Former North and Miami star rated
best Michigan NBA prospect

Mike Bramos, two-time All State basketball player at Grosse Pointe North, has been rated the best senior NBA draft prospect among Michigan high school alumni. The Harper Woods resident is completing his college career as a Red Hawk at Miami of Ohio.

Stephen Bell, writing for MLive.com, said, “He has (the) physical tools, but needs to keep improving.”

Bramos, who is 6-feet-5 and 225 pounds, scored 36 points in a game against Dayton–the most points scored in a single game for the Miami men’s basketball team since Wally Szczerbiak was on the team in ’99. Szczerbiak is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.

Bell says Bramos will have to speed up his release on his jump shot to move to the next level. At Miami, Bramos blocked 97 shots and came close to typing the Number 3 all-time shot blocker, according to the university web site. He was second team All-MAC conference last year.

In high school Bramos, the son of Mike and Judy Bramos, was runner-up in the annual statewide “Mr. Basketball” competition and received academic honors. His sister, Lauren, played volleyball at Oakland University and a cousin, Park Prylow, played at MSU, according to the Miami website bio.

They kicked and screamed to win

Grosse Pointer Rachel Williams, 32, and her teammates reportedly won the best support trophy at a martial arts tournament in Madison Heights at Madison High School. The Macomb Daily pictured Ms. Williams in action. There were more than 200 contestants in 127 divisions at the Jan. 17 tournament where 60 first place trophies were awarded. Williams studies karate at the All Star Karate Academy in Macomb County.

Half the proceeds from the tourney go to the National Scoliosis Foundation, Director Adam Lux, told the Daily.

No Joan of Arc at South

Detroit News sports writer Tim Twentyman reported earlier this year that a machine called the Noah Select System, which analyzes the arcs of free throws, has vastly improved shooting percentages for Grosse Pointe South students using it. Aisha Rodney went from 8.2 points per game last year to 21 points this year. Chloe Srebernak improved her free throw shooting percentage by more than 25 percent and Kate Pangori’s three-point shooting went from 33 percent to 44 percent, according to Twentyman.

Twentyman reported the system–which looks like “a rock concert speaker”–tracks the arc of the ball and reports verbally and visually to the shooter. The South Boosters club footed the $16,000 bill for the system and two shooting machines, according to Twentyman.

South basketball coach Kevin Richards told Twentyman the machine is a “miracle worker."

Now you know where the proceeds from those $20 coupon books the boosters sell goes. You can read the whole Twentyman story here. 

Thunk, thunk, thunk–swish

The world champion free-throw shooter is a retired California podiatrist who sank 2,750 in a row over 12 hours in 1993. He is now in his 80’s and still coaching free-throw shooters.

“It’s important to have the right mechanics,” Dr. Tom Amberry said. “Once you learn to put your body in the proper position and shoot correctly, then the rest is mental.”

Martin J. Smith described the Amberry shooting approach, which sounds like the human form of the Noah system, in an Orange Coast Magazine article in 1998.

“As a free throw shooter, Amberry is just as methodical. After clearing his mind he places his feet square to the line. . .He grasps the ball exactly the same way for each shot, focusing his concentration on the ball’s inflation hole. With both hands he bounces the ball three times—thunk, thunk, thunk, no more, no less. Elbows close to his dides, knees bent, he offers a quick glance at the hoop and shoots a one-handed set shot in a high arc toward the basket. Swish.”

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