Wolverine247 Board

Your original post had nothing to do with the NCAA tournament. You said we have an average defense and cited years worth of defensive rankings. You never mentioned the NCAA tournament once. Whether we have an average defense for the typical NCAA field, I have no idea. I suspect that prior to Jordan Morgan's injury we were better than average because of all the auto bids, but I really don't know. It had nothing to do with your post.

FWIW we are the eighth youngest team out of all 337 D-1 teams in the country ... and it matters. Despite our youth, our D this year was running in the low to mid 30s up until Jordan Morgan got hurt. It then fell off significantly. That should not be a surprise to anyone. Morgan's our only experienced post player and one of only two upperclassmen who generally see the floor at all except for garbage time. As Morgan returns to 100%, our defense should trend back to where it was before the injury.

No one is saying this team is the frontrunner to win the national championship, but it's a very good team. It's also a very young team. People need to realize that. Experience matters and you can't hold this team to the same standards across the board that you do much more mature teams like Duke, Kansas and IU. Those teams are dominated by sophomores, juniors and seniors not freshmen. That's not to say we can't play with them, but expecting us to do everything as good or better is unrealistic. Some things, such as playing tough defense and handling pressure situations, generally improve as players mature. It's unrealistic to expect freshmen to understand all aspects of the game and play with the same level of consistency and poise as juniors and seniors.

Those rankings exist not to compare Duke to Cal State Fullerton or Prairie A&M but against other (potential) tournament teams. That's their value. Ken Pom actually used to provide advanced/detailed statistical breakdowns of every single team for free. Once his site developed a huge national following, he made that a premium service.

By tournament team standards, Michigan's defenses under Coach Beilein are average or below average.

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And I recognize that this team is young. But inexperience doesn't explain why many of our guys repeatedly sag on defense and leave a man wide open. Case-in-point: the 3 point shot that tied the game at 74. (Go back and look at Burke's defensive mistake. Because Burke left his man at the top of the key, the PSU player knocked in a wide open 3. If Burke had stuck to his man, Burke would've been in position to steal the ball on the kick-out.)

And I recognize that Morgan is important to the team's defense. (I was the guy that repeatedly mentioned throughout the season how important our post players were on both ends while everyone else was seemingly awe-struck by our efficient offense.)

Lastly, I'm not attacking this team or the coaching staff. However, I continually expressed concern over the defense from the get-go and only in recent weeks has that become a focus for other Michigan fans.

Wont rewatch the game, too pissed off. Starting to think we will be lucky to make it out of the 1st weekend of the tourny.

BUT 21
VCU 45

Half

Teams that press really well scare me, like Louisville and VCU. Florida too. Additionally, IU (best team in the country IMO) and Duke (Coach K, deadly 3 pt shooters, veteran team). Those would be the big ones. Maybe also Syracuse because of their length. Some people might throw in G-town or KU, but if Morgan is back 100% I think we can hang with either one on a neutral court.

Teams I'd least like to see in our region, in order:

1. Indiana (unlikely unless we slip below a #3 seed)
2. Louisville
3. VCU
4. Duke
5. Florida
6. Syracuse

I hear you, but few teams have really shut us down. OSU and Wisky are very good defensive teams and we played them both heads up. I will agree that TOs are key. In every one of our losses, we have turned the ball over an unusually high number of times. We are not a great rebounding team and one of the ways we offset that is by turning the ball over fewer times than our opponents. We can't afford to lose both the rebounding and turnover battles against good teams. It's too much to overcome.

Yep. They will be a dangerous team in the tourney.

Blame ESPN. They used the AP top 5 as the choices. Michigan was bound to get some votes.

Not suprised by this at all. Those kids from PSU put everything into winning a single game in conference. Not shocked that they not playing with that same desire to win today.

Oh and Ryan Kelly has 29 points now with 9 min left in the game.

Quietly, Kansas State (#13) is working themselves into the top 10. Took down Baylor on the road tonight in a pretty crazy game. Another quality win!

And that is the Michigan confidence I'm oh so used to!

Meh, let it go. If it makes him happy to pout over one or two losses rather than be excited over how the rest of the season has gone, let him.

The importance of games tends to grow toward the end of the year. I'm not going to say that the PSU loss or the loss at MSU will define the season because there still is time for redemption, but it's a simple reality that a game in late February is more relevant to the overall picture than a game in November.