yes plz
Naked From A Lake
I seem to remember Dommanic Ingerson being more clothed, but I though I have sympathy for the guy can't say this is a huge surprise:
It's still a surprise. You never expect the next link to have a picture of a man who once played basketball at your alma mater emerging from a lake, naked and surrounded by cops.
If I had to pick one Ellerbe-era Michigan basketball player who would end up emerging naked from a lake surrounded by cops it would be Tractor Traylor—who is an exception to the "never expect naked lake emergence from" rule—but Ingerson would probably be second. He epitomized Ellerbe's weird focus on players who had obvious emotional problems. Ingerson was the sort of uncoachable nightmare who would launch a three the instant he crossed half court, get benched for it, and do the exact same thing the next time he got in the game. If you're being nice you might term him an "enigmatic sophomore," as the Wolverine Blog does, but there wasn't much enigma there. He was just a guy who thought a 20% chance at three points was a good gamble and could not be dissuaded.
Ingerson was the epitome of a bad risk on Michigan's part, a mistake one that Ellerbe repeated two or three times a recruiting class. Remember Kevin Gaines? Maurice Searight? Avery Queen? Michigan loaded their roster with naked lake guys in the Ellerbe era; program and player invariably failed each other. If it was one guy here or there that would be understandable. It's the frequency and lack of success that made the late-era Fisher and any-era Ellerbe tenure so loathsome. Even when your problem children turn out to be pretty good basketball players they were often Traylor and Taylor sorts who were hard to root for, to say the least.
The obvious comparison given hoopla over the past couple weeks is Demar Dorsey and possibly Justin Feagin. Since no one got to see Feagin do much more than run an Incredibly Surprising Quarterback Draw or four, it's hard to draw a comparison to the Ellerbe guys who Michigan fans got to be frustrated at over the course of a season, but he's a guy who showed up and promptly exited due to mutual failure.
It's in the numbers here. Michigan signed Demar Dorsey but they also signed Courtney Avery and a bunch of other guys who have shiny grade point averages and letters from Stanford. This Super Bowl featured Saints starting center Jonathan Goodwin, a starter around these parts several years ago who got into serious trouble for robbing a K-Mart and made it okay. It's about outcomes. Brian Ellerbe's were miserable. Under his guidance, the Michigan basketball program seemed like a misbegotten halfway house where troubled basketball players could come, make no effort at developing on or off the court, and spend a year of dorm luxury before that lack of care caught up to them.
That picture above says that Michigan deserved everything they got during their long period of basketball wilderness, not because of Ed Martin but because of Fisher and Taylor and Ellerbe and the list of guys from the mid-90s who could be in that shot, wondering how to keep his privates private when the cuffs go on.
Thank god it's not Ellerbe emerging naked from a lake.
What does Avery Queen have to do with anything? AND NO I DO NOT REMEMBER HIM THANK YOU GOOD DAY! Was he talented but troubled? I figured he just sucked and maybe he was troubled also but I never saw talented.
Seriously, I always wondered why Avery Queen was ever on the Michigan basketball team. Can someone help me out?
Give it to Wheatley!
Queen was actually a highly-regarded recruit. (Why, I have no idea.) But he was a total head case who was kicked out of a prep school for something like beating a guy up with a belt.
is indeed a good metaphor for the Bball program for the past decade. It is also one of the funniest photos that I've ever seen.
Proud member of the 6/30/2008 circle of trust.
Maybe he swimming to look for Bill Martin's sailboat ...
I was sacred to clink the link. Thank god it wasn't Brian.
Pretty sure Traylor (and Taylor for that matter) were Steve Fischer recruits. But clearly, point taken.
When I was at the University of Kansas a football player (a defensive tackle, I think) drove through a Taco Bell drive-through drunk and, when they shorted him a chalupa, became enraged and tried to force his way through the drive-through window. He ended up stuck like Winnie the Pooh.
It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. -- Yogi Berra
Is it me, or does it seem like there's an inordinate number of law enforcement types gathered to catch a single (obviously) unarmed man emerging from a lake?
And why are there any fireman? He's clearly not burned or on fire.
I think they just wanted to see that guy from HS that was a sports star but you knew would be in jail in 10 years. Really makes up for HS.
Alex: Backup QB is the best position in sports. In fact I get drunk all the time, I don't have to show up to class, and it's just like being a real QB but without all the pain.
Wow, that's pretty sad. Actually, that's really sad.
So, was Dommanic Ingerson an OMG SHIRTLESS recruit coming in?
Actually, I think this qualifies more as an OMG PANTLESS recruit.
never would have covered his junk.
He would have OWNED that naked walk out of the lake when a platoon of cops were watching.
Despite the disappointing on-the-field performances this year, I never want to go back to that era of UM sports. Say what you want about TA and Beilein, there have only been two off-the-court incidents with Michigan hoops (domestic incidents with Bernard Robinson in 2003? and Daniel Horton's suspension in 2005) in the last decade. It seemed liked like from 1998-2001, there were two off-the-court incidents a month. I'll take the hockey team blowing a series on the road over a hoops team wrestling in the median of a road any day. Actually, may I get neither...
Everybody steals. Everybody swims...naked.
While this season is disappointing I'm glad we don't have players that act this stupid like the group back then did.
that water is no warmer than 60 degF. There was probably some serious shrinkage in effect.
Hoke bitches...Hoke.
he was wearing black trunks when he was seen jumping in, but he emerged naked? Smooth move.
"No officer, I wasn't wearing any black trunks during my swim. But I did see several other swimmers with black trunks while I was out there. Why don't you talk to one of them."
Setting up reasonable doubt. Not!!!!
Taking it one week at a time
I used to run that lake every day this summer. Why anyone, would ever ever want to go swimming in it I don't know. It used to be the sewer for all of Oakland, CA. Gross, just gross
Numbers and Boats!
Michigan loaded their roster with naked lake guys in the Ellerbe era; program and player invariably failed each other.
"Naked lake guy" is classic. I propose that it become a regular MGoBlog term for guys with weird issues. (Larry Harrison clearly would fit.)
I seem to recall the cops busting Bernard Robinson, Avery Queen and Kevin Gaines for MIP and drunk driving when they were wrestling at 3am on the side of Telegraph Road.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2000/sep/06/gaines-booted-by-michigan/
At least B-Rob got it turned around.
Made him and Queen look like some sort of carnaval show? Washed out of basketball too...
"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk
Don't really know I just remember him because of his name.
It was Josh Moore (who had his own long list of potential red flags when we recruited him). Somehow he got a cup of coffee in the league - with the Clippers, natch.
Mahktar Ndiaye played in the mid-90s for Fisher before transferring to UNC.
I always wondered how guys that big can't succeed at basketball. I mean, I always figured, if you're over 6'10", if you work hard enough, you can be Bill Laimbeer.
And I liked Mahktar; as a player, I didn't know him or anything. Fun back-up of the Fab Five years.
"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk
Ndiaye transferred to Wake Forest, but I am not totally sure.
He was just a guy who thought a 20% chance at three points was a good gamble and could not be dissuaded.
I'm not disagreeing with you regarding his occasional mind numbing shot selections but, according to the statistics archive, he did shoot 42% from beyond the arc.
http://stats.ath.umich.edu/basketball/bcmaster.php?pkey=217
All right Lemmings. Bring the heat.
I think what you said about results is telling, Brian. You can tell the coaches that are most interested in their players as people by their reactions to adversity. With Ellerbe, it was only cut the guy from the team if it could get me into trouble. With Rodriguez, it's if someone has problems that they need to work out before football, than they can't be on the team. With that said, certain people draw conclusions (cough, freep, cough) without remembering that they're publicly damaging human beings. Why can't we be more responsible in helping extend help to players' that need it instead of punishing them for mistakes they've made most often because of the setting they are in? I'm just sick of the endless labeling....
Good stuff as usual Brian.
Hail to the Victors!
I remember Ingerson having some mental health issues back to when he was still in high school. Its a shame that he never was able to get the help he needed. I wonder if any of the schools including Michigan ever had people really try to treat him or they just used him for his bball ability and when it didn't work out, they just dismissed him. Very sad.


Oh how I loathed the Ellerbe era...
In my opinion - the worst coach in Michigan Athletic History
Tai Streets is still open...