Despite cutting an 18-point halftime deficit down to eight by the start of the fourth quarter, Michigan dropped its third straight game in its European tour, losing 70-55 to Oostende, another Belgian professional squad. Michigan may be finding its rotation, however, as they ran out the same starting five for the third consecutive game: Darius Morris, Stu Douglass, and Matt Vogrich at guard, with Zack Novak and Blake McLimans up front. Here’s the box score from yesterday’s contest:
As you can see, the team struggled once again with connecting inside the arc, shooting just 9-for-26 on two point shots. Freshman forward Jordan Morgan was 4-for-4 on the afternoon, all on two-pointers, meaning the rest of the squad hit just 5-of-22 — not good at all. That 4-13 mark from the free throw line is disconcerting as well. I’ll have a more complete look at the European tour — and its potential implications for the 2010-11 season — after the final contest is played this afternoon. For more, as always, check out UMHoops’ coverage.
A few weeks ago, I took a look at what Michigan basketball’s lineup would look like in 2010-11, with one large assumption: that Manny Harris would be staying with the team. With Manny now off to pursue a pro basketball career, the Wolverines are left without their top two scorers and rebounders from the past three years, and not a whole lot of production from their returning players. With Harris, DeShawn Sims, Zack Gibson, and Anthony Wright departing, Michigan loses 61% of their points, 53% of their rebounds, and 39% of their assists from players who took up just under 42% of the team’s minutes last season.
That wouldn’t be such an issue if the load was spread evenly across those four players (and the rest of the team), but Harris and Sims obviously accounted for most of that production. Now Michigan’s leading returning scorer and rebounder is Zack Novak, who averaged 7.4 points and 4.3 boards per game last season, while Darius Morris is the team’s returning assist leader at 2.6 per game. The scariest part? Morris also is the team’s leading shooter among returning players… after shooting 40.6% from the field last season.
The good news? Michigan is adding two guys with the potential to be high-volume scorers in PF Evan Smotrycz and SG/SF Tim Hardaway, Jr., as well as depth up front in PF Jon Horford. Here’s what next year’s rotation looks like right now:
I hate to say it, but that looks like a team that will struggle to remain in postseason contention of any kind, let alone a squad that will lift the Wolverines back into the NCAA tournament. There is, however, one huge wild card still at play: SG Trey Zeigler, the #26 player in the class of 2010 according to Rivals.com, has Michigan in his final five teams, and many expect his final decision to come down to the Wolverines and Central Michigan, where his father is the head coach. Zeigler could provide something that appears to be lacking in the above lineup, a player who can get into the lane, create his own shot and bear his share of the scoring load.
Even if Zeigler signs, however, there will be huge question marks surrounding this team next season. The lack of depth up front borderlines on dire, with two redshirt freshmen coming off injury-plagued years (Jordan Morgan and Blake McLimans) representing the only returning Wolverines capable of playing center — and that’s a stretch for the lanky McLimans — and two true freshmen (Smotrycz and Horford, who is rail-thin for a 6-9 power forward) as the only other bigs on the roster.
There are equally large concerns with the players who have seen actual minutes with the Wolverines as well. Can Darius Morris round out his game and continue the improvement we saw from him over the course of his freshman season? Will Zack Novak be more effective if he is able to play small forward instead of extremely-undersized power forward? Can Matt Vogrich become a reliable rotation player after barely seeing the floor as a freshman? Will Laval Lucas-Perry do something — anything — positive with any sort of consistency?
Of course, the biggest question, perhaps the key to the entire season, will simply be this: Can this team find their shooting stroke? Michigan finished 2009-10 shooting 41.6% from the field as a team, and just 29.9% from three, in an offense predicated around finding open jump-shooters and knocking down triples. Even if Smotrycz and Hardaway come in and shoot the lights out, this team will still need Douglass, Novak, and Morris to greatly improve their shooting performances from last season if they hope to stay in postseason contention and out of the Big Ten basement.
Manny Harris leaving early may become the ultimate test of John Beilein and his system — he will have to take a nucleus of supporting cast players and true freshmen and mold them into a productive team, somehow, or there will be very serious questions about his job security (whether those questions are deserved or not). Let’s all hope he’s as good a coach as his resume makes him appear to be, or it could be a very ugly 2010-11 season.
I realize that Michigan has a game on Thursday against Iowa, and crazy things can happen in March. However, Michigan beating Iowa, Ohio State, the Wisconsin/Illinois winner, and either Purdue or Michigan State — essentially, what the Wolverines need to do to make a tournament run — goes beyond crazy and into the realm of the completely impossible, so I’m going to go ahead and address something more relevant: what will this team look like next season?
First thing’s first: I’m assuming that Manny Harris, who said he’ll be back next season in the midst of a year where his NBA draft stock has plummeted, will in fact be back next season. If he’s not, this article could be extremely short: we will be bad, there will be blood, and the hockey team will be our only hope of having a decent spring. Kind of like the whole Ellerbe era. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.
Second, I’m becoming less and less convinced that Michigan will be able to land Trey Zeigler: he’s got great offers from better schools, and if he wants to stay close to home he has the option of playing for his father at Central Michigan, something that seems to be a very real possibility, or playing for Michigan State, only one of the best programs in the country. With Harris probably returning, and the Michigan program not looking nearly as good as it did a year ago, nobody would blame Zeigler for heading to MSU, UCLA or Duke or taking the opportunity to be the star on a team his dad coaches. In short, I’m not optimistic that John Beilein will be able to convince Zeigler that Ann Arbor is the place for him.
So, what does that leave us? Something like this:
Obviously, the actual lineup could appear much different next season, but the cast of characters remains the same. Darius Morris will have the point guard position locked down, and Manny Harris will obviously be starting on the wing. Other than those two top-100 guys, Michigan will be rolling out a shooting guard who has completely lost his touch (Douglass), a shooting guard masquerading as a Big Ten power forward (Novak), and in all likelihood an untested redshirt freshman at center (Morgan, probably, or McLimans, but he’s more of a power forward).
Freshman Evan Smotrycz has a solid shot at starting, which could help this lineup immensely: if he can play at power forward, Michigan can shift Novak down to the three and play Harris at shooting guard, which would suddenly give Michigan a decent-sized lineup and great rebounding from their wings and guards, something the team will probably need given the situation at center. The added bonus would be being able to bring Douglass from off the bench at point guard, instead of leaving him in the starting lineup despite his struggles on both offense and defense this year. That hangs on a huge if, however, and that is if Smotrycz is ready to step in and play at power forward in the Big Ten.
There are some wild cards. I included three-star prospect Jon Horford on the above list, although Michigan has not yet extended an offer. I would expect, if Michigan loses out on Zeigler, for Beilein to grab Horford in this year’s recruiting class, and he could add some depth and possibly compete for a spot at the four or the five (he’s listed at 6-9, 185, so hopefully adding weight would be in order before he took the court next season). The younger Tim Hardaway is an interesting prospect at the wing — the guy is scoring like crazy in high school, and could be the type of instant offense this team has desperately needed outside of Harris and Sims the last couple years. Again, however, he will be a freshman. Matt Vogrich will have a full offseason to get physically prepared for Big Ten college basketball, but it would take an enormous leap for him to be a big-time contributor after spending the majority of this season riding the pine.
Maybe this year has beaten all the optimism out of me, but I have a hard time looking at that lineup and seeing a team that will be better next season. Maybe the system will finally take hold. Maybe the shots will start falling. Maybe Zeigler bolsters an already-solid recruiting class and adds another scoring threat on the wing. Maybe Evan Smotrycz is Kevin Pittsnogle 2.0. Maybe it’s just me, but it looks like Michigan will be depending on a lot of maybes if they hope to be an improved team next season.
With the Michigan basketball team hitting the home stretch of the regular season with little to no hope of an NCAA Tournament berth, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2010-11. There are just six games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament (@Iowa, PSU, ILL, @OSU, MINN, @MSU) but still a lot of questions to be answered about this team and their potential next season. Here are five things I’d like to see out of the team before the season is over:
The continued improvement of Darius Morris: This is an obvious one, but also very important. We’ve watched Morris grow in the last couple weeks from an offensive non-factor to the guy John Beilein trusts as his starting point guard, and the true freshman appears to be getting better with every game. If he can continue that improvement, Morris could be one of the stars of the team next season. If his game doesn’t develop, we could have another season with a point guard who won’t score more than 5-10 points in any given game. I’d like to see Morris, who has been deferential sometimes to a fault this season, look to create his own shot a little more — if Manny Harris ends up going pro, Michigan will need someone to step into the role of slasher/creator, and Morris is the most likely candidate. If he can show an ability to get to the basket and finish consistently, Michigan’s outlook for 2010-11 gets a lot better.
Manny Harris playing within himself: Let’s assume, at least for the time being, that Manny Harris will stay true to his word and come back next season. If he does return, Manny may have to shoulder even more of the offensive burden for Michigan without partner in crime DeShawn Sims. We’ve seen what happens to Manny when he tries to do too much for the team: turnovers, poor shot selection, and unnecessary risks on defense. Harris has made strides in the turnover department, improving in turnovers per game and turnover rate every season of his career, but his overall efficiency on the offensive end hasn’t made the leap that Michigan fans were expecting heading into this season. If he can start showing maturation now, I’ll be a lot more confident that Manny can be an efficient and effective player while still carrying his supporting cast.
Someone — anyone — find their shooting stroke: I guess I should amend that to “any returning player” but you get the point — as a team, Michigan is shooting 29.8% from three, and only three players (LLP, Stu Douglass, DeShawn Sims) who have attempted more than 25 is shooting better than 30%. John Beilein’s offense is predicated around the three-pointer, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, so it would be nice to see someone step up and start consistently hitting shots. If I had to pick a player I’d like to see find his stroke, it’s Zack Novak — he does everything well for this team right now except score, the other players feed off of his energy (and when he plays well, you can feel how he boosts the team), and he’ll almost certainly be starting next season, so having him become a bigger offensive threat would really benefit this team.
Stu Douglass regain his offensive confidence: It’s been tough to watch Douglass playing against himself for much of the season, and you can tell that his inability to hit jumpers has caused him to lose confidence in his all-around offensive game. With Morris now manning the point, Michigan doesn’t need to keep Douglass in the lineup going forward — few teams should be desperate enough to keep giving 30 minutes per game to a guy who shoots 31.5% from the field, doesn’t rebound well for his height, and can be exposed defensively against quicker guards. I’m not ready to give up on Stu, however, because of his ballhandling, passing, and his potential as a shooter. If Stu starts getting more aggressive, like he showed against Minnesota with that great backdoor cut for a layup, he could be an integral part of this team for the next two seasons. If he plays like he did earlier in Big Ten play, when he was passing up open layups and tripping over himself to avoid shooting, he may find himself getting passed over by younger players starting next season, when Evan Smotrycz and Tim Hardaway get to campus.
See what Matt Vogrich can bring to this team: When this team was still battling for a (meaningful) postseason berth, I had no problem with John Beilein keeping the freshman Vogrich mostly out of the rotation (6 mpg this season). At this juncture, however, I’d like to see how Vogrich responds to a bigger role — in very limited opportunities, he has shown a Novakian ability to get to rebounds and loose balls as well as an effective three-point shot (9-for-24 on the season). Especially if Manny Harris turns pro, Michigan will need Vogrich to take on a bigger role next season. With nothing to lose this year, it would be nice to get him some experience getting big minutes in Big Ten play.
Michigan has a good opportunity to continue their momentum from the Minnesota win tomorrow night when they take on cellar-dweller Iowa on the road. Given how their first game against the Hawkeyes went (a 60-46 victory that wasn’t that close), the game could be an opportunity to see some experimenting with the rotation if John Beilein desires, and a chance to see guys like Vogrich get some burn off the bench.
That about sums up Michigan’s 54-48 loss to Wisconsin last night. I’m really at a loss for words when it comes to this team — even with leads of 13-2, 21-10, and 39-30 (the last coming with just nine minutes left in the game), a collapse always felt just around the corner. Maybe I’m just paranoid, or too used to watching the post-Fab Five Wolverines, but the entire game I was bracing myself for what felt like the inevitable. Then Michigan scored its 43rd point of the night with 5:18 left in the second half to take a three-point lead, and stayed at that number until Manny Harris hit a jumper with 38 seconds left, with Wisconsin now up six. In that stretch, Michigan went 0-4 from the field, turned the ball over twice, and committed four fouls. That’s not how you close out a game against a strong home team like Wisconsin.
What went wrong for the Wolverines? Well, besides DeShawn Sims, who had 23 points (9-14 from the field), 13 rebounds, two blocks, and two steals before fouling out late, just about everything:
Manny Harris played one of the poorest games I’ve seen him play as a Wolverine. He scored just 11 points on 4-14 shooting, with four rebounds, one assist, and three turnovers. As Dylan points out at UMHoops, as bad as he was on the offensive end, Manny was just as ineffective a defender — he was the main culprit in allowing reserve forward Rob Wilson to score 13 points in just 18 minutes. A couple weeks ago, all the talk was about how John Beilein needed to motivate Michigan’s other star, Sims, to play to Harris’ level. Now, it seems, Michigan has the opposite problem.
I love the way Zack Novak plays, but it’s hard to sugarcoat a zero-point, 0-6 shooting effort. Novak did do a good job of hitting the boards, pulling down six rebounds (two offensive), but he also missed a couple open layups that the Wolverines really needed to drop. Sometimes it seems like Novak’s hustling style can work against him — on one of the layup misses, he had to put the ball up with his off-hand while flying towards the opposite side of the basket. If Novak plays a little more in-control, he can make the game a little easier for himself.
On a tough road trip, you need your shooters to hit big shots. Unfortunately, Michigan didn’t get much from Stu Douglass (2-8 from the field, 2-7 from three, eight points) and Laval Lucas-Perry (2-5 from the field, 1-3 from three, five points). These two seem to have problems of the “polar opposite” variety: Douglass has been jacking up shots with reckless abandon, while LLP seems all-too content with passing the ball off and generally playing as passively on offense as possible. Still searching for a reliable third scoring option…
Speaking of searching, can somebody put out an APB on the bench? I realize that there’s little depth to work with here, but the entire bench combined for one point, zero shot attempts, four rebounds, an assist, and three turnovers. Darius Morris, whose play has improved all season, was exploited on the defensive end and wasn’t able to create much on offense. Zack Gibson continued to alternate nice plays on defense with ugly turnovers on offense. Ant Wright and Matt Vogrich only played four minutes each and had little impact on the game.
Michigan needed to make a statement during this critical stretch of conference play, but the only statement they made last night was “choke”. In order to salvage the season, they’ll need to put this game behind them and come out a very different team against Purdue on Saturday.
Look around the local papers and blogs, and two words will pop up again and again regarding last night’s 69-45 victory over Indiana: ugly and sloppy. The first half certainly fell into both those categories, as the two teams combined for 21 turnovers in a first half that only saw 48 total points. The second half, however, was a different story: Michigan held onto the ball (just four turnovers), Manny Harris caught fire (17 second-half points), and Michigan ended the game on a 21-2 run that turned a hard-fought contest into a laugher.
So, yes, the game was ugly. I certainly wouldn’t have tuned in to ESPN and watched if I didn’t have a rooting interest. But for Michigan, this was exactly what the team needed. DeShawn Sims continued his great play, carrying the load in the first half en route to 21 points (on 8-13 shooting), eight rebounds, and two blocks. Harris shook off an ugly first half to spark the finishing run. The Wolverines were able to offset another poor day from the three-point line (4-18) with great days from two-point range (20-34) and the free-throw line (17-19). The supporting cast, while not explosive, did what was asked of them. Besides the first-half turnovers, Michigan put in a very solid effort. A few more thoughts on the game:
Darius Morris, despite unspectacular stat lines (against Indiana: four points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals), continues his quick maturation as a point guard. He only committed one turnover — an ambitious no-looker that couldn’t make it through two defenders — managed the game well, and played solid defense. Right now, that’s exactly what Michigan is looking for from Morris. I’m guessing he’ll see more minutes, and potentially even a spot in the starting lineup, if his play continues to improve.
The supporting cast did a great job on defense and helping Sims on the boards — LLP and Zack Novak both finished with five rebounds, and even Matt Vogrich chipped in two, including one on the offensive end that he converted for a nice putback. The team defense was great all game, and if the guards can rebound like this with consistency, it will continue to be solid.
Stu Douglass struggled as a shooter again, contributing just four points on 1-5 shooting, but he’s finding other ways to be valuable to the team. Against Indiana, he was the savvy defender, grabbing three steals. Douglass needs to get back on track soon, but in every facet besides his shot, he has come a long way as a basketball player.
I don’t know what to say about this team. Besides Manny Harris, the best thing about last night was seeing Ann Arbor native (and freshman walk-on) Eso Akunne get major minutes and not look totally overmatched. For most of the game Michigan was jacking up ill-advised (and poorly-aimed) shots while Utah was allowed to take whatever shot they pleased. I have no idea how Michigan was in the game until late in the second half, but it certainly wasn’t because of solid all-around play — if Utah didn’t commit 17 turnovers (yes, that’s partly Michigan’s doing, but it was also just carelessness on their part) this would have been a blowout from start to finish. A few player-specific bullets:
Let’s highlight the one good part of last night’s game: Manny Harris continued to carry this team as far as he could, scoring 25 points on 8-16 shooting, pulling down six rebounds, and adding four steals. He probably would have had more than one assist if anyone else on the team could make a shot. At this point, I really wouldn’t blame him for going pro as soon as this season is over.
DeShawn Sims — I don’t know how many different ways it needs to be said, but it seems to come up every game: You are not a good three point shooter. Period. Sims’ 10 points came on 4-12 shooting, including 2-7 threes, and Sims — our starting center and second scoring option — failed to get to the free throw line even once. I don’t care how big the team you’re playing is, that’s totally unacceptable. If John Beilein has to anchor him to the block in practice, that’s fine by me. So far, Sims’ senior season has been a complete disappointment, and a large part of it has to do with his unwillingness to stay in the post.
I really just feel bad for Stu Douglass at this point. He is now shooting an abysmal 23.9% from the field, and is 8-34 on the season from three. Add in the fact that he’s a liability defensively because of his lack of quickness, and he’s really hurting the team just by being on the floor right now. I really hope he finds his shot soon, because the longer this goes on, the less acceptable it is that Beilein gives him big minutes. We need Stu hitting shots if we hope to be a decent team in the Big Ten, but this is one of the worst shooting slumps I’ve ever witnessed. Hope he gets back on track soon.
The defensive effort as a whole was completely uninspiring. The team isn’t playing help D, is selling out for turnovers, and got beat down the court several times after made baskets. I have no idea how much of this is on coaching, how much is on effort, and how much is on the team’s lack of physical ability, but something needs to change.
Quickly, the rest of the guys: Anthony Wright needs a long benching after the idiotic transition three-point attempt when Michigan had a chance to make the game very interesting — he just isn’t bringing anything to the table right now. Darius Morris shows flashes of brilliance, and I think he’ll be a very good point guard when he learns how to finish and adds a decent mid-range shot. Zack Gibson totally disappeared, and I have no idea why. Matt Vogrich had one very nice pass to Manny for a layup, but just gets consistently exposed defensively. LLP clearly is doing something wrong in practice, because he played six fewer minutes than Akunne on a night when Douglass struggled mightily and Zack Novak was out with the flu.
For more post-game wraps, check out MGoBlog and UMHoops. At this point, I’m actually looking forward to homework — anything to not have to focus on Michigan sports right now. Yes, it’s that bad.
Coming off back-to-back losses in the Old Spice Classic, Michigan is currently unranked and heading into a tough matchup against Boston College. Some fans are already touting this game as a must-win, even with the lion’s share of the season still ahead. So, is this really a game Michigan has to win? Let’s look at both sides:
Yes, this is a must-win:
A third straight loss against a beatable opponent could send this team reeling, especially without the senior leadership that C.J. Lee and David Merritt provided last season. With just one game between Boston College and a trip to Utah, there would be little time to right the ship before the Wolverines would be facing another tough challenge. With all the youth on this team, confidence is very important.
Every at-large tournament team needs a signature non-conference win. If Michigan loses to BC, then the only chances at that win remaining are on the road at Utah and Kansas and at home against UConn. It’s never easy to win on the road against a quality opponent, and it would certainly be a huge upset if Michigan were to knock off Kansas in Lawrence. UConn is a very tough matchup for Michigan themselves, boasting a lot of size and athleticism. Tonight looks to be Michigan’s best crack at a big non-conference win.
John Beilein has yet to settle on a rotation for the rest of the season, given Michigan’s struggles in the past few games. Another loss would raise further questions about playing time, and who deserves it, with only a handful of games left until the Big Ten season begins.
Are you crazy? This isn’t a must-win:
Remember last season, when Michigan dropped several “must-win” games deep into the conference schedule before getting hot and making the tournament? I don’t think Michigan fans particularly want to go through that again, but we have to remember that the tournament committee is often swayed by how well a team is playing heading into the postseason. Those December games that felt so meaningful at the time are many times quickly forgotten once the team heads into the conference slate.
Michigan still has several chances to earn that signature win. Besides Utah, Kansas, and UConn, Michigan still has a very strong Big Ten schedule to deal with, and victories over the likes of Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, and Illinois would go a long way towards an NCAA tournament berth.
This team is still very young, still learning John Beilein’s system, and has a lot of games left to gel and mature. Yes, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims are the clear top guys on the team and upperclassmen, but the rest of the players are still figuring out their roles as complimentary guys. Darius Morris is still a true freshman with all of five games under his belt. Same with Matt Vogrich. Stu Douglass, Zack Novak, and Laval Lucas-Perry are all in their second year in the program. Michigan is still hoping to find a third big man after Sims and Zack Gibson. These guys will get better, given time, and this team should play very different in March than they have in November and December.
Which side do I fall on? I’m leaning towards the latter argument, although a win here would give the team a huge boost heading into a tough stretch in the schedule (after a home cupcake in Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Michigan has @Utah, vs. Detroit, @Kansas in a ten-day span). Luckily for Michigan, Boston College is struggling with injuries — their leading returning scorer, Rakim Sanders, is out, senior forward Tyler Roche is questionable, and go-to guy Joe Trapani is dealing with flu symptoms, although it appears he will play tonight. I think Michigan takes this game — we can’t shoot that poorly from three all season, right?
For more on the game, check out UMHoops and MGoBlog, who both have previews up. Go Blue!
Basketball season officially starts tomorrow, which should come as a relief to Michigan fans everywhere. Before I even start diving in to my preview, I encourage you to check out UMHoops. Seriously, nobody comes close to Dylan when it comes to Michigan hoops knowledge and content among bloggers. If this means you ignore my preview entirely and just check out his site, so be it.
Alright, now that I’ve scared off most of you, I’ll kick off my preview with five predictions for the team this year, most of which will probably make me look stupid:
Manny Harris makes second-team All-American — Yes, this is going out on a limb. With Oklahoma’s Willie Warren, Kansas’ Sharron Collins, Kentucky freshman phenom John Wall, Ohio State’s Evan Turner, and Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas all vying for AA honors at guard, it’s a very tough year to crack even the third team. However, if Michigan finishes the year as a top 15 team (which I think they have a very good shot at doing), it will be very hard to ignore the exploits of their best player. I expect Manny to be more efficient with his shooting this season, and with a legit post threat in DeShawn Sims, solid shooters in Zack Novak, Stu Douglass, and Laval Lucas-Perry (as well as freshman Matt Vogrich), and a true distributing point guard in freshman Darius Morris, defenses won’t be able to key on him as much as they did in the past two seasons. I think he can average 20 points a game without taking much away from the rest of the team, but with all of Michigan’s weapons, he’ll probably settle for 18 a game while coming close to his mark of 4.4 assists per game from last year. Throw in his 7 boards a game, and those are All-American numbers.
Michigan cracks the top 25 in tempo-free offense — I’m not going to delve too deep into tempo-free stats (check out The Only Colors’ explanation, which sums them up perfectly), but in essence they take a team’s pace out of the equation and measure how many points a team would score given the same amount of possessions per game as any other team. Last season, Michigan finished 44th in the country with 111.3 points/100 possessions. To crack last year’s top 25, they would only have to improve that number by three points, which should not be an issue for a team with another year of John Beilein’s system under its belt. A full 39.4% of Michigan’s shots last year came from beyond the three-point line (8th in the country), but they hit only 33.4% of those shots. I expect the latter number to come up significantly this year as Harris, Novak, Douglass, and LLP progress, which would push this offense easily into the top 25 in the country.
Darius Morris’ impact goes far beyond the box score – Beilein’s signature 1-3-1 defense wasn’t used a whole lot last year, as Michigan went with more of a 2-3 look, in large part to cover for the lack of size at point guard. Enter 6’4″ point guard Darius Morris, who has already made a name for himself as a solid defender who can anchor the 1-3-1. This should free up Michigan to play the kind of aggressive, turnover-forcing basketball that was Beilein’s staple at West Virginia. Add in the fact that Morris is a team-first guy who looks for teammates before his own offense, and I think he’ll be a guy who averages six points/game and four or five assists but completely opens up the game on both ends of the floor.
DeShawn Sims makes first-team All-Big Ten – Sims went through a transformation last season, going from a perimeter-oriented big man to a guy who made his living in the post. At times, he was Michigan’s best player, with his dominant 29 point outburst against Purdue in a must-win game (on 13-16 shooting, no less) opening a lot of eyes around the conference. I expect Sims to become even more comfortable in his role this year, staying on the block more instead of wandering out to the three-point line. If Michigan gives him the looks, he’ll convert more times than not (Dylan points out that he hit 55% of his two-point shots last year). With Morris and Harris looking for Peedi on the block, I fully expect him to improve on his 15.4 points per game and 50.5% field goal percentage.
Michigan locks up a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament – Yes, this means I think Michigan will finish as a top-16 team in the country, at least in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament committee. The Wolverines will have several shots at a signature win, with games against Boston College, Utah, Kansas, and UConn all looming on the non-conference schedule, a road contest at Purdue in January, and two cracks at Michigan State (at home on Jan. 26, and the season finale at the Breslin Center on March 6). I like our chances against BC and Utah, and any game at home (UConn, MSU) should give Michigan a puncher’s chance for an upset. If this team takes care of business against the teams they should beat, this is easily a 20+ win team.
Quickly, my predicted order of finish for the Big Ten, with a ten-words or less summary:
Michigan State — Just loaded. Kalin Lucas is an AA.
Purdue — Super sophs become experienced juniors.
Ohio State — Evan Turner is a beast.
Michigan — See above.
Minnesota — Return top nine scorers from tourney squad.
Illinois — Losing Frazier, Meachem and Brock hurts, but still solid.
Wisconsin — Always perform under Ryan, but losing best bigs.
Penn State — Talor Battle will have to carry the load.
Indiana — Will go as far as freshmen take them.
Northwestern — Losing Cable for 4-6 weeks kills any tourney hopes.
Iowa — This year’s Indiana, 2008.
Hoops tips off tomorrow night at 7 against D-II Northern Michigan. As always, UM Hoops has the preview, and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. It’s never too late to jump on the bandwagon…
How Ohio State missed out on Zoltan Mesko — AnnArbor.com — If you’re going to be late to the party, Ohio State, you might as well not show up at all. Also, great quote from Zoltan: “They had about 300 kickers at their camp and Michigan had a smaller camp, so when Michigan noticed me, they offered me and I was like, ‘How can I refuse?’ Greatest combination of national exposure as a football program and academically. That’s what did it for me.”
Rich Rodriguez: Denard Robinson will get plenty of reps, compete for starting job — AnnArbor.com — With all the Forcier hype (and I admit, I’ve gotten a bit caught up in that myself) people forget about the other four-star dual threat quarterback who will take the field in the fall. Rodriguez states that Robinson will only see snaps at quarterback, and not at any other position.
Don’t call him Red Foxx — MVictors — Is Jamie Foxx Michigan’s next celebrity fan? Rich Rodriguez spoke with him for over an hour while in Chicago for Media Day.
Big Ten Media Days, The Take Away on Michigan Football:Part I (Mark Ortmann), Part II (Stevie Brown) — Maize n Brew — Maize n Brew was in attendance at the Big Ten Media Days, and sat down with Ortmann, Brown, Mesko, and Rodriguez. The first two parts of Maize n Brew Dave’s summary are up, and are well worth checking out.
Gardner shines over fellow Michigan QBs at Elite 11 event — USA Today — Rivals.com’s Greg Ladky with some more effusive praise for 2010 commit Devin Gardner. Money quote from Rivals.com’s Barry Every: “His combination of size, athleticism [and] arm strength stood out,” Every said. “More importantly, he really took to the coaching. You can tell he is striving to be the best. He is getting the type of coaching at that event that he will get at the college level, and he responded really well.
“The comparisons to Vince Young and Terrelle Pyror [sic] are legit. He throws the ball better than them at the same stage. Camp instructor Matt James told me the three dual-threat quarterbacks at the event, Garnder, Bolden and Barry Brunetti, are the best three they have ever had at the Elite 11.”
Matt Millen believes in Rich Rod, will broadcast at U-M — Detroit Free Press — This is the most compelling argument for firing RichRod that I’ve ever seen. Also, as a Lions fan, seeing Millen’s face on TV makes me want to break something. Stick to cursing one team I love, please. Michigan never did anything to you.
Pair of Michigan commits are ’100%’ with their pledges — Detroit Free Press — The Wolverine’s Josh Helmholdt reports that RB/Slot Tony Drake and LB Antonio Kinard are both firm in their commitments to Michigan, which is nice to hear after last year’s decommit-fest.
Blame it on Per-per-per-per-per-personnel — Every Day Should Be Saturday — Pure comedic brilliance on the part of Orson Swindle/Spencer Hall and LSUFreek. Worth a click just for the animated gif, and the song is hilarious, even if it’s a little painful for a Michigan fan: “Blame it on Navarre/Blame it on the Henne/Blame it on the qb who run a six-fiddy”. Genius.
Disproving Economic Armageddon Via Stubhub — The Sporting Blog — I had to see the picture evidence to believe it: $9,000 for a 47th-row corner seat in Michigan Stadium … for the Delaware State game. I consider myself a diehard, and I wouldn’t even venture into triple digits for a 10th-row 50-yard-line ticket to that game.
Basketball:
Bringing the Shooter’s Touch … Freshman Matt Vogrich — MGoBlue — The official website profiles incoming freshman Matt Vogrich, and says he is already getting tips from Stu Douglass and Zack Novak. It’s great to read that two sophomores who will be competing with Vogrich for playing time are still willing to help him out.
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