Monday, January 25, 2010

Paging Manny Harris

Anyone who has played a team sport knows the difference between a Team Leader, and a Go To Guy.

The Go To guy gets you buckets when needed, and the Team Leader, gets the ball to the Go To guy under extreme circumstances, all while making sure the rest of the team is executing correctly.

The University of Michigan is missing the team leaders that guided the Wolverines to a tournament victory last year over Clemson.

C.J. Lee is currently prepping for a career in politics, while David Meritt is leading a different team, a team he put together when he opened his own company last August. The two were Team Leaders last year, something that is painfully missing with this years squad.

Andy Katz put it best the other day;

Beilein said Lee and Merritt were the type of players that were leaders in the locker room and during practice. They were the coach on the floor that a head coach desperately needs.

"Basketball is a flow sport where play continues," Beilein said. "It's not like football where you can have the quarterback huddle everyone up after a dropped pass."

Beilein said that Lee and Merritt didn't let last season's team drift.



Drift may be a nice way of saying, I'm sick of watching this team implode in front of my very eyes. The Michigan Wolverines are 10-9 and 3-4 in the Big Ten with quality wins against Ohio State and UConn. The question that needs to be answered is, can Manny Harris lead this team in something besides scoring? If Harris can put aside his noticeable frustration, which spreads like a cancer to the younger players on the team, and play through adversity as opposed to playing with adversity. The Michigan Wolverines my have a shot an an NCAA birth.


The next 6 games, including a game vs. Michigan State on Tuesday should be make or break time for the Wolverines. We should know if this is a NCAA Team or NIT Team, in the next two weeks. But what we will also find out, is if Manny Harris is more then just a Go To guy.

Time will tell.

click here for ESPN's Andy Katz article.

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