UConn vs Michigan (Championship)

[jackanddanny8]

Am I the only one here who wonders who Yaxel can guard? Whoever he’s guarding is gonna run him through so many motions. Who can he keep up with in UConn’s offense? That leg didn’t feel better this morning. I don’t think they can play him, as he’d be too much of a defensive liability. It may take half the first half before they realize he’s hurting more than helping, but if he’s moving the same or worse than last night, AK, Mullins, Ross, Stewie and Ball (whoever he’s guarding) are going to be getting WIDE open 3’s. He’s gotta play defense against UConn. Hurley will challenge his mobility early and often, unlike Arizona post injury. If he’s all better I suppose we’ll see that right away too.

 

[Kemba15]

He averages 16 and 7 on 47% shooting (and 73% from the line). He's very good. He's only 21. He's not in the top 100 most efficient players and he's not yet "nearly unstoppable."

Anyway, I think he'll be better than that tier (other than Acuff, who I think has a chance to be better than you're giving him credit for). But I still think for reasons I've given he's probably be drafted behind a a number of those players.

I think we're mostly talking past each other, so no need to keep going. We both think Castle is really good. We both think 24 UConn is better than 26 Michigan.

17-7-5 are Castle’s averages while being a top 2-3 wing defender in the league. Bill Simmons said the other day he’s considering voting him for 3rd team all NBA. His time is coming

 

[Irvine]

I'd like to hear a bit more analysis than "we have championship dna" by the experts.... and frankly opposing coaches

Our experience is a meaningful factor and shouldn’t be overlooked. I’ve also heard that our deliberate tempo and structured half-court sets are better suited to facing Michigan than Arizona’s up-tempo style. We’re less likely to concede easy fast-break opportunities, and Michigan’s players will have to work relentlessly - chasing our shooters and navigating through constant screens.

Additionally, we have multiple players who, on any given day, are capable of knocking down threes and keeping the game within reach.

 

[HW611]

It was always a debate about which team was more loaded.

You're only looking at Castle as a 3 pt shooter. His 3 pt shooting isn't that great in the NBA either. Now look at his all around offensive game. He is incredibly proficient. He's nearly unstoppable.

Castle in the NCAAT was fantastic.

I'd take him ahead of Flemings, Wagler, Brown, and Acuff. These are the type of players who come into the NBA after flashing in college but they don't translate immediately and certainly can't expect them to make All NBA teams.

The NBA is filled with Andrew Wiggins types. Wiggins was better than all of the players named above. And he's a good NBA guy, but he'll never make 3rd team All NBA. He is fringe for the All-Star game. One of the top 40-50 NBA players. But never a top 15 guy.

That's where Castle is going to be.

Only 1 or 2 of those guys come along every draft. Maybe this year has 3 or 4 of those guys. Who knows.

Two things can be true at once.

Castle will probably be a better pro than all of those guys.

But if they were all in the same class Castle would be picked behind them. I think Castle could’ve been a freshman AA on a team (or even with us) who put the ball in his hands and asked him to run the offense. But in the situation he was in here, he probably doesn’t even go top 10 in this draft.

 

[caw]

My thing is this if Yaxel is hobbled and not himself and Mara gets in foul trouble Michigan is going to look pretty ordinary. I like Tarris v Johnson in the post all day. Arizona was putrid on defense leaving guys wide open all over the place and Bradley getting into foul trouble killed them. That kid was the heart and soul of that team. We have a chance. My only concern is can Reed score on Mara in the post. If he cant we could be in big trouble especially if we arent hitting from the outside. If he can score on the inside and even gets Mara in foul trouble forcing May to sit him for extended time that changes the game dramatically. Mara is the key to this game.

Mara doesn't really foul a lot. He isn't as good at it but he plays similar to Kauk in how he uses his length without fouling. Not as deep of a drop as Edey/Kauk but who does. That said Mara also isn't really used to playing a ton, he can but he doesn't usually.

One thing from watching Zona play is how caught up in trying to run with Michigan. Unless the guards can completely dominate Michigan's guards, that is a losing strategy. On that...

They also finally got caught without having a real backup for Bradley. I mean they were down when he got his third but it was only 32-23. By the time he got back in, in the second half it was 48-32. Then Bradley got his fourth foul at the 18:32 mark and didn't get back in until the 13:02 mark. It was 66-45 at that point.

Michigan would have probably still won by a good margin but I don't think it would have been as bad as it was.

Finally, Zona started really jogging early in the second half. They had no fight to get back in it. Peat and Burries even just started jogging back on defense on a few plays. There was no sense of urgency at all.

 

[RuffRuff]

It was always a debate about which team was more loaded.

You're only looking at Castle as a 3 pt shooter. His 3 pt shooting isn't that great in the NBA either. Now look at his all around offensive game. He is incredibly proficient. He's nearly unstoppable.

Castle in the NCAAT was fantastic.

I'd take him ahead of Flemings, Wagler, Brown, and Acuff. These are the type of players who come into the NBA after flashing in college but they don't translate immediately and certainly can't expect them to make All NBA teams.

The NBA is filled with Andrew Wiggins types. Wiggins was better than all of the players named above. And he's a good NBA guy, but he'll never make 3rd team All NBA. He is fringe for the All-Star game. One of the top 40-50 NBA players. But never a top 15 guy.

That's where Castle is going to be.

Only 1 or 2 of those guys come along every draft. Maybe this year has 3 or 4 of those guys. Who knows.

You still have not absorbed the topic properly at all. This isn't about who you'd subjectively prefer after having 2 years of Castle in the NBA. It's about who Castle was at Uconn during the 23-24 season. You've been basically wrong about every take you've had on this because you keep relying on his NBA product.

Castle was NOT seen as a top flight prospect coming out because he couldn't shoot worth a damn. He would have easily gone behind all these top guards coming out this year based on his college playing eval.

Two things can be true at once.

Castle will probably be a better pro than all of those guys.

But if they were all in the same class Castle would be picked behind them. I think Castle could’ve been a freshman AA on a team (or even with us) who put the ball in his hands and asked him to run the offense. But in the situation he was in here, he probably doesn’t even go top 10 in this draft.

Finally, someone who gets it.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mara doesn't really foul a lot. He isn't as good at it but he plays similar to Kauk in how he uses his length without fouling. Not as deep of a drop as Edey/Kauk but who does. That said Mara also isn't really used to playing a ton, he can but he doesn't usually.

One thing from watching Zona play is how caught up in trying to run with Michigan. Unless the guards can completely dominate Michigan's guards, that is a losing strategy. On that...

They also finally got caught without having a real backup for Bradley. I mean they were down when he got his third but it was only 32-23. By the time he got back in, in the second half it was 48-32. Then Bradley got his fourth foul at the 18:32 mark and didn't get back in until the 13:02 mark. It was 66-45 at that point.

Michigan would have probably still won by a good margin but I don't think it would have been as bad as it was.

Finally, Zona started really jogging early in the second half. They had no fight to get back in it. Peat and Burries even just started jogging back on defense on a few plays. There was no sense of urgency at all.

Zona legit showed up like they didn't care if they won. I don't think I'll ever look at Lloyd the same as a coach. I've never seen a team less prepared and with less fight. Makes me think Lloyd got lucky with a roster.

 

[Kowalski]

I figured I'd chime in here. We've never been able to play our A game, never mind an A+ game any time this season. The second SJU game was probably the closest.

With that said, to beat UM, it won't necessarily take our A game. We need to play very good on the defense end of the floor, not giving up many easy shots or turning over the ball much ourselves. Hoping that, along with making them defend for 30+ minutes, results with them missing plenty of contested shots and some of their open looks. Limit the turnovers, thus limitting their transition baskets. Rebound on both ends at a high level, limiting their second chances and getting some of our own.

Hit double digit 3s and not on a high volume/low percentage of takes. We'll miss some of course. Drive it into the paint and try to dish to Reed or cutters. I.e. don't drive it into the trees and go right up with it, unless they are out of position where we can draw fouls if the refs are calling them. Feed Reed. Limit the missed bunnies and wide open 3s that can result in transition baskets on the other end.

We didn't need our A game to beat Dook. We will need a somewhat better performance, hoping our effort on both ends of the floor keeps them off balance enough to not shoot it as well as they normally do, just like they did against the Illini.

Also make life miserable for Cadeau and limit the allyoops. Stay close all night. This is a team you don't want to fall far behind and give them any more confidence than they already have. Play this game like the 99 game over Dook.

All this is possible and won't take an A game, though I would love to see that happen, where they execute close to flawless on both ends and our shooters are all connecting. We just haven't seen that happen.

UM is a very good team playing their best hoops now. But so was Dook in 99 and we all know what that outcome was.

Agree, UConn doesn’t need to play perfect to pull this off. But they do need to be solid on defense & on the boards, avoid cheap fouls, limit turnovers, stick to the game plan & run their sets. They’ll get good looks and I’m confident shots will fall. Should be another classic UConn final.

 

[jorge34]

B1G+

Purdue gave them fits. Kaufman-Renn thrashed them BOTH games and but in the title game win, both he and Cluff combined for 41 of their 80 points.

The natural inclination is to believe Michigan will contain Reed with their size, but it may be the opposite. They REALLY struggled with the girthy Purdue bigs, neither of which is as big or mobile as Reed.

Purdue played absolutely no defense whatsoever but had no issue at all scoring on them

There are matchup problems for Michigan nobody in media land is talking about.

 

[caw]

Zona legit showed up like they didn't care if they won. I don't think I'll ever look at Lloyd the same as a coach. I've never seen a team less prepared and with less fight. Makes me think Lloyd got lucky with a roster.

I do think Bradley getting in foul trouble destroyed any chance of them putting up a fight, but yeah, they rolled over early. It was so weird because they had Michigan in foul trouble early also and Yaxel injured and they just didn't play hard.

Even if the UNC stuff got to them, why would most of them care about it as long as the HC is focused in the tournament. The freshmen are gone, Bradley is gone too. Just an odd vibe

Just watched Michigan vs Nebraska and against Iowa and honestly UConn has a good shot if UConn can control the tempo like those two teams did. Both of those teams lost, but they were super close games and honestly neither team is as good as UConn and neither team runs nearly the same offense. On that note: May and the UM players referencing Iowa as a similar offense to UConn is absurd.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Yaxel doesn't sound like a real name. Too similar to the Owen Wilson character from Zoolander. Hansel.... "so hot right now"

 

[RuffRuff]

I do think Bradley getting in foul trouble destroyed any chance of them putting up a fight, but yeah, they rolled over early. It was so weird because they had Michigan in foul trouble early also and Yaxel injured and they just didn't play hard.

Even if the UNC stuff got to them, why would most of them care about it as long as the HC is focused in the tournament. The freshmen are gone, Bradley is gone too. Just an odd vibe

Just watched Michigan vs Nebraska and against Iowa and honestly UConn has a good shot if UConn can control the tempo like those two teams did. Both of those teams lost, but they were super close games and honestly neither team is as good as UConn and neither team runs nearly the same offense. On that note: May and the UM players referencing Iowa as a similar offense to UConn is absurd.

Yeah, and the clip from the Purdue game shared was a really good look into how we can use Tarris. Jorge is right that you can move them with girth. Also, Mara is long, but not quick. You can get balls through him if you're decisive and don't let him anticipate, which Tarris does well. No pumps, no over dribbling, grab the pass and go up and under or around him quickly. If we play our game and use our advantages, we can win this one.

Lundenberg was pretty impressive in this one. We need to throw bodies at him.

 

[caw]

Yeah, and the clip from the Purdue game shared was a really good look into how we can use Tarris. Jorge is right that you can move them with girth. Also, Mara is long, but not quick. You can get balls through him if you're decisive and don't let him anticipate, which Tarris does well. No pumps, no over dribbling, grab the pass and go up and under or around him quickly. If we play our game and use our advantages, we can win this one.

Lundenberg was pretty impressive in this one. We need to throw bodies at him.

Stewart is probably the best matchup we have. I like Ross but Stewart defends stronger players better.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Yaxel doesn't sound like a real name. Too similar to the Owen Wilson character from Zoolander. Hansel.... "so hot right now"

I'm Dominican (from the island). I'll tell you that a lot of Dominican parents have this urge to make up names. Esp the past few decades when people moved away from using almanacs / bible for naming.

Its become too common now in our community to combine names, to make up a random one, or the more hilarious ones like "Junior" / "Yunior" from those that hear the term back home and end up choosing it as a name without understanding its a Jr. / Sr. suffix.

 

[storrsroars]

Yaxel doesn't sound like a real name. Too similar to the Owen Wilson character from Zoolander. Hansel.... "so hot right now"

Mom's name is Yissel, one sister, Yisendy, plays college hoops, and two other sisters also have names beginning with Y.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Zona legit showed up like they didn't care if they won. I don't think I'll ever look at Lloyd the same as a coach. I've never seen a team less prepared and with less fight. Makes me think Lloyd got lucky with a roster.

I agree with you and Caw Zona looked like the air really came out of them early in the 2nd half and just never seriously threatened to come back. The effort on defense was gone.