Decade of Despair Could End This Season for U-M Men’s Hoops
With the Michigan Men’s basketball team season in full swing, the Wolverines are poised to make a competitive run at a Big Ten Championship and more importantly, securing a berth in the NCAA Tournament, a feat that has eluded them since 1998.
If coach Jim Beilein and this year’s Wolverines do in fact surpass the pre-season expectations and achieve a tourney spot or better yet a Big Ten Title, it will be large in part due to the play of the two stars on this team; sophomore guard Corperryale "Manny" Harris and junior forward DeShawn Sims.
Harris came in as a four start rated recruit by both Scout.com and Rivals.com as well as the winner of then 2007 “Mr. Basketball”, which is awarded to the best high school payer in the entire state of Michigan. He has handled the pressure well, especially this season, following the 75-70 loss to Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on December 3, Harris was averaging over 21 points, four points and eight rebounds per game, including a season high 30 points in a win over Michigan Tech.
It’s not just Harris’ play on the court that is helping out this program. His leadership is much more evident that it was last season.
“I feel like a leader on this team,” Harris told Frank Benson of the Michigan Wolverines Examiner after the season opening win over Michigan Tech. “It’s important for us to get off to a good start.”
Sharing the work load for the Wolverines is DeShawn Sims. Sims has shown much maturity since coming in as a freshman in the 2006-2007 season, where he only averaged three points and two rebounds in less than ten minutes a game. Through the December 3 loss to Maryland, Sims was averaging 15 points, eight rebounds and one steal per game including a season high 23 in a win against Savannah State.
"We really needed this,'' Sims told Andy Katz after a win over then No. 4 ranked UCLA. "Basketball has a rich tradition at Michigan, but it's about getting the people out. The fans are loyal if you win. UCLA and Duke have incredible fan bases. We want to bring that back to Ann Arbor by doing what we have to do to win.''
It has been over a decade since the Wolverines won the conference championship. It’s been over two decades since they won a conference championship that actually counted. With the way the football season went, all eyes and hope our weighing heavily on Beilein, Harris, Sims and company to bring some much needed joy to Ann Arbor.
