Work in Progress

This title seems familiar.

not the way Michigan fans expected to start the season. The hype was there, the confidence was back. Lets just hope its a slow start to the season, not an indication of how things will go this season.

In the two losses Michigan was a combined 9-for-45—20%— from behind the arc. That's putrid. Teams that are truly #15 in the country don't shoot 20%. With shooting the three being such a major component of our offensive approach, shooting that poorly will not only frequently mean losses to teams with comparable talent, but it will also mean losses to many teams of inferior talent.

For the last two seasons, Michigan has been at or near the bottom of the conference in shooting percentage. More often than not, that will mean you're really going to struggle to win.

Missed quite a few bunnies in this game as well. Team has to finish as the rim.

Game against Boston College is almost a must win. Nonconference is extremely important for the NCAA resume, it's what pushed us into the tournament last year.

The whole league had a subpar feast week.

Only Purdue and Northwestern won multiple games (not counting some of those prelim layup games that dont really matter due to auto advancement).

I didnt see too many league teams better than Michigan than last 10 days. Those BC and Utah games really loom large now, however.

But, 1-2 in this tourney wont hurt the RPI. Look at Okie State and Siena last year. They played in the last place game in this field last season and were strong at large contenders all season long despite no legit quality ooc wins. Cowboys got a bid. Saints didnt need one after winning the MAAC, but they're #9 seed suggests they had a shot at an at large.

Manny's hamstring injury has not impeded him from driving into the lane at will, something that many of us were concerned about after early injury reports.

Something worth being very thankful for this holiday weekend.

They are the worst. This one especially, they lose on Friday, and have to wait until Sunday to play a losers bracket game in front of 9 people. I feared this one and am not surprized they lost at all. Bullets of my own:

- DeShawn Sims. First, I am a big fan, he is multi-talented and a very likable player. But the fact is, he has to get "big." Not in the physically big sense, but in all other senses. DeShawn needs to fight for that rebound, dive on the ground for a tie up, muscle some people around, demand the ball when the other team is on a run. He plays very soft, and I know he is not a really rough and tough player, but he needs to be to a certain degree. M's interior defense has been, not poor, but non-existent thus far in the season.

- Morris is good, he is just very tentantive and understandably so. He is a very good penetrator but is still figuring out when and where to do it. He will mature as the season goes along and I believe will be a very good point guard by years end.

- I like Novac and believe he is a BIG contributor, but I think Gibson should start. I did not see all of the action last night, so I cannot comment on that game too much. However, he is big, physical, and can pull the defense out leading to penetrating lanes. More minutes for Mr. Gibson please.

Go Blue.

The largest issues are size and on-the-ball defense. Right now, we haven't really found a single guy who can stop penetration from outside - which, again, is where we miss CJ Lee, and even Merritt. Both of them were solid on-the-ball defenders, though Merritt was a little too small. Novak gets abused on the wing horrifically, and Douglass/Perry/Morris haven't stopped many people either. Further, once we let the other team into the lane, we really have no backside help, the only person capable of blocking shots only plays 10 minutes a game (Gibson). I think Morris will actually end up being a pretty good defender - he's tall, rangy, athletic, and seems to have the desire. Right now, however, he's clearly not won the faith of Beilein, as he's been getting pulled for Douglass down the stretch.

I would like to see more two forward sets. Zach Gibson has been a real bright spot so far and I think we could look really good with both he and DS in the game.

At guard I would like to see either LLP or Morris on the court all the time; Stu has shown himself a liability. I think we should rotate in Stu or Vogrich from time to time to bomb threes, but it's clear that LLP and DM can handle the ball and play defense far better than the others.

i think the one thing overlooked here in the losses is that these two losses came against very young coaches in their second season (buzz williams @ marquette) and first season (anthony grant @ bama) at each school. while i think a lot of the loss can be easily blamed elsewhere: poor defensive play, execution down the stretch, shooting, i can't help but think these two young coaches simply outcoached beilein and whatever schemes he could throw at them.

While I'm disappointed with the L's, we have a couple of simple areas for improvement (other than the obvious shoot-better issue).

First, as mentioned, introduce Anthony Wright to the bench. I remain baffled that he sees any time on the floor as the coaches have never been high on him. He is a chuck-and-miss-it machine.

Second, hammer that low post with DeShawn. When he gets the ball low, good things happen. Whether it's a low-post score or a dish for a triple, it seems that our momentum begins in the post when we need it.

I expect a big win on wednesday. This is a team that loves the home game, and it should be a fun one.

My biggest problem that I have from the weekend was our lack of defensive toughness. I like Deshawn Sims as a player and really think that he has major NBA potential but he is one of the softest big men I have seen. He needs to get tougher with the defensive rebounding.