UM Hoops.com

Illinois High School Basketball has the latest on 2009 SG Matt Vogrich:

People think Matt Vogrich is all about the three pointer and will be the token shooter off the bench for whatever final four contender he selects, but that isn’t quite the truth. An underrated athlete, Vogrich got his fair share of dunks in traffic this summer. His fast break dunk on “Matt Vogrich Jr.” (Ben Brust) at the Chicago Summer Classic was the best dunk I witnessed all summer. Some college coaches (who must remain unnamed) that offered Matt this summer were frequently heard throughout July saying things like “I always knew he could shoot, but I didn’t know he could do THAT!” And “That kid can start on my team right now…I have to have him… Where did he come from?” (Read more)

Vogrich seems to be the all around real deal and would be a big time coup for Beilein.

Got word that 2009 PF commitment Jordan Morgan will be in Ann Arbor for the big recruiting weekend as well. He also has scheduled his official visit for the Michigan State game.

Finally, a random rant. The Free Press posted this article last containing the Beilein quotes that were discussed here with this some what ridiculous headline:

UM’s Beilein makes orphanage joke at coaches clinic

I posted the quote here earlier, and I really don’t think it warranted a headline like that. The joke clearly wasn’t about orphanages, it was about parents and alumni. To their credit they did update the headline but this gives me a good idea how Rich Rodriguez turned into a cheap asshole who swears and has no family values so quickly. Here is the new headline:

U-M’s Beilein jokes about parents, alumni at clinic

Beilein: Better days ahead for U-M men’s basketball

The Grand Rapids Press covers Beilein’s talk with local high school coaches on the west side of the state. There are a couple good quotes from Beilein as he talks about the future of the program.

Failure is a fertilizer for growth, so we have to embrace failure,” Beilein said. “You will love the product we will eventually put out there. If you have one eye on yesterday and one eye on tomorrow, we will get cross-eyed today. You have to seize today.

It also appears that Beilein is happy coaching here, even after the rough start:

“I have finally come to a place that I love,” Beilein said. “I have said that there are only two places I would rather coach at. One is an orphanage, because I wouldn’t have their parents bothering me. And second, a prison, because I wouldn’t have to worry about the alumni coming back.”

There is more good stuff in the article so read the whole thing.

Hoops recruiting notebook: Several updates ($)

The Wolverine takes a look at Matt Vogrich’s recruitment and has updates on a couple new big men targets.

Big Visit Weekend

I’ve mentioned this recently but this weekend is setup to be a huge recruiting weekend for the hoops team. Lou Dawkins is reporting that Nate Lubick, Trey Ziegler, Brandan Kearney, Christian Vaughn, and Percy Gibson are all due in Ann Arbor this week (Austin Carroll will also visit with Lubick I believe). I had heard Kearney was due in for the Illinois game but he could be coming for both. It would have been great to have Darius on campus this weekend as was originally planned but we will have to settle for Michael Phelps to generate excitement. Hopefully the football team can win one for the hoops team.

Millen out as Lions president, GM

Finally.

Per Sean Ceglinsky of the LA Times, Keegan Hornbuckle verballed to Colorado tonight.

After grabbing a commitment from top 20 guard Jordan Sibert this weekend Ohio State appears to be loading up again with a huge class. While I was working on this article they even got another top 100 commitment, this one from shooting guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. on Monday. That brings Ohio State’s 2010 recruiting class to 5 commits, two top 10, three top 20, four top 100. Don’t forget they have two five stars in their six man 2008 class which includes B.J. Mullens, Rivals #1 overall prospect in 2008.

There are 38 commits from Rivals top 150 for the class of 2010, 12 of them are headed to the Big Ten. The Big Ten has been considered down for a while, but it looks like a wave of talent is on the way. For comparison in this years incoming 2008 recruiting class the Big Ten only landed 15 prospects from the Rivals top 150. The Big Ten almost has as many commits right now as they had in the 2008 class overall.

Illinois has been down since Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head left Champaign but they have two top 25 kids to follow up a solid 2009 class. Bruce Weber was on life support but pulling some strings in around Chicago has him on the payroll until the 2010 class arrives at this point.

Here is a current list of 2010 commits:

• OSU: Jordan Sibert (SG *****), Jared Sullinger (PF *****), DeShaun Thomas (PF *****), Lenzelle Smith Jr. (SG ****), Cameron Wright (SG ***)
• Illinois: Crandall Head (SG *****), Jereme Richmond (SF *****), Meyers Leonard (C ****),
• Wisconsin: Evan Anderson (C ****), Vander Blue (PG ****)
• Purdue: Travis Carroll (C ****), Terone Johnson (PG ***)
• MSU: Keith Appling (SG ****)
• Iowa: Chanse Creekmur  (SF unranked)
• No Commits: Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, PSU, NW

Of course it’s early, and kid’s development can go any direction as we saw with Jerrett Smith and Ron Coleman who were both highly rated early in their high school careers. But the influx of talent in the 2010 class is becoming clear. At this point it is starting to feel like Michigan needs to land some of the big fish like Darius Morris, Trey Zeigler, Nate Lubick, or Cameron Ayers in order to keep up with the rest of the league.

Going to get started on season preview stuff this week, the season is almost here so we can take a look at player expectations, who we are playing and all of that good stuff. Also, the non conference times and TV schedule is released.

The Hoop Group has a great update on the Fall Jam Fest, an annual tournament which includes teams from across the northeast. There were quite a few Michigan targets in attendence including a few we have heard plenty about and a few who have been a little off the radar. 

You can’t talk Michigan east-coast recruiting without Nate Lubick. Lubick’s New England Playaz team was in attendence at the Jam Fest however his play was restricted by an early ankle injury.  When talking schools Lubick listed Georgetown, Michigan Virginia, Stanford, and Wake Forest as the ones “coming on him the hardest”.

The most interesting quote for me is that when asked if Lubick had a “dream school” he answered  “not really“, of course he doesn’t say who but Lubick has been rumored a Michigan lean for a while now… The 2010 power forward is due on campus for the upcoming Wisconsin game. 

Pennsylvania top 100 (2010) shooting guard Cameron Ayers also lists Michigan as one of his top 2:

 “I like Georgetown [and] Michigan so far. That’s really it.”

Ayers is injured and didn’t play this weekend but Google stalking yielded some video of his Germantown high school team and a post game interview. Also an ESPN scouting report:

He doesn’t force shots, knows when to push tempo and protects the ball with his life. Newcomers will take notice of his range from the permiter, but followers will notice his mid-range game is great. A bonifide shooter, Ayers reads defenses well and comes off screens with a vengance.

Another guy mentioning U-M was Nate Lubick’s teammate, Austin Carroll. Carroll is a guard who plans to reclassify to the class of 2010.

“I’m [going to PG for] a year too, so I’ll be in the class of 2010 . . . somewhere in Class A in New England,” said Carroll, with his reasoning being that he has “been injured since March . . . [and] wants to get another year [and] it won’t hurt either.”

Carroll listed Michigan and Davidson as his favorites and mentioned a late-September visit (planned for this weekend with Nate Lubick). Here is some jerky video of Carroll’s (#22) team against Devin Ebanks’ team. Here is what ESPN has to say on Carroll:

Austin, the son of former Celtics’ coach John Carroll, is an excellent spot shooter, especially coming off screens. His court IQ and passing ability makes him comfortable at either guard position. Plays his best in a structured offense although his transition game shows progress when he sees the floor on the move. Plays with a lot of determination and savvy.

Austin has a great basketball IQ and makes everyone on the floor better. This combo guard see’s the floor well and play’s hard. A real team player who is also a good shooter and displays great passing skills. He lacks explosiveness on moves to the glass but having said that he is not afraid to put it on the floor and take it to the hoop. Overall, a great teammate who is very unselfish.

Beilein has been hitting both coasts hard, the east coast makes sense because that is where his roots are all the way up the ladder from Erie CC, Nazareth, LeMoyne, Canisius, Richmond, to West Virginia. Beilein is also still working hard on the west coast including recruiting 2009 PF Anthony Stover ($) who just transferred to play with Darius Morris at Windward (he can dunk).

Hopefully the knock that he hasn’t been recruiting Michigan will start to wear off. Especially when you read the recent updates on in state players like Brandan Kearney ($) and Trey Zeigler ($) who are both due in for visits. The only bad news is that Darius Morris had to alter his visit schedule ($) and won’t be in this week with Zeigler and Lubick as was originally planned. Still there is no need to worry about Darius wavering because the kid is true blue.

And finally a don’t forget about me video, this is an interview with Matt Vogrich from this summer:

One more note, the hot board is being redesigned and will be back this week including a complete hot board for the 2010 class.