A lot has happened since my last Michigan’s basketball recap… the team won 2 more games and looked pretty good in doing so. Currently they moved up to a 3 seed in most people’s brackets and could be an outside shot at a 2 with a win against OSU tomorrow and a strong finish. For thinking Michigan would finish with 10 or 11 wins in the conference, a 3 seed would be pretty incredible.
After the terrible game against MSU a few weeks ago Michigan bounced back with 2 of their best halves of the season. In the 2nd half of the Nebraska game they shot 72% from the field (including missing their last 3 shots during garbage time), and then came back and shot 13-23 in the first half of the Illinois game on Sunday.
One thing in common with both of these halves was that Tim Hardaway broke out of his shell and played like the team’s best player should. In the 2nd half against NEB, THJ shot 3-5, had 3 assists, 2 rebounds and drew a charge. Probably the most important thing though is the Wolverines came out from the locker room and immediately ran 4 plays to the super sophomore. You could tell that he felt more involved in the game, and it showed more on both sides of the floor. He crashed the boards on the defensive end with more effort, ran the break and looked to setup his teammates, and attacked the rim to get some easy shots and see the ball go through the hoop. Against Illinois, Tim scored 10 points in the first half and barely missed a shot. When he gets involved in the game early, his total game is elevated to an All-B1G performer. It seems like he is going to break out of his slump by doing more of the little things on the court and letting the shots and the game come to him.
Smot finally scored double digits again (for the first time this year), and when he can step out and knock down a long jumper it really stretches a defense to allow Novak and Morgan to crash the offensive glass more. Lets hope he can keep up the confidence long enough to help Michigan to its first Sweet Sixteen under Coach B. Matt Vogrich finally proved that he is one of the best shooters on the team and conference. I watched him and Tim warm up before the Illinois game, and just from what I counted they were a combined 21-23 from 3. Vogrich hit 3 three pointers in a row against Nebraska in the 2nd half to really put the game away, and then knocked down a clutch 3 in the Illinois game. Now if he can consistently play tough defense, he can be a great replacement for Stu next year.
Michigan had to use a lot of zone against the always lengthy Illinois team. They have really improved their zone play since the beginning of the year. I like how Coach B has moved away from the 1-3-1 to the 2-3 because of this team’s strengths. Next season with McGary into the lineup the 1-3-1 could be the one of the scariest matchups in the nation (6’6” THJ at the point, 6’10” athletic McGary in the middle, speedy Burke on the bottom, athletic 6’7” Robinson on a wing, and lengthy Vogrich/ Smot/ or Biefeldt on the other wing) I will break down that great image more later… I am convinced that the more I watch Michigan play this year that their defense is one of the top in the conference and nation. They have improved their reaction time to the post double team, force a lot of pressure on the ball and end up forcing a lot of bad first shots. Their problem right now is that they are a terrible rebounding team since they cannot play Smot and Morgan at the same time. If they were even just an average rebounding team, they would be rivaling Wisconsin and OSU as some of the best defenses per possession in the nation.
Go Blue, Beat Ohio!
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