Article perfectly summarizing the basketball season
I miss (at most) one home basketball game a year, but have to say that after the Ohio State debacle I wasn't sure how exciting the balance of the season was going to be. This piece from the Daily really summarizes the up and down nature of this season. If you'd told me at 4-5 that they would blow out MSU and Nebraska (and to an extent Purdue), beat Indiana at Assembly and barely lose to Minnesota & Northwestern I wouldn't have believed it:
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/sports/sportsmonday-column-michig…
"Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. in a game against Northwestern at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday." - caption of photo of Walton against Nebraska...come on, Daily!
Fire Beileine! /s
Give him credit for turning this season around, but big picture this team should have accomplished more in a weak Big Ten. Overall this season was not a great coaching job.
...he posts this exact post in most basketball related threads, so people like you and I can bite.
I really liked him in The Wire.
they are two shots from finishing 2nd in the BIG...and they are arguably playing the best basketball in the BIG right now.
That Beileine guy can go, for sure. But I would keep Beilein.
Consider, for a moment, that at the time of the “white-collar” comment, Zak Irvin was the relatively unquestioned go-to guy on the team. Now, Irvin, though still a gifted scorer, has accepted a secondary role as Walton has surged to the forefront.
I think it is in moments like that where the teams sort out who the right leaders in the moment are if indeed they want to have success on any level, and it seems like Michigan has gone through that. Walton just seems like the sort of player you need in that particular moment - a fiery, confident player who is willing to say, "follow me". They have, and as a result, Michigan isn't necessarily in a bad position now.
to step up, and Walton took the reigns, finally. Irvin was playing that role by default but it was never right for him. Thankfully, Walton took over.
"Gifted scorer?" Glen Rice was a gifted scorer.
Irvin is shooting .323 for the 3, which is the worst among all our starters. He's shooting .488 inside the arc, which is hardly lights-out. And for all games he's averaging 12.6 pts per game, and only 11.6 per game in conference play. And he's played more minutes than any other starter. Those aren't "gifted scorer" numbers.
Irvin's a high-character guy who will go on to have a successful life that Michigan fans can point to with pride, and nobody should be unhappy he's been in the program. That doesn't change the fact that Walton took over leadership of the team because he's significantly better at crucial fundamentals of offensive basketball than Zak is.
We have to thank Wagner and Walton for our turn around this season. Walton especialy has stepped his game up, and we go as far as Walton goes. Literally Walton has had a second half to a season that I've never seen before. He's been about perfect for this team. Also credit is given to JB and his staff, especially Billy Donlon. Go Blue!
Pink?
'Cause that's where Michigan is gonna send Illinois on Thursday.
I would love nothing more than for someone to make a white collar comment about Illinois. Even though Maverick Morgan is partially responsible for our run..
He was not wrong at the time. He did us a favor.
we not done!
While there are a lot of favorable fancystats, I still have trouble envisioning Michigan doing well against a good team with a strong front line. Yes, they beat Purdue -- at home, where Michigan is a much better team -- but I'm still not convinced they'd beat Michigan State if they play them again. Isaac Haas is bigger than he is good -- I still think Michigan gets killed on the boards by more active big men.
Moreover, close losses on the road against good but not great tournament teams like Minnesota and Northwestern isn't convincing either.
Even great teams have some close games -- especially on the road -- but aside from the Nebrasks blowout, one can only hope (since there's no track record) that Michigan can win convincingly on the road against a team like Northwestern or Minnesota. Maybe we'll see some evidence in the tournament (Big Ten or NCAA) on a neutral site...maybe.
Until Beilein recruits better (which is likely never), I fear Michigan's ceiling is always going to be lower than we think it should be -- like hoping we'll make it to the sweet sixteen instead of getting there 50 - 75% of the time.
I imagine most of us will be disappointed if the football team isn't top 10 nearly every year and frequently (like every other year) top 5. Is top 25 nearly every year and frequently top 16 in the NCAA too much to ask?