Time to Take Hoops Seriously

https://youtu.be/dDwpgRoteI4?si=I77GUBqNoj8DH20c

Full game.

More older dudes with talent that want to be here. Not a title contender but should be a lot more enjoyable of a watch than last year's team.

Let's calm down

I had no idea of the fate of our basketball team this season. Basing it off of last season and losing Hunter, I was feeling a bit doom and gloom. It looks like a different team with better shooters and guards good at ball handling. I have to say that I'm impressed but I know one game does not make a season. Lets see if they can continue to improve before B1G play starts. When does the coach come back. I know he had by-pass surgery a few months ago. I guess they want to ease him back in as coach and not keep his stress elevated. 

Team has great length defensively as a whole. That should help them stay in a lot of games, especially in college basketball.

It's early but they did look connected on offense. Have some fouling issues to clean up though.

Dear Lord, this is going to be a looong season if we're doing this after ONE game.

I said this would happen though. When the 3 ball is falling, we will look like we can beat anyone. If we go 3-20, we're going to lose to a UNC Asheville type. The swings on this team are going to be outrageous. 

Can we get through NOVEMBER first?

I’ve said it before maybe not on this board but with Hunter leaving Michigan is going to be better. I liked Hunter but I think for culture, defensive upside and player development (forces other players to improve their game) it’s better he leaves. That said I appreciate everything he gave the program. 

I can’t get too excited until we beat PSU, MSU, and OSU 😬

But seriously, nice start to the season. They seem to have good chemistry and they played hard.

Let's not get over our skis here, it was one game.  That said, it's worth noting that Asheville won their (bad) conference in both the regular season and the tournament last year, and I think is expected to do so again, so this is a meaningful positive sign in a way that, like, Houston Baptist would not have been.

Dug is exactly the leader we thought he’d be. Granted we are one game in but I think UNCA was favored to win their conference if I’m not mistaken. And we dominated them beginning to end. IU and MSU struggled in their games too. I think it will be touch and go this year but hard to see this as anything other than an absolutely promising start. And we don’t even have all our guys out there!

Glad about the W. Looked at the Box Score, I have no idea who most of the players are. 

I'll check back in around December 😅🏈

I'm with the "let's not get too excited yet" group but with a sprinkle of optimism. It's not just about how they hit three's last night. It's the fact you could see that these guys have a lot of juice, seem to have strong leadership, and there is just more talent than I expected from a pure athleticism point of view. 

We also had such low expectations I feel like we all thought it would be like watching a third grade girls basketball game where are not confident most of the team can dribble or even know what sport they are playing. 

I never was as pessimistic about this year's team as the experts. They were all looking at last year's team on paper and what great players were being lost. But last year's team in reality was mediocre at best. And Dug and Reed were already showing how good they were as true Freshmen. Last year's team fell below expectations. I'm hoping and believe this year's team will exceed the experts' predictions.

Having multiple upperclassmen and an experienced point guard may have a lower ceiling than other teams that rely on star freshman to play themselves into the first round, but it's a pretty good recipe for success.

It was nice to see coherent basketball. Admittedly, I don't know much about this group.

If things went poorly it would have confirmed my assumptions.

Since things went very well I can wait to have my assumptions confirmed.

Hard to extrapolate much from this. But if we were #1 in the country, this is still exactly the kind of outcome I would have been looking for, so there was nothing else we could do.

Thank God, if nothing else, we have an assemblage of players that are enjoyable and likeable, and seem to be playing like the whole is greater than the sum of their parts. And that is significant, because shit Aristotle said it.

Time for the rest of the B1G to start colluding to figure out how to beat the M bball juggernaut.  Either that, or the commish has to stop in and suspend someone.

Welcome back to the bandwagon. Some of us never stopped taking hoops seriously. Three of my kids are huge Lions fans, and we bond over that. My youngest, however, is a huge Michigan basketball fan. We've never stopped rooting for the team. She makes sure I clear my schedule so we can watch every game together.

I think im going to let the process play out before I make any presumptions on how awesome Michigan basketball is this year.

Theh did look good, and it appears Juwan may have hit well in the portal 

Coached varsity hoops in this state for 16 years. I loved what I saw last night against a team picked to win their league. The defense and shooting appear vastly improved and we have some playmakers off the bounce. College basketball is won with great PG play and I'm not sure Dugie could have played a better game. I still think there is a ceiling to this team but man you put Jett or Kobe on this squad we'd be talking about making a deep deep run. Really liked what I saw as I was waiting for my first grandchild to be born which was shortly after the W! 

Last nights game was more fun than the entire 2022 basketball season.

Even when Michigan Bball won games last year that weren't fun to watch.   

I predicted this team would do much better than last year and make the tournament-  so far so good.

I'm a big Phil Martelli and Howard Isley fan.

Impressed with the growth of all the players from last year and obviously the influx of talent and chemistry of the entire team. 

We're going Dancing!!!

As someone who expected utter doom this season, I'd offer the following thoughts.

- There were no "stars", but certainly seemed to be good balance most of the game. No gigantic scoring droughts.

- Defense wasn't amazing, but when you score 100, one tends not to be as ferocious on D

- Loved the size and athleticism on the team finally. I don't know how good these guys really are, but it was nice not feeling like typical clunky B10 team full of stiff bigs and non-shooting ball handlers.

- Dug looks like a dude --- particularly with a chip on his shoulder. He didn't shy away.

- TWill looks slimmed down and if he isn't playing the 4 because we have other guys there like Nkamhou, I think it helps him 

Respect the energy they played with.. one final thought...

It was bizarre watching a team that had virtually no continuity to last year's team (a good thing) - I honestly was lost on who all these guys were (beyond the returners)... seemed entirely different in style and ability - which is welcome. 

I'll say it again to the Juwan haters.  He is par for the course.  And to be careful what you wish for.

Play fast. Shoot well.

Going into last night I was expecting another off year for UM hoops.  After watching in person last night, my expectation has flipped.  To be that locked in playing as a team with that many new faces should fill the coaching staff with great pride in their offseason work.  This team is going to surprise people with size, length, teamwork and athleticism.  I especially like that they don't have to be forced to play through a "dominate" big man in Hunter.  The offense seems like it could really take a huge leap without him and be more disruptive on the defensive end with length and agility.

Go Blue!

Phil Martelli Look a Like:

Let’s wait and see.  But I did enjoy that game last night.  Some of our best teams over the years have had a tendency to sleepwalk through their first couple of games.  So it was nice to see them play well out of the gate.  

I was most pleasantly surprised at Dug's improvement. He absolutely balled out. 

Not to get ahead but all I know is that we’re 1-0 and State is 0-1. Great start so far.