Well I am a little behind so I guess it's time to catch up. First things first. Yesterday the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team has almost punched their ticket to the Big Dance. I say almost because if they lose or get blown out by Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament, they may be NIT bound. However, they beat Minnesota on the road coming back from 12 down with 13 minutes to go. The win was big for numerous reasons. It was a road win vs an RPI top 50 team, it was a come from behind road win, it put Michigan at 9-9 in the Big Ten and maybe most importantly it boosted team confidence, especially Lavell Lucas-Perry who's 17 points and three big 3s in a row cut the 12 point lead to 3 with 10 minutes to go.
DeShawn "Peedi" Sims was a beast again dropping 24, LLP added 17 and Manny "Fresh" Harris had 14. It was nice to see Manny mature a bit yesterday. He had 3 first half points, games like those he usually tends to stay quiet on the road but he fought the tough defense Minnesota threw at him all game long and scored some big points when Michigan needed it. Many people won't agree with this but this Michigan team could make a run in the tournament if the matchups are right. Just hear me out on this...
Michigan's defense has been known to stiffle teams at times. While Minnesota shot 55% yesterday, they were forced into 21 turnovers and scored one basket in the final 8 minutes of the game. The 1-3-1 zone can cause teams to turn the ball over and when played with intensity, Michgan can trap and get easy fast break points out of it. More importantly is Michigan has the shooters to help Peedi and Fresh out. If a Stu Douglass, Zack Novak or LLP can add 10 to 12 points on a given night this team could shock. However, Michigan is gonna be in trouble with teams who have more then two big forwards/centers. Michigan is a small team and will usually be outrebounded every game. But if they can get Sims into foul trouble it takes away a big piece of Michgan's scoring.
Who knows what will happen, but they call it March Madness for a reason.
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