The Hoosiers are finishing up their cupcakes and the New Year is nearly upon us, which can mean only one thing: It’s Big Ten Preview Time! Here’s a look at the teams that will challenge the Hoosiers for the conference crown … or fall under the weighty boot of crimson dominance. Probably the latter. Today: Michigan.

There are two things you need to know about Michigan in 2007-08. The first: They have a new coach in John Beilein, a system-oriented coach known for maximizing his overmatched teams’ potential. The second: His new team has very little potential to maximize.

The Wolverines are almost entirely new this season. Not only do they have a new coach, but their starting five is 80 percent new; only Ron Coleman returns. That means no Courtney Sims, no Lester Abram, no Dion Harris, and none of Brent Petway’s occasionally brilliant highlights. That also means no Tommy Amaker, whose inability to turn last year’s senior-laden lineup into anything better than a marginal bubble team sent him packing to Harvard before he had the chance to coach this year’s rebuilding effort.

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