snarling wolverine

March 5th, 2016 at 11:08 PM ^

Given how fundamentally deficient we are, I don't know if there's any offense this team could execute consistently.  

That's what gets me - this team can no longer execute the basic fundamentals.  And the assistants absolutely bear some responsibility for that.  Assistants are usually the ones who work on individual skill development.  They don't get a free pass when the team constantly dribbles off its foot, throws passes to nobody, doesn't move without the ball, can't shoot layups, can't shoot free throws, doesn't communicate or rotate on D, and on and on.  

 

GomezBlue

March 6th, 2016 at 12:14 AM ^

This offense is based on timing and hard cuts.  Walton has never run it well.  However, the offense runs much better when there in one dominant big man.  He had one at WVU and one here.  Until he gets another...

chatster

March 5th, 2016 at 11:32 PM ^

I like John Beilein and think that he has done some good things for Michigan men’s basketball during his tenure as head coach.  I expect that he’ll be coaching Michigan again next season; but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if Warde Manuel – who was Athletic Director at Connecticut when Kevin Ollie took that team to the 2014 national championship, and when Connecticut beat Michigan 74-60 in The Battle for Atlantis last November 25 – were thinking about moving the Michigan men’s basketball program in a different direction.
 
Beilein’s current winning percentage at Michigan (.606) is lower than it was at LeMoyne (.634), Richmond (.654) and West Virginia (.634.)  This may become the fourth time (and second consecutive time) in Beilein’s nine seasons at Michigan that his team misses the NCAA Tournament; but it’s not like Beilein-coached teams have regularly appeared in the NCAA Tournament.
 
In 34 seasons as an NCAA college head coach, Beilein has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament just ten times (five with Michigan, twice with West Virginia and once each with Canisius, Richmond and Division II LeMoyne.)  Only four times has a Beilein-coached team made it to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond in the NCAA Tournament. In his six appearances in the NIT, Beilein took his team to the final four of that tournament only twice and won it with West Virginia, the year he became Michigan’s head coach. His teams have won or tied for regular season conference championships only six times.
 
Beilein has been a very good coach, but he suffers in comparison to some of his Big Ten contemporaries, especially Michigan’s long-time rivals. He's also the oldest men's basketball coach in the Big Ten. He’s 63 years old, two years older than Tom Izzo who, in 21 seasons as head coach at Michigan State, has taken his last 19 teams (including his current team) to the NCAA Tournament, with one championship and 13 trips to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond, including seven trips to the Final Four.
 
Although Beilein’s got a better winning percentage than Indiana’s Tom Crean whose team won this year’s Big Ten's regular season championship, despite missing one of its top players and its second leading scorer (James Blackmon) for most of the past two months due to a knee injury, Beilein’s almost 13 years older than Crean, and Crean has taken nine teams to the NCAA Tournament in 17 seasons as a head coach.
 
Beilein’s about 14 years older than Thad Matta who has taken 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament in 16 seasons as a head coach; but he could make it 14 in 16 seasons if Ohio State somehow squeezes into the tournament this year. In one of those seasons, Ohio State was ineligible, but finished 20-12 and 8-8 in the Big Ten, and the other time he missed before this season, his Ohio State team won the NIT. He has taken his teams to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond six times.
 
Although Iowa’s Fran McCaffrey (seven years younger than Beilein) has an overall winning percentage (.585) that’s considerably lower than Beilein’s, in McCaffrey’s 20 seasons as a major college head coach, including this year, his teams have been to the NCAA Tournament eight times (two fewer than Beilein; though McCaffrey's teams are usually getting knocked out during the first weekend.)  McCaffrey’s team beat Beilein’s Michigan team twice this season.

SpikeFan2016

March 6th, 2016 at 12:13 AM ^

Beilein is 100% not going anywhere THIS season. And he doesn't deserve to. 

 

My opinion: 

 

He's not on the hot seat yet. 

 

If next year is at the same level or worse (or just very slightly, marginally better), then Beilien deserves the hot seat next off season. If he follows that up with another mediocre season, the man would 100% deserve to be fired. 

 

 

chatster

March 6th, 2016 at 5:11 AM ^

John Beilein's probably coaching Michigan next season, but AD Warde Manuel may have to consider moving Michigan men's hoops in another direction. Manuel saw his UConn teams win the 2014 NCAA championship and beat Michigan 74-60 when both Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht played on November 25, 2015. (I note that LeVert led Michigan with 21 points and Albrecht played only four minutes in that game.)

Beilein's the oldest men's hoops coach in the Big Ten at 63. His winning percentage as a head coach is lower at Michigan than it was at LeMoyne, Richmond and West Virginia; and he gets his teams to the NCAA Tournament 10 times in 34 seasons (a bit less than 30% of the time.)

Beilein's record of getting teams to the NCAA Tournament, based on the percentage of seasons when his teams get there, doesn't compare favorably to his Big Ten contemporaries, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Tom Crean and Fran McCaffrey.

* UPDATE: Early this morning, CBS's Jerry Palm wrote that he would be taking Michigan out of his NCAA Bracket, after having them in his "Last Four In" before the Wolverines lost at home to Iowa to give them a record of 3-11 against the Top 100 teams in the RPI -- but 3-7 against the Top 25. LINK

chatster

March 6th, 2016 at 5:25 AM ^

Fran McCaffrey’s record in his last seven games at Iowa against John Beilein’s Michigan teams:
 
W 71-61 at Michigan (3/5/2016)
W 82-71 at Iowa (1/17/2016)
W 72-54 at Michigan (2/5/2015)
W 85-67 at Iowa (2/8/2014)
L 75-67 at Michigan (1/22/2014)
L 95-67 at Michigan (1/6/2013)
W 75-59 at Iowa (1/4/2012)

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 5th, 2016 at 10:08 PM ^

I've always loved that Jaguars fan gif. This fucking team, though. God dammit. I'm not giving up hope we won't go Dancin' but beating Indiana just ain't gonna happen.

aiglick

March 5th, 2016 at 10:57 PM ^

I agree in terms of this season being close at least to us getting a bid. As Ace said we win one more quality game we're going dancing. However, the issue I have is that when we lost this year we lost big. We've beaten the teams we should beat, won a couple of games we shouldn't, but got smacked around in far too many games. In past years I've felt confident at the end of the season and we were in the Dance no team would want to play us. This year even if we did make the Dance which looks unlikely right now I don't have that same feeling. Dissapointing year. I think Beilein should have two more years but if we don't make it to the Tourney four years in a row that's too much.

Doclosh

March 5th, 2016 at 10:10 PM ^

Injuries I understand, but the failure to teach these players defense is not defensible.  I think a look at the staff is in justified.

 

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 5th, 2016 at 10:11 PM ^

Zak Irvin is a special kind of baffling player. Making a run and have possession to make it a 2 or 3 point game and he gets ripped by Mike Gessel...what the shit kid, unacceptable. And the most infuriating thing about this program to me is HOW SHITTY THEY ARE AT INBOUNDING THE BALL (and defending it apparently yoo, 2 layups given up under Iowa's hoop).

Lancer

March 5th, 2016 at 10:11 PM ^

Coach B with some bad injury luck. I hope he can put it together next year, but I honestly don't see this roster making huge leaps next year.

M-Dog

March 6th, 2016 at 7:21 AM ^

Understood.  But our standard at Michigan is Big Ten championships and Final Fours.  As it should be.  We've been there.

He is not recruiting at a level to attain that and sustain that.

We would be apoplectic if Harbaugh was recruiting at the same level.

distant gerbil…

March 6th, 2016 at 8:43 AM ^

The problem is that when you go a notch deeper you realize that he recruited a 67,148,179,218 class where they all signed early, leaving no room to get in on a Top 50 player later on; and although we obviously all hope they wind up being great players, that really shouldn't be accepted at Michigan.

The other problem is that we collectively seem to have a hard time quantifying just what this "dirty" recruiting atmosphere means when it comes to our recruiting expectations; we have 3 Top 50 players now, we were in on Brown and Battle, what level of player should we expect Michigan to be able to get without paying?

Indiana, Purdue and Marquette as examples all have Top 20 players, do we think they're all cheating? Or are those players exceptions? And if they are, shouldn't we also be able to go after certain players at that level? I'm not sure how well understood this narrative has been--if we can get say, 20-30% of the Top 50 without paying, we should certainly be trying to do that each year.

 

Wolverine Devotee

March 5th, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^

The team tried their best and I'm proud of that. Just got beat by a team starting juniors and seniors. Caris being out is a big deal. Missing a first round pick does this. The last break this program caught was Seton Hall fouling in '89.

uncle leo

March 5th, 2016 at 10:17 PM ^

We must be watching a different team, because their lack of effort all year has been really frustrating. This game is for the tournament, and you come out and get punched in the mouth?? 

I'm not proud of them. Whether it's coaching, players, talent, some combination, this was supposed to be one of his deeper teams, and they flat out sucked.

Wolverine Devotee

March 5th, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^

Do you think they don't want to win? If they quit tonight, they wouldn't have made it a game down the stretch there. Not to mention this usual horrid officiating screwing us at every single turn. 

Caris being out derailed the entire season. Again. 

Duncan Robinson was hot when LeVert was still playing. Because people had more than one person to key on. 

The fact that not one player from the 2012 recruiting class took the court on senior day tells you all you need to know. Whether it be early departures or injuries, we have just gotten zero breaks whatsoever.

Bullshit call in the NCAA title game, Mitch being suspended a year on top of his injury that kept him out almost the entire 2013-14 season, injuries to Spike, Caris, Walton, Irvin. 

Same goes for the recruiting trail. We could have Tyus Battle and Jaylen Brown on the same team next year. 

 

kurpit

March 6th, 2016 at 4:16 AM ^

If you think that any one school has been having decades of bad breaks and that is what is shaping their seasons, post-seasons, and program then you're just delusional. That's just a terrible excuse for just not being good, and that's what Michigan basketball is. It's just not very good.

uncle leo

March 5th, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^

All season like they did in the last 10 minutes of this game. What I saw was a team that went through the motions and they got what they deserved.

You know what, I'll be that guy. This team got WAXED by SMU and UCONN with a healthy LeVert. They lost to NJIT and Eastern with a healthy LeVert. Look, the kid is a very solid player. But he's not a world beater. Maybe the team sneaks into the dance with him healthy, but he doesn't make them a championship contender.

2013 was three seasons ago. Time to move on.

Could have. Could have. Didn't. 

Gulogulo37

March 6th, 2016 at 1:11 AM ^

"Tell me this team played with fire all season like they did in the last 10 minutes of this game."

This is exactly why those comments about heart and grit and wanting it are usually really stupid. Michigan's little run there started because Iowa couldn't handle the 1-3-1. But sure, it was probably just that Michigan got a fire lit under them.

M-Dog

March 6th, 2016 at 7:29 AM ^

That's what concerns me.  The team played hard all night long.  They played with heart.  You can't take that away from them.

The problem is that they just don't have the horsepower to compete in the top half of the Big Ten no matter how hard they play.  That's a lot harder to solve.