How to beat Michigan

[Paytonlives]

Shoot 40 percent

 

[hfhmilkman]

The other thing Montana needs to change is tempo. When you are up against a favored team the biggest friend is variance. The fewer possessions the higher the variance in game. Montana took way too many bad shots early in the shot clock. You can always get those same shots with 5 seconds left. It is to Montana's advantage to work the ball for 30 seconds, take a position shot, and have everyone run back as hard as you can back on defense. In football it is called a punt. There were way to many off balance shots such that when Michigan had the rebound they were in a transition situation or able to generate an easy opportunity on the secondary break as Montana's defense was not set. Michigan is not a transition team. Yet I'm guessing they had 15-20 points which is way beyond the mean. Some of what Montana needed to happen for an upset occurred. Neither of Michigan's leading scorers were effective. No one could hit a long jumper, and Montana did a really good job causing turn overs. Yet Michigan got bailed out by having so many easy opportunities. The biggest cure to bad hair days are dunks and layups. A few were just being bigger and some good game play. However many would have been preventable if a more controlled shot had been taken on the other end. With the exception of a few stretches I was really impressed by Montana's base defense. After they had weathered the 1st half storm and got it to eight I thought they had a run in them. It might have been futile because none of the perimeter players made the tough outside shots that needed to go down.

 

[PlayerRep]

The other thing Montana needs to change is tempo. When you are up against a favored team the biggest friend is variance. The fewer possessions the higher the variance in game. Montana took way too many bad shots early in the shot clock. You can always get those same shots with 5 seconds left. It is to Montana's advantage to work the ball for 30 seconds, take a position shot, and have everyone run back as hard as you can back on defense. In football it is called a punt. There were way to many off balance shots such that when Michigan had the rebound they were in a transition situation or able to generate an easy opportunity on the secondary break as Montana's defense was not set. Michigan is not a transition team. Yet I'm guessing they had 15-20 points which is way beyond the mean. Some of what Montana needed to happen for an upset occurred. Neither of Michigan's leading scorers were effective. No one could hit a long jumper, and Montana did a really good job causing turn overs. Yet Michigan got bailed out by having so many easy opportunities. The biggest cure to bad hair days are dunks and layups. A few were just being bigger and some good game play. However many would have been preventable if a more controlled shot had been taken on the other end. With the exception of a few stretches I was really impressed by Montana's base defense. After they had weathered the 1st half storm and got it to eight I thought they had a run in them. It might have been futile because none of the perimeter players made the tough outside shots that needed to go down.

This is exactly what I thought. Terrific post and analysis.

 

[Spanky2]

How to eventually be able to beat Michigin:
Transfer the basketball program out of the BSC and into a conference more reputable, competitive, and someday equip ourselves to more regularly be able to go to the NCAA tourney as an at large so the big dance isnt so big anymore and we dont lock up and choke in the spotlight.

I agree with these comments and your further comments in the thread. We aren’t prepared to compete at this level. Athletics is in levels of ability, coaching and accomplishment. Montana is a good team at the Big Sky level. Are we satisfied with that? If the consensus answer is yes, that’s ok if you don’t fantasize that our team is anything more than a good Big Sky Conference team.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

The other thing Montana needs to change is tempo. When you are up against a favored team the biggest friend is variance. The fewer possessions the higher the variance in game. Montana took way too many bad shots early in the shot clock. You can always get those same shots with 5 seconds left. It is to Montana's advantage to work the ball for 30 seconds, take a position shot, and have everyone run back as hard as you can back on defense. In football it is called a punt. There were way to many off balance shots such that when Michigan had the rebound they were in a transition situation or able to generate an easy opportunity on the secondary break as Montana's defense was not set. Michigan is not a transition team. Yet I'm guessing they had 15-20 points which is way beyond the mean. Some of what Montana needed to happen for an upset occurred. Neither of Michigan's leading scorers were effective. No one could hit a long jumper, and Montana did a really good job causing turn overs. Yet Michigan got bailed out by having so many easy opportunities. The biggest cure to bad hair days are dunks and layups. A few were just being bigger and some good game play. However many would have been preventable if a more controlled shot had been taken on the other end. With the exception of a few stretches I was really impressed by Montana's base defense. After they had weathered the 1st half storm and got it to eight I thought they had a run in them. It might have been futile because none of the perimeter players made the tough outside shots that needed to go down.

Yup, when you play a team that is bigger, stronger and defends well, you have to make the extra pass to give yourself a better shot. By "better shot" I mean ANY shot in which the shooter is squared up to the basket. We took some lousy, off-balance shots with lots of time left on the shot clock. And we dribbled the ball WAY too much. Hopefully the returning players can learn from this valuable tournament experience.