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State of the Blog: March 19th, 2012

Friday’s bitter defeat marked the end of Michigan’s season which means it’s time for our semi-annual State of the Blog update and fundraiser. Full update after the jump but you can make a donation here or use the button to the right. 

Our fifth season covering Michigan basketball was our most successful yet. Despite the disappointing finish, this was Michigan’s best season in over a decade and saw the Wolverines win a share of their first Big Ten Championship since 1986. The season was great but the future might be even brighter with Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas set to step on campus this summer

The site has continued to grow in unison with Michigan’s improvement on the court. Traffic numbers are up and we posted nearly 50% more content this season than the year before. We not only covered every Michigan home game in person, we also took to the road with first hand coverage at Arkansas, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois and Penn State as well as tournament games in Indianapolis and Nashville.

Kevin Raftery served as our beat writer and diligently covered games and press conferences while writing Five Key Plays and various other features of the site. Somehow he also went to class during his free time. Dustin Johnston joined in to help us photograph games. David Merritt, Joe Eberhardt and Josh Houchin were all instrumental yet again with their knowledge, scouting and video work respectively.

Now it’s on to the offseason. We’ll look back on the season that was and ahead to the season that will be. We’ll also dive head first into recruiting as high school all star events and AAU season swing into full gear. We’ll be tracking Michigan’s 2012 and 2013 commitments while shifting the focus ahead to the class of 2014 and beyond.

Michigan was 4-8 in December of 2007 when I purchased the domain umhoops.com and would limp its way to a 10-22 record that season. The growth of both the program and the website has been a joy to watch over the last five years. At this point, we’re confident that our coverage of Michigan basketball is the best that you can find on the internet – at any price. We continue to offer our content for free and have no plans to change that as we love the community that has spawned here.

The growth of the site has been extraordinary but also comes at a cost. Running the site is certainly a labor of love, but costs and time begin to add up. The countless hours spent writing, editing and traveling are significant – especially for a “part time” venture. The bills for travel and everything else involved with the site add up just as quickly.

In short, it’s impossible to run this site without your financial support. So over the coming days, we’re formally reaching out to ask for your support. We’ve generally done this twice per year and the assistance that we’ve received has always been eye opening and appreciated. If you’re able to offer anything (no amount is too small), you can be confident that your contribution will go directly toward improving the site – every dollar helps us add new features, pay for road trips to cover games or recruits, and open more doors down the road.

If you’re able to donate, please click the Make a Donation button below or in the sidebar to the right:

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