Michigan Basketball: No answer for the low post nightmares

Juwan Howard is sticking to his guns with his defensive philosophy for Michigan basketball, meaning the man in the post is left on an island.

It doesn’t take a basketball savant to understand what plagues the Wolverines defensively. Michigan Basketball‘s big man is left to his own devices in the paint, which occasionally results in career-high scoring nights for opposing centers and forwards.

And even when the system of sacrificing the two-pointer doesn’t seem to be working – as witnessed at Williams Arena in Minneapolis – Juwan doesn’t adjust. Howard believes the responsibility of defending the hoop is up to the individual, not the team.

“We know it’s not their philosophy to double in the post,” Minnesota’s Marcus Carr said. “That was pretty much the game plan from the start to get Dan the ball down there.”

There are upsides to his style. Michigan is ranked 40th in the country for opponent three-point percentage (29%) and sixth for three-pointers attempted by opponents (259).

Juwan isn’t going to give up the open shots from beyond the arc, especially without an answer. Isaiah Livers has been draining three’s all season until his groin injury left him out of the lineup. In his absence, Howard won’t let his team fall behind at the hands of sharpshooters.

But at what point do you shut off the facet? At what point to you employ a double team?

Iowa’s Luka Garza was unstoppable back in early December with his 44 points. Kofi Cockburn‘s relentless rebounds and 19 points helped the Fighting Illini take down the Wolverines. In East Lansing, Xavier Tillman bested Kofi with 20 of his own, and then Purdue’s Trevion Williams nearly led his team to victory in double overtime with 36.

Finally, Minnesota’s Daniel Oturu launched an assault that ended in a Gofer win over UM. His 30 points caused many to question why Juwan wouldn’t even consider altering his tactics.

When will it end, and what is the answer?

“I mean, I’ve just got to be more aggressive down low,” Teske later told the Free Press. “They’re getting a lot of easy looks that I bet I can take away, denying the post more from coaching it on the block to forcing them to catch it out farther. And just be more aggressive. There’s a lot of good Big Ten centers, and I’ve just got to be ready to play every night.”

It takes an honorable man to accept responsibility. It takes a saint to accept it even when it’s not entirely their fault.  Juwan must adjust to the personnel he has on hand until Livers is ready to go, and if he has a plan to do just that, he’s sure is keeping it close to his vest.

“Well, teams have played well. Bigs have done a phenomenal job of scoring against us,” Howard said. “Overall, I’m not going to tell you what our game plan is. I think you’ve been around me long enough to understand and realize that. I have a lot of coaches out there that’s listening. I listen to their press conferences too, see what I can find.”

Juwan’s strategy works, and it will work again – with minor tweaks – in the very near future as the team gets healthy and can run up the score to over 100 like we saw against Iowa. But when you’re sacrificing two points without a viable three-point shooter, you get Minnesota results.