By Dylan Burkhardt | Uncategorized | Posted on September 23, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Recruiting Roundup (9-23-09) — Casey Prather
Beilein, Mahoney, Dunn had their in-home visit Monday night and Sam Webb claims Prather was “blown away”. Webb goes on to say that Michigan is likely “the team to beat” at this point. Definitely worth a listen, Webb talked extensively with people connecting to Prather’s recruitment and wrote an article on GoBlueWolverine ($) as well in the Detroit News.
U-M gets statement recruit; Broncos sign familiar name
Stephen Bell talks about Carlton Brundidge: “Brundidge is a human layup. When he gets going downhill it’s all over. He’s rugged and creative, not the most usual combination, when he gets into the paint. Brundidge is a better passer and shooter than sometimes given credit for.”
College basketball’s top 10 small forwards
Manny at #10, before you complain there are some very good players ahead of him and DeCourcy says he could be a first team All-American with an improved three point shooting percentage.
By Dylan Burkhardt | 2009-2010 Season | Posted on September 22, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Luke Winn recently ranked Michigan’s non-conference schedule the eighth toughest in the country. The schedule really has it all — true road games at Kansas and Utah, a premiere preseason tournament, the Big Ten/ACC challenge, and a marquee home game versus Connecticut. And unlike the twisted BCS system that governs college football, on the hardwood you are rewarded for going out and playing the best of the best.
Here is a fly-by look at the teams on Michigan’s non-conference schedule, focusing on the basics (graduation, freshmen, etc.) with some of my first impressions tossed in. I have listed every team’s Rivals 347 pre-season ranking (only 46-347), last year’s Ken Pomeroy ranking, as well as last year’s RPI.
Nov. 14th — N/A. Northern Michigan – Northern is Division 2 and won’t count positively or, god-forbid, negatively toward Michigan’s RPI. Don’t bother worrying about an upset either, Northern finished 11th in the GLIAC last season.
Nov. 20th — Houston Baptist Rivals Preseason: 344 08-09 Kenpom: 324 08-09 RPI: 313
HBU comes in at a dreadful 344 out of 347 in the Rivals rankings. It appears to be clear that Michigan will make sure not to challenge themselves too much before they head to Orlando. Rivals notes that HBU only won 5 games last year, and all five were in their final eight games — maybe they got it this winning thing figured out down the stretch last year?
Nov. 26-29 — Old Spice Classic – Full Preview Coming Soon Michigan/Creighton/Xavier/Marquette/Florida State/Baylor/Iona/Alabama
Rakim Sanders and Joe Trapani
Dec. 2nd — Boston College Rivals Preseason: 59 08-09 Kenpom: 69 08-09 RPI: 68
This is a tough game. Boston College loses Tyrese Rice (who absolutely dominated Michigan two years ago in Crisler Arena) but they are still a quality ACC team. Rivals has them slotted as a bubble team which seems reasonable. This is the biggest home game before the conference season and I think it is fair to expect a raucous crowd. The good news for the Eagles is that their four starters not named Tyrese Rice were sophomores last year and all return.
Michigan fans will notice a couple familiar faces in their starting lineup – Josh Southern from his days at Saginaw High and Joe Trapani, who chose to transfer to Boston College instead of Michigan . Versatile wing forward Rakim Sanders should be the guy tasked with filling the scoring void left by Rice.
By Dylan Burkhardt | Recruits | Posted on September 21, 2009 at 8:29 am
Class of 2011 6-foot guard Carlton Brundidge verbally committed to Michigan this morning. Brundidge is a scoring guard from Southfield, Michigan who has the size of a point guard with the game and mentality of a shooting guard. Michigan had long been considered the leader in Brundidge’s recruitment but he finally pulled the trigger early this morning.
Brundidge is Beilein’s first commitment of the class of 2011 and is a consensus top 100 recruit. Brundidge ranks 98th on Rivals, 68th on Scout and 33rd on ESPN. Carlton is one of the top juniors in the state of Michigan as well, ranking as high or higher as Tommie McCune, Patrick Lucas-Perry, Amir Williams, Brandan Kearney, and others. While some like Brandan Kearney may have more potential, it is hard to argue with Brundidge’s production.
Brundidge’s recruitment came down to Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, and Syracuse. Michigan probably had some advantage to begin thanks to family ties to U-M but this is definitely John Beilein’s first major in-state recruiting victory.
Despite his smaller stature, Brundidge has consistently produced throughout his highschool (Southfield) and AAU (The Family) careers. The highlight of Brundidge’s summer was the Peach Jam, where he led the Family to a championship.
That offensive game was on display in July at the Nike Peach Jam where Brundidge led The Family U-16 squad to the championship, beating the All-Ohio Red 16’s in the finale. Brundidge was nearly unstoppable in a semifinal win over Boo Williams with 36 points and he added 25 more in the finale.
Brundidge is a power guard who thrives taking the ball to the hoop and creating for himself. His three point jump shot is streaky and a bit funky but he can score in bunches. He is a high energy guy who is often mentioned in scouting reports for being active on the glass despite his short height. He should be a solid complement to the array of shooters that Michigan will already have on the roster. ESPN had a chance to see Brundidge in action at the Peach Jam as well:
Brundadge slashed and shot his way to 27 big points in the 16U final at the Peach Jam. Brundadge knifed through the All-Ohio defense to score the basketball on strong drives. He is a capable shooter from long range, but he is at his best punishing opponents on his way to the basket. He shows relentless energy and has an intense competitiveness about him. He is at his best in the big games when his team needs a big shot or play. When he gets a head of steam with the ball in his hands, the defense gets out of his way, he was able to get a lot done by sprinting the wing hard in transition. He plays with relentless energy and passion, and refuses to be denied when he wants to score, even gathering his own misses for stickbacks. Brundadge continued to make plays on both ends of the floor even in a stretch during the first half when his shot was not falling.
Sam Webb wrote a lengthy profile in the Detroit News last winter that detailed Carlton Brundidge’s early career and how he burst onto the radar. Brundidge “played up” with the older Family teams early in his career and he didn’t disappoint:
“I just remember they were playing a team called the Birmingham Storm,” Mr. Brundidge said. “(The Family) was down by 15 points in the second half and Carlton wasn’t playing. All of a sudden (Coach Walker) put him in and the team started coming back. We beat them. Coach Beilein was there and Coach Izzo was sitting there too.”
Brundidge also posted big numbers at the Spiece tournament in Indianapolis where Brian Snow (Rivals) came away impressed:
While Williams was the biggest factor on defense, it was Carlton Brundidge that got it done for The Family on the offensive end. The scoring dynamo proved once again that when he is in attack mode very few players can defend him. In the second half of the game alone, Brundidge was near 20 points and simply had moments of dominance.
So Michigan gets a scoring guard to open up their class of 2011 and the numbers start to become very interesting. There is now two remaining scholarships for the class of 2010 and 2011 combined. If Manny Harris goes pro early, both scholarships could be used in the class of 2010 but the likely plan (assuming Zeigler and Prather don’t commit) is to use one more in 2010 and one more in 2011. Scholarship breakdown (now with a color coded chart) lives here.
Trey Zeigler and Casey Prather are obviously the priorities for the class of 2010 but in 2011 I think Michigan will look to land a big man. Some options for 2011 big guys include Brundidge’s AAU teammate Amir Williams, Marshall Plumlee, Justin Gant, or Trey McDonald. It is always possible that Zeigler and Prather both head other directions or someone else leaves the program which would of course open the door for two 2011 recruits.
Trey Zeigler and Ray McCallum are officially visiting Oklahoma this weekend.
Casey Prather will also be back on the road, heading to Gainesville, Florida to watch the Florida/Tennessee game.
Per Jeff Goodman on Twitter, Marquette freshman Junior Cadougan suffered a torn Achilles today and will likely be out for the season. Marquette is a potential opponent for Michigan in round 2 of the Old Spice Classic and hopes were high for Cadougan, a top 100 recruit. Marquette already last year’s stellar backcourt of Jerel McNeal, Dominic James, and Wesley Matthews to graduation.
Andy Katz has a fascinating, disturbing, and thorough look at the ill-effects of agents on the world of college basketball. This is just one of many problems that plagues the game. It feels like there is a feature story on a new problem every week.
It doesn’t look like top 150 recruit Diamond Taylor or freshman walk-on Jeremy Glover will ever play a game in Madison. The duo was arrested 10 days ago for burglary and underage drinking, Taylor has reportedly withdrawn from school while Glover was kicked off the team.
Jeff Goodman examines who is the deepest team in America. Michigan will face Kansas, one of Goodman’s three choices. Goodman points out how ridiculous it is that Travis Releford is the 13th man on Kansas’ roster, “Imagine having Travis Releford as arguably the 13th man on your roster – or boasting a freshman that was ranked in everyone’s Top 50 players in the nation a year ago as your 13th man. “
The Regents voted unanimously to approve the practice facility design today. The 57,00 square feet building features two basketball courts, team locker rooms, as well as training facilities. The second floor will hold coaching offices as well as film and weight rooms. The design also features a “dramatic Hall of Fame ” in the entry lobby. Construction is scheduled to be completed in fall 2011. For a 19 slide gallery of renderings, head over to the official athletic department release.
Beilein on the approval:
“It is indeed an exciting time for Michigan Basketball as we continue to work with our architects on the design of a brand new Basketball Player Development Center. These recent visual renderings of this project reflect the commitment that has been made to both the women and men’s basketball program’s here at U-M. I love the fact that our student-athletes will benefit from having the opportunity to train and prepare, using the latest technology, in a state of the art world class facility. The dedication of so many involved with the design of this facility, and the continued leadership of President Coleman, Bill Martin and Mike Stevenson has been instrumental in moving this important project forward.”
There were times when I wasn’t sure when, if ever, this day would come. It probably should have come a few years earlier, but the past is the past and now is better than never. The facility will no doubt be top notch, similar to all of the other construction going up around the athletic campus.
As frustrating as the wait was, the last year has been extraordinary for this program. An NCAA tournament berth, and a couple thousand season tickets sold for probably the most anticipated basketball season since the Fab Five was a great start. Now construction is set to break ground on a long overdue practice facility.
Everybody knows that Michigan was painfully undersized last year. They got abused inside by teams like Ohio State, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Their offensive and defensive rebounding numbers were near the bottom of the barrel in the Big Ten (8th and 9th respectively). Their average height of 76.1″ ranked 220nd in the NCAA and 10th in the Big Ten. In terms of Ken Pomeroy’s effective height statistic (a combination of block percentage, 2 pt% defense, eFG% defense, and adjusted defensive efficiency) only Indiana ranked lower in the conference.
Judging by Pomeroy’s rankings, center was actually not Michigan’s biggest concern size wise. Yes, DeShawn Sims is a bit small but he can get by at 6-foot-8. Point guard (Lee, Merritt, and Grady were all under 6 foot) and power forward (NOVAK) were Michigan’s biggest size concerns last year.
There are numerous solutions and combinations to try to alleviate the size issue. One of the most common suggestions is to move Sims back to the four position and throw Ben Cronin and Jordan Morgan in at the five. The most likely outcome is some sort of situational rotation – with Sims being the regular starter at the five and Gibson, Cronin, and Morgan providing situational playing time. (full positional breakdown after the jump)
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