We all want this team to be good. After watching last season we all know that they have at least a little bit of ability. We can keep hoping that they turn it around. But right now this just isn’t a good team.
They are painfully inconsistent and the chances of them putting together any sort of winning streak are slim to none considering the fact that they struggle to play 40 minutes of solid basketball.
The story of this game was the Michigan backcourt’s inability to hold onto the ball. Michigan, who ranked 3rd nationally in turnovers (15.5% per game) before today’s game, turned the ball over on 29% of their possessions.
This is one of the worst marks of the Beilein era in Ann Arbor. To put it in perspective how bad the turnover number was, the short list of other games that Michigan turned the ball over that often include nightmarish performances like Savannah State, the home loss to Central Michigan, and last year’s loss at Ohio State.
After watching Michigan dominate from the jump and build a 17 point lead. Northwestern made just the right tweak to their 1-3-1 zone. All of the sudden the aggressive trapping worked and Michigan struggled to even start their offense. Stu Douglass, Darius Morris, and Laval Lucas-Perry were exposed as they consistently dribbled into Northwestern’s traps, forced passes, and just made foolish mistakes.
That’s not to say Michigan’s defense shouldn’t shoulder any of the blame. In a performance that was eerily similar to Michigan’s game at Penn State, Northwestern put on a shooting clinic in the second half. After shooting a dismal 4 of 14 (28.6%) in the first half, Northwestern went 7 of 10 from three in the second half en route to an eFG% of 71.7%.
Drew Crawford was the guy who simply killed Michigan. The freshman from Naperville, Illinois single handily kept Northwestern in the game through the first half with a personal 11-0 run. He also made all the plays down the stretch to keep the Wildcats ahead. His stat line is not only impressive but extremely efficient: 25 points on 7 of 9 shooting (4-5 3pt) with 8 rebounds. For those of you keeping track, that’s a 100% eFG%.
Down the stretch, as seems to be a theme, Michigan was one or two plays short of getting over the hump. Missed layups, getting beat on backdoor cuts, in and out shots, and poor shot selection were just an assortment of the ways that Michigan found to fall just short when they needed a big play.
This season is going nowhere fast and right now it looks like its time to hope for a couple nice upset victories and an NIT berth.
Other Notes: Eso Akunne has been ruled academically ineligible for the winter semester. John Beielin signed a contract extension through 2015-16.
Player Bullets:
- DeShawn Sims: Early on Michigan gave the ball to Peedi with a purpose, they ran the offense inside-out and he scored a number of moves including a sick spin move and dunk, he even dished out of a double team for a couple nice looks. But after the first fifteen minutes he wasn’t nearly as involved and seemed to slowly float out of the game.
- Manny Harris: 24 points on 8-15 (1-4 3pt) shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers. It’s tough to criticize Manny when he puts up numbers like that. He almost single handily brought Michigan back into the game in the second half.
- Stu Douglass: Before yesterday’s game, Stu Douglass had one of the best turnover rates in the conference and I believe his assist to turnover ratio led the conference as recently as a week ago. There are many reasons why it is frustrating to have Stu Douglass running the point guard, namely his inability to create plays off dribble penetration, but turnovers were never a problem. However his four turnovers today were just brutal and they absolutely killed Michigan.
- Darius Morris: Darius has struggled with turnovers this year so that’s not so unexpected, although equally frustrating. However, his two made three point shots, seven assists, and two steals gave Michigan a huge boost off the bench.
- Laval Lucas-Perry: Laval struggled with fouls and simply couldn’t find his shot. Darius and Stu struggled but Laval just doesn’t give Michigan much offensively. He got off a couple of three point attempts but didn’t knock any down and never really appeared comfortable.
- Zack Novak: That missed layup near the end of the game is going to haunt him for sometime. 2-7 three point shooting isn’t pretty, but I thought Novak did a good job on John Shurna, holding him to 11 points on 14 field goal attempts.
- Anthony Wright:2 turnovers in 10 minutes, he really doesn’t give Michigan anything offensively or defensively but he’s going to continue to play because there is no one else.
- Zack Gibson: Scored his first basket since January 31st.
This game made me sick. I’m about as diehard as there is when it comes to Michigan basketball and believe me I take alot of hell for it down here in Ohio…but I’m about ready to give up on this team. That “it” factor just is NOT there. No urgency, toughness, passion…I don’t see any of it. Just a bunch of nice guy players who will always be around a .500 club.
This team has the mental toughness of a teenage girl. I think it’s hard to blame the parents (coaches) for this, but good lord maybe we should call up Bob Rotella.
the thing about the 1-3-1 against us, is it really showed our lack of size on the front line. Teams that have size usually can pick apart that zone by getting a big in the high post and another in the the low post. UM tried to get guys into the high post to be outlets and then attack, but those guys were Mannny and Novak who were not big enough. So Darius and Stu spent a great deal of time trying to weasel their way through a trap and then throw a crafty pass into a cutter at the high post. If its a 6′9 guy there, the guards can sit back and throw over the top to that guy.
I was thinking after the game about whether or not the coaches could have made any adjustments in attacking the zone and I think the one big one I would have tried at some point, was putting Sims and Gibson out there together. I bet they thought about it, but maybe after Gibson struggled mightily to just catch the ball in the first half, they decided against it. Hopefully they think about that for the next game at NW.
Congrats Coach B on the extension. Its great to have you as coach.
To add onto your post Tweeter, in the 1-3-1 a pass should enter the high post from the wing and then there are normally three options: 1.) the low post big man, 2.) a backside cutter, or 3.) a reversal pass to the opposite wing or corner for a 3 point attempt.
I never saw UM do hardly any cutting when the ball entered the high post. Some times a guy would flash to the short corner but that was easily covered by the man on bottom. It seems like Michigan players just want to chill by the 3 point line and chuck it rather than work to get easier buckets
JayRich that was kind of the problem with the personnel. It was just too hard for them to work the ball to the high post to begin with, because the guys going there were too small to be fully open. Then once a guy like Manny or Novak got the ball there, they were usually already fustrated and eveyone else was out of position to do anything because they had to use some crazy pass just to get the ball there.
The floor spacing just was never right because we had to rely so much on guys trying to penetrate through double and triple teams. It would have been a lot easier if we could have had a guy like Sims or Gibson in the high post and simply throw the ball over the top.
Will continue to watch this team go nowhere, but I’m already thinking about next year…
In the frontcourt, instead of Sims/Gibson, we will have Smotr/JoMo/McLimans. With 3 new guys, will we have any inside the arc offense? What do you all think? Kinda scary IMO.
Tweeter, yeah I totally agree with you. I was just kind of commenting that the other guys didn’t make it easy on the guy at the top either by just chillin on the outside.
It is games like this that make me realize Trey Z isn’t going to be wearing maize and blue
I stay positive as much as possible, but I really am having trouble with this team. Not only is the basketball I.Q. on the same level as my 14-year-old brother, but I still only see three guys who care. Zack Novak, Manny Harris, and Darius Morris appear to be the only ones who do. Darius ended up being the leader for this team in the second half when we made our little run, and he hit a HUGE 3-pointer from the top of the key to give us back the lead. But if a freshman point guard has to lead your team down the stretch, what does that say for everybody else?
Novak, Manny, and Darius are the only ones I can really look at as deserving to get playing time. Stu and LLP are so deflated and just make stupid mistakes every time down the floor. Peedi only shows up half the time, and Vogrich/Gibson only see the floor long enough to give Manny or Peedi a quick breather.
Jim, looking ahead to next year, if Manny leaves, Darius is your captain. No doubt about it.
Tweeter – you are appreciated. Nice insights. I’m not sure who said nice guys but I like nice guys and will stick by this team. There is need for mental toughness, but nice guys can have that. However I do hope to let the games go as soon as they are over. Coach Beilein’s extension is a positive thing, we can’t become a relvoling door for coaches. All true fans should support the coach and team. If you express frustrations, I hear you.
One thing I look forward to, since the Northwestern game is over, is never watching Northwestern play again. Crawford played a helluva game, but if I had to see his dad on TV one more time, I would have launched my remote control at the wall.
msuh8r: Uhm, February 2nd might be tough for you, considering Michigan plays Northwester in Evanston.
Was he a bum when he got us to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years?
Tim, in terms of the redshirt stuff, you do realize that two of those redshirts were due to injuries. McLimans obviously was brought in as a potential project but I think Cronin and Morgan would have seen the court their freshmen years if not for the injuries.
Yes, I think, and I cant believe you dont, that UM will sniff the tourney in the next 3-4 years. Thats just an ridiculous statement to make. In terms of a BT title, I dont know. I think they will have a shot to compete for one. But whether or not they can actually be there to win one, will depend largely on the next two recruiting classes.
And, if this is MAC level talent out there, then Beilein is one hell of a coach, since he took a MAC level talented team to the NCAAs last year and they have already beaten two big ten teams this year. I would say that is pretty impressive for a MAC level talented team.
For anyone to say that they are more disappointed now then they were under Amaker, is clearly clueless to basketball. Amaker had a ton of talent over his years, and proceeded to fail each and every year. Beilein has had far less talent to work with and has already surpassed Amaker in just two seasons.
This year has been a disappointment, but that happens. Some teams just dont mesh and if you dont have elite level talent, you lose. Its not the end of the world or the end UM bball. Its makes this year tough to watch at times, but if you dont see the progress that has been made over Beilein’s tenure so far, then I question your ability to judge anything related to basketball. IF you want to question whether or not Beilein is the guy to take this program to the very top of college basketball, fine. But to take shots at him and this team, like so many (few) of you so-called fans have done is just asinine.
we also have to remember that we still havent played fully into his system……….novak isnt a 4. Lets wait and see when he finally gets every piece to his puzzle in place for a couple seasons and then if they are not that good then we can bash beilein……….he is recruiting solid players now and getting solid walk ons………this is going to be a good program it just is an unfortunate year thus far
Tim – Right on brother. I cannot believe Martin wasn’t able to lure in Coach K after Amaker. It’s just pathetic that we can’t bring in a handful of 5 star prospects every year. If Dave Brandon has half a clue he’ll go after that Calapari guy, he’s a class act and look at his recruits! I mean this is Michigan basketball we are talking about here. A program that has two recognized final four appearances since 1965 not to mention one of the bigger scandals in NCAA history in the 1990s. If we don’t start winning the Big Ten every year I’m going to keep rooting for us to lose because we deserve better!
I don’t understand how everyone can jump off the Beilein wagon so fast. Last year everyone sung his praises, this year everyone wants him canned. Sure he isn’t getting the top notch guys, but he never has. Smotrycz, Buntridge, Hardaway, Vogrich, and Morris are all good signings. Aren’t all of them top 100 except Hardaway? If Manny comes back, we will be fine. If not we will go thru some bumps next year but after that, Stu, Novak, LLP will be seniors, Morris a junior and we will have a more experienced team.
Rome was not built in one day fellas. The mess that was Michigan basketball under Amaker will take time to rebuild. If Coach B doesn’t overachieve last year then we would not have the high expectations. Under Amaker we had no expectations…this is only year three and Coach B is doing it the right way, no Calipari or Pearl type recruits. Morris is gonna be good and remember, we are the third youngest team in the Big 10.
Well, JayRich, in an era where Alabama and Kentucky are rewarded with success and championships for over-paying for guys like Saban and Calipari, and where the one-and-done rule has made the college game bigger, some are dismayed that Michigan hasn’t shown a desperation to win on that same level.
At least we all agree that our problems have something to do with talent and personnel. Illinois has DJ Richardson, Brandon Paul, and Mike Tisdale and they’re almost no better than we are.
That being said, if Beilein continues to struggle to find shooters and big men who can stay healthy, he’ll be in trouble. A six year extension just means he has 2-3 maybe 4 seasons before buying him out becomes practical.
@JimC: Been wondering the exact same thing myself.
Who starts at the 4 and the 5 next season? Any way you slice it, it’s either two freshmen (redshirt or otherwise) or Novak and a freshman. And who besides Harris (if he returns) is going to score the ball?
Would be nice to have someone as promising as that Drew Crawford.
I am as frustrated as anyone else, but the venom in these comments surprises me. I think what we’re seeing is that the point-guard in any offense, especially in college basketball, is critical. We lost THREE point guards from last year’s team. Everyone down-played that because Grady couldn’t play D and the other guys were walk-ons. But we now know how important it was.
Darius Morris is going to be a good player, but he’s a true freshman running a new system and who isn’t a great shooter yet. Say what you want about Grady or ther other guys, but they could hit open shots at least.
What we’re also seeing is that the depth we thought we would have isn’t there. McLimans is a project, Morgan is hurt, Cronin’s career is over, and Vogrich can’t play defense. So you’re stuck without a lot of depth, especially at positions of need (PG, C).
Finally, what we’re also seeing is that Stu and Novak are gritty role players but there is a reason they were 2/3 star players without many offers. For most teams they would be bench players who get 15 minutes of time to spark the team. For our team we’re begging them to play 30+ minutes and be our #3 scorers.
One more thing, the “center” position is frustrating me. I know that Novak is our best hustle player and really does well in stretches, but I am so frustrated that our entire team besides Manny plays below the rim, can’t impede shot attempts, and can’t rebound. I know a function of that is the style of play. But Novak, Sims, and even the cameo appearances by Gibson are so frustrating for when they seem like they have cement shoes and get out hustled or jumped for balls around the rim.
I almost want to see McLimans or Morgan burn a red-shirt so we can TRY having someone tall with athleticism around the rim. Maybe it will free up Sims more in the post or maybe it will generate some easy offense.
Regarding Beilein’s extension, Just wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether David Brandon was consulted on this, or did Bill Martin do it on his own?
I think the “this team is not good” thing is overstated. A home loss to NW hurts, but I don’t think it’s that unlikely that we go 8-10 or 9-9 in conference.
Not to say ‘I told you so’ but I did say a million times before the season started that our schedule was way tougher this year, and we may improve as a team and have a worse record than last year.
Well, I don’t know we’ve improved, but I don’t think we’re nearly that much worse than last year as everyone says.
Kenpom has us as the #84 team right now. Last year we finished at 50, and I’m pretty sure we were in the 70s until our late season run of quality play.
My point is simply this: if we finish 9-9 in the big ten, then we are not bad…it just shows what a thin margin this team made the NCAA’s by last year.
We were incredibly fortunate to have a non-con schedule that had dukex2, UCLA, UCONN, and all other kenpom 250 and below type teams. This year we played a bunch of ‘mediocre to good’ teams and that is a lot tougher than just getting up for one or two big games.
The success of last season is because we went 7-0 vs. kenpom 150 and below. This season we’ve only played three teams that were 150 or below.
People who claim this team has regressed are not remembering the Penn st. road game, osu home game, wisconsin home game, etc. from last year.
It’s mostly the same players, on mostly the same team, playing the same up and down basketball.
I don’t want Sabin or Calipari at Michigan. I’d rather lose with honor than cheat to win any day. Cheating the first time around for Michigan didn’t work out that well anyways
lots of good points gpsimms. Its also refreshing to see some solid posts from people. While there are a couple of knuckleheads who continue to bring their debbie downer attitudes to these comments, all in all I think there are more, and ofcourse far better, positive posters. Everyone is upset with where this team is at compared to where we thought they should be before the season. But no one should be making some of the comments that a few posters on here choose to spit out of their you know what.
@Jeff: interesting situation. Its obviously weird timing considering that Brandon starts the job in two months, but I imagine that MArtin had been working on this extension for a little while. So I doubt that Brandon was consulted about it, and frankly I dont think he should have been. Its not like Beilein is on any sort of hot seat. It would have been a different story if Martin extended RR right before he resigned.
Center position is certanly going to to be an issue next year. Im still holding out hope that they land a decent big man this year in recruiting. I bet that Morgan will be the guy who starts next year, and that the lineup is relatively the same around him. I guess if Manny does in fact leave early, and either Smotrycz or McLimans shows something, they might go with a Douglass-Morris-Novak-Smots/McL-Morgan lineup. Down the road I am sure that is the hope, but who knows what those guys are capable of next year. Also if a Ziegler or a solid big man (hopefully both!) commit, then one of those guys could find a spot in the starting lineup.
GP, on the other hand, the RPI has us at 156, which seems much more accurate. It also says our schedule has been much easier to this point in the season than last year. I’m pretty sure our schedule was ranked in the top-10 most of last season and the RPI ranks it as 101st currently. Other than Kansas, non of our non-conference opponents are in good shape to make the NCAAs and the first four B10 games we’ve played are all in the easier half of our B10 slate. It does show what a thin margin for error the team had last year.
I think what was particularly upsetting for people yesterday was that with a 17-pt lead, many were probably cautiously ticking off a 3rd straight win in their heads, only to have the rug pulled out from under them.
smotrycz starts before mclimans thats for sure and its obviously goign to be morgans show at the 5 next year unless there is another injury or we happen to sign someboyd else………anyway you slice it we are going to have a very young line up next year
Yeah, good point jeff, even kenpom says the schedule last year was tougher (although I am pretty sure that includes the tourney games, which obviously increases SOS)
I just think it’s worth mentioning that having a schedule of terrible, terrible, top 5, terrible may average out to the same (or tougher) SOS as average, average, average, average while in actuality it is much easier to go 3-1 in the first group than in the second.
oh, boy, gpsimms i dunno. i agree that if this team goes 9-9 in the big ten [or 08-10], then you have an excellent argument that based on last year’s schedule vs this year’s schedule that this team is playing at roughly the same level as 08-09…….but…have you seen enough good things to feel good about this team even getting to 8-10? what big ten team can michigan sweep?? iowa?? any other? how many will sweep us? michigan state, ohio state [play purdue and illinois once], wisconsin, maybe even minnesota??
and as far as regression goes what about the benefits of having players in the beilein system for the third year [harris, sims, gibson] or the second year [lucas-perry, douglass, novak] so they could handle the paint-blistering and intense defensive pressure from oh-so-athletic northwestern??? is this system [predicated on not turning the ball over and shooting 3's] so tough to run that we fans should not be more understanding of 18 turnovers in a game, or lackluster 3-point shooting?
anyway, i don’t think that regression is the issue [side note: are you satisfied with the overall effort and hustle?] but it is fair to ask: where is the improvement that increased familiarity with the system should bring?
I find the “next year or give him time comment” intersting, considering he accomplished in two seasons something that neither of the guys before him could the entire time they were here. Dude can coach and has won pretty consistently over the course of his career.
I think Beilein knows all about rebounding and having inside scoring. Its just that the current team does not have the pieces to be effective that way. Considering the fact that the last few games the team has made a huge effort to pound the ball inside to Peedi, I think that says enough.
When you say “checkin and chuck” my initial thought goes to teams coached by the likes Paul Westhead or that Grinnel College team. Those teams basically play to take the first open look they could get. UM on the other hand runs a lot of offense, and a pretty structured offense at that. They are not looking to take quick shots, but rather good shots. It just so happens that the roster right now is conducive to getting and taking open looks from the perimeter. If you put the players that say Kentucky has right now in this offense, I think you would see a lot more inside shots. Its obviously on Beilein to bring in that kind of talent, and who knows if he will, but your could not expect him to bring in that talent right off the bat.
Sigh, John Leurer broke his wrist and is out indefinitely. Unfortunately, Michigan is no longer in a position to take advantage of the fact that our home game vs. Wisconsin just became much more winnable. If he had handled our business in the second half, Michigan would have a great look at 11 Big Ten wins right now and a potential top 5 big ten finish and a tournament birth.
OSU can’t sweep us. But maybe the other teams.
I support Beilein, but there is enough to warrant criticism. Obviously coaching should take some level of criticism. (If you ask the coach who deserves it, them or their players, most good coaches say that they are to blame.)
I’ve come to grips with this year being a lost season, since i’ve seen enough of M in the NIT to last until 2020.
If we drop to truly MAC-level performance next year, call me a non-fan, I’m not going to buy a bunch of tix like i did for this season.
Looks like Scott changed his name to Tim.
Good call Jeff, it appears so. Maybe a little time out will help, I think we get his point now that he’s repeated it a few times.
Here comes the negativity… Guys it’s easy to to pile on right now and as a life long fan I am as frustrated as anyone. But looking at things objectively, we were overrated to start the season and we haven’t played as well as we are capable.
I am not giving Coach B a pass, but he is the right type of Coach for our program. He showed that last year. We are taking a step back this year, but we were way ahead of schedule last year. Let’s give him some time to prove what he has proved at every stop during his coaching tenure. That he is one of the finest coaches in the country, I know it’s hard, but stay patient and GO BLUE
Like I said before, there is far more positivity on here than there is negativity. Its just that the few negative posters on here tend to be more venomous in their words than the positive ones are praising.
Things really run hot and cold on this board–excessive optimism and excessive pessimism and overreactions to losses.
About Beilein, I don’t know how good a coach he is or isn’t, but I think that will be clearer in a few more years. I think there’s every reason to have some optimism for 3-4 years down the road. But a lot of people on this board weigh the program’s overall fate on progress on the basis of EVERY SINGLE GAME. If they win a game it’s “oh, yeah, we’ll beat MSU and UCONN and make the tourney” and if they lose it’s “this is the most pathetic team ever.” Just let them play and assess them after chunks of games.
They have Smotrycz, Hardaway, and Brundidge on the way. Those guys may or may not be outstanding, and they should not be judged after ten games the way a lot of people have been judging Vogrich. Give them time. They don’t figure to be almighty saviors and they don’t figure to be bums either. If we can add some solid recruits along with them (hopefully tall ones) we’ll gradually grow. Next year figures to be rough if Harris takes off, and that much tougher if we don’t get Zeigler. But if we can get a nucleus of 6-7 very solid guys and they are more motivated than many of the guys on this team, ‘11-’12 could be solid and ‘12-’13 even better.
I don’t know why a team that made the tourney last year is so unmotivated and lackluster this year, but in general it’s clear now they’re still a project and it will just take time. We can’t say much about the next 4 years based on the last 4 weeks.
Kenpom has us going 7-11 right now, which is pretty much right where we were this time last year. I am hoping that Darius Morris’ last few games will be similar to the CJLee taking things over at the 1 and really improving this team defensively.
We’ll have to wait and see, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we did finish worse than 8-10. I am only saying there is a reasonable chance we have almost identical conference record as last year, just this year pisses everyone off because of EXPECTATIONS and UNACCEPTABLE and EFFORT and last year made everyone so happy because TOURNAMENT and CLUTCH and GRIT.
Also, I’m very sad about John Leuer. With Coble’s injury, he was becoming my new favorite non michigan player. Now I think it will probably be Trevon Hughes.
I’ll say one thing, it’s good to have a forum like this…every comment–even the most critical–have some thought behind them.
I am 100% with BigPlayBray on this one. It’s easy to toss blame at Beilein for such an ugly home loss against Northwestern (I was there, trust me, it was one of the most frustrating losses I’ve ever witnessed), but we’ve got to keep our heads up. I just want to make a few points.
1) On the Northwestern game: The most frustrating loss is one that you could’ve won…this game most definitely fits into that category. Each game is proving more and more that “So goes Deshawn Sims, so goes the team.” Once the second half started, Douglass and Morris couldn’t penetrate the screen and get the ball to Sims, and instead dangerously dribbled into traps or aimlessly passed the ball to the perimeter. This coupled with Drew Crawford’s hot hand and horrible referreing (Jim Burr is a notorious Michigan hater) combined for a tough, unlucky, frustrating loss.
2) On John Beilein: I really don’t think Beilein should be completely blamed for the teams woes. We’re being forced to play small, and this is at least partly due to our terrible luck with big men (Ekpe Udoh transferring, Robin Benzing’s ineligibility, injuries to Ben Cronin and Jordan Morgan, even Eric Puls quitting). I think Beilein’s system fits Michigan well, and he has already done what Tommy Amaker and Brian Ellerbe couldn’t do when those coaches had more talent: make the NCAA tournament.
3) On the team’s talent: I think the lack of talent is becoming painfully evident. We have 2 quality, versatile players (Harris and Sims) and one with the potential to reach that level (Darius Morris). The rest of the starters, quite frankly, aren’t good enough to be starters. Novak and Douglass in particular would be amazing off the bench as energetic sparkplugs, but as it is now, our bench is absolutely atrocious. Matt Vogrich and Anthony Wright are liabilities on defense, and Anthony Wright is a liability on the court in general while Zack Gibson has gotten progressively worse.
Bottom line: for the this year, in my opinion, the fate of this team rests in the hands of Laval Lucas-Perry. Call me crazy, but I witnessed his first game against Oakland and thought he would be the third scorer to Sims and Harris. He was responsible for getting us to the NCAA tournament with that huge win against Minnesota last year and this year’s amazing comeback against Penn State. I think he is the only Wolverine this year with the talent to become a third scorer (unless Darius Morris reaches his potential) and this season is lost unless he steps up.
Beilein is a good coach. He has won everywhere he’s been including UM. Who wasn’t pleasantly surprised at last year’s NCAA tourney run and then knocking off higher regarded Clemson. Give the man some time. He needs to pull in some more of his recruits.
Dylan, I’m with you on turnovers. They are momentum killers and shifters. Almost as bad are transition buckets. Have to limit both if you expect to win. With that said, I disagree with you that the story of the game was UM’s inability to protect the ball. The stats show that both UM and NU had essentially the same assist/turnover ratio. 18 assists is a damn good day. Obviously 18 to’s are not. Darius had 7 assists. Really like the way he attacked the lane and dished the rock. He’s coming on. 7 assists is a damn good day! Just maybe he’ll be what the doctor ordered in making another tourney run. Even Stu had some nice dishes despite his untimely to’s.
UM out rebounded NU by a wide margin. Both teams shot essentially the same number on their 2 pt. field goals. These stats along with the same a/to percentage and it being a home game should have made it a w for the good guys.
Once again the difference, and story, of the game imo was UM’s poor shooting from behind the arc where they went 7-23(30%) compared to NU’s 11-24(46%). Not sure what can be done about it, but either the percentage has to go up through better shot selection or they need to make Peedi and attacking the basket a bigger part of the offensive game plan. If the latter then Manny and Darius need the ball in their hands a whole lot more as they are the only real threats to penetrate the lane.
I think Corey person would give them more of a lift off the bench rather than wright. I’ve seen this kid in hs and he can guard 1-3. He makes his teammates better and csn hit the open shot. He almost avg a triple double in hs. Plus he can be any worse than wright
Not sure whether it has been mentioned or not, but Northwestern is not as bad a team as some of you may be thinking. This season, they have beaten Notre Dame, Iowa State, N.C. State and Stanford – the first three of those on the road. Their only 3 losses are to Butler, @Illinois and Michigan State. To me the most frustrating aspect of Sunday’s game is that they beat us at our own game using a 1-3-1 trapping defense forcing turnovers and a barrage of 3-pointers.
I agree Jim. This is the best UofM BBall forum I’ve found.
I hate to lay this loss at the feet of the coach, but that’s the way I’m leaning on this one. In particular, Beilein was unable to make any adjustments to the offense in the second half as NW’s defense started to clamp down on Sims and limit Manny’s drives. I’m all for coaches sticking to their proverbial guns, but if it’s not working — IT’S NOT WORKING.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Beilein was given an extension, and not just because of this performance. Mostly, I can’t understand why on earth would Martin ink this deal while the transition to a new AD is taking place? It should be under the new AD’s purview, and any pending negotiations should at least be put on hold until he takes over.
Back to the game — In my opinion, Northwestern is simply a much better team than anybody wants to give them credit for, and Carmody gets more out of his players than any other coach in the B10 except Bo Ryan. What is absolutely inexcusable to me (and the reason I question his contract extension) is that Beilein did not have these players ready to face that trapping 1-3-1. It’s no secret that NW uses that defense to pressure the perimeter players and create turnovers. For f*cks sake, it’s the same base defense (minus the trapping) that Michigan runs itself! They don’t know how to attack their own defense? Are you telling me that JB can’t draw up 4-5 plays to exploit it? Come on!
I’m cannot lay this one at the feet of the players. Yes, they are the ones who have to actually play the game, but they are not self-regulating — especially with the youth on this team. In this case, JB was simply outcoached. Something has to change, and soon.
It’s seriously “do or die” time for this team. Right now.
Believe it or not, even a Sparty like me wants this team to do well, as it reflects well on the B10 as a whole. This is serious gut check time — is this team going to rise up like Manny elevating for a tomahawk dunk, or crumble like Ben Cronin’s porous hip?
I dont think you can say that this loss was because Beilein got outcoached. Clearly, the major factor in this loss was the fact that the team turned the ball over ten times more than average! thats ridiculous, and that is on the players. If you dont take care of the ball you cannot get shots.
UM is the perfect team to run a 1-3-1 against right now, because they do not have great penetrating guards and they do not have great size. Without one of those you can usually find ways to be effective, without both you are in trouble unless you knock down a bunch of threes. Obviously, this team is not knocking down a bunch of threes right now.
In terms of adjustments, the only thing that I would say Beilein could have done differently is try playing Gibson and Sims together at some point. But Gibson has been so awful lately, that it was probably tough to pull the trigger on that one.
The other big key in this game was the defense. In the first half UM played terrific D, and therefore NW never got to run the 1-3-1. Instead they had to play man or a little 2-3 match up. Both of which UM easily exploited. In the second half, the defense gave up a barage of open looks, of which and to NW’s credit they knocked down and therefore were able to fall back into the 1-3-1.
So you can call Beilein out for not trying to run a different lineup out there (but even that is questionable considering how bad our bench has been), but adjustments were not an issue. I dont think there is an adjustment for – None of our players can dribble or pass against this defense without hitting a NW players hands. I could be wrong on that, but Im pretty sure that is 100% on the players.
follow-up:
the thing that concerned me was what seemed like the lack of chances/touches for deshawn sims in the second half—-but i have to say that yes, sims puts his hand up for the ball—but no, he does not really break out aggressively to get it—so, others at the game, [or who got a good look on tv] 1) did the guards not get him the ball? or 2) did sims not work hard enough to get it? or 3) did sims get the ball as much as he should have within the context of the offense?
The problem is recruiting, lets be honest. Anyone who points to last years tournament team fails to acknowledge that those were primarily Amaker recruits. If you go player by player who Beilein has recruited you dont have much to be positive about. Even D. Morris who was supposed to be this big time recruit has been a major dissapointment and will most likely be a decent player at best. The NW lost was squarely on S. Douglas who despite his reputation is NOT a good shooter(see career %) and clearly not a capable ball handler. This team without Manny and Deshawn next year is going to be brutal. Beilein has never been able to recruit and has survived on finding under the radar shooters, well hes whiffed since hes been at UM and its going to get ugly.
Sims definitely did not get the ball enough in the second half, but the NW defense was keyed to take him away and our guards never could get into positions to get it to him.
Against the 1-3-1, Sims would post low and occassionally flash out to the short corner. Morris-Douglass would operate at the top and Harris and Novak on the wings or corner. Whenever the ball would swing, the opposite wing flashes middle and the idea was to get him the ball directly or pass to the same corner then go to the high post. However, Manny and Novak are both so small that they often times just got swallowed up by the NW center in the high post or Douglass/Morris would mishandle the ball and miss the opportunity to get it there.
Once you get the ball high or go high to corner, then you can get the ball to Sims because you have pulled the wing defenders and center up and also forced the bottom defender to chase to the corner, so everyone is forced to rotate back and that leads to easy dump offs as they try and recover.
Instead, the only way we were able to force touches to Sims, were by pulling everyone up, i.e. Sims posts low, but the wings come high instead of waiting for the ball to swing. Then lobbing the ball over the top to Sims. The problem with that, is that the pass just takes so long to get there that the other defenders have a chance to recover and help, and it is also a difficult pass to catch. Sims has the low man sealed, but the pass is coming straight at him (as opposed to on an angle from the wing) and he has to catch it over his shoulder. Whenever that pass was successful, NW recovered quick enough and basically triple teamed him and forced him to throw back out.
So long story short, I think you could see that the guys understood what they were supposed to do and wanted to attack the 1-3-1 and get Sims touches, but the mishandling of the ball and the lack of another big out there really hampered the attack.
GoBlue what a baseless post. Stu is not a capable ball handler? Wasnt he leading the league in assist to turnover ratio coming into the NW game? So one bad game with turnovers and the guy is no longer capable? Wow.
D Morris is halfway into the first season of his career and you can already tell that he is only decent at best. Do you remember D Sims halfway thru his first season? I think he turned out pretty good.
I like the start of next years class with Hardaway and Smotrycz, and Bundridge the following year looks like a very good player. Now the key is adding two or three more to that mix. Lets see who gets added before we say that Beilein cant recruit.
Goblue,
Of course Beilein used some of Amaker’s players when we made the tournament. It was his second year as coach! It would basically be impossible to do it with only his players. However, this is also true: without the contributions of Novak, Douglass, LLP and two walk-ons, we would never have sniffed the tournament. I don’t think that’s a valid point.
I’ve been pretty surprised how many people have turned on Douglass. Yes, he was shockingly bad against Northwestern, but I think that was an aberration. As Twitter pointed out, he has an immaculate assist to turn ratio. I’ve seen him make many, many great passes this year and he usually takes care of the ball. Everyone has a bad game.
I’d rather have Amaker at this point than Beilein. Amaker is a better recruiter and his style of play is more conducive to the Big Ten. Amaker’s main problems here were NCAA probation and the fact that his players got hurt at the wrong time.
@Tweeter — Maybe this is not 100% on Beilein, but I think JB should have pulled Sims out to the high post or elbow area, which would have allowed him to either drive, hit cutters coming down the lane, or pass OVER the middle of the zone and get the ball to shooters in the baseline corner.
I also have to agree with jack simms, though about Sims not doing enough to demand the ball and clear out room to receive a pass. He looked very passive in the 2nd half.
Bottom line: when your guards have picked up their dribble 3-4 times (not to mention 6-7 times) in a trap 6 feet beyond the 3-point line, don’t you think it’s time to go back to the blackboard and draw up something different?
Spartan: Sims in the high post is a good point. That certainly would have been an adjustment similar to moving Gibson into the lineup and going big. They needed that big in the high post. I dont know if the result would have been much different in terms of quality of shot though, since it would basically force Sims to only be a passer. He is not going to drive to the basket against a 1-3-1 from the high post. He does not have that kind of ball handling ability.
My point though is still, that there really was not much to draw up. I think the coaches looked at and said, this is our best chance to score by trying to get a wing in the high post and eventually moving the ball to Sims low against the mis-matched point guard on the baseline. The reasons it was not working were simply because the players made mistakes with the ball. It wasnt like NW was just shutting them down and not letting them get quality shots. The shots were fine, there were just not enough of them because of the turnovers.
@pgrom: if you think those were Amaker’s only problems then you obviously watched zero of UMs offensive possessions when he was coach.
Enough of this “it was because of the sanctions” nonsense! Amaker’s recruiting fell off SHARPLY toward the end. Go ask Baylor fan if they need to make excuses about sanctions. Go as Ohio State fans, or Indiana fans, or any other school that bounced back from much more severe sanctions almost instantaneously.
@pgrom: Don’t know if I’d go that far (taking Amaker over Beilein), but it is interesting to compare the two.
Beilein’s Big Ten record (.400) lags Amaker’s pace through two seasons & four games (.444), and it will continue to do so through three years and probably even four. Amaker was .422 (27-37) after four years; Beilein (16-24) would have to go 15-17 from now through next season to top that. Beilein inherited a mess, of course, but so did Amaker.
You can’t ignore Beilein’s track record; there’s much more there to take comfort in than there was with Amaker. But you also have to judge U-M’s play qualitatively. Just because this was a tournament team last season doesn’t mean it was much better than the Amaker ones that came a game or two short. The difference between Amaker and Beilein at this point is arguably that miracle comeback at IU.
When it comes to recruiting, Michigan just needs more quality players. Right now there is no one other than Darius Morris I trust coming off the bench; that is a big step below last year’s team when Kelvin Grady, David Merritt, Jevohn Shepard, and Laval Lucas Perry were sparkplugs.
Depth is a glaring issue, as Ben Cronin, Eric Puls, Eso Akunne, Blake McLimans, and Jordan Morgan are sitting out and Gibson, Wright, and Vogrich continue to struggle.
Inconsistency is also an issue; the team is consistently inconsistent, Laval Lucas-Perry and Deshawn Sims being the two most noticeable in this category.
In terms of stats, the Northwestern loss wasn’t horrible, but I just hope that the team’s morale doesn’t start to wither. It seems like Deshawn Sims has gotten his act together, and Darius Morris is beginning to get better, the team just needs to keep the mental mistakes to a minimum and get some leadership from somebody.
NOOOOOOO, 6 more years of Beilein. John I’m really trying hard to love you and your system (that doesnt develop shooters)… but when you bring in the freshmen you brought in this year and you run players like Grady and Udoh off you deserve no extension.
Top weaknesses with this team PG & Center… we had them both (shame)
Strongly disagree that Ekpe Udoh was “run off”, that is just outrageous.
With Grady, he saw his playing time decrease significantly because others gave us the best chance to win.
It’s simply not true that Amaker’s problems were the NCAA sanctions. They were free and after his 2nd year and his best two recruiting classes were in his 2nd and 3rd year. He had one season where his team was derailed by injury, but in 2006 there was simply no excuse for that team missing the tournament–their last two games, they lost at home to a struggling Indiana team and on a neutral court to an awful Minnesota. Winning either one would have got them in the tournament. Let’s not revise history. His recruiting was starting to suffer in his last couple years also.
86 mins at the point -vs- Duke(2), UCLA, MSU (top teams we played other than Uconn, Grady didnt play vs. Uconn.
3 total turnovers as a sophomore on the biggest stage, that kind of point guard play gives you a pretty good chance to win. Lee and Merritt did excellent jobs too but they didnt have the ability to break a press by themselves and they werent sophomores with upside!!!!! We finished 9th in the Big Ten did Lee and Merritt really make us a better team or did we get into the tournament because we beat UCLA and Duke? I’d say the latter.
You are probably right, it isnt fair to blame JB for Udoh leaving because I dont know the full story. However I still believe Udoh would be wearing a #22 highlighter yellow jersey if JB would have simply said “Ekpe I need you, I will help you develop into a better all around player, and I will tailor my system to utilize your talent so you can play at the next level”.
Being at the game it was hard not to notice Gibson’s demeanor. He was clearly frustrated and upon making his first mistake his head slumped way down. You could see his teammates trying to pick him up, but he was pretty down. Even Stu got frustrated to an extent.
The one player that impressed me the most was Darius. I really believe he’s going to be able to excel at this level in a couple of years, maybe even later this year. At the end of the game it was him yelling things around on the court and firing up teammates, as a freshman! (Manny and DeShawn obviously impressed but it’s expected out of them)
We finished 7th in the Big Ten “Jalen”. We won the tie breaker with Minnesota because we swept them. Face it dude, Beilein’s team came up with a huge win over Purdue and a key road win, followed up with obliterating a bad team in the BTT first round to take care of business. Amaker blew games vs. IU in a game where Ron Coleman intentionally fouled with 30 seconds left in a tie game, then followed it up with a loss to a 9-win Minnesota team we’d beaten by 20+ twice that year in a game where Daniel Horton quit.
Post of the day goes to Junderground. The biggest thing that stands out in these comments is how wildly different they are after a win or a loss. If we maintain that one point lead 62-61 and somehow pull out the NW game, everyone would be talking about how much heart this team has in coming back and what our path forward is for the tournament.
And regarding Beilein vs. Amaker, honestly if the records are the same I think it’s a lot more fun watching less talented players overachieve and play as a team rather than talented players underachieve. As mentioned there is absolutely no reason the 2006 team should have missed the Tourney, and you could almost say the same for 2007 if they could have held their 5 point lead over #1 OSU with 3 minutes left.
And if you tell me guys are underachieving under Beilein, who? Stu and Novak are doing everything you can ask of 2-star recruits, sure their threes haven’t been falling this year but there’s no reason to think that they won’t find their strokes again at some point. Gibson simply doesn’t have the mentality of a big man and never will. Peedi and Manny you can’t say much about besides Peedi’s mental lapses at times (but look how far he’s come since his freshman year under Tommy). Vogrich and Morris are too young to judge, and LLP is simply an enigma who really didn’t get that much hype out of high school and is cursed by Tim McCormick’s comments that he would be “the best PG since Rumeal Robinson”. Ant never played under Tommy and only plays under Beilein because we’ve had tough luck with injuries to Cronin and Morgan (and Ekpe transferring).
I agree that Beilein deserves some criticism but anyone calling for him to be fired is out of their mind.
I can’t beleive some posters here would rather have Amaker over Beilein. You have short memories. Amaker could not coach at all. I agree Beilein needs to step up his recruiting, but he is worlds better than Amaker.
First… As an adamant supporter of Tommy Amaker.. There is no way that we would be better off with Tommy, that thought is just comical. As mentioned above, when they were on the bubble, Beilein’s teams won the games they needed, Tommy’s didn’t. Tommy was a great recruiter, a hell of a guy, and someone who is hard to root against but he just had one, two, or five too many bad breaks.
The Grady argument feels like one that will never go away but at this point it is what it is. If I could have one point guard off of last year’s team it would certainly be CJ Lee over Kelvin Grady though.
2006 missed the tourney because Abram missed 2/3 of the Big Ten season, Hunter missed multiple games, and Harris sprained his ankle against OSU. That team easily makes it without the injuries. The crucial Indiana game at home was played without Abram and Hunter.
I like Beilein a lot too I just think Amaker gets a serious bum rap by a lot of Michigan fans. I think he’s going to be real successful in the future, which is great for him I guess.
The other thing that is hard to ignore right now is that Amaker has built a better team in 3 years at Harvard than we have right now in year 3 under Beilein. If the two teams played right now we probably wouldn’t win.
pgrom good call on those injuries, although they still blew the Minnesota BTT game even with Abram and (I believe) Hunter back. That game was basically the equivalent of last year’s BTT game vs. Iowa which you have to give Beilein some credit for having the team prepared to blow out the Hawkeyes.
Amaker has built a better team than UM? Really? How many NCAAs has he made since he’s been there? Oh, is that right? Yep, its zero. That crazy competitive Ivy League, he must surely be owning that league right? Whats that? He is 10-19 so far in the Ivy League? Yes that is correct. Well his overall record must be much better than Beilein’s over that time span? No? Really? Pretty much the same – Amaker 35-39 Beilein 39-43. Hmmm, I wonder who has had the tougher schedule?
Amaker hasn’t built anything yet Harvard. Yea they look ok this year, what with their best win being by two in triple Ot against William and Mary. Other than that, I dont see that much. They were respectable against a couple good teams and beat some other bad teams. Well good for them. Yes they did beat a team we lost too, but I dont think you can make much of an assessment on how teams compare against each other based off one common opponent.
No one is concerned with this, because the play on the court and the results speak volumes. Amaker gets exactly what he deserves from UM fans. He was a great guy, but he was a poor coach here. He had plenty of time to show that he could get it done, yet he proved he could not. End of story.
@Tim
“Morgan wasn’t recruited by any other Big Ten School”
Wrong. He was recruited by MSU, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa. Other notables outside of the B10 were Stanford, Gonzaga, Arizona, Notre Dame, Wake Forest. This kid will be good, but if I were him I would really wonder why I am even on this team.
Amaker got that job at Harvard for two reasons:
1. Harvard explicitly said that they wanted to hire a black coach, and his primary competition was scandal-plagued Mike Jarvis.
2. His wife was hired by Harvard for an academic position first.
As far as his track record there, he’s already publicly criticized the school for making it hard to recruit. Like you can recruit at all at a school that doesn’t give athletic scholarships. And finally, almost all his success he owes to inheriting Jeremy Lin.
We won’t know anything about the quality of his team this year until they face Cornell. Frankly, I don’t see how they beat Cornell either at home or in Ithica.
I’ve seen Harvard play a couple times this season. They have a deep roster and they are more athletic overall than UM. My honest assessment is that they are better than we are at this point.
Yeah, Amaker inherited Lin but he has helped develop him into the player he is just like Beilein has helped Harris and Sims develop.
Whether or not Harvard beats Cornell in the Ivy they will be playing somewhere in the postseason this year. That’s quite an accomplishment considering Harvard has absolutely no basketball tradition.
Like I said, I appreciate what JB did here last year and I like him personally but we don’t look like we’re headed in the right direction right now. Year 3 has been pretty bad and year 4 looks worse. I hope I’m wrong about that.
We’ve endured some unexcusable losses before, but that 2006 BTT loss to MN was the worst, most infuriating, most inexplicable loss I’ve ever seen.
p.a. Darius Morris is going to be very very good. No doubt about that.
With Beilein at the helm, this program will remain stale. I wish we could find a young up and comer. We should have got Pitino back in 2001.
Alright, I just have to give my final word on Amaker. Yes, he had problems with injuries, as do most teams, but that 2006 team shouldn’t have even been close to the bubble. Their seven best players were upperclassmen, I know that three of them have played in NBA games. They had great size with Sims, Brown, Hunter, and Petway and a bonified go-to guy in Horton, not to mention Harris and Abram. Honestly, he mismanaged the Abram injury also, initially bringing him back too fast and then keeping him out too long. He also kept Hunter out too long. Sorry to harp on this, but someone is trying to revise history.
Finally, I will say that Amaker was not as bad as some say he was. He did have bad luck with injuries and he got the team very close to the tournament. He just couldn’t get them over the hump. I don’t know how anyone can look at his and Beilein’s track records, and say Amaker is better. It sounds like the venting of frustrations with the current situation to me.
Dylan will probably link to this later, but in case you missed it here’s a pretty good article from Rosenberg today on JB’s extension,
http://www.freep.com/article/2.....hn-Beilein
One of the frequent naysayers (Scott, Tim, whoever) mentions that we are a football school first and basketball second. Absolutely true, but just because Florida and OSU have had recent success proves nothing. I can’t think of a single school who been able to provide consistent elite programs in both sports over decades. So no matter how much we want to be this elite program, you have to keep reality in perspective.
There’s no way we are going to get one of the established premier coaches to come here that are going to instantaneously change our program with insane talent. So if you aren’t a Kansas or a UNC the only way you can become an elite program is picking a diamond in the rough. We hoped that might happen with Amaker. It didn’t. Beilein is our next try and based on a tourney appearance last year, I’d say he’s off to a pretty damn good start. But the bottom line is: it’s just too early to be able to accurately assess the job he has done. And just like football, the only thing that would come out of another coaching change right now is guaranteed terribleness for a few years.
I’m definitely not one of the “fire beilein” people, but I’m also not one of the “re-hire” beilein people. So the news of his contract extension kinda depresses me, since it confirms what I’ve suspected all along: that the UM brass are in love with his squeaky clean “mr. ethics” image and are satisfied with having a bottom-three B10 program.
The apologists say: “Who do you think we are, UNC?,” as though it’s unfair to expect the wolverines to be a major power. But the fact is that in living memory, we were an elite team. Wisconsin doesn’t have the national recruiting clout that we do and yet, unlike us, they are a solid team every year.
It’s been said, but all this redshirting “player development” business is a smoke screen for the fact that we don’t recruit elite talent, and when we do (usually Detroit guys), they either have to carry the rest of the brick-shooting, non-defending dead weights or they transfer to greener pastures.
We weren’t bottom 3 last year, we won’t be this year, and we won’t be next year. I’d be very happy to have the success that Wisconsin or Purdue has had in recent years, and I think we will have it and more.