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I actually think Davis guards the perimeter better than willams in terms of moving his feet laterally. Williams on the other hand will get beat on the dribble easily but often recovers by altering the shot from behind. Pros and cons to either of our bigs guarding outside. Trocha is actually probably a good fit defensively.

When it comes to guarding Robinson, we can use multiple guys due to our length. Hogg, Flagg, and Trocha could all guard Robinson and match his length as well.

It's March baby! Anything is possible. Effort and more "want to" go a long way this time of year. We have proven when Hogg and Williams show up dialed in with EFFORT we play well. Even if we shoot poorly.

He looks like the kid of a hedge fund manager. Privileged and entitled. I bet he loses it when things don't go his way.

I don't think we run m2m very much with two posts on the court at the same time. They will spread us out too much and we aren't great against the dribble drive actions...even less so with no bigs in the paint.

If I have to choose then I am only playing with one true post player (Williams or Davis) and not playing them both at the same time if I am in man. I would prefer Davis as I think he is the better all around player and will make less mistakes defensively.

I think we'll basically switch everything 3-5 so I'm not sure it makes much of a difference on who's guarding him at first. I'd assume it's Williams though.

Ya, removing one of our posts to match them would be a terrible move. Play the same tenacious D from yesterday and were fine.. and they have NOBODY that can guard our bigs.

I think this is in poor taste.

I could see us putting Hogg on him. He's not super quick like a guard, DJ does a pretty decent job of staying in front of bigger players and making them shoot over his length.

bobinator said:

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I think this is in poor taste.

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Edited

I thought about that, I actually think, in a vacuum, Hogg would be the best defender for him, but using Hogg on Wagner puts either Williams or Davis on a smaller quicker guy.

Thing is that everyone on the floor for Michigan can shoot threes, that's why I think we'll switch a lot to avoid getting picked and screened. If they had one guy who couldn't shoot or something then you could just stick Williams on him and have him stay in the paint, but they don't.

I would probably go with TD. Wagner spends a good amount of time on the peremiter/screening so it'd be nice to keep Williams down low for rim protection.

Thanks, I get that you're not serious so it's probably me being overly sensitive, but I'm sure it's something he hears a lot from opposing fans that I think we can be above.

I do stand by my otter pop comments

Amateur questions....

In watching Michigan play I understand they use a spread offense a lot. (Sounds like football...haha). Am I correct on that observation?

If so, how will that affect the way the Ags defend? more man to man or more zone .... I would assume zone??

(Just trying to learn)

agfan1030 said:

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In watching Michigan play I understand they use a spread offense a lot. (Sounds like football...haha). Am I correct on that observation?

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Yes. Beilein's teams have always utilized offensive-minded bigs that can play along the perimeter to stretch the defense. They'll take a ton of 3s, from multiple players, but they'll do it at a slower pace than the typical 3-pt heavy team.

Quote:

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If so, how will that affect the way the Ags defend? more man to man or more zone .... I would assume zone??

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Their "spread" offense stresses the defense by pulling defenders that normally play around the basketball towards the perimeter and make them defend smaller/quicker ball handlers. This also

A zone is a good way to combat this, by asking the individual defenders to cover less ground and not chase guys around the court. Even better is a man defense with multiple guys with length and above-average foot speed that can switch along the perimeter, which minimizes the # of wide open looks off of ball screens.

I actually really like like the idea of switching all screens.. kind of like the Rockets this year. Make them have to create space with the dribble drive, not by screening.

I think they're going to be a hard team to zone, too many good shooters.

But what you basically do is turn our man-to-man into a zone by switching 3-5.

If Starks and Davis are out of the game at the same time you might even try switching 1-5, not that I think that's a particularly good idea

Method Man said:

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Yeah man this level of hate based on looks isn't healthy. He's the only Michigan player that went over to the UH player and consoled him after the loss.

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Method Man said:

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Yeah man this level of hate based on looks isn't healthy. He's the only Michigan player that went over to the UH player and consoled him after the loss.

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Wasn't aware of that and clearly a high character kid. Still, to me that's what he looks like. Not trying to be an a-hole just good, competitive trash talk.

Carry on.

Michigan's shooters are not any more or less deadly than North Carolina's three-point shooters. Their offense is based on analytics. Which is to get layups, then to the line, then open three's. The bad news for Michigan is that they aren't shooting free throws very well for the year....but they have taken it up a notch on the defensive end.

I see them trying to double-team the post like UNC tried to do and make us hit contested three's...I don't think the gameplan changes for our opponents because that's the best way to play with us

Michigan used to run some 1-3-1 (I haven't watched many of their games this year). I wonder if they try pulling that out and make us have to pass through it for a couple of possessions.

I think UNC actually tried, unbelievably, to single the post at first, and we let them off the hook for the first ten minutes or so of the game.

I'm sure Michigan's plan for us will be what it should be for everyone that plays us. Double Davis in the post, stay between Williams and the basket, and pressure Starks. If we're patient with the ball on offense, we're going to get open looks from three, there's nothing anyone can do about that unless they have someone that can guard Davis one-on-one, which is unlikely.

Thank you for your patient and easily understandable answer and to the other comments.

Have the Ags defended a similar offense this season (with success)? I'm somewhat worried about such a different look. (Game last night actually gave me a stupid headache for awhile.)

Auburn has five shooters though Michigan is considerably taller than Auburn and Auburn plays at a much faster tempo. Michigan is an incredibly slow team. Oklahoma State is a little similar though again, they're faster.

The team we've played that, at least offensively, is most like them to me is probably Tennessee, though Grant Williams doesn't shoot outside very often. And we did not handle that game particularly well but Gilder and Wilson weren't anywhere close to 100% and Starks was still in the dog house.