TOUGH TO RULE OUT BEILEIN

I pulled in the driveway
sometime around 2:45 a.m. this
morning after the 12-inning affair mercifully came to a conclusion at Fenway,
walked into my house and heard a loud thud. My 5-year-old daughter, Talia, has
fallen out of her bed at the exact time I walked into the house. I picked her up, put her back in bed and she didn't remember a thing this morning.
Anyway, let’s get back to hoops for a while before I have to make my way back
to Fenway Park tonight for Game 4 of the Red Sox-Angels series.

Michigan coach John Beilein won 10 games last season, his
first in Ann Arbor. It was the same number he won his first go-around at
Canisius, which was followed up with a 22-win campaign.

Don’t expect the Wolverines to put up 22 victories this season, but it’s also
hard to discount any Beilein-coached team.

Remember, this is a guy who took West Virginia to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 in successive seasons
without an NBA player on the roster.

Beilein has added four players this year, but Michigan is realistically a year away from competing for an
NCAA tournament berth.

``We’ve got better shooters and more shooters this year,” Beilein said.

Michigan has brought on freshmen guards Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, 7-footer
Ben Cronin and also local kid Laval Lucas-Perry, who will be eligible the
second semester after transferring from Arizona.

Beilein said he’ll use last year’s leading scorer, Manny Harris, in a similar
role to the one that saw former West Virginia swingman Mike Gansey flourish.

``He’ll play more of a forward,” Beilein said. “He should average about seven
rebounds and be more of a factor on the offensive boards this year. We just
weren’t able to send him to the glass last year.”

The Wolverines coach also anticipates that DeShawn Sims will make another jump
after increasing his scoring average nearly 10 points per game. Ekpe Udoh (6
ppg, 5 rpg) is gone, but he didn’t fit into Beilein’s system and will be
replaced by Zach Gibson.

David Merritt, a former walk-on who didn’t even make the team his freshman and
sophomore year, will likely start at point guard. He’s a guy who makes solid
decisions, but Beilein & Co. will receive a significant upgrade a year from
now when commit Darius Morris arrived in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines also received a pledge from low-post local big man Jordan Morgan
and also got good news yesterday when big-time shooting guard Matt Vogrich out
of Lake Forest High (Ill.) chose Michigan over Stanford and Notre Dame.

KENNEDY STREAKIN’

When Billy Kennedy took over for Mick Cronin a couple years ago, he thought The
Streak might end.

Murray State had gone 19 consecutive years without a losing
season. Somehow, despite a year in which he kicked three players out of the
program and two other signees left before he even got there, Kennedy found a
way to win 16 games and keep the streak intact.

Now it’s at 21 and will likely extend to 22 after this season.

Four starters return from last season’s 18-13 team and the Racers will also
have Isaac Miles, who started at Creighton two years ago, eligible.

``We’ve got character and toughness on this team we may have lacked the last
two years,” Kennedy said. “We finished second in the league, but we didn’t have
the necessary ingredients to win a championship.”

Now Kennedy feels as though he’s got enough.

Kevin Thomas returns as the team’s starting floor leader and is a pass-first
guy who makes others better. Tyler Holloway is a holdover from the Cronin
regime and provides Kennedy with a big-time perimeter threat. The team’s
leading returning scorer is small forward Danero Thomas (12.3 ppg), who enters
his third season as a starter. Toss 6-foot-9 junior Tony Easley, who averaged
9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds, and Miles into the mix and you’ve got a group that
should challenge for the Ohio Valley crown this season.

Kennedy is also optimistic that his incoming class will make an impact,
especially 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward Ivan Aska.

``He’s a steal,” Kennedy said. “He’s got a chance to be one of the better
player to have ever played here.”

``I feel good and even though I’m scared to say it, these guys have got a
chance,” he added.

INDIAN HILLS PRESEASON NUMERO UNO

Jeff Kidder has won a trio of national titles at Dixie State College. Indian
Hills has won three titles as well.

However, Kidder is looking for his first title as head coach at Indian Hills.

With a backcourt that Kidder maintains may be better than the one he had at Dixie
that featured NBA player Marcus Banks and one-time NBA player Maurice Baker, Indian
Hills is poised to make a legitimate run.

Kidder will have Marquette-bound scoring point guard Dwight Buycks and New York native Dwight Hardy at the shooting guard spot. Both
averaged about 18 points per game last season as freshmen and Hardy finished
the season on a tear, averaging about 38 per game over the last couple of
weeks.

``They’re both going to be terrific Division 1 players,” Kidder said. ``Buycks
has elite speed and can really get his own shot. He’s a scorpion defensively
and has the uncanny ability to make plays on both ends of the court.”

``Dwight has the best IQ of any player I’ve coached in a long time,” he added. “He
knows how to come off screens and is a throw-back player. I call him the Little
Microwave because he can heat up quick.”

Kidder said that St.
John’s is active
in trying to bring Hardy back towards home.

Indian Hills will have former St. Louis wing Marcus Relphorde, who is looking atr Wichita State, Arkansas-Little Rock,
Murray State and DePaul, at small forward and long 6-foot-9 LaRon
Dendy at power forward. Kidder said that Arkansas, Kentucky
and Texas A&M have all expressed interest in Dendy.

He has multiple options in the middle with undersized post Leon Powell,
6-foot-9 Brazilian Wellington Alvarenga and 6-foot-9 sophomore Delvon Johnson
in the mix.

Sophomore point guard James Washington, 7-foot freshman Jerome Van De List from
Holland and athletic freshman guard Khaliq Gross should all
provide depth for a program hoping to add another title to its resume.

``This is the most depth I’ve ever had,” Kidder said.

RANDOM NOTES: John Wall told
Rivals.com’s Jerry Meyer that he’ll visit Memphis and wants to visit Oregon and Baylor officially and will likely take an
unofficial to nearby N.C. State. … UMass received a commitment from 6-foot-6 shooter
Freddie Riley, a Florida native spending the year at Hargrave Military Academy (Va.). …
Oregon State coach Craig Robinson had a few of the top
underclassmen in the state for the Beavers upset against USC a couple weeks
ago: Terrence Jones and Kyle Wiltjer were the two most highly touted. … According
to the Albany Times Union, Iona received a commitment from 6-foot-9 Chris Pelcher, a
senior at Albany Academy. … New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies has added former Montana State coach Mick Durham to his staff. No Comments