Bball - First Game Impressions
1. Buffalo is a very experienced team with some solid talent. We shouldn’t be surprised that it turned into a game for awhile.
2. Defense - While we are very athletic with certain lineups, this team is very much a work in progress on that end. The overall communication, footwork, and rotations need to improve a lot and I’m sure they will as time goes on.
3. Offense - Jeenathan Williams was the best player on the floor tonight…until he wasn’t. Hunter Dickinson owned the last 8 minutes and was the main reason Michigan was able to put the game away. I’m very anxious/excited to see who emerges as the 2nd and 3rd scoring options. Could easily be a by committee approach but I think we’d like to see Houstan really emerge as time goes on.
4. Lineups - Juwan likes to experiment and I think we are going to see this happen for awhile early in the year because there are so many possibilities with this year’s team (this will make Craig Ross potentially unhappy for awhile as he prefers 6/7 man rotations lol). I think it’s very likely that the starting lineup from tonight is not quite the starting lineup later in the year.
5. The ceiling is the roof. Go Blue!
What are some of your thoughts?
November 10th, 2021 at 9:19 PM ^
Turry Williams is a stud. Didn't understand the lack of minutes for Diabate in the second half. Also, I know Dickinson had a monster game stat wise, but did it look to anybody else like he was playing at about half speed, especially on D?
November 10th, 2021 at 9:23 PM ^
I think some of that was the switching we were doing that had Hunter defending guards on several possessions - just not a strength for him and lack of agility is a main reason why he is still at Michigan.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:43 PM ^
Maybe Howard is ok with this, but in my view he sticks with the hedge for a bit too long after a small/big screen. IMHO, he only needs to cover until the guard can recover, but he seems like he’s staying for brief double on the ball handler, leaving more time for an unguarded dude to get open. I’m not a fan, but there are reasons to do that so maybe it’s not a mistake.
November 10th, 2021 at 10:43 PM ^
Diabate is just new to this level and playing the 4 you gotta be better with your feet even though he is great at rim protect, he is slow to get out top. He will fix that, just needs some time at this level.
Buffalo is an experienced team.
November 11th, 2021 at 7:34 AM ^
"Buffalo is an experienced team."
TRUE! Among Buffalo’s players who played at least eleven minutes last night were Jeenathan Williams (Senior), Ronaldo Segu (Senior), Josh Mballa (Senior; has played for French national youth teams), Maceo Jack (Senior; transfer from George Washington), Brock Bertram (Graduate Student), David Skogman (Redshirt Sophomore), Keishawn Brewton (Redshirt Senior; transfer to Buffalo before last season from Coastal Carolina where he played with Michigan’s DeVante’ Jones), Tra’Von Fagan (Graduate Student) LINK
November 11th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
Since watching the highlights of the Wayne State game and most of last night's game, I've wondered whether Hunter Dickinson's rebounding, shooting and defensive skills have improved all that much since last season.
November 11th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Yes on Hunter. When I watch him go for a rebound, it seems like just “reaches” and doesn’t feel the need to jump and be aggressive to get a rebound. Maybe he doesn’t want to get a stupid foul, but he should be getting 15 rebounds a game imo.
November 24th, 2021 at 7:15 AM ^
Has no hops
November 10th, 2021 at 9:24 PM ^
Solid first game. Idk if Michigan took their foot off the pedal so much as Buffalo is a good team that didn't miss anything for a stretch of the 2nd half.
Obviously the free throws kept this game from being comfortable the entire game.
This team clearly is going to need at least one more person that will pull up from 3 pt range. I think it's going to have to be zeb or kobe. Buffalo was doubling Dickinson constantly and Michigan rarely able to make them pay with perimeter shooting.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:24 PM ^
I actually think Terrance Williams owned the final 8 minutes. Played some stout defense on Jeenathan Williams, scored some clutch baskets, and went up for and grabbed some tough rebounds. This kid, if he continues playing like this, could be the team’s second best player.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:31 PM ^
I think you’re right there. As I go back and look through the play-by-play Hunter was the one who was anchoring the ship through the middle of the second half and stunting Buffalo’s runs. He kept Buffalo at bay when we had no answer defensively for J. Williams.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:32 PM ^
He had the hustle plays I expected, but flashed some skill and some shooting I didn't know he had. Don't think we win this game if Williams wasn't out there tnt.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:25 PM ^
I knew Buffalo was 2nd in the nation rebounding but finding out they lead in Free Throw Defense was an astounding revelation.
I hope Ohio State gets them as a 13 seed in the first round of the tournament.
November 11th, 2021 at 7:39 AM ^
For the 20-21 regular season, Buffalo was #1 in the nation in rebounds/game at 44.0
November 10th, 2021 at 9:28 PM ^
1. Fix the defense
2. Houstan and Diabete are going to be the 2nd and 3/4-ish options on offense by the end of the year, and that's a good thing
3. TWILL surprised me, you could see the work he put in this offseason
4. Once Jones gets used to keeping those passes to Hunter off the ground, PnR between them will be glorious
November 10th, 2021 at 9:32 PM ^
Great points!
November 10th, 2021 at 9:31 PM ^
Williams was a pleasant surprise to
me.
will be a fun team to watch this year.
Not sure PG is solid yet but early season games are meant for fine tuning things
November 10th, 2021 at 9:32 PM ^
Guess Nunez got minutes because of injury to Zeb? But Collins played so I’m confused. Maybe I’m being too harsh but I don’t even see Nunez in a second five rotation.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:37 PM ^
I don't get this .... people seem almost mad that Nunez is playing. I mean, it's probably because of injuries, but is it that hard to believe he got better and beat out the freshmen
November 10th, 2021 at 10:10 PM ^
No need to be confused...Zeb is firmly in the third-five rotation-really he is. It looks as though the preseason consensus 7-man rotation is already established-need to find the 8th guy.
November 10th, 2021 at 10:53 PM ^
Nunez looked---not lost out there. Which is a large improvement for him.
He also hit a 3.
This team is going to be searching for 3-point shooting. If Nunez can hit them, there is a role for him in the rotation, even if it is just to come in and jack up a few shots.
November 11th, 2021 at 8:47 AM ^
I saw a few people complaining about Nunez playing yet I didn't really see him do anything wrong in the minutes he got.
November 11th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
If Nunez made 4 of 8 shots with 2 3-pointers in a game, people on here would talk about the shots he missed. I think he's used up any goodwill by not developing as quickly as was hoped or expected. Personally, I love the guy. He's got a great attitude and wonderful support from the bench. And the stories I've heard make it sound like he's got quite a shooter's eye from deep, in the same vein as Stauskus and Dunc, when the pressure's not on. Of course that's never translated to game performance.
November 11th, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^
Remember, before Howard came in, Eli Brooks was a tire fire. He looked like a guy who would never play useful minutes. Now he is a key member of the team.
Some kids just take longer to "get it" than others. Nunez has always looked to me like he is trying to play at 200mph. Just no control, no thought of anything other than "I have about 30 seconds to score before I get pulled."
I'm hoping Howard has helped Nunez similar to Brooks. Not that he is going to be anything like a starter, but if he can come off the bench and hit 1 or 2 3-pointers a game, that is useful.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
5. The ceiling is the roof. Go Blue!
And the roof is on fire. We don't need no water...
November 10th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
Houstan is the real deal.
Williams is a key piece.
Diabate will be a force.
Be interesting to see how Juwan uses two man game with inside game and 3 pt. shooters.
This team is capable of owning the boards. I'm sure Juwan will give them that message. The three guys I mentioned earlier are our best board men.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
As the OP mentioned, Buffalo is a good team...likely a tournament team, probably a Quad 1 ro 2 win for Michigan.
A lot of new faces in the lineup and certainly, in the first half, a lot of mixing and matching internally of Michigan roster, so it was a little tough to right mix.
I feel pretty good...Michigan needs work, but a lot of guys showed flashes. Houstan, Diabate were as good as I had hoped... TWill was the player of the game for me. Hunter was better based on the boxscore, but TWill gave Michigan a spark when they were really on their heels.
Biggest issue for me is the FTs. Need to clean that up before B1G play.
After people lost their minds over Oakland last season, I am hoping that everyone stays frosty: its a long, long season ahead.
November 11th, 2021 at 2:38 AM ^
At home it definitely won't be a Q1 win. Buffalo would have to be top 30. Could be a Q2 win though (top 70 in NET I think they'd need to be, maybe top 75).
November 11th, 2021 at 11:11 AM ^
right... I didn't realize the rankings take into account home/away games.
Buffalo was 86th last year, but underperformed i think... so they might squeek in as a quad 2 win. It tough to judge right now...they look pretty good, like a top 75 team?
November 10th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
Very good win overall. Looks they might be a a little short on shooting (3pt and ft), but Williams and the freshmen could help.
I thought Jones really struggled. He started off well, but then he picked up bunches of fouls and did very little else. I think he’s got a long way to go in getting comfortable in a totally new role. But that’s fine, they can win a lot of games without good play from him until things ramp up toward the end of the season.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:47 PM ^
As others have mentioned, I think it’s too early to say that they are short on shooting. 40 percent tonight from 3 on low volume. The willingness and confidence from everybody isn’t there yet.
November 11th, 2021 at 12:21 AM ^
I didn’t say it’s definitely a problem, it’s only been one game. But the low volume wasn’t just a function of the game tempo or something. There were only a few guys (Nunez, Houstan, Williams) who seemed to be looking for their outside shot. We know Brooks can shoot, so that’s another one, but I still think they’ll need more than those four to be comfortable shooting from deep.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
Loved watching Diabate in the first half and TWill in the second. I would love to watch Bo Borowski get fired into the sun for calling that judo takedown against Hunter. Should have been a Block and a tech.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:40 PM ^
Buffalo is decent, but let’s not act like they are UNC.
Michigan has a lot of good things going, athleticism for days. But good team aren’t going to let Hunter drop 27 pts at the basket. Shooting is going to be what does Michigan in this year.
November 11th, 2021 at 1:53 AM ^
Yeah, there’s no way a good team, like, say, a top 25 Minnesota team would let him score 28 points on them or a top 5 OSU team would let him score 22 on them. You know, like they did last year when he was a freshman
November 11th, 2021 at 8:55 AM ^
You don't get named a pre-season AA for only beating up on bums.
November 11th, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
Buffalo will win the MAC, be a 10 or 11 seed that no 2nd or 3rd seed team wants to see in the 2nd round.
They are experienced (4th oldest team in the NCAA)
They rebound well (1st the last 2 seasons)
They have a playmaker.... Jeenathan Williams can flat out score
They have an experienced PG
Are they a sweet 16 team....no but this will certainly go down as a Q2 win as the season progresses.
Pretty good quality win for opening night
However.....can't hit 60% from the foul line...
Not too worried about the 3pt shooting. Seriously, 40% on any given night is a great night. Small sample size and all, but it is still a good starting point. Plus I expect Houstan to get more looks as the season moves along...
Loved the flashes from the freshman and TWill is going to be the next Camp Sanderson Sophomore jump player that we will get to enjoy.
Plenty to like about this team and Juan will tinker with the line ups over the next few game to get his 8-9 man rotation in place.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:41 PM ^
1. I'm glad we played a solid team, instead of blowing out a creampuff, we saw some good basketball, and the coaching staff has some things to work on straight off.
2. Need to clean up the Free Throw shooting. We left a LOT of points on the floor by missing the front end of 1-and-1's
3. Eli Brooks is a Godsend for coming back. His running floater is pure poetry, and his leadership will be invaluable all season.
4. Terrance Williams is so much improved, it reminds me of Brooks from soph to junior years. HUGE jump from TW.
5. The team is still gelling....there was a little sloppy play, but that's to be expected.
This is going to be a fun year.
November 11th, 2021 at 9:35 AM ^
Agree on your #3. I was surprised reading this thread to not see more mention of Brooks. It felt like he became the primary ball handler in the last 5-8 minutes, played some two man game with Dickinson, and settled the game down and locked down the win.
November 11th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
Very true, Brooks was huge tonight. I think it's just that he's a known commodity thing, and we're all looking for the new and shiny things right now.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
It felt like we just played Washington, Lidell, and Curbelo tonight. Anyone else think Buffalo would run MSU off the court?
I think Williams might be Brown 2.0 or even slide into a starting role. He is damn good and efficient and when things get dicey he steps up. He already shows signs of being ready to pull us out of slumps when they come. And his game play isnt predicated on lucky shots going in. Its repeatable what he does.
Our perimeter defense looks a little shaky. Jones likes that steal but at the cost of a layup it might be a downgrade at times. And I like Jones a lot but we dont need to gamble much.
Our bench got a ton of minutes which is huge.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:46 PM ^
It was a good game. Defense needs to improve, let them get too many drives to the basket.
T-Will brought great energy tonight, hope he can keep that up.
Jones needs to be a little more assertive on offense. Felt he was a little passive, but understand he probably has to find his place in the offense.
Nunez clearly is getting some burn to be a shooter off the bench. If he can hit shots and be marginal on defense he might be able to play 5-10 minutes a game.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:47 PM ^
Moussa and Houston are what we thought they were. I really like Houston's calm demeanor.
Terrance Williams surprised me. Most improved since last year. Really had a great all around game, most surprising on defense.
Frankie Collins looked serviceable at the point. Gone are the Beilein days where it took 2 years for a freshman to learn the offense before he could play.
Bufkin looks like a project, but it is only one game so far.
I think I was right to question the Zeb Jackson hype last month. He didn't even sniff the floor, and all freshman played ahead of him.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^
He was in street clothes, so pretty hard to see the floor
November 10th, 2021 at 9:59 PM ^
He was in street clothes on the bench, hard to get minutes when you’re not in uniform.
November 10th, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
Aside from the Zeb correction, it’s Houstan.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:56 PM ^
I don't want to over-react, but it looks like we're going undefeated this year.
November 10th, 2021 at 10:06 PM ^
Whoa what about next year? Hey check out Mr. glass half empty over here.
November 10th, 2021 at 10:38 PM ^
We’re mathematically on pace.
November 10th, 2021 at 9:57 PM ^
I am never impressed with Brandon Johns. I want to be, but don't see what others see