1. Florida State is a team which switches everything, has played great help and recover defense, and forced teams to beat them one on one against their length. And in the first half, we struggled with that, playing indifferent/below average half court offense, rushing some offensive sets and shots, and taking too many floaters, and playing into what Florida Stae wanted us to do. Then came halftime and the adjustments--we spread the floor better, cuut harder and in a timely fashion, and took advantage of our quickness by getting to the rim, forcing help, and then finding open guys. The result--we shot 69% in the second half, with 15 assists on 18 made baskets, and the truth is that it wasn't like we did so by making perimeter shots, as only one Michigan basket in the entire second half came from outside the paint. That was an offensive clinic. For those who wondered whether Juwan and his staff were up to in-game, tournament coaching in this, his first tournament foray, the last two games have put that one to bed for good. The staff was magnificent today--on those adjustments, on the defensive game plan against Florida State, and with substitution patterns.
2. Speaking of magnificent, the whole "next man up" is often coach speak, but today, the "next man up" guys--Brandon Johns and Austin Davis--were magnificent. Brandon set the tempo of the game throughout with his energy, playmaking, and ability to match Florida State's length and athleticism. Austin, a guy who many thought might struggle against this very type of team, Played great on both ends, and had the pass (!) of the game to a cutting Chaundee Brown for a lay-up. We were plus 18 in the 8 minutes Austin was on the floor. Another thing which hopefully will be ended as a result of this tournament--the notion that you can write off players at Michigan based on early, or even mid-career struggles. Those guys, Eli Brooks, who struggled some offensively early, but was lockdown on the defensive end against much bigger, physical guards, etc.--guys get better here. They did under John beilein, and they do under Juwan. It's great to watch.
3. We destroyed their press and took care of the ball--only 9 turnovers (1 by Jace Howard in end of the game time), and only 1 of those against pressure (the 3 second/5 second call on Eli early in the second half). Mike Smith was the ringleader in that, but the ability of our bigger guys, Franz Wagner, Hunter Dickinson, even Austin on one occasion (again, !) to bring the ball up was key. This kept them out of transition which was key.
4. Florida State sold out to stop us from getting the ball to Hunter--fronted him, brought a man behind him, etc. Unlike in other games, I don't remember a single turnover which came from attempting to force feed the post. We have other players--very good players--and they absolutely used the focus on Hunter to thir advantage.
5. I watch a lot of college basketball. If there is a better two way player in the country than Franz, I'm not sure who it is. On a night when he was 0-4 from 3, all on completely clean looks, he was so far and away the best player on the floor that whomever was second best could not be seen in the distance. His play late in the game where he stayed down against the ball fake, the blocked the shot, then got the rebound and threw it off the Florida State guy while getting fouled and falling out of bounds, and then calmly sunk both free throws after the beak--I can't even find words for how good that was, and it was only marginally his best play of the game over several others (the one handed bounce pass off of the dribble to Hunter for a dunk, the swooping drive and hook, etc.).
6. Against a team which has lived all year on the offensive glass, we limited Florida State to 9 offensive rebounds out of 35 available. That was as good a job of boxing out and matching physicalityas we have done all year.
7. Obviously, they had many more fouls called against them than we had, and we had many more free throws than did they, but I didn't think there were too many questionable calls in the game either way. Florida State settled (and turned it over) way more than we did, and took almost twice as many 3s as we did, something I would never have expected before the game. The free throw totals were consistent with the way the game progressed. And the fact that we dominated while shooting 27% from 3 and 65% from 2, both close to a dozen percentage points below our season averages, is a very good sign.
8. Survive and advance, especially when it's a beat down, rather than a survival. On to Tuesday.
2. Speaking of magnificent, the whole "next man up" is often coach speak, but today, the "next man up" guys--Brandon Johns and Austin Davis--were magnificent. Brandon set the tempo of the game throughout with his energy, playmaking, and ability to match Florida State's length and athleticism. Austin, a guy who many thought might struggle against this very type of team, Played great on both ends, and had the pass (!) of the game to a cutting Chaundee Brown for a lay-up. We were plus 18 in the 8 minutes Austin was on the floor. Another thing which hopefully will be ended as a result of this tournament--the notion that you can write off players at Michigan based on early, or even mid-career struggles. Those guys, Eli Brooks, who struggled some offensively early, but was lockdown on the defensive end against much bigger, physical guards, etc.--guys get better here. They did under John beilein, and they do under Juwan. It's great to watch.
3. We destroyed their press and took care of the ball--only 9 turnovers (1 by Jace Howard in end of the game time), and only 1 of those against pressure (the 3 second/5 second call on Eli early in the second half). Mike Smith was the ringleader in that, but the ability of our bigger guys, Franz Wagner, Hunter Dickinson, even Austin on one occasion (again, !) to bring the ball up was key. This kept them out of transition which was key.
4. Florida State sold out to stop us from getting the ball to Hunter--fronted him, brought a man behind him, etc. Unlike in other games, I don't remember a single turnover which came from attempting to force feed the post. We have other players--very good players--and they absolutely used the focus on Hunter to thir advantage.
5. I watch a lot of college basketball. If there is a better two way player in the country than Franz, I'm not sure who it is. On a night when he was 0-4 from 3, all on completely clean looks, he was so far and away the best player on the floor that whomever was second best could not be seen in the distance. His play late in the game where he stayed down against the ball fake, the blocked the shot, then got the rebound and threw it off the Florida State guy while getting fouled and falling out of bounds, and then calmly sunk both free throws after the beak--I can't even find words for how good that was, and it was only marginally his best play of the game over several others (the one handed bounce pass off of the dribble to Hunter for a dunk, the swooping drive and hook, etc.).
6. Against a team which has lived all year on the offensive glass, we limited Florida State to 9 offensive rebounds out of 35 available. That was as good a job of boxing out and matching physicalityas we have done all year.
7. Obviously, they had many more fouls called against them than we had, and we had many more free throws than did they, but I didn't think there were too many questionable calls in the game either way. Florida State settled (and turned it over) way more than we did, and took almost twice as many 3s as we did, something I would never have expected before the game. The free throw totals were consistent with the way the game progressed. And the fact that we dominated while shooting 27% from 3 and 65% from 2, both close to a dozen percentage points below our season averages, is a very good sign.
8. Survive and advance, especially when it's a beat down, rather than a survival. On to Tuesday.
