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Utah

Michigan will head to Salt Lake City next year to play Utah, last year’s mid-major RPI (13) darling. Utah was 24-9 last year but as a commenter points out, they lose their top four scorers to graduation. Because the game is on the road it will probably be tricky but on the other hand these are the games that can really boost an NCAA tournament resume. A road win is a road win come March and it’s not like Utah is going to be as bad as North Carolina Central. The game is scheduled for December 9th. The future schedule page has been updated.

My questions surround this section of Snyder’s article (emphasis is mine):

Michigan has not yet released its nonconference games, but a few are known, including a Thanksgiving tournament in Orlando. A home game against Connecticut is expected, too, as reciprocation for last year’s trip to Storrs, Conn.

After playing Duke the past two seasons, the Blue Devils are not expected to be on this season’s schedule.

Other dates are still being confirmed, but there are not expected to be many more notable opponents.

The last I heard, UConn was not expected to come to Ann Arbor until the season after this one. I also expected Duke on the schedule but maybe Snyder knows something I don’t. The third paragraph I’m not so sure about either. I expect there to be one more big name opponent on the schedule at least. That coupled with the pre-season tournament is a pretty strong schedule in my book. For review, go look up the RPIs of the teams who played in the Old Spice tournament last year.

Beilein Staying Busy

John Beilein is a busy man. He’s not only leading the NCAA ethics committee but he’ll also serve as a court coach for the USA U19 trials. He will only run the tryouts, not travel overseas with the selected team.

“I am pleased and honored to be selected to assist with USA Basketball this summer,” said Beilein. “I really look forward to this experience with great anticipation. The opportunity to contribute to USA Basketball, work with our game’s finest coaches while teaching and coaching our nation’s top players is a privilege.”

Recruiting Talk

Speaking of USA Basketball, 2011 wing-guard Brandan Kearney will also be involved in USA basketball as he’s trying out for the U17 team. I’m also hearing that Kearney plans to visit Ohio State on May 31st and an offer may be on the way as soon as the middle of June. He also has rescheduled his unofficial visit to Ann Arbor for June 3rd.

ESPN scouts also caught Tim Hardaway Jr. in action last week at the Nike MDC. They liked what they saw, naming Hardaway Jr. one of the weekend’s biggest surprises:

Hardaway, who has obvious basketball bloodlines, displayed high-level ballhandling and passing ability at both guard positions. He is an excellent athlete who uses his quickness and length to his advantage. He showed he is a threat from 3 if the defender backs off. He was very good in transition pushing the ball up the floor and is a great finisher at the rim. He had a good feel for using ball screens and also could create off the dribble. He was able to get into the paint for a midrange jump shot and did a nice job drawing the defense and kicking out to an open teammate. Defensively, he is a smart, fundamentally sound player who understands angles and has above-average lateral quickness. He still has upside and is developing some point guard skills. As his body continues to mature, Hardaway should blossom into an excellent college player.

Rankings

It’s the summer time so that means that we can throw out all kinds of rankings. ESPN ranked the incoming classes of the Big Ten recently (which I’m sure they will do again this fall) and here are the results.

Most notably, Matt Vogrich was named the sleeper recruit of the Big Ten:

Vogrich (Lake Forest Ill./Lake Forest) has the range that begins as soon as he steps in the gym. The opposition has to constantly account for him as he will knock down jumpers from well beyond 3-point range. His shooting prowess will fit seamlessly with the penetration of Manny Harris, and when on the floor with fellow 3-point marksman Stu Douglass, the Wolverines have two shooters who can space the floor and give DeShawn Sims more room to operate in the paint. Vogrich can also pass the ball very well for a shooting guard and teammates should find themselves on the receiving end of a number of deft Vogrich passes.

ESPN ranked Michigan’s class a ‘B-’ overall and I have a hard time disagreeing with that ranking. Compared to the other teams in the conference, a ‘B-’ seems just about right.

And one final shocking piece of news: Memphis (Derrick Rose) cheated (on the SAT) under John Calipari’s watch.

I know the posting was light over the last week or so. The light posting was due to not having a steady internet connection for a week as well as the holiday weekend. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their holiday and I should be able to post more consistently from here on out. Here are a couple quick updates from over the weekend.

Ben Cronin

This question has been floating around for a while: how is Ben Cronin doing? Mark Snyder has the answer, he’s doing well.

“I should start running and be full go in the next two months,” Cronin said in mid-April. “I’ll do open gym and I’ll be lifting. By captain’s practices (this summer) I’ll be able to play. There have been no setbacks whatsoever, only steps in the right direction.”

It remains to be seen what type of contributor Ben will be on the floor. When he arrived on campus he was already facing hip problems so no one really knows what a healthy Cronin will look like. Realistically I think it’s important that people put too much on Ben’s shoulders. He is big and that was one of Michigan’s main problems last year but he still hasn’t proven that he can play at the Big Ten level.

Recruiting

Trey Zeigler continued his strong play on the AAU circuit over the weekend. Rivals continues to love Trey’s first step, this week it was described as “sneaky“. Despite Zeigler’s performance, the reaction from Michigan fans has surrounded this quote:

“I’ve been around the Pac-10 a lot, and I like the Pac-10,” said Zeigler.

Which led to this interpretation by Jerry Meyer:

Zeigler would like to cut down his list of UCLA, Michigan, Michigan State, Arizona, Arizona State, Miami and Oklahoma to three or five schools by the end of the summer. The schools in the Pac-10 are in the best position at the moment.

Before everyone overreacts (it might be too late for that), it’s important to look at what is quoted and what is not. There is no doubt that Trey likes the Pac 10 and he will trip out west. That being said, Michigan is also in a very good position. I think it’s important not to take too much from any quick blurb from a national report.

Rankings

One of my least favorite topics, but I guess it’s worth a mention on May 26th. ESPN rated Evan Smotrycz #47 in their latest top 100. McCallum came in at 20th, Prather 22nd, Zeigler 38th, and Hardaway Jr. at 93. And for comparison’s sake, Nate Lubick was ranked 45th.

Rankings are pretty meaningless, and ESPN is probably the worst of the three national sites at rankings players, but it is pretty clear that Beilein is going after talented recruits. Anyone saying anything different is simply crazy. It’s also important to point out that this isn’t what his recruiting board looked like at West Virginia.

Roy Marble Jr.

Another name we haven’t heard very much about is Roy Marble Jr. Marble probably isn’t near the top of Michigan’s list at this point but it’s clear that Beilein is casting a wide net.

The Family stunned the New York Gauchos in a morning game by one point, and Roy Marble Jr. deserves a lot of the credit for the victory. Marble is a tough 6-foot-5 wing player, and his ability to score inside and out proved to be too much for the Gauchos. While Marble doesn’t blow you away with his athleticism, he is plenty athletic and knows how to play the game. He scored well over 20 points in the upset victory.

Roy Marble has an offer from Buffalo, and interest from Michigan, Dayton, Oregon, Indiana, Western Michigan, Iowa, and Providence.

• adidas May Classic Report
  Lou Dawkins on last weekend’s AMC– Zeigler, Appling, Kearney, Indiana kids, Gibson, and 15U in-state kids visiting MSU.
• Leave Malcolm Gladwell Alone
  I’ve been working on an article about Gladwell’s piece for a while but haven’t finished it. Gasaway is the best of the best in terms of college basketball bloggers, so his piece is worth a look. If I get a chance to go back to it, my focus was going to be high variance basketball strategies & Michigan.
• Bailey on the rise ($)
  Lists Michigan?
• Tall Illinois guard holds four offers ($)
  Latest on Dragicevich
• Kearney is hearing good things ($)
  Braylon & Kearney
• Vander Blue decommits
  Wisconsin loses a big time commitment
• Coach Rank ’09: Big Ten, the country’s best coaching conference
  Big Ten fans have been saying this for a while
• Did UNC, Duke underestimate Wall?
  This is pretty much old news… but Calipari gets things done on the recruiting trail. His methods… comment amongst yourselves there.

Photo courtesy of Next Generation Sports

Trey Zeigler (and family) and Amir Williams both made it to Ann Arbor near the end of last week. That is three high profile visitors (McCallum is #3) in Ann Arbor over the last two weeks. Go Blue Wolverine posted a post-visit interview ($) with Trey and it appears that it went very well. At this point, it’s becoming a waiting game. Michigan has positioned themselves well but Zeigler hasn’t accelerated his timeframe or taken any out of state visits. Zeigler followed his visit up with strong play at the adidas May Classic, drawing rave reviews from Scout ($) and SpartanMag ($),

Go Blue Wolverine also caught up with Amir Williams ($), who was also impressed, after his visit. We haven’t talked about talented wing Casey Prather much recently but the high flying junior plans to visit this summer ($). Sophomore Brandan Kearney also has a Michigan visit in the works ($). Say what you want about Beilein’s recruiting, but there is no denying that he works his ass off on the recruiting trail.

Sam Webb also broke down the basketball recruiting picture on WTKA today, definitely worth a listen. In a nut shell, he feels that Michigan is in very good position but it comes down to the bird in the hand situation. Sam also thinks that Michigan is right there despite the rumors that were flying around over the last couple weeks.

Michigan has also cast a wide net into the state of Indiana for class of 2011 prospects. Austin Etherington, Spencer Turner, Justin Gant, Cody Zeller, and Marshall Plumlee are just a few of the names that Michigan has shown interest in. Go Blue Wolverine has an article about Michigan’s interest in the sharpshooting Turner ($) and here is some video ($) from Peegs on Zeller, Turner, and Plumlee. HoosierNation.net breaks down Spencer Turners game (click through for scouting on Zeller and Plumlee as well):

Turner had a pair of huge games Saturday, scoring a game-high 24 points (including six 3-pointers) in the nine-point loss to the Road Runners and then coming back with 25 in a 74-37 win against Full Package White in the finale. He continues to play to his strength, which is his ability to shoot the ball as well as anyone in the class. His range is well beyond the 3-point arc, and he also showed the ability to hit a runner in the lane. He’s clearly the No. 1 scoring option on a team that also includes Carlino, Zeller and Marshall Plumlee.

Lou Dawkins also weighs in with his thoughts on Michigan’s recruiting:

Michigan with its recent success could challenge Tom Izzo and Michigan State for in-state recruiting supremacy, but it will be difficult.

He also mentions a 2012 prospect that is gathering Michigan interest.

Although the Wolverine, missed on one from prep school powerhouse St Marks in Southborough, Mass(Nate Lubick) they will try for another one. 6’8 2012 Wing Alex Murphy is one of the premier freshman talents in America. The Michigan coaches are starting to actively recruit Murphy as well as others like Georgia Tech, Providence, UMASS, Duke.

Links

• OTL: AAU Vs. High School Basketball
  This is an issue that most of us are familiar with. Street agents, shoe companies, and handlers are a huge issue that pertains to college basketball. John Beilein “debates” the roll of travel teams and high school teams on this second segment. I use quotations because he was very political and more or less acknowledges both sides rather than taking a side. Judging by watching the last couple years of Beilein’s recruiting, I think it’s pretty clear that at the very least he values high school play and individual workouts when evaluating a player.
• Mike Moment: Fab Five Memories
  Plenty of Michigan talk on ESPN, Jalen Rose filled in for Mike Golic on Mike & Mike.
  -Mike: “Did you guys think that everybody hated you?”
  -Jalen: “They did”
• Running Blog from Adidas May Classic in Bloomington — Day 1
  Some notes on Mitch McGary, Chesterton big man.
• Farewell to WTKA (for now) and other developments
  Carty is done calling into WTKA.
• Major Payne takes in UK
  Adreain Payne’s name (different than Allen Payne) has been thrown around a bit this spring. The junior is a big time prospect but he doesn’t seem to be listing Michigan much at this stage.

The Results

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Click here to watch the top plays again

It was a close finish between the backdoor dunk against UCLA and the Manny Harris drive and finish against Clemson. It’s clear that these are the top two plays of the year and nothing else comes close. The Manny Harris “and one” pulled off the win by three votes, but it is the winner none the less.

Personally, I voted for the UCLA play. That moment was the start of this year’s run, without it team is not nearly as successful. That one play alone taught this team how to believe. The fact that UCLA wasn’t quite as good as their pre-season ranking suggested was insignificant. The reactions on the bench, and of the players on the court, were something of a mix of shock and surprise but also confidence and pride. They carried this subtle confidence with them throughout the rest of the season whether it was against Duke, Clemson, or anyone else in between.

The Clemson play was the bookend to the magical season. The thirty games in between the two plays were tumultuous, they included big wins and frustrating losses, but UCLA started the run and Clemson was the feather in the cap – an NCAA tournament win.

The plays in between were just as miraculous, some of them probably even more surprising or extraordinary, but the moments that we will always remember about this year are clear.

“Back door cut for the slam!”,

“Ohhhh what a great play from the offside! That’s coaching, that’s teaching, that’s execution. The backdoor cut from the weakside, catching UCLA sleeping on the weakside. That doesn’t usually happen!”

“Harris is left wide open, he drives in, yes! and a foul. Manny, ohh Manny”

The Misses

It seems like I missed a few plays that at least deserved a spot on the list. Here are the main three, apologies to Zack Gibson and Manny Harris (who was on the list enough as it is).

1. Manny Harris’ baseline three pointer at Minnesota
2. Manny Harris’ steal and dunk at Northwestern
3. Zack Gibson’s dunk versus Illinois