MSU Recap

Sorry this is an old post, but I have wanted to recap the MSU game since Sunday and haven’t gotten around to it until now.

The game in East Lansing can pretty much be summed up as we got beat by a better team.  Since Horford is going to be out for the season, Michigan has very little depth on the front line.  This lack of bodies forces Beilein to play Smot as Morgan’s backup.  It is too risky to play them both at the same time since they struggle with fouls.  When Novak is moved down to the 4, lengthy teams like MSU and OSU will just dominate the offensive glass.  It might create mismatches on the offensive end for Michigan, but when the players don’t make the open shots in front of them the mismatch is offset.

MSU finished with as many offensive rebounds and Michigan had total rebounds.  For most of the season so far Michigan looked like it had improved on its rebounding since last year, but since Douglass was entered into the starting lineup for Smot, rebounding has gone downhill fast.  At this point Michigan just needs bodies.  Just think if Ben Cronin wouldn’t have had crappy knees that caused him to never really see the court.  Having a talented 7 footer right now, even coming off the bench, would be a huge boost to this teams interior abilities. If Horford hadn’t gotten hurt, Smot would likely still be able to play the 4 alongside of Morgan.

Michigan is as talented as almost any other team in the conference when you look at the starting 5 or 6 (even though 2 of them are slumping really badly right now), but then when MSU and OSU are bringing heavily sought after recruits off the bench as their 7-10 players Michigan just cannot match up.  Even with Hardaway missing a solid 10 shots per game, and Smot looking like a deer in headlights, if this team had even just one more solid body to plug up the middle they could be primed to challenge for the B1G championship and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.  We have to wait at least one more year for that to happen, but it is very disappointing to think that Novak will not be on that team. 

You have to give most of the credit to MSU, because their defensive improvements on Sunday compared to the game in Ann Arbor were drastic.  They defended the high ball screen better than any team had done all year.  They doubled Burke off the hedge and did not allow him to find the open big rolling to the front of the rim.  When Burke did find some space, and was able to drive inside of the 3 point arc, 4 bodies collapsed on him hard causing him to rush a shot, turn the ball over, or try to pass to a wing player.  Most teams will not be able to collapse 4 against Michigan, but the Spartans were athletic enough to close out on the shooters that Burke kicked out to.  It also helps that Michigan missed at least 8 threes that could not have been more open.  In a game that you are outmatched athletically, you have to convert the opportunities that are given.

One thing that I am continually impressed with is how good on a post defender Morgan has become.  He knows his weakness (being 6’8” as a center), so he works harder than anyone on the defensive end to not allow the opponent to catch the ball on the block.  Also, most B1G officials let the bigs play, which is one of my favorite parts of our conference. Once an entry pass is found, Morgan is a little too short to lock down most opposing centers.  But there have been a lot of possessions this season where the opponent barely even looks down low.  This will have to continue when we play Illinois twice down the stretch. 

I keep waiting for Hardaway to bust out of his slump somehow, but right now he is lacking any confidence in his scoring abilities. Last season he did knock down shot after improbable shot, causing expectations to be huge this year. But right now he is not even making his open looks.  The most disappointing thing about Smot and THJ right now is, that after missing a shot it will completely take their head out of the game.  They stop hustling after loose balls, they become even lazier on defense, they don’t crash the boards to get any defensive rebounds.  They are just on the floor taking in the game from the best seats in the house. Beilein had to have seen this terrible effort on Sunday, because last night against Nebraska Tim might have played his best all around game of the season even though he continued to struggle shooting the ball.  The shots will start to fall again for our best scoring threat if he can continue to keep his head in the game.  Confidence will begin to come back with a few good rebounds, a steal here or there, a good defensive set, a hard back cut to get an easy layup, or good court vision to get one of his teammates an easy look. 

Looking at Michigan’s schedule they are in great position to finish with a winning conference record for the first time in many many years.  Not only should they have a winning record, but they should finish at least 11-7 (probably 12-6).  The team is still in place to finish in the top 4 of the conference and get the important first round bye in the B1G tourney.  The way the schedule lines up, it is very likely that if Michigan can take care of business over this last month they will be set for a rematch with Sparty in the 2 vs 3 seed semi final game in the conference tournament.