4B - Monday, November 11, 2013 L . o ( 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.