a bowel movement. I'm all for him putting in a little enthusiasm but that is more befitting a monster truck rally.

Joined: 08/19/2010

MGoPoints: 22293

Bambi

January 21st, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^

Bad turnover one possession, good decision to not shoot and pass to Robinson on the next, then a rebound before taking it the distance for a lay-in. Shows his freshman struggles and why Beilein doesn't play him as much, but also shows some growth as to how he can get more court time, especially when he isn't scoring.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 23158

Ajcoss

January 21st, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^

You could say this about every player on UM. Matthews & MAAR make lots of boneheaded decisions, especially Matthews on O. Nobody calls those out. Entire team (not just Poole) has been garbage the last 2.5 games. Other than a small stretch of Maryland (which Poole had a big part), they have been completely lost on offense. ALL players.

Joined: 01/04/2017

MGoPoints: 8208

Bambi

January 21st, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^

Disagree that the rest of the team makes boneheaded decisions. Matthews does for sure, but MAAR doesn't. MAAR doesn't turn the ball over and plays solid defense. Matthews will turn the ball over, but he's our best wing defender and even when he's not scoring or missing layups he still rebounds the ball and distributes it well. Even against Maryland 7 points on bad shooting, but good D, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. 

Poole doesn't come close to that. If he's not scoring, he doesn't give much else. He's been better recently but still that means one or two assists or rebounds a game at best. If he doesn't score he's basically Duncan Robinson. He's better defensively since he's more athletic, but his mental mistakes are typical freshman ones (forcing a shot, holding the ball too long on offense resulting in a turnover, defensive lapse resulting in an easy bucket, etc.) which are teachable moments for Beilein, so he takes him out to do exactly that.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 23158

Ajcoss

January 21st, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^

Matthews clearly brings more on the D side but a huge liability on O. Bad shooting, bad decisions, holds the ball a lot. I like MAAR, but he doesn't bring anything exciting on O. With Z/Matthews he needs to do more. Yes, he doesn't turn it over, but I think Poole had as many points today as MAAR who played easily 3X the minutes. Today probably isn't the first example of this. This team goes through long spells on O where they can't score, and clearly to me Mo and Poole are the only two guys who have that potential to take over on O. Just saying more Poole (take the ups with downs) will help us on offense big time. Not saying it should be Poole 35+ minutes, just saying with our offensive limitations some games, needs like 20+.

Joined: 01/04/2017

MGoPoints: 8208

Bambi

January 21st, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^

Your argument exclusively boils down to points, which is a very simplistic way to look at it.

Matthews has definitely been struggling recently offensively recently, but most of that is coming from missing layups. That's incredibly frusturating and something he needs to improve on, but more likely than not it's just a bad stretch of basketball for him. It's something he needs to play out of. He's not making bad decisions with his shots, they just aren't falling. And once again, he provides something in every other aspect of the game. Poole's failings are mental and teachable, things that playing through them won't fix, learning will fix them.

Also, who cares if MAAR doesn't bring anything "exciting" on O? That seems like a terrible reason not to play someone. MAAR had 6 points to Poole's 4 points today, obviously not a great shooting output for MAAR. But Poole also had only 1 assist and 2 turnovers to MAAR's 4 assists and 0 turnovers. Once again, ignoring defensive lapses, that means that on 3 offensive possesions Poole provided a positive and 2 a negative. If he's only +1 on offense, once his defense is factored in he's a bigger negative than Matthews or MAAR.

Poole definitely can provide help when this offense is struggling, which it tends to do. But this fanbase seems to think the answer is just throwing Poole out there and all of sudden everything is fixed. He can be a spark plug, but he can also be a non-factor or negative. Yes he can score, but as we've seen with Duncan, that can easily be mitigated by struggles elsewhere. 

There are games where he needs extended minutes. And he's gotten it in those games (Indiana, Maryland, Illinois). Those games Beilein has let him play through the downs and the ups have made it worth it. But he also got 16 minutes against Nebraska and scored 5 points on 7 shot equivalents with 2 turnovers, 3 fouls and no assists. Certain games he should get 15+ minutes, but a lot of games he shouldn't until he's less 1-dimensional. And Beilein has let him play when he's needed to.

If you put him out there 15+ minutes every game, you're not going to see some incredible team wide change. You're going to see a lot more Poole chucking up shots and stagnating the offense with a slightly higher offensive effeciency, a much lower defensive efficiency which is offset by a game here and there where Poole's offense warrants the rest of his game.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 23158

Bambi

January 21st, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^

And just to be clear: I love Poole, think he has a great future as a scorer and more. He has the physical ability to be a good defender and distributor/rebounder as well. I also think he should be getting a minutes uptick. I just don't buy him being a consistent 20+ minute guy a game.

He should be used how Beilein currently does. Put him on the court every game whenever it's time and see how he does. If he's Indiana/Maryland Poole, let him play. If he's not keep him out there until he starts making too many freshman mistakes. If we're having a half like first half Maryland then give him a little more leeway, but he's not some some infaliable kid who will save our offense whenever he's on the floor. He might, but more often than not he won't.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 23158