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Michigan finally landed a spot in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week at #24. They also saw their AP ranking move up a spot to #23. This will be a huge week for Michigan with games against North Carolina Central, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Michigan will likely need to go 3-0 this week to not only stay in the top 25 but also get a good start for the conference season.

DeShawn Sims was awarded co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors, along with Trent Meachum, after his 20-20 performance last week against Florida Gulf Coast:

Michigan’s DeShawn Sims earns his second weekly laurel after leading the Wolverines over Florida Gulf Coast, 76-59, while posting a historic 20 rebounds and 20 points to garner his fourth double-double of the season. Sims became the first Wolverine to post a 20-point, 20-rebound performance in 31 years. The last Wolverine to accomplish the feat was Phil Hubbard, who had 22 points and 26 rebounds vs. Detroit (March, 1977). Sims’ 20 points gives him 11 straight games scoring in double figures this season, and marks his 37th career double-digit game and seventh 20-plus point game. En route to the career-best board mark, by halftime Sims had surpassed his previous high of 12, grabbing 13 total rebounds, including 10 on the defensive end, in the first half. Sims’ 20 rebounds marked the first 20-plus rebounding performance since Graham Brown (2003-06) had 21 at Indiana (January, 2006). Along the way, Sims posted a new career best with 15 defensive rebounds. With his 20 rebounds, Sims posted the most rebounds by a Big Ten Conference player this season. The previous best in the conference was by teammate Manny Harris, who had 15 against Norfolk State.

Basics:
Who: Michigan (9-2) vs North Carolina Central (0-14)
Where: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MI
When: Monday, December 29th 7pm ET
TV: BTN
Preview: Stat Sheet
Radio: MGoBlue, WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050)

Ken Pomeroy has North Carolina Central ranked 344th in his latest rankings, dead last.  The Eagles are flat out not a very good team. Only one of their losses has come to an RPI top 50 team but they have 5 losses by more than 30 points.

The Eagles have an eFG% of 39.5, turn the ball over on 25.7% of their possessions, rebound 28.8% of their misses, and have a free throw rate of only 18.2. All of these rank below 290th in the country.

NC Central’s leading scorers are Jamar Briscoe (14.4 ppg, 32.8%) and Vincent Davis (12.2 ppg, 34.3%). They also appear to lean heavily on 6-9 center Stevy Worah-Ozimo who averages 35.3mpg, 8.4 ppg, and 8.3 rpg.

This is a game Michigan should clearly win easily and it will be the last tune up before the Wisconsin game on Wednesday. This is a chance for Michigan to knock off the holiday funk before jumping head first into the conference season.

I don’t have much else to say about this game but here are a couple things that stand out from Michigan’s KenPom profile as we near conference season:

• 2nd in the country in free throw percentage.
• 6th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency.
• 14th in turnover percentage.
• 22nd in steal percentage.
• 63rd with an eFG% of 52.3% but three point shooting is at 35% (134th) while two point shooting is at a very solid 52.2% (48th).
• As expected Michigan’s offensive rebound percentage ranks 202nd and free throw rate ranks 183rd.
• 43.9% of Michigan’s shots are three pointers (19th in the country) and 65.9% of made baskets come off of assists (15th)
• Defensively Michigan continues to be very mediocre with an adjusted defensive efficiency of 94.7 (130th). Surprisingly the thing they seem to defend best is the three point shot, Michigan’s opponents are shooting only 29.2% from long range (compared to 38% last year).
• Taking a look at last year’s profile is a nice way to look at the improvements already this season. Michigan has improved dramatically in just about every way offensively. Certainly these numbers could go down a little bit in conference play but this team’s profile is starting to look a lot more like Beilein’s teams at West Virginia (05 & 06) than I would have expected.

Let’s hear your thoughts and predictions for tonight’s game in the comments.

Commits

Darius Morris

Darius led Windward to a 54-50 win over Bellarmine Prep. Morris had a game high 22 points including 2 free throws with 50 seconds left to give Windward the lead. In the next game of the Max Preps classic Windward fell to Bellevue (WA) by a score of 57-48, Morris had 18 in the loss [HIGHLIGHTS].

Here are some notes from a UMHoops reader who made it to Darius’ first game:

• Anthony Stover (former UM recruit-headed to UCLA) looks shockingly similar to Greg Oden. Stover does not have an offensive game but had around 10 blocks. Big project on the next level.
• They played against Bellarmine Prep from Northern Cal. Team had only one D1 player (Niyi Harrison) headed to Santa Clara.
• Malcolm Washington (Denzel’s son) was a good scrappy player.
• Steve Kerr was in the building watching. Gym 70% full.  It was close the entire game, Windward won 54-50.
• Morris finished with 22 points on 9-22 shooting. The best thing was that he scored his points in a variety of ways, mostly drives. He had a beautiful separation fade-away to end the first quarter. He picked up his third foul with 4 minutes left in the second quarter. Great penetrator in the open court, made a lot of no look passes. Would have had around 10 assists if his teammates could make their layups. His on court demeanor was good, pretty positive with the rest of his teammates.
• I feel that D-mo will be much better when he is surrounded by better players. In my opinion his coaching is subpar, his team has 3 D1 players and the game shouldn’t have been close.
• The team ran a lot of these NBA sets to isolate D-Mo with the ball, but he would do nothing with it. I think D-Mo is a good penetrator but he doesn’t have a fast first step.
• He will be much better in Michigan’s offense with much more running. If he were playing for Michigan today he would play 20 mins a game. Overall, D-mo was pretty much everything I expected; nothing great but everything solid.

Matt Vogrich

Lake Forest is off to a good start in the State Farm Holiday Classic with wins over Kankakee Bishop Mac (box) and Sterling (box).  Vogrich led all scorers in both wins with 27 and 24 point performances. Lake Forest plays Normal Community High School in the semi-finals today at 4:30 PM.

The folks at Scout.com were big fans of Matt’s play this week at the State Farm Classic. They mentioned that beyond his shooting he is a tough player who can get to the hole and also plays well away from the ball.

Jordan Morgan

Morgan bounced back after a frustrating start to his season with 28 points in a 72-63 win over Detroit Cass Tech.

Blake McLimans

Blake was listed as one of the top shooters in the NE area by the NERR. It’s been a transition for Blake at Worcester but his numbers seem to be going up as he gets more in the swing of things. I’ve only seen a little bit of video but you can see why Beilein loves the kid. Blake looks so comfortable putting the ball on the floor and shooting it that you wouldn’t believe he’s 6-10.

’10 Recruits

Will Regan

Will Regan had 19 points 10 rebounds and six blocks in Nichols’ 53-46 win over Poly-Tech. Regan has been a monster early on for Nichols and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his stock continue to rise.

Alex Dragicevich

Glenbrook North beat Hillcrest (45-43) but fell to Morton (63-51). Dragicevich had 24 points and 6 rebounds against Hillcrest, but only had 7 points and 5 turnovers against Morton while shooting 1-8 from long range.

GBN will be in action again this afternoon in the consolation bracket.

Tim Hardaway Jr.

Hardaway Jr. had 25 points in Palmetto’s 69-55 win over Columbia at the Hoopla at Vero Beach.

Cameron Ayers

Germantown lost to Archibishop Carroll 63-52. Ayers had 17 points with three triples.

Germantown beat North Catholic 57-56 and Cameron Ayers scored 24 points with a triple and 10 made field goals.

Allen Payne

Winton Woods beat Seminole, FL 61-54 in the first round of the Seminole Classic. They will be in action Monday and Tuesday as well.

Ray McCallum

The talented point guard has been dominating the competition early on this year. McCallum is probably a long shot for U-M but his play is worth mentioning. McCallum had 18 in an overtime win against Chicago DeLaSalle and 27 in a blowout win over Grand Ledge.

’11+ Recruits

Brandan Kearney & Percy Gibson

Detroit Southeastern beat Saginaw 65-61. Kearney and Gibson both had solid games. Kearney hit a couple triples for 9 points and 6 assists. Kearney hasn’t been putting up gaudy numbers but everything you read about Brandan points to his poise and being a smart player. Gibson had 8 points and 10 boards.

Matt Poches and Patrick Lucas-Perry

Flint Powers handled Hartland 94-71 at the Motor City Roundball Classic. PLP had 18 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals on 50% shooting. Poches had 20 points for Hartland. 

• All-Access: Michigan’s John Beilein
  Inside look at practice from the BTN.
• The Big Ten took a couple shots on the chin this weekend: Indiana lost to Lipscomb and Ohio State was destroyed by West Virginia at home.
• Crater to transfer
  Another lost body after Lighty’s injury but I don’t think anyone in Columbus will be crying about Noopy’s departure. I don’t buy the quotes from Lighty’s AAU coach.
• Upon Further Review: Oakland
  I am still trying to figure out how to do one of these but here is Varsity Blue’s attempt at the Oakland game.
• Bulk of Big Ten off to hot starts
  Most surprising team and best player reside in Ann Arbor.
• New coaches bringing respect back to Big Ten
  Good to see the Big Ten getting some national love.
• Draft Watch: The naughty and nice list
  Peedi makes the nice list but I still think it will be hard to shake the “tweener” talk.
• John Beilein’s team doesn’t want to get carried away with early success
• I should have a recruiting post later today as well as tonight’s game preview. I just got back into town to find out I don’t have power so I’m not going to make any promises.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Coverage has been a bit light this week but it’ll start picking up again heading into a big week as we near the Big Ten season.

UMHoops just passed its first birthday and I just wanted to thank all of you who have stopped by, commented, or told your friends about the site. Hopefully I can do a better job blogging in my 2nd year, we’re one year in but I would agree with KJ that the 10,000 hour rule definitely applies to blogging.

If you are dying for some hoops talk check out Sam Webb’s article in the Detroit News on ’11 phenom Carlton Brundidge as well as Go Blue Wolverine’s take on ’10 wing Casey Prather ($). Brundidge is a legit candidate for top dog in Michigan’s loaded class of 2011 while Prather is an intriguing wing prospect from Tennessee.