UM Hoops.com

It has been reported that both Manny Harris and Laval Lucas-Perry have been selected to play on the U.S. Jones Cup Team sponsored by Athletes in Action. The team will play in Tita, Taiwan from July 7th through 20th. Taiwain Hoops mentions that Manny Harris was not on the U.S roster that they received but he is on the roster that UMKC lists. Should be a great chance for both Manny and Laval to get some game action in (Laval hasn’t had any for a very long time) and also work on their game while getting a trip overseas. West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler is another notable on the team, here is the full roster:

Dane Brumagin 1986.8.9  193/88  UMKC  17.1p+4.8rb
Da’Sean Butler 1988.1.25  201/102  West Virginia  12.9p+6.2rb
Jamel McLean 1988.4.18  205/107  Xavier  (redshirt, Tulsa transfer)
Marcus Kitts 1989.1.31  206/95  William & Mary  2.4p
Laval Lucas-Perry 1989.3.15  186/88  Michigan  4p
Stephen McDowell 1985.7.19  185/82  Chattanooga  14.3p
Wellington Smith 197.5.1  201/97  West Virginia  5.2p+3.8rb
Brett Winkelman 1986.1.30  202/100  North Dakota State  19.2p+8.3rb
Benjamin Woodside 1985.7.1  186/84  North Dakota State  20.7p+5.1a
Manny Harris 1989.9.21  195/82  Michigan  16.1p+4.2rb

The Southern reports that Southern Illinois has been invited to the Coaches vs Cancer tournament in New York City.

The Salukis will host two opponents, still be determined, and if they win both games, will advance to Madison Square Garden Nov. 20-21 for the semifinals and third-place or championship game. SIU will host the first two games between Nov. 10-14.

Lowery said SIU, UCLA, Michigan and Duke would host early-round games for the tournament. SIU would likely meet Duke in the semifinals if both are victorious, he said.

SIU facing Duke makes sense because Duke is already on Michigan’s schedule in December. As long as Michigan avoids upset in its first two games at Crisler it appears they will get a match-up with UCLA. It also appears 2K Sports really wants a Duke vs UCLA match-up in the final. Worst case scenario for Michigan would  hopefully be 2-2, but that didn’t exactly work out for Kentucky last year so anything is possible.

Manny Atkins committed to Virginia Tech tonight, scratch him from the list of potential camp visitors.

• Person Ready to Prove his Worth (Scout $)
  Corey Person reports on Benzing, Michigan, and summer hoops.
• The Wolverine posted a bunch of encouraging recruiting articles on Darius Morris, Nate Lubick, and C.J. Harris (all $ links).
• Farewell to the M-Zone
  Sad to see a high quality Michigan blog say good bye.
• Jordan Dumars commits to South Florida
  Third DCD player to verbal to a D1 school this summer (Riley to Georgetown, Kirk to Miami, and Dumars to USF).
• Progress at U of D
  New U-D headman, Ray McCallum, starts to rebuild Titan program. Lacy reports that highly regarded 2010 guard recruit McCallum Jr. will attend DCD or U-D Jesuit.
• Keeping faith: Former De Porres phenom still aims for NBA despite unfulfilled college career
  Where does former McD AA tumultuous career go next?
• Hoops: Instate junior anticipates elite camp (Rivals $)
  Add Mr. Gauna to the list of expected attendees this week.
• Price tag for Crisler renovations: $46.7 million
  Add in the practice facility and that’s 67.2 million total.
• Twelve more inches to get the extra point
  SpartansWeblog looks at the extended three point line.

It’s camp week in Ann Arbor and the action should be plentiful. John Beilein will host three camp sessions this week: Fundamentals camp (June 22-25), Elite Camp (June 26-27), and Team Camp (June 28). The fundamentals camp is a basic skills camp for kids 8-18 to get offensive instruction. The Elite Camp is an invitation only event for recruits and is a chance for Beilein to get a hands-on look at some recruits while the recruits get to recieve instruction from a potential coach. Finally the team camp is a one day even that will host high school teams from around the state (and beyond?).

1. Darius Morris

With rumors that Morris will be in town this week it is time to seal the deal with Darius. The speculation has been that Michigan has led for sometime now, and there would be no better time to seal the deal than a camp visit.

2. Underclassmen

What level of kids show up for the Elite & Team camps? Will the in-state big names be there? There have been some high profile underclassman unofficial visitors this summer and it would be great to get a bunch of top in-state talent to Ann Arbor this week. It would be a great sign to see lots of the Appling and Zeigler level recruit this week.

3. What teams attend?

Bringing in teams from all over the state can start to help alleviate concerns about Beilein recruiting Detroit or wherever else. Izzo has turned the Izzo Shootout into a signature event up in East Lansing and although this is just Beilein’s second camp it is another step toward developing the program.

4. Jordan Morgan and U-D Jesuit

Michigan’s only 2009 commit will be attending both the Elite and Team camps this week and it will be a chance to see how much all the work Jordan is putting into his game has paid off. It is also a chance to see how U-D looks under their new head coach, Pat Donnelly.

5. Where is Michigan looking beyond point guard for the class of 09?

Darius Morris seems to have established himself as target 1a on the board but where does Beilein look after Darius? My guess is they look hard at a wing forward, someone like Givon Crump, Roger Franklin, or Manny Atkins. It would be encouraging to see some of these guys in Ann Arbor for camp.