In case you haven’t heard, Manny Harris has left the Michigan Wolverines basketball team.Whether or not you agree with the reasoning behind his decision, Harris’ departure leaves some big holes in a team still scratching its head after a disappointing 2009-2010 campaign, but offers enormous opportunity for John Beilein’s incoming recruiting class.
For Beilein, Harris’ leaving marks the last of former coach Tommy Amaker’s recruits to leave and makes this year’s squad completely his.With Amaker’s recruits, Beilein has had quite a bit of both success and failure in his three years at U of M, as the Wolverines have gone 10-22 in 2007-2008, 21-14 including a first round NCAA tournament victory in the 2008-2009 season, and 15-17 in a disappointing 2009-2010 campaign under Beilein. The former West Virginia coach has shown both the ability to coach a supposedly understaffed squad to the NCAA tournament as well as an aptitude to fall short of preseason expectations.
That’s why the 2010-2011 season will be so crucial for Beilein and the direction of the Michigan basketball program.Following the 2009 tournament appearance, the Wolverines were supposedly on the rise to return to the prominence enjoyed in the 1980s and early 1990s with a preseason #15 ranking in November, but fell short of a winning record and lacked chemistry throughout the entire season.The coming season is a defining year for Michigan to show that the Beilein era will take them back to prominence and not fall to the mediocre levels that defined his predecessors’ tenures here.
In forgoing his senior year, Harris leaves the team without a true scorer, or legitimate offensive threat of any kind for that matter.Between Harris and graduated DeShawn Sims, the two accounted for 54.3% of this season’s team point totals and the majority of other significant team statistics.Without any pure scorers on the team or inside post threats, Beilein’s recruits will be asked to step up right away and fill the scoring roles of Sims and Harris, which might not necessarily be a bad thing.
The three recruits coming in, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jon Horford, and Evan Smotrycz, could easily add to the chemistry that was said to be lacking with the offensive dominance of Sims and Harris, but the addition of Mount Pleasant’s Trey Zeigler would cap off the recruiting class that Beilein may need to take the program back to the NCAA tournament.Zeigler, the highly sought after son of Central Michigan basketball coach Ernie Zeigler, is ranked as the 26th highest overall recruit in the nation according to Rivals.com and has apparently narrowed down his choices to Central, UCLA, and Michigan.If Zeigler chooses not to join the Wolverines, 6’ 8” Evan Smotrycz will likely be the head of Beilein’s highest ranked recruiting class to date at Michigan, as Smotrycz himself ranks 52rd nationally among incoming recruits according to Rivals and provides an all around threat as both a scorer and inside presence.Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jon Horford bring prestige in just their names, as Hardaway Jr. is the son of former 5 time NBA all-star Tim Hardaway and Horford is the younger brother of the Atlanta Hawks’ Al Horford.Besides the talent the two bring to the table, Hardaway and Horford will bring extra media attention to the Michigan basketball program, a good marketing move for a team constantly struggling to keep up with an in-state rival whose name doesn’t need to be mentioned.Had Harris stayed, not only would the Wolverines still have been stuck in transition, but would have lacked the extra scholarship available to the incoming recruiting class.Instead of building around Harris, who was set to graduate following the 2010-2011 season, Hardaway, Horford, Smotrycz, and hopefully Zeigler will be able to start their own core for this team and have the opportunity to play large roles immediately.Two or three years down the road, this early experience should contribute to their growth as players and Michigan’s success on the court.Beilein will be called on to develop these players quickly; he’s done it before in Ann Arbor, just not yet with his own recruits.
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