BasicsWho: Michigan (0-0) vs. Northern Michigan (0-0) |
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And we’re off. Michigan welcomes Northern Michigan to Crisler Arena to tip off the 2009-2010 season. The Wildcats are a Division 2 team so while this game counts, it won’t affect Michigan’s RPI (Beilein makes a good point that typical patsies have a negative effect on RPI so this might be an advantage).
I want to thank Joe from Inside NMU Athletics who helped me preview the game by answering a few questions via e-mail. I answered a few questions for him as well which should be up sometime today. Inside NMU Athletics also has a full preview of the Wildcats’ upcoming season.
Northern is a lower tier GLIAC team that finished last in the GLIAC North with a 11-16 (6-16) record last year so they shouldn’t provide too much of a challenge.
There are some reasons to be optimistic about the Wildcats. First, they return the GLIAC freshman of the year, Raymont McElroy. McElroy, the point guard, averaged 13 points and 3 assists per game while shooting 42% from three point range. Second, they have a senior laden team. NMU starts three seniors and a junior alongside McElroy. Obviously experience isn’t worth all that much without talent but it helps nonetheless.
Marc Renelique, Jared Benson, and Raymont McElroy
Marc Renelique is the guy to watch from three point range. The senior transferred from Illinois-Chicago and has no fear to let three point attempts fly (STAT), last year he hit 5 out of 10 three pointers for 24 points versus Michigan State. Northern also has a surprising amount of size inside for a Division 2 team. Starting center Jared Benson is listed at 6-foot-10 and backups Mylan Murphy and Eric Hawley are both 6-foot-9.
| Pace | 66.8 | |
| Offense | Defense | |
| Eff. | 103.04 | 101.76 |
| eFG | 50.2% | 49.4% |
| TO% | 18.8% | 20.3% |
| Off Reb% | 28.5% | 30.1% |
| FTA/FGA | 31.4% | 45.0% |
The Wildcats’ tempo free profile is lackluster. They are solid yet unspectacular at shooting and getting to the line. The one strength of their offense seems to be their ability to take care of the ball, which makes sense considering they have a very experienced team.
Their defense doesn’t appear to do anything exceptionally well either. They are a strong defensive rebounding team but they give up far too many free throws. Defensively the Wildcats run a lot of 2-3 zone, which explains their lack of turnover creation but seems odd for the number of free throws they allow. Opponents shot 35% from three point range against NMU last year and that’s certainly a good sign for the Wolverines, who will take plenty of three point shots.
This one counts, so you will probably see the rotation tightened up a little bit for Michigan. It will be interesting to see how the minutes shake out in the backcourt. I am skeptical that Northern has anyone that can guard, or even contain, Manny Harris so he should be poised to have a big game. I’d also like to see DeShawn Sims get off to a hot start and put together a complete game.
Leave your predictions, thoughts, and in-game discussion below in the comments. Tickets are available so feel free to make your way to Crisler to get your mind off of a certain early afternoon football game.
lol @ Dylan’s not-so-subtle prediction for the Michigan-Wisconsin football game.
Thanks for the preview.
They run a bit of a Box and 1 zone as well. pretty interesting
One other note, Creighton plays Dayton tomorrow.
http://rushthecourt.net/2009/1.....-11-14-09/
That’ll be a good chance to get a read on the Bluejays before our Thanksgiving day battle. Rush The Court is covering that one so I’d check in there.
Last game it was Carlton Brundidge’s brother, this game it’s Carlie Benson’s.
Is Carlie a UM women’s hoops player?
Carly Benson was a women’s player for us who graduated last year. I wonder if her bro is a lefty too.
Any game updates?
Oops – thought game was today (comment withdrawn)
Can’t wait for this season to begin. I’ve been a UofM hoops fan since the 89 team. I used to go to Fab Five games with my dad when I was a kid. I followed UofM hoops through the Ellerbe years and used to drive down from Lansing (ignoring the MSU team during their heyday) in order to sit in an empty Crisler arena and watch UofM in those toughest of times.
Last year I expected a turn around, but they exceeded my expectations…I only figured they’d get an NIT bid. So..this is the first time in a LONG time where I am going into a season this excited and nervous about expectations. I can’t wait though.
It seems like only yesterday I was excited to see a freshman DeShawn Sims. I know he struggled through his freshman year and having to deal with off the court problems with his brother…but he has grown into a great player. I hope he goes out on a high note this year.
Manny Harris…well the kid is just amazing and fun to watch. I believe this will be his last year, so I am just going to relish it while I can.
Novak is just fun to watch because he does everything. The Freshman will be fun to watch how they start their careers…
This is just a FUN team. I can’t wait.
Reed Baker outscores Raymar Morgan and Delvin Roe combined by 9 points in a spirited effort, falling just short to Sparty.
game day
Anyone see Mississippi State get straight dominated by Rider at home 88-74?
Is Renardo Sidney not eligible yet or is there a bigger issue?
Sidney isn’t eligible yet. Still, MSU has some other good players and there’s no reason they should get pounded by Rider.
Creighton gave Dayton all they could handle. They will definitely be a very tough game for Michigan on Thanksgiving.
alright. time to begin my worst-football-team-ever* therapy. bring on the hoops season!
*Ok, it’s better than last year, but who doesn’t love hyperbole?
I’d love to see UM outrebound NM tonight. This team really needs to hit the boards hard and fight to box-out particularly when we go with the 3-guard set.
anyone know of any streams with game?
my cable provider doesn’t offer btn
After watching that debacle of a football game, I can’t wait til tip-off. No letdowns and some minutes for the young gunz would be a good thing tonight.
I can’t believe how fired up I am about a game against a D2 school! Crazy! Just about 2 hours left!
jk, try channelsurfing.net, they might have a BTN stream.
Here’s a little pre-game warmup for you guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wbwsz8ZyW8
anyone with link to stream?
Man, I’ll tell you what, Manny looks a lot more physically mature. He looks good.
Lots of 1-3-1 early. Nice to see Laval knock down a three and Darius looks good in transition thus far. Beilein talks about the guy at the top of the 1-3-1 being able to finish and we just saw why.
Bball is officially back!! Love the tempo and D-Mo at the top of the 1-3-1. Even Dylan’s favorite Zack Gibson looks like hes in alot better shape
Jim Jackson is right, we do look like we’re in awesome shape. Even Stu looked jacked when he checked in.
Err, Jimmy King.
wow… from the sound of things (listening to mgoblue audio), we’re looking exceptional. No?
Well Matt Vogrich can stroke it. Everyone Who has played besides Novak has scored I believe.
flexCam? ha. haha
I also love how Jimmy King isn’t even pretending to be objective. I hope he calls as many of our games as possible.
Vogrich is off to kind of a ridiculous start.
Chris-
D. Morris is playing steady and solid
M. Harris is doing everything like usual
M. Vogrich has barely hit the rim on 3-3 3pt shooting
Everyone else is chipping in. Defense is a little “over aggressive” but I will take that any day.
Matt Vogrich is Stu version 2.0. Put both of themon the floor and the defense has to start praying we aren’t hitting our shots.
look to be in good shape? sims seem focused?
Well that was a pretty flawless half. 51 points and everyone got into the action.
1st Half Field Goal %
Harris & Sims 5-13
rest of team 12-18
never would have thought that,
but glad to see
shows team doesn’t have to rely on top 2
darius looks like the real deal. everyone was right bout how much his size and athleticism up front on D would mean.
I don’t care for the matador reach around the back of the guy crap, but aside from that, I love what I see from him.
A lot of running for Michigan. It will be interesting to see if that keeps up as we make our way through the season.
how great are LLP’s passes..saweeeet!
18 assists on 25 FGs so far, that’s the stat I like best.
Manny 2 assists away from a triple double (16 pts, 11 rebs, 8 assist).
Triple double for Harris. Take that Evan Turner.
He was really really impressive.
I honestly thought Manny would never get a triple double, they are so difficult to attain and then he proves me wrong in the first game. Does anyone else think we better up the recruiting on Zeigler because it is bye-bye Corperryale
Can Vogrich shoot it or what?
Thank God for basketball. This should be fun.
Well Northern Michigan isn’t very good, but I love that the Wolverines destroyed them instead of an ugly 25 point win. That sure was fun to watch.
Hopefully they can follow with a strong performance Friday and then its off to Orlando. I am really looking forward to 3 games Thanksgiving weekend!
Man, Vogrich sucks! I saw him miss one three pointer in warmups. What a punk! This is Michigan…get it together.
Seriously though, what a pure stroke that kid has. Go Blue! Great start to the season. Everyone on the team looked much improved from last year.
I know it was just a glorified exhibition, but WOW!!!
Triple double with 8+ mins left in the game for Manny? I’m going to lose watching him compete with Turner and Lucas for Big Ten POY this year.
Vogrich, holy cow!!! Save some for UConn and Kansas, dude!
Sims was solid, Gibson was very solid, everybody contributed big time. I’ve already forgotten about football.
just got home. Fun game to watch. I love to see the team really trying to run and get easy baskets. Everyone looks a ton more comfortable with the ball in their hands. This team just looks more athletic than last years even though it is basically the same except for Morris and Vogrich.
The defensive intensity was there from the start. Good ball pressure and guys in passing lanes all over the place. Northern’s offense was pretty much pass it around until one guy goes one-on-one, but still good effort on D.
On the new guys . . . Morris is going to be a great asset. He is long and athletic, and he really looks to push the ball. His defense is solid as well. He probably will not score much, but he should alleviate some of the pressure on Manny in terms of play making. Vogrich has a perfect shot (sorry Manny), but he looked lost most of the times on D. He also got blown by once and called for a foul another time in one-on-one situations. I think his playing time will depend a lot on whether or not he improves on D. Cronin is not ready to be a real contributer. His body and his hands are just not there yet. I dont see Akunne getting into the rotation either.
I think the rotation ends up being a 7-man rotation with Vogrich and Wright getting minutes here and there. Its nice to have some depth, but truthfully there are not a ton of minutes to go around. Manny is going to play close to 40 against good teams. Sims and Novak are going to play 30-35. Morris, LLP, Douglass and Gibson take most the rest of the minutes.
Take Matt out of the stats and we were 4-20 from Three….need to about double that…
I totally agree with your rotation Tweeter. I thought Cronin would get some time but he definitely looked shaky tonight.
Vogrich looked great shooting it, but a little slow on D. I’ll hold off on making an assessment until a BigTen defender is up in his jock with a hand in his face.
Cronin looked awful. I see Eso contributing more over the course of his career than Cronin.
Morris is a stud but I think will struggle with turnovers when things start to heat up.
I was unimpressed with Vogrich’s D after the scrimmage, as I still am after this game… but WOW can this kid stroke it. I’ve never seen such a flawless performance like that outside the arc. If he’s able to shape up his D, like Stu was able to mid-year last year, he should be a very fine contributor rather than a defensive liability.
How about DMo on that fast break layup early on?! Kid’s got some moves. Having him, Manny and LLP (our best ballhandlers) on the floor at the same time really gives you a variety of ways to attack. It should be really exciting to watch as the season goes on. I love that starting 5 of DMo, LLP, Manny, Vogrich and Peedi, btw.
I’d agree with the earlier comments that there is a pretty stark contrast between the physical condition of Stu, Vogrich, LLP and Gibson from last year; lighter, faster, more agile. This team is in peak physical condition.
Lastly, big ups to Manny for making history. His mid-range game and his defense have noticeably improved from last year. If I were an NBA team I’d want this kid, for sure.
Hey guys, should have the post-game up soon. Waiting on Statsheet to put up the full tempo free box score and graphics.
Just got back from the bar watching the NMU game. Absolutely lights out performance. Yeah, yeah, competition and all that, but this was the best possible outcome for this game. Manny goes off, the team gets on track, Morris and Vogrich play great, and Jimmy King hangs out in the crowd. Sounds like a good first step to me.
GregGoBlue…you mean Novak, not Vogrich in the starting 5
Yes that’s what I meant, thanks Nick.