UM Hoops.com

In the most surprising news of the year… Evan Turner was named Big Ten Player of the Year. The entire collection of All Big Ten rosters were released this evening and you can find the list here.

DeShawn Sims was named to the second team while Manny Harris was given a spot on the third team. The first team consisted of Demetri McCamey, Kalin Lucas, Robbie Hummel, E’Twaun Moore, and the aforementioned Turner.

Sticking on the subject of DeShawn Sims, Mike Rothstein put together a great piece chronicling the changes in Peedi’s life over the last four years.

For the more analytical types, KJ compiled a final table of his Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game (PORPAG) ratings and the Big Ten Geeks also put together a wonky All Big Ten team.

• Senior forward Anthony Wright will not return for his fifth year of eligibility. Wright recently had a baby and is on track to graduate with a degree in sociology. This means that Michigan should have three scholarships remaining for the class of 2010 but if they were to use all three they wouldn’t have any additional scholarships for the 2011 class.
• Updated scholarship breakdown lives here.
• DeShawn Sims plans to attend the Portsmouth Invitational. Portsmouth is a tournament that is typically attended by bubble players, so to speak, but it’s a great chance to be seen. The bottom line though, a lot of these kids don’t get drafted. Last years class did include several players who were drafted, including guys like Sam Young, AJ Price, Ahmad Nivins, Jeff Pendergraph, Jermaine Taylor, and Robert Dozier.
• Michigan looks almost locked into the 8 seed in the Big Ten tournament which means a 2:30 game next Thursday. Right now they would play Iowa but the Hawkeyes are only a game ahead of Indiana and Penn State. The winner of the 8/9 game plays the 1-seed which will be Ohio State if the three first place teams win out.
• A care package drive will be taking place at tomorrow’s game.  Donations can be dropped off at Gate E or A for Task Force-12 in the Khakrez District of the Kandahar Province.
• Ben Cronin is spending his spring break on a mission trip to New Orleans and keeping a diary.

Here’s another update from 2010 commitment Evan Smotrycz. The senior has been playing well of late after recovering from a calf injury. Smotrycz has scored 15 points in a win over Exeter and added 14 versus Worcester. The school website recapped his play versus Worcester: “great all-around game, rebounding and making plays for his teammates”.

Here’s the latest commit diary:

I can’t believe its February. As it stands now we have 8 games left before the playoffs, and an overall record of 16-8. Our coaches tell us frequently that this is the start of the best years of our lives and we need to take advantage while we can. That reality is starting to set in, but we need to finish the season strong and obtain some good momentum come playoff time.

I am coming off a calf injury that is now pretty much fully healed and I am able to play comfortably. Since we came back from Christmas break we have played a lot of games in a short amount of time. We had a good road win at Worcester Academy, who has a real good scorer in Billy Baron. Billy is going to be playing for his dad, and with my teammate Kyle Cain next year at the University of Rhode Island. He gave us some trouble but thankfully we took care of business and came out with the win.

We beat Phillips Exeter at home tonight by 40 and have a couple more games that we should win coming up. It’s hard to believe but it already starting to get warmer (anything above 30 is warm to me at this point), and we are going to have to push through injuries and fatigue and finish the regular season with some more wins. With the departure of a few guys, for various reasons, we are now down to 10 players. Despite of that everyone else has picked up the slack and it doesn’t seem like we have missed a beat. We are in a good position right now and just need to stay sharp and take advantage of the little time we have left.

I set this up so that the in-game comments can live at the top of the page. Preview is here. Jon Horford scouting report is here. Tip off is 4:35 PM EST on the Big Ten Network.

Don’t have any details because I’m on the road but Manny Harris will not suit up today for Michigan due to disciplinary reasons. Reason: “unsportsmanlike conduct” in Friday’s practice.