The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MEN'S BASKETBALL Big Ten squad are Indiana's Cody Zeller, Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas, and Penn State's Tim Frazier. Zeller was chosen as the Big Ten's preseason Player of the Year. Joining Burke on the preseason All- U-M head coach John Beilein was asked in Chicago about the obstacles of conference squads moving up in the league, and his answer reflected the respect he has for the Big Ten. "I think the biggest obstacle is the other teams aren't going away," Beilein said. "In a place like the Big Ten, if you look back … I came in here five years ago and there were five or six programs, maybe, that had it really going. Basically they still all have it going. 2012-13 Michigan Men's Basketball Schedule Date Opponent Nov. 1 Northern Michigan (ex.) Nov. 5 Saginaw Valley State (ex.) Nov. 9 Slippery Rock Nov. 12 IUPUI (1) NIT Season Tip-Off Nov. 13 Cleveland State Nov. 19 Consolation (2) Nov. 20 Consolation (2) Nov. 21 Semifinal (3) or Bowling Green (1) Nov. 23 Championship (3) Dec. 4 Western Michigan Dec. 8 Arkansas Dec. 11 Binghamton "So to get to the sixth, the seventh, the eighth spot which we were able to get to is one step, now making that next step is really hard. I think anybody building a program has to understand, it is difficult, because people weren't stepping back and saying, hey, let's let Michigan have their turn. It's hard to get there. If you establish the culture and get the right breaks here and there, anything can happen." and its waterfall, escalators, wider concourses, etc., won't be all Michi- gan fans have to look forward to this season. John Beilein is bringing in a team ranked No. 5 in the open- ing Associated Press and USA Today polls, and they'll be taking on some notables, even before they hit a rug- ged Big Ten schedule. The gleaming new Crisler Center MICHIGAN BASKETBALL SLATE FEATURES TESTS EARLY ON 8:30 p.m. 9 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. Time 8 p.m. TBA 2:30/4:30 p.m. Nov. 27 North Carolina State (4) 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at Bradley Big Ten/ACC Challenge 8:30 p.m. Noon 4 p.m. Dec. 15 vs. West Virginia (5) Dec. 20 Eastern Michigan Dec. 29 Central Michigan Jan. 3 at Northwestern Jan. 6 Iowa Jan. 9 Nebraska Jan. 13 at Ohio State Jan. 17 at Minnesota Jan. 24 Purdue Jan. 27 at Illinois 8:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. TBA 7 p.m. 8 p.m. Jan. 30 Northwestern Feb. 2 at Indiana Feb. 5 Ohio State Feb. 9 at Wisconsin 1:30/4:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 8 p.m. 6 p.m. 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at Michigan State Feb. 17 Penn State Feb. 24 Illinois Feb. 27 at Penn State March 2 Michigan State or March 3 Michigan State March 6 at Purdue March 10 Indiana 6:30 p.m. 9 p.m. 9 p.m. Noon 1/4/6 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 5:15 p.m. 1/4 p.m. 7 p.m. 9 p.m. Noon March 14-17 Big Ten Tournament 1/4/6 p.m. Michigan is the top seed in the Pre- season NIT, with a chance to battle its way to Madison Square Garden in New York Nov. 21 and 23. U-M could encounter No. 2 seed Virginia or No. 3 seed Kansas State along the way. The very next week, the Wolver- ines take on a serious early-season battle when North Carolina State visits Nov. 27, in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Wolfpack has been tabbed a top-10 squad nationally this season. Another pair of top tests in the non-conference campaign involves a Dec. 8 showdown with Arkansas at Crisler Center, followed one week 74 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2012 Schedule Legend: (1) NIT Season Tip-Off Michigan Re- gional, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center); (2) if don't advance, host NIT Season Tip-Off Consolation Regional, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center); (3) if advance, travel to NIT Season Tip-Off Championship, Manhattan, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden); (4) Big Ten/ACC Challenge presented by Dick's Sporting Goods, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center); (5) Brooklyn Winter Hoops Festival, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barclays Center) — first game: Fordham vs. Princeton later by a contest against West Vir- ginia in the Brooklyn Winter Hoops Festival at Barclays Center in Brook- lyn, N.Y. The Wolverines open Big Ten play at Northwestern Jan. 3, and they don't catch many conference sched- uling breaks along the way. They face struggling Nebraska just once, Jan. 9 at Crisler Center, and also draw sin- gle games against Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, none of which are pegged as top-three teams in the con- ference. Of those games, U-M travels to Minnesota and Wisconsin, a pair 7/9 p.m. TBA of the tougher road venues in the conference. Michigan faces a pair of show- downs each with Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State — three teams expected, along with Michi- gan, to formulate the league's top four squads. The Wolverines travel to Columbus Jan. 13 for a Sunday af- ternoon game, then get a return trip from the Buckeyes Feb. 5, a 9 p.m. tip at Crisler Center on a Tuesday. U-M has another 9 p.m. Tuesday date at Michigan State's Breslin Cen- ter Feb. 12. The rematch occurs at Crisler Center Saturday, March 2 or Sunday, March 3. Finally, the Wolverines head to Bloomington to take on preseason No. 1 Indiana at 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2. The rematch of that one — a game that could impact the Big Ten championship — marks the final game of the regular season and will be played at Crisler Center Sunday, March 10. Michigan fans' first look at the dra- matically revamped Crisler Center occurs Nov. 1, in an exhibition con- test against Northern Michigan. The Wolverines also play an exhibition Nov. 5 at home against Saginaw Val- ley State, before opening the regular season at home versus Slippery Rock Nov. 9. U-M COACHES APPRECIATE DEPTH AT POINT GUARD John Beilein said so often in the fall, and U-M assistant LaVall Jordan backs him fully — everyone associ- ated with Michigan basketball will breathe easier having a pair of natu- ral point guards this season. The return of Big Ten Freshman of the Year Trey Burke, and the addi- tion of freshman point guard Spike Albrecht, gives Beilein a level of luxury he hasn't experienced in Ann Arbor thus far. He's looking forward to being able to give Burke a break, while putting the ball into the hands of someone who grew up handling and passing it. "It's good to have two guys that have been doing it their whole life, in Trey and Spike," noted Jordan, who works primarily with the team's guards. "It's been their position. They haven't had to change. When that's the case, you get coached on that position up until this point and even more while you're here.