LBS- Foul trouble has somewhat limited the effectiveness of Michigan big man Moritz Wagner so far in this year’s tournament, but the team may have figured out a fix just in time for the Sweet Sixteen.
On Wednesday, Wolverines head coach John Beilein revealed his interesting strategy to try and remedy Wagner’s fouling issues: have Wagner play defense while holding tennis balls in his hands during practice. “So he is not putting his hands on people,” said Beilein of the technique, according to Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press. “He is going to [have] fouls, but they just can’t be the ones he can control.” The junior forward is easily Michigan’s most important player — he led the team in both points (14.2) and rebounds per game (7.1) this season. But Wagner’s foul problems have held him to an average of 27.5 minutes in the tourney, leading to just 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. All in all, he has picked up a total of eight personal fouls through Michigan’s first two contests. Wagner also fouled out of three separate games during the regular season. ------- +1 for unorthodox coaching tactics that preemptively address a team's most pressing concern in a way that you'd expect to see in a children's movie! As for attempts at correcting a weakness that could easily be exposed by nothing more than judgement calls from inconsistent whistle blowers, I can't see how this particularly quirky one could backfire. Trying to instill in your best player the instinctual practice of keeping his active hands clenched on the defensive end of the floor, what could possibly go wrong?! As far as I know, never has anyone misinterpreted the presence of a balled up fist during an overly emotional moment of competitiveness. Therefore, I highly doubt the keen-eyed officials of college basketball will be the first to see attempted physicality from someone so noticeably tall and white that staring directly as him causes more squints than the sun itself as more violent due to his oddly intimidating hand positioning. In fact, if the Mighty Ducks trilogy truly is as prophetic of a coaching tutorial as it seems, then I'd be willing to bet that not only will Moritz Wagner stay out of the shame section of the scoresheet by constantly putting his dukes up like he was told to in practice, but he'll also deliver a heroic, game saving spike that makes for a proud fatherly moment that wouldn't have been at all possible is he just kept his sticky fingers to himself like a normal person.
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