Basketball Open Practice
I went to the open practice yesterday and came away with high hopes for the season. Darius Morris looked like a really good passer, the perimeter shooting will be fantastic, and Cronin sadly looks like he'll never be a big-time contributor. For complete write-ups, I've posted some links below. Bill over and Maize and Blog and Dylan at UMHoops have good takes on the activities.
Also in attendance were Brundidge, Smotrycz, and Zeigler. Justice Hayes and Greg Brown also made appearances.
http://maizeandblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/michigan-basketball-first-open…
http://www.umhoops.com/2009/10/24/open-scrimmage-thoughts/
October 25th, 2009 at 4:07 PM ^
I'm not sure what people were expecting from Cronin. Who else would be last in wind sprints? The kid is 7' tall and 265lbs. Of course he is last. I for one never expected him to run a fast break. I expect that he will be 7' tall. He will rebound. He will alter and block shots. He provides some much needed size to the roster so he is a great option to have off of the bench if we run into some teams with a lot of big bodies.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:10 PM ^
What's with Manny not participating in a lot of team drills? That sure doesn't sound right. The author seemed to think it was cool though.
Agreed about Cronin: At 7 foot and 265 lbs, if he was some sort of physical freak, Calipari would have paid him to go to Kentucky.
McLimans sounds like a promising player.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:50 PM ^
He participated in many of the drills, and during the scrimmage was shooting on the sides. He also did this cool dribbling drill with a tennis ball in one hand and a basketball in the other.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:40 PM ^
Cool that he was dribbling with a tennis ball. That's a really good way to develop your ballhandling skills. When Steve Nash was in college, he'd dribble a tennis ball while he was walking to class.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:25 AM ^
Was when he switched them from hand-to-hand. It was like some super-athletic juggling trick. My son was mesmerized.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:13 PM ^
Manny apparently was nursing a hamstring injury and was taking it easy.
Cronin, if you were at the open practice, isn't promising as a big body. He's impossibly slow in the paint, has a tough time adjusting to the play, and get swatted by Gibson when he wasn't turning the ball over.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:25 PM ^
Cronin is redshirt freshman who hasn't played basketball in 2 years and is coming off major hip surgery. Writing off his career in October of 2009 is idiotic. Unless they are a 5* freak of nature, 7 footers take a couple of years to develop.
A great example of this is Aaron Gray from Pittsburgh. He was rated similarly to Cronin coming out of high school and is the same height and weight. His first 2 years he barely played. However, as an upperclassman he became a star and went on to become a first round draft pick.
Cronin's not going to set the world on fire in 2009, but there's no reason to think he won't become a serviceable player down the road.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:50 PM ^
How dare you be rational and use any sense of logic on a sports board! WE only tolerate knee jerk reactionaries on here.
October 25th, 2009 at 7:07 PM ^
Learning curves and player development are also not permitted. Sports boards need all freshmen to dominate in every sport.
My hope for Ben is to be sort of a Pete Vignier. I remember he was a stiff when he first came to Michigan but by the time he left, the game had slowed down for him and he was a reliable post presence.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:31 PM ^
so instead I'm just gonna add on to my point by saying that until proven otherwise, I'm trusting John Beilein as a talent evaluator over anyone on this board.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:55 PM ^
Beilein is a good talent evaluator, but it doesn't mean he will be right on every kid. I hope Cronin turns out to be a solid player, but from what I've seen so far, he has a long way to go.
October 25th, 2009 at 6:01 PM ^
He adds size and five fouls that the team didn't have last year. If he can just stand with his hands in the air he can help this team by giving the other inside guys a breather and preventing teams with size from completely obliterating us in the paint. I look forward to his small but meaningful contribution to UM's basketball success.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:55 PM ^
with Eric Puls? :-P
October 25th, 2009 at 9:07 PM ^
It was nice to see th scrimmage and such. There was a pretty good turnout.
Ant was on fire from three.
McLimans has a quick but ugly release
Eso is not afraid to shoot at all
Novak was all over the place
Morris has great handles, it'll be interesting to see how quickley he can adjust to the college level
LLP was very quick and did a good job getting to the basket.