1.16.2008

MICHIGAN BASKETBALL DREAM TEAM

It's easy to talk about all the great basketball recruits we let get away while Tommy Amaker was the sheriff in town.

But it's pretty futile to bitch about blue-chippers like Chris Douglas-Roberts, Ramar Smith, Joe Crawford and Malik Hairston getting away when guys like Worldwide Wes are involved in the decision-making process. That would be the Michigan Wet Dream Team.

What really puts Tommy Amaker's time in Ann Arbor in perspective is all the Michigan players we completely ignored that are blowing up in college. While Michigan has just 4 upperclassmen that combine to average 14.0 PPG, studs from The Hand are flying completely under the radar.

We present the Michigan Hoops Dream Team:

Tajuan Porter

Position: G
Hometown: Detroit
School: Oregon
Year: So.
Stats: 13.2 PPG, 2.7 APG
Skinny: The 5-6 little man is a shoot first, ask questions last kind of point guard and he's hit a dry spell of late, but boy can he fill it up. Hairston's teammate at Renaissance High, Porter averaged 31 PPG over his first three games as a frosh last year. Oops Amaker! In a win over Nebraska in December, TP hit 7 treys and scored 29 points to lift the Ducks.

David Holston

Position: G
Hometown: Pontiac
School: Chicago State
Year: Jr.
Stats: 23.4 PPG, 4.6 APG
Skinny: We know, we know. The guy plays for Chicago State, which doesn't even belong to a conference. And he's 5-8, which would make our backcourt like the Lollilop Guild. But he's also the 10th leader scorer in Division I and sure looked legit when he put up 25 on Indiana and 24 on Alabama in the past two weeks.

Michael Bramos

Position: G/F
Hometown: Harper Woods
School: Miami (Ohio)
Year: Jr.
Stats: 15.3 PPG, 4.1 APG
Skinny: Amaker really screwed the pooch on this one. How do you let anyone get away to J. Crew U.? Bramos has been slowed by an ankle injury for the last month so his stats don't do him justice. In his first 5 games, Bramos looked like the second coming of Wally Szczerbiak, averaging 24.2 PPG. In that span, he dropped 30 on Mississippi State and 36 on Dayton.

David Hoskins

Position: F
Hometown: Canton
School: Kansas State
Year: Senior
Stats: 14.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG (2006-07)
Skinny: OK, so we are kind of stretching things with Hoskins, who was a Juco and hasn't played all year after knee surgery (if we were him, we'd just wait until Beasley cleared outta town). But even the Ann Arbor News could see this guy was talented, naming him the 2003 Player of the Year. Sheesh, TA.

J'Nathan Bullock

Position: F
Hometown: Flint
School: Cleveland State
Year: Jr.
Stats: 14.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG
Skinny: There's no way around it: the guy's name is completely ridiculous. He's also just 6-5, but dude is a wide body that's good on the boards. And his 12-5 Cleveland State team might even be headed to the tournament, with wins over USF and Florida State on their resume. Meanwhile, our signature win is Northwestern.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a good list, and it doesn't even include guys like David Cool of Western Michigan, Giordan Watson of Central Michigan, and the two kids from Oakland who scored plenty of points against Michigan this year (Kangas? and Derrick Nelson, I believe).

Anonymous said...

none of these guys were good enough for duke.. that's why TA didn't get them signed...

- Gay Bilas