bronxblue

November 12th, 2016 at 7:39 AM ^

And yet, he has a winning percentage higher than Tom Crean, a guy who pulls in a decent amount of said talent.

Beilein was and is not a great recruiter.  He's fine at the position, but there's an underbelly to it that he won't deal with.  It's annoying because I'm not a purist who believes you should be above it all, since (a) the "victims" are usually just the NCAA, and (b) it happens everywhere across a variety of sports (UM absolutely does borderline-shaky things recruiting for football), but that's how he recruits and that won't change.  He's also one of the best offensive minds in the game and finds a way to get underwhelming teams to the tournament.  I don't expect much from this year's team, and at some point Beilein will leave, but recruiting is hard if you aren't a blue blood, and UM, with pockets of exceptions, hasn't been a nationally elite program.

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MGoPoints: 172099

7words

November 11th, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^

Hate to be the uniform guy, but our uniforms look fucking stupid.  Well the tops look dumb at least.  Looks like our jersey tops got shrunk in the dryer a few times with the numbers all small and scrunched up toward the shoulders.  

Joined: 03/17/2013

MGoPoints: 2745

RobM_24

November 11th, 2016 at 10:48 PM ^

DJ Wilson is looking like a male gymnast out there. I'm glad I got out of HS/College before the tight clothes movement took over. Skinny jeans weren't happening for this 6'5" 250 lb dude.

Joined: 01/27/2014

MGoPoints: 64535

aMk47

November 11th, 2016 at 10:50 PM ^

I love how we haven't even finished the first game of the year and people are already writing this team off. Shouldn't you at least wait till maybe 10 games.

Joined: 09/10/2011

MGoPoints: 93

BLHoke

November 11th, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^

A nose dive??? The missed the tourney in 2015, but they had just lost several key pieces to an Elite 8 team that could've very easily made it to the Final 4 again with a couple different bounces. Then JB got us back to the tourney the very next year in spite of multiple injuries to our best players. UofM is not UK or Duke, they can't just simply reload... And that team almost upset a very good ND team to make the round of 32, and who knows what might have happened from there? No, they would've have made the Final Four, but they might have been able to sneak into the Sweet 16. Nose dive is a bit dramatic. A step back to regroup/slightly rebuild? Sure.



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Maizen

November 12th, 2016 at 12:54 AM ^

Have you ever asked yourself why they can't reload? It's because of mediocre recruiting. That's why the season went in tank the past two years when Caris got hurt. No talent on the roster around him. I'm not sure how old you are but UM reguarly used to sign top 10 recruiting classes in the fisher and frieder years, and yes we recruited as well as anyone in the country, including duke and uk.

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MGoPoints: -99993347

bronxblue

November 12th, 2016 at 7:17 AM ^

Michigan recruited well under Fisher and Frieder in spurts, but they absolutely struggled at times to develop that talent consistently and, as we learned with Fisher and then Ellerbe, not overlook some broken rules/cover them up better. I am not one of those purists and I understand that Beilein recruits behind the times a bit, but he has a vision for this team and when it clicks he can do great things. If UM wants to go out and pick up a crack recruiter and an in game wizard, great. I'd like to see that person. But Beilein can recruit well enough (he could have had two top-50 recruits with a bit more luck) and has a system that works. And I say this all the time, but historically UM is good basketball program, not a great one. It has a 60% career winning percentage. IU is 64%, UK is 74%, Villanova is 65%, UNC is 74%. UM and MSU are about the same historically, which actually sort of makes sense since Izzo and the years with Magic are their only high points. But my point is that UM can be great, but it isn't a foregone conclusion, and unless there is someone available who looks like an upgrade, just assuming UM should be a top-10 program isn't backed by history.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 172099

RobM_24

November 11th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^

Wilson is looking good on offense bc Howard is just letting him roam free for rebounds and putbacks. Howard is not interested in putting a body on anyone.

Joined: 01/27/2014

MGoPoints: 64535

mi93

November 12th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^

the team never looked like they were pressing.  They looked focused on making their passes, getting to spots, rotating and playing D.  For a team that changed philosophies on D and inserted new pieces (read: DJ) in the middle, they looked like very intent on doing what they were told.  Workmanlike may be the best description.

I like the array of pieces they have and they'll get better over the next dozen games pre-B1G season.

Joined: 11/15/2008

MGoPoints: 30625

wresler120

November 11th, 2016 at 11:24 PM ^

At least the roster of Howard sounds good on paper Damon Collins, Marcel Boyd, Solomon Mangham, Auser Madison Dalique Mingo ... Unlike Navy who has players named Shawn Anderson, Tom Lacey, Hasan Abdullah, Timothy Abruzzo and Jim Hemphill. That's gotta count for something.



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wresler120

November 11th, 2016 at 11:28 PM ^

Geez I feel even worse after hearing Howard's best player and last years leading scorer in the nation James Daniel II was out tonight. We honestly could have lost if he played .. Probably would have lost.



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TheBlueAbides

November 11th, 2016 at 11:34 PM ^

We didn't look good, honestly didn't look like a tournament team. What I will say, growing up playing a lot of competitive ball (with and against high D1 and former NBA talent) sometimes when I team is bad and plays so ugly, it's hard to play against because at some point it's not even the same game. Not saying that's what happened, but I hope to see this team improve a lot.



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Wal-Mart Wolverine

November 11th, 2016 at 11:43 PM ^

Even Tom Izzo told the press a few seasons ago, that he finally realized that you have to have highly rated players to compete for championships. That's a fact.

Joined: 01/03/2016

MGoPoints: -892