- Michigan offer finally comes Cassity’s way
Illinois Prep Bullseye reports Cassity recieves an offer. Will he drop? I think SIU is a real player here. Cassity seems like a good compliment to Stu and Novak, a skilled passer who does all the little things. - Kyle Cassity Illinois Class 2a Player of the Year
- U-M is still a work in progress
Wojo with a pretty good take on the state of the program. - Sims-Beilein relationship
Lacy with some good quotes from DeShawn Sims on John Beilein and recruiting. Merrit is a “game time decision”. - Rose would help program blossom
The Michigan Daily wants Jalen as an assistant. I don’t really see Jalen leaving TV but who knows. - Michigan upbeat entering Big Ten tournament
More from DeShawn and others. - Senior Shooting Guard Plans Visits ($)
Latest on Ebuka’s recruitment - Zack Novak Report (mgoblog)
Brian at MGoBlog digs up some good stuff on Novak (scroll down a bit) - As season ends, memories remain
Douglass and Carmel look back on a successful season with a disappointing finish.
Monthly Archive for March, 2008Page 3 of 4
The newest Michigan commitment Zack Novak has agreed to take reader submitted questions from all of you guys. Anyone can submit a question, just leave it in the comments area of this post. I will leave this up for a day or two (depending on how fast the questions come in) and then have Zack answer them. So don’t wait, lets hear some questions.
I updated to 08 Hot Board to reflect Novak’s commitment as well as the latest on other recruits. Also bluebufoon received this scouting report on Novak from Indiana Basketball News:
“Great shooter to 25′ , rugged physically and great anticipator who perfectly positions his body in all situations. He will be a very good player for Michigan…
The All Big Ten teams were announced tonight on the Big Ten Network and as expected there were not many Michigan names on the list. Manny Harris was named to the 2nd and freshman teams by both the coaches and media. This is a pretty reasonable spot for Manny and there is not really anyone I would swap him with on the first or third teams. The all-freshman team consists of Moore, Manny, Gordon, Hummel, and Koufos. The “snub” that we will be hearing about I am sure is Kalin Lucas from MSU. However Moore’s slightly better numbers and playing on a better team make him deserving for the honor in my opinion.
Ekpe Udoh made the all-defensive team but I think he could make a case for defensive player of the year. Ekpe averaged 2.9 blocks per game and .8 steals but again I can see giving the nod to Kramer for playing on the far better defensive team overall.
Other Michigan players honored were DeShawn Sims getting honorable mention notice from the coaches and Ron Coleman with the sportsmanship award. Congrats to all the Michigan players honored, you can check out the full teams here.
Zack Novak committed to Michigan according to Rivals and Scout. For more info on Novak check here for old reports. Also I did not see Justin Watts at the game and don’t think he was there but I am not 100% sure. Jordan Morgan was definetely in the house though.
Zack Novak video (#32 red): Sectionals (vs Merrillville), and vs Crown Point.
The latest on Kyle Cassity from IllinoisHSBasketball.com:
“I’m going up on an official visit to Michigan and coming back on Tuesday,” Cassity said. “I had a good time (at the state tournament). It didn’t come out the way we wanted it too, but it was certainly a time I will always remember,” he added.
According to Cassity, Michigan has not extended a scholarship offer yet, but some experts are speculating that Michigan has not been candid about their plan to offer the 6-5 wing on the visit. “There is no scholarship offer yet,” affirmed Cassity. “I’m excited to get up and check stuff out. They are in the Big Ten, the coach seems like a nice guy, and distance isn’t real bad.”
What a fitting way to end the season. All year there have been spurts of good play that are ruined by 5 or 10 minutes of terrible play. Michigan outplayed Purdue for over 30 minutes today and then let it all fall apart down the end.
Some notable numbers:
- Ekpe had 13 points and 9 boards but he only had 1 rebound in the second half. 13 points, 9 boards, 3 blocks and 6 assists is a damn good night for Mr. Udoh.
- Manny had 7 turnovers and no assists. Grady had 5 turnovers and 5 assists. Ekpe Udoh had 6 assists and 1 turnover.
- Purdue shot a miserable 26% in the first half but heated up in the second shooting 58%.
- Purdue was 8-18 shooting the long ball while Michigan was 7 of 26. Yikes
- Michigan outrebounded Purdue 41-33 which is hard to believe from watching the game.
DeShawn Sims finally brought his a-game with 19 points and 6 boards. He needs to bring it every night next year for this team to have a chance at being good. Although he still plays lazy at times it was good to see him take it to the hole a couple times. Mental lapses and lazy defense (did anyone see him just hug a Purdue player instead of fighting through a pick?) still plague Peedi but he always does enough to remind you how talented he is. Manny struggled and had one of his worst games of the year. He never really could get into it after the early foul trouble but 7 turnovers in 25 minutes is scary. Kelvin Grady is really killing this team by not being a scoring threat on the court. A bunch of times he would penetrate and make ridiculous passes to a Boilermaker, no one, or the sidelines. Laval Lucas-Perry will be a huge boost for this backcourt next year.
It is peculiar that this is the first time turnovers have been a big problem for this team. We all remember the talk about the basketball fundamental drills at the start of the year. Well they were clearly absent to tonight. The number of sloppy turnovers (24) was just startling. The stretch that lost the game was a series of sloppy turnovers and big time three point shooting.
Tough loss but we have gotten used to them this year. Michigan plays Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament 8-9 game on Thursday.
Michigan goes for the upset on Senior Night in Ann Arbor today. We all know that it’s been a long season but a couple wins down the stretch against Purdue and in the Big Ten Tournament could provide some momentum for next year.
The first game against Purdue was actually closer than expected as Michigan stayed in the game through most of the second half (boxscore). Grant went wild shooting threes in the first contest and that was the game changer. Michigan got 25 from Manny and 15 from DeShawn and not much else from anyone. I like to think that our role players have improved a bit so maybe we can get more from the bench and other starters.
It’s senior night for Ron Coleman. By this point Ronnie is what he is and he seems like a good kid who just didn’t have enough skill to make an impact on this level. The painful part was finding that out year after year. Hopefully Ronnie can go out and have a big game to cap off his career at Crisler.
As mentioned, Justin Watts will be in the house. It would be great to show him a good game and have a good crowd. Tickets are still available at the box office and students get in free.
Purdue is a very tough matchup for Michigan (or any team) which makes it confusing that Michigan played so close with them the first time. I guess anytime Manny scores 25 we will at least be in the game. Purdue runs a lot of versatile guys at you that can all shoot it and creates a matchup nightmare. I think Michigan holds close in this one for a while but Purdue is just too talented and skilled across the board to lose to this Michigan team.
UMHoops Prediction: Purdue 69 - Michigan 62
- Kyle Cassity made Illinois class 2a all-state first team and reportedly received a Michigan offer Wednesday and possible even verballed?. It sounds now like Kyle has NOT verballed to Michigan but he does have an offer. More tomorrow.
- Ben Cronin’s team fell in the state regional finals to Bishop Maginn. Cronin had a game high 17 points in the loss (box score).
- Stuart Douglass and Carmel lost in the regional finals 63-59 to Brownsburg. Stu had a rough shooting day going 6-20 for 16 points (box score/recap). It looks like it was a tough shooting night overall for Carmel and Brownsburg pulled off two upsets in one day.
- Terrelle Pryor likes to fight.
- Carmel knocked off Franklin Central 54-43 in the regional semifinals this afternoon. They will face Brownsburg at 8 pm tonight. Here are a few message board reports, and here is the Indy Star’s game write up. Stu was only 4-20 but led Carmel with 16 points.
- Kyle Cassity scored 16 points in Pinckneyville’s state semifinal 47-44 loss to North Lawndale. Here’s a good message board report on Cassity’s game. Cassity will probably make his way up for a visit now that his season is over.
- Justin Watts is expected on campus ($) and Zack Novak was on campus Thursday night (not sure if he still is here).
- Tomorrow’s game against Purdue can be streamed online through CSTV if you can’t get to a TV.
- 2009 guard Diamond Taylor is off board, he committed to Wisconsin.
- Wolverine women lost to Iowa in the second round of the BigTen Tournament but could get an NIT bid.
I managed to catch up with 2008 commitment Stuart Douglass for an interview recently. For those that don’t know, Douglass is a 6-3 shooting guard from Carmel, Indiana who played his way to an eventual offer at Michigan’s team camp last summer. Douglass is averaging 15.3 ppg and has made 79 of 208 (38%) three pointers on the season for state ranked Carmel High. Carmel has a regional semi-final game (and potentially a regional final game) on Saturday at 12pm (finals at 8pm) in Southport. Thanks a lot to Stu for taking the time during his season to do the interview.
How is your season going? It looks like you guys have a legit shot to win the state championship.
Our season is going great so far. We finished 18-2 and we were undefeated through 16 games. We just won the sectional championship last night against a county rival by 14. Next weekend is regionals and we’re feeling confident about our chances of going all the way to the championship. If we keep playing defense the way we did when we were undefeated we should have a very good chance.
How would you describe your game? Most people talk about your shooting, what other strengths and weaknesses do you have?
Shooting is what I get noticed for most but I think I have a pretty high basketball IQ. I usually know when I should shoot or drive or pass off to an open teammate. I’m working a lot harder on rebounding and on pressuring the ball, a few things I haven’t done so well the last couple years. This year I’ve been put on the other teams point guard more than I ever have and I’ve been given more defensive responsibility and I love it. I have taken an approach to defense now like I always have to shooting about challenging myself to get better and it becomes a lot more fun that way. It’s something I’m taking pride in now, which was not like me even last year.
DeShawn Sims has been everywhere in the news lately. First, a Michigan Daily article about Sims not finding his shooting touch. DeShawn is a painful 8 of 38 in Michigan’s last three losses, in Michigan’s last four wins he is 20 of 49.- The Daily also had a column today on Michigan recruiting in Detroit, specifically about St. Cecilia’s summer league.
- John Beilein told Sam Webb on WTKA that he plans to work with DeShawn Sims one-on-one and make him into a great junior in the Big Ten, audio here. It’s a good thing that Beilein realizes the importance of DeShawn Sims development because I think that this team next year hinges a lot on Peedi becoming a consistent performer. This will certainly be a good test of John Beilein’s famed player development.
- Profile on 2010 PG Mike Talley III and his father former Michigan player Mike Talley Jr.
- U-D Jesuit Coach Perry Watson calls it quits.
- Crippling loss for Purdue last night in Columbus most likely ruins Michigan’s chance to play spoiler on Sunday.
- Also, I’ll have a question and answer with 2008 commit Stuart Douglass up tomorrow morning.
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