Time to Take Hoops Seriously
I don't ever remember an opening game as impressive as tonight's victory over UNC Asheville. Instant team chemistry! In spite of everything, we seem to have a top notch basketball team this year.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
Our additions fit in so well. Fantastic rotation tonight.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:50 PM ^
Yep. I was optimistic about this season's Michigan team (even though many were doom and gloom). Olivier Nkmahoua and Tray Jackson were what a sophomore Moussa Diabate would've been for us (but sadly he was one-and-done and couldn't benefit from NIL as a foreign player). And Nimari Burnett looks MUCH improved. Perhaps Burnett is coming into his own as an upperclassman. I hope he finds an enduring home at Michigan.
Tonight was an a promising performance.
Question: did Stephen Bardo say Michigan shot 15/26 (57.6%) from 3 against #5 Marquette in the scrimmage?
If so, that's further proof that this Michigan team might be an excellent 3 point shooting team which would be a major surprise.
Perhaps this Michigan team will be greater than the sum of its parts. It seems to me we have a deep team.
I like George Washington III. Even though his shots weren't falling, it's clear he sees the game well.
And Dug McDaniel was AWESOME. I was super stoked when he committed to us because I had seen him play in HS. He looked like 2013 Trey Burke tonight. I hope this is the start of a new era of Michigan Hoops.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:55 PM ^
We need "I dig Dug" shirts now.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:04 AM ^
On it.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
very low expectations and juwan not on the bench. that said, UNC-ashville is a decent team and we looked pretty functional. so hey, maybe a happy surprise this year for mens hoops.
November 8th, 2023 at 6:14 AM ^
please pardon my ignorance, I didn't watch.
Where was Juwan?
November 8th, 2023 at 6:25 AM ^
heart surgery this summer, has not been coaching, timetable to return unknown.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:05 AM ^
Damn, don't know how I missed that. Hope he's recovering well.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:38 AM ^
I personally view even a chance to get into the tournament this year as a positive outcome. Last night was a good start and we didn’t even have everyone out there. I can’t imagine where we’d be without the portal thank god.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
After only 1 game?
Dont get ahead of yourself.
Give it at least 10 games before we know if this team is better than expected.
Good, fun game tonight. WAY TOO EARLY to make any lasting deductions.
#GoBlue
November 7th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
That's what I was thinking after the secret exhibition victory over #5 Marquette. I guess that wasn't a fluke.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:25 AM ^
Rumor has it, that the team is really gelling - and, should surprise a lot of people this year.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
No one has film on our team yet, so they don't know what to expect. That said, I'm optimistic.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:17 AM ^
Sums up my feelings as well. The basketball program has run out of confidence based on prior years and quite frankly it's bankrupt. Any confidence will have to be earned by proving it on the court.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:33 AM ^
I could tell within 5 minutes that Nkoumhoua was an upgrade at the 4. TWill looks much more comfortable at the 3. Dug has made the leap. Nimari >>> Llewellyn. Tarris allows us to play up tempo. The team last year was hamstrung by Dickinson trying to play 36 minutes per game. They didn’t run, he didn’t play aggressive defense, the whole thing was stagnant. There were too many freshmen forced to contribute.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
We can still make fun of sparty for losing their first game tho right?
November 8th, 2023 at 7:45 AM ^
The Spartan loss reflected how much smarter Izzo is than Michigan’s coaches. The area this deals with is pressure.
After each consecutive win by Michigan, there will be some, perhaps a very small minority - who will kick around the idea of an undefeated season. With each win, the pressure grows.
Izzo’s coaching and Sparty’s play eliminated that “undefeated season” pressure right out of the gate. Yeah, Izzo is awfully clever…
November 8th, 2023 at 8:03 AM ^
Yeah nothing goes over Izzo's head, at least if it is under 5'4" in the air.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:46 AM ^
I will get ahead of myself. I know what I saw. We will contend for the Big Ten title, we will make the NCAA tournament, we will at least make the Elite 8. After that, who knows. Don’t kill my expectations already.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:42 AM ^
Completely agree with this. Although the team looked great last night, I still want to see how repeatable last nights shooting can be throughout multiple games. They were draining their 3's last night and that was the one question mark going into this season......where is our outside shooting going to come from. I did love our defensive effort and we got a lot of rebounds. Nkamouah is going to be a problem and I actually think we are going to have some depth this year. T Will played very well last night so that is encouraging.
November 8th, 2023 at 9:55 AM ^
Optimism is good ! I like what I saw and am excited
November 8th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
Why dont you just wait 32 games before thinking their good then. Jesus fuck. Its not hard for people who know basketball to watch these players and see how good/skilled they are, and watch the chemistry they have together.
I don't need to wait until the season ends to form a strong opinion of the team.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:25 PM ^
Just one game, but very encouraging.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
Does basketball have signs that can be stolen? That’s the only explanation I can think of
November 7th, 2023 at 11:30 PM ^
There was a student fan with a "Michigan Sign Stealer" t-shirt, so yes.
November 8th, 2023 at 7:00 AM ^
There was a hoodie! Getting custom T-Shirts in response to a story in the news cycle is pretty normal. But some industrious soul is making hoodies already!
November 8th, 2023 at 12:09 AM ^
Yes. We knew they were going to attempt to make the ball go in the basket so we deliberately arranged our defensive to stop them. As you can see, it paid off handsomely.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
MSU v JMU was only one game too... ;)
November 8th, 2023 at 8:13 AM ^
Not really. A bad loss far outweighs an expected win.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:31 PM ^
Damn i missed it
November 7th, 2023 at 11:37 PM ^
Our team out of the gate was firing on all cylinders. We never trailed, never looked back. Dug was unbelievable and Nkamhoua may be a future NBA all star. Good physicality, good shooting, confidence off the charts...
November 8th, 2023 at 8:31 AM ^
To be accurate, we did trail 2-0.
November 8th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
There are good highlights on YouTube
November 7th, 2023 at 11:31 PM ^
Let’s not start jerking each other off quite yet.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:51 PM ^
Be sure and let us know when we can start.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ^
Downvoted for the PG-13 edit.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:12 AM ^
Whip 'em out boys 😂
November 8th, 2023 at 1:02 AM ^
For Harambe.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:36 AM ^
I'm disappointed, I was hoping for the quadruple Dutch rudder.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:05 AM ^
Have no idea what that is and I'm pretty sure I'm better off keeping it that way.
November 8th, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
Uh, yep. PG-13 version, it's a rare team game in which holding is not a penalty.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
It’s early and very easy to overreact but what I saw tonight doesn’t look like the dumpster fire most were predicting. The Big Ten is a gauntlet tho and we are not very deep. Health and foul trouble will be a key factor every single night.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:46 PM ^
Anyone predicting dumpster fire was not paying attention to the type of roster Howard and the other coaches were putting together.
Michigan will have some nights where they struggle to score, just like every team does. There will be some teams that take advantage of Dug’s height.
This will also be a team which works hard and has a chance in most games all season.
Very excited to see how this season plays out.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:14 AM ^
The Big Ten doesn't look that tough or deep this year.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:55 PM ^
TWill was +24. Gonna be a fun season if we keep letting him cook!
November 8th, 2023 at 12:20 AM ^
Really need Jaelin Llewellyn back. It’ll let Dug play on and off the ball, and give him a rest here and there. Also seemed like we needed a second ball handler at times.
November 8th, 2023 at 8:13 AM ^
Agreed. It's far from clear that there's a functional backup point guard on this roster right now (Burnett looked fine to me, but not as a PG); still to be proven if a healthy Llewellyn can play that role, but there's reason to believe he can...if he's healthy.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^
Michigan is a G short in the rotation and JL could be that guy. If JL can play at Princeton level of play, Michigan will be a much better team for it. The frontcourt and wing are in good place at the moment.
November 8th, 2023 at 12:27 AM ^
I was only able to catch the first 15 minutes of game time and it was enough to significantly notch up my expectations. Dug looked the part of sophomore breakout, TWill appears to fit into his role a lot more naturally at the 3, and the athleticism of Nkamhoua and Burnett is a welcome sight.
The obvious concern is guard depth (and specifically ball handling). Hopefully Llewellyn will be back soon but even with him healthy, and assuming GW3 develops quickly, we may not be able to afford Dug getting in foul trouble or missing games. Who was bringing it up the floor and initiating offense when he got rest tonight?