Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Wolverine Wednesday: A Team Effort

It's hard to imagine the same team that took the floor against FSU was the same team that played UCLA last night.  Michigan who played a undermanned and under-sized UCLA squad did everything they could do keep them in the game and eventually lost to them.  

In their final shots at Wolverines:

  • Franz Wagner throws up a uncontested air ball 3 point shot to win the game.  
  • Eli Brooks catches the brick and misses the reverse lay up 
  • Mike Smith again misses a wide open shot to win the game
  • Isiah Livers is on the bench in a boot 
I don't know if it was the tip time, the dome, or this team just ran out of gas, but that was not the Michigan team I've seen all year.   They struggled from the line and couldn't hit an outside shot to save their tournament lives.   I want to give UCLA credit but they really didn't do anything except get in the way.  If Juzang doesn't go for 28, they barley score as well.  

Michigan had anything they wanted on offense last night, open 3's, low post game to Hunter, or the dribble drive.  They just couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the beach.   Wagner 1-10, Smith 1-7, Brooks 3-8, Hunter 5-10, and Johns 4-5.  It was a bad day to have a bad day and the entire team contributed to that.  

I wanted Juwan's team to make the Final 4 because that is an accomplishment.  The truth of the matter is, this team was not going to beat Gonzaga in the next round and I expect the Zags will have a similar easy time with the other LA University on Saturday.    Gonzaga will have to wait to avenge the blow out loss at the hands of Michigan in the Bahama's tournament last season.   Michigan has been in Indy for better part of a month and I'm sure they just want to get home.   This year has been difficult with the Pandemic and recording zero positives tests is a huge accomplishment.  

This team will be remembered as a team picked to finish in the middle bottom half in the Big Ten and won the Big Ten Championship with a couple of grad transfers guards and few guys that came back from the NBA Draft.   Next years team will be much different and infused with some of the top high school players in the country.   This is only the start for Juwan's program and there is a long road ahead full of new banners, hardware,  and Final 4's.  




6 comments:

Goblu said...

Good summary, and I applaud the kids for how hard they fought all season. Not the outcome we wanted, but also a great season.

And, as we now have complete and irrefutable evidence, can Bucknut Boy pls stop making predictions about his hated Wolverines. He is the George Costanza of predictions.

MichiganMan said...

Dang...I am little heart broken...hate to lose to teams when you are expected to win...every year it seems like there is one player from the other team that that has a career game with us...going back to Louisville...remember that name Hancock...good effort, but you are right Bob...you can't have almost the entire line up to struggle and expect to win the game....

Fire Don Brown from AZ...

Rudy said...

#1 Recruiting class coming in. The future is bright!
.....#Fire MichiganBoy!

MichiganMan said...

Rudy I'm with you about the number one recruiting class... I just hope that they stay more than 2 years...

MichiganMan said...

It seemed like in recent tournaments experience teams are winning over the high profile recruits who are you staying with the team for one year

Chowman said...

Take nothing away from UCLA, but Michigan played down to their level. They weren't making their shots, the ball movement wasn't there. there was a sequence at the end of the 1st half, where both Smith and Brooks came down and jacked up shots w/o making a pass, and then Brook threw up some reverse, behind his head lay up attempt that bricked. It was something I hadn't seen all year. It's exactly what I said yesterday, UCLA was playing with house money, and was loose playing their game, and Michigan played not to lose and not to win! As great as this season was, this was a bitterly disappointing way to end the season. The final four was there for the taking and Michigan said, nah, we're good.