U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2018-2019

[hack]

My gosh the number of missed 3s that would have been backbreakers. The entire second half.

Whatever people want to say about Davidson is fine but Wisconsin is a heck of a program and that was a heck of a game. Just extremely high-quality play on both ends by both teams. Mistakes were punished every time, and great shots were made over great defense. Every bucket was an important one. Fuck the NBA. This is where it's at.

[Kstat]

Would be really nice to be in a position to clinch the B1G title at home against Sparty, before those last 2 roadies to College Park and East Lansing.

[hack]

Purdue keeps rolling. I don't think they're gonna go undefeated the rest of the way. They've won 8 in a row already. It would take 2 Purdue losses to get the outright title, assuming we lose one more and not two. But I suppose all it takes is one loss from UM, which is reasonable. The toughest non-Sparty game on the schedule was played yesterday. Now the toughest non-Sparty game on the schedule is Maryland.

[Cody_Russell]

[hack]

I like him and his program.

[WM Wolverine]

Good to see Matthews showed us he can be the efficient scorer he was earlier in the season. The entire team outside of Teske has regressed in offensive efficiency. Iggy, Matthews, Simpson, Poole all have cooled off shooting the ball (I don't think this team is a very good shooting team) and getting to the basket for easy buckets... Oracle brought up the lack of transition baskets which I'm in agreement with. They've opportunities to push the ball in transition but often will settle for a half court offense...

Agree it seems the opposition has figured out M's offense and its limitations. Iggy's inability to find an open man and instead forces low percentage attempts, he's still scoring his points but it's taking him quite a few more FG attempts.

[hack]

Well I don't know if it's by design or just the fact that we're missing shots. Defenses are so often oriented to take away 3s and give long 2s. Beilein's offense generated an ample number of wide-open looks from 3 in the second half against an elite defense. The shots didn't go down. I highly doubt teams are sagging off Poole or Iggy. They are still going to be considered guys you should guard from 3.

Iggy's passing is a good point. He's just maybe not a good passer anyways. We don't do get a lot of around-the-horn/make-the-extra-pass buckets this year. But we have sacrificed some degree of passing and shooting ability for athleticism and defensive ability, and we're 22-2 and atop the conference as well.

I also think that Beilein teams that gel early look like solved puzzles for other defenses in February, much like in '13. It gets tougher in the Big Ten, which is more physical than the norm and everybody's well scouted. The offense should get better in the tourney.

[hack]

Surely they are entirely in my own head, but I'm getting hangover-game vibes for tomorrow night's game. I was hoping to attend, but am stuck with the assignment from hell right now and probably won't even be able to watch. They lost at PSU in '13. Would be even more worried if PSU hadn't had a conference win yet.

[WM Wolverine]

M should be fine if they can score 50+.

[hack]

Yeah, probably. But there are no bad teams in the Big Ten. None. I don't know if Indiana or Nebraska throw in the towel, but no easy outs is no cliche this year.

[AlabamAlum]

[hack]

They have nobody to score, but defend fairly well, for a team with only one conference win so far. I see you scored 73 against them, so maybe not that day.

[AlabamAlum]

And Bama is an NIT-bound trash team.

[hack]

Well I didn't know about the NIT-bound part.

[AlabamAlum]

CBA?