The first Big Ten program to release their 2010 schedule is Michigan. The Wolverines have scheduled themselves quite a challenging road next year. Rich Maloney's side has road trips to Lubbock, Texas where they will face Maine twice and the home-standing Red Raiders twice. There are three games at national powerhouse North Carolina and a four game trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where the Maize and Blue will take on Coastal Carolina twice in what's becoming an annual match-up.
Of course, there's the Big East/Big Ten Challenge contests with Louisville, St. John's and South Florida.
The home docket opens with a three game series versus IPFW. The Big Ten portion of the slate has Purdue, Iowa, Ohio State and Northwestern at Ray Fisher Stadium. The conference road series are at Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Penn State. There's also a home-and-home with Michigan State, but that's a midweek non-Big Ten affair. Weird, but credit to both programs for working around the scheduling hiccup.
There is also a home-and-home date with Notre Dame. The usual in-state MAC opposition appears (EMU, CMU, WMU) as does a sneaky Ball State side. This is certainly a difficult schedule. One that could yield an at-large NCAA Tournament berth, if Michigan can win enough games.
Formerly Anonymous gives a more detailed preview over at MGoBlog and projects UM's won-loss record.
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3 comments:
The more I look, the lower that win total keeps getting. The more I think about our starting pitching, the lower that win total keeps getting. The more I think about our lead off hitter (or potential lack thereof), the lower that win total keeps getting. The more I think, aww forget it. I'm going to stop thinking. I've got 5 months to fill.
Thanks for the link.
It's the starting pitching that's cause for concern for me, FA. It would seem to be a rotation that would rely heavily on untested arms or underclassmen. Generally, that's not the road to success.
On a positive note, I am optimistic about the offense. LaMarre and Dufek are as good as anyone's 3-4 hitters and I have unreasonable faith in the development of guys like McLouth and Crank.
Yet, can they hit their way into the NCAAs?
Who wins the Big Ten this year? I'm picking OSU. I'm not sure they will lose any Friday games with Wimmers on the mound, and they have the returning Big Ten POY back to anchor the lineup. Any other guesses?
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