I needed a few days to really digest what I watched Friday night. This was one of those losses that has stayed with me for days, mostly because of the blown opportunity:
- James Robinson is another in a long line of big time recruits that haven't panned out. That kid played hard but his offensive limitations really gummed up the works. I think even more than the missed layup at the end, the missed wide open 3 in transition showed how limited this team truly was with him at the 1. This was a tough way for a good kid to go out. He was 3/15 but was actually a decent force on the boards with 11. For a game they lost by 4 points, going 3/12 from inside the arc was a death blow.
- Another theme in every loss this year was one of Artis/Young not showing up. 6 points from Young wasn't going to get it done. Artis was the only one in double figures.
- Sheldon Jeter was our best player in this game. He was active and had a lot of his good hustle plays. 9 points and 5 boards isn't amazing, but its great production off the bench in 25 minutes.
- I know I'm biased but it seemed like Wisconsin got every call in the second half. I think they were calling touch fouls on us and nothing on the other end.
- This game was lost in the first half. If you hold a team to 16 points in a half you need to step on their throats. There is no reason why we didn't have a 15 point lead at that point.
- I'm in the minority of those who think Dixon needs to go. I honestly feel like he's a great coach who gets the maximum out of his players and is a victim of his success. You can get by in the regular season but in the tourney you need ballers. I would bounce Barton AND Knight. Smoke should be given a little more time to see what he can do but realistically having a strong recruiting base in Michigan doesn't make sense. We will never get the players there over MSU and likely not even over Michigan. Our circumstance is a tough one because there is very rarely talent to grab in the immediate area. They need to spread out and hit NY, Philly, Maryland, and Ohio. There are too many one trick ponies on this team.
