GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball -- 2011/2012 -- A First Look -- Part I

Posted at 6:00am — 10/22/2011

GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball — 2011/2012 — A First Look — Part I

Wolverine fans are in the midst of an exciting football season. There will be plenty of stories, many opportunities for glory, and destinations and outcomes yet to be determined.

The weather in the Midwest is changing as it always does in October, from the 70’s, to the 60’s, to the 50’s, and now to the 40’s. Basketball junkies are warming up as the two-week barrier approaches. They are as helpless as college football fans on July 31 of any year.

In life things sneak up on all of us. And the upcoming college basketball season is closer than many realize. With this thought, GBMWolverine presents a first look at the team and an analysis of what to expect this go-around.

The season starts on November 4 with an exhibition against Wayne State and starts for real on November 11 against Ferris State.

This two part article will address the following venues: (1) the schedule; (2) the roster; (3) the overall strengths and weaknesses of the team, and (4) the season’s expectations.

The schedule starts out innocently enough with Ferris State, Towson, and Northern Illinois before Michigan plays in a very difficult Maui Classic field that includes Memphis, Duke, and Tennessee. So, the first few games could go boom, boom, and boom, and the next three could go bam, bam, and bam.

The non-conference schedule includes interesting match-ups against Bradley, Virginia, and Arkansas, notwithstanding an Oakland team that will try to kick in Michigan’s door.

The Big Ten season speaks for itself and there are no givens. Hopefully Michigan does not sleep walk through the first few games of the Big Ten schedule as in the past.

The roster includes, finally, some seasoned players, and this must be a true joy for Coach Beilein. Believe it or not Michigan has some seniors that have been starters. Michigan also has three scholarship newcomers that will likely play, more about them later.

The new trendy term in basketball lingo is the “bigs.” Michigan’s “bigs” are a bit of a misnomer as many play outside the three-point line. The one, true, big is 6’ 8” 240 pounds, or so, Jordan Morgan. He can muscle some, sets nice screens, rolls to the basket very well, and has decent quicks for his size. He is not a jumper or a difference maker on the boards. The fact that he is about the only true presence in the paint (possible exception Novak) leads to foul trouble. If Morgan can show even more improvement this year, he will be a mainstream Big Ten player.

The second “big” to discuss is Novak. He is only a big on defense and incredibly holds his own at 6’ 4”. He goes inside, gets some garbage rebounds down low, and if energy and touch allow hits some threes.

Next up is 6’ 9” (maybe) forward Evan Smortrycz, last year’s freshman enigma. Evan loves to shoot and has the hot hand disease, that is, when the ball hits his hand it goes up, if a shot is possible. There were times Evan was instant offense and could hit two or three in a row, or he could crap out and take two or three duds and retreat to the bench. The end of last season saw the Michigan coaches make a concerted effort to make Evan play a more rounded game, going low and going to the hoop. If Evan works to make himself more than a tall three-point shooter he can contribute, he has skills. On the defensive end, he has miles to go and must gain strength and knowledge of rebounding, a skill Michigan does not excel at whatsoever.

Jon Horford has worked hard to gains skills and gain weight. He now looks to be at the point where he can contribute. If Horford improves, Coach Beilein can gain valuable minutes for the resting bigs. Blake McLimans is technically a big at 6’10”. He plays, as many Beilein bigs do, outside. Blake is now a junior and the time to contribute is now. Hopefully he is tougher and able to provide minutes to ease the load.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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