It's been ten years since the Michigan basketball program had a signing player earn “Mr. Basketball” honors in the state of Michigan. That streak has been snapped, after Kalamazoo Central power forward and Wolverines signee Isaiah Liver earned the award on Monday.
Congrats to signee @isaiah__02 after he was named the 2017 Michigan Mr. Basketball!
Article >> https://t.co/hN3dnlHgci#GoBlue 〽️🏀 pic.twitter.com/OfCp0JFklo
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 20, 2017
U-M signee Isaiah Livers named 2017 Michigan Mr. Basketball https://t.co/BrfFcTr2GJ via @freep
— Mark Snyder (@Mark__Snyder) March 20, 2017
Livers is the first Michigan pledge since Manny Harris (Redford High School) in 2007 to be named Mr. Basketball in the Mitten. Among the players he beat out for the award was Grand Rapids Christian big man and Michigan State pledge Xavier Tillman. Livers is ranked as the No. 2 player in the state of Michigan, according to 247Sports, behind only Tillman.
Livers (6-foot-8, 220 pounds) this year for the Maroons of K.C. is doing a little bit of everything. He's averaging 18 points, 14 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.4 blocks and 1.7 steals, all while shooting better than 40 percent from behind the arc and knocking down better than 80 percent of his freebie attempts.
Ironically, Livers (333) got 30 less first-place votes than Tillman for the award, but finished with 72 more voting points than the Spartan signee. Livers and his Maroons will be battling Tillman's Eagles of G.R. Christian in the Class A State Quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 21 at Lansing Eastern High School. The game can be seen on MHSAA.TV.
