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Practice Facility Update

U-M will present the practice facility design for approval (Freep) at next Thursday’s Regents meeting. The schematics will be released next week and the building will be built on the East side of Crisler Arena. The plan is to break ground in April 2010 before hopefully having it completed in October or November of 2011 before the 2011-2012 season. The 50,000 square foot building is slated to cost $23.2-million.

The process might not have happened as quickly as some people may have hoped but it appears that it’s finally here. I am sure Beilein will roll out the plans to the numerous recruiting visitors this weekend as well.

Akunne Earns a Scholarship

Incoming freshman Eso Akunne orgiinally enrolled at Michigan as a preferred walk-on. This summer he was given some sort of financial aid package that allowed him to get settled on campus. Now he has earned a full scholarship for the 2009-2010 season.

Akunne’s height and athleticism kept him from being a high major recruit but there is no denying his talent and ability. There is no doubt that, at some point, Akunne’s multidimensional skill set will come in handy. With an extra scholarship available this year it makes perfect sense to reward Akunne, a guy who could have gone to numerous other schools on a full ride.

Refresher:

MGoBlue Akunne Profile

Other Notes

• Weekend visitors list lives here. Per one of his AAU coach’s twitter account, Casey Prather boarded a plane last night and is in Ann Arbor.
• Michigan checked out an open gym at Detroit Southeastern yesterday featuring Brandan Kearney and Percy Gibson.
• BOTB also mentions Trey McDonald’s stock rising, the talented 2011 big man from Battle Creek was reportedly on campus last weekend.
• Sticking with Twitter, Fran Fraschilla says Manny is his Big Ten Player of the Year.

Editors Note: Hot board updates should also be done this week (2010, 2011, and maybe 2012).

I didn’t make it up to Ann Arbor this weekend but plenty of other people did. I’ll try to mix in the reports that I received while throwing in links to other observers. Wolverine3, a commenter and friend of the blog, also was nice enough to share a very detailed report on the Saturday action at team camp.

Tim Hardaway Jr.

All eyes were on Hardaway Jr. this weekend as this was billed as his chance to “earn an offer.” With so many eyes focused on Hardaway there are naturally many differing opinions.

Wolverine3 sees Hardaway as a bit one dimensional:

One dimensional. Two if you count finishing its own aspect of the game. Kid can certainly finish, but he’s a shooter, and a streaky one at best. Just not efficient. He lets them fly, he misses a lot, makes a couple. Great LOOKING form. Does not take the ball to the hole. Not much of a handle. Is very long and finished very well on the break today. Potential I guess.

Next Generation Sports points to his length and ability to finish:

Tim Hardaway Jr. (2010)- struggled with his shot but showed why he is high on Beilein’s list of recruits by using his length and explosion to jump passing lanes and get to the basket.

Hardaway had his ups and downs over the weekend but exploded on Sunday to lead his team to the camp title ($). It’s clear that Hardaway is a shooter first a foremost and every shooter has an off day or two.

I think Hardaway appears to be much more of a 2-guard in Beilein’s system rather than a three. His length is intriguing for playing at the top of the 1-3-1. I think he’s a good fit with his length and shooting. While he might not be the star player that some other targets in this class are, you are stuck with the bird in hand vs. two in the bush mantra.

Incoming Freshmen

Darius Morris

Darius Morris was the class of the weekend. He left just about everyone impressed. Wolverine 3 was no different:

Darius Morris- WOW. Grew a half inch. Legit 6′4 now. I saw him last year when he was,arguably the best player at the camp along with Lubick. Even with the limited action he saw today, he left NO QUESTION who top dog was on campus. These kids couldn’t even come close to stopping Darius. And as Sam said this was against a pretty stellar Clarkston team who BLEW OUT Will Regan’s Nichols team by 20 (30pt gap at times during the game).

Morris came out and scored the first 5-7 points for the Red Oxen vs. Clarkston. Hit a three, baseline drive and pull up J, fast break lay in. Probably had 13-16 in the game before getting injured. He locked down his man at the other end all game, just as he did last year vs Eso Akunne (who was now his teammate).

His first step is quick, he handles the ball with confidence and strength even more so then last year. He could go anywhere he wanted on the court at any given time. Fathers on the Clarkston team kept looking at each other like “are you kidding me right now? How do we compete?”

Lastly on Morris…. he is in GREAT shape. Last year he looked like a high school player, this year he looks straight D1. Put on at least 8-10 lbs of muscle over the past year, another reason for his straight dominance this weekend. I really am not over hyping him either…he was killer.

Darius was limiting by an ankle injury over the weekend but it shouldn’t be anything to worry about long term.

Continue reading ’2009 Michigan Camp Wrap-Up’

This year’s incoming class will arrive on campus at the end of the month. The first sign that basketball will eventually be back. Of the four incoming freshmen, Blake Mclimans is the mystery man. There wasn’t a lot of media coverage of Blake or the Worcester program more than an occasional box score. I stumbled across this McLimans video from WIVB and figured it was worth posting because we have barely seen many pictures of Blake, nonetheless hear him speak.

The first hurdle for the freshmen class is Beilein’s camp. I would expect the entire incoming class to participate in the Elite and Team camps similar to last year. A team of Darius Morris, Matt Vogrich, Blake McLimans, Jordan Morgan, Eso Akunne, and Josh Bartelstein should give other teams a run for their money. It will also be a chance for people to see the a few of the freshmen for the first time.

The five members of Michigan’s 2009 recruiting class have all wrapped up their seasons and their next destination is Ann Arbor. Here is a quick look at how they finished their seasons as well as how they may fit into the puzzle next year. Next, I’ll look at Michigan’s 2010 and 2011 targets and how they finished their seasons as well as what their recruitments look like at this point. Also, make sure to take a look at the recruiting videos section to see footage of Morris, Vogrich, Morgan, and McLimans.

Darius Morris

Darius finished his season on a high-note with a State Championship. Windward rolled through the Division V State Playoffs without much resistance. Darius scored 25 points, dished out four assists and pulled down a game high eight rebounds in the 69-53 win over St Joseph’s.

Darius had a great season and led Windward to a 29-6 record. He has a skill set that was largely absent from this year’s team with his ability to penetrate. There is certainly room for another creator on the floor and it always seemed like the offense ran best when Manny was driving and kicking to wide open shooters. There is plenty of playing time available at the point now that Merritt and Lee have graduated but point guard is one of the hardest positions to step into as a freshman. I think it’s safe to say that Darius is the most important recruit of the class of 2009.

• MitchMash: My Eight Minutes With Denzel
  Feature on Denzel’s son who plays for Windward including a nice pic of Denzel with Stover and Morris’ dads

Matt Vogrich

I mentioned this a couple days back but Matt pulled in some very nice awards over the last couple weeks. He was named First Team All-State as well as Gatorade Player of the Year in Illinois.  Vogrich also finished the season with very good numbers: 21.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Matt became the all-time leading scorer at Lake Forest this season and helped them to a 23-4 record including a Conference and Regional Championship.

His three point shooting percentage (32%) has been the subject of some criticism but I think that’s a bit unfair. Vogrich is the guy on Lake Forest and he is called on to do a lot more than shoot jump shots, that almost guarantees that he isn’t getting the best looks. I will side with the scouts that watched him play over the last year, they describe his three point shot as nothing short of phenomenal.

At 6-foot-4 Vogrich will add another weapon to Michigan’s offense. He seems to have more penetrating ability than last year’s freshmen and can still stroke it. The biggest issue is that Matt is very skinny and will have to work on getting into Big Ten shape. There is also a lot of depth at the 2-guard: Douglass, LLP, and Novak can all play the two but I think we could see a little of Stu at the point as well Novak backing up the three.

Jordan Morgan

It was an up and down year for Jordan Morgan. Over the last few years it seems like Jordan will have a great game on one day and then be invisible the next.  The great games show the flashes of potential and make you understand what Beilein sees in Jordan but the bad games raise just as many questions.

Morgan had 28 points and 11 rebounds in a 85-82 district win over Southfield but U-D Jesuit’s season came to a close against Detroit Pershing. U-D has been in a constant struggle to get past the Doughboys but they fell just short to Pershing yet again in a three point loss ($).

The way this team needs size I find it hard to believe that Jordan won’t get a shot. Throw the ball out there and see who wants to battle down low next year — that’s who should play. With Sims, Gibson, Cronin, Morgan, and McLimans there are certainly more bodies, that’s a start but big men tend to be projects rather than instant impact guys.

Blake McLimans

Blake wrapped up his season a while ago and production wise his season wasn’t much to write home about. It was a step up in terms of talent level for Blake, playing in NESPAC versus his old high school league, and that’s a tough transition. That’s also something that could help him down the road and make him more prepared to play at Michigan.

McLimans brings length and skill down low; he can dribble it pretty well and definitely shoot it.  Those are both traits that Beilein values so you can see why he got the offer. However I don’t know how effective he will be banging in the paint in the Big Ten without some added size. With the influx of big men I think at least one of them ends up red-shirting so Blake will certainly have some proving to do.

Eso Akunne (pref. walk-on)

Gabriel Richard lost to Inkster in the Class B regional final, 52-44. Akunne scored 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the loss which capped a remarkable season. Gabriel Richard finished 22-3 on the year and Eso finished 5th in Mr. Basketball voting.

The thing I love about Eso is that he has a mid-range game. Looking back at the season there is really no one that has a pull-up jumper on this whole team. Manny loves to take it all the way to the hoop, Peedi loves the turnaround jumper, but there is no one that can get in the lane, pull-up, and knock it down (coincidentally, Manny could really use some work on his mid-range game this summer). The problem with Eso is that he is still only 6-foot-3 and there’s nothing he can do about that. Over the course of his career I think Eso will be one of those guys that just finds his way onto the floor despite his size.

A lot of Michigan targets have wrapped up their seasons or didn’t play this week so this is an abbreviated version of the recruiting roundup. If someone is not on the list, don’t mistake it as a sign that there is no longer any mutual interest or anything like that.

Commitments

Darius Morris

Darius scored 16 points in a 72-62 win over La Verne Lutheran in the Division V-A Southern Sectional title game despite battling an ankle injury over the last couple weeks.

Windward gets back to work in the State Tournament tonight against Mission Prep. The full state tournament bracket can be found here (Windward is in Division V).

Matt Vogrich

Lake Forest won their regional after a 55-43 win over Stevenson that followed a 67-46 win over Barrington. Vogrich had 19 points in both victories.

“We have been motivated all season by people picking against us,” said Vogrich, who contributed 19 points and 7 boards. “Other people picked Zion to win the sectional and didn’t think that we deserved the top seed, but here we are.”

Lake Forest will take on Warren and Illinois bound Brandon Paul tonight at Waukegan High School. The teams split the first two match-ups and they were both settled in overtime. Vogrich got the best of Paul in the last battle but tonight’s game will determine who gets the last laugh.

Jordan Morgan

Jordan Morgan had a big game in a 85-82 win over Southfield and 2011 Michigan target Carlton Brundidge. Morgan had 28 points and 11 boards while Brundidge scored 33 points.

• Video: Jordan Morgan, Carlton Brundidge ($)
• Morgan anticipates Pershing; other signees shine

Eso Akunne (pref. walk-on)

Eso had 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists in a 74-53 win over Chelsea in the district semi-finals. Despite the solid numbers, Eso called it his worst game of the year.

2010 Recruits

Casey Prather

Prather’s season came to a disappointing end in a 70-68 loss to Dyer County. Prather struggled with foul trouble the whole game, he picked up three fouls in the first six minutes and only scored 1 point in the first half. Casey came alive in the second with 16 points but it just wasn’t enough. Prather was called for a charge with 28 seconds left while the Indians were down 1 and later missed his final attempt.

“I felt like I should have been at the line,” Prather said. “But it should have never come down to one play.”

• Prather Talks ($)
  

Alex Dragicevich

Dragicevich had 33 points and 13 rebounds in a 73-58 regional final win over Evanston.

“I was open, so I took some shots tonight,” Dragicevich said. “We’re getting better on defense. All five guys are participating. We were attacking Evanston’s traps and zone tonight, which resulted in a lot of back-door layups offensively.”

Devin Oliver

Oliver had 14 points in a recent win over Battle Creek Central.  A couple of weeks ago he also had a big game against Loy Norrix when he scored 20 points and got a number of steals.

“I look at the players eyes to see where he’s going to throw the ball,” Oliver, who scored a game-high 20 points to go along with a handful of steals. “I act like I’m not going to go — and then I anticipate and go get it.”

Other Links

• Hoops: Hardaway Jr. contemplating visits ($)