Comments on: Breaking Down the Schedule

By: old fan

old fan — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:44:43 +0000

I don’t think I am optimistic for Michigan, as much as I am pessimistic for the league. We are going to realize that the years of Midwestern talent leaving have finally caught up with us. There will be some embarrassing losses. Not that there wasn’t last year. But at least last year IU wasn’t a mess and Wisconsin had people fooled.

This year Purdue gets better. But who else gets better than they were last year? Illinois, but they are coming from pretty far down. MSU? I think that Neitzel was a key for them, even if he did disappear alot. Penn State will be better, but this can’t be who we are afraid of. So then there is Minnesota and well, they’re still Minnesota. As long as Bobby Jackson is no longer on the team I won’t be afraid of Minnesota.

If we had a team that is solid but not spectacular we have a chance to improve by default.

By: WOLVERINE

WOLVERINE — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:28:53 +0000

Man I hate to say (i.e. even remotely talking about Michigan State/Tom Izzo or using them in the form for analogies/comparisons) but I think the 2008-09 Michigan Basketball team will be extremely similar to (i.e. compares with) that 1995-96 Michigan State Basketball team (this was Izzo’s first season as Michigan State’s Head Basketball Coach) where they were 9-9, .500 in Conference play (6th Place — don’t remember if it was tied or outright) and were 15-15, .500 in the regular season (no BigTen Tournament back then) before going to the NIT and having a 1-1, .500 record in the PostSeason NIT for an Overall record of 16-16, .500. The instance were the analogy/comparison doesn’t apply is that I think we can beat Michigan State @home this year (that 95-96 Michigan State got blown out by Michigan — both @The Breslin Center AND @Crisler Arena that Season. At the very least I think our 1 game with Michigan State is a toss-up.

By: Musket Rebellion

Musket Rebellion — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:26:51 +0000

Purdue will be good to really good. MSU will be really good to great. Their game against UNC should show where they are at as a team.

All in all I think we’ll flirt with .500, ending up within 2 games of it would be fine by me. Next year is the big year in my eyes.

Wow, just like football.

By: old fan

old fan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:19:07 +0000

I think that 13-19 is very pessimistic. I would flip that around because of how bad the Big Ten will be. No one will be very good. I think that we are getting only a bit better but the league is getting much, much worse.

Who are the NBA prospects left in the league? If it’s only a couple of incoming freshman, then we should be able to compete with good fundamentals.

Who has a big body that we should be worried about? We have a huge hole in the middle, but most teams are lacking there.

I think that Purdue will be solid. Callisan (Sp?) will be developed and the big body they needed down low last year. He’s had a good summer.

By: BL11

BL11 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:56:56 +0000

Minnesota should be an average to above average big11 team…i would expect a loss @minn…iowa on the other hand is a game that i would love UM to win..

By: AC

AC — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:53:33 +0000

I think you’re correct that we’re going to see 1-3 unfortunate losses due to the youth and lack of front-court depth.

At the same time, I think you’re a bit pessimistic with their road record. Are Minnesota and Iowa good enough to be scared of? If Michigan is going to make the NIT or (gasp!) flirt with the NCAA they need to beat these other also-rans.

I’m also curious to see how Purdue does. Obviously they should beat Michigan, but they came out of no where last year. Can they repeat that success?