For those of you wondering if UCLA was just having a bad night a few weeks ago in New York, put your doubts to rest, Michigan Basketball is for real. The Wolverines beat the #4 Duke Blue Devils this afternoon 81-73, just 16 days after losing to them in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament championship. They have now beaten two teams ranked in the top 5 in the past three weeks. This is a drastic improvement from last year when they failed to win a single game against a team ranked in the top 25.

As I’ve said in the past, the success of the Michigan basketball program will be highly indicative of what the next football season will bring. Both Beilein and Rodriguez are very system oriented coaches, and recruit according to their systems. Against UCLA, it was Beilein-recruited freshman Stu Douglass who hit the big go-ahead shot, and against Duke, it was Beilein-recruited freshman Zack Novak who hit back to back triples to shift the momentum of the game. Don’t underestimate the power of recruiting your own players as well as having a year of experience under the belts of those who were previously there.

For those who followed Michigan basketball last year, they, like the football team this year, had very strong halves, but couldn’t complete games. Michigan basketball has shown its ability to complete games this year as evidenced by these victories against top tier programs. Expect full games from the Michigan football team next season and a whole lot of freshmen talent.

As good as the basketball team has been this year they are still very young and will continue to improve. You heard it first right here: Sweet 16 in 2010.