Posts Tagged ‘John Beilein’

LeVert a late addition for Wolverines

Published by Source on May 11th, 2012

A former Ohio University commit has made the decision to cross state lines and become a Wolverine.

2012 forward Caris LeVert (Pickering Central, OH) has committed to the University of Michigan after visiting the campus last weekend. Apparently the decision was made right after that visit, but no official announcement was made until this Friday.

LeVert, a friend of current Wolverine point guard Trey Burke, chose UM over Xavier, Dayton and Purdue. He was originally let out of his letter of intent at Ohio U after head coach John Groce left the school to take over at Illinois.

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Trey Burke returning to Michigan

Published by Source on April 9th, 2012

After an incredible freshman season, Michigan point guard Trey Burke declared for the NBA. While he did not immediately hire an agent, it was reported last week that the young guard had made the decision to move to the next level. Trey’s father disputed these claims, saying that his son had not made a decision and was still enrolled at the Ann Arbor campus.

Monday, the University announced that their starting point guard will in fact be returning to school next year for his sophomore season. This is incredible news for John Beilein and Michigan basketball, as losing Burke would have severely hampered their chances at another B1G title. With their star point guard back and an incredible recruiting class coming in, the Wolverines should open the season as one of the favorites in the conference and perhaps a top-15 or even top-10 team nationally.

 

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Michigan lands late 2012 PG commitment

Published by Source on April 7th, 2012

With the news that Michigan starting point guard Trey Burke may be gone to the NBA, head coach John Beilein went in search of a new point guard to bring in next season. It appears he has found that player in Spike Albrecht, a point guard currently finishing a prep season at Northfield Mount Vernon (MA). Albrecht, who is originally from Crown Point, Indiana just over of the IL/IN border, becomes the fourth member of a Wolverine 2012 class that includes Rivals150 players Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III and Nick Stauskas.

The NCAA spring signing period starts on Wednesday, so Albrecht will be able to sign with his new team as early as next week. The commitment came during a visit to Ann Arbor on Friday night on which Beilein offered the point guard a scholarship. Beilein has landed a number of players from “The Region” of NW Indiana, including seniors Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, as well as 2012 commits McGary and Robinson, both of whom come from the same AAU program (SYF Players) as Albrecht.

There are conflicting reports as to whether or not Burke will be back to the Wolverines next season and there is no doubt that his departure will be a tough loss for the program. Burke emerged as one of the top point guards in the conference and shared B1G Freshman of the Year honors with Indiana’s Cody Zeller. The NBA stock is high for Burke now, but he may decide that another year in college would improve his position and NBA-readiness. Albrecht would also benefit from playing with such a talented point guard for a season or two, but will have to be ready to go right away if Burke is in fact off to the pros.

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Revisiting My Preseason Predictions

Published by Source on March 21st, 2012

With the regular season finished and postseason tournaments in full swing, it is time to take a look back at the predictions I posted the day before this college basketball season began. I went game-by-game to predict wins and losses, tallied them up and listed the teams from 1-12. Needless to say, I did not do that well.

The first thing that jumps out is that the B1G really beat up on each other in conference play, with a lot of teams at the top of the standings losing to teams at the bottom. No team dominated the season the way that I (and many others) expected Ohio State to do.

It was not all bad, though, as I was pretty spot on with my non-conference records. For most teams, I only missed 2 or 3 non-conference games (I missed 4 for Penn State, but was perfect for Minnesota and only missed 1 each for Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin). Below, you will see a couple different lists. The first is the side-by-side of my predicted conference standings and the actual conference standings. Next, you will see a team-by-team breakdown of the records I predicted so that you can see how wrong/right I was. NOTE: I do not include conference tournament games, as those would have been impossible to predict before the season. NOTE 2: 3-way tie in actual B1G standings, but I listed the 3 teams in the order they were seeded in the conference tournament.

PREDICTED:                       ACTUAL:

1 – Ohio State                  T-1 – Michigan State

2 – Michigan                   T-1 – Michigan

3 – Wisconsin                 T-1 – Ohio State

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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The 2012 NCAA Bracket is out!

Published by Source on March 12th, 2012

Congrats to all 68 teams that were fortunate enough to have their name called tonight! Six teams from the B1G received spots in the field, as well as local Big East teams Marquette and Notre Dame. Below, you will find a breakdown of who is playing who, where they are playing, and what day the game is on.

UPDATE: Times/broadcasts have been added at the end of each game description.

Michigan State – The Spartans got the 4th 1-seed in this year’s field after beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in this afternoon’s conference title game. Tom Izzo leads his Michigan State squad into the NCAA Tournament for the 15th straight season and this is the 4th time that they have been a 1-seed in that span. This year, the Spartans sit atop the West Region and will face NEC Champion LIU-Brookyln in the first round (Columbis, OH). A first round win will result in a match-up with either Memphis or Saint Louis over the weekend. [9:20pm/8:20cst on TBS]

Ohio State – Despite losing in the conference title game, the Buckeyes were given a 2-seed in this year’s East Regional (Syracuse is the 1). They will face off with 15-seed MAAC winner Loyola (MD) in the first round and would face either 7-seed Gonzaga or 10-seed West Virginia after that. Those games will be played in Pittsburgh. This is the 6th NCAA berth in head coach Thad Matta’s 8 seasons in Columbus and the 3rd time the Buckeyes have been a 2-seed in that time. They were also a top seed twice, including last season. [9:50/8:50p on TNT]

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Posted in featured, Indiana, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Mitch McGary makes official commitment to Michigan

Published by Source on November 3rd, 2011

Mitch McGary, the #3 prospect in the class of 2012 and a rising star in the last calendar year, has made a verbal commitment to John Beilein and the University of Michigan Wolverines. Originally from Chesterton, Indiana, McGary transferred to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire to work on his grades and basketball. After a fantastic summer with the SYF Players, McGary shot up through the rankings to where he now stands in the top 3.

We will have more on Mitch and what his commitment means to Michigan next week, but it is safe to say that this is coach Beilein’s biggest recruiting achievement thusfar in Ann Arbor. McGary chose the Wolverines over a host of top-level programs, but his final three was reportedly rounded out by Florida and Duke. McGary becomes the third member of Michigan’s 2012 recruiting class alongside Glenn Robinson III and Nick Stauskas.

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Scouting 2012 Prospect Mitch McGary

Published by Source on August 31st, 2011

By: Joe Hawley, Michigan contributor

For the Michigan Wolverines, player development has been the name of the game for John Beilein in his recruiting.  Success has not been defined by the number of “five-star” recruits, or how high in the rankings a player may be.  Coach Beilein looks for guys that, in his opinion, fit into his system. From there, he can coach them into being better players (see Tim Hardaway Jr., Darius Morris).  Michigan has not had any five star high school talent since Beilein has taken the reigns, but has made up for a lack of big name recruiting success by coaching up the talent actually on the roster.

Enter Mitch McGary – Michigan has been recruiting the 6’10” big man from Indiana for well over a year, even when he was not on the radar of the nation’s elite.  He was a guy that was flirting with the top 100 and had shown some flashes, but needed some work in order to be considered a high-caliber player.  Fast forward to today, with an additional year of prep school and a reclassification from 2011 to 2012, and McGary is regarded by nearly every single media outlet as one of the top 5 prospects in the country, and in some cases, the best low post recruit in America in his class. (He also broke a backboard on Venice Beach this past weekend…) (more…)

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The B1G’s Top 12* Players – Part 2

Published by Source on August 29th, 2011

The Windy City Source is profiling the top 12* players in the Big Ten Conference for the upcoming season. The reason we say “12*” is because rather than choosing the best players regardless of school, we will be taking 1 player from each team. Some players will be obvious, others not so much. And in case you forgot, Nebraska is in the conference now! Anyways – here’s the second part of four (link to Part 1), featuring players from the “M” schools:

* Tim Hardaway Jr. – Michigan sophomore from Miami, FL

With the early departure of guard Darius Morris to the NBA, the Wolverines have become Tim Hardaway Jr’s team. The sophomore guard, son of former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, will be relied upon for a heavy leadership role (and more dunks like this one) on an up-and-coming Michigan team. John Beilein’s crew is looking to continue building upwards after a surprising season that ended with a Sweet Sixteen loss to top-seeded Duke. One of the youngest teams in the conference, Michigan finished the season strong due in part to Morris and 13.9 ppg from Hardaway. The Miami product finished his freshman campaign as a 42% shooter, having scored 20+ six times. He earned All-Big Ten honorable mention and was a unanimous choice for the All-Freshman squad. Not bad for a player ranked a 3-star prospect by both Rivals and Scout.

This past summer, Hardaway travelled to Latvia with Team USA to compete in the FIBA U19 World Championship where he emerged as the team’s sixth man. The experience allowed the sophomore to grow as a basketball player. USA coach Paul Hewitt noted: “…going to the basket and finishing with contact is something he probably will be better at next year.” Hardaway is already a seasoned veteran, starting all 35 games for the Wolverines last season. Michigan fans will certainly be counting on Hardaway, along with seniors Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, to keep the momentum building in Ann Arbor. The leadership and experience on the Wolverine roster is quite an improvement over last year’s squad and should be enough to push Beilein’s crew back to the top of the conference and into the NCAA Tournament.

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Scouting the Three B’s

Published by Source on August 15th, 2011

Michigan’s 2011 Recruiting class of Trey Burke, Carlton Brundidge, and Max Bielfeldt

by: Joe Hawley, Michigan Contributor

Trey Burke #3

Burke is the headliner of the 2011 class for the Wolverines, not because of his high ranking, but rather due to the fact that he will be asked to play a monumental role this season.  After losing superstar PG Darius Morris to the NBA, a guy who was top five in the country in assists and Michigan’s leading scorer, Burke clearly has some big shoes to fill.  The 6’1” floor general that was awarded the honor of Mr. Basketball in Ohio is known for his quick offense, but also for his excellent vision and ball-handling.

Michigan opens the 2011 campaign in what is annually the toughest early season tournament: The Maui Invitational.  Joining the Wolverines will be Duke, Georgetown, Kansas, Memphis, Tennessee, UCLA and host Chaminade, making this tournament one of the strongest fields in recent history.  This tall test will be key in judging how well Burke will be able to acclimate himself to the NCAA game.  Look for senior Stu Douglass to get the bulk of the minutes at PG in Hawaii, with Burke entering in a backup role to start the year.  The key to how high the Wolverines can fly this year just may be contingent on how quickly Burke can make himself the #1 option at point. (more…)

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Interview with 2012 Michigan commit Nick Stauskas [Part 2]

Published by Source on August 12th, 2011

The Windy City Source already posted the first of two parts of our Nick Stauskas interview. As promised, here is the rest of what the 2012 Michigan verbal had to say, courtesy of our UM contributor [JH]:

Windy City Source:  How would you describe your game?  Is there anyone in particular that you try to mirror the way they play?
Nick Stauskas:  I think I have a unique game. I think I am one of the best shooters in the country. I also think I surprise people with my ability to get to the rim and my athleticism because I constantly get labeled as just a shooter. I also like to think of myself as an unselfish player and let the game come to me whenever it comes to me. I don’t know whom I would compare my game to at this point. I try to learn a lot of things from all different NBA players, but don’t think I play like one specifically. I guess when people see me play in college they can decide for themselves.
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