2nd Half Adjustments
Lots of comments about second half adjustments this game. Since I stopped at playing organized Basketball after graduating 8th grade, can someone tell me what Michigan did in the second half they weren’t doing in the first?
February 25th, 2021 at 10:10 PM ^
I can’t tell you but this coaching staff makes them!
February 25th, 2021 at 10:18 PM ^
It's crazy how good I feel when we're up by 4 or 5 at the half. It seems like a given that we're going to blow things open in the 2nd.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:13 PM ^
He kept his players rested for the second half. I've seen Iowa games where we are spent by halftime and running through fouls and then fighting to stay in the game in the second half. Of course those games are usually in Iowa City where they get the home cooking. Dickinson, Wagner and Smith each sat on the bench in the first half for several minutes while Johns and Williams were on the floor. Garza looked worn out.
February 26th, 2021 at 7:33 AM ^
It amazes me how upset message board coaches get when the real coach plays a deep bench in the first half. You think there might be a rhyme or reason for it when the other team's star player is completely gassed with 8 minutes to go and ours look fine?
February 25th, 2021 at 10:14 PM ^
hang on, checking with Coach Martelli...
Yep, confirmed. he just called the Trash Can defense and the slash to the hoop offensive sets. Dude is a genius. Lucky we have him since Howard was on his phone all of halftime
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February 25th, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
Looked like they told Franz to go score buckets.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:39 PM ^
Yes, Franzball was executed perfectly.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
They close like closers and champions do :). While I have confidence they are making good half time adjustments and admit I'm not sure what they are, this team's depth has a way of wearing other teams out. This is one of the deepest Michigan basketball teams I can remember and good chemistry is roster wide.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
One adjustment they didn't have to make was whether to double team Garza or not. How many wide open 3's did we see by Iowa tonight? Very few. Dickinson set the tone on D by straight up balling tonight. That made defending the perimeter a lot easier.
Offensively, they were definitely dialing up actions that allowed Wagner to attack the rim. Nobody could stop him, and Iowa's team defensive deficiencies finally reared their ugly heads in the 2nd half.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:18 PM ^
actually, i think they sagged on garza a few times, enough to keep him guessing. i thought it was well done.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:40 PM ^
Agree, XM. They did sag and pester him a handful of times, but didn't seem to resort to full-fledged hard doubles that Dickinson has been subjected to in recent games.
February 26th, 2021 at 10:33 AM ^
There is actually one hard double I recall and it resulted in a wide open Wieskamp cutter. I think the defensive performances are just going to continue to rise to the occasion. We may not be the top D in the country, but this team looks like they will be up to the task no matter who they step on the court with.
side note: although Davis is a defensive liability, I thought he did a solid job of staying in front of Garza and forcing him to make tough shots. The issue being Garza makes tough shots. He is exponentially more valuable to this team now that he can be counted on for a few buckets in the post. Idk who stays or returns next year, but I am positive I will miss whoever doesn’t come back
February 26th, 2021 at 11:08 AM ^
Davis was solid defensively last night. Agree completely about forcing Garza into tough shots. He stood his ground, kept his arms outstretched and vertical, and bothered Garza's shots almost as well as Dickinson.
It's so weird. Jon Teske - especially junior year Jon Teske - was one of the better post defenders I had the pleasure of watching. But Garza totally torched us last year. Maybe the key component is physicality? Dickinson and Davis didn't budge an inch last night.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:19 PM ^
Adjustments, we haz them and the opposition doesn't!
But seriously, we have a very adept HC and staff, great players that execute and play with a swagger, it's that simple.
All of this despite getting hosed by the refs.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:19 PM ^
One thing was that the half-court offense ran through Franz more often in the second half. Many sets were designed to get him the ball off of a screen so that he could drive the hoop and either score or dish.
Additionally, the press-break was much different this time around; it was just Smith and Livers bringing the ball over from half-court as opposed to the previous press-breaks they've run that have included Brooks and Dickinson being involved in the backcourt.
I think Juwan wanted to take advantage of Iowa's guards/wings lacking elite athleticism and their inability to keep up with any of Smith, Livers, and Franz.
I don't think much changed defensively; they stuck with guarding Garza straight-up with either Dickinson or Davis and all the other players' played deny-defense on the three-point shooters. This felt very Yaklich-esque with the "late help" philosophy.
Another thing was the rotations were a bit different. We did not see TWill again (until garbage time) and Brown got many more minutes down the stretch.
A great win indeed! Go Juwan and Go Blue!
February 25th, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
Good post. Agree on D, I think it worked well both halves, no changes required. Your observations on the offense ring true. I thought they were more intelligent with how they attacked the rim in the flow of the offense.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:20 PM ^
Phil, Juan, and the entire Michigan team have been pretty damn good at halftime adjustments all season long, other than @Minnesota.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:44 PM ^
Yeah, Juan Beilein's halftime adjustments have really improved the last two years.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:24 PM ^
From memory...probably not right.
Defensively, I don't think they did anything different. Playing straight up man worked well in the first half and HD's length got Garza out of his game. Frankly, giving AD run when HD got his first foul was a big help for the second half.
On O, I thought the biggest changes were pushing the ball into the lane more. It worked too well at times and Smith was so open on a couple 5-footers that he had no choice to shoot though he wasn't planning on it. Wagner slashed through the lane more as well. They also committed to letting HD do his thing in the low post more (helps that he was on the floor more).
February 25th, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^
Yeah, Iowa guarded the perimeter better than expected, but its interior defense is garbage. Just took a while for M to figure that out.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
The adjustments were we have an NBA wing and they don't. And telling them to relax at the rim instead of running back to get back on Garza.
I can't believe Johns and Davis held their own by themselves vs Garza. Hope it gives Johns confidence at the 5
February 25th, 2021 at 10:33 PM ^
Kudos to Robbie for calling the Shartans what they are -- Bad Boy level hack artists.
EDIT: wrong thread.
February 26th, 2021 at 10:39 AM ^
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve the upvotes!
I missed this tho, can someone elaborate?
February 25th, 2021 at 10:49 PM ^
I'd like to see what Howard's halftime speeches look like. I always thought (with minimal actual insight into the locker room obviously) one of Beilein's biggest weaknesses was he was almost too cerebral in the locker room. He always had his lesson plan on the white board and so many times the team came out slow after half. I always got scared if we were up by single digits against a good team at halftime. Juwan just seems to have more fire and I think it has had a direct result on the team being much less streaky. He understands momentum better after playing for so long and keeps the team up from start to finish.
February 25th, 2021 at 10:55 PM ^
To each.. I don't remember Beilein like that at all.. I would say he would be more likely to make no adjustment if up 5-7. But otherwise he was pretty good
February 25th, 2021 at 11:14 PM ^
That was the problem though. The other team would adjust and M wouldn't anticipate their adjustment. It just worked the majority of the time anyway because Beilein's system was so hard for other teams to figure out to begin with. Feels like Juwan is always one step ahead and if something's not working they pivot much faster than under Beilein, when they often didn't pivot at all. Don't get me wrong though have nothing but love for Beilein. This team has just been more consistently dominant going all the way back to last year than any I can remember under Beilein. Maybe it's recency bias but I've had far fewer moments of frustration.
February 26th, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
I agree with this, including the possibility that there's some recency bias. It feels like Howard is quicker to make adjustments and Beilein would seemingly have faith that the game plan would work. It also seemed that if the shooting cooled off, the 20 pt leads under Beilein would shrivel a lot faster. Probably a combination of better balance on this team (ala Hunter) and more of a killer instinct (that drill that they do to instill maintaining intensity).
As for halftime adjustments, in my amateur opinion, I think the key is that they don't over-adjust. It feels like far more subtle, smarter changes that just swing the advantage back.
February 26th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
I agree with all of the above posting. I think Howard and the staff do a very good job of finding the small changes that will attack a weakness in a team, and they can do it in stride. I liken it to the early Harbaugh days of smash mouth football when you would read a new Neck Sharpies (I think it was these) about how last week we ran this run play and this week we ran the same thing but pulled the backside tackle instead of the guard and rolled the DT into the B gap instead of the A gap or whatever. Those things that break tendencies in small ways and ruins teams. I see that in this team and the coaching staff. They identify ways to win and the team eats it up and produces quality performances with a sound game plan that requires minor tweaks at half time to stay a step ahead. This staff can dissect basketball like none other.
In addition, I feel comfortable with the idea of JB teams coming out a bit flat after halftime. I remember this, and maybe not every game, but definitely enough of the time that I don’t disagree with this notion. Almost as if they went and listened to a lecture at halftime sometimes, whereas JH teams are coming out swinging, smelling blood.
Dickinson and Livers both mentioned how Howard uses a ton of boxing analogies in relation to basketball, and is a big proponent and getting after it immediately and being aggressively in the face of the opponent; not in a way that you are overplaying and committing fouls, but staying in front of your man, being disciplined, and running their sets. This is exactly what I see from them post half every game. It also makes me think Chaundee should be starting every second half. Fuck I love that guy
February 25th, 2021 at 11:03 PM ^
Kinda thought the adjustment was have Wagner, Dickinson & Livers take most of the shots instead of our secondary players. We had no trouble getting easy looks either half, we just made sure our best players were taking them in the 2nd. We made life difficult for Iowa both halves. Dickinson wore down Garza and their 3 pt shooters were terrified of Wagner.
I haven't watched a ton of Iowa this year, but holy crap did they look soft. Garza's a load on offense in the post, but otherwise they played with little energy on defense and it always seemed like a surprise when we didn't get the rebound. Apparently having a psychopath as your coach doesn't make your team tough.
February 25th, 2021 at 11:19 PM ^
wrong thread
February 26th, 2021 at 7:51 AM ^
In general, the adjustments Michigan makes are subtle. Individual matchup advantages are noted and specific players are encouraged to take advantage as opportunity presents. And as those individual advantages are exploited the floor opens up-and the avalanche that ensues is often overwhelming. Defensively everyone is charged with the responsibility to racket up the effort a notch or two. And as much as anything, it is Michigan's defense that is the ultimate game-breaker for them. As this season wears on, game after game, it is their relentless defensive effort that breaks the opposition's will and turns the tide.
February 26th, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
Garza was working harder in first half and was profusely sweating by halftime, Coach fed Dickinson and Davis the ball more in the second half because the rest of the defense was tight. They kept playing their game and the inside opened up the outside shots. Our guys are confident and spread the ball around and continue to take shots when open, even if first half had some misses.
February 26th, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
Like most people on this board hate Harbaugh.
February 26th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
An amazing stretch of out-of-this-world 2nd half adjustments since the pause ended. It's goes back to the Wisconsin game. Surely, there were several such games before the pause but this stretch since then knocks my socks off.
GO BLUE!!