After a crappy loss, some hope for next year's B-ball team
Losses like this suck bad, but I came across this article that might provide some hope for next year's team. Obviously, this year isn't done yet, but Zach Shaw at 247 wrote an article about how well Austin Davis (redshirt) and Charles Matthews (transfer) are playing in practice.
Coach B said: "I hate practice some days. I hate it when Austin and Charles are getting baskets on us or defending us really well," Beilein said. "But I love it when I just think about the future with those two guys. It's really going to be helpful."
If Wagner and D.J. come back, next year's team should have a lot of talent (freshman Poole, Livers & Brooks too) and should do well. Just thought this might help some on the board cope with the NW loss.
Thanks to Michigan State losing at Illinois, we are faced with the following:
Illinois wins at Rutgers, 19-12, 9-9. . .
Michigan loses at Nebraska, 19-12, 9-9. . .
So does it come down to which team does better in the Big 10 tourney?
I think Michigan MUST win at Nebraska.
If you think Wagner and Wilson are NBA material at this moment or if anyone does, you guys are sadly mistaken.
Edit: Replying to the OP.
They won't win hard road games period
LONG way to go before he's a pro.
He doesn't score on all "points" of the court. He cannot back anyone down or take on people one on one. If you want to be that uber-skilled 4-5 in the NBA who can shoot, you better have the ability to be in iso situations.
And he's a horrible defender right now. He can block shots, but he gets pushed around and seems to have a hard time reading things on the court.
I think everyone got a little too high after the Purdue game and everyone is a little too low after this Northwestern game. I too fall into this generalization and reasonably so. There were so many ways we could have won a road game against a respectable and desperate Northwestern team.
The guy who made the shot travelled (granted they would never call that), DJ Wilson was slow to react, Irvin should have taken it to the hole and ate more clock instead of jacking up a 3. Also it was an amazing play from a (again) desperate team. We will beat Nebraska and win at least a game in the B1G tournament. I still still am predicting a Sweet 16 run in the tournament.
I realize this thread is about the future but a lot of it is hating on the present so I had to respond. As for the future, X looked great again. Love the incoming freshman. Having Mo and DJ back as bigs who can drain 3's is tough to defend. Hope that holds true for this year and next.
I thought he did a pretty good job of shoving Walton aside, then catching the ball he took steps and shot. It is too close to call that, in slow motion I think he did travel.
From a coacing side of things, I am not sure if that is how JB wanted them to play that or not but how do you not tell DJ Wilson to be the last man on the court? He should have kept every player in front of him, make them shoot an off balance fade away, not an easy laup.
Is not a bad thing. Have you watched him this season?
Is strictly a product of volume shooting. The dude is broke.
As long as you find someone who plays a similar level of defense, it's an upgrade.
I never get too high or too low on any one or two games. That's why the people who suddenly got back on JB's schnutz needed to calm down. It is beyond annoying that posters suddenly told us "JB haters" to take a walk, or whatever "get lost" cliche needed to be said.
The team didn't suddenly become a world beater. Last night, JB's coaching was all over that game. You saw Wagner get pulled for one foul because he's got a huge man crush on Donnal. You saw Wagner have a bad play in the 2nd half that resulted in a turnover, IMMEDIATELY resulting in his benching for Donnal and the dude STILL only had one or two fouls. In the last 10 seconds after the rebound, Michigan had a chance to get it across half court, use their last timeout and set something up. Instead, he let Irvin jack up a three.
And of course, you saw Donnal on the court and Walton assigned to a giant post player in the last moments.
He's a fine coach. You'll have well-behaved, solid team. But short of a perfect team coming together (2013), they'll never win a title.
And PLEASE stop selling me that "this was just a good loss to a desperate team." Did you guys watch the first half? How many turnovers did NW have and Michigan refused to take advantage? They did not play a good basketball game last night, but Michigan was up to the task to play worse.
this was like the first game I've missed in months - sounds painful - almost glad I missed it.
I think this year has been something of a disappointment because this team underachieved most of the year. BUT, they've improved and are getting better. And the last month or so they've played close to their potential. They've likely made the tournament at this point and the selection committee loves teams that play well down the stretch, which is a hallmark of Beilein teams.
Since the clunker at home to Ohio State last month, look at what this team has done:
Blown out rivals Indiana and Michigan State
Outplayed Top-15 teams/ Big Ten contenders Wisconsin and Purdue
Lost on the road to Minnesota in OT in a game defined by horrific officiating. Lost to a tournament-bound NW team on a desperation Hail Mary.
Most of all - I hope this loss really gets under their skin and makes them hate to lose. That's a good quality to have for the B1G and NCAA tourneys. Go Blue!
Xavier Simpson has shown real growth during the year and played well yesterday in a big game at a hostile environment. I'm very pleased. He's a legit defender and has shown an uncanny knack to break down the defense on dribble penetration and dishes. I'll take his development as a positive for next year.
Yes, there's still hope for this year. I think we've had a good year so far with what we have. No one expected irvin to be horrible. Walton has stepped up. Mo has been great.
GO BLUE!!
Even temporarily. I've been a Michigan die hard supporter since around 1st grade if not earlier. Went to school in Ann Arbor from K through college. It is the BEST UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD. Went to high school with Bo's son (nicest kid you could meet).
My kids love Michigan even though they don't really follow sports. I LOVE following our teams, especially football, basketball and hockey. I also keep track of all the other teams. It's awesome when our softball team gets the the World Series. Frozen Four, love it. Our wrestling team is always ranked. So are swimming and women's gymnastics.
I also love this board because there's so much I wouldn't know unless I came on here. I get extremely frustrated when we lose games like last night to Northwestern. When we lost to sparty last year, I was watching from a hotel room in Hawaii and literally wanted to jump out the window. Losing the osu game this year was excruciating.
We all feel the pain. But to come on this board for the sole purpose of bashing our players, coaches and teams makes no sense to me. Yes, Irvin has been terrible this year. That's a fact. He had a decent game last night, but should never try to be the hero. Fact. We should have been in the CFP this year. The NFL combine is a great but also painful reminder.
I guess I'm just babbling on because it's getting old hearing the same people come out of the woodworks to bash Beilein and other coaches and players everytime Michigan doesn't meet their expectations. THE TEAM, THE TEAM, THE TEAM. Cheer when we win, me mad, sad, frustrated when we lose. But stop with the judgment on people's abilities or whether they deserve a job. This is college athletics. The best team doesn't always win every game! We lose a lot of games that we could have or should have won. Get over it and support the freakin team!
GO BLUE!!! (NO MATTER WHAT)
but it happens. NW is scrappy as hell, I like them in the tourney. We are fine and will be fine in future years...but I would like DJ to take a big step next year.