Bradley's final non-conference opponent Michigan

Just about everyone who follows Bradley knows by now that we got a nice deal to play Michigan there this year, then next year they'll be coming to Peoria!
I don't need to tell you they're going to be very hard to beat up there.

In 2010-2011 they were a "blue collar team" and won by beating opponents physically. They were 10th in the Big Ten in scoring - ahead of only Penn State (66.5 ppg)...and they were down at the bottom on rebounding as well.
They didn't lead the Big Ten in anything and were middle-of-the-pack in almost all other stats.

Their best 3-pt shooter was Zach Novak at around 38%


Michigan is picked to be in the upper half of the Big Ten. They lost only one player - PG Darius Morris and return everyone else.
Bradley has Pat Beilein as an assistant coach - and he's the son of Michigan's head coach John Beilein. Pat was introduced at the Bradley Community Event with his name pronounced...
"BEE - LINE"...not "BY - LINE"...just for those who want to know.

Zack Novak is a tough kid who Bradley recruited, and now he's become their team leader, a good scorer and their top rebounder.

Their PG Stu Douglass has a little of the same tough style as Novak.

Their best player and their guy that might have the best chance of being in the NBA is Tim Hardaway, Jr. - an explosive scoring guard - not a point guard like his father.

Their other two projected starters are Center Jordan Morgan (also NBA potential) - who had a nice sophomore season and then either Matt Vogrich (6-4 SG) or Evan Smotrycz (6-9 SF) depending on whether they want to big or small.

I would be surprised if Peoria Notre Dame's Max Bielfeldt, a freshman at Michigan, gets much playing time early on but I think he'll get into some games and do OK.
Here's a story from last week in the Michigan press about Max...
http://www.freep.com/article/20110905/SPORTS06/109050348/Four-U-M-freshman-hoopsters-work-game-over-summer

Here' some potential bad news for Max -- Michigan is making a big push to land Mitch McGary - a very similar player to Max - but ranked way higher -- inside the Top 5 NATIONALLY.
http://is.gd/cozTf1


Michigan's history - they have one National Championship in 1989 over Seton Hall - the year Illinois was also in the Final Four.
They have two legacies -- the Fab Five that everyone still seems to talk about, and then the scandal that ultimately hurt them for a whole decade when it was finally proven that those Fab Five guys were all paid big time.
They've had a lot of great players over the years - Cazzie Russel, Rudy Tomjanovich, Glen Rice, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber...and more but...
they've had a DEFINITE drop off in quality players over the past two decades...
They have not had an All American since 1994 (Jalen Rose), and in the last decade they haven't had a single player head to the NBA and much if any impact!


Here's the Hoopsreport preview of Michigan:
http://www.thehoopsreport.com/article.aspx?id=784