Big Apple, Big Stage: UM vs UCLA Preview

The College Basketball season has finally gotten into full swing starting today, and I have to start by saying I have been very impressed with ESPN’s 24 hrs of College Basketball coverage.  This was an excellent scheduling ploy, and I loved watching basketball at 2 AM with St. Mary’s playing at home (Sidenote: Patty Mills is for real. Gets his own shot very similar to the way Iverson did back in college. He will be a name you hear come tourney time). I went to sleep with St. Mary's on and woke up in time watch the end of Hawaii/Idaho State.  It was a basketball fan's dream.

It reminded me of that first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament when basketball is on for 12 hours straight and you would always try and skip class/watch the game at work.  I’ve often said on this blog that those two days are the best consecutive sports days of the year, and I think ESPN could run with this “season opener marathon” idea in the coming years.  Put a couple more marquee games on the slate (ESPN scheduled only one game against ranked opponents in Davidson/Oklahoma and UNC/Kentucky is the next closest thing) and this marathon could be a ratings monster.  I'd also like to see more mid-major teams against the big conferences. ( For example, Oakland beat Oregon in OT on the West Coast, and was a much better match-up on paper than some of the other games shown today.)  I would have seriously considered calling-in sick had ESPN shown something other than Iowa/Kansas women's basketball at noon.  No offense to fans of Women’s Bball, but no women’s regular season match-up generates enough excitement worth cutting class for.  Not even Tenn/UConn.  Hopefully ESPN gives me something I can stay home for next year.

Finally, ESPN’s coverage doesn’t receive total praise from me as they dropped the ball in one of the day's final games in Syracuse/Richmond. The new “Interactive Messaging,” where they scroll fan messages across the top of the screen, is just another example of news networks ramming pointless technology down your throat.  This should be banned, along with CNN’s “Hologram Technology” and MSNBC’s “Virtual Pantheon” background from election night. It all needs to go. Now.

 

OK, back to the Wolverines. Here’s a couple things to watch for on Thursday:

 

Getting On the Glass:  Michigan has been out rebounded twice: once by a GLIAC team (exhibition) and the other by a CAA that got 20 Offensive rebounds.  Michigan has failed to block out on a consistent basis and will need to shore that up against the Bruins. Bruins F Alfred Aboya is averaging 6.5 boards a game with the team getting 35.3 rpg.  Ben Howland’s teams have always rebounded well (back to his days at Pitt), and the Wolverines will struggle if they don’t get on the glass early.

 

The Collison Effect:  PG Darren Collison is arguably the best on-the-ball defender in all the land.  He is lightning quick and made Kelvin Grady look like an eighth grader when these two teams played last year.  On Offense, Beilein will be forced to rotate CJ Lee, David Merritt, and Kelvin Grady.  None of these guys can match Collison’s quickness, but fresh legs should help a little bit. The point of interest here is whether or not the Bruins decide to put Collison on Manny Harris or give that assignment to Josh Shipp.  Look for Shipp to start on Harris, but if Manny gets hot don’t be surprised to see Collison start to put pressure on Harris and funnel him toward the help defense.

 

The One They Call “Fresh”: Manny Harris was named Big Ten Player of the Week last week and rightfully so.  On consecutive points, he put up 56 points and almost dropped a triple-double on a team that just got done giving Providence a reality check.  Harris has been great and could potentially become the first player to average 20 ppg since a guy by the name of Juwan Howard (actually, the last guy to do it was Louis Bullock, but “technically” that never happened…).  Harris needs to get started early in order to give guys like Anthony Wright and Stu Douglass opportunities to play “Beilein Ball” and hit open threes.

 

Last note on Harris: A lot of fans I’ve talked to have voiced their concern that Harris could go pro at the end of the season.  To them I say this:  Harris making the jump to the pros would be the worst decision since MSU’s Marcus Taylor tried to make the jump early as a Sophmore and was drafted 52^nd overall by the Timberwolves. Taylor was promptly cut after camp and was never heard from again.  However, I think Harris is smarter than Taylor and knows the level of skill needed to make the transition.  He has a bright future ahead of him.   However, NBAdraft.net has Harris not even on the board in ’09 and as a late first round pick in 2010. I agree with that assessment and will wait one more season before I seriously talk about his NBA prospects.

 

The Frontcourt:  I can only hope that Zach Gibson watched the game film from last week and totally changed his outlook of how he needs to approach this game against UCLA.  Hopefully the game film, plus the cold weather this week, has ignited a Rocky-like fire inside him.  Try and picture Gibson running up the steps of the Angell Hall in a gray sweatsuit, knit cap, and Chuck Taylors.  Few things would motivate me to get to Angell Hall before 9 AM in the winter, but witnessing this would be one of them.  While I have trouble seeing it, I think this is the mentality he needs to adopt to rebound from last week’s performance against Northeastern.  Both Gibson and Sims could really be effective against a somewhat undersized front-line of UCLA (Aboya at C is closer to 6’8 than his listed 6’9).  Look for Beilein to go inside early to test Aboya.

 

Other points of interest: Douglass needs to have a big game to give UM a shot, CJ Lee makes his Big Apple return, Michigan’s first National TV appearance of the year, and UM Bball could have fewer losses than UM Hockey heading into the Christmas break.  Didn’t think I’d be saying that a year ago…

UM beats Huskies (again), Bruins Up Next

Tonight’s 76-56 Michigan win over the Northeastern Huskies sends the Wolverines to MSG next week in a match-up against UCLA and a possible finals match-up against Duke.  The margin of victory was big and Manny Harris took home tournament MVP honors.  Things were great for the Maize and Blue.  That said… I can’t believe Michigan won this game.  I kept looking up at the scoreboard just to make sure the score I had was correct because I could believe what I had in front of me.  Northeastern was ice cold (FG 29% for the game) and their go-to player Matt Janning decided to mail-in the first half.  This game could have easily gone a different direction had the Huskies not played so poorly.

 

But, that’s why they play the game.  Here’s more on tonight’s flattening of the Huskies:

 

Board Wars:  Michigan won the rebounding battle tonight by a 33-31 margin, but allowed 20 Offensive Rebounds in the game.  20 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS?!? If Tom Izzo was Michigan's coach, he would have taken a timeout just so he could beat Anthony Wright senseless with his white board for refusing to block-out. Michigan has not rebounded well this season and things seemed to have hit rock bottom in this category.  Harris led all Wolverines with 8 rebs, but Michigan struggled to secure the ball and gave up too many deflections and tips that went for easy buckets.  Give up 20 offensive boards at MSG in front of a national TV audience and Michigan can forget about the NCAA Tournament.

 

Lessons from LeBron:  Manny Harris was everywhere this week. He dropped 30 on Michigan Tech and comes back to put up 26 points, 10 rebs, and 8 assists on Northeastern…just to make sure you didn’t think he was one-dimensional.  Harris would have the triple double had it not been for a missed dunk and lay-up from Sims.

 

It looks like LeBron’s advice at summer camp has taken root.  

 

Harris is scary good, will only get better, and is benefiting from open lanes created by his teammates hitting their threes. He is driving to the hoop at will and can probably set another record for trips to the foul line this year. The only thing I worry about is whether or not they start to lean more than they should.  Harris has a tendency to be passive/defer in certain games, but a steady contribution from him will be what this team needs while the young guns (Novak and Douglass) get acclimated.

 

Microwave off the Bench:  DeShawn Sims had himself another great game, putting up 19 points to go along with 7 boards off the bench. He looked comfortable at the 5 spot, moving to the 4 at times, and seemed to do well in clogging the lane and altering a good number of NU’s put-back attempts.  If he remains on the bench to start, he’ll do exactly what Vinny “The Microwave” Johnson did for the Detroit Pistons in the Bad Boys era: Give them solid point production off the bench and make smart choices with the ball down the stretch. While he doesn’t need 19 pts a night, his presence on the boards needs to be felt in games like tonight where his front court teammates disappear on the glass.  Speaking of which…..

The Gibson ‘wagon has stalled: Zach Gibson faced his first legitimate post-up opponent in NU’s Ojougboh and was not up to the task.  Gibson was in foul trouble for much of the game, finishing with 4 points and 4 rebs in 15 minutes.  He took only two shots and really looked flustered trying to get open.  I’m not expecting him to be Kevin Love, but is 8 points and 7 boards a night too much too ask? I hope not. Otherwise the “Gibson Bandwagon” will be dismantled for parts.

 

The Crisler Crowd was decent for a 8pm Wednesday tip-off.  Listed attendance was at 6200 (the lower bowl was pretty crowded) with the Maize Rage just about full for the first time this year.  It would only take one win at MSG to see that attendance spike even higher when the Wolverines return from their road trip, even for a game vs. Norfolk State.  

 

It’ll be interesting to see the reaction Michigan receives from the national media in its first national appearance this year.  A good review is exactly what this team needs to plant the seed of a possible post-season bid for the Big Dance.  ESPN’s Joe Lundardi is giving the Big Ten five bids (at most) for the tournament, so it is crucial to get the post-season campaigning started in the next week.  That said….

 

Yes, We Can.

And Then There Were Four....

The 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball tourney has now been cut from 65 to 4, and if you are like me, you couldn't be more disappointed with the way it turned out. This is the first year in the history of the tournament that all 4 of the No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four. It means that all those people who filled out a bracket and played it conservatively ended up making out like a lotto winner. It also means that those people who actually watched the regular season games, put some thought into their bracket, and did a little reading up on the mid-major teams had already set fire to their precious picks at the end of Round Two. You might say I'm a little bitter... but wouldn't you be bitter if you were losing in a family pool to people twice your age who didn't see a single game all season? (No offense, Grandma!)

However, as the tourney always does, it gave us some great moments. Stephen Curry went from relative unknown to household name overnight, Tyler Hansborough proved why he is one of college basketball's all-time greats against Louisville, and Xavier showed that there is no substitute for senior leadership. And it also gave us a Final Four that we might one day look back on as the greatest of All-Time. It's like getting to see the Rookie/Sophmore challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend 2010 before it happens. Now, I know that is putting a lot of pressure and hype on this group of four. But when you put these rosters together on the same table it is a scout's dream. Two top 5 picks (Rose and Love) headline the bunch, while at least 5 other players (Rush, Collison, Lawson , Douglas-Roberts, Mbah-a-Moute) look to be first round picks.

Note on Lawson: If not this year, he is a definite first rounder in 2009

Starting with the Kansas/UNC match-up: As I said earlier this month, this match-up defines the phrase "heavyweight bout." Both teams are so deep, with NBA type talent at all positions. UNC has Hansborough, but KU can counter with Jackson, Arthur, and Kaun in the front court. UNC can throw Ty Lawson (arguably the quickest end-to-end guard in the country) at KU, but they counter with Mario Chalmers. These teams do a fantastic job of mirroring each other till about the 8th roster spot, which is absurd. I like the depth of KU, but they were almost beat by a much undersized and outmatched Davidson team. Davidson played on the same level with KU for 39 minutes in the Elite 8. UNC's pace will present more problems for KU than did Davidson's, so I like UNC in this game to beat KU.

Now with UCLA and Memphis: Earlier this year I didn't think anyone on Memphis could hit a free throw to save their lives. Turns out Coach Calipari was just to hustling Conference USA and all the other teams in the field, as if to say "Free Throws? Yeah, I was just saving that skill for a good time." And now is as a good a time as any. The Tigers shot over 70% against MSU and Texas and cruised to a Final Four appearance on back to back MOP type performances by Derrick Rose. UCLA, on the other hand, struggled in the early rounds but really turned it on against Xavier and Western Kentucky. Kevin Love is the real deal, averaging over 20 pts and 10 boards for the Tourney. Both Love and Rose are as good as gone at the end of the season, headed to glory as NBA Lotto Picks (helloooo, Miami!). But I believe it is Rose and the free-wheeling style of Memphis Coach John Calipari that gets the job done against an experienced UCLA team. Three straight Final Four appearances are all well and good, but I got a feeling Love and Co. are going to be sucking wind, playing defense against Calipari's Shuttle Run Offense.

In any event, these teams (statistically speaking, with the exception of maybe Tennessee) have been the four best teams all year. I doubt I could've asked for better match-ups than the ones coming up this weekend.

... Even if that means Grandma takes down the pot in my pool.