Basketbullets: Bucknell

11/17/2014 – Michigan 77, Bucknell 53 – 2-0

then he served Bucknell pancakes [Eric Upchurch]

That was rather impressive. The Bison are not a SWAC pushover. Historically they're one of the best teams in the Patriot League, and while they fell off a bit last year they were still good enough to put scares into Stanford and St. John's and beat Penn State by ten.

Michigan blew 'em off the court, opening up a 48-19 halftime lead and coasting from there.

We never think of the Kenpom. Speaking of the coasting: it got sloppy in the second half, with Michigan settling for a ton of long twos off the dribble with 25 seconds on the shot clock. These went clang, as dictated by Karma, and the blistering hot start petered out into a less than blistering 1.15 points per possession.

Broken record time: I don't mind open jumpers taken in rhythm, especially after you've gotten past a guy on a closeout and know you've got space to elevate without being harassed. I really do not like low-efficiency long twos that come without exploring your possession for better shots. There's a reason you can get those whenever you want. It's hard to yell at guys when you're hammering the opposition, but hopefully that's one of them coaching points that can be deployed.

THE CALVES THAT ATE THE AMERICAN WEST. So… remember that time someone asked why Max Bielfeldt keeps taking threes and Beilein responded that he was an assassin in practice? I guess that's accurate. On a night where one of the Big Three was struggling with his shot and Michigan got little production out of the four spot, Bielfeldt laid waste to the Bison. He hit all three of his attempts behind the arc and scoring 18 on 10 shot equivalents. Max was a one-man Manifest Destiny out there.

Does this mean something going forward? Maybe. Bielfeldt is still way undersized for the 5 spot in the Big Ten, and in this game there were a couple of post buckets by the spectacularly-named Nana Fouland that Bielfeldt could barely contest.

But maybe the four would work? If Bielfeldt is a credible threat in the corner and the matchup doesn't seriously expose him defensively that could be an option, Kenny Kaminski style. Bielfeldt is a decent matchup against Brandon Dawson types who aren't going to blaze by him to the basket, and Michigan's not getting much production out of that spot.

I still don't think you can build a Big Ten defense around a 6'7" post.

[After THE JUMP: rebounding strategy, HULK SMASH, Irvin "not bad" face.]

[Upchurch]

You box out, we rebound. A weird rebounding night. Michigan was spectacular on the defensive end, allowing just four OREBs. The guys vacuuming up Bucknell misses were, in order: Walton, LeVert, Irvin, and Albrecht. Those guys had a total of 20 DREBs(!) out of 26 total. The only frontcourt guy to get more than one was Ricky Doyle with two, both of those in the last couple minutes.

This continues a theme from the Hillsdale game, in which Caris approached a triple double and the two posts combined for two DREBs in another excellent performance. Now that I'm looking for it, Michigan's defensive rebound strategy appears to put enormous priority on the bigs finding and boxing out their opposite numbers. When the ball goes up, Michigan's guys on the block take extended looks at their guys and put a body on him, barely thinking about where the carom might go. The smalls go get the ball uncontested afterwards.

Working well so far. Most teams are sending at least three guys back to prevent transition these days, so neutralizing the guys who aren't promises to be effective against all comers.

You can't check this. I'm not sure how you even get a hand in Irvin's face if he's elevating like this at 6'7":

[Upchurch]

Irvin came off a curl screen for an early bucket at the elbow, causing a friend to say that reminded him of GRIII; I was thinking Rip Hamilton, except real big. And he's got range Rip didn't have until late in his career. He's kicked off the year 7/11 from 12. That's…

[Upchurch]

He's added some straight-line drives, usually off closeouts, to his arsenal. So far so good when it comes to Irvin being "three AND" something else. I was a little worried he'd flatline like GRIII did; that does not seem to be the case.

Also improved: Walton. Walton seems totally up for being man 1B this year. The confidence he showed in flashes last year—late against MSU, the winning dive to the basket against Nebraska—is now displayed almost constantly. He gets where he wants to go; he knows when it's not there; he is creating his own shot instead of feeding off others, and he's still a sniper. We're not at the conclusion-drawing stage just yet but it feels like he's going to have a performance in Brooklyn that grabs nationwide attention.

Year two Beilein point guards man, I'm telling you.

And year three. Spike was unfortunate to have a number of shots rim out, but I'm encouraged that he's figured out a few ways to get it up against the trees—usually on reverses that use the rim as protection. He also displayed an improved ability to get into the lane and create shots, as he did on one Steve Nash-like assist to Bielfeldt on which he drew two defenders and threw it over his head to a wide open guy.

Six assists, no turnovers, his requisite very sneaky steal—that's just who he is. He is a guy who does donuts in the opposition's lane.

He is a tremendous, tremendous luxury. He had 29 minutes in this game. Did you even notice? I did not notice. That's how you know you have a great option off the bench—you do not pine for starter X to return when he's in the game.

Posts. I continue to believe that Doyle will emerge as the season goes along. His conditioning will improve, his grasp of Beilein's concepts will follow, and eventually he's going to be doing things other available posts will not be capable of—mostly hoovering up rebounds at a McGary-like rate. His late HULK SMASH offensive rebound is the kind of thing I'm thinking of.

I'm hoping Sanderson can give him a bit more vertical as he goes along here; guys with his frame are pretty rare freshmen.

Chatmanwatch. I only detected one play on which Chatman got lost for an easy opponent bucket, and that was in the lax second half. So that's improvement. There was also a section midway through where Chatman's length and pesky defense got a couple of turnovers and a couple additional deflections. If he can refine that that'll be a nice upgrade on defense.

The shooting remained rough, though: 1/5, with a couple of those bricks. Early yet, so Michigan should continue trying to get the guy on track. If things continue like this it might be time to go to more of a platoon there.

Hello Mr. Hass. A shout for Bucknell's Chris Hass, the guy who briefly went NBA Jam in the second half, finishing 5/8 from three on the night. Hass is from Petoskey and had a healthy cheering section. Look for him on MSU's roster next year after MSU strikes out on every high schooler they go after.

Other games in this Classic. Oregon was tied with Detroit at halftime, then ran away with a 48-point second half. Star guard Joseph Young was a spectacular 1/12 from three—don't expect that to repeat, as he's a career 40% shooter.

Villanova crushed a dire Maryland Eastern Shore.

Viewage tonight. Potential opponent VCU takes on Toledo at 6 on ESPNU; OSU plays Marquette at 7:30 on ESPN2; MSU plays Duke at 7 on ESPN.