Offensive Rebounds


Rough loss for the women’s team tonight to Wisconsin 69-67. Michigan led by as much as 20 points and still managed to let the game slip away. As you can see from Borseth’s reaction, Michigan got out rebounded 40-33 (23-7 offensive rebounds). This was enough to cost Michigan the game even though they out shot Wisconsin 51% to 34%.Carly BensonThe loss will probably cost Michigan an NCAA tournament bid but it has still been a very successful first season for Borseth and the Wolverines. They beat Michigan State for the first time in six years (nine games) in front of a record 5,596 people (more people than have been at many mens games this year). They also probably will finish with a winning record in the BigTen as well. Not to mention winning 3 road games in the Big Ten (at Wisconsin, Northwestern and Illinois). Hopefully they can scrape together a few more wins and make some noise in the Big Ten Tournament to reach the NCAA tournament. Or at least get a few offensive rebounds. Read more

Recruiting Bullets

Game 26: Northwestern @ Michigan: Post Game

Ant Wright After Losing To NWThere is really nothing positive to say after this game. A bad Northwestern team came into Crisler and just kicked our butts, There is no doubt that we came out flat and complacent in the first half. And Moore was on fire the entire game, kid was just raining threes, but that was just an inexcusable loss. As a couple people said in comments before the game, this one had all the signs of an upset.

It has been a painful season and we really shouldn’t have expected anything less than a loss to Northwestern honestly. The only positive spin I can put on this game is that it teaches this team a good lesson about bringing it every night. You better believe that we will bring 100% effort against Northwestern next year.

DeShawn Sims appeared to get it for a bit in the last stretch of game but something just isn’t there and its pretty clear that he just doesn’t have the motor. Manny is great but the turnovers are really killing this team, I’m confident he will get it straightened out but some of them are just awful. Ant Wright, our “shooter”, is not making shots even wide open ones. The only player who really played well was CJ Lee who helped get us back in the game at all.

This article about the state of the program pretty much sums it up for me. We have a LONG ways to go and it isn’t gonna be pretty.

Stuart Douglass and his Carmel team survived an upset bid in the first round of sectionals on a very rough shooting night. Stu led the team with 15 points.

Game 26: Northwestern @ Michigan: Pre-Game

Finally a game that Michigan should run away with easily. We were dominating Northwestern for the first 30+ minutes of the first meeting and our offense looked great all around. Then we took the pedal off the metal too soon and Coble went crazy. Northwestern almost beat a distracted Indiana team but they still should be no worry for Michigan Tuesday. Maybe the Wildcats are improving as they have lost their last two games by a combined 5 points.

It’s probably a pretty safe bet that Coble will score at least 20 points but Michigan should be able to neutralize the rest of the Northwestern lineup. Where Michigan looked best in their last contest against the Wildcats was on offense. They played lights out offense for about 30 minutes in Evanston, making shots, making cuts, playing true Beilein ball. Hopefully a game against Northwestern is what this team needs to get its offense back in gear because Saturday was simply a sickening offensive performance.

I expect Ant Wright to get the start again at the three, but at this point who knows. The production at the wing position has basically been reduced to nothing. Although both Wright (7 pts, 7 boards) and Shepherd (8pts, 4reb, 5ast) had solid games last time against Northwestern.

One thing to mention is that this is the teams 3rd game in six days. The team looked tired against Illinois and you can bet that the fatigue is really starting to affect these kids. Only one starter (Ekpe) on the team has played major minutes for an entire college season.

Luckily we don’t have to worry about Northwestern invading Crisler but you can sure bet that a 9pm Tuesday night game over Spring Break against Northwestern will be just about empty (update: The snow is only going to make this one worse, crowd is going to be embarassing tonight).

UMHoops Prediction: Michigan 80 - NW 63 - The Wolverines get a confidence boost and coast to a solid win before a big test at Penn State this weekend.

Purdue Game Time and TV Set

The Big Ten announced today that the Purdue game will be Sunday March 9th at 4pm on CBS. Hooray for more national exposure. Could be a great way to finish the season against a very good, but not invincible, Purdue team. The stakes will be high as Purdue will probably be playing for a share of the Big Ten title.

Links & Notes 2-24-2008

Game 25: Illinois @ Michigan: Post Game

Now that was a struggle. Painful all the way through and definetely a game you have to be glad was on Big Ten Network. But as they say, style points don’t count. Michigan shot a horrific 30% from the field for the game, luckily Illinois only managed 32%.

Players of the game have to be Grady and Ekpe. Grady played well offensively I thought for the most part and hit some big shots. One thing that pains me about Grady is how poorly he runs the fast break, this is something that the whole team really needs work on. Ekpe was a monster on defense and dominated Pruitt. Ekpe had 7 points, 7 boards, 5 blocks, and 2 steals and held Pruitt to 6 points and 5 turn overs. After the game while getting interviewed Ekpe said that he thought “he was the best defensive player in the country and loved challenges like this”. At least he has some confidence.

Ant Wright started on the wing which I think has to be done. He did a surprisingly decent job on defense especially with Illinois going small all game. Ron Coleman brings absolutely nothing and seems to regress every game. I think Wright should play about 30 minutes a game and Shepherd about 15. Ronnie needs to be the odd man out at this point.

It was great to see Jalen in the house looking sharp. A quick recap over what he said:

A win is a win and Michigan has to learn how to win the tough ones like this because they aren’t all going to be easy. But man I hope we can start hitting some shots. There were ALOT of wide open shots today and very few of them went down. Good physical gutty effort. Another note, saw Jordan Morgan was there, not sure if any other recruits were in the house.

One more addition: huge props to Anthony and DeShawn. They have really started attacking the glass. DeShawn had 9 rebounds and Wright pulled down 8. Not to mention Manny pulling down 6 and Ekpe 7. All together we outrebounded Illinois 43 to 36. I think the man-to-man has really helped our defensive rebounding but DeShawn especially seems to have started to find an extra gear in terms of hustle.

Game 25: Illinois @ Michigan: Pregame

DeShawn Sims and Sean Pruitt Battle for a ReboundThe first game in Illinois was ugly, Michigan shot less than 40% and Illinois shot 52%. The two people who killed Michigan were Randle and Pruitt. Randle had 19 and 10 in only 28 minutes and on 7-9 shooting, the fact that he is out tonight is huge for Michigan. With Randle being out it looks like neutralizing Pruitt should be enough to win the game because Illinois is so short on weapons. Then again shooting 35% again certainly won’t help, this team has had some painful shooting games.

The Wolverines have played better at home of late with the big wins over PSU and OSU and on paper Illinois looks like a game they should win. Illinois has been nose diving of late and has lost five of their last six. Michigan also got virtually nothing from Manny in the first game so hopefully a better effort there will help as well.

The Jalen Rose festivities should be fun and we all know that Jalen will be Jalen when he’s out there talking at halftime. Don’t forget to get there early for a Jalen Rose Day t-shirt as well. And in honor of Jalen, I’m putting together a couple Fab Five video mixes that will be up in the next week.

UMHoops Prediction: Michigan 67-Illinois 64

Links of note:

Randle Out For Season?

ESPN is reporting that Brian Randle is likely out for the season with a shoulder injury. This is huge for Michigan because Randle killed them last time around. Randle put up 19 pts FGs 7-9, 3pts 2-2, 10 rebounds s in 28 minutes. Could be a big break for Michigan and makes tomorrows game even more winnable. Rough way to go out for Randle in what has already been a rough year for Illinois.

Links 2-22-2008

Jalen Rose

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