The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1061540
JANUARY 2019 THE WOLVERINE 5 FROM OUR READERS ceivers, just as there were also some key dropped passes. The disparity of talent was on full display that day. All references to the future spell continued frustration by Michigan in their quest for any sort of parity. But what do we know? Ohio State lost to Purdue 49-20, and looked terri- ble doing it. Purdue came to play. That was a drubbing by Purdue of Ohio State. Ohio State had no answer that day. Good teams have bad days. The response seems to be that the disparity is too great to be overcome in the short term. Baloney! Michigan needs to get better. Thank you Ohio State for proving it for the umpteenth time. Michigan needs to keep coming back until it gets it right, as a former coach said about winning the Rose Bowl, back in the day. Harbaugh needs to re-evaluate once again what needs correction. Continue to recruit great players. Re-evaluate game strategy and tendencies. Block out the negativity of a dreadful loss. Do not turn a loss into a bowl loss or a next season loss. What we know is that the Ohio State loss is behind us. It was/is painful. It is in the past, and the only focus should be on learning what light that loss can shed on correcting the mistakes that led to it. Focus on all the things that make Michigan better, because 12 months from now, Michigan plays Ohio State at home. In the meantime, focus on the bowl game. Go Blue! J. Richard Jaconette, M.D. '59 Med Battle Creek, Mich. DISAPPOINTED … BUT STILL THANKFUL Dear The Wolverine, Often times words fall short in say- ing what we would like them to say. And for me, the most intense feelings are only felt and never expressed very well. That being said, I would like to attempt to express a little of what I feel with regard to Michigan Football and Jim Harbaugh. First and foremost, I can honestly say that losing to Ohio State during the Meyer era will never diminish the respect, love and pride that I have for the University of Michigan, both aca- demically and athletically. Needless to say; after the game, and a portion of Sunday and Monday, I felt a high degree of disappointment with regard to the outcome. Thank- fully, I regained my senses by Monday afternoon. However, the disappointment I felt was not with the players, coaches or Coach Harbaugh, but rather with those calling for Harbaugh's firing and with the Detroit print media who felt it necessary to write negatively of the players and coaches. One writer went as far to say the season was a failure. I would suggest to the students, alumni and critics to look upon the positives during the Harbaugh era with special consideration for the following: A. OFF-THE-FIELD ISSUES: Jim Harbaugh has not had wholesale dis- cipline concerns during any of his four years. He has recruited athletes of in- tegrity and high character. And when an occasional problem arose, it would be dealt with fairly and swiftly. B. SIDELINE DECORUM: To my knowledge, I have never witnessed Jim Harbaugh publicly admonish a player or a coach for an error or bad play, nor has he ever gone into a pro- fane rant on the sideline because of a player error. C . H O N E S T Y, I N T E G R I T Y, TRUTHFULNESS: Lack of truthful- ness, lying or covering up a lie is not a part of Jim Harbaugh's character. Glean what you may from that. In the final analysis, I would ask all the critics to consider the totality of the positives and answer this ques- tion: Would you want Jim Harbaugh to coach your son? My answer and the only logical answer would be a resounding yes! Relax if you can and realize that the Go Blue Wave is here, and it will con- tinue on quite well and for a long time with Coach Harbaugh at the helm. Go Blue! Wayne Miller St. Charles, Ill. On the emergence of sophomore Jordan Poole, who after 10 games ranks second on the team with 13.3 points per game and is shooting 51.1 percent from the floor and 46.9 percent from three-point land … • After a slow start to the season, he might be our best player right now. He could always shoot, if a bit streaky. What has been an eye-opener is what he does off the dribble now. Sort of a Nik Stauskas with better quicks. Against South Carolina, he showed a lightning first step, a nice crossover, the step back jumper, pump fake and side step, all of it done well. He passes well. He will still over dribble occa- sionally, but there's little to criticize on offense. I think he should get the ball with a high ball screen in end of shot clock situations. Defensively, he's come a long way. From average to pretty good, and I think he'll get better as the team gets more experience working as a unit. John Beilein pointed to a play in a recent game where Poole elevated vertically inside the arc to contest a shot without fouling. His quickness is a big asset on defense, too. Poole still needs to put on 10-15 lbs. of muscle, to fill out a bit. I hope he's here another year to do just that. sane1 • Yup, when he's on our offense can be lethal. He's still a little loose with his handles but his ability to hit con- tested threes is going to give him op- portunities to get to the rack all year thanks to that quick first step. Trouten25 • Hit me yesterday: Poole is Reggie Miller: 1) Significant 3-point threat 2) Big shot maker (Houston) 3) Brash/cocky (but he's been con- trolled this year) 4) And, this is the one for me: ille- gally tries to draw the foul with the leg-spread on his shot. Viewed Miller for 15-plus years here in Indy, and for my money he was the greatest Indiana professional sports performer ever (yes, better than Pey- ton Manning). Love Poole's game so far this year. northvineinc • Another big plus is that he is a very good free throw shooter. We will need him to handle the ball more down the stretch of close games. kilgres • I think we can see that John Beilein is having him initiate the offense the last few games. I fully expect to see him running high screen and roll of- fense like Trey Burke more and more as the season progresses. ejallstar From Our Website