I was able to check out the newly renovated Crisler Center
on Saturday, and if you were watching closely I invaded your tv set for 20
seconds of the broadcast. I guess CBS couldn’t
resist showing my face to the world. Anyways, I was absolutely blown away with
the facilities. From the moment I entered
I couldn’t stop smiling. Crisler is no
longer a dim confining tunnel, but a bright, open, fancy event center. Consider my first basketball game there when
the upper deck seats were stained to a brownish yellow, you needed a coal miners
hat to find your way through the concourse, and most high school teams had a
bigger/louder student section. As much
crap as I want to give Dave Brandon for not considering the individual fans, he
does do renovations right.
Before getting to the game, I was impressed by the increase
of arena staff members who were proud to show off the new building and were
eager to make people feel welcomed. Also
the new 2 story atrium was absolutely incredible, Crisler now has the feel of
an event. I made the comment that December now becomes the desired time to
graduate just to get a chance to be here.
The big “tourist” location is the blue wall fountain with the giant
block M. It is now the signature back
drop for those Michigan experience pictures, beating out the back of the north
end zone scoreboard. However, the place
that drew most of my attention is the wall focused on the Michigan legend,
Cazzie Russell. There is a blown up
picture of Russell palming two basketballs while the original Crisler Arena is
being built around him. The picture was taken before the roof had even started being
built. Also on this wall are pieces from
that original basketball hardwood. I
just ran my hand over this preserved court and thought of the incredible
memories it could tell. These basketball
facilities are now second to none, which is fitting because so is the team that
calls this place home.
Despite the Razorbacks 4 losses they should be in the
consideration for an NCAA tournament berth come March, and yet Michigan still
won by double digits despite an unusually high number of turnovers and Arkansas
shooting 10/17 from deep. It is becoming
clear that Michigan is one of the most offensive efficient teams in the country. They managed to score 80 points on just 64
possessions on Saturday (1.25 points per possession). According to UMHoops, a feat we only managed once
all of last year. The crazy part is Michigan
seemed to be in a rut coming out of the halftime break, and couldn’t get the
offense clicking for 11:00 minutes of game time. The more I am talking to fans, it seems that
most have forgotten where this program was because they still are blinded by
these dry spells. If this is the least
efficient this offense will be the rest of the season, I will guarantee that they
lock up a number 1 seed. The offense is
not the point of weakness. Saturday all
5 starters were in double figures, led by Glen Robinson III who can still
manage to score 17 points and have people forget he played at all. It seems unfair for opponents to try to match
up with this maize and blue team. It was
obvious that Arkansas wanted to deny Stauskas the ball, which resulted in him
looking less robotic. The result though was not that the offense couldn’t
score. A lot of the defensive focus was
on number 11, which allowed GRIII to slip the baseline for easy layups and
dunks, he also floated out behind the 3 point line for multiple wide open
looks. And when a Michigan player is
open, the ball finds its way there.
Arkansas’ biggest weakness is interior defense and rebounding, which a
Beilein-coached team was able to exploit.
The days of getting doubled up on the glass are over folks. Michigan had more offensive rebounds (18)
than Arkansas had defensive(16), and boarded 55% of their own misses. There was a time in the game that the best
play the Wolverines could run was just to get the ball to the rim, because it
usually meant a put-back chance for the bigs.
The biggest area where this team can improve is on the
defensive end of the floor. There are
times when they play like freshman. Surprise, 5 freshman see the floor and 3 of
them play significant minutes. It will
be important when they do find themselves in an offensive rut that they
continue to work hard on the defensive end.
All it takes is a stop or a turnover and quick bucket for the momentum
to be back to the good guys. The Wolverines can be a little slow to help side
defense off of a dribble penetration. This
delay will always result in an easy shot attempt or foul being called. On
Saturday, the problem was the secondary help defense. Arkansas came out in the 2nd half
and tried to do what they do best, attack the basket. On the majority of the buckets during the
Razorbacks run, the help defense rotated well enough to be effective. The problem then was the weak-side defender
not dropping down to fill the spot that was just vacated. Arkansas mounted a little run which consisted
of very easy shot attempts. Michigan has
also been struggling to defend the 3 point line so far this year, which will be
exploited against a team like Indiana.
The open shot attempts have come from the defender not closing out as
hard as is needed. If the defender finds
himself in this situation, he needs to close on the ball as quick as possible
and trust he has help defense to stop the dribble drive after a possible
over-pursuit. Also it seems like the Michigan defenders can forget the scouting
report on certain players. If a guy is
primarily a jump shooter, the defender doesn’t need to worry about getting beat
on the bounce. I have noticed Hardaway
and Stauskas in particular hesitate on the close out on shooters where the risk
of dribble penetration is low. The
encouraging thing here though is when this team re-focuses on the defensive end,
they can be stifling. I have also been
very happy with the limited 1-3-1 zone played so far, and it really seems the
length is forcing tough shots and more turnovers. Possibly the biggest positive from this end of
the floor is the defensive rebounding.
Michigan is leading the B1G in this category so far, after being a
consistent bottom dweller the past 5 seasons.
Hardaway has turned himself into one of the best on the team and is
becoming a player that can help his team every night, even when his jump shot
is not falling.
I had a different feeling on Saturday when Arkansas was chipping
away the double digit lead, it was not one of panic or worry of the loss but
more of patiently waiting for Michigan to turn on the jets again to put away an
inferior team for good. I think I could
get used to that feeling. Another game
and another 2 hours of enjoying watching this team grow and begin to tap into
their potential. All in all, I call that a successful Saturday.
Yes
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