- Bartelstein takes long way to join U-M basketball program
Bartelstein profile article with quotes from MLive - Zeigler watching MSU closely, gets new offer ($)
The Pac 10 comes calling — no more wondering if certain schools are going to offer.
- VIDEO: Zeigler, McCallum, Petros pace Team Detroit ($)
- 17s Step Up
Nate VanArendonk, 2010, 6-foot-10, out of Grand Haven is one to watch. Steve Bell tells me he’s gathering interest from Michigan, Wake Forest, and Dayton. An intriguing prospects but probably just one to watch at this point.
- Contemplating the Under-the-Basket Charge
No semi circle but the rules committee has come up with a recommendation. KJ breaks down the potential effects. - Student season tickets for U-M hoops are WAY up
I’m working on an article about Crisler/tickets but 650, 450, 1400. That’s impressive, the bandwagon is filling up. - April Wasn’t Live, But it Was Still Important
NERR on the lack of coaches at April AAU events along with a Smotrycz mention
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Monday Links
It was a big weekend for Michigan incoming freshmen Darius Morris and Matt Vogrich. They both participated in the Feinberg Academic All-American Classic in Ontario, California. The four team event featured two games as well as a three point and dunk contest.
Players had to have a 3.0 GPA or higher to participate and judging by the number of Michigan commitments and former recruiting targets, it’s clear that Beilein values academics on the recruiting trail.
Morris played with the East alongside the UNC bound Wear twins, and Detroit Country Day big man DaShonte Riley among others. Vogrich played on the North with MSU bound big man Garrick Sherman, Minnesota bound Justin Cobbs, as well as former Michigan recruits Angus Brandt, Andy Brown, and Roger Franklin.
Darius’ East team was beaten pretty handily by the West but Morris played well. He finished with 16 points (7/16 shooting), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, and 3 steals. Matt’s team was a bit more successful as they rolled to an easy victory. He finished with 9 points on three made triples. Matt also participated in the three point contest, however Andrew Bock (Creighton) won the contest.
ESPN posted a lengthy write up from the event, and here are the highlights from each Michigan recruit.
Morris:
Led by the defensive intensity of Darius Morris (Windward, Los Angeles), the East All-Stars cut the lead to 15-10 on a free throw by the reigning Div. V State Player of the Year.
The East made their final push behind Morris and Travis Wear, who both finished with a team-high 16 points while David Wear finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Morris executed a nice crossover dribble on Cunningham, who fouled him on the play. After the Michigan-bound guard converted the traditional three-point play, the West had an eight-point lead (77-69) with five minutes remaining.
Vogrich:
The North’s Matt Vogrich (Lake Forest, IL) nailed two clutch three-pointers late in the game to seal the deal, as both triples stretch the lead back to 15 points. The Michigan-bound guard made three shots from long range and finished with nine points, one of three North All-Stars to finish just one point shy of double figures.
Mark Snyder caught up with Darius and Matt after the game and it appears that both players had a good time and definitely felt like they belonged.
Morris:
“I’m really a creative player and like to include everybody, so in this game I kind of saw how the atmosphere was and took advantage,” he said. “I had a couple flashy moves and the crowd really got behind you. You could tell the way they liked it and I didn’t want to fell like I was too stiff in my last high school game.”
Morris said his highlights were a one-handed dunk and another time he broke down his defender, hit a shot and still got fouled.
Vogrich:
“I played pretty well and made four threes and our team won by 22,” said Vogrich, who added he was shooting deep threes, from a step or two behind the NBA line and threw a few alley-oops. “I wasn’t nervous. I thought I proved myself. Before I was excited to see where I was. Some kids were better than me and I was better than some of them. It was fun to see where I stack up.”
Max Preps also posted a nice photo gallery from the event.
Tim Hardaway Jr.
According to Sam Webb in a recent Detroit News article, Michigan is the number one school at this point for Tim Hardaway Jr.
While Moses Morgan and Will Regan continue to drift in other directions, Tim Hardaway Jr. appears to edge closer and closer to the top of Michigan’s board. The higher (officially offered) tier appears to be Trey Zeigler, Casey Prather, and Ray McCallum but Tim Hardaway Jr. is no doubt nipping on their heels.
As expected, according to Hardaway’s coach, Hardaway is being recruited to play a similar role as Manny Harris.
“They are looking at him as a Manny Harris type,” said Brown. “He’s somebody who can come in right away and be a big guard who can rebound, run off some screens, and hit the three. I think the 1-3-1 (defense) fits him well too because he’s so long.”
Hardaway makes it clear that Michigan is his leader and also seems to have decided on a timeframe.
“He’s a great coach and he’s really interested in me,” the younger Hardaway said of Beilein. “I trust him with everything — with all my decisions. He is just a great coach. (Michigan) is definitely on top of my list. No question about it. I am going to start cutting down schools when school starts back next year and have my decision at the end of basketball (season) or maybe during.”
Make sure to read the whole article because there are plenty of quotes from both Hardaways. The Wolverine recently posted some video highlights ($) from the Boo Williams tournament, I’m not sure if they say more about Hardaway’s abilities or the level of play at some AAU tournaments.
Hype Machine
Another pre-season top 25 and another mention of Michigan. This time it’s Luke Winn from Sports Illustrated, Winn has Michigan at #17 in his post-draft power rankings. I think the 15-25 range is a much more accurate assessment of where Michigan should be ranked next year.
The Big Ten should be very strong. Winn has 5 other Big Ten teams in the top 25: MSU (2), Purdue (7), Ohio State (11), Minnesota (22), Illinois (23). My early impression is that Ohio State is rated too high at 11 and Minnesota is too low at 22.
APR
The Michigan basketball team appears to be in the clear in regards to graduation rates. All of the Michigan sports teams came through with passing APR marks. The men’s basketball team’s score of 944 was the lowest of any team at Michigan. This is a bit disappointing but understandable because of the way the APR is setup, a program is hit hard by transfers and early NBA draft entries. While we haven’t had any NBA draft departures, there have been plenty of transfers over the last several years.
It can always be worse; Indiana’s basketball team receieved a score of 866 which falls far short of the NCAA-required 925. Indiana saw the problem coming and made sure to accept their scholarship penalty a year early, you know the year when they returned something like one scholarship player.
King Solomon
California big man Richard Solomon continues to receive high-major interest. Solomon has played well with the Compton Magic early on this summer and according to a pair of recent ($) Scout.com updates ($), his recruitment is starting to take off across the country with Pac 10, Big Ten, and ACC interest. Michigan is involved but at this point it appears that Solomon has yet to trim his list.
- U-M basketball practice facility plans taking shape
Plans will hopefully be approved at a July regents meeting — limestone, brick, or glass? - Merritt, Lee adjust to life without basketball
A business man and a politician
- Indiana at the top of the list for Moses Morgan
Inside the Hall talks to Moses Morgan. Indiana leads but he still plans to visit Ann Arbor this summer. - Video: Brundidge on his Game, Michigan & More ($)
GBW with a nice video interview - VIDEO: Brundidge and Williams vs. All-Ohio Red ($)
SpartanMag with video from Spiece (more video here $) - Early 2009-10 NCAA Rankings
NBADraft.net’s pre-season rankings, Michigan at #14. DeShawn comes in at the last spot in the second round of their 2010 mock draft. - Do NBA Players Try Harder in the Playoffs?
This is NBA-related but can you statistically measure effort? The BBall Prospectus folks give it a try mostly looking at tempo, offensive rebounding percentage, and free throw rate. - Spiece: Guards as MVPs
Stephen Bell with a look at some local kids at Spiece including Isiah Sykes - TWITTER CRAZE HITS COLLEGE COACHING RANKS
Jeff Goodman breaks down Twitter in college basketball. Beilein doesn’t have a twitter yet but the Michigan basketball team does. You can also follow @umhoops.
Here is the latest from last weekend on the AAU circuit including a look at Carlton Brundidge, Amir Williams, some talented Indiana underclassmen, Patrick Lucas-Perry, and more.
The Family Playing Well
Amir Williams has struggled with his consistency so far this summer but it appears that he put together a solid weekend at Spiece. Here is what Brian Snow had to say for Rivals:
One of the better performances from a rising junior was turned in by Amir Williams from The Family. In a game against All-Ohio Red, Williams was an impressive force down low. At 6-foot-9 with good athleticism and a long wing span, Williams blocked at least a half dozen shots, and altered numerous others. In fact his presence alone caused All-Ohio to rely exclusively on perimeter jumpers. Then on offense Williams showed some aggressiveness and a decent touch from the foul line. Overall it was a huge improvement from just a week previous in Akron.
Rivals also gathered a school list from Amir, at this point Michigan is his big offer.
Amir Williams has interest from Michigan State, Miami, Notre Dame, UCLA, and Oklahoma to go with an offer from the in-state Wolverines of Michigan.
Carlton Brundidge
While Williams brings the defensive presence, his teammate Carlton Brundidge provides the scoring. The Southfield guard sounds is probably more of an undersized two guard than a point guard but there is no denying that he can fill up the scoring column.
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.
Brundidge caught several Michigan home games over the winter and he is definitely a prime target in the class of 2011 for John Beilein.
Previously: Stu Douglass (B-), Zack Novak (B), Laval Lucas-Perry (C), Manny Harris (A)
| O Rtg | Usage | MPG | PPG | RPG | FG% | eFG% | 3PT% |
| 106.9 | 31.8% | 30.7 | 15.4 | 6.8 | 50.5% | 53.3% | 31.7% |
The Good
- Scoring
DeShawn showed us that he really is the scorer that he was recruited to be. His freshman year was wrecked by family tragedy and his sophomore year saw him live almost exclusively on the perimeter. This year he was forced to the paint — more so by necessity than choice. Luckily, DeShawn was up to the challenge. He attempted 60 less three pointers this year, but managed to lead the Big Ten in field goals made while making 224 of his 444 attempts (50.5%, 53.3 eFG%). - Rebounding
Because he was forced to play down low, it was crucial that Sims attack the glass. Sims averaged 6.8 rpg (5th in conference) and was tied with Manny Harris for the leading rebounder on the team. He struggled at times in conference play on the glass and his average steadily declined but that was mostly a product of dealing with better rebounding teams in the Big Ten. - Improvement
Peedi improved in just about every facet of the game. This should be expected I suppose but as we saw under Tommy Amaker, improvement should never be taken for granted. Even beyond the numbers, Sims looks more confident within the offense and he continues to find his niche.
The Bad
- Consistency
Sims eliminated the Georgetown-esque 1 point performances that we saw in his sophomore year but he still struggled to bring a consistent effort night in and night out. Part of the problem is that his play was so spectacular at times that you wonder why he wasn’t able to do it every time out. - Drifting
All too often Sims would drift to the perimeter instead of focusing his offense in the interior. It is critical that Sims plays inside out. He has to start inside where he can build his confidence before he starts launching longer jumpers.
Shining Moments
- vs. Duke – 28 points (10-16 shooting), 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
The Duke game was the defining moment of Michigan’s season and DeShawn Sims was the star. DeShawn scored the ball inside and out while controlling the glass despite being a non-factor in the first Duke/Michigan match-up that took place only a couple weeks earlier. - vs. Purdue - 29 points (13-16 shooting), 5 rebounds
Another glimpse of just how dominant DeShawn can be. He took the ball right at JaJuan Johnson, who was eventually forced to the bench with foul trouble, and scored inside all night long. This one was an absolute must-win for Michigan’s tournament chances and DeShawn came to play. - vs. Iowa – 27 points (12-16 shooting), 2 rebounds, 3 steals
DeShawn Sims single handily punched Michigan’s NCAA tournament ticket. Michigan went to Sims early and often and just sat back and watched as he made his first eight shots from the field and simply couldn’t be stopped.
The Future
DeShawn has played a dramatically different role in each of his three seasons at Michigan. His freshman year he was a seldom used back-up power forward. His sophomore year he played the “four” in Beilein’s offense which saw him floating around on the perimeter and launching three point shots. And finally, this year he played the “five” where he was almost exclusively an interior player.
The question is where does he go next year? There is a much larger stable of interior players next year but I’m not sure any of them have the ability to score in the post the way DeShawn does. I think we will most likely see a mix of DeShawn at the four and five. Against bigger lineups we will see him play the four along side someone like Ben Cronin while against smaller lineups we will see him down low in hopes that he can exploit a mis-match.
Final Grade: A
DeShawn deserves nothing but an ‘A’. Politics may have forced him off of the All-conference first team, but statistically he had a spectacular season. He was a top five scorer and rebounder and posted an effective field goal percentage of 53.3%. Not to mention the fact that he did all of this while playing down low in arguably the most physical conference in the nation at only 6-foot-8.
Did he have some disappointing performances? Definitely, but over the course of a season, who doesn’t? The improvement that he made in between each of his three years at Michigan has been remarkable. If he can make similar strides before his senior year we should be expecting another special year.
