Friday Bullets: James Blackmon Jr., positions, 2015 visitor, other notes

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• Rumors swirled on Thursday that James Blackmon Jr.. had trimmed his list to just two schools, Michigan and Kentucky. Blackmon denied those reports to our Joe Stapleton, insisting that his list still includes Indiana, Michigan State and Kansas as well.
• However, with a likely decision date of October 22nd and just one more official visit (Kentucky on Oct. 18) scheduled, it’s clear that Michigan and Kentucky are the two schools in strong position for Blackmon’s services. For what it’s worth, recent U-M commit Kameron Chatman thinks Blackmon will end up at Michigan.
• Fran Fraschilla named Glenn Robinson III one of the top undersized power forwards in the game. “Robinson is a tricky case, as he ranks No. 13 in Chad Ford’s NBA prospect rankings as a small forward but played his freshman season in the player forward role with great success,” Fraschilla wrote. “While I have no doubt that coach John Beilein will figure out what is best for Robinson and the Wolverines, he must make sure Robinson doesn’t stray too far from what makes him successful: intelligent energy plays. He shot 65 percent inside the arc last season, primarily on transition baskets, offensive rebound putbacks and timely basket cuts. Robinson shot 32 percent from 3-point range and 68 percent from the line, and his free throw rate (number of free throw attempts divided by number of field goals attempted) and rebounding rates on both ends were underwhelming” Much has been made about Robinson transitioning to the three position but Fraschilla points out a number of reasons to leave him at the four.
• Times and television information have been released for Michigan’s entire schedule. Non-conference tickets also went on sale through the University on Thursday. You can find the best after-market prices on our ticket page.
• Jeff Goodman writes that position changes for Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas are the key to Michigan’s season.
• Michigan has a new player-blogger this season, 6-foot-5 freshman Cole McConnell. McConnell is replacing Josh Bartelstein as Michigan’s resident blogger and published his first entry last week.
• As we reported in September, class of 2015 wing Tyler Williams will visit Michigan, today for a practice. Williams is also planning trips to Michigan State on Saturday and Texas A&M later this month.
• Class of 2015 Michigan offeree Jalen Brunson added a big offer on Thursday, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo offered the talented point guard at his school. The Michigan State offer was Brunson’s fourth in the Big Ten along with Michigan, Purdue and Illinois.
• Michigan State also extended an offer to another class of 2015 prospect drawing Michigan interest, Ohio wing Kyle Ahrens. Ahrens visited Michigan for a football game this fall.
• Trey Burke is trying to prove his merit by making a big first impression.
• Mike Woodson says Tim Hardaway Jr. ‘will be in the rotation’ after his strong preseason debut.
• John Beilein was inducted into DeSales Hall of Fame. “I never thought in my life I’d be sitting in the Final Four championship game,” Beilein said. “But I thought if I hadn’t dreamed of that, would I have ever gotten there?”
• Stephen Zimmerman was offered by North Carolina.