UCLA Snowflakes
March 31st, 2021 at 12:33 AM ^
You're still wrong. Smith's three wasn't some floater, it was a wide open three he's hit many times. You thinking driving the ball into traffic always results in a positive is so, so wrong., especially when bypassing open looks (from deep, even)
March 31st, 2021 at 12:45 AM ^
I would love to know the percentage of running shots from 3 go down. I'm guessing it's not great. And he has never hit a shot like that all season. He has hit 3s. He has hit step-back 3s. He has never hit a shot where he's running full speed perpendicular to the basket. Plus, he and Wagner were having awful shooting nights. If the plan is to get someone a deep, open shot, at least give the shot to someone who has a prayer at making it.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:52 AM ^
I don't think driving to the hoop for two would be the best choice. Chances of a foul being called, even if one actually happened, were low. Refs usually swallow the whistle in the final moments unless it is painfully obvious, i.e. the guy is dragged down. The result would've been a missed shot and probably 1 of 2 makes at the line based on how things were going.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:27 AM ^
Love it how everyone knows what they should have done. "Get the ball down low" (as if it's that easy, and we had been doing that consistently all night). Or "Have Chaundee shoot" (even though he might be covered, and as if it's good coaching to tell your good shooters, who are wide open, that they should instead pass up the shot and dribble around hoping they can find someone better).
Sometimes you make shots, sometimes you miss them. But damn, it's really too bad everyone here isn't the Michigan basketball coach. They'd all do such a better job.
Frankly, I was happy with both Franz and Smith taking those shots. (Although I have no idea what Brooks was trying to do with that rebound). They missed, and my stomach dropped. Damn.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:30 AM ^
This is a good take
March 31st, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Lol it's an awful take. They clearly ran plays to get Franz open for three on 2 of the last 3 FG attempts (not including the biffed brooks put back). Guess what? Instead you can run a play to get Chaundee open. The last three should've obviously been taken by brown or brooks. Franz has never been clutch. He even misses free throws late in close games. I think the bigger eff up though was even taking that first three. We are down 1 in the double bonus, DRIVE THE DAMN BALL TO THE BASKET
March 31st, 2021 at 12:47 AM ^
I don't think Howard planned on Franz taking the 3... I think he wanted him to drive but Franz was so wide open he shot it instead aka playing right into UCLA's hands.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:51 AM ^
No, Camblue. Franz is taller and a better shooter overall. You give it to Franz on the inbound. Brown has his spot he shoots well from, he isn’t a catch and shoot contested on the move guy. He’s an open three guy and so is Eli.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Sometimes coaches make mistakes, even the best ones. It is obviously that Michigan had one of it's worst games this year and there is plenty of blame to go around, the coaches included. No one on this forum knows more than the coaches about the team or the game of basketball but many of us can see that mistakes we made.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:45 AM ^
This such a lazy "coach knows best" take. No, having your player, who has made 2 threes the whole tourney and finished the game 1-10 from the field, take 2 3-pointers and another player, who finished the night 1-7 from the field, take a 3 to end the game is not good coaching. Juwan's strategy was making two ice cold players shoot a relatively low percentage shot to win the game. That is not good coaching
Get out of here with your logic. You're forgetting that we live in a Hollywood fairy tale. And in the movies, we all know that the much maligned hero always makes the final shot at the end, even if he was 0-100 before that.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:28 AM ^
They let one guy beat them. I'm surprised they didn't go to some zone and keep him from shooting. Maybe that would have opened up more shots for him, but I don't remember us trying.
UM plays ultimate team ball, but it sure would be nice to have one guy be able to step up and take over when needed. They don't have that guy.
Dickinson was throwing up junk, forcing things to his left, and missed some bunnies. Not sure what Eli was doing on that offensive rebound. I guess I understand a little bit, but it was much too hurried, but maybe don't know how much time is on the clock at that point.
IDK, just looked like they were frazzled, UCLA played good defense. Wagner was a no show offensively, as I guess most were. Defense played well, but they had the best player on the floor who could score.
Great season, I hope the best is yet to come for Michigan basketball.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:28 AM ^
Final Four was there for the taking... and we choked badly. All the missed free throws and turnovers added up. I don’t understand the play calls toward the end either. We put the ball in the hands of the wrong guys.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:32 AM ^
This team doesn’t have a “guy.” They got great looks the last 2 minutes and none of them went in. It is what it is.
This is true, WolverineMan.
We didn't have too many games that came down to last minute heroics this year - we did not win the ones that did.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
Bet we can copy and paste all the comments from Alabama’s basketball forum a couple days ago to this one and it’s basically the same stuff.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
So that’s two games with a championship on the line that Juwan has choked. Two desperate 3s by Mike.
I love Juwan and the team. But we lost both games because of terrible play calling at the end. Absolutely terrible.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:33 AM ^
Really, how did Juwan choke? Our players shot for shit all game. Look at the stats. Juwan can’t go out ton the floor and tip in an air ball from a 40+% 3 point shooter, or make a 70+% free throw shooter go better than 50% in a game
March 31st, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
Honestly, Juwan could've been the best player on the floor tonight if he suited up for Michigan.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:35 AM ^
Another dumbass take. You ilk that hate wide open looks need to verse yourselves in the modern game and leave the 80s in the deep regresses of your subconscious.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
Mike Smith's running floater from 3 was not a "wide open look." Plus, when you're down 1 and in the double bonus, driving to the hoop is not 80s basketball. Plus, considering how off Wagner and Smith were the whole night, it probably would have been a good idea to have someone other than them shooting at the end.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
Franz should have been the difference maker in a game like this. He wasn’t. He was 1/10.
Everything went wrong offensively. Turnovers, missed layups, missed FTs. Just no rhythm the entire game. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think it had that much to do with UCLA.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:30 AM ^
We needed to get HD out of the lane at least a few times so that Wagner could do what he does best, drive. The offense was the equivalent of running the ball into a stacked line over and over again to hopefully grind out a win. Yes, we have an advantage in the post but not if that is your only play. Also, HD didn't play well enough to warrant the usage he got.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
HD needs to realize he has 2 fucking hands. There were at least 2 plays where I thought Jim Jackson was going to blow a gasket since he just flatly REFUSED to use his right hand when it would have been gimmies. Nerves, jitters whatever.
Sophomore year HD will be a force with a R hand.
Totally agree with this, Westside. They wasted so much time standing around and forcing it into Dickenson - that's not our game. Mix things up; put him in the high post and let him find slashers, and open up the lane for others.
Run around. Pass the ball around. Our offense is beautiful with movement, stale without.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:31 AM ^
5 for 25 from your starting perimeter scorers will do it.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Chris Webber needs to join the coaching staff because apparently Howard can only get to the Elite 8 without him.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
I’ve said this for a long time this year is when people compare Juwan and Jim. Jim was exactly where Juwan is right bow Year 2. And sadly, it basically ended the exact same way. Literal inches from the pinnacle (CFP and Final Four).
Juwan will not follow the same trajectory I hope. Evidence points that he won’t, but having a clunker in your biggest game is cause for at least a little hesitation.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:56 AM ^
Juwan brought home a championship which is something Jim hasn’t even sniffed yet. Juwan right now is light years ahead of Jim. Even if Jim pulled off that OSU game, I don’t have much confidence that he would have even been able to beat that Wisconsin team again. Juwan is delivering what Jim was supposed to do.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
I was confident Michigan would win this game unless we had an uncharacteristically BAD game across the board, and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened.
I’m not sure what that was... no rhythm on offense. We just fed it to Dickinson thinking that should work, but it didn’t really, for the most part. Everyone seemed a little timid and like they were waiting for something to happen around them and it never did.
This was a great Michigan team, and this was not the ending to the season that this team deserved. Final 4 may have been the ceiling this year once Livers went out, but that’s where they should have been.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:39 AM ^
Only thing I'll say here...UCLA played awfully (besides Juzang in the middle 2/3rds of the game), not really hat's off to them.
Neither of these two teams we saw tonight deserve to be in the Final Four, and that will be apparent when Gonzaga obliterates them on Saturday.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:43 AM ^
BTT Semis: Mike Smith 1/10 FG, takes game winning shot against OSU. Misses.
Elite Eight: Mike Smith 1/6 FG, takes game winning shot against UCLA. Misses.
SMH
March 31st, 2021 at 12:52 AM ^
Yep. Total foreshadowing. Although this game Wagner took the final shot and the third final shot. When he was 1-8 and then 1-9.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:59 AM ^
Trey Burke missed multiple game winners in 2013, including OSU... then he hit the big one in the sweet 16 against Kansas.
Mike Smith had his shot at tournament glory and just came up short.
See this is the kind of romantic, irrational thinking that people somehow fall for every time. Burke's shot wasn't destined to go in, it was obviously a complete miracle. For the record though, nobody else was shooting well from 3 that game and they needed a 3 to tie it. Burke was an inefficient 9-21 from the field but was 4-11 from 3. The rest of the starters were 3-11. In that context, it wasn't illogical for Burke to take the shot.
But this game? Smith was 1-6 with 3 points. He's been relatively cold all month. Michigan's hot shooters have been Chaundee Brown and Eli Brooks. But they went to 1-6 Smith and then 1-9 Wagner. Completely insane.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:44 AM ^
I apologize to whoever said in the thread about our high assist rate that it’s a blessing and a curse. We really needed someone who could create their own shot in the clutch.
Not really. I mean, Smith created a shot, he just missed it. Tbh out of context I don't think it was a terrible shot, but in context, WTF? Smith has been shooting cold for a month. Michigan could have run a better play, but they chose not to. Once again Howard apparently gave Smith the green light to just take it down the court and play hero ball. Then he runs an inbound play to the only guy who was even colder than Smith.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:46 AM ^
Eli Brooks' 3 point shooting totally disappeared after that great performance against LSU.
Eli and Brown were the 3 point offense for this team because Smith's and Wagner's long distance shooting has been broken for a rather long time.
Though once Eli fell off, Michigan only had Brown and that further weakened their offense.
The team 3 point shooting was bad against FSU, but luckily they scored a lot of points in the paint.
eli made 3 one handed layups tonite. that was it. he basically airballed two reverse layups. and was ofer on 3s. rough nite for most of our guys on offense.
The two reverse lay-ups were so, so, fucking stupid. Neither one made a bit of sense.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:46 AM ^
The lack of rationality at the end kills me. For some reason Howard clings to this romantic notion that a guy who is ice cold shooting for the entire game will somehow get a rush of confidence and be able to drain the game winner. Everyone on this board bitched at me for saying Smith shouldn't have taken the shot at the end of the OSU game in the Big Ten tournament. Well guess what: he shouldn't have. And having Smith and Wagner be our go-to guys at the end of this game was even dumber. But I can't wait for you guys to explain to me how it was actually smart to have 1-10 Wagner and 1-7 Smith take Michigan's last 3 shots.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:54 AM ^
I don't disagree. When they had a closeup of Wagner just before the final inbounds and his final shot I pointed to Wagner and said "I hope he doesn't take the shot". Where was Brooks? Or Chaundee? Hell, I would've rather Johns take the shot. I could've accepted Smith taking it as a chance at redemption from the missed three against OSU. But Wagner?......ugh.
I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw him swooping around the 3pt line after the pick. I mean really, you have all that time to plan the final shot and you have your 1-9 guy jack up a 3? Literally any shmuck who has shot baskets in their driveway knows that basketball shooting is streaky. Maybe one hundred years from now neuroscientists will be able to fully explain the cerebellar circuits involved in muscle memory that cause a shooter to be "on" or "off". But it's a thing. A church league bum who shoots 10% from 3 can suddenly find himself in a situation where he cannot miss. And Steph Curry can suddenly find himself in a situation where he can't hit the broad side of a barn. I know it makes a really great storyline for the maligned 1-10 guy to redeem himself and win the game when it matters, but the odds are he's just going to miss again.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:56 AM ^
With us down 1 with what looked like one last shot to go, someone in the game thread suggested subbing in Davis. I thought that was a creative and intriguing suggestion. HD is a far superior defensive player than Austin, but if you get the ball into Davis in the post with 8 seconds to go, the chances of him making a bucket or getting fouled is pretty darn high.
You can't count on Davis at the line. He's a terrible FT shooter. Interesting idea, but they would just hack him.
He made his one free throw. He was more reliable than everyone else on the team! Davis was the lone bright spot on offense.
Davis had a great game and a great season - I love the guy. I still don't like the chances of him making FT's in crunch time.
Like a lot of big guys (Shaq, anyone?) his form and touch from the line are poor.
I don't think UCLA would hack him ahead one point. I like the chances of Davis making at least 1 of 2 FT. Were we in the double bonus? I don't remember.
I never ever thought we would be held under 50 points. Even playing so poorly, we still had a chance to win. Not sure why we were going for 3s?
My snowflakes:
Great season. Brought a ton of joy and fun to an otherwise pretty awful winter. Thank you for your hard work and a Final 8.
Really disappointing finish to that great season. Honestly, it reminded me of Michigan's NCAA disappointments back in the 80's, when Michigan lost in poorly played games.
Did not like the offensive game plan or coaching tonight. Way too much standing around. Way too much forcing it into the box without any ball/player movement. Very little passing.
Was surprised Juzang went off like he did. UCLA has only 2 real weapons, and I figured we could defend them into a tough night. Didn't happen - he went off.
Michigan looked really tight tonight. So many missed layups, so many missed FT's, so many turnovers.
We blew a great opportunity to blow them away early. Even decent execution could have put us up 15 or more. Our poor execution let them back in the game.
You simply can't win basketball games when you don't score. Davis and Johns were the only guys who didn't play tight - maybe Chaundee, but he hardly touched the ball.
Franz should never have taken that first 3. What was he thinking? Plenty of time left, and we didn't need a 3. Attack the basket and we probably win the game. Brooks then panicked when he got the board; there was plenty of time.
I disagree with some here, and thought Smith got a great look. I didn't mind that shot at all; he'd just made a clutch 3, and he shot that with confidence. Any time you get a wide open clean look when you go the length of the court in 6 seconds is pretty damned good. Thought it was gonna go down.
Sadly, both Dickenson and Franz had awful games. Michigan seemed so determined to force it into Hunter it completely took us out of our typical whole team concept.
Two things I would definitely have done differently - work the ball around for some threes, which would have opened things up down low, and move Dickenson up to the high post, then let him sling it down to Johns/Wagner/Chaundee.
This feels bad now. In time the sting will wear off and I'll have fond memories of this season.