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Out of Bounds John Leroi |
CLEVELAND - One thing became quite clear after Michigan's 80-74 win over Cleveland State, Saturday.
Michigan is not the seventh-best team in the country. Both major polls had the Wolverines rated as high before Saturday's squeaker against the Vikings.
But after Michigan struggled to knock off a pesky Cleveland State squad, either the Wolverines are ranked far too high or the Vikings are a lock for No. 8 this week - not a likely scenario.
Despite a large height advantage, and an even larger edge in talent, Cleveland State was one 3-pointer away from winning the game. With the Vikings down by just three with 33 seconds left, the consensus on press row was that Cleveland State would pull this one out.
Had freshman James Madison, who had canned five threes already, not missed an open shot from 22 feet, the Wolverines would have probably lost.
Michigan, up by just three at the half, began the second with a 17-2 run. The Wolverines had a 57-41 lead with 13 1/2 minutes left in the game. With 2:34 left, the Vikings were down by just a bucket.
After letting Cleveland State climb back into a game that it should have been blown out of, the Wolverines played well enough to pull out the win.
That is to their credit.
What is inexcusable, however, is that No. 7 Michigan didn't handily stomp Cleveland State.
The Wolverines, much larger than their Midwest Collegiate Conference counterparts, only managed to outrebound the Vikings 39-32. That is ridiculous, considering that Cleveland State took eight more shots than Michigan did, missing six of them.
"I thought we'd have a chance to use our size and strength to wear them down," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said after the game. "It looked like, at times, we were going to, but they wouldn't let that happen."
Fisher even had to use 6-foot-9 forward Maceo Baston to help out up front. Fisher had hoped to rest Baston, out with a strained Achilles tendon since early November, at least until tonight's game against Bradley or Thursday's matchup with Detroit.
It turned out Baston's help was vital. He had nine points and pulled down two boards in just 10 minutes of action.
More important, Baston sank five of his six attempts from the free throw line down the stretch and caused two turnovers to spark the 17-2 Michigan run.
Even with the Baston's return, the Wolverines didn't play like they should have. The Vikings made more shots from the floor, and more threes. If it weren't for 20 points from the charity stripe, on just 20-for-33 shooting, Michigan would have been sunk.
Don't get me wrong. Michigan didn't play terribly.
In fact, Cleveland State played exceptionally well.
The Vikings are no longer a Midwest patsy, tucked neatly on major teams schedules between Illinois-Chicago and Adrian.
New coach Rollie Massimino, who has 423 career victories at Villanova and UNLV tucked under his belt, brings immediate credibility to the program.
The Vikings, who have gone through only one decade with a winning record, overcame a 30-point deficit in their season opener against Georgetown. They ended up losing by 10.
Massimino had his troops ready for Michigan. The Vikings shot well from the perimeter and held their own inside, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds and scoring 17 second-chance points.
They played aggressive defense and, save a few traveling violations in the paint, rarely made a mistake.
"I thought our players played absolutely super," a dejected Massimino said. "Not good, super. They hung in there, they defended, they went after people, they didn't back down.
"You're talking about our little 6-5 guy playing a 6-9 Michigan guy who weighs 300 pounds. I think you've got to give our guys a tremendous amount of credit."
Deservedly so. Still, this wasn't a game that should have been in doubt with less than a minute to go. This wasn't a game that the 10,123 fans in Goodman Arena should have stuck around past halftime for.
This was the No. 7 team in the country playing Cleveland State, maybe the worst team on Michigan's schedule.
This was a game that the Wolverines should have killed the Vikings on the boards and in the paint and won by 20.
This was a game that Maurice Taylor should have dominated. Taylor scored 17 points and led all players with 10 rebounds, a solid performance for sure. But he took just 14 shots and made only six of them.
A 6-9, 250-pound All-Big Ten forward, one who NBA scouts are clamoring over, ought to put teams like Cleveland State away.
"They were pretty small," Taylor said. "We could have done better."
That is certainly true. It's good to know that the Wolverines can pull out the close ones, win games when they don't play well.
But No. 7? If Michigan wants to stay there, it'll have to play much better.
- John Leroi can be reached over e-mail at jrleroi@umich.edu.