It seems that much news discussing the Michigan Lacrosse team eventually works its way to future D-1 status. Coach Paul and I talked about it on the Michigan Daily podcast last week, and now Operations Director Joe Hennessy is answering similar questions in the Free Press. He talks about the (previously-mentioned here) future facility:

We’re in the process of looking at doing a full reconstruction of Elbel Field. … We’re currently looking at converting that to our full-time field with FieldTurf and lacrosse lines. It would be open to other folks but with a new brick facade and limited access… Right by there, near the train tracks, on the opposite side of that we’re looking at building our own facility. It’ll house offices, with a weight room, a training room, locker rooms and laundry facilities. It’s a multimillion-dollar project.

It doesn’t sound like it’s as far along as I’d previously thought, in terms of regent approval, but the blueprints are certainly really cool.

And I didn’t intend for most of the post to be about this, but I guess that’s sometimes how life happens. Rebuttal to the rebuttal from Black Shoe Diaries. I was originally going to spend a bunch of time doing some actual research and perhaps journalism-like activities, but I decided I don’t care enough, and I’d just like to clear up a few things instead.

Most of the stupid arguing is over the Brother Rice dominance, which is pretty far from important to me. The only take-home point was that a theoretical Michigan varsity team would recruit from that school. That said, did Brother Rice win the Mythical Lacrosse National Championship in 2008? Per Black Shoe Diaries:

Other than this self promoting, unreferenced photo from the Brother Rice website, there isn’t any evidence any of this is even close to true.

Except, like, there is. Funny what typing “Brother Rice lacrosse championship” into Google will find you:

The Warriors went 23-0 last year and finished No. 1 in the STX/Inside Lacrosse national rankings.

Yes, Brother Rice definitely decreed from on high that they earned a national championship, and not some third-party organization. As far as the two previous years that Rice claimed National Titles, their veracity is certainly in question (ESPN:

The Warriors have won 11 of the last 13 state championships and five of the last eight Midwest titles. They’ve also gone undefeated three times since 2004, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

certainly doesn’t back up the claim, though it does speak to the fact that Rice is, almost without question, the dominant midwest team. The only indications I’ve seen of the previous two national titles do indeed come from Rice), and the details may not be quite right, but the point is the same: Rice is no slouch in the lacrosse world. Consistent top-25 finishes (even in down years) means that the school can compete. Are they always the best? Almost certainly not not, but that’s absolutely tangential to the point, that they produce D-1 prospects, and hopefully enough for Michigan to use a number of them to be competitive at the next level.

As far as the 13 D-1 players (and yes, saying “more than a D-1 team” was a joke: D-1 lacrosse teams are only permitted to grant 12.6 scholarships, which they give out in partials. The 13 Rice players moving on to D-1 will only get partial scholarships as well, of course). The 2008 team featured 11 D-1 players, and like I said, I can’t find the original article (from the Oakland Press circa late April if there are enterprising VB fans out there) about the 13 number from this year. In a rudimentary search of the internets (“brother rice lacrosse roster”), encompassing approximately 5 minutes, I found at least these players, with likely many more:

Class of ’08
Joey Fontanesi – Maryland
Michael Hamilton – Hofstra
Andrew Cote – Johns Hopkins

Class of ’09
Nick Dollik – Penn State
Danny Henneghan – Penn State
TJ Yost – Quinnipiac
Brian Walker – Yale

Lacrosse recruiting information is epically hard to find, and rather than scour the roster of every D-1 team to find Rice alumni, I think the point is made. Of course no lacrosse team is going to be fielded entirely of players from Michigan (just like even Maryland and Virginia’s teams are not composed entirely of native sons), but there is definitely some talent in the state. Don’t miss the forest for the trees here.

“There are probably some Michigan natives out east, I don’t feel like looking through any more rosters, but the point is a UM team would be competing with ND, OSU and perhaps PSU for midwest recruits and there simply aren’t enough to go around (and keep in mind they don’t stand a chance of picking up guys who Cuse, Hopkins or Maryland think are worth a phone call). “

That’s stupid. Of course no Michigan team would field a roster composed entirely of midwest players. I said as much in my original post. Thank you for making an asisnine statment, implicitly attributing it to me, and then rebutting it. Michigan would absolutely have to recruit the east coast, the same way they have been, with 16 current players on the roster who come from states that touch the Atlantic Ocean. Sure, as a new program, Michigan would probably have a ton of trouble recruiting, but as Brian mentioned last week, since when has Michigan struggled getting kids from New York to come here? With (potentially) some of the best facilities in the country, it wouldn’t take long for Michigan to build a respectable, though not Syracuse/Maryland/Hopkins-level recruiting ability.

Posted under Other Sports

MGoBlue confirms the report on John DiLaura as well as introduces us to new commit Zach Johnson today.  This brings the recruiting class to 9 freshman.  For DiLaura, see our previous post.  As for Johnson, he’s listed as an infielder/right handed pitcher.  Google searching tells me he played  catcher in high school, so maybe we’re looking at third or first base in Ann Arbor.  To quote MGoBlue:

Johnson comes to the Wolverines after six varsity letters with one in football, two in baseball and three in basketball at Grandville. As a senior, he was named a first team all-conference and first team all-district baseball selection after leading the OK-Red League with a 2.21 earned run average and .550 batting average.

Sounds solid.  The article also mentions both players had fathers who played collegiate ball, DiLaura’s at Toledo, Johnson’s at State.

Still no word on the commitment status of Fields (6th round to Tigers), Dennis (10th to Rays), or Biondi (35th to Tigers).  I’m sure we’ll find out by September.

Posted under Baseball

Fighting the Good Fight.  It appears over 100 requests came in to override the rule change adding a week to the front of the season.  Coach Maloney is undoubtedly one of these requests as he is one of the biggest baseball personalities in the north, and the addition of the game to the front of the schedule is a hinderance to northern schools.  Here’s hoping they can get the week added to the end of the season.  At this point, we won’t know until August.  One draw back of waiting so long is the aforementioned BigEast/BigTen Challenge date being locked in already.  I’m not sure what a pushed back start date would do to the challenge, whether it be canceled or pushed back.

Chris Fetter interviewed.  This comes from MadFriars.com ($), the Padres Scout page.  I don’t want to pay money for a subscription, but maybe you do?

Zach Putnam to Double A.  Baseball America does the Cleveland Indians report card ($) propping Putnam.  There’s also an article on ohio.com (HT: m.go.licious).  Zach’s struggled a bit since moving up, going 1-2 with an ERA over 6.00.

Burgoon Blows 1st Save of the Season. Perhaps a little over worked with a league leading 3 saves in the first week of play, Burgoon let one go last night.  His defense didn’t help as the tying run was let on by an error.  He ended up taking the loss later in the inning from a pair of walks and a fielder’s choice.  To quote quag77 from the comments of the Interview post,

Yeah, that was a tough one. 4 runs scored, all unearned on 3 errors, 2 past balls and 2 walks in the 9th.

Matt Gerbe struggles in 1st summer start.  This was just ugly for Matt. He walked the first four batters to start the game and was immediately pulled. His ERA is currently 36.00.  Meanwhile, his teammate Sinnery is 0-1, giving up 3 runs in 7 IP.  Tough loss.  I’d take that hear in Ann Arbor any time.

Lima Locos keep winning.  Anthony Toth is the lead off man and every thing I’ve seen has him hitting really well.  I wish I had the stats to back it up, but their site is “under construction.”  As far as pitching goes, Kolby Wood struggled a little bit in relief during an exhibition, but freshman Broshanon has done pretty good in limited appearances (including last night’s, which I have no stats for).

Matt Broder gets a win.  Freshman Broder got the win, pitching 5 innings (only a 7 inning game) for the Michigan Rams allowing just one unearned run.

Ryan LaMarre struggling.  So far he’s batting just .154 in 26 at bats (3 singles and a triple).  He may not stay in the lead off role much longer with that average.

Dufek and Oaks excelling.  Mike Dufek leads the Leesburg Lightning in batting average (.351) and has thrown 3 shut out innings in relief.  Alan Oaks isn’t a regular, but he is batting .333 (5/15).  He is a regular starting pitcher.  He’s 1-0 in his 2 starts with a 3.60 ERA.  He hasn’t been going deep into games with only 10 IP on the season, but it should be interesting to see if he starts going deeper.  Oaks may be making a push for a starting rotation job next spring.

Alexandria Beetles Pitchers. Matt Miller has given up one run in 3.2 innings with 2 walks and 5 Ks.  Kevin Vangheluwe has an ERA of 9.31 in 9.2 innings of work.  Why he has 6 appearances (0 starts) and Miller only has 3, I’m not entirely sure.  Could be that Vangheluwe only makes it in during blow outs.  Alexandria’s record isn’t so great.  Tyler Mills is still listed on the roster, but he’s yet to see an inning of work.  Injury?  Still at school?  I don’t know.

Travis Smith has bad luck.  He’s 0-1 in 4 appearances (3 starts) for 14 innings pitched.  His 3.86 ERA looks nice, too.

Who is this Jeff DeCarlo and what did you do with ours? Jeff DeCarlo has a 1.69 ERA.  I’m shocked.  In 5.1 IP he’s given up 1 hit, struck out 5, and only walked 2.  He does have a hit batter, so maybe he is the same guy?   Also, his teammate, freshman Kevin Krantz has seen limited time on the infield.  He’s currently 2/9 at the plate and an error in 10 chances on the field.

Everyone Else.  His .286 batting average isn’t great, but his on base is a bit higher around .320.  He hasn’t had much luck with base stealers as the league is 17/19 against him.  John Lorenz is only batting .148 in split time with Quincy.  Garret Stephens leading his team in hitting at .318 and tied for on base percentage of .400.  He’s got 2 home runs and a .500 slugging percentage.  Very nice.

These posts may be few and far between.  We’ll see as the summer season goes along.

Posted under Baseball

Featuring Michigan Lacrosse coach John Paul and yours truly. We talk about lacrosse, and even get into a little bit of football at the end, as I predict a 6-6 season on the gridiron for the Wolverines.

Listen Here.

Posted under Analysis, Football, Other Sports

Tyler Burgoon has been on fire in the Cape Cod League.  In 4.1 innings (3 appearances), he’s struck out 8, walked one, given up ZERO hits, and earned 3 saves.  How’s that for lighting them up?  It’s good to see he’s finally healthy from the shoulder injury he incurred covering a bunt early in the season.  Tyler was interviewed this week by CapeCodOnline.com.  He does discuss the injury, which was pretty interesting and backs up some info we heard during the season:

Not only was it a tough, physical process to come back from, but getting on the mound for the first time and throwing, knowing that my shoulder wasn’t really there. It’s kind of hard to get back there and throw strikes.

How did the injury happen?
It was a game against Oakland. There was a play in the outfield, and the throw got past the catcher. I was back there backing it up and I kind of overextended my (pitching) arm and fell. It didn’t feel too good. … Both my (shoulders) are really loose, so I think that was how I was able to come back from it really quick.

How long were you out?
I think it was two weeks.

And slightly less interesting, Burgoon also won’t pitch without Burt’s Bees lip balm in his back pocket.  I only point this out as I’ve recently become addicted, too.

Posted under Baseball

Small news, but the teams for next year’s challenge have already been posted.  This time the BigEast will send the same number of teams as the BigTen rather than letting a few off the hook for previously scheduled competition.  The big addition to the field is Louisville, who made it to the super regionals this year (as well as several NCAA appearances the last few seasons).  The final schedule hasn’t been announced, but I’m hoping those in charge try to format the teams to face the best of each league.  Getting the RPI boost of Louisville/USF and random third place BigEast teams could help the third place team in the BigTen when it comes to tournament time.

The weekend is February 26-28, so schedule your spring break plans now.

Posted under Baseball

The summer leagues have started up and a few Michigan players are currently making a difference on their respected teams.  Some guys are MIA.  If you happen to know where one of the other players are, feel free to drop a line in the comments.

Eric Katzman and Chris Berset were both listed with Leesburg, Katzman so much that he was mentioned in the season preview.

Vangeluwe and Broder show up on Grand Lake’s roster as stated by the Great Lakes League (both as #0), but aren’t on the Grand Lake Mariners team’s site.  I assume that just means they’ve gone to other teams.

Jake McLouth was originally signed with the Winchester Royals with Sinnery and Gerbe, but that’s no longer the case.  He was released on June 4th.

I’ll check up with these guys in a little while to look at how they did.  Most games started this last week so not much to report on now.

Ex-Player / Now Coaches

Jason Wuefel (’03 ) is also coaching the Butler BlueSox of the Prospect League.  Good for him.

Posted under Baseball

Black Shoe Diaries, which is in all likelihood the most popular Penn State blog on the internet, recently took umbrage with an article published by Rivals affiiliate Blue & White Illustrated regarding lacrosse recruiting. The offending portion was the mention that Birmingham Brother Rice maintained a #1 national ranking in high school lacrosse this year. BSD is right in pointing out that this is an erroneous statement, and takes the opportunity to ruminate on high school lacrosse, the viability of varsity D-1 programs in the midwest, and the possibility of a varsity program at Michigan in the future. HOWEVA, BSD is making some assumptions (and drawing conclusions, etc.) that simply don’t hold true.

Brother Rice

The BWI article spoke thusly: “All-Americans Nick Dolik (attack) and Danny Henneghan (midfield) will bring championship experience after leading Brother Rice to the No. 1 national ranking this year.” Black Shoe Diaries pointed out the error in this statement by pointing out that Rice finished #21 in a year-end power poll. They go on to say that they dominate Michigan competition, but wouldn’t stand a chance out East. So the Warriors didn’t finish this year #1 in the nation. BWI regrets the error, since the #1 ranking for Rice was not this year, but last year. And the year before. And the year before that. Yes, until this year, Rice was 3-years running considered the best lacrosse team in the nation. BSD: “Geekness aside: only historians in the great state of Alabama would ever consider Brother Rice a national champion.” Except for those three years that they were, apparently. Even in a down year, the Warriors still managed to crack the top-30 among the 3,037 schools in America playing lacrosse. These are not scrubs.

Also, KevinHD, you may have heard of Warrior Lacrosse (for those who aren’t familiar, it’s the largest (only?) reputable manufacturer of lacrosse gear). Huh, what a coincidene, it shares a name with the mascot of Brother Rice. Coincidence this is not. Warrior Lacrosse was founded by a Brother Rice alumnus, and is based in Warren, Michigan. Brother Rice is indeed a lacrosse school, despite being some 500 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

Varsity Lacrosse in the Midwest

Black Shoe Diaries says that there’s no way Rice possible could put out enough prospects to fill a full team, noting that the OSU Buckeyes have only 1 player from the Great Lakes State, and only 5 from the Buckeye State. This is qualified with “There are probably some Michigan natives out east, I don’t feel like looking through any more rosters…” This is in relation to a later point I’ll be covering, but I digress. Perhaps you should have spent the time to look through some of those rosters, because they’re littered with players from Michigan in general, and Brother Rice in particular. The least you could have done was look at THE TEAM WHO WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, for god’s sake. The National Champions from Syracuse have three players from Michigan on their roster.

Let me give you a little background for those who don’t know: Division 1 lacrosse teams are allowed by the NCAA to give out 12.6 scholarships. These are generally divided up in partials, unlike football and basketball. Brother Rice’s team in 2009 has 13 players committed or signed to play with Division 1 schools (sadly, the source for this is an article in the Oakland Press that I read in an actual newspaper, and can’t find in a quick search of the internets). So, Brother Rice has more Division-1 players than a Division-1 team. Way to do the homework before running your mouth, Kev.

Wolverine and Brother Rice Alumnus Riley Kearns

Michigan Lacrosse

The Michigan lacrosse team is ridiculously successful at the club level, but is nowhere near the quality of a top-notch D-1 varsity team. Kevin says the midwest ain’t big enough for the 4 of us (the existing three varsity teams in the midwest are OSU, PSU, and Notre Dame – we’ll not mention the potshot he takes at Detroit Mercy in its first year of lacrosse, which took leftovers not from Maryland and New York, but from Michigan State, the second best CLUB TEAM in Michigan). Michigan will have to resort to hoping their terrible players from Michigan will be able to compete with real life lacrosse players from out East, because the Wolverines will never be able to recruit the East coast against other D-1 programs. Never mind the fact that, even without being able to give them scholarships, the club team has players from Virginia, Colorado (along with Michigan and California, probably the most lacrosse-enlightened state outside of the East coast), New York, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Washington DC, and Connecticut. No, why worry about “facts?”

The truth of the matter is, if the Wolverines were to make the jump to varsity at some point in the near future, they’d be well-positioned. No, immediate success wouldn’t come, but there are certainly some factors working to their advantage. Aside from the aforementioned recruiting hotbed in Oakland County (Birmingham Seaholm and Detroit Country day also produce a number of D-1 players, and Orchard Lake Saint Mary’s is a program on the rise), the team would have the most financially-stable athletic department in the nation backing it, the world’s foremost lacrosse manufacturer just a stone’s throw away, and by the time the leap was made, one of the best lacrosse-specific facilities in the nation will likely be completed (boy, do I ever wish that link went to the blueprint, because it’s awesome).

So basically, don’t talk if you have no clue what you’re talking about and have no interest in researching the actual acts. kthxbai.

For the record, I’m no Brother Rice homer, and the opposite is more likely to be true. That said, you can’t downplay the team’s quality, unless of course you ignore reality.

Posted under Other Sports

2010 Michigan Wolverines Recruiting Board.

Moved PA DE/LB Ken Wilkins to committed. Commitment post. Local paper article. I didn’t really want to, but I’ll have to fisk:

The word on Wilkins? Well, a good source at Trinity who knows the football program well said Wilkins is talented, but isn’t as athletic as  Andrew Sweat, a Trinity linebacker two seasons ago who is now at Ohio State. “He doesn’t have the agility that Sweat had,” the source said.

Wow, a defensive end doesn’t have the same agility as a linebacker. You deserve a medal for figuring that one out, guy.

More Nike Camp recap from Josh Helmholdt in the Free Press. Relevant players include MI QB commit Devin Gardner:

the 6-5, 210-pound Gardner is dual-threat quarterback and many of his best attributes are not showcased in a non-contact camp setting. Still, Gardner showed that he has spent a good portion of the offseason working on his passing. His footwork is vastly improved and even though he still has an atypical throwing motion, he was able to make all the throws and did so with adequate arm strength and accuracy.

Livonia Stevenson’s Austin White took home the MVP honors at the running back position with considerable ease. The 6-1, 185-pound White was nearly unstoppable in the one-on-one portion of the camp, using his speed to outrun would-be defenders. White’s footwork and agility in the drills portion of the camp also solidified his MVP honors.

Although they did not take home MVP honors, Southeastern defensive linemen Johnathon Hankins and William Gholston both had good performances, too. The 6-3, 320-pound Hankins has put a lot of work into his conditioning this offseason and it showed in his performance Saturday. The 6-7, 240-pound Gholston is the state of Michigan’s top ranked prospect and his combination of size, speed and athleticism is hard to find anywhere in the country.

Other standout performers for the state of Michigan included Saginaw class of 2011 wide receiver DeAnthony Arnett, Inkster running backs/safeties Daniel and Nathan Lindsey, Ypsilanti Willow Run defensive tackle Garret Davis, Warren Fitzgerald linebacker Austin Gray, Cass Tech athlete Daniel Easterly, Lansing Sexton quarterback Taurean Jackson and Hartland 2011 wide receiver Matt Poches.

Removed OK AB/WR DeMarco Cobbs. He’s down to a top 8, which Michigan is nowhere near. He also plans to go down to a top five soon, so there’s little room to sneak onto his top list.

Shortly after a visit to Michigan for the Big House BBQ, and slightly opening the door on his recruitment, OH TE Alex Smith (seen at left) has fully decommitted from Cincinnati. Michigan will probably among the favorites to land his signature, as he’s been on campus multiple times. If they’re able to land Smith, it would certainly help with his teammate, LB Jordan Hicks. Hicks is one of the top linebacker prospects in the nation, and plans to graduate early. He has a top 6 list that he plans to reveal in short order. Ohio State and Texas are locks to be on the list, and Cincinnati will probably make it as well. Your guess is as good as mine for the last three.

MD OL Arie Kouandjio has landed a coveted Ohio State offer, and considering how selective they can be with offensive line recruits (though the results may not be there over the past two years), it certainly means he’s kind of a big deal. He plans to narrow his scholarship offers to a top five by the time his senior season rolls around.

Speaking of OL prospects (and one Michigan has a much better shot with), FL OL Torrian Wilson has modified his top 5, removing Tennessee in favor of… FIU? Lol Kiffin and whatnot. Alabama, Stanford, and Miami of Florida are the others in his favorites list, along with the Wolverines.

OH DE Darryl Baldwin is likely staying close to home when he ultimately selects a school. Though that immediately makes one think he’s likely to be a Buckeye, that’s certainly not set in stone. The original quote from his coach was “Everybody across the country was interested in him, but he’s a Midwest guy and he’s leaning towards staying close to home.” That sounds a bit more positive for coaches across the midwest, no?

Video fluff on FL LB Christian Jones. He still sounds like he’s going to Florida State, so I wouldn’t give him tooooo much thought.

I just added him Monday, but don’t expect GA LB Tyrone Cornileus to stay on the board long. He has a top 3-ish substance without Michigan in it, and he plans to make a commitment within a month.

MI S/LB Daniel Easterly will camp at Michigan in hopes to land an offer from the Wolverines. He hails from the developing Michigan pipeline of Cass Tech.

Removed LA S Ronnie Vinson, who committed to LSU. He spoke early about really liking Michigan, partially due to a connection to Adam Kraus. However, he hadn’t mentioned the Wolverines in a while, and was probably no longer a realistic option.

Added OH twins DT Terry Talbott and CB Terrence Talbott. Michigan has offered both of the brothers (info in header).

This may be weird coming from me, but how about some hoops-related recruiting news? 2009 commit Darius Morris will report to Ann Arbor on June 22 for enrollment in summer classes (info in header).

This update is getting FULL. The rest of the info will be saved for a Monday update.

Posted under Basketball, Football, Recruiting

Chris Fetter was drafted by the San Diego Padres with the 264th pick, 3rd in the 9th round. This is a little further down than expected, but not too far.

In recruiting news, Daniel Fields of University of Detroit Jesuit was picked by the Tigers at #180, the middle of the 6th round. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went with the Tigers as the 6th round is pretty respectable, and it is the Tigers who drafted him, which may or may not influence the decision.

Dennis went in the 10th round to the Rays, so there is a good chance he could end up in Ann Arbor. It’ll be a wait and see situation. (Andrew@EC, I’ll get your comment approved by Tim or Paul soon enough.)

The last prospect we’re watching is Patrick Biondi. He’s still undrafted as of 2:05pm (late in round 13). That may bode well, too.

I’ll update if I hear anything else. There’s a chance Dufek or Katzman may go in the VERY late rounds, but I don’t think they’re any chance of defection.

Posted under Baseball, Recruiting