I'm sure most of you might have missed that the Michigan Basketball team won their first two games of the season the last two nights. They started with a win over D2 Michigan Tech and beat a decent Northeastern team last night with 5 returning starters by 20 points 76-56.
Michigan two early wins equals 20% of their entire win total from last year. From watching most of the first two games, the team looks young, athletic, can shoot the 3, and plays a pretty mean 1-3-1 zone on defense.
As a Michigan basketball fan we haven't had much to cheer about since the days of Robert Traylor and haven't even sniffed the NCAA tournament in what seems like 20 years. But this team is worth watching and supporting. They won't be great, but they will be competitive and fun to watch. You can really see Coach Beilein's system starting to work with open 3's and lay ups on the offense and a suffocating zone on the defensive side. Manny Harris is on the verge of becoming a super star with 30 points against Michigan Tech and following that performance up with nearly a triple double by scoring 26, getting 10 boards, with 8 assists against Northeastern.
Michigan now earns a trip to Madison Square Garden in the Coaches vs Cancer tournament to play UCLA with the winner potentially meeting Duke in the final. So, Yes the win streak will be short lived but this is a team is starting to come together. They most likely won't make the tournament, but they are close to being something special in a year or two.
Also, don't forget that LL Perry a highly recruited player from Flint who transferred to Michigan from Arizona last year will be eligible to play in a couple of weeks and still has all of his Freshmen eligibility left.
There are some good things brewing in Crisler Arena these days. Head over there and take a whiff.
Recruiting Update: Wednesday was an all around good day for the Michigan Basketball Program. They earned their second win of the season and had 4 recruits sign their National Letter of Intent to join the Wolverines next year. The four Michigan signees include: point guard Darius Morris, shooting guard Matt Vogrich, power forward Blake McLimans, and center Jordan Morgan.
Update from UMHoops.com on the class of 4: Overall it’s a solid and balanced class that will fit in nicely with the current squad. Darius Morris is hopefully the difference maker that Michigan needs at point guard. Vogrich has been called one of the best shooters in the country by numerous publications and gives Michigan yet another weapon from long range. Blake McLimans is a versatile and skilled big man who picked up lots of late interest. And finally Jordan Morgan is a guy who can bang and adds depth to the post.
Update from Rivals on the class:
- Morgan, a Detroit Free Press Class A All-State honorable mention selection last year, has been a three-year starter at Detroit Jesuit High School. Morgan has earned All-Catholic honors each of the past two seasons and is a McDonald's All-American team nominee. He averaged 13.0 points and 10.0 rebounds as a junior and was invited to the 2008 NBA Players Top 100 Camp.
- McLimans, now at Worcester (Mass.) Academy after three years at Hamburg, averaged 16.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 3.0 assists per game.
- Morris, a three-year starter at Windward High School in Los Angeles will begin his senior season averaging 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists. He was named to the 2008 All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 3AA first team.
- Vogrich, a 2008 all-state honorable mention selection, has averaged 16.7 points and 6.5 rebounds during his career. He has twice earned All-North Suburban Conference first team honors while playing at Lake Forest High School.
Darius Morris is the highest rated commit of the class with 4 stars, 14th point guard in the nation, and overall the 71st player in Rivals top 150.
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