SB Nation - Kelvin Grady

Tuesday Happy: Running Late, Hatin' Andre Ware, and Wondering WTF is up With the Bengals

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:02:23 -0000

Wow. It actually is happy hour. Sweet. Let's see whats ON TAP:

Michigan Football:

Kelvin Grady expected to join U-M's football team (Detroit Free Press) - Interesting. After two years out of pads, Kelvin Grady, appears to have traded his gym shoes for football pads and joined the the football team. Honestly, this is a bit of a surprise. With his older brother on the way out the door, and other basketball options awaiting him somewhere else, I thought Grady was good as gone. That said, it's not like Michigan doesn't have a spare scholarship to use on a former 3 star running back? Believe it or not, Kelvin was a decent running back at East Grand Rapids, earning all-state honors at running back while amassing more than 2,000 yards and 28 TDs in 2006.

Andre Ware is a Douchebag - I'm sure you've seen it. Andre Ware said, out loud, that Rich Rod might not beat OSU (Detroit Free Press). Andre Ware can suck it.

Evaluating the Mechanics of Big Ten Quarterbacks - Tate Forcier - The Rivalry, Esq. - Our homies over at The Rivalry, Esq., take a look at Tate Forcier's throwing motion. Hint. He's not Vince Young. In that respect at least.

BlueandGold.com // Top-5 For 2009: DL - The gold folks at Blue and Gold are running down the top Defensive Linement the Irish will face this year. No.1? Brandon Graham.

Ranking the Big Ten: Brandon Graham, No. 10 - Big Ten - Rittenberg continues counting down the top players in the Big Ten. Brandon Graham checks in a No. 10. I'm a fan of Rittenberg's, but the countdown has been pretty disappointing.

Michigan adds two more to 2010 class (Detroit Free Press) - Michigan adds some non-5'6" wide receivers. Linemen Jordan Paskorz (DE 3 stars) and Christian Pace (C #5 center 3 stars) committed to Michigan in the last two days.

Recruiting link dump - no commentary, just links.

Christian Pace Goes Blue - More on OH OL Christian Pace (6-3, 260, 5.7) via Varsity Blue.

U-M's Breaston gaining confidence with Cardinals (Detroit Free Press) - Steve Breaston is shining that million dollar smile while Anquan Boldin screws himself. Breaston looks like the No. 2 receiver for the Arizona Cardinals going into the season.

Former Wolverine Leon Hall pleads guilty to reckless driving (The Detroit News) - Okay. I've been to Cincinnati. I like the town. But WTF is up with every Bengal and their mother getting arrested? Even LEON HALL? Are you serious? Dude. You're rich. Call a goddamn cab. In typical Cinci fashion, Hall has to attend a three-day program that deals with how alcohol and drugs affect driving to squirm out of the situation. Seriously. Leon. Call a cab.

Ex-U-M, Lions QB coach Scot Loeffler talks QBs (Detroit Free Press) - Scot Loeffler talks Tim Tebow, Michigan, and Nick Sheridan. Important quote on Sheridan "one day he'll be one heck of a football coach." Please note he did not say "starting quarterback."

Michigan Basketball

Wolverines, Utah to play on Dec. 9 - Big Ten Network - Michigan will travel to Utah for a real out of conference match up on December 9, 2009. Works for me.

Michigan Hockey

Jack Campbell talks gold-medal success - JMFC talks with the Wolverine, declares incoming recruit Jon Merrill the next JMFJ. I can't believe how good the 2010 recruiting class is. It's fucking scary.

Michigan Golf

For Michigan, surprising Final Four run was not a surprise - Not a surprise? Daily on the Men's Golf team.

Texas A&M knocks the Michigan men's golf team from the NCAA Championships - Just a recap. UM Golf team makes Final Four, drops a heartbreaker to the Aggies.

Michigan Softball

Michigan softball team falls 7-5 to Georgia, Season Over - The final run down of the season's last Softball game.

Softball team regroups after World Series exit - Softball returns all but one starter, including five All-Big Ten first-teamers and two All-Americans (freshman Amanda Chidester being the other). Jeezus, this team could be scary.

Michigan Track

Harris sprints to school record (Detroit Free Press) - Adam Harris ran a 10.09 second 100 meter sprint at the NCAA Regional championships in Louisville, Ky, setting a new UM record. Damn.

College Football

Herzlich update: Return to football likely 'out of the question' - This just sucks. Mark Herzlich has basically been told by his doctors that a return to football is likely 'out of the question.' I said it earlier, this kid needs everyone's support regardless of allegiance. Once his cemo is done, doctors will exract a baseball sized lump of bone and tissue from his leg and receovery from treatment and surgery is going to take a long time. Even Herzlich admits "there's also a 30 percent chance I won't be cured."

What do you say to that? Here's what.

Mark, we're all pulling for you and praying for you. You're gonna beat this thing.

Georgia Sports Blog: Kickoff Coverage: 7 Yards that Make a Real Difference - Paul Westerdawg takes a look at the effect the NCAA's infahada on touchbacks is having on the game. A must read.

Reevaluating USC's right to remain silent on Reggie Bush - The good Doctor takes another look at Reggie Bush USC, and how the Trojans are handling the situation.

A look at the new U of Washington uniforms (Seattle Times Newspaper) - The new Washington uniforms are designed to take away stain of 0-12 record and the smell of Ty Willingham!

College Basketball

Basketball Prospectus | Unfiltered - Jon Gasaway (formerly big ten wonk) on the Kentucky/Gillispie fiasco, if you want to call it that.

Other Stuff Worth Reading

It's hard to say goodbye to David Ortiz - I hate some of the self agrandizing crap Bill Simmons puts out, but when he's on, there's no one better. Simmons article on the demise of David Ortiz is one of the best descriptors of an idol's career hitting that I'm too old brick wall that I've ever read.

NCAA regional baseball: Florida State Seminoles crush Ohio State Buckeyes 37-6 in NCAA baseball - Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Clemson: Not so Many Numbers

Beauford — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:20:54 -0000

Ah, it begins. One of my absolute favorite times to be a sports fan. I'm watching Butler play LSU, got the other games running on the laptop. Life's good.

Michigan plays tonight, which is pretty sweet. First time in 10 years that we've heard NCAA, blahde blahde blahde. Let's get to the game, shall we?

The first thing that you notice when looking at Clemson is that damned full court press that they run on almost every possession. The next thing you notice is "holy crap it works." Clemson on the season forces a turnover on nearly 25% of their opposition's possessions, which is scary for a team like Michigan who definitely can't afford to give Clemson easy transition points. The answer for anybody who's watched Michigan this year is "Grady!" but he's proven to be a defensive liability, and probably won't get the start. However, should that press become a huge problem for Lee/Merritt, I would expect Grady to get some serious minutes.

The flip side of a tenacious press is easy 2 pointers once it's broken, and poor rebounding. Clemson allows for both, which like, good. Rebounding has been somewhat of an issue for Michigan, so it's nice to be going up against a team for whom it's also a problem. Should Michigan start to break that press with consistency, I expect there to be some easy transition points.

Also boding well for Michigan is Clemson's lack of a true giant in the middle. Trevor Booker averages around 15 points/game, and will be their primary target inside. I don't think he's the biggest threat, however, as Sims matches up well and barring foul trouble should be able to at least frustrate him enough to limit his impact. I'm more worried about Oglesby shooting from range. If he gets hot and starts shooting over the zone, it could be a long day.

Speaking of the zone, it seems to be Michigan's primary weapon in this game. Clemson has had very limited time to prepare for the 1-3-1, and aren't very good at keeping the ball anyways, turning it over on 21% of their possessions. Without a true big man to plow inside, Clemson is going to really have to rely on dribble drives and outside shooting. Defending the perimeter is paramount.

For Michigan offensively, it's the same story. Gotta get Sims involved early, gotta have Manny penetrating and dishing, gotta have somebody hit some outside shots. The only difference here is that full court press. Break it, and we should get some easy buckets. Get killed by it, and well, it's back to Ann Arbor.

There has been much said about Beilein's tournament success compared to Purnell's lack thereof. While I don't hold this as a something that is too important, it is certainly worth mentioning. Beilein, whether in the NCAA or the NIT, wins a lot. Purnell, on the other hand, has never won a tournament game in 5 tries. He's figured out a way to lose whether he's favored or not, which could be good, because the numbers say that, uh, we're decidedly not favored.

Keys to the game

Break the press. Hopefully with Lee/Meritt, maybe with Grady
Limit Clemson transition points
Defend the perimeter
Work that 1-3-1 to force TO's
Get Sims involved early
Quality 3 pointers; not quantity

Are we favored? No, no, and no. Can we win this game? Of course. If we break the press with consistency, and our 1-3-1 proves to be frustrating, I think we're in good shape. Let's get after it. Live blog at 5PM.

NCAA Basketball Tournament Roundtable - Big Ten Bloggers Style

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:02:25 -0000

Michigan is in the Tournament. And so is more than half the Big Ten. Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio State are all dancing this year. What's even more impressive is that nine of eleven Big Ten schools are in post season play when you count in Penn State and Northwestern's NIT invites. That leaves two words to be said:

Damn, son.

To tip off Tournament Week the right way, our homies over at Hammer and Rails, SBN's outstanding and freshly minted Purdue blog, have posed a Tournament Blog Roundtable. My thanks and congrats to TMill for the Rountable and to his Boilermakers for raising another Big Ten Tournament Banner with a win over Ohio State. Here's hoping for a deep run for the Boilers and Wolverines over then next few weeks.

Now on to the Questions:

1. For those in the tournament, what was your signature win that made sure you were dancing? For those out, what was that one loss that prevented you from going?

One signature win? Michigan had a couple. But there were a trio of wins that put Michigan in the tournament. The first was the November 20, 2008 win over then No. 4 UCLA. That win gave Michigan hope. Hope that this team could do something special. The second was the December 6, 2008 win over then No. 4 Duke. That win gave Michigan credibility. Finally, after a mini-slump, Michigan's final win at Minnesota sealed the deal. That showed Michigan could win on the road. If there's one thing the selection committee made clear this year, your whole season determines your invite. So along those lines, I've gotta point to Three Key Wins that locked Michigan's first bid in more than a decade.

via photos.mlive.com

2. The conference jumped from four bids to seven this year, and it could have been nine with the right breaks. What is the biggest factor in this jump?

Coaching. People can babble on about the ACC or the Big East, but the best coaching in the country can be found in the Big Ten. How in God's name is Northwestern even in the conversation? Coaching. How is Penn State a breath away from an invite? Coaching. Go from the top of the standings down, you're going to find outstanding coaches at every rung on the ladder. Hell, I'm more afraid of the coaches at the bottom of the pile than I am of some of the coaches in the middle! Tom Crean is an amazing coach who, mark my words, will bring Indiana back to prominence. And at Iowa, I actively campaigned for Licklieter at Michigan. Izzo, Smith, Ryan, Webber, Beilein, Painter, etc... This conference got better because the coaching got better.

Anyone else have an explanation for Michigan's turn around?

3. Talk about your first round opponent for a moment. What advantages/disadvantages do you see in facing them (Penn State and Northwestern fans may talk NIT here).

At first glance, this looks like it's going to be one of the better first round matchups in the tournament. Clemson started hot going 16-0, before cooling off to a 7-8 finish (1-4 to close the season!). You wouldn't know that this team only lost 8 games this year if you read their sports blogs. But this is a talented team. three scorers in double figures, two really good guards, and Trevor Booker, a forward/center who is a DeShawn Sims clone and a monster on the boards. Clemson could be a good match up for Michigan because they don't have a traditional (big man) center. Michigan struggled against teams with 7 footers. Clemson doesn't have that luxury, at least not in their starting lineup. I need to do a little more research, but at first glance this is going to be a "cut and shoot" kind of game that's going to be very exciting to watch.

4. What are your realistic postseason expectations?

With Oklahoma waiting for them in the second round? Going 1-1 in the tournament is more than acceptable. Additionally, Michigan has really, really struggled in back to back games. This is a jump shooting team, and when the legs aren't there, they're chances of winning go down the toilet. I'll happily take a single win, and anything after that is gravy. And frankly, after 11 years out of the tournamet, at this point anything is gravy.

5. How will your team get back to/make the step forward to the NCAA Tournament next year? this is officially known as the Iowa and Indiana question.

Michigan's road back is going to be a little harder than people think. With Sims and Harris returning, Lucas-Perry having another year under his belt, and the hontastic trio of Novak-Douglass-Gibson all back, Michigan will be able to score and play a little defense. The glaring weakness is going to be one-on-one defense and crunch time ball handling. CJ Lee's graduation along with Merritt's, will hurt this team early in 2009-2010. They provided a steady leadership that hasn't quite been replaced by Harris or Sims. However, easing the loss, Michigan will have two new big men (Ben Cronin and Eric Puls [who hopefully will add a little weight to his 6'11 125 pound frame]) to ease some of the defensive burden on Sims. They'll also have a bona-fide sniper coming in Matt Vogrich. Michigan's season next year will come down to guard play. Will Kelvin Grady finally be ready to be the point man for this offense? If he can, Michigan could have a sweet 16 kind of team. If not, next year could be one-and-done (in the 2010 NCAAs - Ed.).

The Other Shoe: Michigan Pasted By Penn State 58-73

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:08:49 -0000

I hate garbage time during a blow out. It seems to drag on forever and you really never get anything out of it. Sure the bench players get some time, a couple of guys who've seen all of ten minutes all year will drain a trey or two, and the opposition will take a nap letting the score get closer and closer, but the outcome is sealed. And no manner of bench points will make a rats ass bit of difference in what just happened. You, and your starters, got blown out. Now you're counting on your subs to make it respectable.

It'd be fun and hopeful to say that Michigan let one get away last night, but that wouldn't be the truth. Michigan trailed by 30 with 8 minutes left in the game and only made it close because of Penn State taking a nap at the end of regulation. Michigan got pounded by a team their size, their skill level and in the same conference position they were in. The only reason Michigan managed to trail by just seven points at the end of the First Half was defense. Michigan harassed Penn State into a litany of turnovers and offensive miscues that kept the Wolverines in the game. It has to be that, because it sure as hell wasn't the Wolverines shooting.

**Michigan First Half Stats**
FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OFF	REB	AST	BLK	PF	PTS
9-30	2-16	2-6	5	14	4	0	6	22
30%	12.5%	33.3%

That's not going to win you a lot of games. Michigan couldn't hit anything. When players would find themselves in prime shooting positions off a well executed play, they've airmail the ball from three. Regretfully, the guiltiest of this was Kelvin Grady, whose shot seems to have completely disappeared over the last two weeks. Similarly, Laval Lucas-Perry's shot has dried up, making him 2 for his last 17 three point attempts according to UMHoops.com. Making matters worse, when the shots didn't fall, Michigan retreated further from the basket to lob up more ill advised three point attempts. This marks the second straight game three point attempts have outnumbered two point attempts, and even in the Illinois game Michigan chucked up 26 threes compared to 33 two point attempts.

The only player who warrants a pat on the back for his effort last night is DeShawn Sims who posted 21 points and 11 boards. The rest of the starting lineup was 5-26 (Harris, LLP, Novak and Grady), including 1-19 from three. Do the math and you'll see the problem, they took only 7 shots inside the arc. The worst thing is, they hit 4 of them but never seemed to return to the basket.

I'd like to say this is a game where you throw out the tape, but it's not. The team is clearly stagnant and failing to execute even the most basic pick and rolls. During yesterday's open thread we noted dozens of times where the Wolverines would stand around waiting for something to happen or the ball to drop into their hands. Two players making the same cut to the top of the key. Over the last three games, offensive execution has gone out the window in favor of the three point shot, and that's a recipe for a losing streak when it's obvious to everyone your shots aren't falling.

Defensively, Michigan is in trouble. Penn State doesn't have a whole lot of size on their squad, save little used Andrew Ott, who at 6-10 is Penn State's biggest player. But he and Jamelle Cornley had a field day inside against Michigan, combining to go 12-14. And all but two of those attempts were within 6 feet of the basket. Right now Michigan has no one that seems to be able to deal with a presence inside, and our alternatives are somewhat limited. UM Hoops addresses the obvious question, "What about playing Gibson and Sims at the same time?"

Michigan is also dealing with more quality big men at the same time that they are trying to move an undersized guy to the power forward position. The issue here is that Beilein just doesn’t have the pieces to fix this problem. There are two guys that can play center on this roster: DeShawn Sims and Zack Gibson. There are three others who can play power forward: Jevohn Shepherd, Zack Novak, and Anthony Wright. Playing Gibson and Sims together sounds nice but if you do that too much there is no one to back up Sims at the center position.

It isn’t like Beilein is leaving Greg Monroe on the bench:

Jevohn Shepherd is a 6-foot-5 wing who isn’t much of an offensive threat and isn’t going to stop a guy like Jamelle Cornley or Marcus Landry.

Zack Gibson is a shooting guard trapped in a 6-foot-10 body; he is a finesse player and he’s not going to turn into a banger over night.

Anthony Wright is a 6-foot-6 forward who made a great backdoor pass against UCLA but has very little athleticism or hustle and is a career 27.4% three point shooter.

Zack Novak is 6-foot-4 but he gets to more loose balls than anyone on the team and despite struggling a bit of late is shooting 39.5% from long range.

Pick your poison.

My response is fairly simple, we're dying anyway right now, what's the worst that can happen. Maybe we can be exposed even worse down low in the future with Gibby and Sims out of the lineup, but the end result is the same if we don't change things up. We need size out there, even if it means playing 6-10 stick figure Eric Puls on a regular basis. I'm not kidding. He can go 1-5 just like Grady, but at least we've got the threat of a shot block in the middle and less of a turnover risk.

Another player worth another look and little more playing time is Air Canada, Jevohn Shepherd. Shepherd was the only guy on Michigan's team that showed any aggression toward the basket, and went 2-2 inside, while bricking a three. He's got the quickness to take the ball off the dribble and the length to make things happen down low. To be fair, he's a lousy defender, but at least he's got the quickness and the balls to go to the basket, and that's what this team needs right now.

Finally, I've gotta give some props to Gibson. Gisbon had a decent game, and if Michigan's going to be able to compete in the Big Ten they're going to need a lot more out of their big man. Keep it coming Gibby.

As for the rest of the group, pray that 4 games in 10 days with limited practice time is truly the cause of Michigan's swoon. Otherwise that clunk you just heard was the other shoe dropping on what was once a promising season.

Stats after the jump...

Final - 1.20.2009	1	2	Total
Michigan Wolverines	22	36	58
Penn St. Nittany Lions	29	44	73

Complete Coverage >

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
DeShawn Sims, F	29	10-14	0-0	1-2	4	11	0	0	0	2	0	21
Zack Novak, G	28	1-4	0-3	4-4	2	2	1	0	0	1	3	6
Manny Harris, G	26	1-9	0-5	2-2	1	3	1	0	0	1	2	4
Laval Lucas-Perry, G	25	2-8	0-6	2-2	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	6
Kelvin Grady, G	23	1-5	1-5	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	3
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Stu Douglass, G	26	3-8	3-8	0-0	0	2	3	2	0	1	0	9
C.J. Lee, G	12	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0
Anthony Wright, F	3	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
David Merritt, G	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
Jevohn Shepherd, F	9	2-3	0-0	0-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4
Eric Puls, C	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zack Gibson, F	11	2-3	1-1	0-2	0	3	0	0	1	0	4	5
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
		22-56	5-30	9-13	7	24	9	3	1	9	17	58
		39.3%	16.7%	69.2%

PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Jamelle Cornley, F	30	8-10	0-1	1-5	1	11	1	0	0	0	0	17
Jeff Brooks, F	19	1-3	0-2	0-0	1	4	1	0	0	1	2	2
Andrew Jones III, F	22	2-3	0-0	2-2	4	5	2	0	0	1	2	6
Stanley Pringle, G	31	5-12	2-2	0-0	1	6	1	4	0	2	3	12
Talor Battle, G	34	4-10	4-7	3-4	0	2	6	0	0	4	2	15
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Chris Babb, G	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Will Leiner, G	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
David Jackson, F	19	1-3	0-1	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	2
Cammeron Woodyard, G	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Danny Morrissey, G	28	4-5	3-4	0-2	2	6	4	0	0	2	1	11
Andrew Ott, F	10	4-4	0-0	0-3	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	8
TOTALS		FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
		29-50	9-17	6-16	10	35	18	4	0	13	12	73
		58.0%	52.9%	37.5%

Game #19 Preview: Look ma. No big men! Michigan Wolverines Travel to Happy Valley to Take on Penn State

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:28:03 -0000

Matchup: Michigan 13-5, (3-3); Penn State 14-5, (3-3)

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050)

Tip-off: 9 p.m., Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pa.

Line: Penn State by 2.

Two straight conference losses will take their toll on a team. After getting pounded inside by Illinois and Ohio State in back to back contests, Michigan takes on another surprising and vastly improved Big Ten team in Penn State.

At 14-5 the Lions are light years ahead of where anyone in their right mind thought they'd be this season. During the Big Ten/ACC tournament the Lions knocked off heavily favored Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and they've topped Purdue in Happy Valley. Not too shabby. But the Lions schedule is one of the weakest in the Big Ten, posted a woeful Ken Pomeroy schedule ranking of 222 and a non-conf schedule ranking of 322! By the way, their RPI is 86. Penn State has feasted on the lower end of the D-1 platter, making their most impressive win after Purdue, their victory over Northwestern. So, yeah, there's an opportunity here.

The Matchups

If there's a team in the Big Ten that Michigan actually matches up against, it's Penn State. For the first time in a week, Michigan won't face a 9 foot corn stalk in the middle of the floor. The tallest guy on PSU's team that sees any minutes is Andrew Jones III, a 6-9 forward who is second on the team in rebounding at 5.2 a game, but doesn't have a lot of offensive capability. What Jones does is fill time for Penn State's more dominant post player, 6-5 Jamelle Cornley. Cornley's failed to score in double figures just twice this season, and went for 26 against Michigan State when the Lions almost upset the Spartans a week ago. Despite his height, Cornley's a load under the basket and isn't afraid to take the ball up strong. As a result, he's taken 79 Free Throws this season, but made only 58% of them.

While Cornley is the inside, the outside belongs to Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle. Battle is definitely the more intriguing of the pair, though they're both damn good ball players. Battle is generously listed at 5-10, but it's the same as saying Kelivn Grady is 6-0. It's a lie. What Battle is, however, is aggressive. In the PSU games I've watched Battle has no reservations about putting the ball up from anywhere on the court. He's averaging 13 shots a game with around 7 of those shots being three point attempts. And he's not just content on the perimeter. Battle takes the ball to the rim with some consistency, as witnessed by his 122 FT attempts this season. (For comparison's sake, Manny Harris has taken only 116 FT). Battle's done a fairly good job of filling the bucket, shooting 43% FG and 40% from three. He's scored 19 or more points eleven times this year and has four 20+ point games in his last seven contests. He's short, but he's fast. To be honest, I'm not sure who's matching up with him. (probably LLP).

Pringle's another smallish guard who loves to shoot from the outside. Pringle doesn't attack the basket the same way that Battle does, but he really doesn't have to. Pringle's shooting 50% from three on 78 attempts. Again, for compairson Manny Harris has 82 three-point attempts and shooting 34%. Do the math and you'll figure out where Pringle's points are coming from. Pringle likes his jump shots, and oddly, he's a little better outside the arc than inside it, averaging around 46% when shooting for two. Those aren't number to sneeze at. Honestly, if he took a few more shots, he'd easily be leading the team in scoring, but seems content to play third fiddle for some reason. I've seen him go in and out of games. Pouring in points one moment and disappearing for long stretches before erupting again. It's worth noting that Pringle really is the Lion's barmometer. When he's scoring, PSU usually wins. When he's cold, as he was against MSU and Minnesota, PSU loses. Somehow I see Harris on him like glue the whole game.

With the aforementioned threesome averaging over 14 a piece, there's not a lot of ancillary scoring. Guard Danny Morrissey, Forward David Jackson, and 6-8 forward Jeff Brooks fill out the majority of the minutes with Jones III. Morrissey fancies himself a three point specialist, with 75 of his 98 FTAs being three pointers. But Morrissey's aim hasn't been the best, he's shooting just 32% from behind the arc. Still, he's a three point threat, so we've gotta watch him. Jackson and Brooks are inside 15 feet players, and put in between 18 and 20 minutes a game, a couple of rebounds and 4 points or so a piece. I don't expect them to hurt us, but if they do, throw things at the TV because we're in trouble.

Game Plan

Michigan's going through a horrendous drought from the floor right now that really shows no sign of abating. I'm willing to guess that 90% of that is playing teams that are a foot taller than they are and having to defend them down low. Fortunately, Penn State isn't that type of team so Michigan shouldbe able to play "their" game rather than expend extra energy trying to keep Tisdale/Mullens out of the lane.

But for Michigan to pull out a win, they're going to have to pick better shots. Michigan is the Big Ten's second-worst shooting team, at 43%, and the second-worst from three-point range, hitting just 33.8%.That's not good. Honestly, it sucks. But the key to fixing this is fairly evident: move your ass. Over the last three games Michigan has gone from out working their opponents to getting worked over. No one is moving without the ball and everyone is standing around outside the arc looking for an open three pointer to drop into their lap. Unfortunately when it doesn't appear, they're taking contested three pointers instead of doing the work to get down low and actually set up an open shot.

DeShawn Sims looks whipped right now. Just out of steam. 4 games in 10 days does that to a kid, but so does defending guys six inches taller than him. Michigan's got to take some of the pressure off Sims on the defensive end against opposing bigs, and PSU's lack of height might just do that. I expect Sims to return to his usual self and pot 7 buckets tonight, or at least shot a better percentage than his current 7-for-27 slump.

Manny will be Manny, but his supporting cast needs to step up. Novak continues to search for his shot, as do Grady and LLP. If Douglas can continue to knock back critical three's, keep him in the lineup, but I have to admit I prefer Novak's defense to Stu's.

If Michigan actually moves without the ball and creates their own opportunities, they can walk out of Penn State with a win. Stand around and pick their nose like they have the last two games and Michigan's looking at a 3-4 record and a nasty hill to climb for an NCAA invite.

See you tonight at the Open Thread.

Michigan Basketball Game #18 Preview: Wolverines Look to Rebound Against Ohio State

Maize n Brew Dave — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:51:41 -0000

Sorry for the disappearing act yesterday. Real life intervened for all of us. Back to our regular programming. Illinois v. Michigan recap at the bottom.

Photo via cmsimg.freep.com

Game Preview #18: Ohio State at Michigan

It's been a strange season so far for the Buckeyes. After starting out with a nine game winning streak, OSU is 3-3 and sitting at .500 in conference (2-2). The Buckeyes' wins, just like Michigan's, came against current Big Ten bottom feeders Indiana and Iowa. Unlike Michigan, the Buckeye's losses have come against the current cream of the crop in conference, @ Minnesota and @ Michigan State.

Ohio State, despite some attrition, is a good team. They've notched wins against Butler, Notre Dame (in Indy) and @ Miami (Thugariffic Miami, not the prissy school in Ohio). But they absolutely got their clock cleaned by Huggy Bear's Mountaineers on their home court, losing by 28. As you can see, Ohio State's resume is pretty good. Two quality wins over ranked schools (ND #7 and Thugarrific #22) and another over a team (Butler is 15-1) that will make the tournament on name alone. Plus, their losses are to three teams that will make the tournament, and two that will likely duke it out for the Big Ten crown. If you're wondering why they're not getting a lot of RPI/KenPom love, like Michigan, their snacky-cake non-conf wins are canceling out the good wins. Samford and Houston Baptist on the schedule don't get you love. Ohio State sits at 41 in the Ken Pomeroy rankings and currently posts an RPI of 29. Good. Just not top 25.

But they can easily beat Michigan if the Wolverines play anything like they did on Wednesday.

Scouting

Ohio State is a lot like Illinois. They've got a bean stalk in the middle averaging around 8 or 9 a game, clogging the middle and blocking shots in BJ Mullens. From what I've seen, Mullens doesn't have the baby hook that Tisdale has, but he's more energetic and athletic, and has a wider variety of moves. OSU also has three guards/forwards between 6-5 and 6-7 who can move and score. The Buckeye's primary scorer is Sophomore Evan Turner who is averaging almost 16 a game and pulling down 7 boards. Basically, he's DeShawn Sims without all the three point shots and a lot more baskets. Turner's only game below double figures was the first game of the season. Since then he's shooting 51% from the floor. If there's a weakness, he can cough up the ball from time to time, but even that is fairly infrequent.

Moving the ball you'll see Will Burford, Jon Diebler and Jeremie Simmons. Normally we'd see David Lighty at forward/guard, but he's out with a broken foot. In his place, Burford (fr) has pumped in 17, 19, and 19 in his last three games. Burford's a former 5* recruit, so he's good and worth being afraid of. Diebler's OSU's three point specialist, and he knows it. Of his 128 shots on the season a whopping 98 are from three, and he's made 40.8% of them. He's made only 14 shots inside the arc. Mental note: Guard him at the line, let him shot inside it. Please. Simmons, on the other hand, is more of a distributor than Diebler or Burford. Simmons is in that 28-32 minute range and has picked up the pace dishing the ball with 2, 3, 5, and 8 assists in his last four games. If he's got a lot of assists, it's going to be bad news for Michigan. On the plus side, he's only 6 feet, so this could give Michigan a matchup advantage from time to time when he's on the floor.

Game Plan

For Michigan to come out with a win on Saturday they're definitely going to change up their game plan from Illinois. Bruce Weber basically gift wrapped the recipe for beating Michigan for the whole conference: Go inside with tall guys. If OSU puts Mullens 8-10 feet from the basket, he's going to be able to score at will just like Tisdale did if we've got Sims on him. Making matters worse, Sims is going to exhaust himself defending a guy that's got 4-5 inches on him, negating his offensive production that Michigan desperately needs right now. Solution? Don't know if I've got a great one, but here it is. Start Sims and Gibson. Yeah. I know.

Gibson's got the frame to deal with Mullens and it'll free Sims up to rebound and play offensively. Plus, Gibson's shown at least a little offensive ability the last few games, so it's not like this isn't an undeserved start. A line up of Manny, Sims, Gibson, Novak and LLP works fairly well. Have LLP run "point" and sub in Grady/Douglas/Lee as needed. Hell, use Eric Puls just as a whack a mole. But Michigan isn't deep enough to have two prime players (Sims/LLP) go cold and still win. As much as you need your big guns to step up, you've also got to protect them from time to time, and this game definitely fits that bill.

Let Gibby, Sims and Puls defend down low in man coverage. Let Manny, LLP and Novak run their way to open shots and harass OSU's sniper (singular). Contain Diebler's long ball and Mullens down low, then force Turner to go one on one with Sims and Burford to live up to his rep.

Make no mistake, this is not going to be an easy game. OSU plays good defense and usually only allows teams into the 50's and low 60's when they win. Michigan's not going to win a half court game against these guys, but they have to be able to play it from time to time to switch things up. Pressure defense in the 1-3-1 to lead to turnovers, and keep alternating the zones and man. Offensively, there need to be a lot more cuts to the basket without the ball and a lot more movement. If there are four players above the arc and one hanging out by the baseline 15 feet from the hoop, scream and throw things. That's what got Michigan beat in Champaign.

Michigan can win this game, but it's going to take a much better all around game and game plan than we saw in the second half on Wednesday.

Quick Recap of the Illinois Game

Less than a week after posting its first complete game of the conference season, the Wolverines returned to their old ways, alternating good and bad performances between halves. Unfortunately it'd be a mistake to say the Wolverines played a "good" first half, despite their 31-30 lead at halftime. Michigan was uncharacteristically sloppy with the basketball, turning it over 7 times and looked down right ugly on offense. Illinois didn't look much better. If not for Demetri McCamey shooting lights out from beyond the arc, Illinois could easily have been down ten points at the break. But they weren't.

Michigan's second half was one I suspect Beilein will burn the tapes of and pray never repeats itself again. While the first half wasn't pretty, there was a lot of energy from the Maize n Blue. Gibson contributed solid minutes. CJ Lee was all over the place. there was hustle under the basket. In the second half that disappeared. There were no cuts under the basket. Nobody moved without the ball. Save when two guys would break to the same spot looking for a pass (this happened at least five times in the second half). The offenses bunched itself up, failing to spread the floor properly and no one seemed to want to go inside other than a clearly exhausted Sims. Everyone, save Harris, wanted to launch threes rather than pay the price to set something up. And worse, when they did, it would rim out or miss the net entirely.

Waaaaaaaaaay too much of this Wednesday. via a.espncdn.com

The effort was there on the defensive end, but Michigan just isn't set up to handle a 7-1 honky with a hook shot. Defensively, you could see Sims was gassed midway through the second trying to keep Tisdale from scoring. As a result he couldn't finish on the other end. LLP and the rest of the crew were just off. Grady was 1-5 from three and wasn't even close on most of his attempts. But these things happen over the course of a season. It was a tough road game that Michigan let get away. Really let get away. There's not much you can say about it other than it was a "poor game" and Michigan needs to bounce back on Saturday.

Wolverines Look For First Win in Champaign Since 1995: Game #17 Michigan Basketball @ Illinois

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:30:08 -0000

Photo via The Detroit Free Press

After a week of improbable comebacks and delivering beatdowns to undermanned Big Ten competition, the Wolverines will face their first true road test of the 2009 Big Ten Conference season when they travel to Assembly Hall to take on Illinois at 8:30 EST tonight. Tonight's matchup is the second, and final, meeting between the Illini and the Wolverines in the last two weeks, and serves as a prelude to a rough stretch of Big Ten away games and competition that will ultimately decide whether the Wolverines go dancing in March or trudge off to Manhattan for another visit to the NIT.

When the teams last met, Michigan gave up 42 first half points, but still managed to eek out a 74-64 that was a lot closer than the final score indicates. Even so, it was the first conference game that showed Michigan was more than a two man band. Sims and Harris had awful nights offensively against the Illini defense (combining to shoot 10-26 and 3-11 from beyond the arc). Despite this, Michigan clawed its way to the win on the backs of Kelvin Grady (3-6), Zack Gibson (4-5), and Zack Novak (4-5). Those performances off the bench sparked the Wolverines current 3 game win streak that has them currently ranked 25th (AP) and 24th (Coaches).

Assembly Hall in Champaign has been (yet another) House of Horrors for the Wolverines over the years. Since Michigan's last win in Champaign, the Wolverines have dropped 11 straight there, and with the success of Illinois' program over the last few years, wins have been difficult to come by against the Illini regardless of location. Even so, a road victory against an unranked but highly regarded Illini team (Ken Pomeroy has them ranked 18th!) would be another, vital, feather in the Wolverines' cap. A win tonight would be even more impressive because the Illini are fresh, having played a single game since the Wolverines' January 4, 2009 win in Ann Arbor.

That single game may have been against Indiana, but it was an impressive win. Illinois absolutely dismantled an Indiana team that nearly toppled Michigan a week ago. The Illini put 76 on the Hoosiers en route to a 31 point blowout. Perhaps the size of the blowout had something to do with Indiana losing Devan Dumes to injury, but it'd be foolish to suggest that. The closest Indiana got was 10 points with six minutes left in the First half before the Illini lead exploded to 25. In the end, the Illini were led by 21 from Trent Meachum (G), 12 from big man Mike Davis,12 from Demetri McCamey (G), and 15 off the bench from Dominique Keller (F). Combined this group shot an absurd 20-31 on the hapless Hoosiers.

Scouting the Illini

What is most impressive about the Illini this season is they're consistently getting double figures out of four guys. Lost in the scoring frenzy was gigantic white guy Mike Tisdale who is averaging 11 points a game and former Michigan commit Alex Legion who will at some point explode on someone. There's plenty of talent on the team. The shot takers in Illinois lineup are McCamey, Davis, Tisdale and Meachum, in that order. Beyond the arc the Illini aren't particularly deep, but Meachum has been downright unconscious hitting 49.4% of his treys. Guard him tight. After Meachum, only McCamey launches them with any regularity, but he's hit only 33% of his 79 attempts from three. The attempts beyond the arc seem more to keep defenses honest down low. Illinois is an inside dominant team with 60% of its points coming inside the arc. Defensively, the Illini are one of the best in the Big Ten at denying the 3 point shot, and defending in general. They're at or near the top in every defensive category, and kept Michigan on the perimeter for a good chunk of their last game, before allowing the Wolverines to get to the basket or get good looks inside 12 feet.

But if there's a glaring weakness, it's an inability to get to the line. While the Illini hit a respectable 73% from the charity stripe, they're having a horrid time getting there. Their free throw to field goal attempt ratio is 23.8% and they're 10th in the conference at getting to the line with only 217 attempts (compared to 277 for UM and 364 for MSU!).

Game Plan (At least my Game Plan)

For Michigan to prevail tonight, they're going to have to be aggressive down the lane. Michigan's hot shooting tends to cool on the road, and if Illinois can turn the Wolverines into a jump shot only team Michigan's chances of leaving Champaign with a win are marginal. Harris and Grady need to take the ball to rack rather than settling for contested threes (Harris especially). The more they drive, the more the defense will have to crash down opening up Novak, Douglass, and everyone else. Down low, Sims and Gibson (yes, Gibson), need to play big against Davis and Tisdale on the offensive side and attempt to rack up some fouls on two of the Illini's best players. (If Gibson can get Tisdale alone on the wing, please let there be more Honky Magic). One last note, Michigan's been great at taking care of the ball, but Harris is still coughing it up with some regularity. Manny's got to take better care of the ball in this game while staying aggressive. Hard thing to ask for, I know, but it's what will separate him from the rest of the pack and help Michigan toward a successful season.

Defensively, the Illini have had two weeks to prep for the 1-3-1, so Michigan's going to have to mix it up. Alternating between man-to-man, a 2-3 and the 1-3-1 should give the Illini enough of a headache to prevent them from getting too comfortable. As Duke proved, if you can find space in the middle of the zone (usually the free throw line) you're in business. After a two weeks of prep and a game under their belt, I've got to think the Illini have a decent game plan on how to attack the 1-3-1.

It's going to be a good game and a great test for Michigan. As the Daily points out in its Mid-season review, Michigan's conference wins have come over teams with a 3-7 conference record. But a win over a tough Illini team on the road will definitely quiet that criticism and get the Michigan faithful even more amped up for the upcoming visit from the Buckeyes on Saturday.

We'll have open threads going for tonight's and Saturday's games. Hope to see you there.

Notes, Media and Oddities

Probable Lineups courtesy of Jeff Arnold, Ann Arbor News

Probable starters
Michigan Wolverines (13-3, 3-1 Big Ten)
P Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Ppg Rpg
F DeShawn Sims Jr. 6-8 235 16.4 8.4
G Zack Novak Fr. 6-5 210 6.9 2.8
G Manny Harris So. 6-5 210 18.6 7.8
G Laval Lucas-Perry R-Fr. 6-3 185 12.0 2.6
G Kelvin Grady So. 5-11 170 5.7 1.9

Illinois Fighting Illini (14-2, 2-1 Big Ten)
P Name Yr. Ht. Wt. Ppg Rpg
C Mike Tisdale So. 7-1 235 11.1 4.5
F Mike Davis So. 6-9 210 11.9 7.6
G Chester Frazier Sr. 6-2 195 5.6 4.3
G Trent Meacham Sr. 6-2 195 12.3 2.2
G Demetri McCamey So. 6-3 205 12.0 2.8

A win tonight would be Coach Beilein's 500th career win. Make it happen boys.
UMHoops.com continues with its usual awesomeness with another outstanding preview of tonight's game.
Apparently the Illini have revenge on their mind. (HT: MGo). That's fine. We have winning on ours.
Also awesome, check out UMHoops.com's comparison of West Virginia's 2005 squad to Michigan's 2009 squad. It's uncanny. Props to Dylan on an outstanding premise and post. This is a must read.
ESPN's Preview
Ann Arbor News Preview says the Wolverines need to stay hungry. Let's hide their sandwiches.
The Daily says Michigan's happy being a nobody. A nobody nobody saw coming. Wait... Wha?
Free Press Preview focuses on Manny. Important buried nugget:

PRACTICE FACILITY: Beilein, asked about the progress of the practice facility, said the public would hear something soon. It's believed the facility plan will be brought formally to the regents at the Jan. 22 meeting. Regents were briefed informally surrounding their December meeting.

Detroit News Preview says Grady is like a quarterback. Really? The football team could really use one right now.... Mas on the Practice facility from Beilein:

"I think you will be getting updates on that real soon," Beilein said.

Chicago Tribune has some fluff on Laval Lucas-Perry and Alex Legion and provides their own (very brief) Preview of tonight's game.
One of the bigger oddities in the Ken Pomeroy rankings is that he has Illinois 32 places higher than Michigan and the second highest ranked team in the Big ten behind Purdue. There's simple answer. Illinois' non-conference schedule didn't include the number of RPI tanking patsies Michigan's did. Illinois worst opponents were five teams ranked between 219 and 252, and one team ranked 303. Michigan, in contrast, feasted on four teams ranked 303 or worse. So big wins over Duke/UCLA get ruffled by the ungodly horridness of those opponents, at least in the computers. Is there much of a difference between a 300 and a 200 team? Not much. But everyone gets ranked, and it's one of the systems we've got that people look to for some guidance. Take it FWIW.
Rivals says Michigan is finding its identity as it adapts to Beilein's system.
In case you missed it, Kentucky star Jodie Meeks went for 54 points in a Conference game against Tennessee last night. Wow. Congrats Mr. Meeks. Our buddies at A Sea of Blue are understandably excited.

A Complete Win: Michigan Basketball Throttles Iowa

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:56:38 -0000

Harris with the Finger Roll. via multimedia.detnews.com

Despite it's best start in the last 10 years, wins over two top ten teams, and its obvious improvement, coming into Sunday, there were still big questions about the 2008-2009 Men's Basketball team. How would they react to the more physical Big Ten season? What would they do if they got done big against a legitimate opponent? When would they play real defense in the first half? Seriously? When?

In three Big Ten Games, Michigan had given up 42, 39 and 39 points during the first half of those games. Despite a home loss to Wisconsin that wasn't as close as the 73-61 final score indicated, the surprising result of these first half defensive meltdowns was a 2-1 conference record (and the likely shaving of a month off Coach Beilein’s life). Open jumpers. Lanes to the hoop. Problems defending down low. Slow defensive rotation. All these things seemed only present in the first half, and would (usually) disapear in the second. Giving up 40 points in any half is not a recipe for success. And the criticism that was first born against Savannah State started gaining a little more volume: "they’re going to get burned by their first halves if they don’t play better on defense."

Simply put, when are we going to see a complete 40 minutes out of this team in conference play?

Michigan’s response to this was to smother the Iowa Hawkeyes in both halves, en route to a 64-49 blowout victory in Ann Arbor. Almost as if to answer this growing criticism, the Wolverines smothered the Hawkeyes' during the first half. Michigan forced Iowa into 8 first half turnovers, a meager 16 points at halftime, and 26% shooting. Michigan clogged the passing lanes, creating the fast break points that had been missing in its prior two games, and generally pounding the Hawkeyes’ offense into a pulp.

Offensively, the Wolverines carried their momentum from the comeback win at Indiana and poured on 32 first half points and controlled the games tempo from the outset. Michigan took a 16 point lead into half time after shooting 52% from the floor and 50% from three. Instead of relying on the three ball as they did against the Hoosiers, Michigan went inside against the smaller Iowa backcourt. Taking only 8 threes in the first half, Michigan pounded Sims and Harris inside. Instead of watching their opponents grab rebounds uncontested, players like Zack Novak, CJ Lee and Laval Lucas-Perry all seemed to take a loose ball personally and fought their ways to first half boards. Novak seemed to be everywhere early, pulling down 4 boards and contributing outstanding defense despite not putting in a bucket.

Less than a week after the near debacle at Assembly Hall, Michigan seemed like a different team. Beilein's team imposed their will from the outset and never let Iowa establish its offense. Everything that drove you nuts watching the Indiana game seemed to disapear. There were drives to the hoop and players without the ball moving under the basket instead of standing around out side the arc. Defensively, Michigan was a step quicker against the Hawkeyes than they were against the Hoosiers. Playing much more aggressively, they forced Iowa outside the arc and never allowed them to get comfortable in the paint.

While Sims and Harris dominated the stat sheet, everyone contributed to Sunday’s win. Stu Douglass and Zack Gibson hooked up on one of the seasons prettier pick and rolls. Merrit and Lee provided only 21 minutes between them but they provided hustle and solid defense. Laval Lucas-Perry poured in 8 points, 4 boards and clogged the lanes. And Kelvin Grady continued to run the offense efficiently and effective.

In my opinion, Kelvin Grady continues to be one of the most underrated contributors to Michigan’s hot start this season season. You can point to Laval Lucas-Perry’s emergence as a third scoring threat, but LLP, to some extent, was a known entity prior to his transfer from Arizona.

Grady Launches From Three. via cmsimg.freep.com

Coming into this year it was anyone’s guess as to whether Grady would be a contributor at all. Like the other freshmen last year, Grady turned the ball over too much and missed far too many shots. This year, it’s the opposite. Grady has 37 assists compared to just 11 turnovers, playing significant minutes, and doing what we’d hoped he’d be able to do, drive the lane and score or dish. Grady continues to pick opportune to drive to the rim and judiciously launch from behind the arc. Most importantly, Grady seems to have finally seized control of the "point guard" position by repeatedly being able to distribute the ball without turning it over.

Against Iowa Grady dished four assists and had no turnovers. Happily, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Against Duke, in two contests, Grady has 10 assists and 2 tunrovers, and in his last 10 games he’s turned the ball over just 6 times compared to 29 assists. Further, Grady has proven to be a perfect fit for Beilein’s defense, running the baseline to contest passes and shots from the corner quicker than any other player on the roster. He's playing with confidence and with the type of agression we saw from his brother as Kevin ran people over on the football field this past year.

The result of all this was Michigan thumping Iowa. Michigan lead by as many as twenty-eight points before sitting its starters and settling in for a 15 point win. While it's just one game, it's still a complete one. And hopefully the first of many to come this conference season.

Notes:

Before we get too carried away with the win, there are some mitigating factors in the blowout loss that need to be considered. The biggest "OMG this could've been different" factor was the absence of Iowa Forward and best player Cyrus Tate from the lineup with a sprained ankle. Michigan's had trouble with teams that can pound them inside (e.g., Wisconsin). While the 1-3-1 allows Michigan to some extent to clog those lanes and negate an inside presence, the only player on our roster that can defend down low is DeShawn Sims. And if he gets in foul trouble, it's going to be up to Zach Gibson to fill that void.
After watching Purdue and sleek big man JaJuan Johnson pummel Wisconsin inside and out on Sunday, Michigan's going to have to keep it's enthusiasm in check until they prove they can matchup on a team with size and speed. Without Tate, Iowa was a perfect Michigan opponent, lacking size and outside range. Purdue can shoot from outside and their size is going to present Michigan with some problems.
DeShawn Sims continues to get better and better. Sims took only one three pointer, and spent the entire game down in the blocks or less than 15 feet out. We all knew he’d be good with his back to the basket down low, but the biggest surprise has been the development of his mid range jump shot. Sims is getting down right deadly from 10-15 feet. Harris may be scoring the most, but its arguable that Sims is our best all around player.
Manny being Manny. Harris had another exceptional game, so anything here is nit picking, but I’d love to see him show a 10-15 foot jumper like Sims. Harris is excellent inside and on the cut, but he seems to either force his way inside or launch a three. If he can start burying a few more mid range shots, he’ll open the lane up a bit more because it’ll force his defender closer and allow Harris to take advantage of that first quick step.
Anthony Wright saw a little mop up time. Man. I remember last year he was on the floor all the time. Just shows how much this team has gotten.
Zack Novak wasn't feelin' it on Sunday, going 1-6 from the floor (1-5 from three). Even so the kid was a factor on the boards and on defense. He's going to be a fan favorite for a long, long time.
UMHoops.com has all your statistical needs and player breakdowns.

Poll

Who is Michigan's Most Improved Player This Season?

Manny Harris

5 votes

DeShawn Sims

25 votes

Kelvin Grady

20 votes

Zach Gibson

2 votes

52 votes | Poll has closed

Michigan Weekend Wrap-up: World Resumes Spinning Correctly

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:32:13 -0000

After a little time off we're back to our regular broadcasting. Hope you'll forgive our little lapse over the holidays. In an effort to regain your favor, dear reader, here's a wrap up of the weekend's events.

Michigan Basketball Blows Past Illinois to Even its Big Ten Record and Surpass Last Year's Win Total

Despite a Big Ten season opening loss to Wisconsin, Michigan (11-3 [1-1])returned to its winning ways with a 74-64 win over Illinois (13-2 [1-1]). Surprisingly, the catalysts for the Wolverines' win were not Sims or Harris, but Zack Gibson and Kelvin Grady. Gibson contributed a critical block followed by one comical dunk and a simply sweet baseline drive and finish with two minutes left. Grady sealed the game with a beautiful crossover left to right from the top of the key and drive to the hoop to create, and finish, a three point play. Anyone who thought Michigan was just Sims and Harris is sorely mistaken. Five players scored in double figures, including the recently bloodied Zack Novak who pumped in 11 points and collected six stitches courtesy of an inadvertent head butt from former Michigan commit and current Illini Alex Legion. If there was a downside to the game it was Michigan's spotty defense in the first half and Harris's five turnovers. But the emergence of Novak as an elite Big Ten shooter (reministent of former Duke Blue Devil, JJ Redick) and the consistent contributions of players other than Sims and Harris give this team the potential to be something special down the line. Also, LLP has shown he was worth the wait. A road trip to Indiana is up next on January 7th.

Behold, the second (much slower and vastly whiter) coming of Graham Brown. via mgoblue.com

The Ann Arbor News said Michigan keyed up its defense in the second half, and Gibson and Grady led the way to the comeback win.

The Free Press said after allowing Illinois to shoot 59% in the first half, DeShawn Sims lit into his teammates at half time, sparking Michigan's defensive clamp down.

The Detroit News says that Michigan is finally giving its critics some good answers to the question "how will this team react to adversity during the Big Ten season?"

The Chicago Tribune said the Illini's poor defense contributed to the Michigan win.

IlliniHQ said Michigan played like a team possessed.

The Big Ten Network is declaring Michigan the Non-Conference Surprise Team of the Non-Conference Schedule. Woo. That's like being hailed as the baby that surprisingly didn't stick a fork in an outlet. Thanks BTN!

Gibson's incredible honktastic dunk followed by kick ass baseline drive and dunk can be seen m'ayh.

Football Recruiting Not Inept After All, Campbell Re-Commits to Michigan

Despite some self created drama, the only story about Will Campbell's final commitment was that there was no story after all. During Saturday's Army All-American game, Campbell re-committed to Michigan. Campbell provided one more tense moment during his 30 seconds of airtime, reaching toward an LSU or Miami hat before picking up his Michigan hat and dancing like a man that should never dance. Ever. Notre Dame students dance better than Campbell. But, even with his lack of dance skills, I'm happy to have one of the elite Defensive tackles in the 2009 class in the fold. Will. We love you. Now get your ass in the weight room and beat OSU.

Michigan Commits Standout in Army All American Game

Brendan Gibbons and Justin Turner helped lead the Army All-American East team to a 30-17 victory. Of critical importance to Michigan fans was the play of kicker commit Brendan Gibbons who showed a cannon of a leg and, god bless him, some accuracy. Also headlining the East's victory was Turner, who turned in a team high eight tackles along with a pick in the fourth quarter. Anthony LaLota saw some time as well, notching a tackle for loss. Wideout Jeremy Gallon sat out the game with a pulled groin.

Potential for an Outdoor Hockey Match-up at Camp Randall?

Courtesy of the awesomeness that is Yost Built and our mutual buddy Marshall:

In today's Detroit News, there was an article about how the Wolverines are primed to make a run in the second half of the year. The bottom of the article has an interesting tidbit:

Officials from Wisconsin's athletic department will be making a formal announcement within the next two weeks regarding an outdoor game played at 80,000-seat Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., in February 2010.

The word is, screw everyone else, Wisconsin wants Michigan as its opponent for this game. Maize n Tailgate will be in full effect for this game (should it occur). More updates as they become available.

Around the 'Sphere

OSU plays Texas tonight in the Fiesta Bowl. The Big Ten needs this one after going 1-4 in bowl games. Good luck to the Buckeyes. Don't eff this up like your last two BCS appearances.

Sam McGuffie will enroll at Rice. Good luck Sam. We wish you the best.

I thought nothing could top Llamar Woodley's stiff arm at Notre Dame in 2006. I was wrong. The Kentucky East Carolina Dog Food Bowl provided the greatest stiff-arm-slash-knock-out-jab I've ever seen. Defensive Linemen Ventrell Jenkins just knocks the holy hell out of ECU QB Patrick Pinkney en route to a game clinching fumble return TD for Kentucky. Just watch Pinkney's head snap back. AFLAC! My congrats to our buddies over at A Sea of Blue, SBN's simply awesome Kentucky Blog. If you're looking for SEC and Kentucky related basketball and football knowledge, go there now.

Ventrell, your name and your stiff-arm will live in glory for eternity. Or at least until ESPN yanks this off YouTube.

Another thing that struck a chord here at Maize n Brew was the sensational butt-whuppin' Utah delivered to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. I mean, holy hell. 21 points in less than 11 minutes on the nation's (then) number one defense? Makes that two point loss to Utah back in September look a little better, don't it? Well. Not really. It's just one less obvious piece of corn in the stoolly turd that was our season. Even so, congrats to the guys at Block U on a perfect season. On the other side of the coin, I can't help but have some symapthy for Nico and Todd over at Roll Bama Roll on the loss and the basting, carving and serving of John Parker Wilson's mangled body during the game. If anyone can identify with an almost MNC season ending on an inexplicable beating at the hands of a team you were supposed to throttle, it's Michigan. I do, however, endorse their method of dealing with the loss.

via assets.sbnation.com

Finally, a nod to the guys at Black Shoe Diaries on an outstanding season that unfortunately can to an inauspicious end against the USC Buzzsaw in the Rose Bowl. Perk up guys. Lord knows it's happened to us. Recently. However, the Polar Bear on the last remaining ice flow on earth was a nice touch. Congrats to the Trojans and Conquest Chronicles on (yet) another Rose Bowl win. We hate you.

Getting Ready For 08-09 Ben Ball Season: Predictions/Expectations & Concerns

Nestor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:00:06 -0000

With just 11 days to go till tip off, time for us to go through what has become somewhat of an annual rite of passage here on Bruin Nation. We started this in 2005, and continued it in both 2006 and 2007. Well, I think each of those three seasons turned out pretty good (with lots of fist pounds, Ben Ball style):

Photo Credit: Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images (via mikireynolds' photostream(flickr))

So, I think for mojo purposes, we have no choice but go to through the exercise again in 2008. Again given all the discussions we have had on BN over the years, I don’t see the need to go through the differences between pre season expectations and predictions. You can look through all our previous posts (dealing with both Ben Ball and football) re. discussion on those terms. As we go through the schedule, all we are doing is trying to come up with a baseline number of wins we expect from this year’s schedule, come up with a list of our main concerns and questions, and then take it from there.

It is undisputed now that Coach Howland has thoroughly reestablished UCLA as one of the elite programs in the country. Given what Howland has built in Westwood, these posts are even more fun to write because we can do so with the confidence that we have a coach who not only has all the questions we have on our mind in his own radar, but has every detail around this program covered. Still I think it is important for us to be aware that despite all the good news around our program, there are issues Howland has to address, before dreaming about another magical run through the regular and the tournament season. With that in mind here is a very rough predictions for this upcoming season:

Wed., Nov. 12, 2K Sports Classic First Round (w)
Thu., Nov. 13, 2K Sports Classic Second Round (#)
Thu., Nov. 20, 2K Sports Classic Semifinals (#)
Fri., Nov. 21, 2K Sports Classic Final (#)
Sat., Nov. 29, Florida International (w)
Thu., Dec. 4, @Texas (#)
Sun., Dec. 7, Cal State Northridge (w)
Sat., Dec. 13, DePaul @ Wooden Classic (w)
Wed., Dec. 17, Loyola Marymount (w)
Sat., Dec. 20, Mercer (w)
Tue., Dec. 23, Wyoming (w)
Sun., Dec. 28, Louisiana Tech (w)
Fri., Jan. 2, @ Oregon State (w)
Sun., Jan. 4, @ Oregon (#)
Sun., Jan. 11, @ USC (w)
Thu., Jan. 15, Arizona (w)
Sat., Jan. 17, Arizona State (w)
Thu., Jan. 22, @ Washington State (#)
Sat., Jan. 24, @ Washington (#)
Thu., Jan. 29, California (w)
Sat., Jan. 31, Stanford (w)
Wed., Feb. 4, USC (w)
Sat., Feb. 7, Notre Dame (w)
Thu., Feb. 12, @ Arizona State (#)
Sat., Feb. 14, @ Arizona (#)
Thu., Feb. 19, Washington (w)
Sat., Feb. 21, Washington State (w)
Thu., Feb. 26, @ Stanford (w)
Sat., Feb. 28, @ California (#)
Thu., Mar. 5, Oregon State (w)
Sat., Mar. 7, Oregon (w)
Mar. 11-14, Pac-10 Tournament @ Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Mar. 19-22, NCAA First and Second Round
Mar. 26-29, NCAA Regional
Apr. 4 & 6, NCAA Final Four

So just like last year I didn’t mark any game as losses because I believe with Coach Howland in charge and veterans like DC and JS leading on the court, our team will play to win every game. That said, I did mark the following games as toss ups (#):

Thu., Nov. 13, 2K Sports Classic Second Round (#)
Thu., Nov. 20, 2K Sports Classic Semifinals (#)
Fri., Nov. 21, 2K Sports Classic Final (#)
Thu., Dec. 4, @Texas (#)
Sun., Jan. 4, @ Oregon (#)
Thu., Jan. 22, @ Washington State (#)
Sat., Jan. 24, @ Washington (#)
Thu., Feb. 12, @ Arizona State (#)
Sat., Feb. 14, @ Arizona (#)
Sat., Feb. 28, @ California (#)

Let’s start with the Sports Classic tournament. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the bracket (pdf file). It’s not too difficult to discern from that bracket that the organizers are dreaming about a UCLA-Michigan semifinal, leading up to a UCLA-Duke final in NYC. Well that sounds nice, but for a team with 5 freshmen and serious questions re. front court (more on that below), it would be very unwise to all of us to look past the opening round games.

I especially think the Bruins might have a difficult game against either Weber State or Miami (OH), two mid-major teams that are capable of pulling off an upset against a young team. I am actually more concerned about this home game than the ones v. Notre Dame and other quality Pac-10 opponents rest of the season because I think it will present the first real test for our freshmen in terms of facing a tourney caliber opposition. Otherwise, I feel pretty confident about rest of our home schedule as the freshmen will go through their development under Howland.

If the Bruins get to NYC after winning the first two games, they will probably take on a Michigan team with Beilein’s 1-3-1 trap zone, that has always created problems for our Ben Ball warriors (remember we had to scrap out a win against them last year after losing to Beilein’s West Va team for two years in a row). I would expect Michigan to be a much improved team in Beilein’s second year who will also have talented kids like Manny Harris, DeShawn Sims and Kelvin Grady to build on his first year. And then if we are lucky to get to the final against a team like Duke, we will take them on in a setting at MSG, which I think will have a crowd leaning towards Duke (we will see). Duke has their front court issues to address but they will have their share of talents and experience in kids like Singler, Scheyer, Paulus, Thomas, Zoubek playing under K.

As far as rest of non conference season is concerned, Texas obviously stands out as the toughest challenge during the non conference season. Augustin is gone but Abrams is back along with Connor Atchley, Damion James, and Justin Mason. It will be a tough challenge for DC and rest of his team-mates to pull out a win in Austin, but if they are focused and locked in remembering what took place at Pauley last season, we will have a shot. Still right now I look at this game as a toss up.

As for rest of the Pac-10, I marked up the Oregon game as a toss up because I think the Mac Court in Eugene is probably the toughest road venue in the conference. Oregon lost a lot of talent with the departures of Hairston, Leunen and Bryce Taylor. They are one of the questions marks in the Pac-10. However, they will still present a threat on the road with speed junior Tajuan Porter leading the charge at pg. If they can get solid contributions from Joevan Catron and Kamyron Brown, I think that game will turn out to be tough. Bruins have learned the hard way over the years (from 1994 (the year we won the title) from 2006) what happens when not playing with focus and intensity in that arena.

As for rest of the Pac-10, Arizona under Lute Olson are going to be hungry for revenge for all the recent beat downs by Ben Ball warriors. Again I always like our chances, but it will still be a challenge to go up against a team featuring talents of Budinger, Wise, and Jordan Hill. Meanwhile, ASU is poised to have their best season under Sendek era with two returning stars in James Pendergraph and James Harden.

As for other Pac-10 teams Monty’s return to Bay Area should make the Bears interesting (and a tough out on their home court). Washington schools will not be pushovers either. Wazzu lost their heat and soul through the departures of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver. But they still have a solid coach who will have solid nucleus of upperclassmen of Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, and Daven Harmeling to put together another well coached and fundamentally sound team. Washington Huskies will have Jon Brockman anchoring the middle. Plus they are getting back Venoy Overton, who DC might see in his night mares time to time. Throw in the mix with a like Justin Dentmon and Quincy Pondexter, this is a team that will once again make our lives difficult if not nightmarish on the road.

So with all that, I see starting out with a baseline of 21 W’s with this year’s team. Last year the baseline was set at 25 W’s. Just like last year, I think our final win total will far exceed that baseline (which I think is the worst case scenario), however, there are number of issues our coaches have to be concerned about heading into this season. Meriones already laid out his concern last week. Here are questions on my mind heading into this season:

Darren Collison’s Decision Making

I am sure some of you are going WTF from the title of this section, but please allow me to elaborate. It's a pretty good bet that DC is going to finish his senior season as a consensus All American. IMHO he is the point guard not just in the Pac-10, but in the entire country. Again I will cite to the following comments from Coach Howland re. why he is the ultimate leader around which a coach would want to build his team around:

"Darren's going to have the ball in his hands a lot, and he's always been our defensive point guard. This is a kid that could lead the conference in three-point and free-throw percent-age, assists and steals."

Yet notwithstanding DC's greatness, I think there is some room for improvement for this great Bruin guard. I think if DC has an Achilles heel it is his decisiveness as the floor general while we are on offense. Let me see if I can explain this. From what I have seen from DC in last three years, it seems at times he needs to be a little more authorative around his decisions on whether to take the shot or pass it off to his team-mates. In his defense in his first three years at UCLA, in terms of scoring he had more prolific scorers in AA, JF and then KL (a once a generation freshman) to which he often gave up the ball to. However, at times it seemed like UCLA offense lagged a bit as DC was waiting around to make his final decisions. So, I think this year we might see a little less of that as DC will be one of the primary scorers in our offense. In that case, I think DC needs to be a just tick faster in making his decisions on whether to launch or drive for his shot rather than passing off to another team-mate. We need DC to be more aggressive in decision making and hopefully his unquestioned stature as the senior leader will make the process a little easier.

Consistency from Josh Shipp

This one is easy. This could be the year in which we get to see JS from his freshman season. I have already alluded to this in my post re. Blue Ribbon yearbook's UCLA preview. JS has probably been the most maligned (somewhat unfairly IMHO) Ben Ball warrior from Coach Howland's (now legendary) first recruiting class. When he burst into the scene along with JF, AA, LMR we instantly fell in love with his defensive intensity, his nose for the ball, and always picking up points through hustle (which endeared LRMAM to us in his freshman season).

Sadly after three seasons of surgeries, nagging injuries and recovery, we never really got to see the JS from his freshman season on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, we have had beat reporters and message board posters constantly psycho analyzing this kid's ability to nail down three pointers (even though he had his share of clutch shots). Also on a fair point we all have been collectively frustrated by JS's tendency to not match the defensive tenacity that exemplifies a prototype Ben Ball Warrior who brings it not just in every game but every play.

Now that JS is fully healthy there is a chance we can see JS from his freshman season, who foreshadowed the kind of Ben Ball we have been accustomed to courtesy of warriors such as LRMAM and RW last three seasons Interestingly CBH has dropped hint that we may see JS spend some time at the 4 (which caught JS by surprise). That might not be a bad deal because it could be a move to field a guard heavy lineup exerting even more tenacious defensive pressure. Remember Howland did the same thing in his second year playing DT at the 4.

Ultimately, I think if JS were to have a memorable last season at UCLA, it will have to be centered around his total commitment to all out defense, sheer tenacity and hustle, that will allow him to emerge as the replacement of LRMAM in this year's squad. If he brings that defensive tenacity and then let his offensive instincts take over within the scheme of Howland's offense, JS might break out with one of the more memorable final year, a Bruin senior has put together in some time. Given what the kid has been through you can bet we all are going to be rooting for him. This brings me to the next point.

Defensive Stopper

So who will be the defensive stopper of this year's edition of Ben Ball warriors. Until last year it was unquestionably AA. Then last year it was a combination of RW and LRMAM. If we need to neutralize opponent's primary scoring threat, Howland would usually sic RW or LRMAM as his shut down defender. We saw how LRMAM's absence often impacted not just the physical presence in our interior defense, but all the aggressiveness of our perimeter. So who will step up this year and take the responsibility of the primary attack dogs in Howland's defensive scheme?

DC? JS? DC will have no choice but to step up with his defense and this will be crucial because he has had difficulties with faster and more physical guards (just think about the Memphis game from last season or the matchups against the guards from Texas and Oregon (on Mac Court). I mentioned JS's need to focus on every play, not just ever game. I think the success of this year's UCLA basketball team will be hugely dependent on the veteran leadership of DC and JS on defense (more so than offense). They have the responsibility to carry on the tradition of defensive tenacity that Coach Howland has established thanks to the efforts of AA, LRMAM, RW, and LMR.

Productive Minutes From AA2

I mentioned LMR above. This is where AA2 comes in. We are going to need productive mins from AA2 for this team to contend for the Pac-10 title and position itself with a favorable high seed from the West. I love the intensity and aggression AA2 brings to every game. It's apparent that Coach Howland absolutely love the way he is all about defense. But from the early practice reports this season, it is apparent he wants AA2 to bring more to the table than his hard nosed (no pun intended here) defense around the rim. We can't have AA2 go into his bull in a china shop routine he often fell into time to time last season by fouling out too fast. We had that luxury last season because we had a kid like KL and the experience of LMR. With a inexperience and young front court, we don't have that luxury any more. I don't think AA2 needs to tone down his intensity, but he just needs to figure out a way to be a little more disciplined and make his minutes more productive through his defense and rebounds. Also, he should probably chuck the idea of he is some kind of jump shooter.

James Keefe Taking The Next Steps

As eager as everyone is about the start of this basketball season, not sure how many are looking forward to it as much as JK. JK is yet another Ben Ball warrior who is coming into this season at 100 percent (knock on wood) for the first time in while. I am sure many remember here how he got hurt last off season and had to go through shoulder surgery, which really stunted his expected development in his sophomore year. After deciding to red shirt year, per Howland's request JK burned his medical redshirt year, and came on strong late during the stretch run. He particular stepped up in a big way, when LRMAM went down with ankle injury against Southern Cal during the Pac-10 tournament. Not only did he chip in with solid scoring, he came up with key rebounds and solid defense. According to off season reports, JK is now up to 237 lbs and Howland has been fired up about his off season work outs.

I think JK is the guy to watch out for as someone who might have a breakout season. I like how this kid always plays within Howland's scheme. He does all the little things – set picks, box out, always look for open team-mates – that often doesn't show up in the score board. To go with that I think he has decent offensive skills down low, which until now has not been needed given the options we have has last few years. If JK can take the next step and perform at the same level he did during both the Pac-10 and NCAA tourneys last season on more consistent basis, it will be a huge boost to this year's team.

Freshmen Development

Speaking of development, this brings me to our Fab Five. I would strongly caution everyone here expecting from our freshman what we saw out of KL last season.

Let’s make this simple. The kind of production and contribution we saw out of KL last season was not normal. KL was special. He was once in a generational talent who doesn't come around often. I am not sure how long it will take until we get to see another kid like KL, but it would be incredibly unfair and unreasonable to hold our current freshman blue chippers to the same level of expectations as we had for KL (and if anyone makes that kind of comparison, he or she will be banned for stupidity from this community).

So now that is out of the way … it will be interesting to see how Howland brings these new cubs up. I think it will probably be JH who might break in the lineup right away but I think it will also take a talent like him a while to adjust to the defensive intensity required to earn Coach Howland's total trust. I would also urge a lot of patience when we are watching Bobo and DG. Those guys are very raw in terms of their defensive and offensive skills on both sides of the court. We have already read reports about how Howland is starting from scratch with these kids in teaching skills such as how to hedge screens, which is pre requisite for big guys playing Ben Ball defense. No doubt they will get mins early because of our lack of experience depth on the front court, however it will take them a while (perhaps more than a year to get settled in).

As for ML and JA, JA is still recovering from a nagging groin injury and remember even a super star like RW was only averaging 9.0 mins a game as a true freshman under Howland.

So, I would pipe down the expectations level if I were fanboys of ML and JA. They will get some mins and opportunities to make their contributions this upcoming season, however, they will have to earn those mins by their commitment to total defense in practices and during those early OOC games (which might not look too enticing who don't appreciate the total nuances of Howland's scheduling philosophy) in preparation for the conference season.

Health Issues

I will end my run through the questions by going through health issues. Here Mike Roll is the biggest question mark. We have talked about the health issues of JS and JK above. Those kids are finally healthy (knocking on wood). The situation is unclear about MR. While MR is feeling better and has been working out and most likely will be practicing, it is not certain (I haven't seen any reports yet) whether he will ever be completely recovered from the nasty plantar faciatis injury he suffered last season. I also like MR's game a lot. His 3 point shooting has suffered a lot in last two years due to injury issues, but he also does all the little things which includes playing defense, setting picks, that has endeared him to Coach Howland in recent years. I hope for MR's sake he is feeling better and if he can rediscover his rhythm as a shooter while working through his injury issues, it will be a big help for the team.

Also, it's a bummer that ND is dealing with a nagging health issue (cyst involving left foot and ankle) to start the season. I had heard that he was having a good off season following last year's tough one when he had hernia surgeries.

Let's hope ND's injury will get healed up and he will be ready to contribute soon. For him to contribute though, not surprisingly it will have to start on that defensive end. I don't think he is going to earn his mins by jacking up long bombs whenever he gets in. He will have to earn his mins the old fashioned way. If his latest injury doesn't set him back too much, hopefully he will be able to translate the hard off season work (which I heard he put in last few months) into meaningful mins in terms of solid defense and opportunistic scoring this season.

Same goes for JA, whose health issues I linked to above. I imagine Coach Howland will work him in slowly making sure he is completely healed up before asking him to step in. The good news is that they are progressing well and early reports sound encouraging. But given how physical and rough (for good reasons) Coach Howland’s practices are inside Pauley, we always have to be on the look out for issues related to nagging bumps and bruises.

So, those are some of the issues I can think of as we get underway in Coach Howland's sixth season in Westwood. I believe given all the questions we have to address, a top-5 ranking for our team could be a bit too high. I think are probably more somewhere in the top-10. However, I have full confidence that Coach Howland and his staff are all over these questions and others we haven't even thought off heading into this season. They will be chipping away every hour in practice and in the film rooms, getting these warriors prepared for what should hopefully be another fun ride in Westwood:

Photo Source: mikireynolds' photostream (flickr)

Before we start dreaming about those moments again, the goal right now for this team is to improve game by game, and then get itself in best position to compete and defend our conference title in February and March. Then, if they can get themselves a favorable seed in the Western region, based on a consistent development and improvement through the regular season, we will buckle up and once again take our chances with our head coach and his Ben Ball warriors.

GO BRUINS.