As I mentioned the other day, the student ticket policy is finalized. The athletic department sent out an e-mail tonight explaining the policy. Here is a quick run down.
If you bought student tickets…
- A guaranteed ticket in the Maize Rage bleachers for 12 home games (there are six games over student breaks) including Duke, Ohio State and Michigan State.
- Food will be provided in the bleachers (while supplies last) before every weeknight game, except Michigan State. A Maize Rage t-shirt.
- A long-sleeve Maize Rage t-shirt.
- Opportunity to participate in a bus trip to an away game.
As well as prizes!
- Those who attend the exhibition and all five non-conference games will receive a $20 Mden gift card.
- Those who attend all six Big Ten conference games will receive a $10 Mden gift card.
- Those who attend all 12 home games will receive an Adidas hooded sweat shirt with “Maize Rage†stitched under the block M.
- Remember that if you cannot attend a game, please give your ticket to another student so when your ticket is scanned we can give you credit for attending that game.
Introducing the ‘Beilein’s Bunch‘:
Head Coach John Beilein and the Athletic Department want to expose Michigan basketball to as many students as possible during the season. Therefore, we are creating the “Beilein’s Bunchâ€. We want to engage student groups on campus (i.e. dorms, fraternities, sororities, etc.) to attend games and sit in section 10 of the bleachers and in section 19 behind the pep band. With this one-time opportunity, students in these groups will receive the following:
- A ticket in the “Beilein Bunch†sections in the lower blue.
- A maize t-shirt.
- Free bus transportation.
And finally if you didn’t buy tickets and are not part of the Beilein’s Bunch you get in free anyways.
In addition, we are announcing FREE tickets located in the gold to all students upon showing their ID for the following games: Saginaw Valley State, Michigan Tech, Coaches vs Cancer, Norfolk State, EMU, Iowa, Northwestern, PSU, Minnesota.
Well at least they are trying to get people in the seats. I am definitely a fan of the group tickets and free tickets basically became inevitable with the poor (450) sales. Hopefully they let kids from the yellows into the bleachers if they aren’t filled up.
The popular choice to start at point guard from the fans perspective is Kelvin Grady, he is the scholarship point guard and everyone expects him to be the answer. Thus far he just hasn’t shown that he can separate himself from the pack and be the guy. Kelvin Grady clearly has the most potential and best athleticism of the bunch, he even has the best shooting numbers and a comparable assist to turnover ratio to CJ Lee. The fact remains that all through last year he just couldn’t eliminate the poor mistakes. Whether it be forcing passes, shots, or just dumb turnovers, Beilein isn’t going to accept that at the point guard spot on this team.
CJ Lee appears to be the leader of the group, someone who isn’t afraid to talk on the court and help out his teammates. CJ plays smart and takes relatively good care of the ball but he just isn’t a threat to score like Kelvin is. CJ shot only 33% from the field to Kelvin’s 40%. Kelvin was by no means a consistent player but when he was on he could hit the three and score the ball better than CJ. Throughout most of last year CJ’s jump shot was not a thing of beauty.
Dave Merritt is a guy who doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses or glowing strengths. I think CJ is a better defender than Merritt while Kelvin is better at scoring the ball but Dave is just the safe play out of the group. Merritt isn’t going to force passes or shots, but he isn’t going to make any plays on his own either. I worry about Merritt against tight ball pressure but he didn’t have that high of turnover numbers so maybe this is just in my imagination.
