I can buy the youth = inconsistency argument but wasn't Michigan the youngest team in the tournament? Here was their main rotation:
Trey Burke - sophmore
Tim Hardaway - junior
Nik Stauskas - freshman
Glen Robinson - Freshman
Mitch McGary - Freshman
Jordan Morgan - RS Junior
Obviously a very talented roster full of NBA prospect, but we also had a NBA roster full of NBA prospects. Was their coaching a little bit better, consistency a bit better, bench a bit deeper? probably yes to all 3. Looking back at their schedule they had only a single bad loss (to Penn State) but it looks a lot different than our loss to Utah. They lost 78-84 and as we know that on any given night a player or two can have a hot shooting night to keep teams in games (think our game versus Texas Southern) our loss to Utah was two team playing terrible with us playing even more terrible. What we really need to see in the future is our team show up for every game and like Tad says that we dictate how the other team plays. If we force them into long 3 pointers and they win, we will live with the consequences.
I guess the million dollar question is: Does Tad Boyle turn prospects like Dre and Spencer into NBA prospects, or were they always NBA prospects and just undervalued coming out of high school? Or is a combination of both.
There are 3 main differences that stand out to me between CU and Michigan last year:
1. Shooting- Burke, Hardaway and Stauskas all hit from the 3 point line with much greater consistency than any of the Buffs. While XJ actually made a higher percentage of his attempts than Hardaway or Burke, he was much more selective with his opportunities, taking only 57 3 point attempts vs nearly 200 for each of the three Michigan kids. That allowed the Wolverines to spread the floor more effectively and made the offense more consistent.
2. College readiness- Having NBA level talent does not necessarily equate to readiness. Michigan had two first round picks THIS year, not projected down the line, including a lottery pick in Burke. In addition, Robinson was a 5* kid, just outside the top-10, who was ready to contribute immediately, as was Stauskas, another top-100 kid. In XJ and Scott, CU landed two outstanding 4*, top-100 recruits, but neither appeared quite ready to take over as freshmen. In Scott's case, he needed physical development and strength, and we all saw how he faded toward the end of the year. For XJ, it was almost the opposite, as he was very physical and couldn't stay out of foul trouble early, and didn't fit comfortably at the 3. As he played more 4 later in the year, he really started to improve. I think we'll see a big jump next year.
3. Go-to scoring- This is strongly correlated with #2, but Dinwiddie was really the only guy we could count on to come up with a big bucket when we needed it. Michigan had both Burke and Hardaway doing that and, along with their superior outside shooting, it made them much less prone to long scoring droughts and off nights. Again, this should improve next year, as Booker should be better and I expect both XJ and Scott to develop more of that killer instinct.
In short, there's a big difference between NBA level natural ability and NBA readiness and that's where we really fell short on the developmental curve last year.
