- Sykes Headed To UCF ($)
No surprise there after Michigan took Christian - Lessons learned in Las Vegas, Part I (Insider)
Chad Ford projects Manny Harris in the 25-40 range after watching him out in Vegas working out with Joe Abunassar - It’s an EYBL weekend which means the top Nike clubs will be headed down to Houston. This includes plenty of Michigan targets including commitment Carlton Brundidge along with Amir Williams, Eric Katenda, Markus Crider, and more. Many other midwestern teams will be playing at the adidas May Classic in Bloomington, Indiana as well.
- Post-Deadline 2010-11 Top 25
You won’t be finding Michigan on any top 25 listings this year but there are still plenty of Big Ten teams including 3 in the top 10. - Kevin Pangos: Push it to the Limit
I linked this yesterday in my post but Kevin Pangos is someone to get familiar with. The Canadian point guard has Michigan high on his list and has officially decided to be in the class of 2011. Here’s a recent SI article as well. - Hoop Mountain Invitational – Sun. Recap
Eric Katenda playing well - U-M Breaks Ground on Basketball Player Development Center
MGoBlue release has tons of pictures and video from the ground breaking - Plumlee working through a slow period ($)
Doesn’t make for the most exciting update - An update on 2011 Washington forward Cody Zeller
No Michigan mentions - RSS Feed
I’m an idiot and messed up the RSS feed. The FeedBurner URL (linked above) should be the same now but you might need to re-add it to your readers.
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Friday Links
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The 2010 class has grown steadily throughout the winter and spring. Michigan has now signed four players for the class of 2010: Evan Smotrycz, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jon Horford, and Colton Christian. Jordan Morgan and Blake McLimans are also going to be freshmen this year after redshirting which brings the count of new players to six.
The larger class has caused some alarm among Michigan fans who wonder “how will we ever sign all of those great players in the class of 2011? 2012? 2013? 2025?” On paper there is now only 1 scholarship remaining in the class of 2011 which means that Michigan could technically bring in only one more player alongside Carlton Brundidge. At this point I expect Michigan to continue recruiting with the intention that they will add two more to the class of 2011.
Michigan will play at Clemson in the 2010 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Times and television channels have yet to be announced but here is the full schedule of games by date:
Monday, November 29
Virginia at MinnesotaTuesday, November 30
Iowa at Wake Forest
Michigan at Clemson
Ohio State at Florida State
North Carolina at Illinois
Georgia Tech at NorthwesternWednesday, December 1
Indiana at Boston College
Purdue at Virginia Tech
Michigan State at Duke
North Carolina State at Wisconsin
Maryland at Penn State
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Tulane decommitment Colton Christian committed to Michigan after an official visit to Ann Arbor over the weekend. Christian is a 6-foot-7, 205 pound forward originally from Bellevue, Washington. Christian spent his last year at Hargrave Military Academy where he averaged 14 points and 14 rebounds per game.
Here’s Christian’s statement on his commitment:
At the end of my visit this past weekend I committed to Michigan after I sat down and talked about all of the positives. There is opportunity with a great academic program, great tradition, and a chance to be a part of getting this program back on track. After meeting the whole staff and the players it seemed comfortable and is somewhere I want to be for the next 4 years.
We were waiting to announce the commitment because there is some final paperwork that has to go through with Tulane but some others jumped on the story so there’s no point in not posting it now.
Scouting
Christian is described as a high motor, athletic, strong forward with a consistent mid-range jump shot and a knack for rebounding. Here’s an ESPN scouting report from Nov. 2009:
Tulane may have landed a sleeper as Christian plays a very efficient, and college ready, brand of basketball. He isn’t going to dominate the game with his scoring but has some inside-out skills and impacts the game in a variety of ways. He’s a capable scorer on the block with a little jump hook and can also step out to 18 feet and shoot. He’s strong and very athletic off of two feet, bodies up well defending the post, and rebounds out of his area. Look for him to see immediate minutes next year at Tulane.
I tweeted this earlier and also mentioned it in the comments but it’s worth posting. There should be a 2010 commitment made official within the next 24 hours. We are sitting on it out of respect for the kid and the process but will have something when it becomes official.
Earlier today at Crisler John Beilein, women’s hoops coach Kevin Borseth, Athletic Director Dave Brandon and many others were on hand to be a part of the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Player Development Center.
Obviously, building a practice facility is a huge step for the basketball program. Brandon said not having one has “had to have had a detrimental effect on our ability to compete for recruits.” He also mentioned that anyone who knows what 18-year-olds want in a college would know a facility like this is really important factor in their decision on where to go. The facility is scheduled to open in fall of 2011 which means the current recruiting class, 2011, would be able to use the facility when they start their fall classes.
Video of the Groundbreaking from MGoBlue
But it’s not just going to be a boon to recruiting. Beilein mentioned that the new facility will open up players’ schedules so they can be whatever major they want. Right now, the men’s and women’s programs have to split their time at Crisler, which of course gets hectic. With another facility, the practice times can be more flexible and free up players to take whatever classes they want. A good example of who this could have helped would be Eric Puls, probably. One of his main problems was scheduling practice and being an Engineering major, and having this facility will most likely eliminate that problem.
Beilein: “We can tell a kid, ‘All right, you can be an engineering major, or you can be a business major, or you can take that professor you want to take.’”
Beilein also talked about looking forward to being able to be in his office and have a player just drop by to shoot around, or have some guys come over and play pick-up.
“I cannot wait til I’m sitting in my office and a player comes by to shoot and just drops in and says ‘Hey coach, how you doing?’”
Overall, definitely a giant leap for the basketball program. I think recruiting is where the new facility will have the most effect, but if it makes it any easier for Zack Novak to be a business major, that’s fine too.
Other notes: Patrick Beilein will be leaving his GA position for an assistant coaching position at Dartmouth.
