Rich Rodriguez brought in the spread offense to the Big 10. He went 3-9 last season, but brought in the second best recruiting class in the conference. John Beilein went 20-13 and all they have to show for it with recruiting is players who will mesh into the system, no stars.
They almost had the rebounder they needed with incoming recruit Jordan Morgan, a 6'8" forward who would pretty much just be the garbage man of the team, doing the dirty work. He will now have to have knee surgery and will most likely be redshirted.
Incoming freshman guard Matt Vogrich and power forward Blake Mclimans both will fit into the style thanks to their great shooting ability. Darius Morris is an ESPN Top 100 player but is more of a project player. If he can become a more polished player, he could be a very skilled point guard, but that will take time.
But they do have two ESPN top hundred players singed for 2010 and both are perfect for the offense.
Evan Smotrycz is a face up power forward who has good vision and is a great passing big man. But the best part about him? He can shoot the three.
Team him up with the very skilled Tim Hardaway Jr., who also can shoot, next year and you have star power the fans are demanding.
For now, just enjoy the show. The players are having fun and that is getting recruits drooling over the possibility of shooting freely and playing in a zone defense.
But do not look past this year’s team. They have star power of their own. Manny Harris is the second leading scorer in the Big Ten and DeShawn Sims is fourth. Both are tied in the conference for fourth in rebounding with 6.8.
They combined for 32 points per game, making them the most dangerous tandem in the Big 10. Harris will make a strong case for Big Ten player of the Year next season if he can get his shot going in a little more consistently.
Guards Zack Novak, Laval Lucas-Perry, and Stu Douglas were all freshman trying to learn the new offense. Those guards should all be smarter and, with all the shots they take, they had to have improved shooting the ball.
And with center Ben Cronin returning after missing all but 10 minutes due to injury last season, they have a seven footer to clog up the middle in their zone defense.
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