A Synopsis of Michigan Men's Basketball
So what are they all talking about? Michigan fans are all to well familiar with it. This is a synopsis:
Is the cause recruiting? Is Michigan basketball missing Franz Wagner, Jordan Poole, and others that have been drafted in the last 4 years, and recruiting has not replaced that talent? Or is the talent there, and it's the coaching? Other?
Do these two tweets sum up what many Michigan fans are feeling?
Whatever the case, what is clear is change has to happen. It's no fun to watch with a feeling that your team will be competitive.... until crunch moments come and the game is on the line.
Mgofish's take is exactly how I feel. I expect improvement next year or Howard needs to go.
I don’t think Warde has any plans to get rid of Juwan any time soon.
Juwan definitely needs to do some soul searching.
Maybe Warde needs to slash Howard's salary and make it incentive laden. It worked for Harbaugh, and if Howard doesn't like it...its a way of managing him out the door without firing. Warde set the precedence that he can/will do this.
Given how long it took Warde with Mel, Howard’s gonna have to pull a knife in the handshake line at Wisconsin to get fired.
But Warde shouldn’t consider firing him after this season. That’s way too reactionary.
Doesn't OP have a Purdue forum to go post on? Oddly quiet since they lost
In a game in which you have one guard and 30 points sitting on the bench. I think Juwan can comprehend what actually happened yesterday. Also he is part of the FAB 5. A group of players who have yet to be embraced. It's all good.
Ham, I don't (and I believe most UM fans don't) care that much about losing an NIT game with, as you stated, 2 top scorers unable to play.
It's the pattern of losses that this game represented that concerns & bothers me.
The quoted tweets very accurately & factually laid out the teams performance in close games & Q1/Q2 games over the past 2 seasons. Coincidentally (or not) that trend began with securing the very highly rated recruiting class that has obviously not brought much at all to the team.
Misjudging the talent of the recent recruits has played as large a role as poorly coaching them. I feel like Michigan should focus more on guys that will stay 2+ years rather than potential 1 & dones. Watch Houston play - 10 down at the half vs Auburn, won by 20+. Upperclassmen laden team!
I do thi k they've tried to recruit guys who would have stayed longer. Both Kobe and Jett were top-50 guys; good college players but not guys expected to bolt after a year or two. Alex mentioned this on Twitter but Jalen Wilson was a top-50 guy who stick around all 4 years and became an All American this season. Coming out of HS they all looked pegged for multiple years in college and yet Jett and Kobe are on first round radars and Wilson seems like a mid second rounder to most people.
Last year with Moussa and Houstan sucked by those guys, at least on HS reps, seemed destined to be 1-and-dones but I'd say possibly losing two guys this year is being a victim of unexpected accelerated player development
Jett was pegged as a first round pick before the season even started. Out of all the players, I think he is the most likely to stay.
He absolutely was not pegged as a first rounder by a lot of places. This mock draft from January noted how significant his climb was (they expected him to be a 2-year player). Sporting News didn't list him as a top-50 NBA prospect. CBS Sports didn't list him as a prospect in December, which is the earlier I could find of their mock drafts.
I think the Athletic was one of the few places that liked him early on and he was still toward the bottom of the 1st round. He improved toward the end of his HS season but the consensus still seemed to be he'd be a 2-year college player.
The fab 5 is not embraced? Is there any group of players more loved by a fan base? I think to say they are not embraced by the fan base is inaccurate. Weber wants little to do with Michigan or the members of the fab 5, for reasons I can only speculate on. He has come back to a couple of events in recent years and was completely loved by the fans. Juwan was welcomed back as coach with nothing but open arms and Jalen is among the most popular of alumni. In what world are they not embraced?
VABLUE are you serious? If so I'd be glad to cite you more than one article that plainly shows how much they are revered. Lastly, I'm not on social media at all I choose not to. But as for the person that you stated Jalen Rose all you have to do is search Jalen Rose and he will explicitly tell you how he feels, about the way the University of Michigan has treated the FAB5. Ignorance is no excuse for not knowing.
Current-day Michigan fans love the Fab 5.
I used to love the Fab Five. The more I see them on television, the less I like them.
Jalen complains A LOT about the University on social media. He likes to throw in a little race baiting too, with a lot of "I wonder why that is" or "makes you wonder" type of innuendo. He recently asked why Michigan hasn't retired the jerseys of the entire Fab 5, which, like, ok dude. Of all those guys you maybe retire Webber's. Maybe......if he were clean. But he helped send the program into a forgotten decade of irrelevance....so no.
The Fab 5 had swagger. Had they won the big dance they'd have a more rock solid legacy. But we don't retire jerseys because of cool long shorts. And not players who's activities while here got them dragged in front a a grand jury. Jalen can fuck off. I hope he never gets another nod of recognition from Michigan. God knows he's talked enough shit about the school in public. Why the fuck does he even want to be associated with us anyways?
Well I guess he lied then. Great reflection dude. You represent everyone.
Jalen cares about one thing: Jalen
I am not sure revered means what you think it means, because how you use it makes your post very confusing. That said, Jalen Rose wishing the fab five were given more accolades by the university does not mean the fans have not embraced them. Those are very different things.
The fab 5 changed how kids dress on the basketball court, how can you say they were not embraced? They represent the most beloved era of Michigan basketball.
Again, maybe you should know the meaning of words before implying someone else is ignorant, just saying.
You can split the baby if you'd like. I said that for a reason. You see the fact that one other poster claims the fact that Jalen does a little,"race" baiting? I have no reason to make these things up. Basically you and a lot of people can openly agree upon how,"you" think the FAB 5 is looked at or if you don't like revered, that's your choice. But if you feel more less like you are aware about how, they feel. I'm positive, that you'd be completely wrong. This is a sports blog not used for defining a specific word to dispel truth. If I have first hand knowledge about how a FAB5 member says he feels, then I think I can truthfully say that they don't feel like they have been fully embraced! Good enough? Embraced? Anyways, GO BLUE FOREVER.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:01 PM ^
It’s not that I don’t like revered, it’s that it means to show deep respect for or to admire. So if you want to show me a bunch of articles about how the fab five is revered, please do. I think you are actually doing all the things you are accusing me of. There is very little evidence that the majority of the fan base dislikes the fab five and have not embraced them. Juwan and Jalen have been given nothing but love by the fans.
The fab 5 changed how kids dress on the basketball court, how can you say they were not embraced? They represent the most beloved era of Michigan basketball.
When you change the way all young youth look at basketball it did not only affect our program it was a worldwide change. So you mean to tell me that since they wore baggy shorts, black socks, and had unlimited talent and swagger that this means they were embraced? Have you ever watched one show including the FAB5 when they spoke directly to the treatment they received not by other teams fanbases; "it was our very own fanbase!" Whew they dressed the part? You win. I'm totally baffled by your retort.
Who cares about the fucking shorts at this point. Is that their legacy??
I mean, it kind of is. It was one of the big things Jalen talks about in his documentary, so I think they agree with that legacy too.
March 19th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
Also he is part of the FAB 5. A group of players who have yet to be embraced.
well, that’s just being willfully obtuse. nobody thinks this.
Matty if you perceive this does this outweigh a FAB5 members own words? I digress. You know better than the FAB5 member themselves? Remember we're talking the FAB5. Not the FAB2. Don't let one huge,"obtuse" word fool you. If you get a chance ask Ray, or Jimmy, let alone Jalen how they feel they have been treated by their own. It's not calculus. Real people, real feelings.
guess i just imagined the calls by fans to "put the banners back up."
Nobody? Lol. Ask them for yourself. Don't ask,"your" friends.
The kids never learned a lesson from the first time it happened . We dribble to end of clock and get a horrible floater instead of running our offense with the lead . Coaching was a big disappointment including Sadi as “ D Coordinator “ . Terrible help defense in gaps
Funny thing is, Dug's initiative and the little floater were (judgment and percentages aside) one of the better last-second outcomes I've seen this year.
I didn’t think I was on Twitter, I guess I’m hallucinating.
You didn't hallucinate this hoops season - it happened!
Develop players!
right? i stopped reading aggregator websites a long, long time ago, i'm sure not interested in twitter aggregators.
As I think about the team, there is a lack of players that you know would say for the last few plays "Put the ball in my hands, coach". I think Kobe would be the only one, but of course he was out yesterday. I don't want to disparage our players, who for the most part give good effort this season. But I think we were lacking that Poole-type, who would confidently want the ball and do something effective with it.
You can call that role an “alpha dog”. Hunter is one, but he’s not going to handle the ball. Kobe and Jett have not yet ascended to alpha dog status.
I think criticisms of in game coaching and scheming to be over the top in regards to Howard. I like his scheme and play calling. We run some good stuff. In game, I question his rotations, particularly earlier in the season. Both this year and last, he’s stuck with rotations that aren’t working and leaves players clearly struggling on the court too long.
However, his teams have improved over the course of the season each of the past two seasons. Both times, we were clearly better than at the end of the season than we were in early January. Gotta figure it out quicker in the future.
Everyone is overreacting to yesterdays loss. We had one ball handler. If you told me before the game that we’d lose by one without Kobe, I’d have been somewhat impressed. We were in position to have an epic collapse. Sucks but when Twill is acting as your 2 guard, things are going to look bad.
Roster management has been tough. His biggest weakness IMO. Replaced five significant contributors after the Covid year. Had to replace the best replacements after last year. Howard has to do better with the roster management. Hopefully Kobe helps him out and returns next year along with HD. Get a 3/4 3&D guy in the portal and next season would look pretty good. Then we would have some stability for the first time since the Covid year.
Even if we miss the tournament next year, Howard won’t get canned. Unless it’s a 10-20 type record. But if HD, Kobe and Jett all leave, next season will be tough unless we get one of the best portal hauls in the country
Did this team really get better? They lost their last 3 games of the regular season/BTT and it's not like Illinois or Rutgers were anything special. They also needed a miracle to beat a NIT bound Wisconsin team at home. Hard to look at that and say this team improved in any significant fashion.
Michigan had a good February, but no, ultimately they did not really improve in any meaningful fashion. They had their chance and blew it. Last year they improved just enough to make the tourney with a very talented team. Certainly nothing to be proud of.
we went into the season wondering who would play point guard and where the shooting would come from. those are both answered, and without hitting the portal. but yah, let's make it a binary discussion, like you always do.
Winning on the road in the Big Ten is hard. 3 OTs in Champaigne and one in Bloomington. Rutgers game is inexcusable. Not winning our close home games is a bigger problem than the two road games IMO
OT loss at iowa too
How in the world do you go 19 minutes against fucking world beating Rutgers of all teams and you only get one field goal. Coaching, roster management, and in game adjustments have been atrocious or non-existent.
How does Purdue miss 30 straight wide open 3s? Crazy stuff happens. Rutgers is a good defensive team. Not that good of course but we played one of our worst games of the season at the wrong time.
Win a couple of the games people are complaining about and much of the complaints go away. That’s how thin the margins are in bball
Crazy stuff does happen. Like Dickinson making that 3 vs Wisco. But when the same crazy story happens over and over again, maybe just maybe, it's not bad luck.
Never said it was. Our best player is a post player. Hard to run late clock situations when everybody knows that’s our bread and butter. We were very inexperienced in the backcourt this year. One of the biggest reasons for our struggles. No coincidence we started playing better when Kobe did
Ok fair enough. So circling back to your comment about thin margins:
Back to back years with mediocre teams that have roster construction issues. One year we got "lucky" made the tournament and won a couple games. The next we got "unlucky" and missed.
Look at the CMU game. It was a tight game could have gone either way. Thin margins. Except Michigan should never have been a position for it come down to the last play. That's the problem.
I am certainly not advocating for moving on from Howard yet, but we better see something more encouraging next year regardless of who is on the roster.
Have never made an excuse for the CMU game. Anytime you lose to a clearly inferior opponent, a significant chunk of blame should fall on coaching. Game was a huge weight on our resume.
Michigan had two senior guards last year. Definitely a positive factor in close games. Michigan had a freshman and a sophomore that was unplayable in conference play as a freshman. Definitely a negative factor in close games.
We played a lot more close games than last year too. We've probably played twice as many as last year and that's a bigger issue. They don't play well enough often enough to avoid close games. Youth factors into it, but when you play so many close games and they mostly end the same way, it's not like you don't have the experience to change it.
March 19th, 2023 at 10:30 PM ^
we were 5-3 in games decided by 6 or fewer points last season.
It's not just about yesterday, although it's impossible to excuse that ending regardless of who was on the bench.
What it's about is CMU (and two other close MAC games), Iowa collapse, Indiana (scoreless last 5 minutes), Illinois (gave up a 7 pt lead in OT), Rutgers in the tournament. Michigan also needed a miracle against Wisconsin, so I don't want to hear how unlucky we are. The S16 run last year also masked an underpeforming talented team that ended up on the bubble.
This is our concern dude.