Thursday Links

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.

gpsimms

Hopefully kids don’t start decommitting in basketball the way they do in football. It seems like they couldn’t, with scholarships being so hard to come by and all…
Sheryl

Some Vander Blue comments on internet posts from “fans”
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/45448857.html
GregGoBlue

What’s this I read on rivals about “published reports” of Trey Ziegler being a strong Michigan lean?!
gooter9

Braylon must have had too many helmet-to-helmet collisions last year. Re: Kearney… “According to Kearney, Edwards doesn’t just push his alma mater on him. “Actually Braylon has told me that Ohio State is a good school to go to.”"
Ken in Vegas

GregGoBlue, I just saw that on Rivals too. How awesome is that to hear. I’m not getting too excited yet, but I’m guessing the campus and the strong academic reputation really impressed his family. Beilein just has to lock it down now. If we get Zeigler, it could open the flood gates for other recruits.
Tom Too

That would be JB’s biggest get in his career.
Dave

i would finally stop talking about beilein to, but somebody said this a few days ago………..its great to see him going after the big name players heavily
Kenny

A commitment from Zeigler will be a huge boost to the resurgence of the Michigan basketball program, a big step-up for Beilein’s recruiting and a ticket to the final four in 2012.
michigan4204

I know Manny wasn’t recruited by JB, but he did firm up his commitment after JB was named head coach, so I think that Manny is JB’s biggest “get” ever. Would be awesome if we can land Trey though.
Benjamin

Convincing Sims and Manny to come back for another year was two great “gets”.
Paul

Totally agree with that Benjamin. Without Manny and Deshawn could go through another tough season. Big time save.
Erik

I wouldn’t give too much credit to Beilein for keeping Manny and DeShawn. They explored their possibilities and probably realized they were not 1st round picks. It was smart of them to stay. I guess you can give Beilein some credit for good advice, but I think any of us was capable of realizing Manny and DeShawn were not 1st rounders and would benefit from another year.
Tom Too

Yeah…getting Manny to not go to Tennessee when he arrived on Campus was a good get for JB.
Giddings

Ugh I remember those days… the thought of Manny at Tennessee playing for Bruce Pearl made me absolutely sick.
http://umhoops.com Rodrico

Wow, Evan Smotrycz is now top 50 ranked player!
Check out ESPN’s updated 2010 rankings.
http://www.umhoops.com Dylan

He’s top 100 on Scout and top 150 on Rivals I believe as well.
Kenny

WOW, Smotz is #47, Lubick #45, Zeigler #37, Prather #22, McCallum #20
El Capitan

Smotz at 47 is a total shocker… and though he has the same grade as Appling, overall he is ranked HIGHER?!
http://www.umhoops.com Dylan

Also FWIW… ESPN and Scout have had people see him play. Rivals has not AFAIK.
ryan

Even our back up plan to replace Manny is in the top 100 on ESPN.
Tim Hardaway Jr. Checks in at number 93.
Bluebufoon

Some local basketball folks believe Michigan is in good shape with
Patrick Lucas-Perry and Brandan Kearney, two of the top in-state
players from the class of 2011.
Ken in Vegas

I like how we all scratched our heads when Smotz verballed and said, well we would have much rather had Regan, but I guess this kid has potential. Little did we know that Beilein probably just preferred Smotz because he was the better player. I didn’t see Regan anywhere on that list. JB is just such a supreme judge of talent, which makes recruiting so much easier, because you can make an impact on players that haven’t hit the radar yet….before a swarm of late comers come onto the scene. If we nail down Zeigler, that would be two guys in the top 50. Can’t remember the last time that happened.
ryan

Well the last time that we had 2 top 50 COMMITED was Legion and Harris. Except as we all know Legion didn’t end up at Michigan.
ryan

Before that, in 2003, Dion Harris was 28th, Courtney Sims was 36th, and Brent Petway wasn’t far behind in 71st.
That is really funny to here.
Kenny

Ken in Vegas, not that we didn’t want Regan over Smotz at the time but we thought that there are room for both.

What is important for class 2011 is that JB showing that he can recruit top 50 ranked kid.
Ken in Vegas

Kenny, there wasn’t anything to indicate that Beilein wanted Regan over Smotz or thought that they could take both. It seems to me that Beilein was only willing to take one of the two. He doesn’t get caught up in rankings or hype, so it’s very possible that Smotz was the one he wanted all along.
http://www.umhoops.com Dylan

http://www.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2208&tid=128533459&mid=128533459&sid=880&style=2

Msg Boards played a big part in Vander Blue’s decommit. Interesting take.
gpsimms

Ryan- Not that funny really. All three of those guys had talent to become a special class. Development, or lack thereof, reflects leadership.

Petway and Sims both have had reasonable success in the d-league. Most DI coaches would have loved to get their hands on an athlete like Petway. Actually, I bet Beilein would have loved Courtney Sims’ versatility…
KJay

I don’t have anything new to add, but I continue to be flat out giddy about the number of top prospects visiting Ann Arbor over the course of a few weeks. Zeigler, McCallum, Williams, Brundidge, Kearney, etc. that’s some serious, serious talent. It wasn’t very long ago that we were all wondering, for good reason, whether Coach Beilein would be really going after this caliber of player. Now getting visits is different from getting a commitment–but to me it’s partially a probability game, and with so many good options and so few roster spots (including at MSU) to go around, it looks like we’ll get our share. We can be pretty confident that we’ll have the talent to compete at a very high level in the future.

And it’s great that top recruits have taken note of potential future teammates like Smotrycz, Morris and Vogrich (in addition to seeing what Beilein has done with Manny and Sims). Now if LLP blossoms, that’s another bonus, and I think the odds that happens are pretty good. With the practice facility only a year away, the future looks very bright indeed.
El Capitan

I hate LeBron James but my god that was an amazing shot
Tom Too

I was saying the same thing. Jordan never got booed in opposing arenas, but LeBron has gotten booed in a ton of places. I don’t like him either… There is just something about him.
Mitchigan

Well one thing is Lebron is from Ohio and loves that sh*tty school who we all hate so much. On another note, if Manny’s back in 2010 and if we catch one of the big three in Trey, Casey, or Ray we’ll be looking terrific again. I’ll also even take Solomon or Haradway. Beilein is doing one terrific job. Go Blue!
jmblue

Re: the Galdwell piece, the big issue I have is his contention that the full-court press is an underdog strategy. It’s awfully hard to regularly run a press successfully if you don’t have good athletes and depth, which an underdog presumably won’t have. I can’t imagine, say, a #15 seed in the tourney running a press with any kind of success.
V.O.R.

Any word on how Ben Cronin’s rehab and recovery is coming along? Does it look like he will contribute in the fall?

thanks!
Tom Too

Dylan had mentioned last month that Ben’s rehab was going as scheduled. I think that is all the news there is at this point.
Dave

just read something on rivals that said the schools from the pac ten are in the best postiton right now to get zeigler……….thought that was interesting after reading things 3 days ago saying things about being a strong lean to michigan………recruiting is fun
Bluebufoon

Do you remember how Big Will Campbell elimated U-M a week prior to his announcement at the U.S. Army All-American game ? The kid was playing possum the whole way, don’t give up on Ziegler either.
GregGoBlue

Yeah, but Will Campbell is a big goofball. It looks as though Dylan’s prediction that the “rumors will be flying this summer” regarding Zeigler’s recruitment is starting to take shape.
http://www.umhoops.com Dylan

Red Panda sighting in Orlando…
Paul

Here is a link to how Ben Cronin is doing. Story in the Detroit Free Press.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090525/SPORTS06/905250438/1054/Center+eager+to+get+back+on+court+for+Wolverines
ToBlav

It may be sad that I am clueless, but, Red Panda???
Walt

Do a search within this site…
ToBlav

Walt,
Got it. Thanks