MICHIGAN'S MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2015-2016

[The Oracle]

Walton's a game time decision. Never feel good about playing in West Lafayette, this season being no different.

[*JD*]

I'm glad I checked in here. I might've missed that the game was on if not. Let's hope it's worth watching.


GO BLUE!

[*JD*]

Walton is playing.

[Cody_Russell]

Geez what happened to the offense in the 2nd half? (with 5 min remaining) Terrible

[*JD*]

Total collapse. 8 points in 17 minutes. Dawkins has only scored 2 today and it was for Purdue.

Looking like an NIT team.

[lineygoblue]

Rebuilding year now.

There's some talent, but its very young.

They've got a good coach though. They'll be fine.

Need to work on the shooting. .. .. (duh)

[hack]

Looks like I was too early in deifying Beilein. Its pretty simple - you just cant concede the paint like this. We'll see how it shakes out from here bit the pattern is pretty clear already.

[Hannibal]

Total collapse. 8 points in 17 minutes. Dawkins has only scored 2 today and it was for Purdue.

Looking like an NIT team.

Making the NIT would be a miracle at this point. This team sucks horribly.

[hack]

Probably they should just shut the program down and nobody involved should ever touch a basketball again.

Srsly, it's going to take a few road wins in conference, and if they can't nab this one you're looking good to up your track record to .250.

[hack]

Decent win. Rebounding, Doyle with a few nice moves, Irvin hot, LeVert shouldered the load when needed and Walton was gritty. I liked switching up the defenses.

Really have to wonder when incremental improvement is coming, though. Spike's been ice cold for much of this year but moved into the starting lineup with Chatman sitting. Chatman, Doyle and Donnal should be comfortable by now and ready to find their niches. Donnal in particular has been disappionting given he's already been in the program for a year. The kid can shoot. On paper there should be a solid pick-and-pop game available.

[*JD*]

Spike tied his career-high vs. Purdue and Chatman has struggled. Aside from their Center, PSU isn't a really tall team so I guess this was a good time to try a smaller line-up.

The biggest disappointment of the season to me is that none of the Freshman have been able to show consistency. Doyle's been the closest to doing so.

[The Oracle]

Some good, some bad, a lot of "eh".

Chatman and Donnal have been pretty damn big disappointments. Irvin and Walton(to a little lesser extent cause I don't think he's 100%) aren't far behind.

[hack]

Not sure what to say about Irvin. I'm ready to give Walton a pass. You could see on that missed layup in the first half how much that toe must be impacting his game, but he more than anyone else on the team has a sense of the moment and an ability to function when things go off the script. Irvin doesn't seem to have that. Overall though, with the disappointment so consistent across the board I'm looking at the coaching staff. There's no Plan B.

[The Oracle]

Last year Walton biggest strength was his finishing ability. So far this year, it's beyond terrible. Hard to blame that ALL on a toe injury, but I don't know what else it's be.

This team lacks leadership in the worst way. All of Levert, Irvin and Walton are complimentary pieces. Spike is closest thing. Can't have that. Still a work in progress, but sooner or later, that's gotta stop.

[hack]

Certainly it's missing a degree of mojo, but I think the problems are more concrete. Rebounding, of course. Pick and roll game is an example, but overall the inability to get easy 2s. 2-3 zone has been, oddly since Syracuse, kryptonite. Spike's injury aggravated since then. I think LeVert is fine as a lead scorer. He's not a swaggery type but he gets it done often enough, like tonight. I think they play scared because there's nothing to fall back on when they don't can open looks from 3. The coaches have to adjust to this particular group and put them in a position to succeed. It may not be a matter of Xs and Os on offense as much as it is a matter of telling them to go out there and outhustle the other team. Squads with far less talent can thrive when it all starts with effort on D.