Michigan 6.5 pt underdog Monday against Nova

Submitted by ThatGuyCeci on
6.5 pt underdogs Monday night. Head says nova, heart says UM. I got Michigan 72-69.

JBE

April 1st, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^

Who started this idea? Simpson will be on Brunson, and it’ll be an interesting matchup. We know what Z can do, but Brunson is a crafty PG with a ton of experience. If you do put Matthews on Brunson who to you put Z on: Bridges, Booth? That seems not ideal.

BlueWon

April 1st, 2018 at 9:17 AM ^

Z covered Miles Bridges and pretty much shut him down twice this year.

It's worth consideration or maybe just to mix things up if Brunson starts hoisting threes from deep. Mathews would shut him down both inside and outside.

JBE

April 1st, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^

The difference is Mikal and Miles are completely different players, with Mikal being a much more efficient shooter from 2 and 3 - His numbers from 3 (43%) are actually better to those of Brunson (41%) this season, although he does take less. I’d rather have a 6-3 try to raise up and shoot over Z than a 6-6 guy.

Miles you could bully into taking the midrange shots when he couldn’t drive on Z, because he can’t hit 3s (36%) and all his damage is done at the rim. Mikal not so much. He’d get clean looks from 2 and 3 rising over Z all night, and that’s not great, because he hits both with great effiency. Mikal doesn’t need to get to the rim to score.

BlueWon

April 1st, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^

And Z didn't give in to Bridges at the rim, either. The fact is Z largely erased a top 12 or so NBA pick who is, what, 6" taller than him (if not more).

It seems like you're arguing both sides of the coin.

Brunson is the straw that stirs Nova's drink. If Z can't handle him it would makes since to throw some size at him and make him a passer. I think Mathews would shut him down.

JBE

April 1st, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^

But that’s what I’m saying. Z was on Miles so he couldn’t get to the rim, which is his greatest strength, because he’s not that efficient otherwise. It was taking away a player’s greatest attribute. Mikal is efficient at exactly what Miles is not - Miles would never beat us shooting the ball from Midrange and three, because, frankly, it’s not a strong point of his game - and Mikal doesn’t ever need to get to the rim to do considerable damage. What would Z take away from Mikal, other than Matthews height to possibly contest Mikal’s shots? Also Brunson has the experience to still run the point with Matthews on him. He’s often dealt with larger defenders on him in the Big East, so Brunson couldn’t post up and all that, and he still was efficient. Simpson attemting to harass Brunson for steals all game seems like a better plan. Giving better looks to Mikal is not a good game plan. We shall see.

BlueWon

April 1st, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^

but Brunson likes to run the offense in the lane and out of the post. KU. maybe not by design, often ended up with two guys on him down in the paint and block.

If Z can't handle him down there then Mathews should get a shot.

Frankly, a lot of what Brunson does to create space in the post should be called offensive fouls. Z's really strong, stronger than Brunson, so maybe he'll forestall it.

I'd love to know the true heights of both. Z is listed at 6' and Brunson at 6'3" which are both BS. My guess is they are within an inch or so of each other.

JBE

April 1st, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^

Definitely. Z causing problems for Brunson in the lane seems ideal. If he harasses him and does his pit bull thing, and Brunson can’t drive to the basket, Brunson could get nullified in the lane, which really will impact their drive and dish to all the shooters offense. There are zero point guards in the Big East that are stronger defenders than Z, and maybe in the country, and If Nova wins from Brunson posting up and shooting over Z, so be it. As noted, Z is also tall enough to contest Brunson’s three, and I’d rather take my chances with that than Bridges rising up over him at anytime and getting basically uncontested looks.

ijohnb

April 1st, 2018 at 3:23 AM ^

played poorly on Saturday but Monday is a brand new chance to bring it. He closed the game with stifling D and that is what we will need against Nova. No reason to be all down on the guy. He had a bad day but the team picked him up. And Loyola was playing some really good defense. Credit to them for taking us out of our game.

In reply to by ijohnb

BlueWon

April 1st, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^

at money time last night. His defense was suffocating and he became a distributor on offense. In the first half he took the bait and tried driving into traffic and was a TO machine.

TrueBlue2003

April 1st, 2018 at 12:37 AM ^

Bill Self showed once again why he's never considered a very good x's and o's coach.

Villanova shoots a lot of threes.  They're really good at it.  That's the one thing you have to try to take away.  Kansas helped way too aggressively, played too far off and gave them so many threes.  Just a terrible effort and gameplan.

Kansas has actually been pretty bad at defense this year (47th in kenpom).  And they were terrible at limiting opponent 3 pointers (235th).  So they played their usual game instead of taking their five full days of practice to come up with a gameplan appropriate for the opponent.  Bad coaching job by Kansas.

We'll do a much better job on Nova even with just one full day to go over things.  We're actually built pretty well to stop Nova because we play up on teams, limit three pointers and have the perimeter defenders in Z, MAAR and Matthews to be able to stay in front of guys without needing help.

I'm slightly worried about actually playing a team that has a 5 that can shoot.  We'll see how Moe and Teske play that.

bronxblue

April 1st, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^

I can say with some certainty that Bill Self is a mediocre coach and a very good/probably dirty as hell recruiter. In college, that can get you a title and a bunch of wins, but most college basketball fans outside of Lawrence Kansas would agree that Self isn't a guy who is going to out-coach you too often.