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The Afterglow: Basketball vs. Eastern Michigan

At some point during the first half of the basketball game against Duke, I decided that I was going to go to the basketball game against Eastern Michigan.  As opposed to previous years, I have actually enjoyed watching this team play.  They are generally likeable players who are well coached and play hard for the entire game.  I remember watching the teams with Horton, Hunter, Abrams, among others, trying to win games and do well, but failed by their coach.  Watching Tommy Amaker stand there and wave his finger as though that meant anything other than pass it around the perimeter then let Horton make a huge play was one of the most frustrating things to watch.

I saw flashes of the Beilein system last year and was really excited for the season this year.  This year with only a few new contributors (Novak and Douglass) Beilein has made this into a very entertaining and, more importantly,  competative team.  I’m committed now to attend as many games as I can.  Tim is probably going to head to the Big Ten Championship.  This is almost exclusively the result of Beilein’s coaching.  He has, in less time than I ever thought possible, made Michigan Basketball relevant on campus again.  Now there’s a plan for a new practice facility going before the Regents in January.  This is a program on the rise, and I can see Beilein getting Michigan getting this team all the way with the right personnel and a bit of luck.

Eastern Michigan Specifically

  • The attendance was actually fairly impressive for a game where most of the students are either home or studying for exams.  Granted the fact that the “away” team was a defacto second home team and student tickets are free, but no way would this game be that well attended last year.
  • It was kind of weird that they never announced at the game that Beilein wasn’t there.  I didn’t know until someone texted me.
  • If you told me that Manny Harris would be held to 2 points in the first half and DeShawn Sims wasn’t all that effective either, no way I would have guessed that Michigan would have a 10 point lead.
  • No one can stay in front of Kelvin Grady.  I actually look forward to seeing teams trying to press him.
  • Manny Harris has this ability to get wherever he wants on the floor whenever he wants.  It’s a bit absurd how he can knife through  the defense.  It wasn’t just against Eastern, either; he was able to do it against UCLA and Duke.
  • Jevohn Shepherd may be my favorite player on the team.  He doesn’t have the tools of Sims or Harris, but he’s gone from being an afterthought to a very solid contributor.  He even carried the team a while in the first half.
  • The biggest applause of the game was when Lloyd Carr walked in during half time.

Posted under Basketball

Coaches v. Cancer Crisler Regional

I did not attend either of Michigan’s games in their regional of the 2Ksports Classic benefitting Coaches v. Cancer (not getting into town until tomorrow: drat!), but I did manage to catch most of both games on ESPNU by heading out to local drinking establishments.

Pre-game tonight (IM conversation):
Paul: no one wanted to go to the bball game with me… i’m so surprised
Tim: haha. are you still going to go?
Paul: no
Tim: typical michigan basketball fan. i would go if i were there.
Paul: who wants to go to the bball game alone. that would be sad
Tim: THE BASKETBALL TEAM DOESNT SEEM TO MIND IT
Tim: der uberzing.

And on that note:

  • Am I supposed to be able to tell Zach Novak and Stu Douglass apart? I hope not.
  • I love how “Academic All-Big Ten” is a synonym for “former walk-on.” However, it appears that, in basketball, “former walk-on” manages to not be a synonym for “white.”
  • ESPNU’s coverage is… lacking. The worst part is the ridiculous length of commercial breaks.
  • Manny Harris is much better than last year (with necessary caveats about level of competition), but he still tries to make things happen more than he needs to, resulting in turnovers or bad shots.
  • What’s with Jevohn Shepherd changing numbers? That’s going to take some getting used to.
  • Nobody on Michigan can rebound to save their lives.
  • When are the kids on the fringes of the Maize Rage going to realize they look stupider being the only ones not to jump around than they would if they just went with the flow?
  • A pair of good performance by the Wolverines, beating the teams they should. Now they have to pull off a surprise or two in the Garden.

Posted under Football