- Bartelstein Shuns Offers; Picks Chance to Prove Self at Michigan
Bartelstein piece from NERR - Scout.com 2010 Rankings Update
New Top 75: Ray McCallum (21st, 5 star), Zeigler (35th, 4star), Prather (60th, 4 star). Smotrycz is the #17 power forward (the highest ranked three star PF). - Incoming Wolverines, Spartan picked for prep hoops all-star game
Morris, Vogrich, and Sherman will play in the Academic All American game on May 9th in Ontario, CA. - GBW Video: Chatting with Williams & Brundidge ($)
Nice, albeit hard to hear, video interview with 2011 prospects Carlton Brundidge and Amir Williams - Sports Profile Featuring Evan Smotrycz
A radio interview with Evan Smotrycz from his time back at Reading HS. - Duke basketball goes hip-hop
Interesting to see a Duke recruiting video that emphasizes speed of play and man-to-man defense. Michigan no doubt has to deal with similar issues as their “system” get’s called into play. - OFFICIAL NBA DRAFT EARLY ENTRY LIST
BJ Mullens is the only early entry from the Big Ten. With the whole All-conference first team coming back, next year should be a treat. - Prospects at Pangos Sweet 16 ($)
A brief Richard Solomon mention
Monthly Archive for April, 2009
Per ChicagoHoops.com, Josh Bartelstein is set to be a preferred walk-on next year at Michigan.
Bartelstein, who was personally recruited by Michigan head coach John Beilein, visited the campus in Ann Arbor this past weekend, and knew that is where he wanted to be. Beilein spent the entire day with Bartelstein, and personally escorted him around campus. Beilein is known for having great success with recruited walk-on’s as many have played prominent roles both at West Virginia and Michigan.
Bartelstein selected Michigan over a host of Division I offers including Wagner, San Diego, Elon, UIC, Detroit and Valparaiso.
Bartelstein led Phillips Exeter (who play in the same league as Blake McLimans, Evan Smotrycz, and Nate Lubick) in points and assists last year and appears to be a proficient shooter. It is clear that Beilein is trying to establish a very strong walk-on program. CJ Lee and Dave Merritt were contributors and he has already brought in a number of solid walk-ons including Eric Puls, Corey Person, and Eso Akunne. Last year he was also close to bringing in Northwestern big man David Curletti. These are kids that make the program better, even if they don’t contribute on the floor right away.
This is what NERR had to say on Josh’s play at Exeter last year:
He’s still flying a bit under the radar despite connecting on over 50% of his attempts from the three-point line. That’s a pretty ridiculous number when you consider he was the opposing defense’s top priority virtually every night. Bridgton Academy even played him with a box and one. What many still don’t realize is that he can handle and pass extremely well too.
NERR also has a nice profile piece worth a look.
Video
History
Bartelstein’s high school career took a turn for the worse when he broke his ankle during his sophomore year.
Tipped to become a starter as a sophomore in 2005-06, Bartelstein suffered a broken ankle in the third game and missed the entire campaign. He still has screws in his right foot.
He rebounded to become a role player at Highland Park during his junior year before finally coming into his own as a senior.
Bartelstein was outstanding last July when he led the Rising Stars Blue team to a Top 30 finish at the AAU National Tournament in Orlando, Florida. He continued that strong play during the high school season by sinking better than 50 three-point baskets.
Bartelstein was a 1st Team All-Conference selection, in addition to being named to the prestigious All-Pioneer Press Team, and also being named to the All-Tournament Team at both the Moline Thanksgiving Tournament, and the Elgin Holiday Tournament.
After a more successful senior season he decided to reclassify to the class of 2009 and complete a post-graduate year at Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire.
One other thing that’s worth a mention, his dad, Mark Bartelstein, is a successful NBA and NFL agent.
- BEILEIN RETURNS CORE; POINT GUARD JOB WIDE OPEN
Goodman on Michigan - Hoops: Coaches watching Indiana talent ($)
Info on a couple underclassman prospects from Rivals. - Jeremy Tyler is the Talk
True Hoop on Tyler’s jump - Shakeup coming for Detroit Southeastern basketball?
High school hoops shake up is probably on the way with Mark White headed to Adrian College
Number 9
If you thought Andy Katz was crazy before, he’s not giving you any reason to change your mind. After early entries he has moved Michigan up to ninth in his latest preseason rankings.
The Wolverines make for a strong three-team race at the top of the Big Ten with Michigan State and Purdue. Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims decided to go back to Ann Arbor and weren’t tempted by false hope in the draft. As a result, Michigan should have its strongest team in years.
We should be good next year but I’m still not ready to put us close to the top 10. But hey, all those recruits that want to play for a top 10 team should commit now while Michigan still qualifies.
East Coast Bias?
I saw the idea of bias thrown around in the comments yesterday and apparently it comes from this tidbit from Brian over at MGoBlog.
I’m getting a little skeptical of these reports from NERR because identical ones are showing up at Scott Hazelton’s site. Hazelton runs a basketball school/camp sort of business and Smotrycz is a protégé. The glowing reports might not be 100% fair and balanced, then. Might want to scale those down to places where Smotrycz is not a titan astride basketball.
That’s not to say the last two weeks haven’t been very good for public perception of Smotrycz’s game: every national pundit who’s offered an opinion has been extremely positive, and most have brought him up apropos of nothing except his ability to ball.
I’m not sure what exactly Brian is thinking here but I want to make it clear that the reports are coming from New England Recruiting Report, NBE, Scout, and wherever else. They are not coming from Scott Hazelton. The Hazelton blog is essentially quoting people including Evan Daniels (Scout.com), Reggie Rankin (ESPN), Clark Francis (Hoopscoop) among others who have seen the Mass Rivals play.
The one area where NERR and NBE might be a bit biased is in the sense that they probably are looking for Smotrycz before the national sites. They focus on the east coast so it’s only natural that they pay closer attention to the east coast kids. The bottom line is that these reports aren’t coming from an AAU or camp coach, they are coming from numerous scouting services. Because we have seen such similar reports coming from regional and national sites, I feel pretty comfortable with the reports that Smotrycz is playing exceptionally well.
Roster Composition
With Smotrycz in the fold and the news that the Regan recruitment appears to be cooling off I think it’s time to take another look at how the roster breaks down over the next few years.
2010-2011 — Sorted by Age
Guards (1/2): Laval Lucas-Perry (Jr.), Stuart Douglass (Jr.), Darius Morris (So.), Matt Vogrich (So.)
Wing (3): Manny Harris (Sr.), Zack Novak (Jr.)
Big Wing (4): Anthony Wright (Sr.), Blake McLimans (So.), Evan Smotrycz (Fr.)
Bigs (5): Ben Cronin (So.), Jordan Morgan (So.)
Manny Harris’ status is obviously up in the air which leaves a gaping hole on the wing. With two scholarships available, three if Manny leaves, it appears clear that at least one of those has to go to a wing. Because there are limited scholarships in the class of 2011 I think Michigan will stick to a three man class in 2010.
There are four big men tied up in the classes of 2009 and 2010 with McLimans, Smotrycz, Cronin, and Morgan. After following Will Regan’s play through the last high school season I am convinced that he is a very good prospect and will be a contributor somewhere. The math just doesn’t make sense to include him in this class. I think Michigan has to use their remaining two scholarships on back-court/wing players.
In the class of 2011 there are tons of talented in-state prospects. Big man Amir Williams has scouts drooling over his abilities and Carlton Brundidge can put points up in a hurry. With a three man class in 2010, Michigan will have two scholarships to give in 2011.
(Note: I added two links to the “Other Notes” section regarding Moses Morgan, Carlton Brundidge, and Amir Williams)
Evan Smotrycz
The last two weeks have taught us that Evan Smotrycz can play ball. He followed up his strong play from last week with another stellar performance at the Providence Jam Fest. Smotrycz led the Mass Rivals to a surprise trip to the 17U finals. It’s hard to find a negative scouting report about Evan. The highlight of the weekend for the Mass Rivals was a win over, former Michigan recruit, Nate Lubick’s New England Playaz team. Here’s what the leading east coast scouting services had to say on Evan this weekend.
NBE:
Good height, but needs to get physically stronger before the Big 10. His size and skill away from the basket makes it look like he was made for John Beilein’s system and he should get the most of his strengths at Michigan. Showed ability to slash to the basket, but needs to finish more often once in the paint, as evidenced by failing to convert on an easy lay-up. Added strength will help.
New England Recruiting Report:
Evan Smotrycz was the catalyst as the Michigan bound forward really brought his game to another level. Not only was he making shots from the perimeter, but he also showed a much improved dribble drive game, as he was able to break his man down with a right to left cross-over on more than one occasion. But it wasn’t just his ability to score off the dribble that was so impressive as he also passed the ball tremendously well, acting as a facilitator in the second half with his ability to create open looks for his teammates.
Evan Smotrycz picked up right where he left off a day earlier as he was outstanding for the second consecutive day, making shots, breaking people down off the dribble, and passing the ball very well. It was his consistent excellence throughout the course of the weekend that helped propel the Rivals all the way to the finals before finally losing to a New Jersey Celtics team that featured top 50 junior Kyrie Irving and the nation’s top sophomore Michael Gilchrist.
Will Regan
Will Regan, of the Albany City Rocks, told NBE this weekend that he is currently considering offers from Maryland, Virginia, Stanford, Arizona State and Providence. Regan is a 6-foot-8 forward who plays at the Nichols School near Buffalo (NY).
It sure looks like it. This has become clear over the last couple weeks and this update might be the icing on the cake. The same article has an updated list from Carson Desrosiers, a lanky big man that has been getting some Michigan interest, but it doesn’t appear that Michigan is in his top 8 right now.
Ray McCallum and Trey Zeigler
Rivals’ Jerry Meyer was fond of the Michigan duo at the adidas Nation event out in Vegas. Short but sweet:
Trey Zeigler has an impressive first step.
Ray McCallum has all the markings of a coach’s son when he is running the point. And over the past year, he has developed a great deal physically.
Scout also has an update from the adidas event with some more on McCallum ($).
Other Notes
- Vegas wrap up
Moses Morgan names Indiana his leader - Gauchos take King James title
Brundidge and Amir Williams both played well. Brundidge notes offers “from Mihcigan as well as Michigan State” - 2011 standout Dai-Jon Parker got the best of Brandan Kearney at the King James Classic this weekend.
- Video Highlights: Tim Hardaway Jr. ($)
Rivals has video from Tim Hardaway Jr. on the AAU circuit
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