MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[Cody_Russell]

Michigan beat Toledo tonight at Crisler Center 91-71.

Hunter Dickinson led Michigan scorers with 18 points. He also added 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. This kid can play.

Michigan shot 57.6% from the field (34-for-59) and 56.3% from 3-point range (9-for-16). Sophomore wing Franz Wagner added 14 points and senior guard Eli Brooks scored 12.

Austin Davis added 12 points but went down with a leg injury in the 2nd half. He was walking, but limping as he left the court after the game.

Michigan begins Big Ten competition on Sunday when Penn State comes to town.

Stats courtesy of the Detroit News

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...le/3863300001/

5-0 record for M ... Penn State on Sunday.

I only watched the 1st half yesterday. M continued its excellent play from the UCF game and made it look easy vs an above average MAC team in Toledo.
Dickinson has some of the best post game for a true freshman that I can remember. Automatic in the paint. ... if he can develop a jumper... oh boy.

Not much else to say. This M team has depth and should make the tourney. ... love to see it.
Lets start 1-0 in the B10 and deservingly land in the top 25 ranking again.

[lineygoblue]

The Big Ten season is going to be rough. The conference could put as many as 10 teams in the NCAA's.

Hunter Dickinson is getting better with each game. He moves about as well as a guy can when he's 7'1" and 245.

[hack]

IMO Dickinson's style of game is unloved and unwanted in the NBA, even if he really does move that well for his size. I don't think he's a one-and-done. 2 or 3 years sounds right, and even then he'll be lucky to be a first-rounder. If he leaves early it'll be because he's hit his upside and might as well shoot his shot at the NBA before going overseas to maximize earnings years.

If he wants to get into the first round or get the NBA interested in what he CAN do as distinct from what he cannot, he'd have to do a few things. The first is to prove he can really move on defense. And then that he can go to his right as well as left in the post, so he can at least be viewed as a complete package as a post scorer. And then probably prove himself as an offensive rebounder, so people can make an Enes Kanter comparison and envision him coming off the bench to get you some garbage points. Add a three-point shot and that helps too. If the passing becomes a real thing connected to his ability to draw doubles in the post, then he's starting to build the case for himself. Because otherwise, NBA teams can find post behemoths anytime on the cheap like the Pistons just did with Okafor.

Overall I think that's a lot to put together in the next few months. An offseason with Jon Sanderson to max out the agility though, and a sophomore season to show that off, and then he's in business. That's unless he just utterly dominates Kofi Cockburn and Trace Jackson-Davis and Luka Garza and follows that up with a huge role in the tournament. If he does all that this year maybe he bursts onto the radar, and the lure of getting to the NBA on a nice multi-year contract for significantly more than the minimum overshadows the value of another year of Juwan's teaching, since Juwan is such as proven NBA big-man developer.

[Hannibal]

IMO Dickinson's style of game is unloved and unwanted in the NBA, even if he really does move that well for his size. I don't think he's a one-and-done. 2 or 3 years sounds right, and even then he'll be lucky to be a first-rounder. I.

That would be fantastic. That would make Dickinson the most dominant and productive player to return to UM since at least the 1990s.

[Hannibal]

The color commentator for the Toledo game sounded like he was wearing a mask the whole time.

[lineygoblue]

The color commentator for the Toledo game sounded like he was wearing a mask the whole time.

That was Gregory Kelser. Former Spartan and Piston.

He's the Sparty answer for Herbstreit.

[Hannibal]

6-0

It wasn't all that pretty yesterday, but I'll take it.

[Cody_Russell]

No, it wasn't pretty at all. Thought M was going to streamroll through Penn State, but the game tightened up fast early in the 2nd half. Luckily Penn State was held without a FG for a ~10 minute stretch in the middle of the 2nd half.

Oh well. 6-0 and ranked #25!

[Hannibal]

We have a 12 day layoff and the next game is on -- Christmas Day? Really?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Quit yer bitchin

[Mike]

At Nebraska on Christmas evening. Could you imagine having to spend Christmas in Nebraska?! Good god.

Then their next game is at Maryland on NYE night. Nice scheduling. JFC.

[lineygoblue]

The men's basketball team stands at 7-0, heading into Thursday's game at Maryland. The season is about to get real, as there will be absolutely no soft spots in the schedule the rest of the way. Everybody is tough, and any win, home or away, will be like gold. Maryland just went into Madison last night, and drilled Wisconsin 70-64. Wisconsin was coming off a win over MSU at Breslin 85-76. MSU got hammered at Minnesota last night, so all is not peachy in Least Lansing.

This will be one of the most competitive B1G season's we've seen in decades.

[Cody_Russell]

12 of the next 18 games are vs ranked opponents. Brutal.
The non-ranked teams aren’t bad. Purdue, Indiana, etc.
Big 10 conference is going to be a bloodbath this season.

Splitting the next 18 games might be a win... just make the NCAA tourney please.

[Hannibal]

11-9 for the B1G season would be really nice.

[lineygoblue]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the eventual regular season champion have as many as 4-5 losses. Its going to be tough.