Basketball Notes & Updates - Slippery Rock

There has been quite a bit of news on the basketball front in the past few days.  Although this isn't a news site and we aren't in the practice of simply reposting news stories, this seemed an appropriate time to post on some of these developments.  One of two minor developments wouldn't have been that important, but after a bunch happen, it's enough for an interesting post. None of these updates are that interesting alone, but there are definitely some recent developments that will be important both for this season and the future.

The first thing I would like to address is the injury to Nik Stauskas that John Beilein announced earlier today.  In my post following the Northern Michigan game, I talked about the impressive play of Stauskas and about how I thought he was going to be an important part of this team.  He has been having some problems with his back and will likely miss at least the Slippery Rock game.  This shouldn't be a major concern for now since Michigan should blow past Slippery Rock and the following two opponents.  After that, Michigan will get close to a week off before they face the quality teams in the Preseason NIT Tournament.  Let's just hope he's ready by then or Michigan will have to look for someone to make some big contributions off the bench.

Michigan's Most Important Game In 2012 - 2013

As I've talked about extensively, this will be one of the most anticipated seasons in recent Michigan basketball history.  Michigan has been ranked in the Top 5 in both the Preseason Coaches' and AP polls and will be bringing in a Preseason All-American for the first time in years.  Along with this, Michigan will be bringing in a very highly touted recruiting class to help matters.  With these type of rankings and projections, there are going to be a lot of big games for the Wolverines this season.

But which game will be the most important for the 2012-2013 season?  Rivalry games are always huge, but so will match-ups with preseason #1 Indiana and the Big Ten vs. ACC game against #6 North Carolina State.  It's difficult to pick just one game, but I'm going to be attempting to do that today.  I will admit that I "coped out" so to speak and selected two games as the most important to this season, but I did make some notes about what each of these games will impact.  Some games are incredibly important to a single season, but others are more important to a program's long-term success.

Just take a look at Michigan football's 2011 season.  Yes, beating Ohio State for the first time in years was huge, but for that specific season, the win against Nebraska was actually much more significant.  It was a major factor in the Wolverines being selected to the Sugar Bowl and having the chance to beat Virginia Tech.  This year could be very similar.  There are a few games that could have some major benefits for the program, but might not be quite as significant for this given season.  So here's my list:

The 5 Toughest Games For 2012 - 2013

Michigan basketball is being projected for one of its best seasons in years.  Not only are expectations sky high, but there are numerous games on the schedule that will pose significant challenges.  Earlier this year, I did a breakdown on the biggest trap games on the schedule.  Those will be important, especially if the team is vying for the Big Ten title, but doing well against the toughest competition could be even more important.  Not only for success in the Big Ten season, but also for the NCAA Tournament because of the impact these games have on seeding.

When I first began to evaluate this topic, I ended up with a list of almost ten games.  Some of these included OSU, Wisconsin, MSU, NC State, and of course, Indiana.  However, I wanted to spotlight the specific games that I thought would be the most difficult to win this year.  One note to make when you look through the list is that I decided to avoid listing teams more than once.  Not only would it make this list kind of boring, but it would be extremely repetitive   If I did decided to do repeats, Indiana would appear twice and MSU would probably appear twice as well.  So, keep that in mind.

Instant Analysis: 2012-2013 Michigan Basketball Schedule

Michigan basketball officially released their schedule for this season and much of the reaction was immediate.  We had a good idea of what was coming with some of the earlier announcements such as the game against North Carolina State, but there are a few surprises, both good and bad, in the Big Ten schedule that could make things interesting over the course of the season.  I'm not going to breakdown every game and every specific part of the schedule, but I am going to look at a few key segments and make some general comments about what I think could play out this year.

Non-Conference
There are a few things worth mentioning here.  Overall, there will probably only be a few games that get ample attention from the media.  Despite this, there are still 3 very exciting match-ups and the Preseason NIT, which includes teams like Pittsburgh, Kansas State, and Virginia.  All three could be quality opponents and Michigan will have the chance to play them.  So even if you are a bit concerned by the lack of "big name" teams on the schedule, don't fret because there are plenty of opportunities to see some solid match-ups in the non-conference schedule.

Michigan Gets North Carolina State In The Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Photo Credit: CBSSports

In one of the more anticipated announcements of the off-season for college basketball fans, the Big Ten and ACC announced the match-ups of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  This pits the two conferences against one another in a twelve game challenge (one for each team) in an attempt to determine which conference is superior.  Obviously, it's not an exact science, but the two conferences usually do a good job at creating some exciting match-ups for the teams, conferences, and the entire nation.

Of the 12 games, three really shine above the rest.  Not to say the remaining nine games won't be exciting, but the top three games will certainly be more hyped and likely have more season ramifications for the teams and conferences.  One of the primary reasons that the Big Ten conference was considered the nation's best basketball conference last season was because of the conference's impressive performance in this challenge.  However, even though the Big Ten went 8-4 last year to beat the ACC, it wasn't the record that stood out., it was Ohio State's win over Duke by nearly 20 points that cemented the conference for the remainder of the season.  Basically, winning the big games can do wonders for the conference's image nationwide and with the selection committee.

As I described earlier, there are three "big" games in this year's Big Ten/ACC Challenge:

• #13 North Carolina at #1 Indiana
• #6 North Carolina State at #5 Michigan
• #8 Ohio State at #15 Duke

 
Certainly, there are other teams in the conference with exciting match-ups, such as Minnesota and Wisconsin, but it's pretty obvious that these three games rise above the rest, especially because these are the only ranked match-ups as of now.  Regardless, I'm sure everybody noticed that Michigan is included as one of the best three match-ups.  This should be pretty exciting for fans.  Michigan has never hosted a ranked team in the ACC Challenge and Michigan hasn't hosted a non-conference opponent of this caliber since January of 2011.

Along with the talent that North Carolina State will be bringing to Ann Arbor, it's pretty obvious that this will probably be Michigan's most hyped non-conference game in a VERY, VERY, long time.  Michigan has hosted teams like Duke, Kansas, and Syracuse in Ann Arbor over the past few seasons, but it was more of a potential upset game than a real match-up.  This will be the first time that Michigan is not only considered to be a contender against a team like this in a long time, but may actually be favored.

Michigan has faced some great teams at home over the last few seasons, primarily in Big Ten play, but there's a big difference in the excitement level depending on the status of the two teams.  Hosting a team like North Carolina State at home is pretty unique, but the chance of being favored against a team like NC State is something Wolverine fans are going to have to get used to in the future.  Personally, I would have rather played North Carolina or Duke, simply because it would have been a flashy match-up, but fans should be thrilled with this game being in Ann Arbor.

Michigan has faced North Carolina State twice before in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.  One of them was in Raleigh and the other was in Ann Arbor.  The teams split the two match-ups, with each team winning their home game.  This does little to predict the impending match-up of the two teams, but it does show a little history between the teams and hopefully a sign of a Michigan victory.  I'm very excited for this game and I'm just happy college basketball has the Big Ten/ACC Challenge to create great games like this that otherwise would probably not happen.