Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Likes and dislikes: Michigan win

This was my first time watching this season's team. I came away pleasantly surprised with the effort.


Likes
-- Rice making tough baskets. He really used the shot clock well and can make the deep three. I think he will be able to carry the team.
-- Raji and Sander's basketball IQ. Some things cannot be taught. I was impressed by these two anticipating things and hustling and cutting. Smart players seem to thrive in Al's system. Maybe these two will be the latest.
-- The defensive rebounding. That is what allowed us to control the game.
-- The defense. We used a lot of 2-3 and it was the best we've looked against a Beilein offense in a while.

Dislikes
-- Shamari in the low post. Spear put up good numbers and rebounded well but is lacking something on offense. His hands are still suspect and he doesn't finish well. Why is he shooting short fades five feet from the basket?
-- Southern's lack of minutes. Our big guys were better but still not great. Why not get Southern some playing time?
-- Oates' D. He did not move or rebound well.

I came away from this game feeling much better about the season. I think we'll surprise a few ACC teams this year.

2 comments:

bceagle08 said...

I had the same question about Southern, especially because he is from Michigan and most likely had lots of friends/family in attendance but I heard after the game that he didn't play because he is sick

morrina said...

I've been to all the games. Rice is solid, but he can lapse into moments of trying to do it all. Sanders is the real deal and will contribute. Raji plays great defense, and Paris is a legitimate relief for Rice at the one. Paris at the one and Rice at the two has been very effective late in the game. Spears has good and bad moments, but Oates has been a liability. He's too slow and not athletic enough. I think Blair has shown some improvment over last year, and I like his new more aggressive play. Roache is a good shooter, but can't handle the ball and is too slow on defense. Southern has played sparingly, and had flashes of good play, definitely no worse than Oates. As usual, I think Al is trying to settle on a 7-8 man rotation, but he needs to experiment with line ups a bit more. I'm optimistic that this team could win a few more than expected, but we're in huge trouble if Rice doesn't stay healthy.