Michigan Basketball: High Noon or a New Dawn? — What Next for the Basketball Program?
Posted at 8:00AM — 3/22/2011
Michigan Basketball: High Noon or a New Dawn? — What Next for the Basketball Program?
Day is done and gone the sun, but is this dawn or a high water mark? Even with the close loss to giant Duke, every Michigan basketball follower must be pleased, very pleased, with Sunday’s effort. Good things continue, most notably tough play and refusing to go away meekly into the night.
Is this the start of big things, or will Michigan remain in the years to come at this same relative plateau? Many were pleading for this level of play over a period of years not so long ago, but now, due to the recent success, expectations will rise. But are these expectations justified.? Coach Beilein would probably hope for high expectations, that means a product has worth.
Experience will help next year. Some players must make clear improvements and the coaching staff knows that full well, as do/will the players as they near summer program time.
Some need strength and weight, some need to be more versatile, and some need to play the yearlong rust off. But every player on the team will be given goals and strategies.
To go past the 21 or so win plateau, the team will need to bring in players that can compete against the more talented teams on the schedule. There will always be so-called sleepers, but big time talent gets big time results.
A big time team like Duke can expose past weaknesses. Michigan struggled early on but regrouped on ball handling and beating pressure. At times Duke owned the boards. This really showed the need for a supreme ball handler. Burke is pretty good, some think more than pretty good at beating pressure. He will almost certainly play next year as a first year contributor.
Although the Wolverines are seen as a three-point team, this can be a detriment, but the shooting still needs to improve or be more selective for the strategy to be a strength.
What the Wolverines have improved at is players, such as Smotzy and Douglass, taking the ball to the hole effectively. This has been a big help. The dribble and the dribble drive are the most important parts of college ball as of 2011. Teams are giving up working the ball totally by passing. Many teams have the point guard down the middle as the first and foremost option.
But the close games are still decided by having players on the inside that can get the ball, score with the ball, and prevent others from scoring. Teaching cannot overcome this lack. Morgan is helping, but oh my what this team could be with a big timer in the paint.
Michigan will soon likely land one more big and the argument will entail: is this player the answer? Like anything else time will tell.
But it is time to enjoy and look back. There will be probably one more summary on the basketball season. More than anything we at GBMWolverine hope you enjoyed our five months of basketball coverage.
As mentioned from the very first, this team should be fun to watch, and they were!!!
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!