Manny Harris To Enter NBA Draft

And from Terry Foster: "we are still waiting to hear DeShawn Sims' decision."

Hopefully the bright side of this is that it helps us land Trey Ziegler.

Selfishly, I would have liked to have seen him come back for his senior season and take a shot at becoming Michigan's all-time leading scorer.

Will always appreciate his major contribution to the program's turnaround.

May the era of infinite pain be done.

Nice to hear the kids supporting the team as they leave, I wish them both the best.

I am 100% behind Beilein, I really believe in him as a coach and he is doing a very job in recruting considering he follows the rules and doesn't have a whole lot to sell right now.

That being said next year could be an epic disaster on the court. I hope people keep their heads if that goes down. We have no seniors, limited penetrators and no big man experience. If we can survive next year I think things will go up from there and we'll be able to start competing for Big 10 titles, but boy the perfect storm is hitting basketball just like football and it really wasn't Amaker's or Beilein's fault totally, just a perfect storm of circumstances and breaks.

Next year is now officially a rebuilding year. The downside: more losses. The upside: it can't possibly be as frustrating as this year.

I hoped Manny would come back and try to lead the team back to the tournament, but I don't blame him for leaving. He helped Michigan become competitive again and seemingly was a good guy while he did it.

Sims said that next year's team will be improved because the players will understand the system, and chemistry will be improved. He noted that poor chemistry might have been the source of some of Michigan's troubles this season.

I think he got bad advice from his "friends" outside the program, but I wish him well. I just wish he had taken the extra year to develop his game more and to get a degree.

Hopefully, somehow, he is able to have a nice career in pro ball. Maybe if he finds the right situation overseas it will work out well for him. There are probably leagues over there where his finesse game might work out really well. If Darko was a star over there, Manny should do quite well, too.

I wish Manny the best. Though personally I think he could stand to use another year of prepping, the fact remains that this is probably the player he is going to be (similar to Warren's situation) either this year or next. Personally, I'd stick around for the degree, but hopefully he can come back and finish that up in the off-season.

As for next year, I really don't see why people are as doom-and-gloom. Losing Sims will be tough because of the lack of depth inside, but if there is one thing I've seen in college hoops, a team of less-talented kids who buy into a program can topple a more talented squad with less cohesion all the time. And it is not like next year will be bereft of talent - Morris should take a step forward, and the incoming class could well produce 2-3 decent starters/big-bench guys. I'm not saying the team is going to challenge for the B10 title, but a NCAA bid doesn't seem impossible either. It certainly can't be a worse squad than the one Beilein inherited.

UM could have a better record next year than they did this year. With him gone, if we get Trey Ziegler and one more additional contributor (Sykes?), we could still be decent next year. We will be very young and inexperienced and that will cost us some games. But, we will be longer and more athletic (due to the additions not the subtractons) and hopefully have better chemistry and leadership. The best thing might be that we can have guys playing their "normal" positions, (i.e. Stu at the 2 and Zach at the 3). With 4 guys at 6'8" or taller (even though they are all 1st year players), we can always have length at the 4 & 5 if JB chooses to and rotate in 2 fresh bodies. That should help the rebounding, post offense & defense. I am not talking NCAA tournament, but I do think that it will be interesting and entertaining and not a disaster as some fear. AND, in 2011 we add in Brundidge and maybe Plumlee.

Even though this year was a bust, and now it appears next year will be a tough year, it is still time to say "thanks" for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is for last years NCAA bid and first round win. Watching Michigan get in was a real treat.
Good luck Manny, I hope you eventually realize your dream of playing in the NBA.

He was a key part of Michigan basketball. I like how in his interview he stated how much he loves the U of (thee) M!!! Goodluck in the pros, Second round draft pick? PROBABLY. Detroit Pistons 2010 draft pick, HOPEFULLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Manny, I wonder which foreign language you are gonna have to learn?

I think another year would have really helped. Look at Rautins in Syracuse. I think the 4th year has helped his draft stock. Too bad he decided to leave, but we got to wish him all the best. Thanks Manny!

While I don't think Manny made the right move, it's his move to make and I will remember him for helping lead Michigan back to the tourney.

This kinda screams Ewing Theory to me a little bit. I agree with one of the above posters that chemistry and cohesiveness can beat talent in college basketball. We see it in the tourney all the time. This might be addition via subtraction, especially if any chemistry issues rubbed off on younger guys or prevented them from maturing as much as they otherwise could have.

Hopefully losing our two leading scorers will make other players rise up this off season and encourage more of a team unity, since we now can't rely on Manny or Sims scoring for us. Maybe the team will come together more after this and become a better team instead of two guys scoring and three guys passing the ball.

We can all only hope this happens. Or else we are screwed.

Lets be honest. Manny did a lot of things for Michigan, he had nice stats, but was lacking as the emotional leader of this team. The players looked to him to be a leader but he never stepped up into the role that was his to take. If Manny had stayed his draft stock would improve but if he didn't step up and be THE team leader it would have been another difficult season. Merritt and Lee were nowhere as good on the floor as Manny, but they were leaders.They were the heart and soul of the 2009 team.
I will be interested to see who rises to the top of the team for next season.

Wish you well Manny, but believe another year would have done you good. (Just ask Eric Turner) I know I just dated myself with that statement.

As for the team, possibly a blessing in disguise. I have thought about the fight that Manny got into a couple of months back in practice and wonder how much more of this was not talked about? The team needs to be unified and if Manny was getting in the way of this, then I say it's time to go. Michigan needs someone to come in and lead this team!

next year. Harris and Sims were Michigan's offense last year.
The younger players will really need to grow up fast and contribute in major ways. I think they could surprise in some aspects, but damn, Michigan's Big Ten conference competition isn't exactly standing around waiting for Michigan to finally catch up.

Wish Harris best of luck.

Does this mean he won't graduate with a degree from UM? Just wondering.

we'll miss you.

Hello Trey Ziegler?

"Sims said that next year's team will be improved because the players will understand the system, and chemistry will be improved."

I trully want to belive him this time....

My Blog

I want to thank him for all the things he has done the last three years. Hopefully he has a successful NBA career.

This strikes me as the move of a guy who just really doesn't want to be here no matter what (that or a guy with an unrealistic confidence about his own draft status). To hire an agent when you aren't even projected to get drafted makes zero sense to me. Fortunately, there are a lot of opportunities to play basketball professionally around the world and he won't be stuck in a Shazor situation if the NBA doesn't call, but it is still sad to see.

I don't quite get all the doom and bloom predictions for next year. It isn't like the team was very good with Harris/Sims in the lineup and we've seen it posted here just how inefficient (though very prolific) a scorer Manny was in college. Beilein has shown he can get an undersized team to play good D, whereas this year's team struggled because they were terrible shooting from the perimeter. Replacing Sims and Manny with Metrics and Vogrich seems like a big net gain in 3-point percentage without much if any loss of size (though probably a decrease in athleticism without Sims). If they can open up the floor with their shooting and we see a return to 2008-09 3-pt levels for LLP, Stu, and Novak, I don't see any reason why the team can't be at least as good if not a good number of games better.

Well there is only 1 player left on this team from the Tommy Amaker days (Anthony Wright). So now you'll get to see what kind of coach he is. Both Harris and Sims were Amaker guys left behind. Having Epke Udoh on this team last year would have helped but Beilein flushed him out to Baylor like RR did with Ryan Mallett to Arkansas. Why give him an extension when he hasn't done much? He has lots of young guys who look like busts. Better question will be who get's fired first from the West Virginia boys? I say get rid of them both...