Part two of a look at Michigan’s participation in the Nick Colleluori Classic. Part one looked at their performance in the 2011 event. This will take a look at the 2012 event, Michigan’s second in Division-1 history. Part three will preview Michigan’s two opponents.
The Teams
Last year, based on the evidence we had going into the game, St. Joseph’s was the only team expected to be in Michigan’s league. Although we didn’t yet know the Wolverines were going to be pretty bad, they were the only new team in the field, and the other teams (with 2011 Tempo-Free rankings) were the following:
- Lehigh University (27)
- St. Joseph’s University (60)
- Colgate University (21)
- Mt. St. Mary’s University (26)
- Cornell University (3)
- Hofstra University (8)
- Towson University (35)
- University of Michigan (N/A)
- Marist College (40)
That’s a couple top-flight programs, several middle-of-the-pack ones, a bad St. Joseph’s team and a brand new Michigan one.
This year, the field includes the following teams (with 2012 rankings in parentheses):
- Colgate University (13)
- High Point University (N/A)
- Hofstra University (22)
- Lehigh University (12)
- Marist College (44)
- Marquette University (N/A)
- University of Michigan (59)
- Mount St. Mary’s University (42)
- Robert Morris University (25)
- St. Joseph’s University (48)
- Villanova University (27)
The overall field is a bit weaker, and obviously the presence of two new programs (High Point and Marquette) along with a second-year program in Michigan means it’s a bit more… developmental… a group this time around.
Michigan’s Opponents
The Wolverines will play in the two earliest time slots of the day, taking on Marist on Field 2 at 9 a.m. and Mount St. Mary’s on Field 1 at 10:30. Marist is a conference opponent of Detroit, Michigan’s in-state rival (they had other common opponents in Rutgers and Jacksonville, as well). The Wolverines themselves took on Mount St. Mary’s last year in an ugly 6-15 loss at the Big House.
As for those two teams’ other opponents on the weekend, both the Red Foxes and The Mount take on St. Joseph’s, so Michigan should get a decent idea where they stack up against those three programs (whether the scores indicate that is a different story altogether).
Another team to keep an eye on is Marquette. The Wolverines will play MU in a spring exhibition game to kick off the season, and it’ll be interesting to see how their first year as a program goes, not least of which because it stands in a marked contrast to Michigan’s immediate promotion of a club team.