1. Lots of good, lots of areas for substantial improvement. In other words, a typical first game, and start for a John Beilein team.
2. I never thought I'd say this last year--never--but Jordan Poole needs to be more assertive on offense. He has improved dramatically as a facilitator and as a defender. However, he needs to hunt his shot a little more. His ability to score (and convert from the line) will be needed on a team which is, at least right now, somewhat offensively challenged.
3. Jon Teske played a terrific game in many respects--great footwork and anticipation on defense, very good on the offensive glass, good screen setting and movement off the ball. He needs to finish stronger though--5/11 from the floor for a guy who is over 7' tall is not good enough.
4. Lost in the horrible free throw shooting (especially by Charles Matthews) is that we get to the line with this team far, far more than we have with previous teams. We're going to be at the line all year. If we get that straightened out, and knock down some wide open shots, we could be very good. can we do that? That's the question.
5. Matthews got frustrated tonight, at the line (after he missed a few) and from the floor (especially after he missed some 3s). He's still a force defensively and on the glass, and when he lets the game come to him, he's a strong contributor offensively, but he's one of the leader on this teams, and he needs to keep his head up even when he's playing badly.
6. I know it was Norfolk Sate (and without its leading scorer at that), but man can we play defense. That was a clinic. There may have been one or two, but I honestly don't remember a man lost off the ball, or a guy blown by on defense. Every shot was contested. Defensive rebounding was terrific.
7. The good and bad things on offense--we move and share the ball really well, we attack defensive weaknesses, we get open shots, we just don't make them. To be fair, a fair number of our misses looked in off the shot, and and we had a lot of shots taken by guys who have not been volume guys in the past, but we absolutely have to be better shooting the ball. If we shot the ball even below average tonight (65% from the line, 33% from 3), that's a 30+ point win.
8. I liked the fact that Zavier Simpson wasn't afraid to shoot it from 3, and he got those shots off much more quickly than in the past. If he's willing to take those shots, and he wins even one out of three (as he did tonight), that will help the offense a lot.
9. Isaiah Livers and Eli Brooks both looked really, really good tonight. Brooks in particular looked excellent on both ends, and knocked down shots, and Livers was a presence on the defensive end, and made some very nice plays on offense including his flash to the high post and mid-range jumper. Together with Austin Davis, who looked much better tonight, we've got pretty decent depth.
10. It's worth noting again--the guys who are supposed to be our three leading scorers went 8-27 from the floor, including 1-12 from 3 and 8-16 from the line. If our stars play like stars, this team has a very high ceiling. if they don't, we're going to see a lot of slog fests.
11. The next game, we play against a Princeton offense with a very deliberate style. Bill Carmody (formerly the Northwestern coach) also typically plays a lot of zone. I'll be interested to see the adjustments we make.
2. I never thought I'd say this last year--never--but Jordan Poole needs to be more assertive on offense. He has improved dramatically as a facilitator and as a defender. However, he needs to hunt his shot a little more. His ability to score (and convert from the line) will be needed on a team which is, at least right now, somewhat offensively challenged.
3. Jon Teske played a terrific game in many respects--great footwork and anticipation on defense, very good on the offensive glass, good screen setting and movement off the ball. He needs to finish stronger though--5/11 from the floor for a guy who is over 7' tall is not good enough.
4. Lost in the horrible free throw shooting (especially by Charles Matthews) is that we get to the line with this team far, far more than we have with previous teams. We're going to be at the line all year. If we get that straightened out, and knock down some wide open shots, we could be very good. can we do that? That's the question.
5. Matthews got frustrated tonight, at the line (after he missed a few) and from the floor (especially after he missed some 3s). He's still a force defensively and on the glass, and when he lets the game come to him, he's a strong contributor offensively, but he's one of the leader on this teams, and he needs to keep his head up even when he's playing badly.
6. I know it was Norfolk Sate (and without its leading scorer at that), but man can we play defense. That was a clinic. There may have been one or two, but I honestly don't remember a man lost off the ball, or a guy blown by on defense. Every shot was contested. Defensive rebounding was terrific.
7. The good and bad things on offense--we move and share the ball really well, we attack defensive weaknesses, we get open shots, we just don't make them. To be fair, a fair number of our misses looked in off the shot, and and we had a lot of shots taken by guys who have not been volume guys in the past, but we absolutely have to be better shooting the ball. If we shot the ball even below average tonight (65% from the line, 33% from 3), that's a 30+ point win.
8. I liked the fact that Zavier Simpson wasn't afraid to shoot it from 3, and he got those shots off much more quickly than in the past. If he's willing to take those shots, and he wins even one out of three (as he did tonight), that will help the offense a lot.
9. Isaiah Livers and Eli Brooks both looked really, really good tonight. Brooks in particular looked excellent on both ends, and knocked down shots, and Livers was a presence on the defensive end, and made some very nice plays on offense including his flash to the high post and mid-range jumper. Together with Austin Davis, who looked much better tonight, we've got pretty decent depth.
10. It's worth noting again--the guys who are supposed to be our three leading scorers went 8-27 from the floor, including 1-12 from 3 and 8-16 from the line. If our stars play like stars, this team has a very high ceiling. if they don't, we're going to see a lot of slog fests.
11. The next game, we play against a Princeton offense with a very deliberate style. Bill Carmody (formerly the Northwestern coach) also typically plays a lot of zone. I'll be interested to see the adjustments we make.
