MICHIGAN'S MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2015-2016

[*JD*]

Two women announcers doing the game today. Oh joy.

They covered things pretty well. More accurate on the calls than Mike Patrick was earlier this week. You just have to get used to the different voices, which can be tough.

The game was fairly standard, except for one hot-streak that HBU had midway through the first half. I was a little disappointed in Mo. He was pretty absent, other than a couple of ticky-tack fouls called on him. Irvin also still just doesn't have his legs yet. There was one play that would've been a sure dunk the last two years but he just went for the soft lay-up. Levert was his usual great self and Robinson got hot after missing his first 3 shots.

A cool surprise was that Uncle Cliffy's son plays for HBU. Pistons fans will appreciate that. He didn't do a whole lot but he's just a freshman.

Walton got his rest so I hope he's able to go against SMU.

[*JD*]

The team was supposed to fly to Texas today but got fogged in. They'll have to fly out tomorrow instead. That makes for a long day. I'll be very impressed if they beat SMU.

[paul daugherity]

Terrible showing by the team. I am ready for the belein era to end.

[WM Wolverine]

36 3-point attempts, live and die by it... Out rebounded 45 to 20.

[paul daugherity]

I have come around to the view that that is jb's system, and his system is flawed. It is too inconsistent. I hope we get an ad that wants UM to be a consistent power in basketball, not just football. It seems like the administration is still living in fear of the fab 5 scandal, and therefore settling on a nice guy who won't cause problems and that is enough. Very disappointing.

[WM Wolverine]

This is a season where JB has his guys pretty much, they need to win (B1G contender, Elite Eight). If he fails to deliver, his seat gets a lot hotter.

[lineygoblue]

Beilein just signed a contract extension.

He's not going anywhere unless the program gets Brian Ellerbe bad.

[Hannibal]

This is a season where JB has his guys pretty much.

'Pretty much"? If it's not 100% then who the hell else's guys are they?

It took until year 9 for people to finally acknowledge that Beilien has ownership of the results? He has owned the results since year 2 but people have been tying themselves in intellectual knots to come up with excuses why getting run off the court repeatedly over the years isn't Beilien's fault. (mgoblog is still pushing the "youth" excuse. I mean -- Jesus Christ) Beilien's greatest asset is the low standards of the Michigan fans. You'll never have excellence if you don't demand it.

Football is trending in this direction too.

[paul daugherity]

Mgoblog is actually starting to question belein. The first line of the post game post is "the excuses don't quite cut it."

Hackett made a mistake giving him a 6 year extension. His system feasts when you have NBA talent (but who's system wouldn't work in that situation) but it is a famine without that talent. We may not see ellerbe levels of incompetence, but we are likely in for some very bad basketball the next few years.

It is made worse by what is and has been going on in east Lansing the last 18 years.

[Hannibal]

Mgoblog is actually starting to question belein. The first line of the post game post is "the excuses don't quite cut it."

That's true but it is still an extremely kind, milquetoast criticism of the team that says that the team is still "very young and inexperienced" and then treats this results as if it is some kind of outlier, and not a recurring pattern for 7 out of the past 9 seasons. The posters questioning Beilien in the forum threads and comment sections are still getting negbanged into oblivion and squealed at by the pod people.

[Da Geezer]

Beilein needs to recruit bigs. It is no more complicated than that. When we had a good big, we got to the Nat Champ game.

What bothers me is that, until JB breaks the rut we are in, it will feed on itself. If you are a 6'11" kid from Detroit, why would you go to UM when everyone tells you it is a "system" school and all the bigs do is set picks. That, in turn, turns off the 4* and 5* recruits, and all JB is stuck with are bigs who can only set picks.

Last night, UM came out after halftime and were clearly instructed to feed the post. Given the SMU defense that was stopping UM from turning the corner, this is coaching 101. We don't have a post player who can actually "post up". So it didn't work.

I had hoped that Mitch McGary would break to negative recruiting that UM faces. He played about 7 games of his freshman year, and he was a pre-season All-American the next year. Certainly that is something to point to when recruiting. Beilein's "system" produced a NBA first round pick who had roughly 10 games played.

Recruit a 5* big and go to the Final Four. That is the Beilein story at Michigan. And I think he should be able to sell that story.

[paul daugherity]

He also needs to spend more time on teaching/coaching defense and rebounding. It appears that the guys are unsure on rotations, how to move feet, proper technique, etc.

There are 2 major things that bother me about what is going on with the team. First, is that these are JB's guys. They are guys he watched, recruited and signed. So he knew what he was getting. This can't be a surprise to him. Second, after being in the Big Ten for 8 full seasons, and given the success he had in the tournamnet, in big part to an athletic and competent big man, how has he still neglected this area?

[Niffla]

I was at the game last night with another fellow UM fan.

It was disgusting, really. They were giving up oops and dunks like it was the gotdamn NBA all-star game. We bailed when they got down 20 or whatever with like 6 minutes left. They don't look like a tourney team at all. And Lavert was absolutely atrocious. My God, man. And there was supposedly a bevy of NBA scouts at the game.

[Cody_Russell]

As long as Michigan finishes 10-3 non conference, I think they should be fine.
Looking at a 19-12 (9-9) season, NIT bid? Who knows. Maybe they heat up in conference like 2013/2014 and make the NCAA tourney.

Question is: is that acceptable for this program.... Michigan basketball.
As a whole, I'm fine with Belein's results.
Perhaps Belein is comparable to Bob Huggins, the coach that replaced him at West Virginia.

[WM Wolverine]

This is a year he's suppose to win, he didn't lose a ton of talent to the NBA like he has so many others years. That's why I say its 'his' team, they have plenty of seniors, upperclassman that are starting. Not sure how big missing Walton is.