The Michigan basketball program announced the non-conference portion of its 2011-12 schedule on Monday. The full basketball schedule won't be out until the Big Ten finalizes its schedule for next season, but we already know which teams the Wolverines will go up against in non-conference play.
↵Michigan's season officially begins on Nov. 11 against Ferris State. A week earlier, on Nov. 4, Michigan will play Wayne State in an exhibition game. The second official game of the season is set for Nov. 14 against Towson as part of the Maui on the Mainland series. The game will be played at Crisler Arena, and after the Wolverines take on Western Illinois on Nov. 17, they will be off to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. The bracket for that tournament has not been released just yet.
↵Upon returning from Maui, Michigan's first game will be at Virginia as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Michigan will play at home on Dec. 3 against Iowa State, and a week later, on Dec. 10, the Wolverines will take on Oakland at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Michigan then has home games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec. 13), Alabama A&M (Dec. 17) and Bradley (Dec. 22) before getting ready for the start of Big Ten play.
↵Michigan's final non-conference game of the season will actually take place on Jan. 21. The Wolverines will play at Arkansas in the middle of the Big Ten portion of the schedule. Michigan has done the same thing the past few years by playing Kansas and UConn in the middle of their conference schedule, and this year the January non-conference game will take them to Arkansas.