Warde and Juwan comment on the season and future
Warde:
Michigan basketball went 8-24 and finished in last place in the Big Ten, which was “not the season we expected,” Manuel admitted Wednesday. But the AD said he was heartened by the effort the Wolverines showed in the face of their struggles.
“The effort never backed off, and for that I am proud,” Manuel said
Howard:
“There are going to be a lot of decisions made when the season ends -- obviously the season just ended. We'll regroup tomorrow, and we will sit down and talk as a staff on our needs, our wants. At the same time, we're going to do a great job -- I trust we will do a great job in executing that plan,” he said.
Howard later added: “I look forward to coaching next year.”
"I hope my team doesn't improve so that they fire the guy I don't like."
Look I don't want Howard back anymore than you do but this is a terrible and self-defeating thought process.
I dont think there is anything wrong with not wanting to prolong what we know is not going to be successful. In a sense its just being deceptive and focus on feelings instead of facts if he is kept for another year.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:09 PM ^
Rip off the Band Aide; don’t tug at it bit by bit.
So you would rather have a team that wallows in mediocrity in a good year? But most years stews in the slime pits of the underarms of the B1G cellar? That’s where this program is currently and its ceiling with JH is likely 15-17 wins with a stacked team.
I liked the hire when it was made but we have enough of a sample to know this isn't going to work. Don't let a dead cat bounce prolong what is eventually going to happen.
It’s called ripping the bandaid off rather than slowly and painfully peeling.
as my FIL says, 'quick and painful is better than slow and painful'.
wise words.
Um, Warde…your coach already admitted that the effort isn’t there.
So the problem is obvious here. Nobody ever taught Warde the definition of the word effort. It all makes sense now.
Underrated comment right here
I’m glad he’s looking forward to coaching next season. The rest of us sure aren’t looking forward to that.
Juwan has had a few off-putting passive aggressive comments in pressers this year, and his comment about "I didn't know I was being interviewed at this time" when asked if he should be back next year is another one.
Dude just does not want to keep any of the good will he's built up and dude is not handling the pressure well.
March 14th, 2024 at 10:09 PM ^
Spot on - insecurity and takes himself too serious.
Warde is just delusional if he truly thinks that, even early the season before things got ugly the effort on defense and the boards was severely lacking. And then after that there was more or less none.
What does anyone expect him to say?
"I'm clearly way over my head here and am not the right guy for the job."
Howard can say whatever he wants and I wouldn't expect him to say anything differently than what he did, but I would rather Warde not spew delusional nonsense. I am not concerned about Howard, I am concerned about the guy who needs to do what needs to be done, but clearly has some kind of delusional viewpoint that might prevent him from doing so.
This is not a good sign of things to come. Totally delusional view from Warde. He is proud of the effort. Doom!
A sense of accountability would've been nice.
“The effort never backed off, and for that I am proud" Must be talking about those under 1 minute, down a bunch time outs Howard likes to use.
What are the key issues that Michigan basketball is facing?
To me, it seems as if the team is not fundamentally sound. One statistic that may reflect that is - the assist to turnover ratio. Certainly, player acquisition / roster management is a key item too - and, having enough depth at a position like point guard is essential.
I'm a dyed in the wool Michigan fan (and alum too). WHO the coach is doesn't matter to me - I'll always cheer Michigan's teams on. It does make it easier - or more interesting - when those teams are competitive and (ideally) successful.
The men's hoops team has been on a negative trajectory - and, it doesn't seem like there are plans for the ship to be righted.
P.S. - John Beilein was a great coach / leader at Michigan. I think Warde and Michigan Athletics would be well served if someone reached out to John and asked - "Can you help us assess Michigan's basketball team?" There's enough cash in the bank to engage Beilein as a consultant for a few weeks / months to accurately capture what this team needs to do - besides "everything".
Maybe he could help scouting high school guards that aren’t undersized.
Darius Morris enters the chat.
If Warde brings Howard back this would be no different than if Hoke was somehow brought back after 2014. If this is any indication though Warde is trying to talk himself into doing it with some warped viewpoint of what effort actually looks like.
Hoke was somehow brought back after 2013
This made me doubt myself enough to look it up, but Hoke was fired after the 2014 season.
You are correct, it was 2014, but the point and comparison does remain the same.
We'll still be national champions in football by the time next basketball season starts.
Dismissal of a failed basketball coach prior to the end of the season would be an indicator of effort on the part of UM's primary rival.
Getting this late in the afternoon the day after that season without Howard's dismissal would indicate a lack of effort from the UM AD.
what are you all so worried about? its fine. totally fine and looking better every second.
totally.
fine.
Hey! Back to the future III, I like that movie.
It's no Dune 2, but I concur. 😉
The wants and needs should begin and end with guards and wings with perimeter skills. We are sorely lacking both. I do not really see a viable path to fixing this problem to the degree that the team is competitive next year.
And multiple point guards.
I dont expect the AD to say anything groundbreaking in a post-game interview like this, but just funny he is proud of the effort of one of the worst teams in Michigan basketball history, the clear worst team in the B1G, and one of the worst teams in all of high major basketball. The word pride is probably the last word that should be used in any capacity when talking about this ALL TIME TERRIBLE team.
The results on the court, and the ways in which this team was losing, don't show a lot of pride. Maybe that's not fair of me to say, but sorry fellas, you're freaking 8-24. You got blown out on a regular basis and looked horrendous in the process. You don't have much space to justifiably defend your level of play.
Brady Hoke had some bad teams at the end of his tenure, but you could tell they at least played and fought for their pride, particularly against OSU. Devin Gardner getting sacked over and over and beaten to hell like a moldy rag doll, but kept getting up over and over and going right back to the huddle. Got benched, and then was asked to come back a week later when his replacement wasn't any better. As far as we can tell, never complained. Gave arguably the most heroic performance I've ever seen from any Michigan QB, EVER, against OSU in 2013. Had that final play gone the other way, I'd say he goes down as having the greatest individual performance by any Michigan player of any era. Especially considering the circumstances.
Those 2013-2014 teams weren't very good, but they had pride and they showed up despite being grossly outmatched. They'll always have my respect for that.
The more of this stuff I read the more the contrarian in me wants Juwan to come back, full of fire. He recruits a competitive roster out of the portal after everyone leaves, makes a change or two to his staff to put renewed focus on defense, the new recruits look promising, Michigan has a solid season.
Sure, it's not at all likely, but it would be fun, if only because of the Juwan haters.
It's also not like it is impossible. Get a few replacement level guys and one to three legitimately good college players and you can be at least a mid-pack B1G team. With a few breaks, you could be better than that. It just depends on what is available in the portal. Michigan should be attractive to a lot of guys looking to uptransfer or who are looking for more PT, since lots of roster spots and lots of PT will be available. Dial up a lil' NIL, focus on guys who can be admitted and suddenly next year starts looking different.
But sure, fire Juwan, fire Warde, rabble rabble rabble.
What you propose is what he tried to do this year, while leaving scholarships open btw.
Warde's response is whatever. That's what you say publicly as a leader. 'The players played hard and I'm proud of them' etc etc.
I hope he is preparing to dismiss Juwan tomorrow. I don't know why he didn't do it today or yesterday
I'd argue that a leader would say something along the lines of, "The players played hard and that they, the university, and fans all deserve better."
Possibly one of the biggest head coach failures is sabotaging Sanderson, first by ending his off season training regimen, and then enabling snobby, entitled players to be above above their strength and conditioning coach.
It used to be quite interesting to see players after off season "Camp Sanderson," with the gains that they made. It was quite ironic, too, to see Hunter Dickinson looking the same before camp as after, standing next to guys that obviously had gains.
So, the physical regimens appear to be disregarded, and maybe academics, too. How else does one explain how a key starter becomes ineligible to travel due to academic failure. It's pretty unthinkable given the resources extended to players.
Players quitting in the second half of games is the loser's trifecta.
Our team fails in mind, body, and spirit. What's the plan to change all of that, especially as the coach refers to his own method as s***?
The effort never backed off?
In which games? I sure saw a lot of double digit blowouts being handed to Michigan from a very down Big Ten, against a lot of teams that are otherwise not great shooting teams.
Its one thing to just soften the blow and not outright insult the players publicly. But this statement sure seems like a direct contradiction to what the rest of us saw.
I'm sure these are good kids at heart, but when you go 8-24, at some point effort just has to be questioned. This is not a situation of Southwest Montana State moving up to the Big Ten where they are just so vastly outclassed from a talent perspective every night that talent and physical abilities are the sole reason why you are where you are, despite giving your best effort.
There is talent on this team. Not a lot of it, but enough to be better than 8-24. Enough to contend for a tournament spot if it were coached well enough. But at some point, either you are being coached that poorly, or you just don't give enough of a s**t. Or, possibly both.
Maybe he only watched the 1st half of games
Reports are Vanderbilt is about to fire Stackhouse. The Commodores went 9-23 and in his five years never made the tourney. The last time Vandy lost as many games was in 2019 they fired their coach.
Let's rearrange the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic. Oh, by the way, have the band play on the main deck.
It's very difficult to see what this MBB did right vs what they wrong this season but Warde and Juwan managed to find a few things that they can build on.
Didn't Juwan have heart surgery this year and miss part of the season because of it? Just saying.
19-20 19-12
20-21 23-5
21-22 19-15
22-23 18-16
23-24 8-24
The trajectory isn't great, but in 21 and 22, an extra player or a few better bounces...
We really have to stop with the idea that they were unlucky in the previous seasons. They performed bad in close games consistently because they were bad. They collapsed multiple times in the second half, it's not like they were losing off buzzer beaters or anything.
Also the idea that Terrance Shannon is LeBron and was the cure for everything is just crazy to me. The previously teams were talented, but they had awful roster construction and awful coaching. They were talented enough to win. This year's team is awful construction-wise and not very talented.
It was shocking that people thought this team would be better simply because they didn't like Dickinson's personality.
March 15th, 2024 at 11:23 AM ^
An extra player? are you kidding me?
If we only had Michael Jordan, we would have won more games. Cool.
Better bounces? How bout the bounces they control.. like dribbling into turnovers and travelling.
Coaches are already getting fired, so let’s make a decision here Warde instead of waiting until all the good and gettable options have already been snapped up.
March 15th, 2024 at 11:25 AM ^
You must be new to the department. we all know they will drag this shit out while changes are happening in real time.
Scenarios:
1. They fire Juwan in a pointlessly dignified (in their eyes) way in May after the whole season ends. Stupid.
2. They say Juwan is returning and somewhere in the summer, the backlash is so bad that they reverse course and we play with an interim coach (i wonder if we could even find 12 scholarship players).
3. They keep Juwan and he's let go before the end of the year after we start 1-9.
These all suck, and yet they're all more plausible than just ending this now.