2009-2010 Season

Game 0: Wayne State at Michigan (Ex.) Preview

Who: Michigan (0-0) vs. Wayne State (0-0)
Where: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MI
When: Friday, November 6th, 7 PM
TV: BigTenNetwork.com for 2.99
Radio
: MGoBlue, WTKA-AM (1050)

It’s not quite the real season but it’s a chance to finally see Michigan take on some live competition as they welcome Wayne State to Crisler Arena.

Wayne State finished 12-15 (10-12) last year, good for 7th in the GLIAC. Here are some quick calculations of Wayne State’s key tempo free stats last season.

Offense Defense
Efficiency 96.92 96.92
eFG% 46.2% 47.2%
TO% 22.4% 22.1%
Off Reb% 39.7% 44.3%
FTA/FGA 36.9% 36.1%

Wayne appears to be a good offensive rebounding team but a terrible defensive rebounding team. They don’t shoot the ball all that well and somehow they scored the exact same number of points as their opponents on the year.

Bryan Wright is the leading returning scorer for the Warriors, the 5’10” guard averaged 14.1 points per game last year. Redshirt senior Shane Lawal is the man up front, the 6’9″ transfer from Oakland averaged 11.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game last year.

One player with a familiar name to Michigan fans is Carlton Brundidge’s older brother Dale. Brundidge averaged 5.5 points in 18.2 minutes per game his freshman year. It’ll be a great opportunity for Dale and despite his brother’s commitment you can bet that he will be looking to make the most of the opportunity.

The Warriors obviously shouldn’t give Michigan much of a challenge but these upsets do happen. When they do happen, they at least tend to be winning teams in their respective leagues like Grand Valley State over Michigan State a couple years back.

It will be about the more subtle elements of the game tonight. Here are a few things to pay attention to:

  • What lineup combinations does Beilein roll out?
  • How often does Michigan go “big”? Will Sims play with Gibson? How much playing time does Cronin get?
  • Who are the fringe 9/10 guys in the rotation?
  • Laval Lucas-Perry is one guy that I will be watching. How comfortable does he look in the offense? Are his passes crisp and on time or is he overthinking things and making passes a second late?
  • Have Novak and Douglass diversified their games? A game against Wayne State should give them an opportunity to do more than just bomb away.
  • Who is positioned where in the 1-3-1 zone? Darius Morris is a guy that could play in multiple spots.
  • How do the freshmen look? More specifically, what specific skill sets will they contribute? Darius Morris can dribble but can he shoot? Matt Vogrich can shoot, but what else can he do?

Feel free to follow along in the comments if you are watching the game online. I’ll also post periodically throughout the game.

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