4B - Monday, November 11, 2013
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
THE MICHIGAN DAILY TOP-10 POLL
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first place votes receiving 10 points, second-place votes receiving nine, and so on.
1. ALABAMA (19): The 2. FLORIDA STATE (1): 3. OHIO STATE : The 4. BAYLOR: The Bears 5. STANFORD: The
Crimson Tide had 214 The Seminoles had 110 Aww; Buckeyes had a bye... and had 276 more rushing Cardinal had 295 more
more rushingyyards tharm had 21 more rushing yards yards than Michigan. rushing yards than
Michigan. Michigan. -than Michigan. Michigan.
6. OREGON: The Ducks 7. MISSOURI: The Tigers B. AUBURN: The Tigers 9. CLEMSON: These 10. TEXAS A&M: As
had 83 more rushing had 244 more rushing had 465 more rushing Tigers also had a bye, and Mary Sue would say, "The
yards than Michigan. yards than Michigan. yards than Michigan. ____ falso had 21 more rushing ... Aggies... had ... 320 ...
yards than Michigan. A more ... rushing...yards...
Tigers on Tigers than ... Michigan."
STAFF PICKS Me'"nie
Kruvelis,
The Daily football writers do their best Editorial Page
to predict, against the spread, what Zach Everett Matt Liz Editor
Helfand Cook Slovin Vukelich
happens in the 2013 football season.
No.1Alabamat-13) vs. No.13 LSU LSU5 LSU Alabama Alabama
No.2FloridaState(-35) at sakeForest FlordaStte ForidaState Wake Forest WakeForest WakeFort
No 3Orego(00.5) at No.5Stanford Stanford Staford OregoneOrone Stanford
No.6Baylor(-15)vs .No10Oklahorna Baylor Baylor Oklahoma Baylor Oklahoma
o. Mssurit-14)atKaentuc Missouri Misui Missour Missouri Kentucky
No.9Auburn(-8) at Tennessee Auburn Auburn Tennessee Auburn Auburn
N Mami(FI)(-7) s.Virgi aTech Miami(FI Miarni(FL) Miami(FL) VignilaTechV irgiaTeh
No.14Oklahoma State(-31) vs Kansas Kansas Oklahoma State Oklahoma State Oklahoma State Kansas
NTxasA&M(-19)v. Missppatate MississippiState TexasA&M Mississipp State Txas A&M Mississ iptata
No. 16 Fresno State(-10)at Wyoming Fresno State Fresno State Fresno State Wyoming Fresno State
No.19UCLA-1) atArizona UCLA UCLA UCLA Arizona UCLA
No. 20 Louisvillea(-28) atConnecticut Connecticut Louisvile Connecticut Louisville Concticut
No. 21 tCt-10.5)vs Houston UCF UCF UCF UCF Houston.
No. 22 ArizonaState (-7) at Utah AizoaState ArizonaaState AizonaState Utah ArizonaState
No. 23 otreaDame(-4.5) atPttsburgh NotreaDame Notet Dame Pittsburgh Notre DamePittsburgh
No.24Wisconsin(-7.5)vs.BYU BYU Wisconsin Wisconsin BYU BYU
No25Texas Techt-3) vs. Kansas State Texas Tech Texas Tech Texas Tech Texas Tech Kansas State
Minnesota(-3)vs. Penn State Penn State Penn State PennState Minnesota Minnesota
lowat- 5)at Purdue Iowa mowa mowa Iowa Purdue
Indiana (10) vs. IllinoisI ndiana Indiana Illinois Indiana Indiana
Mchgan(-7)vs.Nebraska Michigan Netbaska Nebraska Michigan Michigan
This Week 11-10 11-10 10-11 10-11 12-9
Overall 133-110 123-120 15093 130.113 1-9
5 Things We Learned: UMass Lowell
0
0'
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
1. The starting lineup, for one
thing.
The key element in Michigan
coach John Beilein's new starting
lineup was the decision to put an
extra wing on the floor in lieu of
two big men.
That meant fifth-year senior
center Jordan Morgan, who start-
ed both exhibition games along-
side redshirt junior Jon Horford,
began the game on the bench and
played just 12 minutes in Friday's
69-42 win over UMass Lowell. By
comparison, Horford saw nearly
double thattime as the starter.
After sophomore guard Spike
Albrecht started the first exhi-
bition game at point guard, it
appeared as though the sopho-
more might see more playingctime
over freshman Derrick Walton
rat least thefrs ,waekorsoe.
But Walton started the second
exhibition game and got the nod
in the season opener, playing 27
minutes to Albrecht's 12. The
distribution of minutes showed
that there may not be anything
resembling a time share and that
Albrecht is simply a capable back-
up point guard.
Sophomores Caris LeVert, Nik
Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III
rounded out the rest of the start-
ing lineup.
"That's a lineup that you'll
probably see quite a bit out there
at different times as we wait
for Mitch (McGary) to return,"
Beilein said.
2. Caris LeVert is too good to keep
on the bench.
Central to that determination
to scrap the two-big men plans
in favor of a smaller lineup was
LeVert. He flipped spots with
Moazara an nr.e.aseintod-uca-
tions, getting his name called on
the loudspeaker while Morgan
lined up on the side to high-five
the starters. The roles had been
reversed for the two exhibition
games.
"As we went through this
thing, we had 30 practice days
trying to find some way to play
with two big guys," Beilein said.
"Really, it wasn't about that. It
was about Caris LeVert. Let's get
him on the floor any way that we
can."
LeVert outscored every per-
son in Crisler Center on Friday,
totaling 17 points on 11 shots and
pulling down five rebounds. He
highlighted the night with a slick
up-and-under move, finishing on
the right side of the rim and get-
ting fouled for the and-one.
"His quickness, his second
dribble, he just explodes by peo-
ple," Beilein said. "And then you
complement that with a really
solid 3-noint shot"
LeVert made Beilein look like a
smart man on Friday.
3. There's no established, give-
me-the-ball scorer.
There are scorers on Michigan,
but as of now, no one with the
assassin-type mentality to take
and make the bigshot.
Robinson is probably the most
talented scorer on the roster, but
his game relies on open space,
and not so much a 1-on-1 game.
He's able to throw down the
alley-oop or exploit a mismatch to
drive past a defender or crash the
offensive boards with a put-back.
But his ability to break down a
defender from the perimeter to
create a jump shot is less devel-
oped.
Other options are Stauskas or
LeVert, but at this point, they're
unproven in those situations.
The weakness manifested
in the first half when the Wol-
verines couldn't buy a field goal
after jumping out to an 8-0 lead.
Missed layups, tentative shooting
and ill-advised 3-pointers hurt
Michigan as the River Hawks tied
the game going into halftime.
"It was a stagnant first half,
that's for sure," Beilein said. "The
offense had to make a couple
shots. The guys that are out there
on that floor right now, they had
a couple good games, but they
never had to make those big
plays in games that Trey (Burke)
and Tim (Hardaway Jr.) used to
always make."
4. Derrick Walton is no Trey
Burke, but you knew that.
Clearly. Of course.
Still, there was Ac rtzinty
over just how impressive Walton
would be. To what extent could
he approach Burke's level of play
as a freshman? What would he be
able to bring to the table?
Through two exhibitions
and one regular season game,
the answer seems to be "a good
amount."
Walton has been just as
impressive as Burke on defense,
being found guilty of copyright
infringement of Burke's patented
PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Sophomore guard Nik Stasukasa scored nine points in the first game ofthe year.
steal in the backcourt as the ball-
handler tries to turn away from
the defender while switching the
ball hand.
offensively, there's less pol-
ish. Walton, while quick, isn't as
dynamic in transition and hasn't
proven himself to be as consistent
of a finisher near the rim. He has
also yet to reign in the concept of
pace. Burke made himself an elite
point guard by changing speeds
and keeping the defense off bal-
ance. Though it may have been
because of opening-night nerves,
Walton seemed to be going at 100
miles per hour at all times. He
finished with four points on 1-for-
4 shooting, four assists and one
turnover.
5. Bold prediction: Barring injury,
the starting lineup won't change
by New Year's.
It seems that the experimental
phase of Beilein's futzing with the
lineup is over with. That is, until
Mitch McGary returns from his
back injury. But the implication
of this prediction is that I don't
expect McGary to be back until
Big Ten season in January.
It's looking like LeVert, Staus-
kas and Robinson are the best
players on the team, so there'd
be little pressure to remove them
from the starting lineup. Keeping
those three means that there's
only one big man on the floor
in addition to the point guard.
Though freshman forward Zak
Irvin might be good enough to
start, there's simply no room in
the starting lineup for him.
It seems unlikely that Wal-
ton would lose his starting spot
given the allocation of minutes
between him and Albrecht in the
first game. It would take some
considerable struggles by Wal-
ton in the first month or two for
Beilein to make a change. Pulling
the Michigan point guard of the
future out of the starting lineup
would be damaging to the young-
ster's confidence.
Only center remains, and it 0
seems to be the position most
susceptible to a lineup change.
Horford won the starting job, and
he rebounds better than Morgan,
pulling down 12 boards in the
opener. Neither is very dynamic
on offense. Morgan runs the floor
better, but Horford misses fewer
easy shots. If, in his senior season,
Morgan didn't win the starting
position by the opener, it seems
unlikely that he would do so later
on unless the incumbent is par-
ticularly incompetent.