The Dude Is Not In

Bleah. Sick day taken. Enjoy this 1/3rd of a UV; I'll be back monday.

I shoot them in the head.* UMHoops points to two pieces on St. John's transfer Larry Wright, a 40% three-point shooter from Saginaw who's returning home after two years in NYC. He'll be going to school somewhere in state, according to Eric Lacey:

"He told me he doesn't want to leave the state of Michigan," said Dawkins, who has already spoken to Oakland coach Greg Kampe about Wright. "So that's a good sign."

Wright is returning to Michigan because his mother has had serious back surgery and will attempt to get a waiver to play next year. Is he Big Ten caliber? Failing that, is he Michigan caliber? (ZING!) St John's hoops blog East Coast Bias thinks so:

St. John’s fans are pissed. PISSED, because we’re losing Larry Wright. He was on his way to becoming a cult hero; but unlike other fan favorites, this isn’t a case of that scrappy walk-on kid who plays tough defense and just makes plays. Larry Wright was possibly the team’s best scorer and certainly the most accurate shooter, and the justifiable focus of the fans/ message boards’ “Free Larry Wright” posts.

There's much, much more in a gargantu-post on Wright; his game sounds like a good fit for Beilein's system:

As for Larry’s game, he shoots deep shots in the flow of the offense and doesn’t overdribble. If he doesn’t have his shot, he looks for the next man. He tends to shoot from around the top of the key, but last year his some of his memorable shots from the corner (I think the Notre Dame game, his last shot was from the right corner? Correct me if wrong). When he gets the ball, he seems ready to shoot or drive, and if he’s blanketed, he doesn’t force it. he doesn’t take his man off the dribble often, but he’s probably quick enough to do so. ...

Larry Wright isn’t the second coming. He is a role player, for sure, and limited in some ways; but that role is an essential one for every single basketball team; the guy who can score in bunches and won’t hurt you in other ways on the court. He could be a potential star and with more regular time, I expect his outside shooting percentages to go up.

Michigan needs a shooter. Correction: Michigan needs 3-5 shooters. Wright appears to be a shooter and got 9 PPG in under 20 minutes in the Big East. He's going to a school in the state of Michigan. Git er done.**

*(reference explanation: I used to watch David Letterman in high school. Once, Laurence Fishburne was on the show promoting his latest gangster movie and somehow the conversation turned to if he preferred "Laurence" or "Larry," he obviously said "Laurence." Letterman asked "what do you do to people who call you Larry?" and Fishburne replied "I shoot them in the head.")
**(you have permission to shoot me in the head.)