When Division II Le Moyne College beat No. 25 Syracuse on Tuesday, Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein estimates he received 10-15 text messages the next day.
“Finally, Le Moyne has a good coach,” one of them read.
The reason for the influx of texts is the same reason Michigan fans don’t need to worry about the Wolverines overlooking Wayne State, their own Division II opponent, for tonight’s exhibition game.
Beilein coached at Le Moyne for nine years, and he knows exactly how good Division II teams can be.
“These guys can play, too,” he said.
Michigan knows it can’t take any opponent lightly, especially when the Wolverines’ leading scorer is not at full strength. Junior Manny Harris is still limited in practice by a nagging hamstring injury.
Beilein is looking to see who steps up tonight with Harris not at full strength.
“Manny can’t go 100 percent, so who’s the guy who gives us some of what Manny does?” Beilein said. “We need to have a backup plan.”
Regardless of the injury, Beilein plans on shuffling the lineup, which is still far from set. The most obvious battle will be for the point guard position.
The leading contenders right now are sophomore Stu Douglass, redshirt sophomore Laval Lucas-Perry and freshman Darius Morris.
Morris is perceived to be the purest point guard of the three, since it’s the position he played through high school. And despite having never before played at the collegiate level, he has impressed his teammates in practice.
“He works hard and he picks up on things real quick,” Harris said. “He’s a good passer, and he can score.”
In the paint, the Wolverines plan on sticking with redshirt junior Anthony Wright, redshirt senior Zack Gibson and DeShawn Sims.
However, Beilein wants to try to work in redshirt freshman Ben Cronin, who is coming off a hip injury from last season.
“We think he might be a gamer,” Beilein said. “A guy who’s good in practice but just seems to have a feel in games and knows how to get things done.”
Not only will fans get to see Morris and a healthy Cronin for the first time, they will also get their first look at freshman shooting guard Matt Vogrich, last year’s Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year.
The main purpose of tomorrow’s game is to see how much the freshmen have developed.
“It’s a game, you’re going to go out there and compete to win,” Novak said. “But it’s also good to just go out and get your feet wet, especially for the freshmen.”