U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2018-2019

[Jeff Buchanan]

From Brian at mgo. Gives State credit where credit is do and does a fair job of complaining about the officiating and it's impact on the outcome. Makes sense to me.

I repeat: a dude. The #1 reason Michigan's offense bogged down was Michigan State's ability to switch screens. The guy who gave them that ability: Xavier Tillman. Tillman had 5 blocks in this game; his performance was reminiscent of Michigan going up against Isaiah Roby last year.

And this .......

Are you allowed to contest vertically? At Iowa: no. At Maryland: yes. At Michigan State: lol why even ask. Dan Dakich repeatedly pointed out Izzo wheedling the refs early in the game and that paid off with a large number of Winston drives to the hoop on which Michigan was in good position and vertical only for Winston to get a call because he contacted a Michigan player's chest. That was supposed to be excised from the game, and sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't.

So, in an event similar to Tyler Cook getting a foul call on Teske halfway through the first half against Iowa, Michigan suffered a foul it couldn't cope with when Brazdeikis took contact from Winston halfway through the first half and got called for his second. I guess it's tough sometimes because the offensive player gets into the defensive player's space and the arms come down as a result of that but the difference in the way this stuff gets called home and away is striking.

People complain when you complain but a 28-7 FT disparity (two FTs were late intentional ones) when Michigan entered the game with one of the lowest FTA rates allowed nationally, with many of those FTs questionable to inexplicable, massively impacts the game. For all the bitching about Michigan's second half offense they finished this game in a point range (0.95 PPP) that they can and have won games with this year.

https://mgoblog.com/content/basketbullets-2018-19-michigan-state-part-two

[iam416]

[WM Wolverine]

They've also never benefited from a favorable whistle.

[hack]

Are you allowed to contest vertically? At Iowa: no. At Maryland: yes. At Michigan State: lol why even ask. Dan Dakich repeatedly pointed out Izzo wheedling the refs early in the game and that paid off with a large number of Winston drives to the hoop on which Michigan was in good position and vertical only for Winston to get a call because he contacted a Michigan player's chest. That was supposed to be excised from the game, and sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't.

Brian handled this very well, IMO. He and Dakich are 100% right, and it's pretty easy to imagine Michigan up by 15 or more at the half. 17-7 with nothing working for MSU and Iggy's jumper hot. Refs flat-out stole the game. I hope Beilein adds ref management to his toolkit. Not sure he can, frankly, but should try. Beilein and Manuel should be screaming white-hot at the league office for a very long time. Just do what it takes, because opponents will do so as well.

[hack]

Congrats to Iggy, B1G rookie of the year. It was great to see him pick up his game in February after the conference schedule started and things got tougher. He's the one I really want back next year.

[lineygoblue]

Beilein will never be able to work the refs like Izzo and Coach K do. Its not in his personality to prance up and down the sidelines, waving his arms, making faces, and basically screaming at everyone within earshot. I'd guess that's part of the reason Beilein has only been ejected from two (2) games in his entire 45+ year career. Neither of the aforementioned can make the same claim.

However, as long as working the officials actually works, its not going away. It does work. The Big Ten and NCAA protect their officials better than most men protect their family jewels in a sporting event. They keep them in their little protective cup, and if anyone dares to speak against them, they'll make them regret it. Its an exclusive little club where once you are in, you're in for life. You have to be pretty bad before they'll toss you out.

In the first game between M and MSU, the Sparties pretty much won fair and square. Proving that Izzo really doesn't need to work the refs, to get a win. His coaching ability, and players abilities are sufficient for a win. On Saturday, I guess he felt he needed a little extra insurance to put his team over the top. Whatever works, I guess.

[iam416]

I thought the way Izzo got the refs to orchestrate that 25-4 run was genius. It's why he's the best.

[AlabamAlum]

WWAWC

[hack]

Coach K just has to glare at this point.

Bottom line, whether the refs are overmatched or incompetent or whatever word you'd use to describe Saturday, Beilein and staff should have a plan to address that, during games and in the leadup and aftermath. Maybe consult Phil Jackson for how to do it whilst still seeming dignified.

[hack]

Cute grandson, linesman.

[*JD*]

That rebounding margin and that FT discrepancy and they only won by 12. That tells you a lot. It's not clear to me that Winston was the best player on the court yesterday.

Iggy: 20 points on 7-12 shooting in 22 minutes. 3/4 FTs. Winston: 23 on 7-17 shooting in 31 minutes. 8/9 FTs. 4 boards.

Winston: 23 on 7-17 shooting in 31 minutes. 8/9 FTs. 7 A, 5 TO.

I think the instant/lazy analysis on the game is that MSU is the tougher team and Winston the best player on the court, but it's pretty easy to be tough when playing 8-on-5, and the numbers are pretty clear in Iggy's favor.

Winston had a poor first half but took over in the 2nd.

[hack]

Iggy would probably have been awesome for 40 minutes if the game was called like every single other this year.

[*JD*]

Iggy would probably have been awesome for 40 minutes if the game was called like every single other this year.

I'd have to look at his fouls again to see if they were really awful calls or not. However, I already deleted my recording of the game and I think my blood-pressure is the likely beneficiary of this. There are already too many bad calls and games logged in my memory banks than I care for.

[hack]

I'm not going back over it either but looking at the foul rates for Michigan's forwards tells you plenty. I was kind of thinking that before the next game in Breslin, it would be fun if an infographic on the anomalies in this game -- bar-chart of Iggy's, Livers', and team's fouls/game, bar-chart of FT discrepancy -- appeared online. I looked at the numbers enough to see that you could prove in 2 or three charts how this game was reffered differently. It's a bit of a stigma for the media to go on too much about the refs, but if a guy like Dylan Burkhardt applied his statistical approach to the reffing of that game, I know what the charts would look like. He's too conventional to do that though.

IMO the REAL story apart from the refs is how Sparty managed to turn it on with 15 minutes left in both games. They turned at that point. Ant Wright said it on twitter live -- how Michigna would respond to the run coming at 15 minutes would define the game. And that's exactly what happened both times. Michigan was walking wounded at that point in Breslin thanks to the refs, but Sparty still did manage to find that extra gear right at that time. That's really and truly what they should get credit for. Beilein can address the Xs and Os and work on entry passes and all, and that's good, but that's around the margins and not at the core.

[WM Wolverine]

M's depth is an issue and with Matthews out, compounded the issue of any foul trouble. Sparty has injury issues too however their depth is excellent. Unless M goes on a B1G tourney run, they appear a 3-seed which isn't much different than a 2 seed... Iggy was the only guy for M who could get a good look vs Sparty and him only being allowed to play 21 minutes, left M with no ability to get the ball in the basket.

Simpson penetrating isn't a high percentage opportunity for him and he's not creating enough for others... Poole can penetrate and get to the basket but only when he's a favorable match-up, but he's rarely helping a teammate when he's penetrating. Matthews is similar but he'll settle for a streaky, 8-10 ft jumper over getting to the basket and again, he's not finding teammates to set up. This offense needs to get favorable match-ups against opponents and have a couple hot shooting nights to do well in the NCAA. This is one of M's worst 3-pt shooting teams under JB.