BaltimoreWolverines

August 3rd, 2009 at 4:15 PM ^

Oh lawd! That's a high expectation. Can't say I'm not thrilled to see it, but I feel like that is putting a lot of pressure on this team to succeed. I'm extremely excited for the winter though. Go Blue!

Joined: 07/05/2009

MGoPoints: 66

Indiana Wolverine

August 3rd, 2009 at 4:22 PM ^

The freshman have really improved. The Californian Darius Morris is one heck of a player from all accounts and the big guys are starting to gain confidence. The weak front court of last year has been restocked with shooters and a lot of the guys have gained some muscle. One surprise is the growth of Stu Douglass. The scrawny kid is now a beefy dead-eye shooter, go figure.

Joined: 07/30/2009

MGoPoints: 452

OSUckSteverMSUcks

August 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 PM ^

But Vitale is basically a raging, senile, lunatic version of Corso, he just hasn't had as many strokes yet.

Joined: 04/27/2009

MGoPoints: 51

Wes Mantooth

August 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 PM ^

I just love seeing M hoops finally getting some respect. I made it through 5 years in AA without even the slimmest hope of an NCAA tournament berth, so this is an awesome change. Beilein was a phenomenal hire...

Joined: 07/28/2009

MGoPoints: 287

Tater

August 3rd, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^

He went 78-30 at UD. In his five seasons, he built UD into a decent program. He also coached John Long, Terry Tyler, and Earl Cureton, whom no elite teams recruited, into players who earned NBA roster spots. Terry Duerod also made it from that team, but he was a fairly highly-recruited player. He got them to the NCAA when it was only 32 teams, and really turned UD, which was much worse than they are now, into a newsworthy school with his energy and talent. Vitale might have sucked in the NBA, and you may or may not like his personality, but he still knows college basketball.

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

mghorm

August 3rd, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^

It seems legit to me. My predition for the season is 2nd in the Big Ten (god damn it sparty) and making it to the sweet 16. Manny Harris will lead the big ten in scoring and win big ten player of the year and bolt for the $.

Joined: 07/06/2009

MGoPoints: 198

jmblue

August 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 PM ^

In theory, since we advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, we were between the #17 and #32 team at the end of last season. In reality, we were probably at the low end of that range (if we were in it at all), but with two extremely talented players coming back, I don't find Vitale's prediction to be all that farfetched. We return all of our most productive players from last season, add some talented freshmen (and a 7-foot redshirt), and our homecourt advantage should be greatly improved with over 2,000 students having bought tickets (compared to under 500 last year). It's going to be a fun season.

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102835

dmac24

August 4th, 2009 at 1:23 AM ^

Have you forgotten about the 2006 squad?? Gotta give them some love!! We were one play away (Crable's "late" hit on Smith) from having a perfect season and a berth in the National Championship Game!! That was only 3 years ago. I know this last year has made it seem like an eternity, but it wasn't that long ago we were a national powerhouse (I believe we still are, just regrouping for the lethal surge into glory!!). CAN'T WAIT FOR 9/5!! Already got the countdown!!

Joined: 07/25/2009

MGoPoints: 1080

a2bluefan

August 4th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^

It's been so long since anyone thought this highly of M hoops. It's nice to see, but man this happened to the football team year after year after year.... start the season ranked higher than we should (the "we're Michigan" factor), and rarely lived up to it. I'm like you.... I much prefer they start us at like #20 or so to acknowledge last season's success, and let us work our way up.

Joined: 12/29/2008

MGoPoints: 2760