1. That's as bad a half of basketball as I have seen by Michigan in a long, long time. And inexplicably, though we were forced to play some younger guys because of foul trouble, it wasn't them turning the ball over at a ridiculous rate. Our five seniors had 11 turnovers, and Franz added 3 more, so it isn't just that we had inexperienced guys playing against a zone. Sloppy passes, no movement, trying to force too much, and on the defensive end, again being susceptable to dribble penetration and offensive rebounds by a tiny team. As impressed as I was by much of what happened against Bowling Green, that was horrible.
2. It took a long, long time--too long, IMO--but we finally realized that Hunter Dickinson in the middle of a zone is a very good thing for us. He's such an elite passer that the opponent can't help, and he's too big and skilled around the basket if there's no hep coming. I'm trying not to be Captain Obvious here, but Hunter took over and willed Michigan to the win on both ends of the floor. For a kid playing his second college game, even albeit against an over-matched opponent, that's a good sign.
3. The hook and hold double foul is an impossibility. If Terrance Williams fouled before the hook and hold, it's not a hook and hold because the play is dead. If the hook and hold came first, then Williams had already been fouled, and the play was, once again, dead. That was ridiculous, and one of the worst examples I have ever seen of refs trying to give something to both sides and doing it badly. And as my brother put it, whether in football or in basketball, if there's a replay involving a Michigan team, it's not going to turn out well for us.
4. Mental mistakes drive me crazy, and we made all sorts of them on both sides of the ball. In addition to the turnovers, we had 2 guys foul 3 point shooters taking terrible shots, Chaundee Brown overhelping off of Oakland's best 3 point shooter for no reason whatsoever because Dickinson was in perfect position, missed ball screen switches by Isaiah Livers early on, silly fouls by Zeb Jackson 35 feet from the basket, and at least 10 more I can think of. Lots and lots and lots of "teachable moments" out of this game.
5. Franz Wagner needs to get his confidence back offensively, and he needs to get it back soon. He missed 2 open 3s (0-6 on the young season), had 2 charging fouls in the open court (1 bad, but still), and spent much of the latter part of the game looking like the ball was a grande when he caught it. On the plus side, he was far and away our best defender, even when switched onto smaller, quicker guards, and he rebounded exceptionally well. Still, we're not going to be as good as we can be, if he doesn't play better on the offensive side of the ball.
6. It was a tale of two games for Eli Brooks. For about the first 36 minutes, he played pretty badly--bad turnovers, bad mental mistakes (see above), some uncharacteristic issues on defense--and then, in the last 4 minutes of regulation and the overtime, he was fantastic on both ends. That was nice leadership from a veteran.
7. We're really deep at the wing positions. Both Brandon Jhns and Terrance Williams gave us some very good minutes off the bench, Johns with his poise and patience (has he come a long way or what?) and Williams with his energy and synergy with his AAU teammate, Dickinson. And that doesn't even include Chaundee Brown, though he struggled mightily here. There is no reason for Chaundee to take 10 3s in a game unless he's hit a majority of them. Many of those were open, and I'm sure he "felt it" after game 1, but once you start missing like that, a 32% career 3 point shooter shouldn't just keep hoisting them up. Duncan Robinson, sure. Chaundee Brown, no.
8. I give Juwan credit for being willing to switch up lineups when the original players weren't playing well, but we had some very strange combinations out there in critical moments. Some of that was from foul trouble, some not so much. I wasn't happy about Isaiah's reaction to being criticized and then taken out, but he's a great, great kid, and the two hugged later on, so I'll chalk it up to frustration.
9. Mike Smith is going to have some defensive issues; he can't add silly fouls to them.
10. I thoroughly disagree with Robbie Himmel (who I love as a commentator) when he criticized Michigan at the end of regulation for starting the play too late. Me, I wanted to either score as the clock ran out or go overtime--5 minutes against an over-matched team playing its 4th game in 5 days was the best way to win. In fact, I was a bit surprised that Oakland didn't foul, give us free throws, and then try to beat us with a 2 or 3 at the end of regulation. It's unconventional, but seemed indicated to my brother and myself.
11. Happy to get out of the extreme clunker with any kind of win. I still think we have a high ceiling and will be very good. We will see if tonight was simply an aberation--I'm guessing yes. In basketball, you're never as good as you look when you're firing on all cylinders, and never as bad as you look when you're not. You need to survive the bad ones and advance. We did...barely, but we did. And doing so matters.
2. It took a long, long time--too long, IMO--but we finally realized that Hunter Dickinson in the middle of a zone is a very good thing for us. He's such an elite passer that the opponent can't help, and he's too big and skilled around the basket if there's no hep coming. I'm trying not to be Captain Obvious here, but Hunter took over and willed Michigan to the win on both ends of the floor. For a kid playing his second college game, even albeit against an over-matched opponent, that's a good sign.
3. The hook and hold double foul is an impossibility. If Terrance Williams fouled before the hook and hold, it's not a hook and hold because the play is dead. If the hook and hold came first, then Williams had already been fouled, and the play was, once again, dead. That was ridiculous, and one of the worst examples I have ever seen of refs trying to give something to both sides and doing it badly. And as my brother put it, whether in football or in basketball, if there's a replay involving a Michigan team, it's not going to turn out well for us.
4. Mental mistakes drive me crazy, and we made all sorts of them on both sides of the ball. In addition to the turnovers, we had 2 guys foul 3 point shooters taking terrible shots, Chaundee Brown overhelping off of Oakland's best 3 point shooter for no reason whatsoever because Dickinson was in perfect position, missed ball screen switches by Isaiah Livers early on, silly fouls by Zeb Jackson 35 feet from the basket, and at least 10 more I can think of. Lots and lots and lots of "teachable moments" out of this game.
5. Franz Wagner needs to get his confidence back offensively, and he needs to get it back soon. He missed 2 open 3s (0-6 on the young season), had 2 charging fouls in the open court (1 bad, but still), and spent much of the latter part of the game looking like the ball was a grande when he caught it. On the plus side, he was far and away our best defender, even when switched onto smaller, quicker guards, and he rebounded exceptionally well. Still, we're not going to be as good as we can be, if he doesn't play better on the offensive side of the ball.
6. It was a tale of two games for Eli Brooks. For about the first 36 minutes, he played pretty badly--bad turnovers, bad mental mistakes (see above), some uncharacteristic issues on defense--and then, in the last 4 minutes of regulation and the overtime, he was fantastic on both ends. That was nice leadership from a veteran.
7. We're really deep at the wing positions. Both Brandon Jhns and Terrance Williams gave us some very good minutes off the bench, Johns with his poise and patience (has he come a long way or what?) and Williams with his energy and synergy with his AAU teammate, Dickinson. And that doesn't even include Chaundee Brown, though he struggled mightily here. There is no reason for Chaundee to take 10 3s in a game unless he's hit a majority of them. Many of those were open, and I'm sure he "felt it" after game 1, but once you start missing like that, a 32% career 3 point shooter shouldn't just keep hoisting them up. Duncan Robinson, sure. Chaundee Brown, no.
8. I give Juwan credit for being willing to switch up lineups when the original players weren't playing well, but we had some very strange combinations out there in critical moments. Some of that was from foul trouble, some not so much. I wasn't happy about Isaiah's reaction to being criticized and then taken out, but he's a great, great kid, and the two hugged later on, so I'll chalk it up to frustration.
9. Mike Smith is going to have some defensive issues; he can't add silly fouls to them.
10. I thoroughly disagree with Robbie Himmel (who I love as a commentator) when he criticized Michigan at the end of regulation for starting the play too late. Me, I wanted to either score as the clock ran out or go overtime--5 minutes against an over-matched team playing its 4th game in 5 days was the best way to win. In fact, I was a bit surprised that Oakland didn't foul, give us free throws, and then try to beat us with a 2 or 3 at the end of regulation. It's unconventional, but seemed indicated to my brother and myself.
11. Happy to get out of the extreme clunker with any kind of win. I still think we have a high ceiling and will be very good. We will see if tonight was simply an aberation--I'm guessing yes. In basketball, you're never as good as you look when you're firing on all cylinders, and never as bad as you look when you're not. You need to survive the bad ones and advance. We did...barely, but we did. And doing so matters.
