Tuesday Quick Hits: Udoh Still Undecided on Future

By Sean · Tuesday, April 15, 2008 · 12:33 AM |  Share | 1 Comment 

• Fresh off winning the Hobey Baker Award, Kevin Porter has signed an entry level contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. Also signing with Phoenix is Chad Kolarik, who was one of Porter’s line mates last season. It is pretty cool that Porter and Kolarik will get to continue to be teammates in the future as they certainly had good chemistry on the ice at Michigan.
• To watch Porter’s acceptance speech after winning the Hobey Baker Award, click here.
• Manny Harris was named the basketball team’s MVP yesterday at Michigan’s awards celebration. Ekpe Udoh also picked up an award for being the team’s top defensive player, but receiving that honor was greatly overshadowed by the continuing question marks regarding his status with the basketball team. Eric Lacy caught up with Udoh to find out the latest on his situation.
  

  Michigan basketball player Ekpe Udoh says he’s undecided about whether or not he will stay at the school or transfer somewhere else.

  Speaking publicly for the first time since Internet rumors swirled last week about his future plans, the sophomore forward told members of the media Monday he wants to make a decision as soon as possible.

  “I just want to go home, turn off my phone for a little bit and just pray about it,” said Udoh, a Edmond, Oklahoma native, about his future plans.

  At this point, if I had to guess, I would think that Udoh doesn’t return to Ann Arbor next season. It just doesn’t sound like he is going to come back. Although that means nothing until a decision is made officially, it just doesn’t seem like he is thrilled with the system he is in at Michigan.

• One Detroit PSL coach still is unsure of John Beilein’s recruiting of Detroit-area players.
• Michigan basketball recruit Zack Novak received praise thanks to a great performance at a workout for the top players in the state of Indiana.
• Assistant basketball coach Mike Jackson did not get the Detroit Mercy job as it went to ex-Indiana assistant Ray McCallum.
• Jim Tressel attempted to backtrack after some of his comments about Rich Rodriguez got blown up in the news.
• Mario Manningham is continuing to hurt his draft stock.
• I’ve been getting quite a few e-mails about rumors that Sam McGuffie injured himself running track, and it turns out they’re true. I did some digging around and found this interesting tidbit from a Houston newspaper:
  

  The most damaging injury to their chances occurred when Bobcats star athlete Sam McGuffie came up lame at the Cy-Fair relays with a left hamstring pull one week ago.

  McGuffie suited up on Monday during the field events and tried to make a go at the long jump, in which he finished second overall in the entire state last year. But his leg just wouldn’t allow him to run at full speed, so the University of Michigan-bound senior withdrew.

  I know that injuries happen, but I’m starting to worry about McGuffie. He was hampered by injuries most of his senior season for football, and now he got hurt again by running track. I hope he manages to heal up to 100% before coming to Ann Arbor as he could be an impact player in the new offense.

• Speaking of injuries, Penn State suffered a huge blow to their defense as stud linebacker Sean Lee tore his ACL and could miss the entire 2008 season.
• EA Sports released some new screenshots comparing the look of NCAA 09 to last year’s version of the game, and all I can say is wow! NCAA 09 appears to be making huge strides visually thanks to new field textures, new lighting, and an upgrade to the look of the fans. To most, myself included, the gameplay is more important than what the field or fans look like, but with the improvements I’ve seen, I am very happy with the changes. Gameplay is changing as well, but right now the focus seems to be on the visual aspect of the game.