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

The week ahead in Michigan sports

Women's sports

• Softball- The softball team kicks off their season with back to back doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday and then they play a game against #8 UCLA to wrap up the NTC Division 1 Invitational
• Basketball - The Women's basketball team is 4-1 in their last five including a 34 point win over Minnesota to improve their record to 14-9. They are expected to face challanges against Michigan State and @ Penn State in the next week though.
• Tennis - The tennis team plays in the ITA team championship Friday through Monday in Madison, WI

Men's Sports

• Basketball - The men are trying to rebound from a tough strech but will have to win on the road to do it as they travel to Minnesota tommorow and Iowa next tuesday. Luckily Michigan defeated Iowa easily in their first matchup and the game @ Minnesota looks winnable.
• Hockey - Coming off of a 4-0 shutout of Bowling Green, Michigan will travel to Omaha to play a pair of games against Nebraska-Omaha on Friday and Saturday.
• Baseball - The start of the season is right around the corner with Michigan starting Feb. 19th in the Texas Tech Tournament and I hope to be posting a season preview soon. Tonight is meet the team night at 5:30 in the Junge Family Champions Center.
• Tennis - Mens tennis has a home match this Saturday against Notre Dame at  6

Michigan Basketball vs. Wisconsin Postgame 2/6/10

Wisconsin 62 Michgan 44

Box Score

This team is falling apart right now. They looked completely defeated throughout most of this game as Wisconsin outplayed them in almost every statistical categorey. Wisconsin vastly outshot and outrebounded a disheartened Michigan team. Just a look at the three point percentages shows how wrong this game went for Michigan (Wisconsin: 52.4% Michigan: 18.2%). Every shot that Wisconsin hit was a reminder of just how painful this season has been.

A look at the individual player stats does not paint a good picture for Michigan. Beyond Deshawn Sims Michigan had very little offense while three Wisconsin players had double digits in points and Keaton Nakavil finished with 9. Only 2 players really stood out for Michigan, Deshawn and Darius Morris. Deshawn scored most of Michigan's points and was their main threat. Darius had a nice game with 8 points, 3 assists, and a rebound. He made a couple mistakes but played pretty and seems to be getting better with every game. Still most of the team really struggled, especially Manny which resulted in Michigan scoring a season low 44.

It is hard to look ahead with any optimisim for this team now. They are stuck in their worst streach of the season (1-5 in the last 6) and are now in a position where they have to play very well in the final 7 games to even have a shot at the NIT. Upcoming are two road games against Minnesota and Iowa which are winnable games but probably won't be easy. Right now Michigan just has to take one game at a time and hope that their play will improve down the strech

Michigan Hockey links

Here's some links for Michigan's other big matchup against Wisconsin today, outdoor hockey at Camp Randall.

• Michigan Game Notes (pdf)
• Wisconsin Game Notes (pdf)
• Rink Construction Photos and videos
• M Magazine Article on the Summers brothers from Thursday 
• Michigan @ Bowling Green recap 

Game Notes

Michigan Hockey @ Wisconsin

Camp Randall Hockey Classic

Madison, WI 6:00PM EST

TV: BTN Radio: None

1st Post! Michigan vs. Wisconsin Pre-game

Michigan Basketball vs. Wisconsin
2/6/10 4:00 PM
TV: CBS Radio: 950AM and 1050 AM

The last time these two teams met Michigan led for the first 36 minutes of the game before Wisconsin tied it up and pulled away at the end. Wisconsin ended up winning by a score of 54-48 due largely to Michigan's poor shooting.

Even though Michigan led throughout most of the game they did not play well on offense. Once again the entire team struggled to shoot the ball resulting in a 36.2% Total FG%. The Wolverines did play good defense, though, forcing Wisconsin to an even lower shooting percentage (34%) Unfortnately, Trevon Hughes took over at end leading Wisconsin to a 6 point victory.

The loss at Madison showed many of the flaws which have hurt Michigan throughout the season such as poor shooting and lack of leadership. Wisconsin's leaders took over late in the game and Michigan had no one to step up and this proved to be the difference in the game.

Michigan did show they could play with Wisconsin in the last game though. Wisconsin doesn't do anything amazingly well but they seem to always be very well coached and excel at doing the small things. Even in the absence of Jon Leuer they have found ways to win. The loss of Leuer has forced them to play a smaller lineup which is favorable to Michigan. If Michigan can use this to their advantage and find a way to make just a few more shots they should have a good chance in this one.

3 Keys to the game:

1. Size: This is one game where Michigan matchups up well with the smaller Wisconsin lineup. Deshawn Sims needs to have a big game inside and Michigan should look for him early and often.
2. Stop Trevon Hughes: Hughes really hurt Michigan at the end of the last game and end up with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. Michigan needs one of their gaurds to step up and make shure he does not take over the game once again.
3. Shooting: This has been a problem for the Wolverines throughout the season and at this point it is clear that they are not a very good shooting team. If a couple of guys can come out hot and they shoot around 33% from 3 point range they should have a good chance.

Projected Starting Lineups

           Michigan                                                 Wisconsin

G #31 L. Lucas-Perry 6'3" 185                   G T. Hughes 6' 183  

G #1 S. Douglass 6'3" 185                          G J. Taylor 6'1" 195

G #3 M. Harris 6' 5" 185                            G J. Bohannon 6'2" 198

F #0 Z. Novak 6'5" 210                               F T. Jarmusz 6'6" 210

F #34 D. Sims 6'8" 235                               F K. Nankivil 6'8" 240

Michigan Game Notes                                Wisconsin Game Notes

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Wolverine web log. I decided to create this blog because I am a huge fan of UofM sports and wanted to share my opinions about them. I was influenced by the great blogs at umhoops.com and mgoblog.com and thought it would be fun to make my own blog about my favorite teams.

On this blog I will provide my opinions and analysis on UofM sports such as football and basketball. I will also post the latest news and notes on Michigan athletics as well as other major sports teams. I hope to provide pre-and post-game info for all football and basketball games. I will also post as much recruiting info and news from other sports as possible.

I hope you enjoy this blog and become a regular follower of it. If you like it please spread the word about this blog and join the followers list. Feel free to leave comments anytime with your opinions on UofM sports. Hopefully this blog can become a large community of UofM sports fans.
Thanks and enjoy!,
A.J.