ISU had a decent opener against Oakland. Defense was suspect and while this is partially a function of playing at breakneck speed, your opponent gets lots of possessions... they shot over 50% from the floor. Georges Niang opened the season with a career high playing mainly in the post against a really talented 6' 10" center, Bryce Dejean-Jones had 20 and 11 boards for his first double double of his career and they weren't even really running any plays through him. All the starters scored in double figures, and at least one of them will be a bench player after one more game when we get two players back from suspension who figure to be some of our better defenders, and one of whom is a 3 point sharpshooter. And we get a legit center in mid-december when he becomes eligible.
I think it was really good for the current rotation to get a bit of a wakeup that they do need to play some goddamn defense, but there's a lot to be excited about on offense, and we're not even at full strength. Two starters and a major bench contributor are still sitting out.
1. Michigan's defense is not good right now. Can still shoot lights out though (1.35 PPP), so that'll be fun.
2. If you're losing to Buffalo at halftime, you're not going undefeated.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Michigan struggles a bit with Detroit but puts them away eventually. Mostly a rare poor shooting night, though they were a bit sloppy with the ball in the first half. Defense still shaky, though it was better in games 2 and 3 than in game 1. Off to Brooklyn for games against Oregon and either VCU or Villanova.
SMU might have been the most overrated team in the pre-season. Gonzaga beat them handily on the road, which isn't the worst. But this shouldn't be a good Indiana team and they just beat them (admittedly, in Assembly).
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Michigan maybe finds a 5. Ricky Doyle has 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, two drawn charges. Not spectacular, but that's about what Michigan needs from their center. Need the rebounds up a bit but strong defense. They beat Oregon in a game that was never outside of 8 points, but Oregon also never led. Weird. They get Villanova tomorrow now. The consolation game between VCU and Oregon could be fun. Oregon loves running and is very good at it while VCU forces a relatively high tempo with their press.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
So the Badgers are in Nassau this week for thanksgiving (lucky ducks) and while they've got UAB tomorrow night, they've probably got Florida on Thanksgiving, then more than likely UNC on Friday. Followed by Duke next wednesday, December 3rd.
1) The officiating sucked and got Michigan's bigs in foul trouble on loose balls, ignored a charge on Villanova's winning basket, ignored a Villanova tackle on an in bounds play, and ignored a hack on Derrick Walton with Michigan down one and phooey.
2) They had a 10 minute stretch where they didn't make a shot. Which seems unlikely to repeat frequently.
Young team is young, but showed in a ten minute stretch where they want from down 13 to up 7 that they'll be something to reckon with by March, as usual.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Feel like we're gonna have a few of those games every year where the shooting just falls apart like that.
My biggest concern is that it sounds like the kids lost their composure in a couple spots and I'd be more concerned with them getting back on track mentally than I would about them shooting that poorly again.
We had almost no assists last night, which is extremely bizarre for our game. It sounds like Maryland really threw us off our game badly, which will happen from time to time.
I still have some real big concerns about the lose of Kane and Ejim from last year. Ejim was Mr. Reliable, and Kane was a dump truck disguised as a point guard. I'm not sure where we're looking to yet to find the person who can, when needed, put the team on their back and will us to a win.
Yeah, that's my worry as well. Replacing their production overall I'm not afraid of...replacing the timeliness of that production on the other hand I'm quite a bit less sure of.
+1
Options
TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
1) The officiating sucked and got Michigan's bigs in foul trouble on loose balls, ignored a charge on Villanova's winning basket, ignored a Villanova tackle on an in bounds play, and ignored a hack on Derrick Walton with Michigan down one and phooey.
2) They had a 10 minute stretch where they didn't make a shot. Which seems unlikely to repeat frequently.
Young team is young, but showed in a ten minute stretch where they want from down 13 to up 7 that they'll be something to reckon with by March, as usual.
Villanova is a pretty dirty basketball team.
Playing them at home is basically bullshit call after bullshit call.
1) The officiating sucked and got Michigan's bigs in foul trouble on loose balls, ignored a charge on Villanova's winning basket, ignored a Villanova tackle on an in bounds play, and ignored a hack on Derrick Walton with Michigan down one and phooey.
2) They had a 10 minute stretch where they didn't make a shot. Which seems unlikely to repeat frequently.
Young team is young, but showed in a ten minute stretch where they want from down 13 to up 7 that they'll be something to reckon with by March, as usual.
Villanova is a pretty dirty basketball team.
Playing them at home is basically bullshit call after bullshit call.
Big East basketball in its entirety is basically like that.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
+1
Options
TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
1) The officiating sucked and got Michigan's bigs in foul trouble on loose balls, ignored a charge on Villanova's winning basket, ignored a Villanova tackle on an in bounds play, and ignored a hack on Derrick Walton with Michigan down one and phooey.
2) They had a 10 minute stretch where they didn't make a shot. Which seems unlikely to repeat frequently.
Young team is young, but showed in a ten minute stretch where they want from down 13 to up 7 that they'll be something to reckon with by March, as usual.
Villanova is a pretty dirty basketball team.
Playing them at home is basically bullshit call after bullshit call.
Big East basketball in its entirety is basically like that.
Not all Big East teams are like that. But they've got the most yeah.
0
Options
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Big Ten 5, ACC 0 through the early games. Michigan beats Cuse by 3 in a fun game until the billion timeouts in the last minute. Cuse desperately needs a point guard, they are sloppy.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Sparty definitely NO!ed it up against Notre Dame tonight. But Iowa made up for it, and combined with PSU's win, that will lock up victory for the Big 10 in the challenge.
Looked like Duke's guards were too athletic for Wisconsin's guards on the perimeter? If I thought we would have any answer at all for Kaminsky that would make me optimistic about the... one matchup between Michigan and Wisconsin. Yay expansion.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Uh. We lost to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in a body bag game. Oops. Nobody showed up other than Caris Levert and he kind of sucked defensively. Allowed 58.7% shooting, including 11/17 from three.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Crisis mode in Ann Arbor. Eastern beats Michigan in Crisler in an abomination of a basketball game, 45-42. They run Syracuse's 2-3 zone which Michigan solved pretty successfully exactly a week ago but was totally baffled by tonight.
Next game: at Arizona. Yikes.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Crisis mode in Ann Arbor. Eastern beats Michigan in Crisler in an abomination of a basketball game, 45-42. They run Syracuse's 2-3 zone which Michigan solved pretty successfully exactly a week ago but was totally baffled by tonight.
Next game: at Arizona. Yikes.
Somebody should tell them they don't have to be awful for Harbaugh to come coach the football team.
Posts
I think it was really good for the current rotation to get a bit of a wakeup that they do need to play some goddamn defense, but there's a lot to be excited about on offense, and we're not even at full strength. Two starters and a major bench contributor are still sitting out.
2. If you're losing to Buffalo at halftime, you're not going undefeated.
I mean, it's not like he's some horrible person. Not to mention the olympics and all that.
EDIT: I guess Kentucky/Kansas too. But there is no Big Ten team involved, so who cares?
I never bet against Izzo. Didn't they start hot last year? I remember making a joke that someone gave Izzo a calendar where every month was March.
Their roster is awful. When your second best player is derisively known as "Tragic Johnson" you have issues.
At least one of them also has to lose?
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article3980003.html
SMU might have been the most overrated team in the pre-season. Gonzaga beat them handily on the road, which isn't the worst. But this shouldn't be a good Indiana team and they just beat them (admittedly, in Assembly).
Fuck you Kentucky, that number 1 is ours.
1) The officiating sucked and got Michigan's bigs in foul trouble on loose balls, ignored a charge on Villanova's winning basket, ignored a Villanova tackle on an in bounds play, and ignored a hack on Derrick Walton with Michigan down one and phooey.
2) They had a 10 minute stretch where they didn't make a shot. Which seems unlikely to repeat frequently.
Young team is young, but showed in a ten minute stretch where they want from down 13 to up 7 that they'll be something to reckon with by March, as usual.
My biggest concern is that it sounds like the kids lost their composure in a couple spots and I'd be more concerned with them getting back on track mentally than I would about them shooting that poorly again.
I still have some real big concerns about the lose of Kane and Ejim from last year. Ejim was Mr. Reliable, and Kane was a dump truck disguised as a point guard. I'm not sure where we're looking to yet to find the person who can, when needed, put the team on their back and will us to a win.
Villanova is a pretty dirty basketball team.
Playing them at home is basically bullshit call after bullshit call.
Big East basketball in its entirety is basically like that.
Not all Big East teams are like that. But they've got the most yeah.
Maybe ever.
Edit: And the watchESPN app is so shitty. It crashes so often I'm positive they actually coded it crash
Edit2: Come on Jackson, you're better than fucking that
Today was a good day.
Ahahahahaha
Next game: at Arizona. Yikes.
Somebody should tell them they don't have to be awful for Harbaugh to come coach the football team.