I am sure this has beene noted somewhere… But Courtney Sims is on Charleroi. That is kind of cool for him I am sure.

Oh wow, Sorry, just saw that you also wrote that in your write up..

Tim rocking the bright yellow watch.

Beware the time zone change. I took a trip to UK once and could barely get out of bed before noon.

Man, they have to play a game in 14 hours, they don’t look ready. That’s a rough schedule + sightseeing…

Im ready for a first day report.

I look forward to more of Stu’s insights, he’s a funny dude.

they’re prob starting their game about now.

Very good article on Hardaway. Legit 6-5 with 6-10 wing span is very nice with his skill set.

http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-basketball/while-creating-his-own-game-michigan-freshman-guard-tim-hardaway-jr-has-shades-of-his-father/

I was holding out a sliver of hope for a live feed to somehow pop up somewhere… oh well, box scores, twitter updates, and MGoBlue stories will have to do.

Game was pushed back to 11… Graham Brown is in the building.

Here’s a pic of the arena from Andy Beilein:

From the Michigan basketball official twitter: Starting for the Wolverines: Morris, Douglass, Vogrich, Novak, McLimans

More tweets from Andy Beilein:
http://twitter.com/andrewbeilein

Smotrycz hits his first jumper after a gorgeous headfake.
less than a minute ago via web
Tim H. JR and Evan subbed in.
3 minutes ago via web
5-second call on a Gent inbound. Hope our D stays that good. Vogrich from 19. Hes 1-1
5 minutes ago via web
Interesting: Playing music for Gent when they have possession. BBL and Euro leagues use music like the NBA.
8 minutes ago via web
Starting the game with an easy inside look, Blake to Novak. 2-nil

21-13 after the first quarter, Michigan leads. Hardaway Jr. hit two threes, Douglass another as time expired.

Gent making a run, they lead 24-23.

35-31 Gent at the half.

Not too shabby. From what I saw this team has the weakest roster of D1 players. Only 3 Americans. Where the other 3 teams can all put out a full line up of guys who averaged 10-20 points in college.

It’s unclear which American players are there… Courtney Sims, for example, won’t be playing.

I love the internet. I also love that we’re getting updates for who is playing what position.

Sounds like THJR is tearing it up out there, and Novak is playing with heart.

Thats cool. I was kind of worried that we may get stomped in a few of these games. Negative Nancy that I am.

It’s also worth noting that it sounds like we are playing a lot of people. Everyone but Person and Christian (injured) played.

More from the Mich bball twitter:

Foul trouble hurting the Wolverines. Gent is 18-20 on free throws

Halftime leaders: Novak and Hardaway, Jr. with 7 pts, Evan Smotrycz with 6.

3-14 from three in the first half. Yikes. Sounds familiar. M up 45-42 now.

Sounds like Hardaway just hit a big three, Michigan up 6

Michigan bball twitter (http://twitter.com/michigan_mbball) : 4th Quarter began with a Novak three, and the Wolverines lead 56-48 with 7:49 to go.

More frm the twitter: After a McLimans and-1, Michigan has a 61-53 lead.

andrewbeilein: Two straight missed backdoor opportunities. Novak and Morris. Though contested. More Gent free-throws coming, Michigan up 2.

Michigan loses… 69-63. Hopefully I can find a box score so I can post some thoughts.

not bad, love reading about Smotz and hardaway and Mclimans doing well. Thanks for the updates Dylan

Sounds like almost nothing from Stu and Darius, points-wise it seemed like all Hardaway, Smotrycz, Novak, and McLimans.

A valiant effort. Considering all the thing working against us.

Morris especially is working on running a team and getting his teamates involved. IN the practise highlights Stu was doing the same so my guess is thats why they did score as much.

Thanks for the updates. Nice to hear about the freshmen contributing, especially Hardaway Jr.

great updates, thank you.

We’re working to try to dig up a box score so we can churn out some tempo free stuff (hopefully)… But apparently stats weren’t kept officially at the game, we’ll see what we can find.

First stats from Andy Beilein: Novak had 17, McLimans 11, Smotrycz had 7. 6-27 from three 23/60 FG, Stu and DMo with 7 assists combined. 7 OF Reb., 13 TO’s

Nice, Mclimans will be needed this year so hopefully he can suprise a few people.

Hardaway had to have atleast 12..

17-33 from 2 point range is how I’ll take it.

Some of those numbers appear a bit off. We should have full stats up soon.

A decent 2pt percentage is a good sign. But did Ghent really go on a 16-2 run in the last 7 mins of the game?

Glad the team was competitive, a shame they lost but hopefully “Our” guys learn from this. Disappointed Stu didn’t score more points– I thought his production this year would greatly improve.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the W/L record over there. Beilein is obviously playing all the guys (as opposed to just giving a few heavy minutes). He’s probably just trying to get a feel for what line-ups work well together.

It’s like pre-season football. The Colts have won one game in the past three or four years. Obviously, those performances haven’t been reflective of their regular season capabilities.

From what I’ve seen in practice, though, I wish this will be the line-up come regular season:
1 – Darius
2 – Stu
3 – Hardaway
4 – Smot
5 – McLimans

I guess I just think that Smot has way more upside in the long-term than Novak. Why not just throw him into the fire? It’s not like we’re going to be in the Tourney. This year will likely be a wash, so why not prep for the future?

Stu and Darius really struggled shooting… Should have more soon including a full box. Stay tuned.

Seems like a once and a lifetime trip. Regardless, of the wins and losses I’m really happy for our boys. Ypsit you really want to move our best player and leader out of the starting lineup in Novak?

Mitchigan…Novak is no doubt the leader, but he is not the best player on the team. I don’t think that’s even debatable.

I’m a big Novak fan, but I just think we really need to focus on the future more. He can be a leader as a good 6th man.

I don’t think there’s any way that Novak doesn’t start this year.

You’re right, Dylan. I’m just saying that he’s too much of a tweener. He can obviously contribute to a certain extent, but I just see some of his minutes as being more valuable if used elsewhere.

There are guys that could develop but when he can play the 2-3-4… That’s basically three guys that would have to push him out of the starting lineup.

Dylan, great coverage. A few thoughts

Good: Freshmen (including McLimans) played well.
Bad: Can’t hold the lead.
Ugly: 6-27 = 22.2% 3-pt shooting.

The fact that we contended in the game without scoring from Douglass and Morris is both encouraging and frightening. It shows the freshmen (mainly McLimans, Smotrycz, and Hardaway) can hold down the fort but it also highlights the weak level of returning talent.

Novak had 17

Awesome stuff, keep it coming please

Should have a full post up in the next hour or so.

As others have opined above, given preseason line-up experimentation, a short shot clock, jet lag, etc., I’m not at all concerned about wins and losses on this trip. But the 3-point % reported is mighty scary. Going on the admittedly very small sample of the results in this game and the bits of practice footage available, it doesn’t look like long-range shooting accuracy has made the much needed jump from last year. If this team doesn’t shoot better than 30% from 3 this year, I have a very hard time picturing them approaching .500 in the wins column.

The shooting must improve. I do wonder if there is some issues getting use to the ball. The international ball is lighter than American balls so it could throw off some shooters.

I want to see all of that stats but 11 points by Blake is good. I wonder who he went up against (Daniel Emerson, Monwell Randle) and how he got the points. It is always encouraging since he is going up against older, more physically developed players. Also low post scoring is harder because the lane is larger.

Novak had 17 Tim had 11 Mclimans had 11 Smot had 8 and Vogrich had 6-8 did anyone else score at all? We may have trouble with balance

I think we’re going to be fine from a balanced scoring perspective. I don’t think Novak can keep up those point totals and Darius and Stu will almost certainly look to score more.

Want I really want to see for the future of this team is Hardaway and Smote averaging double figures per game. I think both of them can get there. It would be outstanding if Blake were to get up there as well although I’m a little hesitant to project him to score that much.

Darius and Stu looked to score, they just weren’t falling today. 3 of 21 shooting combined today…

3-21 that’s so 2010, we need a new trend

ypsituckyboy I agree with your other points – just not the one about Novak. Nonetheless, I”m glad your a regular at Umhoops. Keep up the comments.