Michigan

Well the first game I am going to talk about is the game that happened last night. North Carolina Central (NCCU) visited Ann Arbor. NCCU has played a pretty tough schedule, and are in their transition year to division one basketball. Admittedly this is the first time I have seen Michigan play. I figured them as an below average team. First thing i noticed about this team is they have 11 out of 15 players on there team are freshman and sophomores. Michigan comes in 7-2 to the game. Some of there notable players is Tim Hardaway Jr., Jordan Morgan, and Darrius Norris. Norris is a guard who has some real potential. It will take some time but he could be great player. Hardaway Jr. has some talent as well. Michigan's style of play is a spread out offense and they really like to shoot the three. They put up 29 3's in the game. Shooting wise I wasn't that impressed. They really used there offensive rebounding, and points of turnovers to make up the difference in the game which ended up being 20. NCCU is far below a quality opponent. However the defense that Michigan played was very tough. Mostly man to man, and switched screens. It was really hard for NCCU to move the ball and get good shots.

Final thoughts:
Michigan can beat quality teams if they have a good shooting night. They play good defense and don't turn the ball over. If they do play a good team they will struggle if they can't shoot well. John Beilein has something to look forward to in the future, but for now they are still not a premier team.

The Sunday Night Post returns....

Well tonight I have many things to share with you. I finally went and scanned some cards that I have received from purchases and through the mail in the past few weeks.
First is C.J. and Willie. Both of these cards come from a purchase. I glad I got these because I don't think I have them in my collection. They are tough signers.

Andres Galarraga. The "Big Cat" I really enjoyed watching him play first base for the Braves in the late 90's. He was a good first basemen who could hit well as well. I had been looking to get one of these for awhile, and I am happy to finally have one.

Ryan and Carl were two more from a purchase. I am as happy to get Carl Everett as I was to get the Big Cat. Once again he is a player I enjoyed watching late in his career. He is a great hitter, and last I knew he was still playing in an Independent league.

For the long time followers you are familiar with my Brooklyn Dodger project. Ireceived another one back a few days ago from Jim Gentile. He also added an over sized card to the envelope.
Here is a great article about Jim Gentile (Article Link)
Next is Joel Quenneville. He was the coach of the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. I am very happy to get this one back. I really like his signature in the silver, and I really like that it is on my own custom card.
Yes!!! A greats of the game sighting. No I haven't given up on this. I just got this back from a private signing. I have practically gotten most that sign through the mail for free. Now I am just waiting to get some of the ones that charge and then also the tough ones. This one was a tough one, and I got it done reasonably cheap. The signature looks great, and I couldn't be happier.

I hope this will suffice for my Sunday Night post. I think that Tuesday m going to try and do my first game analysis. Tennessee plays at 7:00 so look for a 10:00 or so post.

Cody Zeller

So I traveled down to Washington, Indiana to watch Indiana's big recruit for next year Cody Zeller. First of all if you have never been to Washington's gym affectionatlly called the Hatchet house its a great experience. Its a bowl seated gym, and sits about 7090 fans. It wasn't a packed house tonight but I would say 3,000 people were there. They were playing Edgewood which I am sure aren't that great. They played a 2-3 collapsed zone. The zone really cover zeller up a lot. He had about three guys draped on him at all times. It was a fairly close game in the first half. Going into the half tied. Zeller did a nice job on the boards as well as sharing the ball. He didn't have many points. i believe it was about 6. I also liked the way he played man defense. I recall only one guy scoring on him, and that was a guard that hit a three on him. Second half Washington defense really picked up and so did Zeller offense. He scored 12 more points and collected more boards. Through down a few dunks. He is pretty quick once he gets the ball in the post. All in all it was a good night, and I am pretty impressed. A few years in college weight training Cody could be a very big star.

WOW!!

So I am sitting here, and I realize I haven't posted in awhile and I wish had something more to update people on, but the fact is I am moving in a few weeks, and I am afraid to send out to many cards. In January, I will be getting back into the hobby a lot harder. I am throwing around some ideas to help make this blog more than just about autographs. I really want to start talking about more sports. My main idea that I have been thinking about is just talking college basketball. Once maybe twice a week just talk about a game that I watched. I would focus more on the Big Ten because I really enjoy Big Ten basketball. You may see one of these post coming up very soon.