UM Hoops.com

Here they are on the freshman, no major changes to the uniform:

Names: #0 Novak, #30 Puls, #35 Cronin, #31 Lucas-Perry, #1 Douglass, #23 Person

Here is one more of the back (thanks to commenter MichBen):

• NCAA naps during golden age of cheating
  First I’ve heard of it
• Grizzlies sign free agent Brent Petway
  Air Georgia sighting 
• Carroll Enjoys the Michigan Experience
  ‘10 guard had a good time with Nate in Ann Arbor
• Hoops: Will Vogrich visit again?
  Would be big to get an official after the earlier unofficial.

Recruiting Weekend
Trey Zeigler didn’t make it in this weekend because he was in Mount Pleasant to support his dad’s big hoops recruiting weekend. This is understandable but it would have been great to have him in town for Saturday’s game. Lubick, Carroll, and Brandan Kearney were here and I find it hard to believe that they wouldn’t have enjoyed themselves on the sidelines. The atmosphere in Michigan Stadium was electric in the 4th quarter. There were plenty of big names and alumni there: Isiah Thomas was there, Michael Phelps was there (wonder who set up this MJ meet?), and a commenter notes that Daniel Horton and Chris Hunter were also there.

Amaker’s Move Creates a Clash of Harvard Ideals
The New York Times has been all over Tommy at Harvard for a while since the articles came out this summer that focused on “lowering” qualifications (they remained at Ivy League approved levels) at Harvard to get in a couple recruits. My feeling on this is that Harvard hired Tommy to take their basketball program out of the Ivy League basement and there are going to be some growing pains. The bottom line is that better players are coming in and these kids got cut.

Do I feel sorry for them? Of course, being cut sucks but it happens. I don’t think they are getting kicked out of school though and they are still at Harvard.

Is Tommy desperate? Probably. He needs to win and win now and you don’t get too many chances in the coaching game.

Court Vision with C.J. Lee: Our Success is On Us
CJ talks conditioning, ownership of the program, Isiah, and Bill Martin. I really like what the AD is doing with CJ’s blog and I think they picked the perfect guy to do it. Not sure how I feel about them using the phrase MGoBlog when linking to the archives though.

Random Recruiting Notes: Matt Read (09 JUCO PF) to Utah, Notes on Lubick, Ayers ($), and Stover Getting Close To Decision ($).

I am more excited and hopefully about the basketball visitors this weekend than the game itself. So much so that I’m going to talk about the visitors more than the football game. First lets take a look at who is due in town and what we know:

• Nate Lubick (PF – 2010)  - Big time power forward prospect has been to Ann Arbor several times and appears to be favoring the Maize and Blue.
• Austin Carroll (SG – 2010) – Lubick’s teammate appears to be becoming a more serious target and will move to the class of ‘10.
• Jordan Morgan (PF – 2009) – U-D big man and Michigan commit Jordan Morgan will be on hand selling Michigan to the other visitors.
• Trey Ziegler (PG/SG/SF – 2010) – Dynamic 2010 guard is regarded in many circles as the best player in Michigan regardless of class. Already his second Michigan football visit this fall. Michigan, UCLA, CMUand Michigan State appear to be the main teams involved.
• Brandan Kearney (PG – 2011) – Big 2011 point guard has been interested in Michigan for a while. Connection to the Edwards family. Tennessee, Kentucky, MSU, Syracuse, and Ohio State are all involved in his recruitment. 
• Other young visitors like Christian Vaughn, and Percy Gibson are also going to be on campus in what should be a huge recruiting weekend for Michigan. 
• I don’t think Lubick will drop this weekend but it’s still a huge weekend getting arguably the top three targets on the recruiting board on campus together. Maybe the dominos start falling but predicting that might be getting a little ahead of ourselves. Hopefully the atmosphere is great though, Big Ten opener, Michael Phelps, and maybe a win??

• Preview: Wisconsin
  mgoblog breaks down the game
• Scouting Report: Wisconsin
  mgoblog reader breaks down the Badgers.
• Michigan re-shuffles its offensive line combination
  A little nerveracking to say the least.
• Week 5 Big Ten Preview
  Michigan Sports Center looks at the other Big Ten games. 
• Taylor awaits tough challenge
• U-M’s Sam McGuffie flexible, reliable 
• As Michigan’s new quarterback, Threet takes the reins 
• Grady learns lesson, leads by example 
• USC no longer Pac-10 bully 
  Go Beavers!

Michigan’s bracket for the Coaches vs. Cancer field is set. Michigan will play Michigan Tech in the first game followed by the winner of Northeastern vs. IUPUI. I think it is probably safe to book your tickets to New York City with this bracket.

A UMass paper has an article here about them being pulled out of the bracket and potentially pulling out of the tournament. It appears that UMass was originally scheduled to be in Michigan’s bracket along with Bowling Green and Northeastern. It appears that UMass will play in the SIU bracket but they are threatening to pull out of the tournament if forced to face a D2 team.

I was looking forward to an early test against UMass but I was a little worried about an early knock out too.