agfan1030 said:

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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.)

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To me, the defining characteristics for Michigan's offense are:
-very slow pace (#311 nationally)
-a bunch of 3PA (#59)
-no turnovers (#4)


additionally, they're an above average 3pt shooting team (#117) and really great inside the arc (#42), but they don't take a lot of shots around the rim (#301), which all leads to a low # of FTAs (#257). They don't really look for shots out of their transition offense (#180) and they don't like to crash the offensive glass (#270) so they really want to play straight up each possession and try to out-execute you, instead of relying on athletic advantages - which they don't have.


Through the lens of pace of play (with 3PA and TO% as secondary measures), they are very similar to Vanderbilt, but they shoot the ball much better and don't turn it over as much

Focusing on 3PA (with tempo & TO% secondary), they resemble Mizzou, but again they shoot the ball better and are the complete opposite on # of turnovers. They also don't crash the offensive glass as well as mizzou. Mizzou also plays at a pretty slow pace and utilizes a 3pt shooting center to stretch the defense.

Looking at TO%, the best comp is Florida. They don't rebound many of their misses, they don't get to the line. Both teams are above average shooting the 3 and shoot them frequently. Florida plays much quicker, but doesn't have as good a halfcourt offense.

I guess Mizzou would be the best comp, but they aren't nearly as good as Michigan has been this year. ff you ignore pace of play, Florida is probably the best comp

You compared Michigan to 3 seperate SEC East teams. One with 12 wins, one with 21 wins, and one with 20 wins. Michigan is definitely a 3 point shooting team, but unlike previous Beilein teams, this team does necessarily live or die by the 3. I do however thing that for the Wolverines to win this game, they are going to have to hit open shots and run pick and rolls to the basket.

TAMU's size and length is pretty scary, ill be honest. Michigan State and Purdue are probably the only two teams we have played this year that are just massive down low. If Michigan continues to play how they have in the previous two games of the tourney, this might get ugly and your Aggies might be into the E8.

However, as crappy as Michigan has been playing. Here is a somewhat wild stat though:

Michigan has won 11 straight games.

All 11 were vs. KenPom Top 100.

Nine vs. KenPom Top 75.

Six vs. KenPom Top 50.

Four vs. KenPom Top 20

Two vs. KenPom Top 10.

Nine were outside Ann Arbor.

Nine were won by 9+ points.


PS- Miss Rev approves this message.

Quote:

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I think people are locking in on the three point thing because that's been our perceived weakness this year defensively is when a team has multiple shooters. Also because we're elite at blocking shots.

Michigan may not live or die by the three, but I think it's a safe prediction that if they struggle from beyond the arc then A&M fans have reason to believe we've got a good shot to win this game.

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Of the 16 teams remaining, only Villanova is more reliant on the 3pt shot than Michigan. And only 3 high major teams that made the tournament were more reliant on the 3 than Michigan. Live/die by the 3 may not be the right phrasing, if someone used that, but they most definitely derive a lot of success on offense from taking a lot of them. And they also focus on limiting 3PA on defense.

Beilein is smart, he knows the math and his team's physical advantages/disadvantages, so the approach makes a lot of sense