Time Off Before the Buzzsaw
/Michigan Basketball has lost five of their last six. Three weeks ago, we sat at 13-3...today we are 14-8. It wouldn't be so troubling if we had been competitive in any of the losses, but for the most part we have not been. Each of the games had periods of shooting that caused even casual observers to cringe. I can here the echo in my head of the announcers..."Michigan is 0 for 11 from 3-point range"...."Michigan is 2 for 15 from three point range"...."Michigan is shooting only 27% from the floor so far tonight." We once "lived by it" and we are certainly "dying by it." The margins of loss in the second half of January..14, 7, 15, 18, and 18. Again, I live in a world where rational thought is clouded by visions of Rumeal Robinson, so I feel I must mention that there is a whole lot of season ahead of us.
Michigan gets a bit of a break this week, which Coach Beilein has said they have been looking for in order to practice their shooting. I like the sound of that. The problem is that when you are in the middle of a season that doesn't take a break, all time off is offset by a game-heavy period. That game heavy period starts Thursday, when the Wolverines play a Penn State team that just got done beating Sparty at Breslin. It will be the first contest of three that Michigan will play over six days. They will get only Friday to prepare to play a Saturday night ESPN televised (6pm) non-conference game against UCONN in Storrs. Then two days off to prepare for the Sparty invasion on Tuesday night...also on ESPN (7pm).
If Michigan Basketball was looking for a good time to get things back on track, this is it. With Penn State poised to crack the top 25, it looks like it will be three games against three ranked opponents...one of which will likely be the #1 team in the country. With two of the games on ESPN, the world (and the selection committee) will be watching, and that's no time to be losing by 18 points.
