to take a cue from my friend Danny, for anyone on Twitter:
1. This is the fourth straight game with a major second half swoon. Didn't always come at the same time, but with Pike juggling a huge rotation, it might be time to take a closer look at his sub patterns. Today, JY/MM/CM/AY/MJ were our 5 best, and it must be incredibly difficult to balance the understanding of the most effective players that day with his gameplan going in.
2. A major part of the game was the game inside. RU was lucky to get Teske in foul trouble in 1H given that Myles just could not establish good post position and Teske, in turn, had more post touches. Result: Myles in foul trouble and then Shaq in foul trouble where Shaq committed at least 1 foul on a low reward challenge outside the arc.
3. A major difference from last year's team is the step up from good discipline on defense to elite discipline in the last 2 months. They didn't have that tonight.
2.1 and 3.1. We really saw the value of Myles on defense and the value of Shaq as our next option. Each of those two had their lapses, but when Doucoure was in, it was a free-for-all on the pick and roll and the drive and dish.
4. I think Michigan played it perfectly and Pike was slow to react, actually outcoached for once. Draw our defense in and kick it out... draw help and find the screener on the roll. Crowd the middle on defense.
not so quick thought: In 1H RU mostly settled for jumpers and hit the 3s to stay in the game, but took too many high risk low reward mid range jumpers and did poorly, only shooting 2-7 (pretty sure Caleb hit both and is hitting most of these from game to game). In 2H RU built a small house with the bricks from 3 (1-16 I believe) and turned the ball over. I believe this was the worst game RU has played since Pitt by a wide margin, but at the same time, Michigan won it more than RU lost it. Michigan was the aggressor: they got some loose balls that RU usually gets, stood their ground on defense and dared the refs to interrupt the flow of the game, and the emphatic dunks and blocks were almost all UM. Will RU play better in the rematch? Probably, but Michigan should have Livers. Not sure Johns' performance was any worse than what Livers provides, so maybe that will be a wash. This may have been RU's best remaining chance for a "road" win, so they'll have to either play over their heads or hope an opponent has an off night at home. Otherwise, prepare for a ride on the bubble.
1. This is the fourth straight game with a major second half swoon. Didn't always come at the same time, but with Pike juggling a huge rotation, it might be time to take a closer look at his sub patterns. Today, JY/MM/CM/AY/MJ were our 5 best, and it must be incredibly difficult to balance the understanding of the most effective players that day with his gameplan going in.
2. A major part of the game was the game inside. RU was lucky to get Teske in foul trouble in 1H given that Myles just could not establish good post position and Teske, in turn, had more post touches. Result: Myles in foul trouble and then Shaq in foul trouble where Shaq committed at least 1 foul on a low reward challenge outside the arc.
3. A major difference from last year's team is the step up from good discipline on defense to elite discipline in the last 2 months. They didn't have that tonight.
2.1 and 3.1. We really saw the value of Myles on defense and the value of Shaq as our next option. Each of those two had their lapses, but when Doucoure was in, it was a free-for-all on the pick and roll and the drive and dish.
4. I think Michigan played it perfectly and Pike was slow to react, actually outcoached for once. Draw our defense in and kick it out... draw help and find the screener on the roll. Crowd the middle on defense.
not so quick thought: In 1H RU mostly settled for jumpers and hit the 3s to stay in the game, but took too many high risk low reward mid range jumpers and did poorly, only shooting 2-7 (pretty sure Caleb hit both and is hitting most of these from game to game). In 2H RU built a small house with the bricks from 3 (1-16 I believe) and turned the ball over. I believe this was the worst game RU has played since Pitt by a wide margin, but at the same time, Michigan won it more than RU lost it. Michigan was the aggressor: they got some loose balls that RU usually gets, stood their ground on defense and dared the refs to interrupt the flow of the game, and the emphatic dunks and blocks were almost all UM. Will RU play better in the rematch? Probably, but Michigan should have Livers. Not sure Johns' performance was any worse than what Livers provides, so maybe that will be a wash. This may have been RU's best remaining chance for a "road" win, so they'll have to either play over their heads or hope an opponent has an off night at home. Otherwise, prepare for a ride on the bubble.
