THJ putting in the work

Submitted by Blazefire on
I just wanted to give a big shout out to THJ for his game tonight. According to the AP wrap, it wasn't just luck.

"I just made sure I got into the gym all week, 30 minutes before practice and then stay after practice," Hardaway said. "I got a lot of shots up and make sure my mechanics were down pat."

Doing work, Timmy! We're proud, and the accolades are all yours. Keep it up and we all know you have the athleticism to do great things. This team is going to be yours and Trey's next year. Those talented freshman need someone to show them that talent without work won't produce. You've now got the evidence that it will.

A round of applause for THJ!

Elmer

March 1st, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^

When Hardaway is playing good, this is one tough team to beat.  They need him to continue playing like this if they want to make a run in the Tournament.

MaizeNBlueTexan

March 1st, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^

THJ played LIGHTS OUT! It was seriously a pleasure to watch how well he did, especially after he had so many "slump" games.  Keep up the excellent work, with Trey and THJ playing so well we will be a dominant force in the tourney!

Aarronn

March 1st, 2012 at 10:58 PM ^

Every time I watch he struggles, and every time I miss a game, I hear he was a beast. 

 

For any struggles me may have in the future, i take 100% blame.

Frito Bandito

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:14 AM ^

I don't know how well informed I am but from what I've heard GRIII is a slasher and great around the basket. He has a big body and long arms to match.  Is it crazy to think that early in his career at Michigan he's a 4? With how often Morgan is in foul trouble wouldn't McGary slide from 4 to 5 if JB decides to go small ball. The small ball lineup is nasty.

-Burke, Stauskus, THJ, Smotz/GRIII, MM/JM

San Diego Mick

March 2nd, 2012 at 2:12 AM ^

A couple thoughts:

-THJ, I hope your slump is over cause I love your potential and when you play like this, look out. Also, he reminds me of Glen Rice with the way he catches and shoots, let's hope he can light it up like Rice in the very near future.

-People are forgetting Horford when projecting next years line-up. Obviously Trey and Tim will start but if you break down the line-up you'd have MM, JM, JH, ES, BM, CC and MB as bigs. You'll have TB, THJ, GRIII, MV, CB and NS in the backcourt, that's 13 guys deep!

What a special season next year is shaping up to be. If we had a healthy Horford this year I think we coulda made a real run at it, as it is we can sneak in to the Final Four if we get hot.

Frito Bandito

March 2nd, 2012 at 7:10 AM ^

You can lol until your voice goes. Fact of the matter is we know what we have in Smotz. He's asked to do a lot on defense and his fouls hinder his play on offense a lot of the time. GRIII is an unproven prospect. He's yet to play a game at the college level. Until you know what you've got you can't say he's destined for greatness let alone a starting role. I think the 2 is a much bigger problem than most believe. We're really banking on Stauskus. MM might not see as many minutes as we all think. Who knows. At least it's a good problem to have.

MichiganMan20

March 1st, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^

Timmy was great! Very efficient and made clutch shots. This is the Tim Hardaway Jr. I wanted to see all year and if he plays like this in the tournament along with Burke, we have a chance to be very dangerous. Just imagine how good he could be next year with another year of improvement and playing along with GR3. Theyre  gonna dominate.

jmblue

March 1st, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^

He was unbelievably efficient tonight: 25 points on seven (!) shots.  Also hauled down 11 boards and recorded a pair of steals and a block.  Fantastic game.

Raoul

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:08 AM ^

The problems with Hardaway this season have never been mental? His coach disagrees:

At several points during the season, Beilein has talked about Hardaway Jr.'s demeanor on the court, as he sometimes droops his shoulders after a bad play, a missed shot or a blown defensive assignment.

"There's things he has to continue to work at — what is the right play at the right time, and let the game come to him a little bit more, whether it's inside or out," Beilein said. "He's been starting since he got here and there's a lot on him with a father with a tremendous legacy. We just keep building that young man (mentally) and giving him a lot of sunshine."

Source: Tim Hardaway Jr. fights slump at pivotal part of Michigan's season

 

ClearEyesFullHart

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:02 AM ^

But it happened pretty early, and Morgan was still pretty effective for the rest of the game. With advances in therapy he'll likely be 95% by Sunday.



On a positive note, Colton played more than a few minutes for Morgan and Smots(who caught a knee to the jewels) and he didn't make me want to gauge my eyes out. Actually had a couple of really nice finishes...One called off because the officials were doing their best to keep Illinois in the game.



On a related note...I know that's life on the road in the B1G...But damned if that wasn't some of the worst officiating I've seen...

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 1st, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^

Work on and practice a simple pump-fake and add that to his game.  I've seen so many times where that simple move would create him a step needed to get to the basket or get a clearer shot off.  It's so fundamental and easy that it wouldn't even take much work at all.  Ehh, not to nit-pick on the guy, especially after a GREAT performance; just a related observation and thought I've had on my mind couple months.

SysMark

March 1st, 2012 at 11:39 PM ^

Very impressive bounce back game for Hardaway.  Can't say enough about how good he looked.  That shows once and for all he is very tough mentally.  He will get even better.

Caesar

March 1st, 2012 at 11:48 PM ^

"Those talented freshman need someone to show them that talent without work won't produce." Reminded me of the recent SI article about UCLA's tumble. Eye-opening stuphph for me. (link)

king_kerridge

March 1st, 2012 at 11:55 PM ^

You want to talk efficiency?

25 pts on SEVEN FG attempts. This is the THJ from last year and it is a welcome sight. We can make a serious run if Hardaway is playing to his potential and Smotz gets his shit together.

MGoViso

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:21 AM ^

Of course, KenPom might claim that the extra work Hardaway did had nothing to do with his success; his numbers were bound to see regression to the mean eventually. Because there's only a correlation between the practice and the success, we can't definitively say there's a causal relationship. Unless we have common sense.

Bring it, Brian.

BraveWolverine730

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^

Well I took a logic class last semester so I do know what a straw man argument is (and your definition is correct). My disagreement is that I think that the above poster did exactly the definition. i don't think that anyone would claim that hard work wouldn't be a possible cause for Hardaway's improvement last night. I also think that sports is too complex to definitively 100% say that a week a practice was the reason for the improved performance. Now if you link me where Brian made the argument the above poster said "word for word.", I'll revise my position on whether he was straw manning Brian (as most sensible people would). 

Webber's Pimp

March 2nd, 2012 at 5:58 AM ^

"We've won four out of our last five, and we need to keep it rolling," Hardaway said. "Coach always says that come March, the teams that are playing well are the ones that will have a chance at the title, so we just need to keep it up going forward."

He talking about a title ya'll!!!

Sons of Louis Elbel

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:05 AM ^

If it really were just a matter of a little extra shooting practice, you'd think more people would do it.



Our lineup will be really good next year. Too bad Zack and Stu will miss out on it.

evenyoubrutus

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:08 AM ^

Jeez if he can sustain this throughout the tourney the sweet 16 will be a given, and I think there is a strong possibility they will advance further. Burke has improved so much I think he is now a little better than Morris was as an all around player at least. This is going to be awesome.

burtcomma

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:24 AM ^

While we speculate on who starts, the Michigan teams that have won B1G championships and made runs into the tournament all had not only a starting 5 but at least 3 to 4 pretty good players coming off the bench as well.  I see us with a rotation as deep as 8 or 9 next year with the incoming talent and the remaining talent.  Have to see how each player has his role defined and his skills used (Smot, for instance, has a good 3 pt shot, seems to be able to handle the ball well for a big guy, more of a shooting forward than power forward).  People always focus on what someone can't do, Beilein focuses on what they can do and how to mesh the parts into a whole.  Novak and Douglass and Morgan are all excellent examples of how Beilein uses people's "talent".

VermontMichiganFan

March 2nd, 2012 at 9:49 AM ^

Another reason why he was so great for us was he played so well within the system.

He didn't take too many shots- and didn't force as many as he someitmes does.

If he can get to the line like that and not hog the shooting this team will make a long run.