December 4th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^
I’ll wait for Ace to tell us how good this team actually is but just hasn’t shown it yet.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:32 PM ^
The second half was much worse than the first half was good.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^
I get the sentiment tonight, but that approach didn't exactly go poorly last year.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:05 PM ^
I sure hope the team doesn’t have to survive a plan crash every season to play to their full potential.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:47 AM ^
Guess you didn't watch Michigan on fire in the 2nd half of the season before the tournament last year. Too bad. It was a good run.
December 5th, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
I saw every game. The 6-2 ending to the season with two wins against top 20 ranked opponents was very good. That said, what really made last year a success and one fans will remember was the run in the Big10 tourney and March Madness. Had they lost their first game in the tourney and been left out of the big dance, people would not look back so fondly on last year. I think it is great the team came together after that very scary expereince and accomplished what they did. I think it also should be recognized as a very unique season.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:20 PM ^
We are on the right track!
December 4th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^
Duncan Robinson should spend more time practicing defense and less time podcasting. Put a hand up at least... jeez, my 8 year old daughter even called him out and she has only played 1 season of bball
December 4th, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^
He was excellent defensively against Indiana. I wonder why the drop in performance today :(
December 5th, 2017 at 2:28 AM ^
I'll grant you, it was a rare game in which he wasn't totally brutal, mostly because he was watching Wagner get owned by Morgan, but we've seen enough of him in three years to know he's really bad at defense.
He had to play more minutes early in the season because Livers wasn't ready but Livers has been improving as quickly as a freshman should and was much better tonight (notice how we finally busted their run when we took out Duncan and put Livers in). Plus, Duncan shot poorly once again. He's now shooting 33% from three on the entire season! He was only 35% as a starter two years ago. He's not a guy that should be playing starting minutes. Until we figure that out, we're not a tourney team.
December 5th, 2017 at 8:04 AM ^
Indiana isn't that good and they didn't run at him.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:14 AM ^
If you're not a good defender, you better be able to score more than 3 pts on 1-7 shooting. He is inconsistent at times offensively but consistently not so good defensively.
December 5th, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^
That podcast ended when Dakich transferred.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:46 PM ^
Not a good sign for the state of things surrounding this blog whenever he shows up..
Be carefull out there folks.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:47 PM ^
just waiting for the days we can consistently or least evenly split victories with OSU in both sports...
December 4th, 2017 at 11:08 PM ^
Both sports? Try all 3 major sports. Pretty sure OSU hockey clocked M hockey a couple weeks ago too.
December 5th, 2017 at 8:42 AM ^
I enjoy hockey, but the college level of the sport is not major. It is to us and other schools, but most of the country could not give two fucks about college hockey.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:48 PM ^
Watching the entire team avoid wanting to take a shot late in the game was rough.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
That one posession where they got an offensive board and STILL no one wanted to take a semi-open look infuriated me. BE AGGRESSIVE. GOTTA WANT IT!!
December 5th, 2017 at 1:27 AM ^
and miss them. Don't think he made a shot in the second half but he was jacking them up. Not sure why Brooks got so few minutes in the second half. I get that Zavier had a nice first half but the and1 was super lucky, as was the three (mostly) so you need to cash out when you're ahead in that situation.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:48 PM ^
Da fuck happened?
December 4th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^
Horrible coaching.. that's what happened.
The same shit we see every year..
Coach b get completely outcoached by an incredibly inferior team.
One thing I've learned is that his team's aren't worth watching until late in the season.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
So how did we shoot so well in the first half?
December 4th, 2017 at 9:56 PM ^
They upped the intensity on defense and we had no answer for it. Z scored tonight but the offense bogs down with him at point because he is not a shooting threat
December 5th, 2017 at 12:20 PM ^
OSU made them, we didn't.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:54 PM ^
That must have been GOOD coaching in the first half.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:57 PM ^
In the first half. Then for some key plays, it wasn’t. Then UM got gun shy and started missing easy looks anticipating contact.
On the other end it was somewhat opposite. A few calls bailed out OSU and they confidence.
In other words, 2 relatively inexperienced teams let momentum control the game.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:48 PM ^
Nothing else
December 4th, 2017 at 8:50 PM ^
Basketball comeback against us - ever.
This means in a ten day period those assholes will have scored their biggest football AND basketball comeback victories against us.
But let’s have some more rational voices continue to say “move along, there’s nothing to see here.”
December 4th, 2017 at 8:51 PM ^
How much of that second half was just players standing about 5 feet outside the 3 point line? Hardly any movement. That was about as poor of a second half as I’ve seen. It’s more frustrating for fans then the basketball team or coach Beilein because fans actually care about beating Osu and MSU. I feel like Coach Beilein doesn’t “care” about those rivals. Just treats all games the same and for the most part the team doesn’t look good in the early season.
Now I’m sure he’ll have it turned around come March, and I DON’T want him fired, but if you’re going to have constant clunkers from December through February at least don’t blow the games against OSU or MSU. OSU’s team has pretty much been a joke with the players they had thrown together. Get it together.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
Word for this game....embarrassing.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:53 PM ^
It's early. Beilein is still figuring out the rotation and who will be best where. B1G had to start conference play earlier this year, that's all. At this time last year we were still playing minnows like Houston Baptist so these things were figured out in wins.
Everyone be patient.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:57 PM ^
Fuck that, you don't blow a lead like that and call for any sort of patience. That was bad and in a way that cannot be glossed over.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:02 PM ^
I don't disagree that it wasn't bad. We got unlucky the 2nd half. Missed a ton of open shots. Wagner played his worst game, Robinson is slumping a bit. Yeah, Beilein got a little too cute with his rotation but it's still early season struggles.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:09 PM ^
When the fuck isn't Robinson slumping? I must have missed his streak of crushing it.
December 5th, 2017 at 1:36 AM ^
during the non-conference schedule in 2015. He's been bad as a starter ever since (35% in conference in 2015, just 33% this year).
December 5th, 2017 at 6:02 AM ^
Yes, he is great against bad teams who send nobody to guard him. Play defense against him, put a hand in his fact, or make him play good D and rebound, and he is a ridiculous liability.
I can handle short stretches off the bench, he can even lift a team, but there is no way this guy should ever start. Take your lumps with the young guys starting and know they will mprove.
December 5th, 2017 at 9:02 AM ^
Livers must not be quite ready. He needs to get there fast.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:09 PM ^
"Unlucky" is certainly one way to describe that performance.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
Oh wait! You were being serious.
Do tell, when WILL JB have the rotation all figured out?! And why does it take soooo long? Because it took OSU a matter of a couple games to get into a rhythm and kick our asses.
December 4th, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^
OSU just hired their head coach 6 months ago! Already beating JB.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:08 PM ^
Let me help him figure out the rotation. Bench Robinson.
December 4th, 2017 at 8:54 PM ^
Beilein will forever be terrible at managing personnel. He may be a great coach in other regards, but he's terrible when it comes to fouls, playing the hot hand, sitting the cold hand, etc. Wagner, Robinson, Matthews were outplayed by their counterparts tonight but we went with them down the stretch anyway. Would love to see a +/-. NIT.
December 4th, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
"Playing the hot hand" and "sitting the cold hand" built some very tall buildings in Las Vegas. At halftime, I said that Michigan had gotten lucky in the first half -- they did. In the second half, they got unlucky, and they got more unlucky in the second half than they got lucky in the first half.
Michigan did not forget how to play basketball at halftime. Ohio State didn't "want it more" (they didn't 'want it' in the first half?) John Beilein wasn't outcoached. Michigan got unlucky. It's not a fun, "hot take" kind of narrative. It's frustrating, because it's not correctible. Beilein can't go back and say "hey, guys, get luckier." All he can do is tell them to keep shooting.
How many layups did Michigan miss in the second half? They'll end the season shooting about 70% on layups, because every D-I basketball team shoots about 70% on layups. If they had shot 70% on layups in the second half, they likely win the basketball game. Similarly, how many open 3s did they miss? I'm not talking about contested, low-percentage, late-shot-clock heaves They had some wide-open shots and shot 8% from 3 in the second half. If they shoot 35%, they win.
The massive rending of garments is unnecessary. If Michigan had spaced the makes and misses more evenly, nobody would be talking about "heart," or "knowing how to win," or anything else. It's a statistical fluke. It stinks -- I hate losing to these guys as much as any of you -- but it's not any more relevant than last year's OSU game was.
People talk about "small sample size," but it's difficult to internalize. A game -- even several games -- is still a small sample size. KenPom had the game a virtual toss-up, due to OSU's home court. That feels about right; if they replay that game 100 times, Michigan probably wins about 50. That's not great, and it's not where any of us want it to be, but the sky isn't falling either. The point is, in any one of those games, Michigan might win by 20, or Michigan might lose by 20 -- but they'd be the exact same team each time. That's the underlying problem with sports in general -- the results on the field/court/rink/etc. represent as much (or more) randomness as skill.
Don't read more into this than is there. It's one game.
December 5th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^
You're right to an extent, but it wasn't all luck. Ohio St. outhustled Michigan in the second half, that's "wanting it more." And most importantly, Beilein did a terrible job with his personnel decisions in the second half. The offense clearly looks better when Brooks is playing point guard. So what does Beilein do when the team is struggling offensively, he plays Simpson 14 minutes and Brooks for only 6. Robinson is a clear liability defensively and can't throw the ball in the ocean this year, so let's give him 30 minutes. If he can't shoot, there is no reason to play him. And why not give Poole more minutes when Matthews was clearly struggling? That is "getting outcoached," not luck.
December 5th, 2017 at 12:18 AM ^
Suppose Beilein doesn't trust Brooks's defense? Simpson is an excellent defender at the 1. There are always trade-offs, and we don't have all of the information that Beilein did.
How do you measure "hustle?" I saw Michigan get more offensive rebounds in this game than I had all season -- they did better on the glass on both ends of the floor than OSU, actually. Michigan also had more steals than OSU.
As for Robinson -- that's back to the cold hand fallacy. There is a lot more evidence to his ability to shoot at a career 42% 3-point shooter than there is that he's suddenly forgotten how to shoot. Put him in, get him to take an open shot, and I predict he'll make about 42% of them. Unfortunately, sometimes he might make 6/7 and other times he might make 0/7, and that averages out to 42%.
December 5th, 2017 at 1:44 AM ^
and/or guarding Andrew Dakich. Brooks can handle that. Perfect situation for a mediocre defender to be playing. It was head-scratching that Z was in at the end.
As for Robinson, he's about 34% as a starter against starters since his ridiculous first ten games in 2015. And he's so bad at defense that he has to shoot 45% on a relatively high volume of threes to even get to even, let alone help the team.
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