GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball — The Past Couple of Games — Michigan Wins at Home
Posted at 12:00pm — 1/2/2012
GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball — The Past Couple of Games — Michigan Wins at Home
Michigan had the good fortune of starting the Big Ten season off with two home games. This is good but the reality was that neither game could be lost if Michigan wanted to keep on track for an NCAA tournament spot.
Penn State will almost certainly have trouble on the road. The Wolverines were much more athletic than the Lions, but the Lions played hard keeping the score respectable. Again Michigan let off the throttle enough to let the opposition cut a lead going down the stretch.
There were good things that came out of the Penn State game. The rebounding effort was good, the shots fell early enough for Michigan to gain control and the inside defense held firm. Granted, Penn State is not overly athletic, but Michigan continued to improve in certain areas. Smotzy had a good shooting night aided by a Penn State defense that did not rotate to cover Michigan players who had set up on the three-point line.
Michigan moved the ball well and Trey Burke continues his march to become a player of note. The inside game was by committee and again Morgan got few opportunities and missed a dunk that could have given the entire team, including himself, a big lift.
Michigan did not shoot well against Minnesota but survived several Gopher mini-runs. Trey Burke upped his bar with a career night scoring 27 points. Michigan showed some rebounding muscle with Morgan and Smotzy having good nights. While he does not look like Jerry Lucas on the boards, Smotzy’s rebounding improvement has been a big plus.
Michigan continues to show weaknesses with the inside game, allows opportunities to blow out opponents go by the board, and will not come close to leading the league in trips to the foul line. These trends will likely continue throughout the rest of the schedule.
On the plus side Michigan is moving the ball, clearly understands the offensive concept and is balanced enough to force opponents to guard five players, not just Hardaway and Burke. Burke is difficult to guard because of his movement level and Hardaway is difficult to guard because of his athleticism. Jump shooting vultures like Novak, Smotrycz and Douglass, continue to hang out hoping the defense ignores them as Burke and Hardaway slash inside.
Michigan hits the road and goes to Bloomington. The Hoosiers continue to roll, at least at home. The Hoosier crowd will energize the arena and Michigan will need to keep its poise, first and foremost. There is no place like Assembly Hall in the conference, just walking in puts awe into a fan or visiting player.
The mid pack pecking order of the Big Ten will be determined by who can win road games. Indiana will play hard, Michigan better follow suite or it will be another tough night in Bloomington as in recent years for Michigan.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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