The Juwan Howard era started off with a bang and then ended up with a whimper last night. Michigan used a balanced offense and good defense to jump out to a 30 point lead in the first half. Then the wheels feel off and the Wolverines had to hang on as the offense dried up to beat App. State, who clearly has some type of magic in Ann Arbor.
Michigan clearly missed 60% of their offense (that left for the NBA) from last year and struggled to shoot or score the basketball in the second half. Zavier Simpson had one of the worst games I have ever seen him play and Livers is still only a spot up shooter, the rest of his game has flaws.
DD looks like he is playing a pick-up game out there and Johns struggled in limited minutes. Its also clear this team hasn't fixed their free throw issues. The positives were Teske dominated in the first half and Brooks got hot for a few minutes in the second half. This team is lacking a superstar right now that can get them points when Michigan goes into a scoring funk. Currently, this is not a NCAA tournament team and one that will struggle unless Franz is that superstar and gets healthy quickly.
- Reports are Cincinnati AD who has verbally accepted the USC role is re-considering because he has learned he will not be able to hire Urban Meyer. Other reports are that other AD candidates turned down the job for the same reason. The USC President doesn't want Meyer due to his controversial nature.
- #3 TE in the 2020 class just outside of Detroit in Windsor, Theo Johnson will announce his decision on the 18th. Theo is expected in town for the MSU game but PSU is his CB leader. That will be a big weekend for his decision.
- Michigan #14 in the playoff rankings, OSU #1
- IU has lost their talented QB Michael Penix Jr. to shoulder surgery for the rest of the year. Michigan travels to IU in a few weeks.
8 comments:
It is one basketball game. Relax. I heard the same narrative with Coach B. It is a long season with a new coach. This team will be fine.
I didn't see much of the game, but what I read is that everything was going very good in the first half and into the early parts of the second when the wheels fell off. I think that it was a normal first game reaction especially since Michigan has a brand new head coach, several key players have gone and attempting to integrate several players who haven't played much before. As Collen said above, I would just relax.
I don't think I can relax this was a game Appalachian State this means one thing it's going to be a tough year....
Against
All of you make good points, still I believe there are some concerning issues with this team and similar to the ones from last season. Yes, they will get better at coaches new offense and defense.
For those that want to jump off the cliff because of a near collapse in the second half of the first game of the regular season, perhaps you should consider watching curling. It was the first game coaching of someone who has never been a head coach anywhere and at the same time, he is trying to replace THREE starters and implement a totally different offense. Just relax, guys!
I know that I probably repeated myself from my earlier post, but I just read another column at another prominent Michigan blog that said just relax!
Cormac, my buddy we are all relaxed...we are just saying that it is going to be a long year....and we are all expecting most likely they are not making the NCAA tournament this year....you making it seem like we were expecting them to win the championship or something....so maybe you need relax... buddy!!
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