FanHouse Tommy Amaker

A few weeks ago, coming off an impressive upset of UCLA, Michigan was handed a reminder by the Duke Blue Devils that their basketball program wasn't quite all the way back just yet. A second chance -- this time at home -- was all the Wolverines needed.

On the strength of DeShawn Sims' 28-point and 12-rebound effort and Duke's abysmal long-range shooting, Michigan basketball took another huge step in their rebuilding process with an 81-73 victory today.

Duke was too reliant on the outside shot. They were a terrible 7-of-33 from three-point territory, and this reliance also contributed to their only visiting the free throw line six times (they made four). The Blue Devils, however, will be just fine. It was their second straight road game, and we all know they don't play on the road outside their conference often. They'll rarely shoot so poorly from three, and you can count on Coach Krzyzewski stressing the importance of offensive variety after this loss.

The real story in this game was Michigan. I had already written their program was on its way back.

It's been a long time since Michigan basketball mattered, even on a regional level. They've been on the back-burner locally due to futility, Michigan State basketball, and UM football; among other things. If you wanna talk about national prominence, you have to go all the way back to the "Fab Five" days of Chris Webber and Jalen Rose. In the aftermath of the Steve Fisher era, no progress was made. The Tommy Amaker hiring seemed like a good idea, since he was a Coach K disciple and all. It just didn't pan out, despite the NIT championship in 2004.

Enter John Beilein.

We're only five games into his second season, and you can tell this program is on the rise. The national college basketball fans even had to take note last week, when the Wolverines took down mighty UCLA. Sure, the game can be dismissed for a myriad of different reasons, but the tell-tale sign this program is on the rise was the way the team stayed grounded in the aftermath.

Just ask their star player, sophomore Manny Harris:

"We all have to be on the same page knowing that one win isn't good enough," Harris said Monday.

It looks like Tommy Amaker and Harvard are starting to feel the fallout from the New York Times article that alleged they are lowering academic standards in Cambridge. Frank Ben-Eze, a 6'10" center who chose the Crimson over Big East schools, has reopened his recruitment. Ben-Eze was the best player in what was considered the best recruiting class in the history of the school.

Ben-Eze hadn't been accepted by Harvard's admissions department yet and the Times reports that he had not reached Harvard's minimum academic standards. The center's summer league coach says that academics had nothing to do with his decision, however.

"Academically it was never an issue at Harvard," he said. "He was definitely up to standards. He just sat down and did some thinking. He's a bright young man and very smart."

He's also pretty good at basketball. Rob Johnson, the coach, said that he's heard from Connecticut, Pitt and Boston College, among other big-time programs, since Ben-Eze put himself back on the market. That kind of interest is what opened so many eyes around the Ivy League in the first place.

The loss of Ben-Eze will hurt the Crimson on the basketball court but it will probably help Amaker weather the storm that's kicked up around his recruiting standards and style. Sorry, No Photos

After a story this weekend suggested that new Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker has convinced the school to lower academic standards for basketball players, the school and the Ivy League say they are investigating.

"We're going to do what needs to be done, and it's going to be done in a timely way," said Jeff Orleans, the Ivy League executive director.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times has reported that former Harvard assistant coaches, as well as current coaches at other Ivy League schools, believe Harvard has lowered its academic standards for basketball players in an effort to improve the program since Amaker, the former Michigan head coach, took over.

Harvard says the incoming recruiting class -- which is slated to be perhaps the best assemblage of basketball talent ever to commit to an Ivy League school -- can't be judged yet because the school's admissions office has not yet determined whether all of the players will get in. Harvard denies that its standards have been compromised, but if Amaker gets that class in its entirety, not many people will believe that denial.

When we think of Harvard we think of rigorous scholarship, of ivy-covered buildings, of notable alumni from John Hancock to John F. Kennedy, from Henry David Thoreau to James D. Watson.

We don't think of basketball prowess, but new coach Tommy Amaker wants to change that, and Harvard's administration is giving him a huge hand in doing so: The school is lowering its standards to attract better basketball players.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times has a fascinating article today about the way Amaker, the former Michigan head coach, is getting away with tactics that would have seemed unthinkable at an Ivy League institution:

The Butler Bulldogs took a week off after returning from Alaska before returning to the court on Saturday for a date with Butler graduate Thad Matta and his Ohio State Buckeyes. Butler's perfect record looked in doubt at halftime, they were down 10 and playing poorly. They missed their first 15 threes, turned the ball over eight times and generally spent the first 20 minutes looking like they didn't belong on the same court with anybody above the community college level.

But the second half was different business altogether. The Bulldogs outscored the Buckeyes 45-16 and ran away with a 65-46 win to improve to 7-0 and win their fourth straight game against a power conference outfit. They discovered a new star in the process. Freshman forward Matt Howard scored 23 points and outplayed OSU's more heralded frosh Kostas Koufos. Howard balanced the late-arriving outside threats of A.J. Graves and Mike Green, the defense keyed up and forced 24 turnovers and Butler proved they can win even on nights they don't have their "A" game. They begin Horizon play this week with dates at Detroit and Wright State.

The rest of the winners and losers are after the jump.

It's not official yet, but let's acknowledge that there is approximately zero chance that Tommy Amaker will be Michigan's coach six weeks from now. After this week's home loss to Iowa, the local headlines include "Amaker's Days at UM are Numbered," "Amaker Needs Miracle to Save His Job Now," and "UM Hoops Has Built a Culture of Neglect."

I've always wanted Amaker to succeed. He seems like such a nice, likable guy, and he was trying to clean up a program that had flouted the NCAA's rules for so long before he arrived. But coaching isn't about being nice and following the rules, it's about winning. There's just no way you can bring a coach back for a seventh season when he hasn't made the tournament in his first six.

Athletic director Bill Martin now has a big job ahead of him in finding Michigan's next coach. Michigan will always be, first and foremost, a football school, but the Wolverines could be a basketball powerhouse, too. Just not with Amaker as the coach.