This “Michigan is getting good at sports again” thing is starting to make me itchy.
Sure, there football team is about to go through some major growing pains without the Magical Time Wizard Denard at the helm, but all signs point to a better, stronger Michigan team next year.
And yes, this isn’t the Fab Five that Coach Beilein is putting out on the court this year, but Burke, Hardaway Jr, Robinson III and company are an extremely dangerous team.
They are catching the Buckeyes at crossroads. After a severe beatdown at the hands of Illinois, the Buckeyes bounced back to take care of business against Purdue early this week. And today Michigan comes to the Schottenstein Center looking to impress voters and fans on national television, definitely eyeing that #1 spot in the polls after Duke went down to NC State (a previous foe of Michigan’s, by the bye).
The gameplan should be relatively simple — hound and get physical with Trey Burke (Aaron Craft, check!), prevent easy shots around the basket (Amir and Ravenel, check maybe?) and pray that someone in yellow and blue doesn’t get hot from beyond the three point line (the game is on Sunday, so check?).
Oh, and Deshaun Thomas and someone else needs to put points on the board.
(Interesting side-story here: Shannon Scott was the player Thad Matta added the same year Trey Burke was looking to join a team. Ohio State did not recruit Burke for a variety of reasons (already had Craft in the fold, Scott was interested) and the Ohio boy went up North while Scott signed with Ohio State. So while Scott was apparently Matta’s first choice, Burke has been enjoying relatively better success than his other counterpart. It will be interesting to see these two matched up from time to time, which should happen in this game.)
This game has all the fixins for a great home crowd for the Buckeyes and that should give them the boost they need (the fans have clearly spoken in our poll as to who the best point guard in this game is [Aaron Craft was winning at the time of posting, FYI]). A few high-flying dunks by Sam Thompson, a great shooting day from Thomas and this game could easily go Ohio State’s way.
A some hot shooting early by Michigan or a dominant performance from Trey Burke could spell doom for Ohio State.
I’m going with the former. How do you see this game going?
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