Matt Hoover
Some of you might think
that this game is sort of a random way to kick off our “Thoughts from Games”
feature especially since it isn’t even the marquee college matchup of the night
(UNC @ Indiana), there’s a top five matchup tomorrow night (OSU @ Duke), and
the SEC Championship Game (‘Bama-Georgia) is this weekend. So why this game?
Coming into the season, I circled this matchup because I felt that both of
these teams were overrated in preseason polls. Like, Jim-Valvano-speech-level
overrated. (Seriously, you don’t have to cry every day. Why would anyone think
that’s a good idea?) NC State has already been exposed, getting crushed by Oklahoma
State and barely escaping UNC-Ashville. Michigan has a weak non-conference
schedule; their only close game thus far was with a somewhat decent Pitt team.
This is their first and only real test until conference play. We’ll see what
happens…
I guess Michigan is
getting so hyped up early on this year because this is Beilein’s best
three-point shooting team yet in his tenure at Michigan and his system is so
dependent on long range shooting. They don’t really run sets; they just swing
the ball around the perimeter and either take a three or drive if someone has a
wide opened lane.
First half is in the
books. This Stauskas kid lit it up. Really, Michigan’s whole offense lit it up,
shooting 55% from the field, 39% from beyond the arc, and 6/6 from the line.
While they have a lead tonight, this Michigan offense isn’t always going to be
hitting such a high percentage of their shots. State’s defense was pretty bad
at points, and if Beilein thinks that his team is going to get this many
uncontested looks against Indiana, OSU, or Michigan State, he has another thing
coming.
Also, how ugly are
these neon puke shirts that the Michigan students are donning? Who decided on
this color? Ray Charles? My eyes hurt.
NC State didn’t look
too bad on offense (against an unathletic Michigan defense, granted), but their
defense was abysmal at times. I can’t tell if they’re in a matchup zone type
thing or really bad man, but it’s not working. Also, its almost unfair how much
more athletic CJ Leslie is than everyone else on the court tonight. He’s the
only disruptive rebounder on either one of these teams.
Would it really be too
much to ask for there to be a third good team in the ACC one year? And I don’t
mean a team like Florida State last year that comes on strong at the end. I
mean a team that’s not Duke or North Caroline being consistently good all year.
It’s absurd how much those two carry the conference. It’s going to be weird
next year when Syracuse is in the ACC and there is another good team. But I
digress.
So the game is over
now. Let’s take a look at how bad State’s defense was. Michigan shot 50% from
the floor as a team, and State only forced 6 turnovers the whole game. State
does not deserve to be a top 25 team. This game was also way too close at the
end for me to believe that Michigan is anywhere close to the third best team in
the country. They’ll struggle in conference play, and their weak non-conference
schedule won’t help them in the long run. They played pretty well at points
tonight, but they’re offense looked abysmally bad at other points. I still don’t
like this team, and while they’re not as overrated as NC State was in the preseason,
I can’t imagine they’re one of the ten best basketball teams in the country.
Well that concludes our
first “Thoughts from Games” thing. I think it went okay. Enjoy the rest of the
ACC/Big 10 Challenge (I’m pretty sure no one else cares about it except me),
and remember to never give money to the V foundation. It’s for chumps.
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