I hated when the Michigan Basketball program was down for about 10 years. It really wasn't fun watching college basketball for me. Michigan seemed to always have a team that would compete, from Steve Fisher's National Championships run to the Fab 5 and some pretty good teams after. That all came crumbling down with a bookie from Detroit and few thousand dollars.
That was then, this in now. Michigan had the best college basketball player in the nation last year in Tre Burke and made it to it's first Final Four since the Fab 5 was in town. John Beilein has built something special in Crisler Arena Center and it's fun to be a Wolverine basketball fan again.
The #9 ranked 2013-14 Wolverines took the floor on Friday night and was probably a bit nervous as they played UMass-Lowell to tie in the first half. In the second half, they turned on the defense and ran away with a blow out win.
Here are my first impressions:
- #10 Derrick Walton, plays angry and will be a nice point guard as he continues to develop. Very high ceiling.
- #2 Spike continues to be a solid point guard and gives the team good energy when he is in the game. His shot is under rated and would like to see a bit more offense out of him in the half court.
- #21 Zak Irvin looks like TH3 2.0, he is athletic and a good shooter. His development this year will be exciting to watch. He is clearly not afraid to launch a few 3's from the corner.
- #23 Caris LeVert is pure athleticism in a bottle. The kid has a good handle and could be a defensive stopper for the Wolverines. His still is a bit raw and will give you 20 points one night and 3 the next. Either way he will be exciting and needs to avoid forcing shots and looking for teammates.
- #1 Glen Robinson has the ability to be an NBA star if he keeps developing. When his jumper is on, he is very difficult to defend. It looks like he really worked on his game this summer and is ready to be considered one of the best players in the Big Ten if not the country.
- #11 Nik Stauskas struggled on Friday night but we know what kind of game he has.
As you can tell, this team is very athletic and when focused on defense will be tough to play in any arena. I have two concerns, the health of Mitch McGary and generating offense out of the half court. Mitch is a pre-season All American and is very important to this team with his low post defense and rebounding. Every Michigan fan is praying his back is only a temporary thing.
I'm also concerned about Michigan's offense when they are not getting into transition off a good play on defense. The half court offense looked a little sluggish and we all know what happens when a John Beilein team misses a bunch a 3's.
This team will be fun to watch and should be competitive in another good year for the Big Ten. I'm personally trying to take a vacation from my disappointment for what is happening in the Big House and direct that emotion towards the basketball program.
1 comment:
I am hoping that Beilein is giving Mitch a little more time to heal because of the type of energy and style Mitch plays with, especially if he's not needed in the first few games.
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