Comparing Michigan's season-opening win to last year and what we learned

In last year's season opener, Michigan basketball breezed to a 121-78 victory over the Oakland Grizzlies. It was the first of nine times that Michigan broke the 100-point barrier. Monday night, they replicated that same feeling inside the Crisler Center with less fanfare. There were a lot of new faces to meet, and the Wolverines only won by half the margin that they did nearly 365 days ago.

The biggest difference was the absence of the best coach in Michigan basketball history. New head coach Mike Boynton Jr. lost to Oakland in Stillwater five years ago. One year later, he played the Grizzlies again and learned his lesson by beating them by 30. His leash in Ann Arbor will be much shorter if…