Michigan Wins Ugly Tournament Opener Over Minnesota
Hideous.
Rancid.
Horrific.
Just small adjectives to describe the disaster in shorts I just watched. Up 16 midway through the 2nd Michigan allowed Minnesota to claw its way within six points of the lead. Then. Somehow. Michigan kept its composure and went on to win by nine.
So many things to nit pick and so little time. Lester Abram went 1-10 contributing 3 points and 5 fouls. Put mildly he is currently the worst player on the team. It pains me to say this, because I know how hard he fought to come back from injury and how much he cares about this school and team, but he shouldn't be on the floor. Period.
What has Udoh done to warrant a demotion? He saw 16 minutes of playing time but not the ball. Two weeks ago he was Michigan's best player, now he rides the pine. I don't get it. Further proof the Amaker cannot coach or identify a strength.
DeShawn Sims was surprisingly successful today. Which is good. He hasn't shown much all year. 7 boards and 8 points it 14 minutes, and I don't care if it is Minnesota, is important. He did some dirty work around the basket, cleaned up bad shots and pounded the defensive boards.
Jerret Smith continued his one man play of Jekyll and Hyde. 4 assists and 4 turnovers (the ugly kind). One basket, but he continually drew fouls and drove to the hoop.
This was a hideous game, but it was still a win. We'll see how they play tomorrow against a rested Buckeye team. If they play anything like today it'll be a 30 point loss.
Michigan's play was less than confidence inspiring. The best part of the game was listening to Lavin and Musberger try valiantly to polish the turd being laid in front of them into a diamond, then finally give up and come as close to openly mocking two teams on national television as I have ever heard. You know Brent's flask was empty at the end of the game.
It was that bad to watch. With the exception of an open the 2nd half run that put Michigan up 16, there was no flow to the offense. Michigan athletically dominated Minnesota but couldn't get enough shots to fall to put the game away. Minnesota took advantage of Michigan's inability to defend multiple picks and curled their way to the basket enough times to make you dizzy.
On the other hand Michigan dominated the glass, kept turnovers to a relative minimum (15), and drove the lane. Positives to take into the next game.
Still, if this is the way the team plays in "desperation"/"no tomorrow" type games, you have to cringe when you think about the match up with Ohio State.