Friday, December 5, 2008

At the sports desk: University of Michigan basketball--still a bit of a ways to go

The Wolverines are inconsistent the other night in losing to Maryland:

"Michigan coach John Beilein knows his basketball team well. But even he's not sure yet which team will show: the quickly improving Wolverines, or the still-a-bit-scary ones. Beilein got a show of everything as Maryland defeated Michigan, 75-70, at the Comcast Center as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The good Michigan team dominated the first half. The iffy squad showed up in the second and lost the game. The slow-starting Wolverines quickly gave away a six-point halftime lead, allowing Maryland to reel off a game-changing 16-3 run."

Young college basketball teams will do that--they'll have letdowns, especially early in the second half. This Michigan team's progress will show up in how much Coach Beilein can eliminate those letdowns.