Team Depth?
How much was team depth an issue tonight. We had guys who couldn't find their rhythm worth a damn and I'm not sure there are enough subs who could come in and give quality minutes. Losing Livers hurt, but it seems like we should have enough of a bench to play at least a couple more guys.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:23 AM ^
Being able to go deep is always important
March 31st, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
Can’t do that all night though...
You can when you're 18-21
Are Wisconsin’s 22+ year olds past their prime?
Would your mom know?
March 31st, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
Michigan points off the bench: 15
UCLA points off the bench: 0
Today it came down to the starting 5 not executing.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:28 AM ^
I don't disagree with you, but team depth has been brought up more than once as in issue with this team. When you have multiple starters who can't find their groove, a couple more bench players who can give quality minutes can turn things around. It was just such a disjointed offensive effort a spark from someone else would have been quite a lift.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:33 AM ^
Sure, team depth has been an issue raised about this team prior to tonight. But, was that the reason they lost tonight? Michigan is the team that got production from its rotation/depth players. UCLA did not. Tonight is on the lack of execution from the starting 5 players.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
I didn't state that was the reason, I asked the question. There are certainly better minds for the game here and thought maybe someone would shed some light.
But, was that the reason they lost tonight?
I'd say turnovers and 50% from the line
March 31st, 2021 at 12:54 AM ^
Josh Christopher would've helped Michigan tonight. Juzang was out of his mind. Michigan had Moe and Trey its last two trips to the finals. Nobody on this team can emulate those 2.
He told juwan he was committing then bailed on him ....so?! What do you want him to do?!
Juwan already did what I wanted him to do. Recruit like fucking gangbusters. Michigan will be a preseason top 5 team next year.
Not with so much inexperience. Will take time for so many new bodies to gel and play as a team. Should improve as the season progresses.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:27 AM ^
Meh. Choke job. Missed layups and free throws. Poor game plan.
Going to Dickinson like he is Olajuwon is dumb, especially after a bunch of missed free throws.
Shit game all around.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:27 AM ^
Let’s be clear. We needed one more shot to fall.
Or not to miss FTs...
Mike Smith missing both FTs at the end of the 1st half was a WTF moment.
And Hunter Dickson was a 75% FT shooter coming into this game. He went 1-4 (25%). Again, WTF.
Why can’t one less UCLA shot fall?
to hammers; yes it was just that simple. One more shot to fall and they missed 8 chances.
Michigan has a good bench. No one wore the superman cape last night to save us and be the hero.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:28 AM ^
Not the issue at all as we has bench players perform better than starters. It was another bad shooting night and too many mistakes.
Franz 1-10
Smith 1-7
14 turnovers
Missed FTs
Let 1 guy dominate us
And with all that we lost by 2.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:48 AM ^
Just pick one of those stats to be back to the average and we win. Unfuckingbelievable.
But believable, sadly. Played like shit at the worst time.
...that sums it up well. My take is that Franz was the key on offense this entire tournament. My was telling friend he needed to average at least 15 point per game for keep our team going.
I don't mean to dump on Franz as he is a great player with his defensive skills. I would love to see him return next year and with a much improved and consistent shooting ability.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
I would say depth is last on the list of reasons.
I think the rotations were the issue you might be confusing depth with. I’d like to see the +/- when both Wagner and Smith were on the floor vs just one of them.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:31 AM ^
Brown and Johns should have got more minutes.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:55 AM ^
And shots, those last 2 plays should have been designed for them.
*gotten
March 31st, 2021 at 12:31 AM ^
Our two bench players were our best two players (Davis and Brown). And our 3rd best player was a former bench player in Johns. It was Smith, Brooks, and Wagner who boned us
Eli Brooks and Franz Wagner were awesome on defense.
Brook was 3-8.
On the other hand, Franz was an AWFUL 1-10 including the airball. I'm sure he would like to have those last 2 shot attempts back...
Franz even missed a layup on the inbounds play in the 2nd half. (That's when I knew for sure that Franz didn't have it offensively tonight.)
March 31st, 2021 at 12:31 AM ^
most college teams run 7-8 regularly. there are only 40 minutes to get in rhythm. we had 1 cog on the bench with a stress fracture. We played 7 but the biggest issue is that we had the wrong 5 on the floor down the stretch. Wagner should’ve stayed on the bench from 6:13 and we should’ve rode it out with HD, Johns, Brown, Brooks & Smith.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
Bench was solid and easily outplayed UCLA. Heck, they were 2 deep and beat our best 8. Hats off to UCLA’s star for delivering 60% of their points when it counts.
Hate to count on frosh, but the #1 class with 6 outstanding players are walking on campus in a few months. JH is building a deep, talented roster to run his system. Good times ahead.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
We missed everything. The ball would not go in basket. It’s not depth.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:42 AM ^
Nope. It was the starters not playing well. Davis and Brown both played good games off the bench. Mike Smith, Franz Wagner, and Eli Brooks did not play well offensively. Mike Smith also didn’t generate many good possessions for the offense.
Our offense became the basketball equivalent of running it up the middle on first and second down... and settling for 3rd and longs. It was not pretty at all.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:45 AM ^
Actually, the bench guys have stepped up all tournament. Davis being steady as a rock. Brown ditto. Johns ditto — seems like he is finally figuring things out.
Davidson and Wagner missing bunnies, on the other hand... and the neverending litany of Mike Smith turnovers. Now, those were problems.
Smith only had one turnover, his problem was that he was ineffective defensively, was not facilitating well, and missed all of his shots but one. He sucked at everything but holding onto the ball.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:47 AM ^
gonzago goes only 7 deep. losing livers hurt big time. if he's healthy that's 8 deep. that's the normal formula.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:48 AM ^
Brooks at pg Michigan +7
March 31st, 2021 at 12:54 AM ^
Not getting the ball to the hot hands of Johns Jr. 4-5 and Brown 3-5 was the issue a lot of teams in college don’t have depth but not having the guys that were hot shooting down the stretch was a huge issue.
HOWARD SUCKED TONIGHT. He blew it. Lets call it like it was. He forced it down low too much, didn’t get Eli or Brown enough shots. Howard sucked!! He needs to own this and be better.
No. Howard wasn't the reason why we missed nearly half of our free throws. Howard wasn't the reason why we missed our last eight shots, a few of which were open looks. Howard wasn't the reason why Johnny Juzang and Tyger Campbell hit so many tough, contested shots.
We lost because most of our starters had an off night. That loaded Duke team with Zion Williamson fell short of the Final Four not because Krzyzewski sucked, but because Zion went cold in the final six minutes of their last tournament game. It happens.
One guy beat us!
Last 2 shots went to the guys who played the worst. Why does Smith always take last shot inside 5 seconds!?! He wasn’t good against OSU and not tonight.
That was actually a decent look. He created enough separation from Tyger Campbell to get off a good shot. It just didn't fall.
Franz played ELITE defense. You can be upset about his shooting tonight but his defense was on point.
The entire team played elite defense tonight. It held UCLA to 76.8 in adjusted defensive efficiency. That is an unquestionably/indisputably elite defensive performance. But the team was baaaaaaaaad on offense with the awful turnovers and missed shots (usually on looks we normally convert).
The bench was not the problem tonight. Our starters at the 1-3 positions sucked badly tonight.
Eli played decent on both ends
March 31st, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
Agreed. He rushed those two shots at the rim and that’s what people are going to remember. But his defense was excellent.
It was somewhat of an issue. We have a decent bench, but not enough quality rotation guys to pick up the slack when our best players are having off nights.
We're bringing in six recruits, three of whom are McDonald's All-Americans. Johns will be back, Terrance Williams will be back, Dickinson will probably be back, and I'm guessing that more than a couple of seniors take advantage of the COVID waiver and come back. This team will be absolutely loaded next year.
They do not have a player like UCLA tonight, step up and win the game. When they are cold, the WHOLE team is cold. Every loss this year, the entire team played like shit
Mike Smith (1-7) + Franz Wagner (1-10) = LOSS 100% of the time.