Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Where They Stand on the Bubble

The Michigan Wolverines basketball team has come a long way since last year’s dismal performances, where they won a total of 10 games. They are in a fight for a post-season tourney berth.

After a 13-3 start that included wins over UCLA and Duke, the Wolverines are 7-8 in the conference and just 17-11 overall.  They suffered a big overtime loss at Iowa earlier this week and will have to win at least two of their final three games (Purdue, @ Wisconsin, @ Minnesota) and notch a win or two in the Big Ten Tournament to go dancing.

Strengths

Michigan is an awesome home team, posting a 13-3 record inside the friendly confines of Crisler Arena. They also are a very good three-point shooting team, and when they are hitting their shots they are very tough to beat.  Their defense, a 1-3-1 scheme, can also be menacing to their opponents but seems to ebb and flow with the offense. Manny Harris is a star, and when he plays up to his ability, he can take games over.

Weaknesses

Inconsistency is the biggest weakness, as illustrated by leading scorer Manny Harris’ stat line. The star sophomore guard is averaging 16.9 points per game but has disappeared at times, including key losses against Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State, and Iowa.

Over the past few weeks (since a loss to Ohio State where he posted 21 points), Harris has had six games with less than 10 points, four of them losses. and most recently was held out of the entire overtime period in a loss to Iowa. Coach Beilein has indicated that Harris wasn’t playing well and wasn’t fresh as the reason he was held out, but it isn’t often that your star player doesn’t play one minute in a key overtime period when you are trying to secure a tourney bid.

The team is only 2-7 on the road (2-1 on neutral floor), and has struggled in Big Ten play. 

Poor rebounding and the lack of a legitimate post presence also hurts them, particularly in conference play when going up against teams with legit big men. DeShawn Sims is a terrific athlete and player, but at 6’ 8”, he doesn’t offer much in the way of post presence. Zach Gibson, who is 6’ 10”, flashes some ability but typically on the offensive end.  He doesn’t rebound or defend the post particularly well.

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