11/8/2005 – Week #01 – Here We Go Again

Welcome back to "Nothing But 'Net" for the 2005-2006 season.  Once again, I'm really looking forward to following and rooting for the Wolverines this season, and once again, things look promising.  Of course, things looked promising last year at this time, but a funny thing happened on the way to the NCAA Tournament.

Actually, what happened last season wasn't funny at all.  Between injuries and off-court legal problems, UM played almost all their games without one starter (Lester Abram), and about half their games without another (Daniel Horton).  Toss in shorter injuries to a third starter (Graham Brown), two key substitutes (Chris Hunter and Brent Petway), and two lesser-used substitutes (Ashtyn Bell and Dani Wohl), and you have all the ingredients for a disappointing season, and that's what we got.  Instead of making it to the NCAA Tournament, UM finished 13-18, and lost in the 1st round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Here's a table I whipped up for my last column last season that graphically shows all the injury and suspension problems they had:

Game

Abram

Bell

Brown

Horton

Hunter

Petway

Wohl

Binghamton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colorado

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sacramento State

Injury

 

Injury

 

 

 

 

Arizona

Injury

Injury

 

 

 

 

 

Providence

Injury

Injury

 

 

 

 

 

Georgia Tech

Injury

Injury

 

 

 

 

 

Notre Dame

 

Injury

 

 

 

 

 

High Point

Injury

Injury

Injury

Injury

 

 

 

South Florida

Injury

 

Injury

Injury

 

 

Injury

Boston University

Injury

 

Injury

Injury

 

 

Injury

UCLA

Injury

 

Injury

Injury

 

 

Injury

Delaware State

Injury

 

Injury

Injury

 

 

Injury

UNC-Asheville

Injury

 

Injury

Injury

 

 

Injury

Iowa

Injury

 

Injury

 

 

 

 

Fairfield

Injury

 

Injury

 

Injury

 

 

Northwestern

Injury

 

 

 

Injury

Injury

 

Penn State

Injury

 

 

 

Injury

Injury

 

Indiana

Injury

 

 

 

Injury

 

 

Wisconsin

Injury

 

 

 

Injury

 

 

Michigan State

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Purdue

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Minnesota

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Ohio State

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Illinois

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Michigan State

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Wisconsin

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Indiana

Injury

 

 

Suspend

 

 

 

Penn State

Injury

 

 

Suspend

Injury

 

 

Northwestern

Injury

 

 

Suspend

Injury

 

 

Iowa

Injury

 

 

Suspend

Injury

 

 

Northwestern

Injury

 

 

Suspend