Well if Duke is a legitimate top 5 or 6 teams in the nation, then Michigan is a legitimate top 10 team. I thought Duke could not have played any better tonight, and the game came down to a few possessions here or there. Coach K probably has not seen this team shoot better in most practices, and yet Michigan was close enough to make the game interesting.
Let's start with the positive... where did things go right? Well people we have found our point guard of the future. All I can say is wow! Trey Burke 17 points 9 assists 3 rebounds. How about we compare this to Sir Austin "my dad's famous so give me respect" Rivers 20 points 3 assists 4 rebounds. Rivers has one more rebound while being 5 inches taller than our new found star. Rivers also made 4 free throws at the end of the game to get to 20 points. I would argue that Burke's numbers meant more to his team than Rivers even. Did our point guard just out play the number 1 recruit in the nation? I say yes. Our big men are looking very good so far in the young season. Smot (when he can stay on the floor) looked very aggressive and more athletic than his counterpart Kelly. If we could have gotten a few more minutes out of him, the game could have been a lot different. Morgan has gotten back to the level of play as last year 12 points 6 rebounds. He is very active on both ends of the floor and I think equalized Mason Plumtree's activity (9 points 5 rebounds!!!) Hardaway's 2nd half was pretty incredible. You can tell when he flips the switch to want to take over the game, and he did for the most part but we fell into too big of a hole to come back. 19 points all in the 2nd half against an "incredible Duke defense." If they really are that good, then watch out B1G. Also the turnovers. We started with 5 turnovers in the first 4 minutes, and we ended with 8. 8 turnovers for an entire game is incredible, but how bout 3 in 36 minutes! Trey has fit in very nicely! Oh and, don't look now, but the team that couldnt rebound if they were playing 21 last year has now outrebounded 2 top ten teams in 2 days!
On to the negative... Where to start. I will start on the defensive end of the floor. While Vogrich played great defense yesterday against Memphis, he looked terrible in his limited role tonight. How does an unathletic kid think he can stop a drive into the paint when his ONLY assignment is to guard the 3 point line. He gave up 3 wide open long ball looks, and while luckily only 2 fell... I mean come on dude. Smot's foul trouble, he has not learned much from last year. The first foul was terrible along with his 4th. He cannot act out of frustration after giving up a turnover and commit a foul 80 feet from the hoop. It will drive a coach crazy. And how the heck do we let Duke's two set shooters beat us by making 7-12 threes. Even if we make them dribble the ball and they drive into the lane for an easy layup.. the eliminates 7 points. Also, we let Ryan Kelly beat us again just like last year in the NCAA tournament. He finished with 17! Yes that is right, a kid that is less athletic than Smot, slower than me, and you can see the steam coming out of his ears when he tries to think about his next move. He scored 17 points against us. The cat can do one thing. Shoot. He can shoot free throws (90% shooter) and set shots anywhere. How can he beat us again? Even though we won the rebounding battle tonight, we gave up 2 offensive rebounds off of missed free throws that resulted in 5 2nd chance points.... seriously? Beilein might have some less hair on that already shiny head for tomorrows game. Tim's first half was beyond frustrating. I am not sure if he expected to have Austin Rivers covering him or what, but he looked out of it during the first half. Rivers is not a prominent defender, and Hardaway has an easy 3 inches on him. I would have liked to see Tim establish himself on the low block to get some easy baskets.. kinda like he did late in the 2nd half to get an easy lay up. Tim was 0-6 in the half and only 2 of those shots were open looks that should have gone in. When you are in a slump shooting, you need to get somewhere on the floor to get some easy looks (drive to the hoop to draw some fouls and free throws, post up on the low block). I was disappointed with his intensity in the first half. Also, during the first half Michigan did not run its standard offense well or at all at times. They settled for random shots or long 3 pointers. When they got down 11-2, and then made their comeback they began running set plays and getting easy buckets. But basically Michigan's basketball team starts and ends with defense, when we can get some rebounds, turnovers, etc it sets up our offense perfectly to run some set plays or get easy transition baskets. And 82 points is not played good defense.
Tomorrow will be a big test for this team, how do you respond to a hard fought loss? How does this team play after 3 straight days of tough basketball? It would be a HUGE success to come back to AA 5-1. If this happens, I think we might have a pretty special team this year. One that is better than most expected.
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!!
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