Michigan just landed it's third recruit for next season: 6'4 Shooting Guard Zach Novak from Chesterton, Indiana. To date UM has Ben Cronin, a 7 foot 235 lbs center from Syracuse, and 6'2 Shooting Guard Stuart Douglass from Carmel, IN.
There is something about a team mate of Douglass' who may be interested in UM, don't know if he's a football guy or what, but Tahoe has determined that I should investigate it.
We'll be taking a look at basketball stuff here so all the UM fans can remain up to date!

FYI, Douglas's teammate is junior QB Morgan Newton. Newton is up on the Michigan wish list for future QB's, but nobody seems to think that Michigan having Douglass will help get Newton.

As for Novak, I went onto the Michigan free basketball board last night after I heard he committed and basically the whole board was having a huge shitfit about this guy. Apparently some people think we should only accept 4 and 5 star Mr. Basketball type guys. However, Novak is just a typical dorky 3 point shooter that will give us depth and nobody expects him to score 20 points a game. Michigan finished in the bottom 10% of the COUNTRY in field goal percentage so any shooter that we can get is going to help. Does this guy take us from 13 wins to 17 wins or whatever...............probably not. But maybe we can hit a god damn wide open three once in a while.

We'll be taking a look at basketball stuff here so all the UM fans can remain up to date!

*crickets*

ehhh

we need depth. so whatever, i like this.

UM has one schollie available for 2008. I don't expect any miracles in the 08 class. The team will be terrible again next year. There is talk of possibly one recruit being added this year, but it looks like they may wait til 09, with one committ in the fold.
This just doesn't look good for the foreseeable future.

Beilein's offense is made for ugly white shooters. In one way, that sucks, because there are only so many of those guys and most of them go to Duke or Stanford. Too bad Brad "Proactive" Redford wasn't one that chose UM.

I clicked on this thread because I thought, for a moment, it read "Jethro's Wife Coming Back UM"

Good to know that would interest you. I'll let her know. She'll be flattered.

By the way, even though UM only won 9 games, I'm absolutely lol'ing over the fact that Manny Harris was 2nd team all-Big Ten and all-0freshman team, while the amazing, unbeatable class State had, including the best PG Izzo has ever coached, got shut out (with the exception of Lucas getting honorable mention all-big ten).
Too bad Harris had that bad release, ugly form, and horrible DVD. Otherwise he might REALLY be good.

Yeah, sorry our player have to compete to start, let alone be the best players on their team.

Harris deserved his spot, and is comparable to any of our 3 frosh. But come on, if Lucas, Summers, or Allen was playing for UM they would have been just as successful as Manny.

DSC, I think he was taking a shot at Doc Tre. You're starting to get your panties into a "zippy bunch." We all conceed that Allen, Lucas and Summers are better than any freshmen we've ever had. Now back to the Doc Tre bashing.

DSC, I think he was taking a shot at Doc Tre. You're starting to get your panties into a "zippy bunch." We all conceed that Allen, Lucas and Summers are better than any freshmen we've ever had. Now back to the Doc Tre bashing.

I'm a bit out numbered here, makes me more likely to snap out. Otherwise I'll be swept up into all your UM gibberish.

Yeah, that was a shot at a previous prediction that Harris would never be 1st, 2nd or 3rd team All-Big Ten in his entire UM career, let alone his freshman year. The Sparty of the hour had even taken into account PT and there was no way he would be as productive as anyone in the Sparty class.

This is probably my skewed memory at work though.

Just wanted to throw out a question to other M ballers that acutally watch and care about the team.......

Do you think Beilien will let Manny play the 3 while implementing other people at the 2? I'm thinking Grady/Lee/LLP at the 1 and at the 2 we could play LLP/Manny/Douglas/Novak. Obviously if Ant Wright loses another 10 pounds or Jevohn starts to play like a real baller (which I doubt) this is a moot point, but I feel the 3 is our worst position and going to a three guard lineup would help us out offensively, but probably cause us to play more zone because it makes us weaker defensively.

Well considering all those smaller players we have, Manny at the three is certainly a possibility - though it would likely come across as the biggest guard in a 3-guard. The thing that gets my attention the most with that is the idea of Sims playing as a 4 instead of 3, which he does all too often. They use him like Sheed dreams of being used. Not down low nearly enough. He needs to become a beast down there, rifling home putbacks and pwning less talented big men. In fact I think Epke should be a 4 as well, with Gibson and Cronin as the 5's.
These are all reasons why I'm not a coach.

I gotta tell ya, the Sparties were woofing it up all right. The shots by Jehtro were legit. Sparties ripped Manny Harris while they bombarded us with neverending predictions for greatness for THIS year. And of course, I'll be holding the Sparies to their predictions for greatness next year as well.

HipDigIt is over on the "other board" with his annual backtracking. Telling everyone that the Sparties ended up "right about where they should". I guess he's too dumb to see that if the Sparies ended up "right about where they should", The Izzo is falling off. 2000 was a long time ago.

I gotta tell ya, the Sparties were woofing it up all right. The shots by Jehtro were legit. Sparties ripped Manny Harris while they bombarded us with neverending predictions for greatness for THIS year. And of course, I'll be holding the Sparies to their predictions for greatness next year as well.

HipDigIt is over on the "other board" with his annual backtracking. Telling everyone that the Sparties ended up "right about where they should". I guess he's too dumb to see that if the Sparies ended up "right about where they should", The Izzo is falling off. 2000 was a long time ago.

I don't think that Izzo is falling off, but this season has certainly been a disappointment. This year we have had a conflicted team - plodding upperclassmen(both Drew N's and Walton are clearly superior in the half court) and run, run, run young guys(Kalin, Allen, and Summers - yeah, that's obvious). This has hurt the team a lot.

I don't think that Izzo is falling off, but this season has certainly been a disappointment. This year we have had a conflicted team - plodding upperclassmen(both Drew N's and Walton are clearly superior in the half court) and run, run, run young guys(Kalin, Allen, and Summers - yeah, that's obvious). This has hurt the team a lot.

Who recruited them?

In all honesty, I would agree that The Izzo isn't falling off. 24-7 is pretty much what he seems to roll out every year, and I'll take that for sure.
Maybe he just caught lightning in a bottle 1999-2001, got his NC, and is now in the category of "Is what he is"-- a very good, consistent, winning coach. Come on, NO Big 10 titles since 2001???

Is there any chance that BARWIS could work with the hoops team?

Is there any chance that BARWIS could work with the hoops team?

Uh, nevermind, I don't know what I was thinking.

It would be too expensive to put those steel backboards in all over the Big Ten to replace the glass ones.

Is there any chance that BARWIS could work with the hoops team?

Actually, I think he did work with Beilein's boys at WVU at one point. Not sure if the schedule could work out, but it would sure be nice to have him working with Sims and Cronin on toughness, Wright on speed, keep Grady and Harris quick.

Unfortunately (I may get killed for this) I don't think getting BARWISed helps you hit an open 3.

So here's the deal with UM. Shooting, shooting, shooting.
When you play the #6 team in the country, you have to shoot better than 20% if you want to be in the game. Yes, 20%. Not an exaggeration.
And looking at the team this year, the number of people that shot under 40% for the season is disgusting.
Among guys that played 10+ minutes per game, here are their season FG%’s
Zach Gibson - .482 (clearly he needs to get more involved next season)
Epke Udoh - .437 (see above)
Jevohn Shepherd - .418 (see above again)
Kelvin Grady - .403
DeShawn Sims - .395
David Merritt - .385
Manny Harris - .381
Ron Coleman - .378
CJ Lee - .333
Anthony Wright - .329

Coleman will be gone. That will be nice. Wright has improved a great deal this year and that will continue. Hopefully with Douglass, Novak, and the midseason addition of Lucas-Perry, there will be less reason for Sims to shoot the three. There’s no reason someone like Sims should be shooting so much outside – even in a Beilein offense. 38% of his FG attempts were beyond the 3 pt line. Cut that down to 20%. I’m not saying don’t let him shoot, I’m saying get him more looks in the lane, back door, pick and roll, etc. Easy buckets that can get him in a groove.
Also, I’m not as into CJ Lee and David Merritt as some people. They have energy and quickness, but they are huge offensive liabilities, and when I saw Lee playing the deep baseline down low defensively it made me puke.
A lot of this is Beilein ball that I’ll just have to get used to, but we need to kill the streakiness. If this team is going to be competitive they’ll have to bring their FG% up at least 2-3%, from .395 to .420 range.
That much improvement and consistency makes the difference in 7-9 games they played THIS year. Had they been able to consistently shoot at 42% and 33% from 3 point land, they potentially end up with as many as 19 wins and a 19-13 record. That’s still only NIT land, but it’s a big difference and one I think is reasonable for next season. Many of the kids on this roster had never shot so much. We’re adding kids who are system guys, meant to shoot those shots. The guys currently on the roster will be shooting like crazy this summer. And should be expected to improve.
Based on my post above and Glenn’s comments, I would still love to see a number of these guys get integrated with the new strength and conditioning going on for football. Give them an hour with Barwis every day in there while the football team is on the field and the difference would be incredible.

The thing that really excites me is the recruiting Belein is doing so far. Fair to middlin' Indiana talent is surely the way back to the top for Michigan.

But seriously, guys: I think UM is still sooooo scared of another Fab 5 (shit, they'd probably pee their pants over a "pretty good 4") that Belein and the basketball program are going to be lucky to make a serious run at a 500 record over the next several years.

Could their have BEEN a worse hire?

I know it sounds like an excuse, but he's still going to be haunted by the Martin scandal and hampered by shitty facilites.

In fact, those things might be related.

I wouldn't be surprised if UM was reluctant to upgrade the facilites while still under the microscope, it might look improper.

It still pisses me off that the punishment for the misdeeds of those long since departed still effect this program and these kids.

From what I have heard/read/seen, Beilein looks like about as good of a coach that would be willing to come here under these circumsatnces.

I think Michigan is still reeling from the Appalachian State loss.

Maybe even a hangover from the WIN OVER FLORIDA!!!!!!!!

I think Michigan is still reeling from the Appalachian State loss.

Maybe even a hangover from the WIN OVER FLORIDA!!!!!!!!
^best post you've made since 10K

Welcome back.

Thanks. It feels good to be back.

Just like it will feel good for Michigan to be back in the NIT next season.

GO BLUE!!

hail, hail!

It'll be great in 2010 when we can acknowledge Chris Webber again and we can build the brand new Fab Five Practice Facility.............ummmmmm I can dream can't I?

My only beef with Manny is that his finishing needs some work. Many times I've seen him attack the backet only to miss the layup and +1 opportunities. He's almost Wade-like in terms of getting to the line and could have easily averaged as much as Gordon if he finished better.

Perhaps the time to bump this?

The first 4 star that Beilein has picked up at UM that hadn't already committed to Amaker. Now we're rollin along!