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TJ Kelley from InsidePrepSports.net put on a great tournament this weekend in Livonia and I was able to make it out on Friday and Saturday to check out a number of Michigan prospects in action. Here’s the scouting report on the kids that I saw in action:

Jalen Reynolds (R.E.A.C.H. Legends, 2011, 6-9, F, video interview) This kid is the real deal.  He has a college-ready body with arms that go for days and hands the size of a small possum.  His game is still pretty raw, but his jumper looks smooth and his effort is non-stop.  He jumps out of the gym and knows how to use his athleticism to take advantage of smaller, slower forwards.  He boxes out better than most kids his size, actually getting position instead of simply jumping over kids.  His defense is goo and his lateral movement allows him to patrol the paint and also guard against baseline jumpers.  I didn’t see a whole lot of post moves, but his touch around the basket looked relatively smooth.  When he gets the ball, he has one thing on his mind: scoring.  That’s a good thing at this point because he can pretty much score at will, but he needs to work on his vision because you can bet this kid will be double-teamed.  Overall, really good talent and the most impressive player at the tournament in my opinion.

Ray Lee (Team Pride, 2012, 6-2, G, video interview) I was really glad to get a better look at Ray Lee after not really seeing much of him at the Motown Showdown earlier in the spring. I think Lee’s in sort of a tough spot playing for both age groups — I don’t know how these kids play the games they do, but Lee plays double that.  I think he was using the 16U game I saw him in to rest a little bit from the 17U games, but in the 17U games I saw I was impressed.  Lee is very long and very athletic, at one point barely missing a nasty baseline dunk in traffic.  His handle is nice and he can get by just about anyone with his crossover. His shot looks decent, though he didnt shoot much.  He plays very good defense, kind of a skinnier Darius Morris type with his long arms and getting into passing lanes.  Very good player, and as he said in the interview we’ll be seeing him again at the Michigan Elite Camp.

Continue reading ‘Scouting: Great Lakes Classic’

John Gasaway, of Basketball Prospectus, (and formerly the Big Ten Wonk) agreed to answer some questions about Michigan and the Big Ten. Gasaway is a pioneer when it comes to college basketball analysis and although he left the Big Ten Wonk for greener pastures beyond the Big Ten, he’s still one of the best in the business. 

You guys have listened to me babble for six or seven months about the upcoming season, so I figure it’ll be good to hear from a fresh voice. Thanks again to John for taking the time to answer the questions – you can follow him at Basketball Prospectus, on Twitter (@johngasaway), and he also just finalized his book, The Basketball Prospectus 2010 Major-Conference Preview.

Expectations are so high across the conference that someone is bound to be disappointed. If you had to pick one, which of last year’s seven NCAA tournament teams (MSU, Purdue, Illinois, OSU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan) do you see taking a big step back this year? Is the Big Ten a 7 bid league again this year?

To be honest, I don’t see any of those seven taking a big step back, though Michigan State, Illinois, and Wisconsin would figure to be the most vulnerable to backtracking since they return fewer minutes than the other four teams. That being said, the number of bids that the Big Ten receives will not be simply a function of the league’s quality. It will also be a function of what’s out there beyond the borders of the slowest-paced league in the land. The SEC, to take one teachable example, will definitely absorb more bids this year than they did last year. And bids are a zero-sum game.

Michigan fans are clearly excited after ending their NCAA tournament drought and putting together one of their best seasons in the last decade. What do you think of this year’s Michigan team that returns Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims? Do they have what it takes to compete for the Big Ten title and make a run in March?

Michigan fans are right to be excited–goodness knows they’ve paid their dues. While I don’t expect the Wolverines to win more games than Purdue in the Big Ten this year, I do expect John Beilein’s team to make the NCAA tournament with ease and secure a really nice seed.

Now, if you have any UM fans among your readership who really insist on seeing that glass as half-empty, shake them vigorously and remind them of the years 1999-2007. Then tell them: OK, you have a point. (A small and splenetic one, but a point.) Your coach is pretty plainly invested in "going small" with this current generation of talent and playing Sims at the 5. (I say in our forthcoming book that Sims is underrated.) Beilein is probably one of my five favorite coaches in the country. If he says bringing in Gibson and moving Sims to the 4 would cost more points on offense than it would prevent on defense, I for one believe him. It does mean, however, that Michigan will continue to give up a lot of twos on defense. That is the limiting factor I see with this year’s team.

But let’s take a step back. Look how we’re talking here. I say I think Michigan has a limiting factor. So what? Even my answer assumes the Wolverines will get to the tournament and do well. Would you have taken that two years ago?

In fact, I want to pipe up on behalf of one of your players. I read the interview you did with KJ of The Only Colors and I have to take issue with your statement that Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas "is easily the best point guard in the conference." Really? What about a certain Manny Harris? Oh, I know last year there were always other Wolverines on the floor alongside Harris who proudly wore the "point guard" label (Kelvin Grady, C.J. Lee, Stu Douglass, etc.). I for one don’t buy it. Harris had by far the highest assist rate on the team and, more importantly, he ran this offense in the literal Beilein-ian sense. Plus Lucas is hapless inside the arc, making an anemic 40 percent of his twos last year. I’ll grant you that Lucas made Sherron Collins look really bad at a propitious moment (less than a minute left in a tie game) in the Sweet 16 and is clearly superior to Harris when it comes to nailing threes. I’m just sayin’. Not open and shut from my chair.

Continue reading ‘Preseason Q&A with John Gasaway’