DeShawn “Peedi” Sims showed signs of improvement from his tragedy filled freshman year and handled to transition to a new coaching staff in stride. DeShawn had his good moments such as starting out the first half of the UCLA game hot and scoring 22 against Ohio State at home. But overall DeShawn just gave us a glimpse of his potential and never proved to be the player we needed him to be night in and night out. I think DeShawn is one of the most critical pieces to this teams success moving forward so it’s encouraging that Beilein has declared DeShawn his special project. More after the break…

The Numbers

MPG: 28.1
PPG: 12.3
RPG: 5.4
APG: .9
FG%: .395
3PFG%: .303
FT%: .692
eFG%: .452
TO/G: 1.9
SPG: 1.0
BPG: .8

The Good

DeShawn oozes with potential in Beilein’s system as a player who has an inside-out game at 6 foot 8 and seems to be a good fit for the four position of Beilein’s offense. Sometimes I think DeShawn himself doesn’t realize the kind of potential he has. Right now he is too much of a streak shooter but hopefully a little more time with the Beilein ball can help that as well.

Rebounding, I ripped DeShawn a lot earlier in the season about not giving it his all on the boards and not making the hustle plays. As the season progressed though I thought the light started to turn on a little bit and he really started stepping up. DeShawn averaged 5.4 rpg for the season but averaged 5.7 in conference compared to 4.3 in the pre-conference. Six of his seven games where he grabbed 8 or more boards were in the Big Ten season as well. This improvement on the glass is definitely encouraging and hopefully the trend continues into next season.

The Bad

Inconsistency was a huge issue for DeShawn. “Peedi” had 7 games where he scored 17 or more points but had 11 games where he scored 10 points or less. It was basically boom or bust for DeShawn last year. It’s hard on the team when their second best player could give you absolutely nothing on any given night. I think the inconsistency issue is almost entirely mental and will improve when DeShawn learns to bring it night in and night out.

DeShawn shot the three ball at only 30% clip while taking the most three pointers on the team. He is clearly comfortable shooting the ball and likes the shoot the three but he is taking a few too many if he is only going to shoot 30%. I think everyone can agree that it would be nice to see DeShawn get in the post a little more where he has a very quick spin move and first step. It also would be nice to see him take the ball to the rack against bigger and slower defenders. He shows the ability to score in the post or off the dribble at times but is just too quick to settle for a three point shot.

Finish the bunnies. Peedi has struggled with layups and finishing around the basket since he arrived in Ann Arbor. It has to be some combination of both mental confidence and bad hands but it is painful to see a great post move ruined by a blown lay up. By not finishing well he is just leaving points unscored that should be automatic.

Review

Overall I think Peedi has the chance to really breakthrough in John Beilein’s system next year. The signs are there but he just has to put everything together mentally and physically night in and night out. Performances like these just wont cut it next year:

• 1 pt (0-4), 1 reb, 5TO (Georgetown – L)
• 0pts (0-5) 0 reb (Eastern Washington – W)
• 2 pts (1-10) 7 reb, 3TO (Penn State – L)
• 4 pts (1-9) 5 reb, 3TO (Northwestern – L)

Michigan was 2-8 when DeShawn scored in single figures last year with the only wins coming over EWU (61-53) and Illinois (49-43). With the lack of offensive threats Michigan needs DeShawn to turn into a consistent scorer and step up next year. He is the biggest x-factor toward next year’s success. Adding another guard who is a threat with Laval Lucas-Perry hopefully will help open up DeShawn as well.

In the end though it is going to come down to DeShawn himself stepping up and putting it all together. This team really hinges on Peedi next year so hopefully he can flip the switch.

The Numbers

MPG: 24.4
PPG: 5.6
APG: 2.8
FG%:40.3
3PFG% 35.9:
eFG%: 51.3
RPG: 1.9
SPG: .6

The Good

Shooting. Kelvin showed the ability to hit the open three point jumpshot. That’s something that no one else really could do on the team. Only Udoh and Merritt shot a higher percentage and they only took 30 3 pointers combined compared to Kelvin’s 92.

Ball handling. Overall #44 did a great job of taking care of the basketball especially as a freshman. In an all-freshman back court on a losing team he ranked 6th in conference for assist to turnover ratio with a 2.1:1 ratio. Kelvin hit some rough patches (Purdue home game) but overall he did a very good job taking care of the ball.

He’s young. Kelvin is only a freshman who didn’t really play basketball exclusively until this summer. He has some wheels and seems motivated to get better. He was noticeably frustrated early in the year and eventually got benched for CJ Lee but also gained his spot back down the stretch. If words are worth anything he is motivated to improve:

“This whole season has been tough, but it’s a wonderful thing with us being so young. It just motivates us to go in the gym this summer and work hard every day, every second, busting out butts.”

The Bad

Defense. Kelvin is undersized, as everyone knew coming in, and he didn’t make up for it with his quickness on defense as I expected. I figured that Kelvin would be more of a bulldog as an on the ball defender due to his football background but he still has a ways to go in this area. Opposing guards got into the lane with ease at times against Grady this year. Grady is also a huge liability in the 1-3-1 when he gets stuck on the post man, this quite a bit this year before the 1-3-1 was shelved for the year.

Penetration and scoring. Grady needs to be more of a threat the score the basketball, and this is more than just taking (and hopefully hitting) wide open threes on the perimeter. Kelvin is not a threat to score the ball when he drives the lane so he becomes much less of an offensive weapon. Kelvin needs to develop a floater in the lane to keep defenses honest.

Fastbreak. This might be an extension of being a scoring threat but Michigan’s fast break this year was awful. I put a lot of the responsibility for this on the point guards (Grady, CJ, Merritt, and Manny too). I would expect the number of fast breaks that Michigan didn’t convert to be one of the highest counts in the Big Ten. Grady is responsible for orchestrating the break and he needs to be a threat to score on the break. How many times did Grady take the ball all the way to the hole? He’s the anti-Manny (who rarely passes) on the fast break. The whole team also has to do a much better job of keeping their spacing on the break as well.

Review

The Kelvin Grady debate raged on this year and it seems like people either love him or hate him. Is Kelvin good enough to be the starting point guard on a contender in the Big Ten? Not right now. Is he good enough to be a solid cog in an offense with a couple pieces around him? Probably. The problem right now is that Michigan doesn’t have scoring pieces around him. When you don’t have anyone to defer to you have to make plays yourself. Even when I saw Kelvin play in high school he seemed to defer to DeMarcus Grady and Justin Anyijong and be more of a game manager than someone who was in control of the game.

Where does Kelvin fit in for next year? The question here is where Manny and Laval Lucas-Perry end up. In an optimal world I think Lucas-Perry starts at the point guard once he is eligible. Grady would back up LLP while LLP slid to the two or sat.

He needs to keep working on learning to score in the lane. He has the quickness to get in there but those over the head passes have to stop as well. If Kelvin can develop a mid range game he could be a very good player, otherwise I think he is stuck as being a perfect backup PG to manage the game.

When you look at some of the starting point guards who excel in the Big Ten you realize Kelvin has a ways to go before he is anything like a Butler, Lucas, Hughes, Basset, or Moore type of player that Michigan needs out of their lead guard.

Grade: C+

The Good
Ant had some big games when he really showed off his shooting ability this year. His best two games of the year were probably at Illinois (5/8 3pfg for 15 points) and vs. PSU (3/5 3pfg for 13 points). Ant certainly wasn’t scared to shoot and looked very comfortable working to get open shots, whether it be popping out or coming off picks. I would say that Anthony definetely improved as the season went on and that he looked far more comfortable on the court. Ant’s steady increase in minutes as the season went on shows that Beilein also saw some improvement in Ant’s game. Ant also made strides on the glass. Some early games he had me pulling my hair out with poor box-outs and lazy effort but by the end of the year he really hit the glass hard.

The Bad
He took a lot of shots and shot a low percentage. While Ant has the prettiest three point stroke on the team the numbers are a bit staggering. Wright attempted 123 three point shots and only made 35 (28.5%) and had the third lowest three point shooting percentage on the team. Another negative is 14/29 (48%) free throw shooting for the year which ranks 2nd to last on the team.

Defense. Defense. Defense. The bottleneck in Ant’s game right now is quickness and defense. While he works hard he is just so physically limited on the defensive side of the ball he doesn’t have the quickness to guard the wing in the Big Ten.

The Future
Ant Wright’s future in the Michigan system clearly revolves around his ability to shoot the three ball which is a major plus for John Beilein. However I think the real question with Anthony is where is his true spot on the floor. At 6-6 235 he is traditionally too short to be a 4 and too big to be a 3. However I think that you are what you can guard and because he is too slow to guard Big Ten wings on the perimeter that he is a better fit at the 4. Especially in Beilein’s system which requires mostly outside play from the power forward.

Next year I still see Anthony playing backup to both the three and four spots. There is no one else behind DeShawn at the PF to push him and if Ant can keep improving on the glass he can be a weapon off the bench at the 4. I think the long term goal for Anthony is to be a Roger Powell type, a skilled tough undersized 4 who had a great Big Ten career.

Three point numbers should improve next year when Ant is not relied on as much in the offense to take shots one would hope. His stroke looks nice so you would think it will start falling if he is not worried about forcing it. I think the additions Laval Lucas-Perry, Novak and Douglass will pry into his minutes some by forcing Manny to become the starting 3. However there is definetely a role for Anthony in this offense if he can hit his threes off the bench.

Going into the 2007-2008 season, there was a sense of rebirth in the Michigan Basketball program.  Tommy Amaker had done an admirable job of putting some respectability back into the Michigan Basketball program after the Ed Martin scandal and the failure of his predecessor Brian Ellerbe.  Unfortunately, restoring a clean image was the best Amaker could do in his 6 year run at Michigan.  Amaker seemed to always be on the fringe of getting the program back to national relevance, but whether it was injuries, poor performance on the floor at the worst possible times, or some tough luck in recruiting, Amaker just could not get the program over the hump.

John Beilein was hired in April of 2007 and he came to the Michigan program with a reputation as a rebuilder of ailing programs.  His track record at Canisius, Richmond and West Virginia suggested that given time, Beilein could get Michigan back to national relevance.  In his early days after his hire, Beilein made it clear that he was no miracle worker and getting Michigan back to the NCAA’s would be a process.  Beilein also said in no uncertain terms that he came to Michigan because he thought he could recruit the kind of talent that could bring UM back to an elite level.

The situation Beilein inherited at UM in terms of talent, facilities and fan support was far from ideal. In terms of roster composition, there were certainly some talented pieces, but it was not a match made in heaven.  The upshot for Beilein was he came into a situation where he would be coaching the highest ranked recruits of his career. The bad news was, the talent on the roster was extremely inexperienced and the rest of the roster was comprised of mismatched pieces that didn’t blend well together, regardless of the style of play Beilein choose to implement.

Beilein’s most experienced player was Ron Coleman who averaged a little less than 6ppg the 2006-07 season.  His second most experienced player was Jerrett Smith who had similar numbers to Coleman.  Epke Udoh played solid minutes for most of the 2006-07 season and Deshawn Sims after dealing with a personal tragedy early in the his freshman year, started to show why he was such a coveted recruit putting up decent numbers for UM the last few games of last year.  Beyond that, Beilein was putting a lot on the shoulders of incoming freshman Manny Harris, Kelvin Grady and an assortment of other guys who had yet to contribute at UM either because they were transfers sitting out or coming off a redshirt year.

Needless to say, Beilein had some challenges ahead of him.  He not only had to deal with inexperienced talent, he had no returner who could be considered a true floor leader.  The returners in the UM program had some abilities, but it certainly didn’t mesh very well with what Coach Beilein wanted to do in terms of offensive and defensive scheme.

Beilein had a tough choice going into the season.  He could implement his systemwith a bunch of guys not recruited to play that style, or he could try and figure out a different style, one that would mesh better with the skills the team he inherited possessed.  Right or wrong, Beilein felt is was prudent to implement his system. 

After game 2, the early returns were positive.  Although UM had mopped up on a couple of cream puffs, it looked as if the players took really well to the new style and they seemed very comfortable and confident in what they were doing.  Beilein cautioned that there was still a lot more room for growth and that was clearly evident when they headed to Georgetown in their 3^rd game of the year.  Georgetown really took it Michigan and in many ways, this was the start of what would be a very long 3 months.

After the Georgetown game, UM would really struggle.  The trip to Alaska while a great experience for the kids, was extremely tough and probably did very little to help the confidence of the team.  Losses to Butler and Western Kentucky were tough to take, especially considering both teams are classified as mid majors.  Now, anyone who knows anything about college basketball understands losing to both of those teams is nothing to be ashamed about, but for a team looking to build confidence and a fan base looking to get behind the team, it was a tough to take.

The month of December was a month to forget as UM played its share of big boys (Duke, UCLA) and despite hanging in with UCLA for about 33 minutes, UCLA was just too much for UM to handle.  UM did have a few winnable games scheduled during the month of December but unfortunately, a couple of those games didn’t turn out well for Michigan.  The Harvard and Central Michigan losses were especially disappointing.  Those performances did little to enhance the faith UM fans had in the program(and even Beilein to a certain degree) and it was clear the team was really struggling from a number of perspectives.

The non-conference schedule did not go as most fans expected. UM went into Big Ten Conference play with a 4-8 record.  Clearly, there wasn’t a lot of reason to expect much out of UM going into Big Ten play and other than an early road win vs. Northwestern, UM really struggled early in conference play. February proved to be a much better month, UM was able to secure some nice wins including a win on the road vs. Iowa and home wins vs. PSU, OSU and Illinois.  But, just when everything seemed to be on the upswing, UM had a couple of disappointing losses to NW at home and PSU on the road.

The Wolverines finished the season at the Big Ten Tournament with aconvincing (but ugly) win vs. Iowa and then got completely stoned vs. Wisconsin only managing 34 points.  Michigan finished the season 10-22 overall, 5-13 in the Big Ten.

The question then becomes, what does this year tell us about this team going forward.  If you want to look at the positives, once the roster settled the team seemed to begin to form a bit of an identity.  While still deficient in many areas, UM was feisty and was competitive in almost every BT game (especially road games).  While just being competitive is not enough, it is a start.  Add to that, while they did finish February on a little bit of down note, they did manage a 3 game Big Ten Conference winning streak and from February on, they were 5-6.  Again, these numbers aren’t exactly dominating, but it is clear improvements were made.

Looking at it from the other side, UM had some atrocious losses to teams they were clearly more talented than.  Harvard, CMU and Northwestern stick out like sore thumbs and those are performances that will eat at the UM for the foreseeable future.  Also, UM really struggled in the areas of shooting the 3 and defending the 3, which has many concerned going forward.  Finally, those who voice concerns point to a 2008 recruiting class that isn’t well thought of by the recruiting services and given the struggles last year, optimism is something in short supply.

Fans should take solace in the fact that Beilein is known to bounce back after tough first years in a newprogram and considering all the quality talent returns to this roster, there is some reason for hope.  Additionally, even though the gurus aren’t fawning over the ’08 UM recruiting class, Beilein is adding in pieces that will fill specific holes that should go along way in complimenting the talent on the current roster.

There are still questions abound going into next year.  Beilein still has his work cut out for him, but the combination of a “better” schedule and an infusion of players that can help balance this roster, there is reason to believe UM fans can expect marked improvement for the 2008-09 campaign. That certainly doesn’t mean improvement is guaranteed, but Beilein’s track record indicates UM fans have seen to the bottom of the barrel and things will only get better from here.

Post Game Press Conference (Ron, Peedi and Beilein at the end):

The player of the game for me is DeShawn Sims. Peedi shot 5 out of 10 (2-5 3pt) for 14 points and 10 rebounds. He took a reasonable number of threes put also got some points inside and in transition. Not to mention a career high 10 rebounds for the double double. Manny of course had an outstanding game (although he is still learning shot selection) pouring in 19 points and 3 assists. Only 12 turnovers as well, one of which was letting the shot clock run out in the last minute.

DeShawn Sims in the interview room after the game is a definetely a little painful. He mentions coaches preparing the team well as well as playing tenacious defense. Not quite sure why Ronnie is in the interview room, maybe it was his 3 rebounds. Beilein steps in on the question of the drought, says that the team watches the margin (“the diff“) and not worried about how long they haven’t scored.

One note: Iowa’s Jake Kelly (Douglass’ former teammate) had 11 points and if Stu has that kinda game he can definetely contribute next year.

Onto Wisconsin tomorrow. Michigan played them tough even while getting out shot (44%-37%), only shooting 4 FTs, and only having 7 assists and Sims only shooting 4-19. However Manny had one of his best games of the year posting 26 points (11-19 shooting) and 6 rebounds.

To stay in the game with Wisconsin we can’t have those kind of droughts and we need to play defense the way we did today. The way we played in the first half, shooting around 45% I think we can at least stay in games. When we got 20 minutes shooting 27% thats when we are in trouble because good teams like Wisconsin will punish you for that.

UMHoops Prediction: Wisconsin 72 – Michigan 64. I think the season ends tomorrow but it was definetely good to at least get a win.

Note: Novak answers after we lose. I’m saving it for you guys. I’m going to miss the game tomorrow but leave some in game comments. Go blue and pull the upset!

Cyrus Tate is averaging 14 points and 7 boards his last 5 games and has came into his own the last half of the season. Freeman killed Michigan at Crisler but was pretty much a non-factor in the second game against Grady. Grady had one of his better games of the year at Iowa with 7 points and 9 assists.

For Michigan it’s the same story: Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims. If only one of them has a good offensive game it has proven very hard for Michigan to win. The backcourt needs to take care of the ball, this wasn’t a huge problem all year (Manny struggled but overall numbers were down) but against Purdue the ball handling was atrocious. It has been a long season and I really don’t have a clue what this teams mind set is right now. They sound somewhat conceded but also make statements that they “want to win it for Beilein”. Hard to get a good read.

Tommy Amaker teams you always had a pretty good idea that they would lay an egg in the Big Ten Tournament. Beilein on the other hand is clearly known as a tournament coach including a run to the Big East final in 2005. Not to mention that the Mountaineers played in the 8/9 game that year. This team clearly doesn’t have the firepower to make that kind of run but it would be good to see them at least get this win over Iowa. A win over Iowa and a solid effort against Wisconsin could do a lot for momentum into next year. It would certainly leave a much better taste than losing 5 of the last 6 to mostly bottom tier Big Ten teams.

Unfortunately I just don’t see Michigan pulling this one out. I think this team is beat up physically and mentally doesn’t have it in the tank to beat Iowa. Hopefully the prove me wrong and play some inspired ball. UMHoops Prediction: Michigan 60 – Iowa 65.

A couple quick notes. For anyone trying to keep up with the game that is at work or doesn’t get Big Ten Network, I’ll be watching and myself and others could post updates/comments during the game to help you folks out. Secondly, Novak’s answers to everyones most peoples questions should go up tomorrow night so be sure to check back.

Ekpe Udoh made the all-defensive team but I think he could make a case for defensive player of the year. Ekpe averaged 2.9 blocks per game and .8 steals but again I can see giving the nod to Kramer for playing on the far better defensive team overall.

Other Michigan players honored were DeShawn Sims getting honorable mention notice from the coaches and Ron Coleman with the sportsmanship award. Congrats to all the Michigan players honored, you can check out the full teams here.

Some notable numbers:

• Ekpe had 13 points and 9 boards but he only had 1 rebound in the second half. 13 points, 9 boards, 3 blocks and 6 assists is a damn good night for Mr. Udoh.
• Manny had 7 turnovers and no assists. Grady had 5 turnovers and 5 assists. Ekpe Udoh had 6 assists and 1 turnover.
• Purdue shot a miserable 26% in the first half but heated up in the second shooting 58%.
• Purdue was 8-18 shooting the long ball while Michigan was 7 of 26. Yikes
• Michigan outrebounded Purdue 41-33 which is hard to believe from watching the game.

DeShawn Sims finally brought his a-game with 19 points and 6 boards. He needs to bring it every night next year for this team to have a chance at being good. Although he still plays lazy at times it was good to see him take it to the hole a couple times. Mental lapses and lazy defense (did anyone see him just hug a Purdue player instead of fighting through a pick?) still plague Peedi but he always does enough to remind you how talented he is. Manny struggled and had one of his worst games of the year. He never really could get into it after the early foul trouble but 7 turnovers in 25 minutes is scary. Kelvin Grady is really killing this team by not being a scoring threat on the court. A bunch of times he would penetrate and make ridiculous passes to a Boilermaker, no one, or the sidelines. Laval Lucas-Perry will be a huge boost for this backcourt next year.

It is peculiar that this is the first time turnovers have been a big problem for this team. We all remember the talk about the basketball fundamental drills at the start of the year. Well they were clearly absent to tonight. The number of sloppy turnovers (24) was just startling. The stretch that lost the game was a series of sloppy turnovers and big time three point shooting.

Tough loss but we have gotten used to them this year. Michigan plays Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament 8-9 game on Thursday.

The first game against Purdue was actually closer than expected as Michigan stayed in the game through most of the second half (boxscore). Grant went wild shooting threes in the first contest and that was the game changer. Michigan got 25 from Manny and 15 from DeShawn and not much else from anyone. I like to think that our role players have improved a bit so maybe we can get more from the bench and other starters.

It’s senior night for Ron Coleman. By this point Ronnie is what he is and he seems like a good kid who just didn’t have enough skill to make an impact on this level. The painful part was finding that out year after year. Hopefully Ronnie can go out and have a big game to cap off his career at Crisler.

As mentioned, Justin Watts will be in the house. It would be great to show him a good game and have a good crowd. Tickets are still available at the box office and students get in free.

Purdue is a very tough matchup for Michigan (or any team) which makes it confusing that Michigan played so close with them the first time. I guess anytime Manny scores 25 we will at least be in the game. Purdue runs a lot of versatile guys at you that can all shoot it and creates a matchup nightmare. I think Michigan holds close in this one for a while but Purdue is just too talented and skilled across the board to lose to this Michigan team.

UMHoops Prediction: Purdue 69 – Michigan 62