The Disapointing: I was struck this morning as I filled out my bracket by how different this season turned out vs where I thought we might be at this time last year. Last year when I filled out my bracket, I was optimistic, sure I knew we were going to lose Jordan and Nick, but seriously thought that GR3 might stay. At worst we lose him as well, but we would still have Mitch and Horford, plus Caris, Walton, Irvin, Spike and some promising new recruits including a potential star in the highly rated Chatman. When the tournament ended, I thought we really had a chance to win it all this year with those guys, THen GR3 goes, then Mitch goes, then Horford transfers. I went from optimistic to curious. I knew Beilein was a great coach so was looking forward to what he could do with a young team led by Caris, Zak and Derrick. Then the season starts and we get our first look at the new freshman and... well... initally I thought... we just might have had some swings and misses in the talent evaluation process. It was apparent early on that our young guys were just not ready for Div 1 competition yet. Our fortunes were tied to the big 3 and if they had an off night, so would the team. After NJIT and Eastern I really got worried. We just were not getting much from our freshman and It was apparent we were going to struggle to make the tourney relying just on our more experienced guys. THen the bottom fell out, Caris gone, Derrick gone, not to mention the unnamed injury to Spike,. I basically expected us to lose the rest of our games.
The Impressive: The team I saw after Walton got hurt really surprised me. Guys that were lightly recruited were now getting big minutes and they were winning some games! MAAR and Dawkins were destined for major pine this season and all of a sudden, they were taking it to the rack, draining threes and looking like the future. Spike (love him) became more than a nice little 6th man, he became a leader. Irvin went from inconsistent sniper, to playmaker. We beat OSU, spanked ILL and were tied with Wisconsin with 5 minutes to go, with a lineup of freshman plus Zak, Spike and some kid with big calves, I felt like Butch Cassidy saying "who are these guys?". All I can say is that John can flat out coach. I have never seen a team grow so much in one season. Chatman looked completely lost at the start of the season. By the end of the season even he was making plays and starting to show his potential. This season could have been something really special. On first look it wasn't, but now I realize... it was.
This post was edited on 3/19 9:08 AM by tuka313
The Impressive: The team I saw after Walton got hurt really surprised me. Guys that were lightly recruited were now getting big minutes and they were winning some games! MAAR and Dawkins were destined for major pine this season and all of a sudden, they were taking it to the rack, draining threes and looking like the future. Spike (love him) became more than a nice little 6th man, he became a leader. Irvin went from inconsistent sniper, to playmaker. We beat OSU, spanked ILL and were tied with Wisconsin with 5 minutes to go, with a lineup of freshman plus Zak, Spike and some kid with big calves, I felt like Butch Cassidy saying "who are these guys?". All I can say is that John can flat out coach. I have never seen a team grow so much in one season. Chatman looked completely lost at the start of the season. By the end of the season even he was making plays and starting to show his potential. This season could have been something really special. On first look it wasn't, but now I realize... it was.
This post was edited on 3/19 9:08 AM by tuka313
