At Michigan - 11/15/06

[teddyp00]

Dylan,

What about Gentry? He seemed to be a promising playing coming in, but has not showed much on the court or gotten much time to try for that matter? Myself like others are of the belief he should the redshirted. Do the coaches have confidence in him contributing this year or is he just going to be a spot minute guy.

[teddyp00]

There is no way this team only wins 10 games this year. I agree 13 is the minimum this team wins.

[PANTHERfan]

this will be an epic blowout, no other way to put it really.

we'll see some w's pretty soon, just not this week.

[uwm97]

sec325row1 said:

dylanrocks said:

Prediction? Michigan 84, Milwaukee 61.

Prediction? Pain!

Beautiful! BTW, there was a Rocky marathon on Spike last night. Rocky III is my favorite - Mr T's. "Pain" answer kills me every time.

[dylanrocks]

Teddy:

That's a great question. The short answer, I'm told, is that he's not at the moment the most committed to team defensive philosophy and his playing time suffers as a result. After the past two games, it's clear that he won't be redshirted and, as a matter of fact, figures to get increased playing time. I think the coaches had a bit of an awakening that the future is now and why burn significant minutes on those who have little or no future beyond this season?

[BBFran]

I wouldn't make any predictions about number of wins. We are so thin in the middle that if Paige or Marcus went down with an injury, God forbid, it would really hurt.

I'm glad to hear the coaches saw the same effort out of Sam that I did. He earned some additional time. Again, we can't expect too much. Those were his first D1 games, too, just like they were for Ricky, Charlie, Ryan, Marcus and Kaylan. But effort and attitude are what count now. The boys just need to keep working. Results will come -- it will just take a while.

Roman has a lot of talent, but he's a true freshman and like Ryan he can't match up physically yet. I wouldn't worry about him not redshirting, however -- as we get into the Horizon season I think we'll see some of the guys along the bench like Roman giving us some needed minutes. Frankly they'll match up better than they can against this string of high majors we are playing in the non-con.

[Deleted]

I stand by 10 wins.

[Pantherholic]

I feel one of these three predictions will come true:

1) Lose by at least 30
2) Amaker pulls entire team off the court and allows intramural squads to finish the game
3) Team stays here instead of a hotel:

[Pantherholic]

dylanrocks said:

Et tu, Freak? C'mon, it's not that bleak. There's still South Dakota State, Central Michigan, Tennessee Tech, Oakland and the entire Horizon League slate. I see 13 wins minimum here.

Oakland beat GB convincingly the other nite, i don't know if that's a safe pick anymore

[formerseasonticketholder]

this reminds me of a few years ago when BP took the Panthers on the road to play Kansas and North Carolina St. we'll probably get crushed tomorrow, but the value of the experience will be worth it for our players as they grow. knowing how hard it is to win against a solid team like Michigan is part of the process of getting back to where this program was last year and the year before.
also, let's not forget, we are UWM. how cool is it for our team to be able to go play in Ann Arbor? I don't know anybody who's every taken a shot in Michigan's gym and our team has never played there since I've been following it, but tomorrow they can and that in and of itself is pretty neat.

[formerseasonticketholder]

dylanrocks said:

I don't think this will be "pretty" by any means. But I do think that the coaches, who confided much at yesterday's postgame, have made some decisions regarding playing time. Based upon conversations, I think it's safe to say that both Sam and Charlie will see significantly increased playing time. By the same token, I think you can conclude who will see much less. Hint: It's not Avery, Paige, Marcus or Ryan (Is that even possible?).

I really like what I've seen of Charlie so far, but for his minutes to increase significantly, he's going to have to stay out of foul trouble. Hopefully he'll be able to do so.

Sam had some good plays yesterday, it was frustrating to watch him play good d, rebound, run the floor and not get the ball on the post, but I'm sure as our guards get more experience, they'll be better at recognizing post opportunities.

[mfscho]

I fully expect a loss; however, the fact that we get to play Michigan is tremendous. The experience gained for our young Freshmen is outstanding. It will prepare us a great deal for big games and intensity within the Horizon league.

[dylanrocks]

What I saw out of Sam was the ability to take up space on defense, actually taking away or at least minimizing the opponent's opportunities. On offense, I saw him create space for his teammates merely with his 250-pound frame. In essence, from what I've observed, Sam is this team's only legitimate interior player. Or perhaps I should say the team's only legitimate interior player against major-conference or high mid-major competition.

[bball30]

I can get on board with that, I think Paige has the tools, lacks some of the size, and the past two nights he's looked scared out there. I hope he comes to play Wednesday night.

[uwm97]

ghola said:

this reminds me of a few years ago when BP took the Panthers on the road to play Kansas and North Carolina St.

Well, we damn near pulled out both those games. We were beating NC State most of the first half that game, and Ed McCants nearly singlehandedly carried the day against Kansas. Not to dismiss your larger point, but we don't have a player right now in the same universe as a Dylan Page or McCants like we had a couple of years ago. This team will get crushed by Michigan, although I'm hoping for a competitive game. Like most here, I don't see it happening.