Beilein was magnificent!
The contrast could not be more startling.
Last night, Indiana looked like it had never even heard of a 2-3 zone before, and Syracuse simply demolished them. Just like that, the B1G's best team was gone.
Tonight, a team that was capable of abusing all of Michigan's weaknesses played solid basketball and got production from all of its key players. Withey was a force underneath the basket, and every time McGary was matched up against him one-on-one Withey got the better of him.
Yet somehow McGary produced 25 points, Burke had 10 assists, and Michigan won a basketball game they had no business even keeping close, against a team that was as bad of a matchup as Michigan could imagine.
And Beilein must receive the credit. Unlike Tom Crean, he did not shrink from the moment; he put Michigan in a position to succeed. In a game where Michigan had to score effectively and efficiently against a strong defense, Beilein devised a strategy that put them in the right place. McGary scored 25 points--but never when he was posting up Withey. Beilein moved Withey all over the court on screens and switches, and used movement to get McGary in position to score.
Somehow, Michigan's offense found all the right spots to keep scoring, even when Burke started cold. Somehow, Michigan was in all the right places to score. Somehow, Beilein was able to keep Michigan humming.
Beilein was masterful.
I think so? I'm not sure. We won, though. I feel happy. Belein = good.
Edit: Ok ok I should expand a little to be thoughtful. It seemed to me like one of the biggest things Belein did well was to get Jeff Withey away from the basket on defense. We didn't always make the shot, but by pulling Withey towards the perimeter, it allowed McGary to go all McGary in the paint. Which, as we know, was huge. I guess I believe that Belein deserves some credit for getting McGary's production today. Awesome stuff.
He had subs
March 30th, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^
Then things got crazy, and he liked it.
(10,000 imaginary MGoPoints to whoever can name where the above phrase lies inscribed on the UM campus).
but I'm convinced the only real difference between Michigan now and Michigan 3 weeks ago is the emergence of Mitch McGary. He's dominating right now. He had 25 pts and 14 rebounds on Jeff Withey! One of the best centers in the country and he had a career night against him
Could not agree more! Mitch has shown why he was the top rated recruit in the country for much of his recruting year. I can't wait to see him after a year of S&C work.
JB and staff get credit for how they have helped develop McGary. Smart commented after their game what a great job they had done with McGary.
mcgary was not ready during the season. out of shape and not polished offensively. beilein and bacari deserve a ton of credit for bringing this talent along slowly AND steadily
McGary was somewhat functional through the season and came on a bit late in the season, but not enough to matter with how worn down Burke and the others were.
Now, though, McGary is playing like a dominant player, taking some of the heat and pressure off the others. For an overtime game, our guys seemed to be in much better shape than Kansas' players, though much of that may be from the letdown of going into overtime when just minutes before it seemed like they had the game wrapped up.
Mitch would not have scored 25 points last night if not for Beilein. Late game, the announcers kept making reference to moving Withey around with screens and so I started watching him. Every time that we would drive to the basket and score, Withey was guarding the 3 in the corner. That's Beilein calling plays to get Withey out of the paint.
March 30th, 2013 at 10:04 AM ^
March 30th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
But the point is inaccurate
Vince Carter and Tim after the game
Amount of pub the brand's getting is amazing. Brandon's is doing a phenomenal job.
Beilein is a great tactician. 1-3-1? Brought it out. Fouls in late game situation? Avoided. Timeouts? Called at the right times (especially end of OT).
Meanwhile Bill Self just sat smugly in his corner as Thrift Shop McLemore made it rain triples. You could see him counting down the moments to the Elite Eight in his head. When you become known for getting upset by mid majors, it's not good.
And at the free timeout given by the refs, he just drew up....I dont know what the hell that was. Now he gets to be 8-1 against us
Trey Burke >>>>>>>>>>>>> Yogi Ferrell
Beilein is a very good basketball coach, but guys look a lot fucking smarter when they have the best player in the country running the show for them.
He's a prick.
Beilein is a great guy on and off the court. He deserves to have a guy like Trey playing for him.
On top of that, Beilein is a better coach than Crean, as are 90% of the coaches in the Sweet Sixteen.
i wanted IU to win because i like IU and generally support the big ten. but crean is such a douche that it makes me extraordinarily happy for us to have advanced and IU to be sent packing home to bloomington. karma is a bitch. ask elijah johnson.
I know it doesn't qualify as "off the court," but if Crean was such a "great guy," he wouldn't have pulled the "You know what you did" bullshit after his team had won a close game against Michigan.
Sorry, but that move permanently changed my opinion of Tom Crean.
Cream?
He played golf with him and knows him better than you. Lay off.
Crean is a douche
March 30th, 2013 at 10:27 AM ^
If he's nice to you and rude to the waiter, he's not a nice guy.
He's a fucking douchebag asshole.
I also love that Marquette is in the elite 8.
Beilein is a very good basketball coach, but guys look a lot fucking smarter when they have the best player in the country running the show for them.Does Beilein get any credit for a) finding Burke and offering him a scholarship (unlike the rest of the B1G, save PSU) and b) developing him these last two years? I don't recall Burke being hyped as a future NPOY when he was a recruit.
March 30th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
Beilein has done a fantastic job here. That is what he and other coaches can/should be credited with. Identifying talent, bringing in players, and building a program. And as far as the marginal impact a coach can have once the talent is in place, I think most folks who follow the game closely (other coaches, etc.) are in agreement that Beilein is nearly as good as it gets.
At the same time, he was just as good at that part of things when his team had a losing record in two of his first three years here and numerous people wanted him gone because he was a small-time "system" coach who couldn't get it done here at a "big-time" program. Patting the coach on the back when a great player hits a 30 footer to go to the Elite Eight (since, you know, he told him to do that) is just as silly as getting pissed off when the offense is occasionally stagnant with a walk-on PG (in the same spirit, most of the "he can't coach offense" criticisms of Amaker should have been replaced with "Why didn't he recruit a pure point guard to take the pressure off Daniel Horton who is playing out of position?").
There are a lot of reasons we're still alive and IU isn't. Strategery is pretty far down the list.
March 30th, 2013 at 10:05 AM ^
Devil's advocate here:
Hasn't every single PG under Beilein exceded expectations? Maybe it's Beilein putting Burke in great positions to make plays that has made Burke the POY.
March 30th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
In my opinion, yes they have. Quaterback U and now PG U?
this is what i love about beilein
Q. With Trey, with just 20 minutes to go, he has a decision to make after the season, it’s not guaranteed he’ll be back. For you to know you get at least a couple more days to coach him, regardless of what happens from there, what does it mean?
COACH BEILEIN: I think it’s the wrong time and the wrong place to ask that question. That’s all I’m saying. We’re not talking about ‑‑ ask me about Florida, you want to ask me about the next game. It’s special to coach everybody on this team.
fuck you reporter
...or fifth'd...
...whatever we're all on at this point...
i think you meant IU WAS the best team in the Big Ten. i think michigan is hands down right now.
Not true. Michigan has more NBA level talent.
Beilein is a great coach. But if we're only doling out credit to one source, I think it goes to the players--not only because they obviously won the game, but because they made amazingly huge plays down the stretch. Coaching can only get you so far, it's the players who've got to hit 4000 foot three pointers.
We won this game because of heroball. I give Beilein a ton of credit--he absolutely made some great calls as were broken down in a earlier post. Nonetheless, this felt like the UTL game. A miracle, delivered by the best player in college basketball.
absolutely. coaches can only put players in position to make plays and steady the ship when it looks bad. beilein did so. trey and mcgary did the actual dirty work. but in the end, the coach also recruits the players, right?
I'm emoch.
WIN!
JB had a great game plan, but THJ and GRIII didn't perform as well as hoped. That makes Mitch's production even more spectacular.
On to UF; E8 here we come.
GO BLUE!
and wasn't keeping track, I would have guessed that Michigan was down 12-15 points at halftime. But somehow it was only six.
Besides being tied for the first 18 seconds of the first half, and the last four of the second half, we trailed for the entire regulation. What a plucky group of guys.
Not quite true - early on, we led 7-6 and 9-8.
My bracket is still alive, with UM vs OSU in the final. Hail to the Victors!
Withey comparison. McGary dominated Withey, especially in the 2nd half. I think Withey made one shot in the 2nd half and hardly got any rebounds. McGary was pushing Withey farther and farther away from the basket as the game moved along. Offensively McGary put in a shot off the glass with his right hand with Withey guarding him, then in OT, Stauskas hit McGary in the post with M down a basket, McGary faced up and buried a 7 foot baseline jumper over Withey to put M up a point. Moments later with M up a point, Trey missed a running left hander, McGary grabbed the board and put in a left hand banker over Withey. McGary outplayed Withey decisively
March 30th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
I think it was pretty even. Withey had several blocked shots against McGary. There were also potential assists to McGary that Withey stole. Many of McGary's points came either while Withey was guarding someone else or on a putback when Withey had his back turned. I'd say that it was pretty even on the night.
March 30th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
I am in much agreement with your post, but the OP said the following, which I think is far off base:
Withey was a force underneath the basket, and every time McGary was matched up against him one-on-one Withey got the better of him.
I give Beilein huge amounts of credit for not crippling our offense in an attempt to shore up our defense. He believed that if they turned up the intensity and made corrections, the starting five could be effective. And when they turned it up with 2 minutes left they started getting the stops. But if Beilein had reacted to the problem we would have lost the game. He knows that we are a scoring team and he relied on us to score enough.