All the favorites advance
November 13, 2008 by Ryan Pravato
Filed under Basketball
– Even though Michigan was favored against Northeastern, many in the blogosphere said they wouldn’t have been surprised if Michigan lost this one. It looked a little rough at the beginning, actually, most of the first half was rough. Michigan’s lack of size really showed on the glass. But the 2nd half was an entirely different story as Michigan put up 47. Manny Harris finished with 26 points to go along with 10 boards and 8 feeds. The offense is utterly unwatchable without him in there.
Part of the reason is the less than desirable point guard play. Former walk-on David Merritt (now on scholarship) is still currently ahead of once prized recruit Kelvin Grady on the depth chart. We can thank Tommy Amaker for that wonderful piece of recruiting. His work has set the Michigan program back at least 4 years. But, at least he got Manny.
– Southern Illinois sneaked by Massachusetts by 7. It didn’t start out well for the Salukis however. UMass was up 11 at the half, but went cold in the 2nd. Part of the struggle was because UMass guard Chris Lowe had 10 turnovers. So maybe only Chris Lowe’s hands were cold.
The bad is that UMass didn’t get the win, and won’t advance to Madison Square Garden to face Duke. The good news is that we can say with near-absolute certainty that Chris Lowe’s worst game of the season is in the rearview mirror.
It’s remarkable that the Minutemen were even in a position to escape Carbondale, Illinois with a win over the Southern Illinois Salukis, given that Lowe, the team’s leader, committed 10 turnovers without registering a single assist.
We won’t see another game like that from Lowe again.
UMass actually had a 2 point lead with about 4 minutes to play.
So Southern Illinois will face Duke on November 20th at Madison Square Garden. Michigan will face the winner of the UCLA vs. Miami (Ohio) game (tonight at 8pm Kevin’s time) on the 20th at MSG as well.
–Keep an eye out for Kevin’s preview of the “eventual” championship game of UCLA vs. Duke.
STAT of the DAY
Crisler Arena’s paid attendance for Michigan’s tilt with Northeastern was 6,246.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
2 things: if Michigan could have gotten a matchup with U Mass (or even Southern Illinois), they would have drawn better. Okay, I know at least 6 people who would have come in for that one (but my friends are die-hards).
And Southern Illinois vs Duke is a must-watch.
Drawn better from Minutemen or Saluki fans-
Support for UofM basketball has really declined in recent years. The Maize Rage is pathetic and basically people are not interested in Wolverine hoops right now. Crisler holds something like 14,000, there’s no excuse for a large school like UofM to get so little support
That Duke game should be hard fought and hopefully Michigan can play UCLA tight just like the Redhawks did.