2014 italy tour

The objective. [Fuller]

The Big Ten unveiled the complete conference schedule for the 2014-15 basketball season, so we can now take a look at Michigan's season in full. It is as follows (almost all game times and broadcast information are TBA):

Michigan Basketball 2014-15 Schedule
11/10	vs Wayne State (ex)
11/15	vs Hillsdale
Progressive Legends Classic (Regional Round)
11/17	vs Bucknell
11/20	vs Detroit
Progressive Legends Classic (Brooklyn, NY)
11/24	Oregon	9pm/ESPN3
11/25	VCU/Villanova	TBD/ESPN2 or ESPN U
11/29	vs Nicholls State
ACC/B1G Challenge
12/2	vs Syracuse	7:30pm/ESPN
Regular Ol' Non-Conference Games
12/6	vs NJIT
12/9	vs Eastern Michigan
12/13	at Arizona
12/20	vs SMU
12/22	vs Coppin State
Big Ten Schedule
12/30	vs Illinois
1/3	at Purdue
1/6	at Penn State
1/10	vs Minnesota
1/13	at Ohio State	7pm/ESPN
1/17	vs Northwestern
1/20	at Rutgers
1/24	vs Wisconsin
1/27	vs Nebraska	7pm/ESPN
2/1	at Michigan State
2/5	vs Iowa
2/8	at Indiana
2/12	at Illinois
2/17	vs Michigan State	9pm/ESPN
2/22	vs Ohio State
2/28	at Maryland
3/3	at Northwestern
3/7	vs Rutgers
B1G Tournament (Chicago, IL)
3/11	Opening Round
3/12	First Round
3/13	Quarterfinals
3/14	Semifinals	CBS
3/15	Championship	CBS
Postseason TBD

Thanks to WolverineDevotee for putting this in table form.

Now that the Big Ten has expanded to 14 teams, single-plays are a lot more prevalent in conference play. Here's the breakdown of how many times Michigan plays each conference opponent and where:

Home-and-Home: Illinois, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers
Single-Play (M Home Game): Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin
Single-Play (M Road Game): Indiana, Maryland, Penn State, Purdue

The single-plays work out relatively well for the Wolverines; the tougher opponents have to come to Ann Arbor, while two of the three worst teams in the conference last year—Penn State and Purdue—comprise half of Michigan's single-play road games. All four teams Michigan will host in single-plays have very tough home environments, as well; even after last year's win, nobody's going to mind not having to go to the Kohl Center.

While Michigan must play two favorites for the conference title twice—MSU and OSU, and I don't think anyone is complaining about getting as many of those matchups as possible—they get very winnable home-and-homes against Northwestern and Rutgers. The Wolverines also get to ease into the conference slate; the January schedule, especially early, isn't too hard, then the difficulty really turns up early in February. For a young team, that's probably ideal.

[Hit THE JUMP for the new B1G Tournament bracket and one reader's in-person impressions from Michigan's third game of their tour of Italy.]

via MGoBlue

Michigan once again cruised to victory in their second game in Italy, defeating the Vicenza All-Stars 93-53 yesterday afternoon. Zak Irvin again led Michigan in scoring with 18 points, sinking 7/8 field goals, including 4/5 threes—he's now 9/10 on three-pointers over Michigan's two games on the tour.

Freshman center Ricky Doyle posted an impressive double-double with 15 points (6/8 FG) and 14 rebounds (5 offensive) in just 19 minutes. Fellow freshman Kameron Chatman added 17 points and six boards in 21 minutes. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored 13 points and got to the line regularly, shooting 7/11 from the charity stripe. Austin Hatch once again got on the court for the final few minutes, this time getting off a shot attempt, though it didn't quite go down.

Full box score (click to embiggen—turnover, steal, and block numbers weren't available):

We were lucky enough to have a reader who's in Italy and caught the game, and he emailed us his impressions of the team. A huge thanks to Kyle for sending this along; all opinions are his own, of course, as the Italy games aren't being streamed online.

1. Who will start at the 5?  Doyle. Mark Donnal started and Beilein pulled him 1:49 into the game to teach him something specific.  Doyle then came in and played a huge majority of the game. The most surprising thing about the whole game to me was Ricky Doyle. He was by far the most vocal on defense of everyone as a true freshman. His basketball IQ is obvious (calling out screens he could not see, making the correct pass). Crafty moves and very good at boxing out.

This is not even close as to who will start the season opener. Doyle seemed to play at an intelligence level far beyond his years. Donnal seemed a bit timid, got outrebound by a 45 year old 3rd round draft pick at your local YMCA, and definitely is not prepared for the rigors of being a big man in the Big 10 (mainly mentally, lacks confidence not talent). There were not even flashes of someone that was a top 150 recruit.  Donnal was extremely disappointing. There is not an argument as to who will start the season opener. It is Doyle.

2. Who will be draw Brian’s ire as the most likely to shoot a lot of long two-point shots early in the shot clock?  Kam Chatman guaranteed. I counted six, although one was at the end of a quarter…but still. He is smooth on offense, made a few sweet passes, and you will like him a lot. Offensively, he could might be more useful than Robinson III immediately.

3. Spike didn’t play very much and when he did was not awesome Spike. Derrick Walton almost seemed a bit disinterested against the talent level of Birracrua. Still, I have no qualms at point.

4. Who will replace Mitch McGary as Andrew Dakich’s dance partner? Austin Hatch. He was the most fired up in pre-game, was into it the whole time from the bench, and everyone (fans and players) loved him as he entered the game and led the post-game “Hail”. He is a definite asset to the program.

5. Holy Pants! Half the team wore blue leggings under their shorts. 

6. Who will redshirt? Not Aubrey Dawkins. He looked very athletic and is far ahead of MAAR at this point on offense and defense. Assuming D.J. Wilson gets healthy; MAAR should take a redshirt and be a solid contributor after that. He played and scored some points at the line late, but the stats do not reflect what I saw. Maybe nobody redshirts.

7. This opponent was not good, old, and not really a team (their offense was primitive and not indicative of a European squad that they could be with familiarity). The U-M offense was not smooth but didn’t have to be with most of the guards being able to simply take guys off the dribble. Knowing Beilein, it will work itself out, especially when he figures out how to best use Chatman and Irvin. Irvin didn’t miss much and even made two three pointers after stepping out of bounds when he looked like he was in due to the volleyball-like lines on the court.  He still did not finish strong or do any cool drive and dishes. “Not just a shooter”? We’ll see. I’m hopeful.

8. Biggest problem? Rebounding. This team looks to be even worse than any team he’s had at rebounding and they’ve never been overly good. I’m dreading Wisconsin and any other ‘big’ team. This team might not get a rebound against last year’s Texas team. This is a huge issue and is not going to go away. Score a lot of points and make three pointers, please.

9. Atmosphere. The overwhelmingly Italian crowd was polite and respectful. The kind of crowd you’d bring home to mom. They cheered at the rare crafty European moves that would baffle any American. The half time entertainment was a live (maybe the best) Italian rapper. The piped in music was mostly unedited American rap. If anyone gets a chance to travel abroad the next time Michigan travels…do it!

Thanks again to Kyle for passing along his impressions; he says he'll be at the last couple Italy games, too, so hopefully we'll have more of this as the team wraps up the tour.

[After THE JUMP, quotes from John Beilein and a few players courtesy of the athletic department.]