 | Alan Goldenbach The Bronx Bomber |
Let's hop in our DeLoreans and go back in time a bit. Say to the middle of October, before the college basketball season got underway.
Excuse me, Mr. Basketball expert, what is the key to success for Michigan this season?"
"Well there, mental midget, that's a pretty dumb question. Michigan's frontcourt will be what takes the Wolverines to the Final Four. No doubt about it."
Now that we are midway through Michigan's Big Ten slate, we know that there is plenty of doubt about it.
So far this conference season, the most important factor in Michigan's success has been its backcourt. Louis Bullock and Travis Conlan have been the Wolverines steadiest, and overall, most valuable players.
And Saturday's game against Michigan State was the backcourt's ultimate test thus far. At least, the ultimate test of its endurance.
With Brandun Hughes suspended for the game, Michigan coach Steve Fisher pretty much asked starters Louis Bullock and Travis Conlan to give ironman efforts. That simply entailed playing close to, if not all of, the full 40 minutes.
What Fisher didn't expect was for the pair to have two of the best games of their collegiate careers.
Bullock virtually sealed the victory for Michigan in the first half when he hit all five of his 3-point-attempts, en route to 22 points for the game. All Conlan did was score a career-high 12 points and dish out a Michigan season-best nine assists.
"Bullock got into one of his shooting frenzies where you knew he was going to make it every time he tried to shoot it," Fisher said.
"Travis Conlan," he continued, "played about as good a total game as he has played for us since he has been here at Michigan."
What made their performances all the more astounding was that Bullock and Conlan were doing it with only Ron Oliver to back them up. With all due respect, Oliver is a very capable fourth guard but shouldn't be expected to assume Hughes' minutes. Both Conlan and Bullock almost surpassed Oliver's season total Saturday alone, playing a combined 73 out of a possible 80 minutes.
At times, you just have to wonder how the big men stole all the attention in the preseason.
Times like when Bullock hit three 3-pointers in 56 seconds late in the first half to give Michigan its 23-point halftime lead.
Times like when Conlan drove the lane and whipped a no-look pass across his body, in true Magic Johnson form, to Maceo Baston for a sensational dunk.
Times like when the two of them walked off the court at the end of the game looking at the scoreboard and seeing a 20-point Michigan advantage.
But these times where the backcourt has won the game for Michigan aren't new. They've been happening all season.
Like when Conlan's all-around excellent effort against Duke held Michigan together when Maurice Taylor was in foul trouble.
Like the 11 times this season when Bullock has led Michigan scoring.
Like Hughes' 18-point effort against Iowa's Andre Woolridge, the Big Ten's best player.
How many times this season have you looked at the Wolverines' frontcourt at the end of a game and said that Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor or Maceo Baston was the deciding factor tonight?
Maybe a couple of times, if that. But certainly not as many times as you have about the backcourt.
Certainly, there hasn't been anything close to a 35-point outburst from Taylor or 20-rebound game from Baston to turn the game around.
"We have a pretty good inside-outside combination," Fisher said, "and we need to make sure we utilize it."
That's been the problem thus far. Before the season, everyone was saying that Michigan had to go to the low post and establish its frontcourt's physical dominance. And the Wolverines are stuck on that philosophy. Rarely do they look to the perimeter as their first scoring option.
But the frontcourt hasn't established the type of dominance that people expected. And Michigan will just be hurting itself by ignoring the very viable scoring threats it has outside of the paint. This isn't to say that the Wolverines should play with three guards at all times, but they should start to look outside for offense more often.
Especially if Conlan continues to gain more confidence in his jumper and fires up more than four shots a game.
"I have that confidence that I had in high school," Conlan said. "I'm playing well with it so I just got to keep rolling with it."
And if that happens, you won't be hearing quotes like these from Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves:
"(Coming into Saturday's game) we didn't respect Conlan's shooting."
Probably, neither did Michigan.
And that should change.
- Alan Goldenbach can be reached over e-mail at agold@umich.edu
KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
Travis Conlan contorts himself for two of his career-high 12 points Saturday.