Big Ten Tournament Look Ahead

The last two games of this season show the inconsistancy of this Michigan team. In the Minnesota game we saw the team Michigan was expected to be as they were strong in every area. But then we were given a reminder of were this team actually is in the Michigan State game. It was a painful game in that emphasized Michigan's weaknesses and the struggle they have faced all season.

No one would have perdicted a 14-16 record before the season, but that is where the Wolverines sit as they enter the Big Ten Tournament. This is a team that is now fighting against stacked odds for their postseason lives. This is our last chance at any postseason tournament. We need atleast two games to have any shot at the NIT and we would have to take the whole thing for a return to the Big Dance. First up is Iowa, a team that Michigan has handled fairly well in the regular season. If we get past them the real challenges begin with a game against Ohio State and after that possible matchups with Wisconsin, Purdue, or Michigan State. Clearly the road is not going to be easy.

Michigan has shown that they can play at the top level at times this season, but more often then not they have performed well under expectations. The question is which Michigan team will show up in this tournament. Will it be the team that blew away Minnesota or the team that got totally shut down by Michigan State. Every game could be their last game; every matchup could be the end of the road for the seniors. I hope that the team realizes this and plays like there's no tomorrow

Michigan vs. Ohio State Post-game

Michigan 55 vs. #9 Ohio State 66

Box Score

Offence: Michigan's offence was improved when compared to their last couple performances but it was not enough to beat a very good Ohio State team.The Wolverines did a good job holding on to the ball and rebounding on the offensive and showed good fight coming back from a bad start. In the end though, this team is just not making enough shots to win. They improved from their last two games but still shot only 36.2% for the game. Manny and Deshawn have not been nearly as consistent as in the early season and they are really strugling to find their shots. Luckily other players pitched in as all 5 Michigan starters scored in double digits. Michigan clearly still has fight left in them, if only they could find a way to make a couple more shots. Grade: C

Defence: Even as Michigan has struggled on offence lately they have stepped and played good enough defence to stay in games. Once again this was case as Michigan was able to contain Ohio State for the most part. Other than a couple of mismatches that Ohio State exploited (William Buford and Dallas Lauderdale) and Evan Turner's excellent shooting Michigan held most of the Buckeyes in check. Ohio State shot 58% overall but this was due mostly to great performances by Turner and Lauderdale. Michigan was able to force 12 turnovers and did a decent job rebounding the ball. Again Michigan played just enough defence to keep them in the game but didn't do enough to overcome their offensive woes. Grade: C+

Overall: Michigan showed some fight and played a pretty good game against a strong Ohio State team but they were brought down by the same problems that have plauged them all season Grade: C+ 

Michigan vs. Ohio State Pre-game

Michgan Basketball @ #9 Ohio State

2/27/10 12:00PM

TV: ESPN Radio: 950AM & 1050AM

Michigan travels to Columbus today to take on the Buckeyes after defeating them at home by a score of 73-64 on Jan 3rd. There are many differences between that game and today's matchup though. Ohio State was without their star Evan Turner in the 1st game and now a road game against a full strength Buckeye's team is looking like a tough challenge.

Evan Turner will lead Ohio State after returning from a back injury. The Big Ten Player of the Year canidate is leading the Buckeyes in multiple categories including scoring and rebounding (19.7 ppg and 9.2 rpg ). He is one of the best players in a excellent class of Big Ten Juniors. Ohio State is playing some of their best basketball with him back in the lineup with recent road wins over Illinois and Michigan State which have pushed them up to number 9 in the nation.

Along with Evan Turner Ohio State relys on production from William Buford and Jon Diebler who are both averageing over 12 points a game. Rounding out the lineup for the Buckeyes are Juniors David Lighty and Dallas Lauderdale. This lineup has talent throughout and forms a great supporting class for Turner. This included with the production off the bench from guys like P.J. Hill (1.4 rpg) and Jermaine Simmons (5.5 ppg) makes Ohio State a very difficult team to defeat.

Illinois vs. Michigan Post Game

Michigan 44 vs. Illinois 51

Box Score

Offence:  You can't hope to win a game when you shoot as bad as the wolverines did on Tuesday. They only made 24.6% of their shots on route to a season tying low of 44 points. The offense was simply awful  in this game, there's no other way to put it. No one could hit shots and Illinois came up with most of Michigan's misses ending with 38 defensive rebounds. Players like Stu Douglass (0-8 Overall, 0-5 3pt.) and LLP (0-3 in just 13 minutes) stood out for all the wrong reasons and the regular contribution from Deshawn Sims was missing (7 points in 27 minutes). The only real strong points offensively in this game was the 3 pt shooting of Zack Novak (4 threes) and the spark provided by Zack Gibson. Overall this was a very poor offensive effort that needs to be improved if Michigan is going to have any chance in future games especially Saturday against Ohio State. Grade: D

Defence: Defensively Michigan played a decent game. Unlike their offence throughout the night they defend well but they were not without defensive lapses. Still they managed to hold Illinois to only 51 points on 37% shooting. They were outreabounded but that was due largely to the number of rebounds the Illini got off Michigan's missed shots. Darius Morris and Deshawn Sims played pretty solid defence even though they didn't get much done on offence. Sims managed to get 13 rebounds even while going up against a 7'1" Mike Tisdale. The Wolverines defence certiainly wasn't great but the team was mostly effective in limiting Illinois' scoring attack. Grade: B-

This is still a team searching for answers especially when it comes to their shooting. They turned another awful performance and even solid defence could not keep this one from getting away from the Wolverines. Overall Grade: C-

ps: Sorry this took so long. If didn't notice I'm trying out a new post game format. Tell me what you think about.

Michigan vs. Illinois Pre-game

Michgan Basketball vs. Illinois

2/23/10 7:00PM

TV: ESPN Radio: 950AM & 102.9FM

Well I'm back to writing my usual pre-games and unfortunately Michigan is back to their losing ways. They dropped the ball on Saturday against a Penn State team that only had 1 win in conference just when it looked like they had momentum after a strong win at Minnesota. They will try to rebound against a strong but somewhat inconsistent Illinois team.

Illinois is coming off back to back losses to Ohio State and Purdue after a 5 game winning streak which included wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin. Illinois is looking to finish strong in order stay near the top of the Big Ten. The question is which Illini team will show up tomorrow, if Illinois comes out motivated they could be very tough to stop but if they play like they did in their last two games Michigan should have a good chance.

Leading the Fighting Illini is Demetri McCamey a 6'3" Junior from Bellwood, IL. He averages over 15 points and nearly 7 assists per game. Illinois next leading scorer is Mike Tisdale who at 7'1" has potenial to cause all kinds of problems for Michigan. The rest of Illinois lineup includes a pair of 6'9" fowards (Mike Davis and Bill Cole) who both pull down a lot of rebounds for the Illini and D.J. Richardson, a 6'3" guard who averages over 10 points a game. This lineup allows Illinois to spread out their attack and outrebound many teams. Michigan is going to have to come out strong to have a good chance against this pyhsical Illinois team.

posts will resume soon

I have been unable to write my usual posts lately because I have been on vacation. I will start my regular schedule of basketball posts next week as well as posting a baseball preview sometime soon.

Michigan vs. Minnesota pre-game

Michigan Basketball @ Minnesota

2/11/10 7:00PM

TV: ESPN Radio: 950 AM and 102.9 FM

 

Minnesota comes into this game with a 14-8 record. They started off conference games strong going 3-1 before hitting a recent tough strech in their schedule in which they had to play Michigan State twice and Ohio State on the road. They are currently strech in a 2-4 strech  needing wins to keep them in the tournament discussion.

 

Minnesota needs this win so they will probably come out motivated. Like many other teams Minnesota will have a size advantage over Michigan. Deshawn Sims will probably have a tough time against Ralph Sampson III who is 6'11" and averages 6.2 rebouns per game. Along with their starters Minnesota has some size on their bench as Colton Iverson (6'10") and Paul Carter (6'8") both average over 15 minutes per game.

 

The backcourt of Minnesota took a hit with the loss of Al Nolen but they still features plenty of depth. Junior Blake Hofbarber will handle the 3 position for the gophers. He is an excellent three point shooter (50% on the year) and also averages about 4 rebounds a game. At the 1 and 2 positions are Lawerence Westbrook and Devoe Joseph. Joseph has taken over for Al Nolen and done a good job averaging over 8 points per game while Westbrook is the senior leader for the gophers and is leading the team in scoring with 13.3.

For Michigan all talk of tournament play is gone and now the only thing they are playing for is a possible shot at the NIT. This season has been a major disapointment and now they just have to take one game at a time and hope for the best. Tonight will be a tough challenge as Minnesota is favored by almost nine points. Michigan needs to come out strong and play at a much higher level than their last couple games if they are going to have a chance in this one.

3 Keys to the Game

1. Start Strong - This is one of the only things that Michigan has done well in their last few games and it will be especially important to quiet the crowd early since Williams Arena is a tough place to play at.
2. Gaurd Play - Michigan needs more production out of the 1 and 2 positions, even if its not through scoring. Players like Darius Morris, LLP, and Stu Douglass can contribute by limiting turnovers, picking up assists, etc. I think Stu especially could have a good game because he is going up against Al Nolen's replacement in the lineup, Devoe Joseph.
3. Defense - Before Michigan's recent strech even when they weren't scoring they were playing strong defense which kept them in games. In their last 2-3 games Michigan's defense has kind of fallen apart especially last Saturday against Wisconsin. If Michigan is going to be competitive in this game and many more down the strech then they are going to improve on defense.

Projected Starting Lineups

Michigan                                          Minnesota

G #4 D. Morris 6'4" 180                    G L. Westbrook 6'0" 193

G #1 S. Douglass 6'3" 185                 G D. Joseph 6'3" 179
G #3 M. Harris 6' 5" 185                   G B. Hoffarber 6'4" 210

F #0 Z. Novak 6'5" 210                     F D. Johnson 6'7" 205

F #34 D. Sims 6'8" 235                      F R. Sampson III 6'11" 241