1. Franz Wagner was fantastic on both ends of the floor. When we were getting torched by Teddy Allen, we switched Franz onto him, and Allen struggled the rest of the game. He was aggressive on offense, and even though he was only 2-7 from behind the arc, his shot looked much better. He even played some point guard, albeit that's a lineup I don't ever want to see again. Great game for Franz.
2. That was a good initiation for Hunter Dickinson, seeing double and triple teams and zones, and he made some mistakes reacting. That said, he completely dominated the game on the defensive glass, in forcing scrambles by Nebraska's defense all evening, and in blocking and altering shots. 13 and 15 on a night where he saw all types of looks and new defensive wrinkles--really good.
3. I'll say it again--the key to Michigan's season is being able to keep Mike Smith on the floor without getting hurt defensively. Offensively, we are a completely different team with him out there, and it showed tonight. Defensively, he battled, though playing against a guy literally a foot taller than he is for much of the first half was perhaps a bridge too far. In the second half, though, whenever we needed to get going on the offensive end, it was Mike who kick-started it.
4. In the first half, I thought our issues stemmed from missing wide open 3s and watching Nebraska hit some shots out of their behind--in the second half, our issues came in significant part because of a very bad shift by Terrance Williams, who really forced things on the offensive end. I have been unabashed in my thinking that that Terrance is going to be very, very good at Michigan, but today was not one of those days. Nor was it a good day for Brandon Johns. One of them has to give us really solid minutes--we're not going to be able to play 6 guys the number of minutes we did, and in particular, play Hunter that long.
5. As bad as Isaiah Livers shot the ball in the first half, he was money in the second half. The back-down and score with 1 second left on the shot clock when he got switched onto a smaller man showed a maturity and recognition progression from previous seasons.
6. Nebraska has some talented players--what the Huskers do not have is a team. 6 assists on 25 baskets is atrocious, as was a lot of their defensive switching. I know Fred Hoiberg relies on transfers, and that's fine, but you have to have some continuity; unless you've got the Fab Five coming in, continuity matters. It's one of the reasons I'm so hopeful that one of our senior guards--Smith or Eli Brooks--comes back next season.
7. Eli Brooks had some struggles today. He still did some solid things, and had 3 steals and some good defensive plays once he got taken off of Allen, who outweighs him by 50 pounds. And out bad stretches, as usual, came with him off of the floor. We need him in there.
8. Juwan must be communing with Bo--you can't take timeouts with you, big guy. When we get trapped in the backcourt and don't have a way out, call time out rather than turn it over, as we did a few times late second half.
9. Again, if I never see the Wagner, Livers, Brown, Williams, Dickinson lineup again, it will be too soon.
10. Happy Holidays, everybody.
2. That was a good initiation for Hunter Dickinson, seeing double and triple teams and zones, and he made some mistakes reacting. That said, he completely dominated the game on the defensive glass, in forcing scrambles by Nebraska's defense all evening, and in blocking and altering shots. 13 and 15 on a night where he saw all types of looks and new defensive wrinkles--really good.
3. I'll say it again--the key to Michigan's season is being able to keep Mike Smith on the floor without getting hurt defensively. Offensively, we are a completely different team with him out there, and it showed tonight. Defensively, he battled, though playing against a guy literally a foot taller than he is for much of the first half was perhaps a bridge too far. In the second half, though, whenever we needed to get going on the offensive end, it was Mike who kick-started it.
4. In the first half, I thought our issues stemmed from missing wide open 3s and watching Nebraska hit some shots out of their behind--in the second half, our issues came in significant part because of a very bad shift by Terrance Williams, who really forced things on the offensive end. I have been unabashed in my thinking that that Terrance is going to be very, very good at Michigan, but today was not one of those days. Nor was it a good day for Brandon Johns. One of them has to give us really solid minutes--we're not going to be able to play 6 guys the number of minutes we did, and in particular, play Hunter that long.
5. As bad as Isaiah Livers shot the ball in the first half, he was money in the second half. The back-down and score with 1 second left on the shot clock when he got switched onto a smaller man showed a maturity and recognition progression from previous seasons.
6. Nebraska has some talented players--what the Huskers do not have is a team. 6 assists on 25 baskets is atrocious, as was a lot of their defensive switching. I know Fred Hoiberg relies on transfers, and that's fine, but you have to have some continuity; unless you've got the Fab Five coming in, continuity matters. It's one of the reasons I'm so hopeful that one of our senior guards--Smith or Eli Brooks--comes back next season.
7. Eli Brooks had some struggles today. He still did some solid things, and had 3 steals and some good defensive plays once he got taken off of Allen, who outweighs him by 50 pounds. And out bad stretches, as usual, came with him off of the floor. We need him in there.
8. Juwan must be communing with Bo--you can't take timeouts with you, big guy. When we get trapped in the backcourt and don't have a way out, call time out rather than turn it over, as we did a few times late second half.
9. Again, if I never see the Wagner, Livers, Brown, Williams, Dickinson lineup again, it will be too soon.
10. Happy Holidays, everybody.
