Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Syracuse at Michigan

Posted at 5:45am — 12/5/2014

Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Syracuse at Michigan — Recap

Our Gang — Michigan Defeats Syracuse — Not Doing so Bad.

I remember someone saying the Big Ten was not that good this year, and that was concerning basketball, not football. The boys across the conference must have blocked out any such premise, or the premise was false, or the ACC is really, really down.

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The ACC still has three or four tough match-ups. Duke is strong, fueled by a dynamite freshman. Virginia is one of the best defensive teams in the .nation. Notre Dame hung around, made some big threes, and dropped Michigan State in a toss-up game. North Carolina seems to be mimicking Michigan’s eclipse mode in basketball; plenty of talent, so-so results. Syracuse is still offensively challenged but big and hard to blow out.

Michigan was very fortunate to win that game. And of course there is Louisville, a team destined to be a top twenty team, one who had Ohio State by the throat early and nearly lost a sure big win with bad play in the second half. Ugly was the norm in that contest.

The middle of the Big Ten appears to be better than the middle of the ACC. The bottom dwellers are pretty much even. So, the Big Ten now flies the banner of Maryland, a once and maybe future basketball powerhouse.

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Michigan faced a not yet rebuilt Syracuse team. Of course, Michigan is in the same boat. The likely strengths and weaknesses of this team may be chronic, or may show the usual February improvements; time will tell. Syracuse showed how difficult it may be for Michigan to get the ball inside against a big, physical team. Syracuse also showed how easy to was to get the ball inside on Michigan’s defense. Fortunately, Syracuse failed to take advantage of this benefit.

At least Ricky Doyle is active and attempts to get to spots. His offensive skills are still minimal, but he continues to show improved play and a positive glimpse of what his future may be like. Spike continues to overstretch his actual athleticism a bit, but he also continues to make big plays. His defense is at least not a big liability. Derrick Walton is struggling with his ankle, and so his shooting is down.

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Zak Irvin looks like a guy who has gained intensity and a knowledge of the game. UM will need his overall improvement to make the first tier of the conference. Kam Chatman has showed some signs of improvement the last two games. He is the last line of offense at his spot, until others develop. His shots are just now starting to fall, and many are still way off. The other parts of his game, passing, rebounding, and defense, have shown enough upside to be encouraging.

And so, Michigan goes back to small potato opposition, exempting Arizona, for the time being. Coach Beilein knows the team could be undefeated, but also knows two or three loses by now would not have been surprising.

All in all, the team is hanging in and the parts are starting to mesh. Bad three’s will probably still be launched, switching will be problematic, and only Doyle can physically hang in with big guys. But it could be worse, much worse.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

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