Wolverines on the Verge of History

Shortly after 6 p.m. tonight on CBS, the Michigan Wolverines will have their name announced and will be in bracket pools across the country.


This will mark the first time the Wolverines are in the NCAA Tournament since 1998. That’s 11 long years. In the Big Ten, Michigan has the longest drought of any team except for Northwestern. The Wildcats have never made the tournament.


Michigan did what they had to do this season picking up signature victories against Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Illinois, a road win versus Minnesota, and a near upset on the road against UCONN who just happened to be the No. 1 team in the land at the time. They also avoided too many bad losses with their worst loss coming at the hands of Iowa in Iowa City. This was the game where Manny Harris was benched in the overtime period. Most fans remember that one.


The key to this year’s success was focus, drive, coaching, the effectiveness of the role players, and the two stars who the ball went through time after time with Harris and Deshawn Sims. I feel like Michigan played their best basketball down the stretch with a near road win against Wisconsin, a win on the road against Minnesota in the final regular season conference game, and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament (BTT) against Iowa.


Although, Michigan lives and dies by the three point shot as they showed you in their second round loss to Illinois in the BTT. ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas said it best today on College Gameday “If Michigan makes their shots they can beat anybody, but if they don’t their rather easy to beat.” This will determine how far the Wolverines will go in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.


Michigan is expected to be a No. 10 seed tonight by most bracketology experts on the web including ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That means Michigan would see a No. 7 seed in the first round followed by most likely a No. 2 seed barring an upset from a No. 15 seed.


Teams I feel would cause problems for Michigan in the tournament would be Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Arizona St, Tennessee, and Texas. Now some of these teams would cause problems for any team in the tournament. You have heard it thousands of times your success in the Big Dance is determined by matchups. Michigan doesn’t match up well against teams who have athletic big men down low that can score the basketball or teams that run a fastbreak offense with full court pressure defense. All of the above mentioned teams have one of these two qualities.


Teams that I feel Michigan could upset would be UCONN, Kansas, Oklahoma, Duke, Villanova, and Xavier. Michigan’s first round matchup could be against the following teams: Tennessee, Texas, Butler, Boston College, Texas A&M, Oklahoma St, Marquette, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Siena, Utah St, USC or California. One of those teams will see the Wolverines and as you can see the first round game isn’t going to be easy for Michigan.


Michigan has shown they can play with anybody this season but they could also lose to anybody on any given night. Which Michigan team will show up? One thing is for sure they have exceeded expectations this year and any wins in the NCAA Tournament will just be icing on the cake!

A Bid on the Line

It's less than 15 hours before the 2008-2009 Michigan Wolverines basketball team plays their biggest game in the last decade. Yes it has that much significance because of one reason and one reason only. An NCAA Tournament berth!

Sure other Michigan teams in recent years have been close to making the tournament and have picked up significant wins against top opponents, but none have punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament. It's been the NIT or as many used to call it the Tommy Amaker Invitational Tournament (TAIT).


Michigan has the opportunity tomorrow as they head to Minneapolis, Minnesota to play the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Barn. It's a tough place to play no doubt and Minnesota is trying to secure a spot in the tournament as well. The Golden Gophers are also trying to avenge a loss against Michigan from February 19th at Crisler Arena where they lost 74-62.

Michigan played one of it's best games on that night under must win conditions, the same conditions many bracketologists place under the Wolverines tomorrow afternoon. According to ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi Michigan is the second to last team into the tournament as of right now. That's right now, but if Michigan loses tomorrow, they will back on the outside looking in. That's a place where Michigan basketball fans are all too familiar with.


With a win tomorrow and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament next Thursday they will be a near lock for the tournament. Who they would play in the first round of the tournament has yet to be determined. As of right now they would take on Northwestern, but there is a scenario where Michigan could get a bye in the first round but it's very unlikely.

So with all that said. Michigan controls it's own destiny, something they haven't been able to say too many times this late in the season. Looking back a few years, the old Michigan teams used to collapse in the month of February. By the time March came around they were already on the outside looking in to the tournament and they never did themselves any favors by exiting the Big Ten Tournament early.


Michigan can not afford to do that this year either. It didn't show up in the stat column, but in my opinion I feel Michigan played their best road game of the season this past weekend against Wisconsin. They nearly won at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin a place where head coach Bo Ryan is now 48-0 at against unranked Big Ten opponents during his career.


That game told me a lot, the effort, concentration, desire, and focus were all at a place where they needed to be at this point in the season. Only two things were missing, the experience of doing this before and the execution late in games. That comes with experience, the young Michigan team must learn fast from last weekend's game to beat Minnesota but I feel they will.

No one player makes a team. Although for tomorrow, the game will be won or lost as it lies in the hands of Manny Harris and Deshawn Sims. These two are the most talented players on the team. They are the scorers who must show poise and execute during the last five minutes in order to leave on the right side of the win column.


These two are trying to accomplish what many have tried but failed to do at Michigan in the recent past which is getting Michigan back to the NCAA Tournament. It's been 11 grueling years for most Michigan fans. Players such as Lavell Blanchard, Bernard Robinson Jr., Leon Jones, Chris Young, Daniel Horton, Dion Harris, Lester Abram, Courtney Sims and many more laid there heart on the floor over the years. They just couldn't get over the hump for whatever reason.


We must not forget those players, as the past is what leads us to the future. Those players efforts will be celebrated when Michigan makes the NCAA Tournament and it could very well happen this year.


If Michigan does not win tomorrow, their hopes are not over. They would then need to at least pick up two victories in the Big Ten Tournament. As it stands now, they would play Northwestern in the first round and Michigan St in the second. If they could find a way to pick up those two victories they would be dancing in my estimation. Although if they play a lesser opponent in the second round, they would need to win the third round game as well.

You have to take a wait and see approach into these games much like the rest of the nation teams vying for an NCAA Tournament bid.


One thing is for certain. When adversity strikes, stars are born, there are a lot of naysayers out there saying Michigan is NIT bound or going to choke again. Well that remains to be seen. For me a media member who grew up in the city of Ann Arbor. I will always stick behind the University of Michigan athletic programs under all circumstances. I will be cheering away tomorrow at noon in my apartment while watching possible Wolverine history being made on ESPN.


Listen to my sports talk radio show on Sunday night from 8-10 p.m. as we go over the results from tomorrow's game. Listen live at http://thewhale.org/

Michigan Basketball is Back!

Yes, I said it after 10 games during the 2008 season, Michigan basketball is back in my mind. They are 8-2 on the season. They defeated two teams that were ranked No. 4 in the nation when they played (UCLA & Duke). They have no bad losses, they have a new addition as of yesterday in Laval Lucas-Perry (nickname Lava) and most of all a genius of a head coach in John Beilein.

It's John Beilein's second season at the helm of Michigan and he has done the unthinkable bringing the Wolverines back so quickly to respectability. On Monday December 22, 2008 the Wolverine basketball squad will likely be ranked in the top 25 for the first time in a few years. Unlike the last time though, this team has a sense of direction and confidence that I haven't seen from a Michigan squad since the days of the "Fab Five".

How did Beilein turn it around so quickly? Well he recruited players that would fit into his system. Shooters, that is what his system requires, if you can't shoot, you are of no need for Beilein. Names such as Stuart Douglass and Zach Novak have been huge this season. They barely average 10 points combined, but it's role players like these two that compliment Michigan's two best players Deshawn Sims (nickname Peedi) and Manny Harris (nickname Fresh).

Let's start out with Harris, an all around player who can slash in the line, penetrate and kick to find the open man, hit the three, finish on fastbreaks, make free throws, defensive leader, and overall a player with a great basketball IQ. Can you say NBA player? He is without a doubt, but he has one concentration right now and that is getting Michigan back to the NCAA Tournament. Harris is my prediction for the Big Ten player of the year in 2009. He is that good, better than Robbie Hummel, Kalin Lucas, Evan Turner, Raymar Morgan, Trevon Hughes, and others because he can do so many different things. Expect Harris to only get better which is scary, also expect him to not enter the NBA draft until after his junior season. Michigan fans would hope to see him all four years, but he may be too good.

As for Deshawn Sims, he has become a complete player this year. He is manning the center spot on the team at 6'8, but it's his toughness that makes him effective defensively. A few improvements he has made is one, he now knows how to finish around the rim, he also knows his game better. He has become a dual threat with his post-up game and his outside shooting. He has a mid-range shot, knowing that he doesn't have to shoot all those three's like last year. He continues to get better and is destined for a great Big Ten season as a junior.

So Beilein recruited shooters, has Harris and Sims, but how else did he turn this program around. He kept teaching, he loves to a coach, it took time for players such as Kelvin Grady and Jevohn Shepherd to learn the system. Beilein is one of the best X's and O's coaches in America. That means when you need a score he can draw up a play to get the job done. He has great poise and makes great decisions from the sidelines as far as substitutions and timeouts. Only a few years back, a coach by the name of Tommy Amaker just got out coached 75 percent of the time by the opposing coach. He took players out who had the hot hand. You didn't see that from Beilein in yesterday's game against Oakland. Stuart Douglass made his first three 3-pointers on the day and he kept shooting. Same with Lucas-Perry he was 4-4 from beyond the arc and he kept shooting until he missed.

Kelvin Grady has really developed into a very solid PG this year. He is playing with a bunch of confidence and reminds me of his days at East Grand Rapids High School. He plays wild, that is just his style, on a rebound or a turnover, lookout give Grady the ball and fill your lanes. This is exactly what Michigan is doing, they are becoming a fastbreak team and Grady is becoming a vital part of the Michigan program. Shepherd brings depth, he stands only at 6'5 but he is playing the PF spot because of Michigan's one Achilles heel, lack of depth in the front court. He was a widely touted recruit from Canada who just has never lived up to his potential. This year though, he is letting the game come to him and is becoming a solid contributor for the Wolverines. Michigan will need both of these players to continue to play well in order to stay in the top 25 and compete atop the Big Ten conference.

There's more who can forget, David Merritt, C.J. Lee, Anthony Wright, and Zack Gibson. Michigan has become a deep team this year with as many shooters as any other team in the country. Merritt plays with a tremendous amount of poise and self-confidence. He doesn't make bad plays, he sets the offense up, plays solid defense, and has great basketball IQ. He is like a coach on the floor. C.J. Lee is similar, he plays good defense and can make the 3-point shot, can spot Harris some minutes from time to time. As for Anthony Wright, he is a player who is struggling right now especially with his shot, he is not letting the game come to him, he will be needed because he has the bulk to play in the Big Ten, defensively he needs to just play solid, and rebound well to make a contribution to the Michigan squad. Zach Gibson, does some good things and sometimes does some bad things. Overall he is a nice role player who needs to just keep knocking down mid-range jumpers and playing good post up defense.

Michigan has the ingredients to compete atop the Big Ten conference this year with the likes of Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio St. It's about going through your two best players in Harris and Sims. Along with that it's about Beilein's system working magic with backdoor cuts and open shots created from beyond the arc. If the players make shots, play their hearts out, and listen to the genius named John Beilein they will make the 2009 NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.

One thing we must not forget about are the players who tried to turn this program around but just didn't get enough help from the coaching staff that included head coaches Brian Ellerbe and Tommy Amaker. Names like Lavell Blanchard, Leon Jones, Chris Young, Bernard Robinson Jr, Dion Harris, Courtney Sims, Lester Abram, and most of all Daniel Horton. Without these players, believing and trying their hand at turning the program around Michigan wouldn't be where it is today. So let's say thank you to all of them!

It doesn't just stop this year. Things will continue to get better with the following recruits coming in next year: PG Darius Morris, SG Matt Vogrich, PF Jordan Morgan, PF Blake McLimans. Morris is the best recruit since Harris to come to Michigan, but Morris comes from the State of California. Vogrich will be the best shooter on the team next year, even better than Lava we shall see. Both Morgan and McLimans bring post depth and the ability to different things as big man on the team.

2010 has the possibility to be even better with names like Trey Zeigler, Moses Morgan, Will Regan, Tim Hardaway Jr. (former NBA player Tim Hardaway's kid), Ray McCallum and many more all looking at committing to Michigan. Don't stop there 2011 has a PG from Detroit by the name of Brandan Kearney who has ties to Michigan with the Edwards family. Recruiting is a key in winning and Beilein is showing that he can recruit the best, but can he finish the deal by getting them here?

Stay tuned for more updates about the Michigan basketball team!