Michigan will take on LSU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Monday, and this could be a tough one. The Tigers are undisciplined, defense optional and ... playing their best ball of the season. They've got big guards, led by Cameron Thomas (22.6 points in his last six games), and are 5-1 in their last six games.
ESPN reseeded the field for the round of 32 and the Tigers came in at No. 19, just behind SEC rival Florida. That equates to a five seed, and that's about how they're playing right now, if not better.
The good news — this has been a defense optional team much of the year. It was clear St. Bonaventure, the Atlantic 10 Champ, was overvalued a bit, but the Bonnies still led their league in offensive efficiency and managed only 61 points in a loss to the Tigers.
St. Bonaventure and LSU were a combined three for 24 from the field in the first eight minutes, missing 12 straight triples in what looked like it would be an ugly contest, but Thomas took over. The 6-4 frosh scored 27 points, and it's his ability to get to the rim that's concerning. Eli Brooks struggled at times with OSU's Duane Washington, and he's considered the Wolverines' best guard defender — Washington is no Thomas.
We all remember, too, how tough it was to contain the Illinois guards. Javonte Smart (15.6 points per game, 41.6 from three) is the other half of the Alabama backcourt, and he also stands 6-4.
This could be a game where Juwan Howard tries to go a bit more zone, but the Tigers have four guys in their rotation shooting over 40 percent from long range.
In other words, expect some points on the board.
So it's up to U-M to find a way to match that ... tougher, obviously, with Isaiah Livers out (foot). U-M got off to a great start in the win over Texas Southern, moving the ball and knocking down some open looks before it got "clunky" again, as one of our astute posters put it recently. The Wolverines continue to try to force feed the post, telegraphing passes and slowing the offense down to a halt too often by showing their hand.
Frosh Hunter Dickinson is expending so much energy trying to "bang" to his spot that he's gassed by the time he gets there, and then he draws a ton of attention. As another poster noted, he's notched two assists — two — and 19 turnovers in his last five games, and that's cause for concern. LSU gives up twos at a 50.9 percent clip, but the Tigers only allow 29 percent on triples.
The tourney is a chess match, and we'd love to see Howard and Co. mix it up this game. Former staffer Tobie Smith, whose day job gets in the way of his outstanding posting ability too often, gave one of the better takes we've seen on this last week:
I’ll go ahead and say—with apologies for contradicting @sane1 —that if we’re going to try to use Johns as (or he’s going to try to be) a second post-up option, then we might as well pack it in now. The offensive ball movement, spacing, and flow absolutely grind to a halt when someone posts up and tries to back his down a defender, especially if he’s a below-average passer.
That’s an acceptable trade-off for Dickinson, because he’s an exceptional post-up finisher and passer, and he’s usually surrounded by 4 dangerous shooters and cutters. But with Johns trying to do the same thing alongside Dickinson or Davis, we became way too easy to guard.
He doesn’t have to be Isaiah, but he has to play more like Isaiah—except with even less iso, because he doesn’t have the same mid-range fadeaway. Johns has to be a residual player who crashes the offensive glass, spots up (and shows he’s willing to shoot it), and makes off-ball dives to the rim.
If he can do that, then we still have a chance to approach our former ceiling. The one thing about Livers’ injury that could prevent it from being a season-killer is the fact that we have better depth at his position than at guard. But if Johns tries to play the way he did today—or we try to use him that way, because I really don’t know whose idea it is—then our depth won’t be able to approximate the offensive attributes that have made us dangerous this season, and still could.
We spoke with a few of the better basketball minds in the game recently, and they all agreed ... they'd love to see more of Franz Wagner in ball screens, let Dickinson roll and get more of an opportunity to clean up on the glass. The big man has only six offensive rebounds in his last six games after dominating in that area earlier in the year, and that can be a weapon.
As much as we love Austin Davis' energy, he's got five assists all year and hasn't finished well enough recently to warrant the amount of touches he's gotten in the post.
Regardless ... U-M is still alive, and the Wolverines are a five-point favorite Monday night. We'll see what Howard and Co. draw up for this tough, round of 32 matchup.
****
We've seen a number of articles recently on LSU head coach Will Wade and his recruiting scandals, with many wondering how he still has a job.
Put it this way — when Dick Vitale, the guy who turns a blind eye to most of college basketballs recruiting shenanigans, calls you out, you know you're the worst of the worst. And that's exactly what Vitale did. From USA TODAY's Dan Wolken:
During the SEC tournament championship game Sunday, the legendary ESPN announcer dared to mention on the air that LSU has not yet faced the music for its part in the 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball corruption, including Wade being caught on wiretaps saying some things that would suggest he’s a massive cheater whose continued employment makes a mockery of both LSU and the NCAA.
“He flat-out lied to me,” Wade complained on the Jordy Culotta Show, a podcast based in Baton Rouge. “He said he was going to talk about our team and stuff. He said, ‘I’m not going to bring anything up.’ I said, ‘OK, I appreciate that. That's nice.’ And I get like 100 texts after the game.”
Poor Will. It must be so hard to be him, having suffered absolutely no consequences for the past two years while his program remains in NCAA limbo, collecting his $2.5 million salary, continuing to get blue-chip recruits and having to turn on his phone after a game and learn that Dickie V is maybe the only person in Wade’s orbit who isn't willfully ignoring reality.
This is the guy who was caught saying he was making "strong-ass offers" to kids, sat around probably waiting for the other shoe to drop (maybe forgetting he was in Baton Rouge, the home of ignored scandals) and is now the toast of the town.
We've also seen a number of people come back with "but Juwan Howard was part of the biggest scandal of the 90s."
Just ... no. Everyone knows how we feel about Chris Webber and Louis Bullock, etc. and their part in the Ed Martin scandal, but that was not a pay for play deal. Martin was using players from several schools to launder his gambling money, and Howard had nothing to do with that. Period.
Howard's recruiting has been by the book, and even most of the rivals acknowledge that. He's genuine, working his butt off in building relationships with kids rather than relying on middlemen and the like, and it's paying off with incredible results, including the nation's top recruiting classes.
He's going to be here a long time, too, more great news for a Michigan basketball fan base that has gotten a lot of it. U-M's 19 wins in the last nine years is No. 1 among all schools ... not bad for a "football school" that also happens to be the cleanest program in the country in the same time period.
Nothing short of remarkable.
ESPN reseeded the field for the round of 32 and the Tigers came in at No. 19, just behind SEC rival Florida. That equates to a five seed, and that's about how they're playing right now, if not better.
The good news — this has been a defense optional team much of the year. It was clear St. Bonaventure, the Atlantic 10 Champ, was overvalued a bit, but the Bonnies still led their league in offensive efficiency and managed only 61 points in a loss to the Tigers.
St. Bonaventure and LSU were a combined three for 24 from the field in the first eight minutes, missing 12 straight triples in what looked like it would be an ugly contest, but Thomas took over. The 6-4 frosh scored 27 points, and it's his ability to get to the rim that's concerning. Eli Brooks struggled at times with OSU's Duane Washington, and he's considered the Wolverines' best guard defender — Washington is no Thomas.
We all remember, too, how tough it was to contain the Illinois guards. Javonte Smart (15.6 points per game, 41.6 from three) is the other half of the Alabama backcourt, and he also stands 6-4.
This could be a game where Juwan Howard tries to go a bit more zone, but the Tigers have four guys in their rotation shooting over 40 percent from long range.
In other words, expect some points on the board.
So it's up to U-M to find a way to match that ... tougher, obviously, with Isaiah Livers out (foot). U-M got off to a great start in the win over Texas Southern, moving the ball and knocking down some open looks before it got "clunky" again, as one of our astute posters put it recently. The Wolverines continue to try to force feed the post, telegraphing passes and slowing the offense down to a halt too often by showing their hand.
Frosh Hunter Dickinson is expending so much energy trying to "bang" to his spot that he's gassed by the time he gets there, and then he draws a ton of attention. As another poster noted, he's notched two assists — two — and 19 turnovers in his last five games, and that's cause for concern. LSU gives up twos at a 50.9 percent clip, but the Tigers only allow 29 percent on triples.
The tourney is a chess match, and we'd love to see Howard and Co. mix it up this game. Former staffer Tobie Smith, whose day job gets in the way of his outstanding posting ability too often, gave one of the better takes we've seen on this last week:
I’ll go ahead and say—with apologies for contradicting @sane1 —that if we’re going to try to use Johns as (or he’s going to try to be) a second post-up option, then we might as well pack it in now. The offensive ball movement, spacing, and flow absolutely grind to a halt when someone posts up and tries to back his down a defender, especially if he’s a below-average passer.
That’s an acceptable trade-off for Dickinson, because he’s an exceptional post-up finisher and passer, and he’s usually surrounded by 4 dangerous shooters and cutters. But with Johns trying to do the same thing alongside Dickinson or Davis, we became way too easy to guard.
He doesn’t have to be Isaiah, but he has to play more like Isaiah—except with even less iso, because he doesn’t have the same mid-range fadeaway. Johns has to be a residual player who crashes the offensive glass, spots up (and shows he’s willing to shoot it), and makes off-ball dives to the rim.
If he can do that, then we still have a chance to approach our former ceiling. The one thing about Livers’ injury that could prevent it from being a season-killer is the fact that we have better depth at his position than at guard. But if Johns tries to play the way he did today—or we try to use him that way, because I really don’t know whose idea it is—then our depth won’t be able to approximate the offensive attributes that have made us dangerous this season, and still could.
We spoke with a few of the better basketball minds in the game recently, and they all agreed ... they'd love to see more of Franz Wagner in ball screens, let Dickinson roll and get more of an opportunity to clean up on the glass. The big man has only six offensive rebounds in his last six games after dominating in that area earlier in the year, and that can be a weapon.
As much as we love Austin Davis' energy, he's got five assists all year and hasn't finished well enough recently to warrant the amount of touches he's gotten in the post.
Regardless ... U-M is still alive, and the Wolverines are a five-point favorite Monday night. We'll see what Howard and Co. draw up for this tough, round of 32 matchup.
****
We've seen a number of articles recently on LSU head coach Will Wade and his recruiting scandals, with many wondering how he still has a job.
Put it this way — when Dick Vitale, the guy who turns a blind eye to most of college basketballs recruiting shenanigans, calls you out, you know you're the worst of the worst. And that's exactly what Vitale did. From USA TODAY's Dan Wolken:
During the SEC tournament championship game Sunday, the legendary ESPN announcer dared to mention on the air that LSU has not yet faced the music for its part in the 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball corruption, including Wade being caught on wiretaps saying some things that would suggest he’s a massive cheater whose continued employment makes a mockery of both LSU and the NCAA.
“He flat-out lied to me,” Wade complained on the Jordy Culotta Show, a podcast based in Baton Rouge. “He said he was going to talk about our team and stuff. He said, ‘I’m not going to bring anything up.’ I said, ‘OK, I appreciate that. That's nice.’ And I get like 100 texts after the game.”
Poor Will. It must be so hard to be him, having suffered absolutely no consequences for the past two years while his program remains in NCAA limbo, collecting his $2.5 million salary, continuing to get blue-chip recruits and having to turn on his phone after a game and learn that Dickie V is maybe the only person in Wade’s orbit who isn't willfully ignoring reality.
This is the guy who was caught saying he was making "strong-ass offers" to kids, sat around probably waiting for the other shoe to drop (maybe forgetting he was in Baton Rouge, the home of ignored scandals) and is now the toast of the town.
We've also seen a number of people come back with "but Juwan Howard was part of the biggest scandal of the 90s."
Just ... no. Everyone knows how we feel about Chris Webber and Louis Bullock, etc. and their part in the Ed Martin scandal, but that was not a pay for play deal. Martin was using players from several schools to launder his gambling money, and Howard had nothing to do with that. Period.
Howard's recruiting has been by the book, and even most of the rivals acknowledge that. He's genuine, working his butt off in building relationships with kids rather than relying on middlemen and the like, and it's paying off with incredible results, including the nation's top recruiting classes.
He's going to be here a long time, too, more great news for a Michigan basketball fan base that has gotten a lot of it. U-M's 19 wins in the last nine years is No. 1 among all schools ... not bad for a "football school" that also happens to be the cleanest program in the country in the same time period.
Nothing short of remarkable.
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