in an attempt to stop us. First, you could see Collins yelling at his defenders that Simpson and Matthews were always going to go right and to overplay their right hand and force them to go left. I'm surprised none of the other B1G coaches have figured this out. Second, having someone other than Simpson's man bring the ball up the court is very smart. That takes away the pressure that Simpson puts on the ball and allows the opponent to get into their offense much sooner. This is where I think MSU will struggle against us, since Winston is their only legitimate ball handler and Simpson gives him fits. The isolation of Teske by a smaller, more athletic big is another likely trend. Get him in foul trouble trying to guard one on one and you severely damage our defensive efforts. We are going to see teams continue to fall off of Zavier until he proves he can consistently make uncontested 3 pointers. With him out of the game, I hold my breath every time Brooks and Poole dribble the ball, but they need to learn how to run the offense. Z will have off nights and tonight was an example of how it looks when he isn't in the game and controlling things. Surprised that NW didn't play more zone. If I was coaching against Michigan, I would rotate defenses and mix in a lot of zone until they prove that they can consistently hit the three. We have been pretty good so far this year, but on a night like tonight, NW could have won the game with a couple more stops and a tight zone might have been just the ticket. If we continue to miss free throws, someone is going to play Hack a Wolverine and the result will not be good for us. Hard to believe we shoot so poorly from the line. It is going to kill us sooner or later. I loved that Beilein left Brooks in at crunch time (probably had to the way Z was shooting).....he will have to be the man at some points later in the year and today was great experience for him. Same thing goes for giving Poole a lot of screen and roll opportunities early in the year. His ball handling is not the best, but he is improving. If he tightens up his handle, he will be a beast later in the year when his shot is falling. Go under the screens and he will rain 3's....go overtop and he is quick enough to get to the basket (if he manages to bring the ball with him). I think he will excel at the screen and roll as the year goes on and make us incredibly hard to defend.
