Michigan Friday: The Recruitment of Isaiah Sykes

The Michigan Basketball staff continues to recruit for at least one more spot for the 2010 -2011 class. One of the remaining targets is State of Michigan prospect Isaiah Sykes, a 6'5 200 pound small forward who is considered a slasher/scorer. He is not known as a strong outside shooter but a talented young man.

As of right now, Isaiah has two offers one from Michigan and one from University of Central Florida. He is also being recruited by Arkansas and Memphis but they have not offered yet.

The strange part of his recruitment is that we are nearly a month past signing day and Isaiah hasn't made a decision yet. He has a Michigan offer in hand but questions still remain about the young man and finding a fit in Ann Arbor.

1. He seems to enjoy the recruiting process, even though it's late in the game.

2. Is he a good fit for the Michigan system?

3. He transferred a number of times in high school. Is his transcripts a mess and would he qualify?

With the loss of Manny Harris and Trey Zeigler to CMU. Beilein and staff are scrambling to fill a few holes in this class. One strategy might be to bank the scholarships and have a big 2012 class. We will see how this one shakes out.

• The Michigan Football staff has offered DT Micky Johnson from Louisiana.

• Congratulations to DeShawn Sims for graduating this weekend. It will be a special day in the Big House for him and his family with President Obama speaking.

• Slippery Rock to the Big Ten! Why not? They are the only team that hasn't been rumored to be heading to the Big 11. I hope this was the Big Ten's strategy to get a ton of press, because if it wasn't this has become a huge nightmare. Do something already!

• Michigan Basketball's new assistant coach Bacari Alexander will wear shorts and bang with the U of M big men during practice. "That's exciting and sometimes you have to show them better than you can tell them, so they can get a visual," Alexander said of mixing it up with the players in practice. "You've got some student-athletes who are visual learners and coach is right you've got to be able to demonstrate that. "I think people are still surprised, and coach will be, too, that I can still dunk the basketball off the vertical. We'll be able to show him some things."

• The construction on the new basketball practice facility with start construction on Sunday. They expect to have if fully ready sometime in 2011.