11/14/2018 – Michigan 73, Villanova 46 – 3-0

During the consumption-of-entrails portion of the game someone tweeted a question at me.

@mgoblog are we in death from above territory?

— Tres (@tresf333) November 15, 2018

Sort of but also no. "Death from above" is a particular genre of Beilein win where Nik Stauskas sticks contested threes in your face and no amount of scoring you manage is ever enough to climb up the Sisyphean treadmill that Michigan's offense presents you. Halfway through the first half your official twitter account issues a shruggie. The danger comes from the high-arcing artillery shells Michigan fires with unerring accuracy, and then a Lithuanian-Canadian dude dunks on your face.

That's Death From Above. This was different, except for the Lithuanian-Canadian dude. This was a shiv in the dark.

Michigan was most dangerous in the low places, where Zavier Simpson's fingers are stickiest and Ignas Brazdeikis's defense most implausible. The closest thing to a consistent perimeter threat Michigan presented came from Charles Matthews jumpers that started just outside the restricted circle and ended just inside the three-point line. The very, very burly Eric Paschall is going to hit 65% from two in conference play; he was just 3 of 13 against against a true freshman wing giving up 40 pounds.

At the same time Michigan was turning an All Big East C into a pumpkin they limited Villanova (VILLANOVA!) to 3 of 15 from behind the arc, on shots that were about 95% contested. Six different guys had steals. Zavier Simpson had five himself. Villanova had three turnovers for every assist.

At some point Gus Johnson said that Michigan was known for ferocious defense and a near-total lack of turnovers. I thought about tweeting out something in the "lol that's half-right" genre, and then stopped. Stopped like a wildebeest trying to drive the lane against Michigan. Maybe it's true. Or, at least, it's is going to be true.

And like, I don't know, fine? Let's go? I don't have the fingers to deal with this.

Never in the history of humanity has a program undergone such a dramatic 180 in how they get things done without losing its fundamental personality. And make no mistake: Zavier Simpson is as good of a Beilein-at-Michigan avatar as anyone despite the fact he'll hit 30% of his threes this year if he's lucky. He is not without precedent. He is the continuation of a theme. Seven years ago Darius Morris told Michigan State to "get the fuck off my court." Nik Stauskas terrified Kentucky fans despite Kentucky having 16 seven-foot jumping jacks. Charles Matthews?

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Charles Matthews spent the entire first half doing this to various Villanova Wildcats. Everyone wanted to punch him and someone almost did.

These guys have always been assassins. Just not this kind. They've been guys who line your head up in a targeting reticle from two miles away. Now they knock on the front door and ask if anyone wants to play with all these knives they brought. You can say no all you want. The question is rhetorical.

Yes. Michigan is going to stab you until a palpably depressed Gus Johnson can no longer inject any life into the game. And then they're going to stab you one last time, because maybe you deserved it.

[After THE JUMP: some bullets and react from elsewhere]

BULLETS

Not too much now. Got some other stuff on the plate. But:

Scrimmage EMU weekly. Michigan's worst offensive possessions of the game were a couple when Villanova threw out a 2-3 zone. Michigan flailed, resorted to bad threes from iffy shooters, and Jay Wright put it away for reasons that cannot be good. This follows on from two terrifically ugly games against lower-tier opponents that chucked a ton of junk zones at Michigan and forced them into shooting over the top. The results are shocking:

Michigan's defense appears to be good again. pic.twitter.com/n6nGg3Zrj7

— Bart Trvik (@totally_t_bomb) November 15, 2018

Okay yes Michigan has three of the top 11 defensive performances of the season and one of them is against Villanova. But also the very good offensive performance is against Villanova; the dismal ones are the two teams starting Fievel at C who just throw out whatever on each defensive possession.

It's no coincidence that after Simpson was 0/2 in the first two games of the season from two that he was 4/8 here, with six assists and two TOs. Wright might have gotten blindsided here; future opponents will throw zones at Michigan until Michigan proves they can beat them. Except the ones who are too stubborn to do so. (IE: Izzo.)

The Matthews balance. There are guys who can take a three after passing up a rhythm three; Charles Matthews isn't one of them. He had a great game largely within his wheelhouse; when he got outside of it things got ugly. Jordan Poole's rough start to the season continued and contributed; we have not reached the Matthews nirvana where he's at 20% usage. In this game, 24%. Still real good! But also 0/4 from three, in part because he turned two open rhythm threes into hesitation-and-then-shoot events. Just shoot.

Small-ball activated. Villanova started with a true C on the floor, and that didn't work. Then they went to a five-out look, and that didn't work. Michigan threw Isaiah Livers on the floor to combat it; by the end of the first half Livers was +21. It is a tremendous luxury to be able to match up against both traditional back-to-the-basket 5s and stretch guys.

ELSEWHERE

Rob Dauster before…

There’s a saying in basketball circles: You don’t develop pros, you recruit pros.

For the majority of the college basketball landscape, that sentiment holds true, but there are few that buck the trend. Virginia’s one. Wichita State is another. None have been more consistent or more successful at turning players that weren’t considered pro prospects entering school into NBA players by the time they leave than the Wolverines and Wildcats.

“I go to both of those places,” a Western Conference executive told NBC Sports this month. “I like what you get out of a Michigan guy, and I like what you get out of a Villanova guy.”

“John Beilein and Jay Wright are two of the most fundamental coaches that exist in college basketball,” he added. “The beauty is that they know who they are, what they do and what works for them. They don’t try to fit square pegs into round holes.”

…and after:

VILLANOVA, Pa. — It was the toughest ticket in town.

$3,000 to sit courtside. A month or two worth of cable and phone bills just to get in the door. A student section that didn’t look safe to inhabit.

It’s about what you’d expect for a team that’s coming off their second national title in three years and unveiling the $25 million renovation to their on-campus facility while playing a rematch of their most recent national title game in a building that typically plays host to Villanova’s buy games and the dregs of the Big East.

Finneran Pavilion was electric.

And No. 8 Villanova never led.

Both of those are very worth your time. Quinn on Iggy:

“I’ve worked for this my entire life, honest to God, but I’ve always felt that if you don’t perform in the moment, then you don’t got nothing,” Brazdeikis said later. “You can work as hard as you want, for as long as you want. But when performance time comes, that’s showtime. I am ready and I am so confident in myself. I feel like no one can guard me and that I guard every single one of them. To me, it’s like playing any other team. I’m just ready to go kill.”

Jalen Wilson and Cole Bajema both signed LOIs yesterday. 24/7 has a free article with takes on what Michigan's getting. On Wilson:

247Sports' Basketball Recruiting Analyst, Brian Snow: Jalen is a highly-skilled wing, he's got good length and he can get to the basket. He's really good at finishing through contact. Right now he's not a great athlete, I think the hope is that he gets into a college strength and conditioning program and he becomes a great athlete but he's not there yet. He's a good shooter, not a great shooter, really creative on the offensive end. Defensively he should be able to guard multiple positions. In that respect, he can guard the three and the four in Beilein's offense and in Beilein's system and also handle himself defensively. It seems like a good fit to me.