After watching the Michigan game again a bit, we saw what, to us, was some
questionable decision making on the part of Michigan. Consider the following:
- Jamaal Crawford was trying to guard Jason Williams. Williams just
blew his doors off several occasions. There was surely a reason why he
was guarding him and not someone else, but it seems that Gaines was more
suited to the job. Later, Crawford was switched off of Williams.
But it was pretty clear earlier he couldn't keep up, and Williams
consistently exploited him. - When Williams blew by Crawford (or whoever) and dumped the ball off,
inevitably whoever was guarding Boozer (or Battier) double-teamed Williams,
leaving a man open under the basket. Again, you'd think an adjustment would
have been made, but it really never was. Duke found this weakness and
exploited it consistently. - At one point, near the end, Williams was dribbling out near the center
circle, and three Wolverines advanced on him.
Needless to say, this made the rest of the court 4 on 2, and Williams dumped
the ball off immediately for an easy basket.
All of these things might be attributed to being a team full of freshmen -
but the fact that the adjustments took so long would be a concern for us
were we Wolverine fans. However, there is a lot of talent, and it will
surely come together. But in those particular instances, Michigan failed,
and those failures likely cost them any chance of stealing the game.