John Beilein

[superjohn]

I've always like Beilein and think he's a really good coach but he seemed a bit clueless in the second half. Playing Spike Albrecht for almost the whole second half was ridiculous, kid was incredible in the first half but he was totally overmatched in the second. He also completely mismanaged the last minute.

 

[uconnbill]

I've always like Beilein and think he's a really good coach but he seemed a bit clueless in the second half. Playing Spike Albrecht for almost the whole second half was ridiculous, kid was incredible in the first half but he was totally overmatched in the second. He also completely mismanaged the last minute.

They looked lost when McGary went out of the game with his fourth foul. That was the turning point in the second half and Beilein was lost after that

 

[Gurleyman]

I've always like Beilein and think he's a really good coach but he seemed a bit clueless in the second half. Playing Spike Albrecht for almost the whole second half was ridiculous, kid was incredible in the first half but he was totally overmatched in the second. He also completely mismanaged the last minute.

The question in hindsight is after they lost the ball out of bounds on the rebound, do you take Burke out with his 4 fouls? That's what cost them 10-15 seconds. He was on the ball twice and didn't want to foul - and shouldn't have. It was too early to have him foul out. The flip side of the argument is that if you have a little time to trap and go for a steal, you want your go to guy on the floor if you end with a turnover. Plus he's a guy who could step in a passing lane. In hindsight, it worked against them because Ville was able to get the ball to his man twice.

 

[Fishy]

Beilein thought Michigan was in the bonus in the last minute and didn't want to foul immediately...

That is an epic mistake.

 

[intlzncster]

Beilein thought Michigan was in the bonus in the last minute and didn't want to foul immediately...

That is an epic mistake.

Exactly. Dumbest ever. They waited until Deng had the ball....so that Lville could inbound. Game was lost before that though.

Agree with the keeping Albrecht in their too long point. Beilein wanted the hot hand, but he looked gassed and reverted to the mean. Nic Stauskas didn't play enough either; he would have been a better match up on Hancock.

 

[nomar]

After Spike finally missed a 3, I said to my friends, "Get him out," but it took Beilein about another 8 minutes to figure that out. If he's not hitting all of his shots he's not helping. And then McGary was wasting away on the bench with 4 fouls. I won't criticize the Burke-on-the-bench thing, because I always stood by JC when he did it, but then again, he had a chance to stop the bleeding. And as Greg Anthony pointed out, a PG can usually avoid fouling if he wants to.

I really thought it was a coaching mismatch.

 

[Danzz]

They looked lost when McGary went out of the game with his fourth foul. That was the turning point in the second half and Beilein was lost after that

McGary's absence was the key to the game IMO.

 

[LeeOtisWilson]

Beilein thought Michigan was in the bonus in the last minute and didn't want to foul immediately...

That is an epic mistake.

A Boneyarder here thought he was a superb coach and I disagreed big time before the game

 

[Gurleyman]

After Spike finally missed a 3, I said to my friends, "Get him out," but it took Beilein about another 8 minutes to figure that out. If he's not hitting all of his shots he's not helping. And then McGary was wasting away on the bench with 4 fouls. I won't criticize the Burke-on-the-bench thing, because I always stood by JC when he did it, but then again, he had a chance to stop the bleeding. And as Greg Anthony pointed out, a PG can usually avoid fouling if he wants to.

I really thought it was a coaching mismatch.

Agree on Spike. They left Hardaway out a long time too after he took a bad three and had a baseline J rattle out.

As for Burke, Michigan led by 12 with 3:02 left in a timeout. No point in putting him in there. You're doing fine. Hancock hits a 3, Michigan goes to the line - makes one of two. Still not really bleeding.

Then bam-bam lead goes to 4 with 1:37 left. Michigan timeout. You could do it here, but you are talking about two more possessions in the half, and Burke is cold. At this point, the book says you should just hold the fort. McGary got a good shot out of that set and missed (my guess is they probably would have run the same play and gone to McGary even if they put Burke in).

Michigan then gave up an offensive rebound and Hancock hit another - and the lead was gone in less than two minutes. The stop the bleeding theory is usually when there's a slow steady stream of blood. This was just a sudden gusher. Putting Burke in with 1:37 left would have changed one possession - the Albrecht turnover that led to a dunk. Not really worth harping on if you're Anthony and Gottlieb. Unless you think he should have prescient enough to say - we're up 12, let me put my guy in now to counter these four threes in four possessions that are coming up next.

The one thing I found odd is that he was beaming in the halftime interview about what a great college basketball game it was. There should have been a little bit of angst about not guarding a guy and letting a 12-point lead disappear

 

[sparky]

McGary was overmatched with the quick jumping and overall quickness of the Cards. I think Bielein acted at half that he was happy to be there. His team gave up a 12pt lead in 3 min and he's beaming. The disruptineness of the Ville's guards caused the Mi. Guards to play out of control. There was an old time coach back in the 70' in Ky by the name of Jock Sutherland who coached a HS team that used a defense he called the" Junkyard D" where the guards ran behind and around just causing disruption all over the place. Dirk Minnifield was one of the guards and they had everyone looking over their shoulders. They'd come out of the floorbaords it seemed to get a steal or T.O. That's what Siva and Russ looked like last night.The # 1 seed did it's thing. Congrats to the Cards and The true Big East

 

[nomar]

Agree on Spike. They left Hardaway out a long time too after he took a bad three and had a baseline J rattle out.

As for Burke, Michigan led by 12 with 3:02 left in a timeout. No point in putting him in there. You're doing fine. Hancock hits a 3, Michigan goes to the line - makes one of two. Still not really bleeding.

Then bam-bam lead goes to 4 with 1:37 left. Michigan timeout. You could do it here, but you are talking about two more possessions in the half, and Burke is cold. At this point, the book says you should just hold the fort. McGary got a good shot out of that set and missed (my guess is they probably would have run the same play and gone to McGary even if they put Burke in).

Michigan then gave up an offensive rebound and Hancock hit another - and the lead was gone in less than two minutes. The stop the bleeding theory is usually when there's a slow steady stream of blood. This was just a sudden gusher. Putting Burke in with 1:37 left would have changed one possession - the Albrecht turnover that led to a dunk. Not really worth harping on if you're Anthony and Gottlieb. Unless you think he should have prescient enough to say - we're up 12, let me put my guy in now to counter these four threes in four possessions that are coming up next.

The one thing I found odd is that he was beaming in the halftime interview about what a great college basketball game it was. There should have been a little bit of angst about not guarding a guy and letting a 12-point lead disappear

Yeah, I didn't think all the hand-wringing about Burke was justified, but with 20/20 hindsight, Beilein probably should have gotten him in there. Or done something to stop the bleeding (which, as you point out, happened quite quickly). How about instructing his players to guard Hancock for one thing?

In any event, I do agree with you on Burke; it was Beilein's second-half coaching that cost them.

I also found his halftime interview strange, and I was blown away by how not blown away I was by his halftime speech. What is the opposite of fired up? Whatever it is, I was that.

And speaking of baffling coaching decisions, has anyone heard why Russ Smith was on the bench? Without a talent advantage, that could have backfired big-time on Pitino. Smith must have really mouthed off at halftime. I can't imagine Pitino benched his star player because he missed shots. (And while I'm rambling, let me point out that Russ Smith's 3 with a minute or so left -- right after Louisville had snagged an offensive rebound -- was possibly the stupidest shot I have ever seen in a Final Four game. Wow.)

 

[Inyatkin]

I agree to an extent on Spike, but on the other hand if he hadn't played as much the story would've been "How could he sit a guy who had 17 in the first half?"
Everything looks worse when you lose.