College Basketball: Digital Big Ten Preview, #10 Michigan

Let's continue our digital minded journey through the Big Ten Conference, from less best to best. We know these programs are out there, waiting for potential recruits to click in. And we'll see who gets it and who doesn't. Thus far, our tour has shown us #11 Northwestern.

Here we go.

#10: Michigan

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: They seem to use Twitter well - with a solid directory and men's basketball page.

Weaknesses: That personal feel didn't hit the site itself. At all.

Full Scouting Report:
Michigan surprised me to say the least, as I had them ranked #1 in my Big Ten preview. With the size of the school, the history of the program, the prestige of the university, I was ready. But upon hitting the site (link here), I was a bit disappointed. This is the program that got me PUMPED long ago, with Rumeal Robinson and Glen Rice leading them to the 1989 title. Or the Fab 5 taking them to the 1993 Final Four. Michigan has been to the dance 17 times. Lots of tradition, and they were back in the tourney last year so it isn't all deep history.

Hitting the home page really isn't anything to speak of -- just a standard looking site, with nothing super dynamic. I did see the multimedia tab, or maybe I felt it calling towards me, so I clicked in.

I like these expanding navigation windows, and within the Multimedia world we see access to the Wolverines on Twitter.

Clicking on this took me to a pretty thorough directory of ways I can follow Michigan Athletics on Twitter. You'll notice there's a BUNCH of varsity teams called out below, not so many coaches. That's definitely a big opportunity for more coaches to get active, but for now I'll stand by, impressed with the showing of teams with a presence.

Naturally, I clicked in to see the Men's Basketball Twitter page. You can do the same if you click here. Normally I don't find a lot of great things in the team-driven Twitter experiences, but Michigan is doing a solid job. They've got about 2400 followers, and do a really nice job of posting pictures and seeking interaction with followers. I liked this picture they posted of the team out on the track, plus the comment that "don't worry, the big men were out there too."

OK, back to the home page. Now you'll notice under the main navigation bar is the phrase "M Zone". Not sure what that would be, but I was intrigued enough to click in. Here you can see a section with access to lots of social media icons. See this image below.


Naturally, I'm going to click around those icons. The Twitter icon takes you to the Twitter directory we talked about earlier. A bit redundant, but I guess it's ok. The Facebook icon doesn't take you to a directory, but rather to this page - the Michigan Football Facebook page.

And the YouTube icon? It takes you to the MGoBlueDotCom YouTube channel, where the 3 videos up feature 1) hockey, 2) NFL draft, and 3) Water Polo. (could that be any more strange a combination?)

As you can imagine, I'm a bit freaked out by the lack of consistency and the lack of basketball. So I'm going to go seek refuge in the basketball section.

I click on the Men's Basketball home page (link here), and don't really see anything dynamic whatsoever. I see two things that grab my attention in the box to the right. But there is no way to follow the program, no callout to the Twitter page, and no video content shown here.





First, Inside Michigan Basketball. That has potential. ESPN has their insider feature. Maybe this is what we're after?

Um, no.

The other one I was intrigued by was the Men's Basketball History. As you can gather, I am pretty intrigued by this one. Michigan has a pretty rich history... but not so rich an experience below. Sigh.

Michigan, a program seeking to redefine and drive new energy in basketball should revisit this programming. Find a way to offer insight into their current program and drive that connection to their very rich history in the process.

Thanks for sticking with me. Tune in tomorrow as we continue our journey through the Big Ten.

Andy