Michigan Basketball: Serious Basketball starts tonight

Posted at 12:00pm — 11/26/2010

GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball — Serious Basketball starts tonight

Legends Classic: Syracuse vs. Michigan
from Atlantic City
7:30pm – 10:00pm
DirecTV Channel 306
HD Net

The fun and cozy early season pre-conference games all big programs enjoy for wins and preparation, and the smaller guys enjoy for paychecks and the occasional surprise win are finished. Michigan has come out of the gate as expected 3-0. There will now be a shift back and forth between levels of competition until the Big Ten season starts. Once in conference play there will be no room for any letdown.

First some general comments will be presented. This team should be fun to watch, the passing, execution of the total offense, and overall sharing of the team load should be improved. There are two, perhaps three true freshmen newcomers to watch closely, Evan Smotrycz, the heralded poor man’s Larry Bird, Tim Hardaway Jr., the sharpshooter, and Coltan Christian.

On the non-joy part of the spectrum, this team will not have the two big-time players of last year, Harris and Sims. At times Sims was the only consistent inside presence the Wolverines possessed last season. Again the Wolverines may struggle to rebound against top-shelf teams, and the three point shooting will need to improve to justify the Wolverines playing away from the hoop.

This team will be described with the age-old moniker of young, but it really is. True freshmen Smotrycz and Hardaway, along with Red shirt freshman Jordan Morgan and Sophomore Darius Morgan, will carry the load of minutes for the Wolverines. Two hard working juniors, nasty-boy Novak and Stu Douglass will provide what they can to squeeze out some victories in the big games.

The middle will be by committee, but red-shirt freshman Jordan Morgan provides the best chance of an inside presence. Blake McLimans, a 6’10’ red-shirt freshman, is more of a combo outside type of guy, as is Smotrycz. True freshman Colton Christian has demonstrated some solid relief work early on and shows some promise for rebounding help.

The guard position is deep and with decent size. Highly intelligent Darius Morris, last year’s highly touted freshman from California, showed down the stretch of last season that he can contribute at a high level. At 6’4,” and not being lightning quick, Darius plays under good control and has become an excellent feeder. He will not make less than brilliant turnovers time after time. His size allows for some good things to happen in the UM offense once inside.

Darius is not a premier three point shooting and that role still falls upon Novak and Douglass. Matt Vogrich, still thin, has not yet taken off as a consistent three-point threat. If and when he does, that could help out others within the offensive scheme. Eso Akunar, at 6’3” and 200 pounds provides a wide body at the guard position. Guys like this used to be highly sought after to run what was called a power guard offense, but basketball has become a simple drive and dish venture.

Michigan is young and does not have the overall talent of a higher level Division 1 team. The Big Ten is loaded, with at least seven teams being a serious contender for NCAA postseason big dance play. This team will have ups and downs and will need to rely on smarts, balance, and unfortunately better three-point shooting.

It will be fun to watch some of the youngsters and see if they improve during the last part of the season, as did Morris. The early bet here is for a window of 12-16 wins. But things can change and surprises can occur.

Coach Beilein needs more size and a couple more blue chips before he can ascend the program to the mid rank of the Big Ten. He just won his 600th game and anyone who does not understand how significant that is simply has not coached. Congratulations to Coach Beilein.

The Big Orange of Syracuse is next up, ranked number 9 coming into the game. The Orangemen are big, but historically can look like an NCAA final four team or very average early in tournaments like the Legends. The last few years Syracuse has been more consistent. May the threes be with you.

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!