Thursday, December 31, 2015

The Victors | Project OSPREY: Backlog Edition

Friday, 20 November / Crisler Center
Xavier 86-70 Michigan (№ 24)
2-1, B1G 0-0

This was the first of Team 100's games I had the chance to watch & it was a rather dispiriting affair from start to finish, in part because I knew we'd lost before I had the chance to watch the proceedings. In the aftermath, the valiant Wolverines dropped out of the Top 25, while the epithetless Musketeers, previously not ranked, joined the list at № 23.

Battle 4 Atlantis
Wednesday, 25 November @ Atlantis
UConn 74-60 Michigan
2-2, B1G 0-0

Thursday, 26 November @ Atlantis
Michigan 102-47 Charlotte
3-2, B1G 0-0

Commentary: Yours truly stills thinks of Charlotte as U.N.C. Charlotte.

Friday, 27 November @ Atlantis
Michigan 78-72 Texas
4-2, B1G 0-0

B1G—A.C.C. Challenge
Tuesday, 1 December @ N.C. State
Michigan 66-59 North Carolina State
5-2, B1G 0-0

Commentary: The Big Ten Conference defeated the Atlantic Coast Conference eight games to six (8-6). The B1G lost the first ten Challenges, '99-'08, but has not been defeated since, winning five of the last seven, with ties in '12 & '13.

Saturday, 5 December / Crisler Center
Michigan 82-57 Houston Baptist
6-2, B1G 0-0

Tuesday, 8 December @ S.M.U.
(№ 19) S.M.U. 82-58 Michigan
6-3, B1G 0-0

Saturday, 12 December / Crisler Center
Michigan 80-33 Delaware State
7-3, B1G 0-0

Tuesday, 15 December / Crisler Center
Michigan 77-62 Northern Kentucky
8-3, B1G 0-0

Saturday, 19 December / Crisler Center
Michigan 105-46 Youngstown State
9-3, B1G 0-0

Wednesday, 23 December / Crisler Center
Michigan 96-60 Bryant
10-3, B1G 0-0

Wednesday, 30 December @ Assembly Hall
Michigan 78-68 Illinois
11-3, B1G 1-0

What we know so far is this: Team 100 is very much a prototypical John Beilein basketball club, featuring deadly perimeter shooting, a minimal inside presence, & defense as more or less an afterthought. The valiant Wolverines have been plagued by injuries, with Zach Irvin (junior, guard/forward) recovering from off-season back surgery & "Spike" Albrecht (senior, guard) retiring from basketball following off-season surgeries on both hips. All three loses, though ugly, were to quality opponents; on the eve of the New Year, Xavier is № 6 with an undefeated 12-0 record; S.M.U. is № 17 at 11-0; & UConn, though not ranked, are a solid 9-3 with loses to Syracuse, Gonzaga (№ 10), & Maryland (№ 6). Team 100's best wins are those over Texas (8-4), N.C. State (10-3), & Illinois (8-6)—two of those contests were road games in hostile environments while the third was a road game on a neutral site.

Caris LeVert (senior, guard) is a monster, averaging over seventeen points per game (17.6); he's quite simply Mr. Everything to this team. Duncan Robinson (sophomore, guard), a transfer from Division III Williams College, is the valiant Wolverines' second-leading scorer, averaging twelve per game (12.1), mostly through his nearly sixty per cent three-point shooting (58.3%). Mark Donnal (sophomore, forward) had a career game in the B1G opener against the feisty Fighting Illini, scoring a jaw-dropping twenty-six points. I have embraced broadcaster Seth Davis's nickname for freshman forward Moritz "Moe" Wagner, a native of Berlin: "Mo' Buckets;" Wagner (pronounced like the composer Richard Wagner, not the actor Robert Wagner) showed great potential during the three games in the Bahamas, though the grind of the B1G season will prove a sterner test. I do not expect the valiant Wolverines to generate half as much offense in the paint at Donnal did yesterday in Assembly Hall, but any increase in scoring would be nice, & an increased threat in the paint cannot but help the Maize & Blue's already dangerous perimeter shooting become that much more lethal.

The valiant Wolverines of Team 100 have all the strengths & weaknesses we've come to know & love in the years under coach John Beilein. On hot shootings nights, they will be extremely difficult to beat; on cold shooting nights, we'll be hard-pressed to hang with the conference's more elite clubs. I believe in Coach Beilein & his approach to the game, & I have tremendous respect for what he's done throughout his career & especially in Ann Arbor. We go to war with the team we have. I am proud to have them represent the University of Michigan.

Next: Penn State in the friendly confines of the Crisler Center, on Saturday, 2 January 2016. The following game will be a tough challenge: at № 14 Purdue, against their trio of seven-footers on Thursday, 7 January.

Go Blue!

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