is not considered one of the top 3 teams in the country? Yes, I know we will certainly hit some bumps down the road but is there another basketball team that has a better body of work to date than us? Crushed Villanova at their place. Blew out UNC. Blew out Purdue. Blew out Providence. Have won every game by at least 17 points. Why should Nevada or Virginia be ranked higher than us? Duke lost. Kansas has had a tough schedule but they needed OT to beat Stanford at home yesterday.
I've been following UM basketball since the mid 80's and this is unquestionably the best start of the season we've ever had.
A few other thoughts:
- we made Haarms look really bad yesterday. He was abused defensively. And after Haarms, Purdue has got no big guys.
- The transformation of Teske is remarkable. All of the sudden, he looks like a guy who's going to land on an NBA roster when his career at UM is over.
- It's interesting how Beilein is using Poole more and more to bring the ball up the court. I think this is to (1) take a little pressure off of Simpson, (2) prevent teams from trapping the shorter Simpson and (3) to strengthen Poole's ball handling/point skills so we can use him at the 1 at times when Simpson is on the bench. I recall Beilein doing the same thing with Burke and Hardaway.
- Livers has been pretty quiet the last two games (and hasn't played a lot of minutes). Look for Beilein to find ways to utilize him more.
- Simpson looks very tense when he is shooting free throws. He needs to relax when he's at the line . . . maybe some breathing exercises. Watch how Iggy shakes out his arms before shooting free throws . . . he probably does that to relax his body before shooting.
- Iggy's 3 point stroke is looking very good right now. He's one of those guys who you can tell if the ball is going in as soon as he releases it.
- Teske's second three ball was probably at least 3 feet behind the line -
I've been following UM basketball since the mid 80's and this is unquestionably the best start of the season we've ever had.
A few other thoughts:
- we made Haarms look really bad yesterday. He was abused defensively. And after Haarms, Purdue has got no big guys.
- The transformation of Teske is remarkable. All of the sudden, he looks like a guy who's going to land on an NBA roster when his career at UM is over.
- It's interesting how Beilein is using Poole more and more to bring the ball up the court. I think this is to (1) take a little pressure off of Simpson, (2) prevent teams from trapping the shorter Simpson and (3) to strengthen Poole's ball handling/point skills so we can use him at the 1 at times when Simpson is on the bench. I recall Beilein doing the same thing with Burke and Hardaway.
- Livers has been pretty quiet the last two games (and hasn't played a lot of minutes). Look for Beilein to find ways to utilize him more.
- Simpson looks very tense when he is shooting free throws. He needs to relax when he's at the line . . . maybe some breathing exercises. Watch how Iggy shakes out his arms before shooting free throws . . . he probably does that to relax his body before shooting.
- Iggy's 3 point stroke is looking very good right now. He's one of those guys who you can tell if the ball is going in as soon as he releases it.
- Teske's second three ball was probably at least 3 feet behind the line -
