Michigan Stinks Up the Old Spice Classic

I was lucky enough to be in Orlando this weekend to watch the Wolverines live in the Old Spice Classic. I saw Michigan's first two games but missed the Alabama game Sunday.

I am not a basketball expert by any means, and I'm sure Coach Beilein has a plan for Michigan's problems, but I will give you my two cents on the Wolverines' 1-2 performance in the Old Spice Classic this past weekend.

The Michigan basketball team has a little bit of "Jordan Syndrome." Early in his career for the Chicago Bulls, most of Jordan's teammates would sit back and wait for Jordon to win or lose the game.

I believe Michigan has a similar situation with Manny Harris—and no. I'm not comparing Manny to Jordan.

On the offensive side of the ball, I don't see a lot of movement, and I don't see plays for Stu Douglass or Zack Novak to get open shots. It seems Michigan has two options on offense: get the ball to DeShawn Sims in the low post or let Manny create something.

Manny is clearly not 100 percent back from his hamstring injury and is not shooting the ball well from the outside, but is still an incredible player nearly putting up triple doubles every night.

Sims is getting double-teamed on the low post and not finding a shooter for an open three. DeShawn is also taking way too many outside shots, and when he does that Michigan has zero shot at getting any boards.

These problems in Michigan's game became clear in the Old Spice Classic this past weekend, especially in its matchup against Marquette.

Michigan clearly still has trouble rebounding on offense and defense, but Marquette basically scored every time on the offensive side of the ball. With the lack of free throw shooting, Michigan is firing on one of six cylinders right now.

The other thing that I noticed was that Michigan seemed to be a little fatigued against Marquette. Before this tournament Michigan had played two games in two weeks, and playing three games in three days seemed to catch up with them.

This tournament showed that Michigan is still pretty rusty and hasn't found the right momentum that lead them into the NCAA tourney last year.

There is a ton of talent on the Michigan roster, and picking up the pressure on the defensive side of the ball will lead to more easy baskets. Stu did struggle with his shot during the tournament.

Zack Gibson always plays hard. Zack Novak, a great "scrappy player," is working sedulously on the defensive side of the ball but is not getting many good looks on the offensive side of the court. I can't remember him looking at a three pointer during the Marquette game.

Michigan needs to find a way to score when the opponents try to take Manny and DeShawn away because everyone is going to try to do that. I would like to see Matt Vogrich get some more time when Stu and Zack are struggling from the outside, but I expect he is a liability on defense since he is still learning the Beilein system.

The schedule doesn't get easier with Boston College coming to Crisler on Wednesday and upcoming trips to Utah and Kansas in December. I also expect Michigan to drop from the rankings this week.