Michigan Basketball: Tough Times And Coach Beilein

Posted at 11:00am — 1/31/2015

Michigan Wolverine Basketball: Tough Times And Coach Beilein

Stalingrad, Dunkirk, and Kursk have hit Michigan basketball in the last few months. The early exits, the injury to Caris LeVert, and a clearly long-term toe injury to Derrick Walton continue to erode Michigan’s firepower and offensive options.

John Beilein is the perfect guy to handle this situation. Someone like Bob Knight may or may not win more games in the stretch of the next six nasty assignments Michigan faces, however, no one will get the team through this stretch with more positive coaching, precision, poise, and, most importantly improvement. At the end of this gauntlet the guys may look worn out. To me wins in this stretch are like getting more house money.

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Thrust into major minutes by events of the day were Aubrey Dawkins and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, known to many as MAAR. The opinion here is that both have demonstrated there is a future in the program. Dawkins is taller and so far perhaps the better outside shot. MAAR is big for a guard, but he seems to possess the quickness of guys in the six-foot range. Michigan has lacked both inside and outside scoring, Dawkins can get hot from the outside and MAAR is showing a nice ability to get the ball inside for layups, pullups or kicks. Both are long in length and both clearly show the needed athleticism to play significant minutes in Division One. The only remaining question is how far the development progresses over the next few years.

This bad turn of events may or may not help the Wolverines in 2015-16. The belief here is LeVert would be going out on a big limb to declare for the NBA. Michigan will not have a superstar unless some late recruit falls out of basketball Valhalla. But Michigan could have a lot of well-tested, mechanical parts that finally have some experience.

Beilein is a unique coach, and it is his uniqueness and personal demeanor that will get this talent-challenged team through this stretch, win or lose. All coaches talk the mantra about winning every game and never being satisfied with a loss. Having said that, going 2-4 in this stretch may be a monster accomplishment. Size and talent will not favor Michigan through February.

Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

Beilein is a contextualist that is he knows the exact nature of his situation. He has made every choice in his coaching career regarding making the most out of the least. That comes from never being an assistant and coaching at stops where the Head Coach pretty much had to do everything. Beilein will analyze and put into place strategies that give him the best chance. The ball movement is much better since Caris went down to injury. This is not a knock on Caris; simply put, Caris getting having the ball and trying to make something happen was once upon a month ago Michigan’s best option. It is more enjoyable watching this team on offense, even if the shooting percentages and shot selection are still not glittering. The defense is relying on more zone combinations and that is helping somewhat. Michigan still has monumental breakdowns with inside penetration and failing to guard one or two passes away on the perimeter. All in all one must give credit to the low opposition scores yielded this month (excepting Ohio State). Someone may counter that most Big Ten games involve semi-mugging and have produced low scores in the 50 to 60 range.

Spike is now playing within his limitations much better. He could get to the hoop and score some points if the Big Ten actually called a hip now and then when he drives. He is small and gets cut off, even pushed out of bounds. But clearly fouls have been ignored by the conference. The big star would get some of those calls, that is the way it works. Zak Irvin is the type of player that can be somewhat reshaped but not placed into a different mold. He is trying to become more proficient in handling the ball and doing more than taking standing jump shots, so far with minimal success. Zak appears to be buying into the team approach; he simply has his moments due to lacking an all around game.

The prediction is that the Wolverines get hammered on the road and play the big teams tough at Crisler. But predictions can come apart. In this case however, there is little the Wolverines can produce to stop the top three or four teams in the conference. It is a little amazing that Michigan is sitting at 6-3 in the standings. But reality central is ahead, not just for one or two games, but also for an extended period of time. It could be brutal, but restating the primary theme: Beilein is the right guy to handle this stretch with the current squad.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

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