MGoBlue Highlights / Locker Room video / Beilein audio / Manny Harris audio / Matt Vogrich audio / BTN Highlights

While the game was never close, there were plenty of notable storylines. The most obvious was Manny Harris’ triple double.  Harris notched 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in only 29 minutes. The triple double was only the second in Michigan history (although it’s important to remember that assists were not counted until 1974), the other belonging to Gary Grant in an NCAA tournament game.

Eye popping statistical performances have been common place throughout the first week of the season. Evan Turner notched a triple double and Rotnei Clarke’s hit 13 three pointers for 51 points. Still, a triple double is very hard to achieve and is an honor no matter the competition. I guess the next question is who records more triple doubles this year, Manny Harris or Evan Turner?

The second notable performance of the night was freshman Matt Vogrich putting on a shooting clinic; the lanky guard hit all five of his three point attempts en route to 15 points. There are still plenty of questions about Vogrich’s defense but he can definitely stroke it.

The quote of the night comes from Northern Michigan coach Dean Ellis:

“Their pace was more extreme than we could handle,” Ellis said. “We played Michigan State about four years ago, and even they didn’t attack us with that kind of speed. If they keep playing like that, and keep getting the ball into Manny’s hands, they are going to be very good.”

Taking too much from a game against a mediocre GLIAC team is obviously a mistake but Michigan dominated Northern in every facet of the game.

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Basics Who: Michigan (0-0) vs. Northern Michigan (0-0) Where: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MI When: Saturday, November 14th, 7 PM TV: BTN Radio: MGoBlue, WTKA-AM (1050) Opposition Blog: Inside NMU Athletics

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.

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.