Michigan Basketball to Do Better Then Expected?

Live and die by the 3....Im hoping for .500 in big ten play.

The entire team will be back next year and will have added help with Carlton B and Trey Burke.

Go Blue

"but they could get some wins..."

sure hope so

Let's just wait and see until confernce play starts before we get all high you guys...

I'm hoping we can get postseason play and build on that for years to come.

we'll see. they havn't really proven how good they can be; however, they have proved how bad it can get when we go cold(see UTEP).  not so sure i would be booking a flight for the tourny just yet. If we shoot well, we win. If we dont, we lose.

First off we'll surprise them by playing really well and beating some teams that maybe we shouldn't, then just when they're expecting us to play really well, we'll surprise them again with mediocrity... should be a fun year

And still think the team can do good?



But let's wait till we have some Big Ten games under our belt. The Conference is stacked right now. Wins are going to be tough to come by, even if we are playing well.

My guess is something like 6-10 in conference.  We beat the several teams we are supposed to and maybe get a surprise victory or 2 but our young players will probably start to break down towards the end of the year.  

The great part about the team is that there are several players that can carry us to a win, mostly Darius, Stu, THJR, and JMO

They'll win some games they should lose and lose some games they should win. I think that is the best way to put it. You should be optimistic about the future, this team is only going to get better. In my opinion, once the practice facility is complete, and Crisler gets a face lift (inside and out), and Nike is back - the team will start pulling in some big time recruits. I don't think Beilein is the guy long-term, although I hope he proves me wrong. I do think that he can build us into a consistent winner that would really set us up to bring in a really good coach somewhere down the road. Not a sleaze ball coach (Calipari) or a legendary coach who's just bored (Tubby), but a young, proven coach that will stay a long time and win big.

overachieve a little and get close to our overall record from a year ago. all things considering, that's a good year.

the way i look at it this team can compete in any game if:

1) Daruis plays well

2) We get contributions (pts), from 1 of either Stew or Zach

and

3) 1 of either Hardaway or Smotz.

Obviously the game comes down to many factors, but this is merely to be competitive in our conference games. I figure we pretty much know what we can expect from Morgan and Blake as well. You cannot forget that Hightower will be coming in with a lot of momentum to the big10, ready to make calls and alter games, so we should prepare for that as well.

Kenpom had our record predicted before the season started as 12-18 overall and 4-14 in conference play.  As of Dec 5, we are now projected to be 15-16 overall (lose a Big Ten conference tourney game, I guess) and 6-12 in Big Ten regular season.

So, we already have increased expectations after our play to date......

They are better than expected but my expectations were ultra low.  Beilein's recruiting has been subpar overall but he seems to finally have all the basic pieces in place - decent depth and height in the post as well as a couple talented athletic backcourt players.  His teams were hamstrung by a ridiculous lack of post players in previous years, forcing him to play a guard at the 4 spot.  So far it looks like all the players have potential.  If Beilein can coach them up and they develop chemistry, the sum may be better than the parts.  I'm still skeptical that they can overcome their talent disadvantage and hang with the best in the Big Ten but now I see that it's a possibility - they only lost by 3 to a Syracuse team that soundly beat an extremely talented MSU team.

They will be interesting and fun to watch.

Think the team still needs a little bulk up front, but pleased with the pieces in place for the future. It's damn frustrating to watch at times, but others it's pretty nice to see. 

...depending on what you expect.  I expect they will be fighting for an NIT bid by the end of the Big Ten season.

A victory over Utah this Friday would sure be a nice step towards that.

Already better than expected in my book. This season looks like it's going to be an extra helping of gravy vs. expectations. Tourney or no, I'll take it.

over the last three years, in both overall FG% and 3-pt%, and right now we're next-to-last in the conference in both categories. Considering that we're not a great rebounding team, this is going to kill us in too many games this year as well.

I am really excited for the next couple years for UM Hoops.  While I agree with the general sentiment not to expect a whole lot out of this season, I think the pieces are coming together.  The general talent level and depth is improving and the players all seem to be a great fit.

 Beiliein is also one of those guys who I just really want to succeed.  He's a family man, head of the NCAA ethics committee, etc.  

I think the ceiling is an NIT bid, but the team seems to be playing with far more cohesion than last year.  The team will be killed by some bigger teams in the B10, but they also have the potential to blitz some squads like IU, Minny, etc. if the shooting has a nice night.  The defense should be decent because the effort will be there all year with the young players, and all they need are a couple of breaks to surprise teams.  A winning record (or something close) would be great.

This home stretch is huge in determining what their postseason looks like. If they win a good majority you might make a case for a NCAA bid and perhaps clinch an NIT bid. If they stink this part of their schedule up they could be in big trouble. I just have a feeling the conference schedule will be very tough for them with Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin being very strong. Then you have Purdue (no Hummel), Minnesota, and Indiana who are beatable but will be better than decent.

many people under valued this team (even with Ziegler as an assumed member).  Now I fear that many are over rating this team because of a good start.  From the beginning, I thought that this team could finish around .500 (or about the same as last year's team with Harris and Sims).  I like this team and where we are headed.  Morris and Morgan are already better than I thought that they would be this year.  However, we start 3 freshmen and since they are not the one and done kind of freshmen that Kentucky gets, that spells trouble.  It is a long season and it takes its toll on first year players.  Our youth will cost us at times.  Having said that, since most "experts" picked us to finish 10 or 11 in the Big Ten, yes, I think that we will exceed expectations.

We have the potential to be pretty damn good in 2011.