Comments on: Weekend Rundown (7-13-09)

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:11:10 +0000

LOL @ Ryan. Same here, man…I follow both the football and basketball programs very closely. But, this year is the first year that I am more excited about the upcoming basketball season.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:24:15 +0000

I have always been a die hard Michigan fan. I have always followed the basketball team and would always watch them on TV. But NEVER have I ever looked forward to it more than a football season. I was born in 1989, so I didn’t really know what was going on during hte fab 5 era.
Sure, I am excited about the football season, but reading this site daily (and reading all the comments,) I am getting more and more ready by the day. November couldn’t come soon enough.

By: Mattski

Mattski — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:36:51 +0000

Brick–great last post. Nothing like bringing a fact or two to bear on the debate. There is the school reputation, and Michigan’s carries cache. And Beilein–among other things–is helping M get out from under the weight of the penalties, to move on. But there is also the long, long investment in developing those ties to h.s. coaches, right down to neighborhoods that go into making Duke and UNC the perennial winners that they are. Those ties are insitutional, built over decades, and many must be regional. I think Beilein has it in him to be in a class with the Woodens, Coach Ks, and Dean Smiths, one of the grand old men of hoop.

Morris, meanwhile, could prove an amazing grab. Success begets success, and expands M’s recruiting reach. Beilein’s insight about player potential helps in that regard, too. I was delighted with his hire from the get-go, and he’s surpassing expectations. It wasn’t long ago–mid season last year–that many of us were still lamenting the cloud Michigan was under. I think it has lifted.

P.S. Two unselfish NBA-caliber players really learning to create, one good play-making guard, several sharp-shooting role-players, should be enough to take you some way at the dance. I don’t think people have fully absorbed that we have two superlative players in Manny and Deshawn Sims. M is a much better, more confident team going in, and a lot depends on how quickly Morris adjusts, whether he stays within his developing capabilities. But M is in the thick of the B10 race this year.

By: Tom Too

Tom Too — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:22:52 +0000

This all boils down to one question: Are we going to have a program like Gonzaga or Duke? Both are top 25 teams, but one has lower-tiered players that always seems to be the underdog and will probably never win an NCAA Championship, and the other contends each year and puts people in the NBA. Both seem to recruit good students who stay for over one year.

By: Tweeter

Tweeter — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:05:10 +0000

Brick – I am not down on anything that the staff is doing currently. My point was about the future. Ofcourse, UM has no chance to go out right now and land the best of the best. But hopefully with several more years of successful play, they might be able to target the top level player. The whole thing was really just a response to Tom about who Beilein is targetting down the road that nobody knows about. When I would hope, and maybe I am too optimistic about this, that he wouldnt have to target unknowns and instead target the well knowns. I love that they are able to go and find guys like Stu and Metrics, but eventually I want to see the next step. Not right now, but eventually.

By: Brick

Brick — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:43:46 +0000

The thing I find tiring about this whole debate is that it completely ignores the importance of regional recruiting. There are very few programs that just send a letter to the other side of the country and get on someone’s visit list. Many kids like to play close to home and are fans of the schools in the area. Even the mighty MSU program has pulled in pretty much zero recruits beyond the midwest for as long as I can remember. Making a blanket statement that UM should recruit more top 20 NBA bound kids completely ignores who these kids are, where they are from and what schools are their favorites growing up. Yeah, we should go after the type of recruits that Ohio State goes after. Wait, pretty much every one of their five stars has been from either Ohio or such far off places as Ft. Wayne or Indianapolis.

I am amazed that we pulled in Morris from California, that was a great grab and seemed to happen because a relative spoke highly of JB. We are currently working Michigan and the rest of the midwest hard and also a few East Coast areas because of the coaches ties back there. If a top talent emerges from these areas we will be all over them. It’s impossible to blanket the entire country as a basketball recruiter and I think the coaches are doing a great job of targeting regions and making contacts that will lead to landing great players that will make us a top program again.

This debate never leads to a name of a specific top player that we didn’t recruit and should have.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:39:21 +0000

people underestimate the natural ability to create and be a playmaker……..let morris play around with manny and deshawn and see what happens

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:35:22 +0000

darius will have a huge season his freshman year………….hes a playmaker and a creater, known for getting his teammates involved and creating opportunities for them to score…….he will have a dramatic impact on the game this upcoming season………having him with manny and deshawn not to mention that at least one more player from last year will undoubtedly step up and improve dramatically …….lots of heads will being turning

By: Tweeter

Tweeter — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:28:11 +0000

Darius looks like he will be a very good player, but its not like the guy has NBA scouts abuzz right now. Those are the types of players I am talking about – the buzz players. Maybe down the road DMo will get there, but its no sure thing.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:23:40 +0000

Did everyone forget about Darius Morris?! JB has already proven he can bring in top, to close to the top level talent. We have to remember that winning breeds success. This past season has proven that, at least on the recruiting trail. If (and it’s a highly likely if) UM has a better season than last, I’m sure we’ll see an even larger upswing in recruiting. The name alone gets UM in a lot of doors already, regardless of record. We make an elite eight or even a sweet sixteen and I think a lot of ears are going to be perking up.