Texas at UM

[tinselwolverine]

If you are squeamish or faint of heart, I would highly advise not tuning into the game on Saturday.

I don't know if anyone else here has watched UCLA play, but TJ Leaf, Lo Ball, and Thomas Welsh are going to eat us alive. The good news is we have no one who can guard Isaac Hamilton either. They have six guys averaging double figure points.

I was thinking of going to Pauley to see it live...then I looked at the prices of even the crappiest seats available.

Talk about not for the squeamish or the faint of heart!!!

 

[thewolverines24]

Jb' press conference.

He said he was going to take out Moe out on the last two plays on defense and the defensive coach talked him out of it because of ow well Wagner had improved on defense.

http://www.mgoblue.com/collegesportslive/?media=543689

Donnal on defense. Now there's a real game changer!

 

[deathroh]

One thing I desperately want to see change is who is running the pick and roll. 95% of the time it's Walton or Irvin. Walton just isn't good in that facet of the game. His size limits his passing lanes for one and he's a poor finisher going to the rim. His strength on the offensive end is spot up shooting.

Let Rahk run the pick and roll. He's 6'4" which opens up some more passing lanes like when we had Darius Morris running point. Morris couldn't shoot past 15-17 feet either, but he was great in the pick and roll game. It seems that Rahk always has to make things happen for himself if he is going to get going on offense. Him and Wagner should be running pick and rolls more than Wagner and Walton.

Good call, makes a lot of sense. It's basically worthless running it at this point and they do need to find a way to get MAAR more involved.

 

[dubbsco]

That worries me that Donlon has to talk Beilein out of putting Donnal back on the court during crunch time.

At this point, Wagner is clearly the most skilled guy on the team. It's time to give him the lion's share of FC minutes and let him learn the game. He's going to struggle, but we know what Donnal is.

 

[thewolverines24]

That worries me that Donlon has to talk Beilein out of putting Donnal back on the court during crunch time.

At this point, Wagner is clearly the most skilled guy on the team. It's time to give him the lion's share of FC minutes and let him learn the game. He's going to struggle, but we know what Donnal is.

A superior athlete. I think people are calling him the white David Robinson.

 

[hailhail]

Good call, makes a lot of sense. It's basically worthless running it at this point and they do need to find a way to get MAAR more involved.

Yeah that is interesting to think about actually--why hasn't MAAR been put in more of those spots. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that MAAR is the only guy who can break down a defense 1-on-1? In any case, our perimeter guys collectively have shown little consistent ability to create for others.

I think it's fair to say MAAR's been the most disappointing player so far this year. I wonder how much spacing, particularly having Wilson instead of Robinson/Irvin at the 4 on offense, has been an impact.

 

[dubbsco]

Personally, I think MAAR is best served coming off the bench. He is that guy that can come in and be instant offense, but he's not a long minute dude. He seems to struggle when the put everything on him and run the point. Reminds me a bit of Dion Harris when they moved him to PG.

 

[hailhail]

Personally, I think MAAR is best served coming off the bench. He is that guy that can come in and be instant offense, but he's not a long minute dude. He seems to struggle when the put everything on him and run the point. Reminds me a bit of Dion Harris when they moved him to PG.

On a Michigan team that's competing for a BIG championship, MAAR is definitely going to be a sixth or seventh man off the bench. But I thought, at worst, he'd be an average BIG starter this year. Really, I expected a plus-option starting at the two and hoped for some incremental improvements to his shot or effectiveness as a distributor. He still has time to turn it around I guess.

 

[deathroh]

If MAAR comes off the bench that just increases chances that they'd need him to run the point (although they very rarely do). I get the instant offense thought, but it's not like they're over flowing with quality scoring options in the starting lineup, they're basically a team full of complimentary players. So having a player with his ability on the court to start the game makes sense.

Good point by Hail about spacing. While Wilson has benefited this team greatly, that could be a hidden negative. Looking at the stats he does actually have a slightly better percentage from three than Robinson, but it's obvious that Robinson draws much much more attention. I haven't really noticed the spacing that much, that'll be something to watch. I've mostly just been frustrated at the general lack of purpose and direction when they're running the offense. Lazy cuts, lazy passes...I know in theory there are plays there, but in practice it's way too close to the Amaker offense. It's been a looong time since I've been this frustrated and down on the team. I think most of it stems from the Seniors. I honestly can't remember the last time we've seen two multi-year starting seniors on the same team, and what are we getting out of it? Neither shows any leadership skills whatsoever. I've come to accept what Walton is, and he can be a valuable piece, but I sure was expecting more. Irvin. I don't even want to talk about him.

 

[deathroh]

Wow, 32 of MAAR's 65 shots have been three's. Last year 67% of his shots were from inside the arc.

 

[dubbsco]

Good article about the attendance from Mlive.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/ind...basketball_has_a_home.html#incart_2box_sports

 

[UMRules06]

The product stinks right now end of story. Who are fans going to pay to come out and watch? Zak Irvin who is more likely to shoot 1-13 than anything else? Walton has flashes but he is no star either. The rest of the team is as blah as you can get honestly. Nobody fires the crowd up. Nobody is a leader.

Expectations are low, as they should be. Beilein did a great job building this program up, but it is sliding right back into Tommy Amaker territory mediocrity. Everyone knows we are going to get murdered this Saturday @UCLA. A few years ago we hung in with ranked opponents, and even pulled off a few upset wins.

 

[deathroh]

I think Mo definitely shows leadership skills. Of course he's probably the last guy you'd want to be the main leader since there are several upper classmen on the team, and it sounds like he's still working through some language issues.

 

[dubbsco]

Can't really argue with your points. It has entered a malaise that I couldn't imagine happening while watching them battle Louisville in 2013 and losing to Kentucky on a miracle bomb in the elite 8.

Recruiting classes should have ramped up after the amazing success, but just the opposite has happened. This program needs to be evaluated top to bottom from the AD to see just where they are headed.

Actually I will say this to your point UM, Wagner had a big play and was screaming at the crowd to make some noise. I don't think the 4000 people there responded.

 

[UMRules06]

The lack of exciting freshmen hurts too. That would give fans something to hope for and come out and see the development of potential young stars. So far we have seen nothing of that sort from any of them.

 

[dubbsco]

Yeah. I don't really know what Xavier Simpson does on the court other than dribble. He was an all world high school player and I don't know if I have seen him make a shot in college.

 

[UMRules06]

well Wagner is our one glimmer of optimism then. Overall the team does not inspire a lot of enthusiasm I suppose.

 

[biggunsbob]

I agree with all of the points above the biggest one being jb did not capitalize on recruiting after the 2-3 year good run. I just didn't see it sliding this much. It is surprising Maar has tried so many threes when he was a great slasher last season.
Hopefully UCLA Will Be Looking Past us and we can keep it close.

 

[thewolverines24]

The lack of exciting freshmen hurts too. That would give fans something to hope for and come out and see is the development of potential young stars. So far we have seen nothing of that sort from any of them.

We don't even have serviceable freshmen. X and Watson have scored 11 points each all season. I was excited about X before the season started. I thought we finally don't have to play Dakich anymore! We might as well be playing Dakich.

Our bench is utterly horrendous. Robinson is strictly a shooter and can't defend anyone. Donnal isn't good at anything. Teske would struggle in the MAC right now. The rest are walk-ons or Austin Davis (another big, slow, nonathletic 5. Yay).

 

[hungry]

Can't really argue with your points. It has entered a malaise that I couldn't imagine happening while watching them battle Louisville in 2013 and losing to Kentucky on a miracle bomb in the elite 8.

Recruiting classes should have ramped up after the amazing success, but just the opposite has happened. This program needs to be evaluated top to bottom from the AD to see just where they are headed.

Actually I will say this to your point UM, Wagner had a big play and was screaming at the crowd to make some noise. I don't think the 4000 people there responded.

The attendance announced for the Texas game was over 10,000

Why lie? Thing is, they sold all of those tickets, but people don't bother to show up. I've went over this before. You can pay $300 for lower bowl seats at Crisler on stubhub, otherwise they sit on someone's kitchen counter. Why in the world would someone pay that much for a ticket to see Michigan?

Going to drive all that way to AA for a 9pm game on a tuesday night...pay that much money to see a dismal product. Parking sucks. Then you have to turn around and drive all the way home and probably work the next morning.

No thanks!!

Then if you pay for an upper level seat, the ushers won't let you move down for the entire game, even though it's obvious to everyone that those seats are going to go unfilled and show up on TV as an unfilled seat.