these helped loosen Iowa's pressure, especially the pindowns in the 2nd and 3rd clips
06.03.2026 18:00
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these helped loosen Iowa's pressure, especially the pindowns in the 2nd and 3rd clips
Michigan kept going back to Spain pick & roll sets in the 2nd half at Iowa — scoring out of the action 4 times:
📋🏀 Dusty May drew up an Aday Mara fake ball screen backdoor for the game winner — the same play Michigan ran to close the first half.
Worked to perfection against Iowa's off-ball denials.
Use code: Michigan for a special sale on our basketball analytics course. Expires tomorrow.
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On Michigan's switching, gap help, BLOB defense, and Aday Mara:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6v3...
He’s the 🐐 CBB color commentator right now… but what network does Robbie Hummel *not* work for?
It’s March! Michigan wins the Big Ten… but loses LJ Cason — now what?
Contextualizing Michigan’s Big Ten dominance, how it can fill the gap Cason leaves behind, and a deep dive into the Illinois game.
Listen here:
Seeing this, Michigan adjusted.
This is the next BLOB, in the 2nd half. Now, Michigan has Yax guard the inbounder -- Wagler -- while Mara takes his usual matchup in Ivisic.
Wagler can't isolate on Mara and Illinois runs regular offense, ending with a contested three.
Michigan defends baseline out of bounds (BLOB) plays with its Center guarding the inbounder to prevent easy passes and quick-hitting looks.
Mara is guarding the inbounder, Wagler. Illinois takes advantage, immediately passing back to Wagler so he can isolate on Mara & he creates a 4-point play.
i'm sure we will talk about it on the pod we're recording tomrw
Such awful news for LJ.
Had been playing so well recently, including last night vs. Illinois.
i'm not sure but they were sure as shit prepared
I am glad we didn’t end up podding before Michigan-Illinois because I thought this was a bad matchup.
I was totally wrong. Michigan’s size, physicality, and athleticism totally overwhelmed Illinois.
Extremely impressive performance. Probably the best of Michigan’s season.
watch for Minnesota running slice screens (old Beilein staple) and flex action where the screener slips. both have gotten Michigan to break down on multiple occasions.
Michigan is extremely lucky to have a lead at halftime.
Defensive errors on nearly every possession against Minnesota’s off-ball screening and cutting.
Saved by tons of missed open looks from 3 and M fixing some mistakes on the fly with their length.
Is this the 2025 season??
Michigan scoring 4 baskets from the 4-5 Pick & Roll in its huge road win at Purdue:
Illinois scored 7(!) baskets directly targeting Conor Enright to get him switched onto David Mirkovic.
If Illinois finds a matchup it likes, it will hunt it relentlessly. Versus Indiana, Enright was the target.
New Pod!
Dylan and I break down the Big Ten title race, Michigan ranking #1 in the country, the wins over Northwestern and UCLA, and everything to know about the huge matchup with Purdue.
Tap in (and tell a friend!):
In DC, one week from tonight (ranks via @kenpom.com)
LJ Cason has been outstanding the past two games, getting into the paint and making good decisions — scoring or playmaking for others.
Another offensive demolition from Michigan in the 2nd half.
Shot 14/17 on two’s, scored 1.48 PPP and owned the paint and boards.
When Michigan remembers to attack on the 2nd and 3rd side, it usually gets whatever shot it wants.
After the 14:30 mark in the 2nd half, Michigan scored on 21 straight possessions, spanning over 12 minutes.
That, emphasizing pounding the paint & the glass, and subbing in LJ Cason for Cadeau after Cadeau made three really poor offensive decisions early in the 2H flipped the game. Cason was outstanding -- getting in the paint and making plays for himself & others and applying ball pressure on defense.
Michigan usually switches 1 thru 4 with both Morez and Mara in the game. They didn't execute perfectly, but it was super effective. The goal was to try to keep Morez on Martinelli and Mara anchoring the paint on NW's Center. Michigan has only really played this defensive scheme vs. Gonzaga in Vegas.
Michigan was trailing Northwestern by 16 with 14 mins to play and won by 12. What changed?
Michigan played its two bigs together much more than typical -- almost the entire rest of the game -- and only switched 1 through 3 on defense.
Didn’t think Michigan had a game this bad in them tbh
Didn't matter in this game but I think they gotta stop auto-benching Cadeau. He's only picked up 4 fouls in 1 game since TCU the 1st week of the season. He creates advantages and generates good offense at too high of a level.
Michigan's attention to detail defensively was mostly so, so good. Switching OSU's off ball actions, top-locking their scoring guards to make catches more difficult. So many possessions where OSU had to make an individual play over a contest.
Michigan was just a good offensive rebounding team the first 2 months of the season, despite its size. Since its West Coast trip, Michigan has been *elite.*
Michigan rebounded 40.8% of its misses in those 8 games -- 7th best in NCAA.
Allows them to reach another level offensively.
Wisconsin got jobbed bad down the stretch of both OT and regulation. Sheesh
