If football doesn’t work out for Paulus, maybe Beilein could offer him a job as a graduate assistant.

Let’s not have another former Duke player associated with UM hoops, that didn’t work out last time (Tommy Turtleneck). CJ or Merritt would be a better grad assistant. Isn’t Coach B’s son a grad assistant?

JB never hires former players as grad assistants….likes to bring in different points of view and former players only know his system and have no other experience. Except for his son, of course.

Thanks for the info Tom Too…makes sense to get someone with basketball knowledge, nut has not been taught to coach by someone else.

If he ever decided to break with this….it could be with CJ, I imagine.

Yeah, I would love to see CJ as a grad assistant.

Same here. CJ on the bench is an asset.

We shall see what happens, I guess.

After reading the Zeigler article that talks about his timeline, I’m really doubting he ends up at UM. If he’s going to narrow his list down after taking visits in the fall, I think we will have the class locked up by then. I think Beilein wants this class wrapped up in the fall and I bet we take a commit from Morgan or Hardaway before Trey decides.

Dylan do you know anything about Tim Hardaway Sr possibly joining Isiah Thomas’s staff at FIU? That would be interesting for JR possibly just like Trey still lists CMU because of pops

Well, it only takes Isiah about 3 months to ruin his employer. So, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

;)

These next couple classes will be very important for JB.

JB really likes Casey Prather. He’ll take either Zeigler or Prather but there’s a possibility that he’ll take both to go along with Evan Smotyrcz.

Hardaway was pushing for the FIU job, not sure about as an assistant though.

i dont care what anybody says……….beilein needs to land either zeigler or prather….or somebody like them who is just as good……..there is no excuses any more not to land a talented player to replace manny

I’ve never heard you say that before, Dave. lol

yeah i like to do a lot of repeating…..at least people havent yelled at me yet

Well, I’m definitely down with what you’re saying. It is crucial that we land a Manny type athlete. We can’t have all role players, bangers, and shooters.

Oh, and Moses Morgan does not count as one of those athletes. After seeing him play a few times in person, I am certain that he is not the answer there. Not saying he wouldn’t be a valuable addition, but he’s not Manny’s replacement.

“Disclaimer: I don’t mean the following as an attack. I think this is an interesting conversion to have, as pinning down the meaning of abstract concepts is something I am forced to wrestle with quite often.”

It seems as if Rich Rod offered Paulus a scholarship to “compete” for the QB position. At least according to an ESPN report today (and we all know how reliable those can be).

It’s just shocking to me that Rich Rod would offer a non-athletic Duke player this scholarship, when by all accounts the QBs in his system need more athleticism than average. Doesn’t he know that Duke needs to recruit more athletes like Henderson and less non-athletes like Paulus to be successful!

Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but it is a good demonstration of why the term “athlete” in this context is not particularly useful. What everyone wants is a player that can create their own offense and drive the ball to the hoop (yes, I want guys like that just as much as everyone else). That may require athletic skill, but not all athletic people can do it. This is the difference between the terms necessary and sufficient. While athletic skill my be necessary for a player to be like Manny, it is not sufficient.

Thus, I would say it’s more accurate to refer to the players we all want as “creaters” or “scorers” or “facilitators” or something like that. I mean all the guys on major college basketball teams are very athletic people. They would have to rank in the 90+ percentile of people their age in general.

UMDC, I agree with your analysis of the terms 100%. I think it’s just easier to use athlete as a bind-all term for the other terms you mentioned. We both know that Shepherd and Petway were athletic freaks, but they were not scorers, creaters, or facilitators.

Ken in Vegas I believe you are absolutely wrong in your assesment of Moses Morgan. If you want to check him out this summer during AAU, I’ll try to find some game information for you. You seen him twice! And you didnt even see when he played against the other top players in Vegas like I said. The kid is good, and should be a helluva player. Your opinion is kind of like if someone seen Manny play @ Penn St, does that mean he isnt Manny cause he had a bad game? Is Elijah Johnson a bad player because he had a bad game vs Palo? Im sure Bill Self doesnt think so, neither does Rival, Scout, or ESPN. The kid is probably the #2 player in Vegas behind Elijah, who is off to Kansas which means that Moses will be #1 excluding players from Findlay Prep.

I understand why you always battle me on this point, because I have only seen him twice and am obviously not a scout. However, my first assessment that he was overrated and not a Manny replacement was after he had scored 30+ points. There is no way that the junior in high school Manny would have received the same review from me. He probably would have knocked my socks off with his ability to score and create off the dribble. Moses doesn’t look anything like Manny IMO. He’s a good shooter and has a knack for cleaning up boards for easy points, but he’s also playing in a very, very short and unskilled league. The state championship game I saw was kind of a joke. I’m not sure that being the #1 player in Vegas is saying all that much. Again, he might look good in AAU and could become a very valuable player for us, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the Manny type player we are looking for. If he proves me wrong, I will be the first one to admit my failure. Jay, do you live in Vegas? We should check out a game sometime.

all im ever trying to say about athletic is that its gives a person more potential….whether or not that pays dividends in the long run may be a 50/50 chance but ill take an above average athlete with 1 skill than a mediocre athlete with 1 skill….. give me an athlete who i can turn into a creater, or scorer, etc because the athlete is going to potentially be able to do this…..not the average athlete 3 pt shooter from down the street

being athletic is a god given thing and its not something that can change with hard work (maybe a little but not enough to become an elite athlete) you can teach people to drive the lane, shoot better, dribble better, pass better, but the unathletic person is not going to be capable of doing this effectively against good competition (several michigan players on the roster now will never be able to create their own shot, or drive the lane, etc)

people can define athletic how ever they want…….look at the scouting reports of the top players in the country……they are all defined or most of them i promise are defined as athletic, etc…………now lets take a look at lower rated players……….how many of those guys are rated athletic…….everyboyd knows what athletic means and is………and who can tell when somebody says that a person isnt athletic…..i dont know about anybody else but give me about 30 seconds of looking at somebody and i can tell if somebody has athletic ability or not

Yes Im in vegas Ken, and Vegas has put out good kids over the years. Kevin Gaines? remember that name before the Michigan probation years. Freshman backcourt of he and Jamal Crawford, then got kicked out. People said the same thing about CJ Watson out of Gorman, he only went on to start at Tennesee for what 3 years? Leave with the assist record and now is in his 2-3 yr with the Warriors. Next year he will be the best in Vegas, and this year being the best in Vegas got EJ a full ride to Kansas. He’s a good player, and dont forget we are talkin about a 6’4-5 16-17 year old wing who can SHOOT!! not just using his frame to slash for easy buckets, but this kid can shoot the rock. A nice problem to have for 3-4 years

He is a good shooter. We have plenty of those. I guess we could always use another. Moses is 6’5, the same size as Novak, but in the games I saw he looked like Kareem out there and picked up easy buckets because of that. It just really concerned me that I never saw one impressive take to the basket where he used dribbling skills, speed, and athletic ability to score. Not once! I imagine Manny was breaking somebody down on almost every possession at 17.

Hmm when Manny was in high school he couldn’t really shoot but would essentially put his head down and drive to the hole and get to the line. The strategy got him 50 points+ about 4-6 times his senior year.

Brick, I think Zeigler’s too good for us not to save a spot for him. Anyway, with Manny very likely leaving after next season and/or Wright possibly not getting a fifth year, we should have enough room.

Guys I started looking for info on 2010 6-9 BF Richard Solomon from Torrence California and I was intrigued with some of the write-ups on the kid and his upside. Does anyone know anything on this kid. FYI for those interested Solomon is rated a 93 on ESPN’s rating system as compared to Will Regan who’s rated a 84.

Here is a writ=up on Solomon that I gleaned from Google.
******

“April, 2009: Solomon is a diamond in the rough that is beginning to get polished. His frame is long and lean and he has the potential to be a high-level face-up 4-man someday. He is terrific in transition and can get to the rim easily due to his outstanding quickness. In addition, he can knock down the 3-point jump shot, although his shot is much better in the mid-range area. Despite his slight frame he can rebound in traffic and he has good hands. His post game is non-existent and it would be nice to see him develop a go-to move (jump hook?). However, he has shown the ability to utilize the pump fake to get around opponents in the half-court set. Overall, Solomon needs to bulk up and get stronger for the interior battles ahead, but his upside is quite good.”