Michigan visitor guy said:
Will be happy to give you a take on us and would appreciate it if you can give a take on yoir squad as i know little about it:
1) it is a typical John Beilein team in that we are disciplined, dont turn the ball over and don't foul much.
2) it is an atypical JB team as our defense is better than our O. Usually a JB team tries to outrun and out gun you. This one will beat you up a bit. With that said, we arent exactly a shot blocking team. What we do is keep teams from getting inside in the first place both by cuttimg off passimg lanes and the dribble drive. Not sure of the post conference tourney rankings but as of our last game we were number 5 or 6 in the country in defensive efficiency.
3) This is a very deep team who can get (lots) of points from many different guys on any given night...including guys coming off the bench (we have the Big Ten 6th Man of the year award winner in Dumcan Robinson). With that said, we dont have that one take over the game guy who on a nightly basis just beats you by himself. The two closest are Mo Wagner and and Abdur-Rahkman. Mo is a big man who is athletic and scores inside and out. The comparison the media makes is to Drik Nowitzski...partly because they are both German but also because his game is actually quite similar (a "poor man's version"). MAAR is a slasher (sg) who can get to the rim and hit timely outside shots. He led the nation in assist to turnover ratio - when he is hitting his shots it opens up the floor and thats when we go on rums because everyone starts scorimg since he will happily give up the ball to open guys.
4) Other players of note: Charles Mathews is our enigma. He is a lottery pick talent and body. However, sometimes he plays like he has never picked up a basketball in his e
life. Our pg is a true frosh named Zavier Simpson. Not a great shooter but a fantastic defender, a pretty good passer and has a knack for making plays. Livers (a true frosh) is the 5th starter and a future star but not yet. Off the bench is Ribinson who is our best shooter and can hjt from anywhere on the court. Poole is a spark plug who can take over a game (be our best player) when he is one but is a true freshman who oftern plays like one. When Teske comes in it changes the way we play (he tends to come in for Wagner who we run our O though...when Teske is in we play more on the perimeter). He is a big...well actually our biggest man who isnt quite a threat to score (besides cleaning up) but gives us a defensive presence in the middle. Simmons was a two year starter in the MAC who transfered in, expecting to start, and has accepted his role of giving us valuable minutes at the point with little letdown.
5) Weaknesses: we are a pretty bad FT team. Sometimes makes it hard to close out games amd allows teams back into games. We are long and athletic but not exactly a big team...size cam challenge us. While having a lot of guys who can put up points is a good thing...so is having that one guy who consistently takes over games. We don't have that. You will hear the media talk about how we are 3pt shooting team. That is based on legacy. This team can hit 3s but not like past teams.
Looking forward to hearimg about your team
This give me some hope to be honest! Our biggest weakness is shooting, and height. Teams try and beat us by packing the paint and just daring us to take as many 3's as we want. We were kicking the crap out of Stanford then went to final 10 min with on a few free throws lol. Also we lack height, for being a team built on D we can get burned by the 3 because while you won't get by us, some teams can just shoot over us. We also lack height down low, both our tallest guys are 6'8", but I say height because we don't lack size, our two post players make of for thier lack of height by being bowling ball thick, you can shoot over them but if your post guy is skinny you are not going to move them.
Also you said your team is very good in transition D(Or could have been a different post by Mich Fan kinda responding to a couple post from Mich peeps here), but the griz only try and run off turnovers otherwise they really have no designs on running up and down, since we can't shoot 3's we love to get the ball down low then look for a kick out and slash to rim or 15ft J if initial look isn't there.
You said your team like to force guys inside, but our PG Rorie's best shot is the mid range jumper and our SG Oguine is the best slash in the bigsky and our PF Pridgett is best on offense when he is playing a face up style of game and our two big guys only shoot when under the basket so you won't need to convinces not to run in transition and take 3pt shots.
We might actually match up ok with you guys it seems, but usually it teams that can shoot that can pull off upsets because that can neutralize the size difference, but Moorhead is probably our only guy that could shoot around the arc in practice and hit 15 3's in a row lol.
Our Rotation
PG-Rorie = Super steady bit undersized loves pull J from inside the arc, never gets in foul trouble, rattles every FT but somehow shoot 93%, solid driver, great stamina will play 40min without gettting tired. Is good for about 15pts against anyone, but also not a great shooter so while he's steady he not going to explode for 38pts either. Yeah he's steady not great 3pt shooter but expect about 1of3 to go in.
SG-Oguine = Kinda like our Christian McCaffery just does it all. Really smooth to the hoop easily the best driver of anyone he has been on the court with this year. Great jumper so he loves to hunt rebounds. Not a great shooter, but he can get on a streak, unlike Rorie when he's shooting from 3pt you expect him to go 1-5 or 4-5. While not a great 3pt guy he has improved a lot and likes taking them so he's either going all the way to rim or taking a 3pt....or getting about 10pts of put backs each game lol! BigSky D player of the year although frequently he wont guard really quick type scorers, not that he can't but I think we can't afford to have him in foul trouble so he usually tries to lock down the less athletic scoring option or the guy who plays off the ball.
PF-Moorhead and Pridgett = Moorhead is glue guy who is prone to being up and down can shoot the 3 some nights but can also turn it over and dribble into trouble a lot...he's mainly good on D where his 6'7" can be tough on guards that want to shoot the 3 ball. Pridg is a Pac12 talent who loves to play a face up game and rebound, really strong and under control around the rim
C- Akoh and Kriz = both 6'8" bowling balls that are fundamentally sound, can miss some easy post shots at times cause not terribly skilled and lack touch, but both much improved and by the end of the year really steady. Both pretty ground bound so wont block your shot, instead use weight to keep arms up and don't get moved off spot...we've had some 7fters just shoot over them if they are skilled, but if they are skinny they are going to have a tough time getting close enough to the hoop. These guys love to pass between each other. Both guys you are happy to see go to line, not great but not sad they didn't just get the bucket instead.
Bench guys.
Nicholas = 6'9" Fr C who is most athletic and gifted low post guy we got, just this team demands you play unfaltering D and he picks up a lot of Fr fouls so he tends to see limited minutes if our upperclassmen aren't in foul trouble...also like literally 12/36 from FT line!
Timmy Falls = pretty weak and can be over powered out there at times, but he plays with a lot of energy and confidence (tries to make every pass a highlight to often) and he's got good hops, more often a positive impact or neutral when he comes in.
Team
Love to play slow half court game and work ball low or slash to rim or slash for pull up 15footers. All 8 guys in our rotation can be 15pt guys, nobody that's going to go off for 40 but with this team you are never wishing that the starters come back in because they all have upside to be the guy that day scoring wise.
On D love to extend pressure and double off ball screens and force turnovers, you can shoot over guys but won't get around them and wont get alot of offensive boards