As always, let me preface this by saying we had a very good year. Sucks we hang no banners, and our opportunities to do so were at the expense of MSU hanging them. But, I do get a little annoyed at how little it was discussed from those outside of the program about how much Michigan actually lost from the past season. Moe was a 1st rounder who shot 40% from 3, could get you post and dribble drive baskets, and made life difficult for any conventional big. Duncan PLAYED in an NBA game last night that mattered. Let that sink in. His defense vastly improved last year and was another 40% 3 point shooter with size. MAAR was our spirit animal. A legit combo guard that could spell Z, shoot the 3, and again, get his own shot. Laugh at losing Ibi Watson all you want, but this year, we so desperately needed a bench wing. Him in his 3rd year maybe would have shown enough improvement to be a quality 10 min/gm type of player. He had some size, some shooting. He's not the difference, but he's a loss.
Having said all that, my 4 reasons we didn't raise any banners this year.
1. We never got better as a whole from last year to this year. While clearly a better defensive team, we never made any improvement offensively and honestly, probably got worse. As I mentioned 2 out of the 3 guys that made 60% of our points last year could get their own baskets late in shot clocks at all 3 levels (MAAR/Mo). Poole could, but he generally would make the wrong choice between dribble drive and step back 3's. CMIII had his moments, but way too far in between. Iggy could, but his apprehension to passing allowed everyone to leave their defenders and converge on him. I remember Mgoblog not being supremely disappointed by Moe leaving because Teske would improve us in other areas, and he did, but zero post game, -10/12% less at the 3 point line, and zero dribble game hurt us on the offensive side as much as it improved our defense.
2. We never got better as the year went on. We were relatively the same team all year long, which isn’t bad, just un-Beilein like, and well, other teams did improve.
3. I believe we played teams at the right time. I would be curious what it's like to play Purdue now or at least later in the year. A lot of their key components down the stretch were bench players while Evan Boudreaux was getting run. UNC looks like a behemoth now. I think with Little and White early on, they were still meshing with the vets like Cam and Maye. They are a beast today.
4. While I mention #2 with regards to not getting better, you could say the 2013 team had their best start then dropped their level of play as the year went on. The big difference between those teams is they developed a bench that helped us later in the year. I mean, you had guys like Horford, McGary, Morgan, Lavert, and Spike coming off the bench at different times through the year, and obviously, McGary was probably the biggest difference maker in the tourney where he was just good most of the regular season. This year's squad, we got a game or two each from Castleton, Johns, can say a bit from Eli brooks super late, but all of it was minimal. You basically ran with a 6 man team. Even last year, Poole and Livers gave you something. 2 things I believe that really hurt this development:
a. The undefeated start. I know that sounds weird, but I think keeping and maintaining the undefeated start hindered us from developing a bench. The month of December was supposed to be that time. We survived the stupidity of the B1G schedule by beating OSU and NW. We has South Carolina, WMU, AFA, and Binghamton. All 4 of those teams were bad, but all 4 kept things very close for 85% of the game at least. Obviously you do not want to lose to those teams for your resume, but I think Beilein resisted the urge to let our bench make their own mistakes early on at the detriment of late season need. We needed a legit big and a wing or ball handling guard to step up. No one ever did.
b. Austin Davis. Sorry to blame one guy, but I'm blaming one guy. For 2+ years, all we ever heard was how good Austin Davis was in practice, how he was shutting down practice because he was whupping starters, how his body and conditioning had supremely improved. We let him in games early on, during those key development times, as opposed to Johns or Castleton, and he not only was bad, he was maybe worse than any UM player I've seen in a long time. He was a mistake scholarship from the moment he was offered, and the defense of him throughout has been crazy. I hope he gets his degree and does well in life, but man what a let down. Eli Brooks also was a huge disappointment, but never did he get the hype that some were giving for Austin Davis.
Again, lets marvel that we're disappointed by a 30 win season and a sweet 16 appearance. Long way we've come in the last 10-15 years. I'll miss Matthews a lot. I just hope we don't get bit by the early departure bug, but I feel based on his age, Iggy will stay in the draft, and I just feel, like the way Poole plays where he can be so good and then do something so disbelievingly bad, he's going to make a mistake and go to the NBA. Normally, I'm all about guys getting their money. And every single player that has left probably left for smart or good reasons (yes, even Darius Morris). But man, if Poole leaves, just seems a colossal mistake. But, if the core minus CMIII comes back, you get some 2nd year jumps from guys like Nunez, DeJulious, Castleton, and DJD, I like what we have next year. Actual depth.
Having said all that, my 4 reasons we didn't raise any banners this year.
1. We never got better as a whole from last year to this year. While clearly a better defensive team, we never made any improvement offensively and honestly, probably got worse. As I mentioned 2 out of the 3 guys that made 60% of our points last year could get their own baskets late in shot clocks at all 3 levels (MAAR/Mo). Poole could, but he generally would make the wrong choice between dribble drive and step back 3's. CMIII had his moments, but way too far in between. Iggy could, but his apprehension to passing allowed everyone to leave their defenders and converge on him. I remember Mgoblog not being supremely disappointed by Moe leaving because Teske would improve us in other areas, and he did, but zero post game, -10/12% less at the 3 point line, and zero dribble game hurt us on the offensive side as much as it improved our defense.
2. We never got better as the year went on. We were relatively the same team all year long, which isn’t bad, just un-Beilein like, and well, other teams did improve.
3. I believe we played teams at the right time. I would be curious what it's like to play Purdue now or at least later in the year. A lot of their key components down the stretch were bench players while Evan Boudreaux was getting run. UNC looks like a behemoth now. I think with Little and White early on, they were still meshing with the vets like Cam and Maye. They are a beast today.
4. While I mention #2 with regards to not getting better, you could say the 2013 team had their best start then dropped their level of play as the year went on. The big difference between those teams is they developed a bench that helped us later in the year. I mean, you had guys like Horford, McGary, Morgan, Lavert, and Spike coming off the bench at different times through the year, and obviously, McGary was probably the biggest difference maker in the tourney where he was just good most of the regular season. This year's squad, we got a game or two each from Castleton, Johns, can say a bit from Eli brooks super late, but all of it was minimal. You basically ran with a 6 man team. Even last year, Poole and Livers gave you something. 2 things I believe that really hurt this development:
a. The undefeated start. I know that sounds weird, but I think keeping and maintaining the undefeated start hindered us from developing a bench. The month of December was supposed to be that time. We survived the stupidity of the B1G schedule by beating OSU and NW. We has South Carolina, WMU, AFA, and Binghamton. All 4 of those teams were bad, but all 4 kept things very close for 85% of the game at least. Obviously you do not want to lose to those teams for your resume, but I think Beilein resisted the urge to let our bench make their own mistakes early on at the detriment of late season need. We needed a legit big and a wing or ball handling guard to step up. No one ever did.
b. Austin Davis. Sorry to blame one guy, but I'm blaming one guy. For 2+ years, all we ever heard was how good Austin Davis was in practice, how he was shutting down practice because he was whupping starters, how his body and conditioning had supremely improved. We let him in games early on, during those key development times, as opposed to Johns or Castleton, and he not only was bad, he was maybe worse than any UM player I've seen in a long time. He was a mistake scholarship from the moment he was offered, and the defense of him throughout has been crazy. I hope he gets his degree and does well in life, but man what a let down. Eli Brooks also was a huge disappointment, but never did he get the hype that some were giving for Austin Davis.
Again, lets marvel that we're disappointed by a 30 win season and a sweet 16 appearance. Long way we've come in the last 10-15 years. I'll miss Matthews a lot. I just hope we don't get bit by the early departure bug, but I feel based on his age, Iggy will stay in the draft, and I just feel, like the way Poole plays where he can be so good and then do something so disbelievingly bad, he's going to make a mistake and go to the NBA. Normally, I'm all about guys getting their money. And every single player that has left probably left for smart or good reasons (yes, even Darius Morris). But man, if Poole leaves, just seems a colossal mistake. But, if the core minus CMIII comes back, you get some 2nd year jumps from guys like Nunez, DeJulious, Castleton, and DJD, I like what we have next year. Actual depth.
