Last week, we started our offseason series of ranking the best Michigan men’s basketball players since the first time the Wolverines won a national championship back in 1989 to celebrate a 37-year history of Michigan basketball between titles. Today, we look at the next tier up, and it’s a significant one from our scoring model from a batch of already quality list of players in the first rendition of this series.
Michigan
Coldwater hosts Michigan’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade
COLDWATER — Monday morning, Ken Delaney, decked out in green and a kilt, walked from Four Corners Park to the nearby Jeannie’s Diner.
“Because I’m Irish,” he said.
The WTVB morning personality calls the event “Michigan’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”
Because his show is only on weekdays, the parade took place Monday along West Chicago for less than 20 yards.
Delaney said the idea started as a pub crawl 25 years before. “That got to be too much,” he said.
About a decade later, the parade time moved from an afternoon pub crawl to just after he finished his morning show when he headed to a downtown restaurant.
Those who join the parade usually join him for a corned beef and cabbage lunch.
In 2020, with COVID-19, he held the parade ending at JTs, with everyone wearing special St. Patrick’s Day masks.
With the shutdown, Delaney held the 2021 parade in his backyard, drinking Guinness with friends.
This year in the snow was the biggest crowd ever, with 25 people surpassing 17 in 2023.
Delaney is proud of his parade music, recorded in an Irish pub 15 years ago. “The Hudson Valley Drum and Pipe Corp, guys from New York, police officers and firefighters that were actually in a pub in Ireland,” he said.
There Delaney recorded the two minutes and 19 seconds song on his iPhone.
Delaney got his St. Patrick’s Day idea from WJR Detroit radio legend JP McCarthy. His party was held in the Fisher building in Detroit.
Delaney said McCarthy “used to just open the doors and everybody who was anybody would come by. The mayor, Wayne County Commissioners, and the bishops, everybody would come live for his morning show on St. Patrick’s Day.”
The parade is Delaney’s small market version.
Delaney traces his Irish heritage back to “My great-grandmother. My dad’s side was born in Ireland.”
For Delaney, “My whole family’s Irish, seven kids, an all-Irish Catholic family.”
“I love it everything about Ireland. I’ve been there three times,” he added.
His wife, Chris, bought him authentic Irish kilts for Irish events and parties.
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Over Memorial Day weekend, Delaney will celebrate his 40th year at the Coldwater radio station, where he is the market manager for Midwest Broadcasting.
Over those 40 years, he always did something different for St. Patrick’s Day before starting the parade. “It’s fun. I think everybody can be goofy. But since I’ve been to Ireland a couple of times, I guess it’s gotten even more so. Why not have a little fun?”
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
No. 22 – F Morez Johnson Jr. – Score: 78.4
The first player from Michigan’s 2025-26 team has made it on the list, and it’s the bodyguard himself, Morez Johnson Jr. His stint in Ann Arbor was short, but impactful. After transferring in from Illinois, he found his way into a starting lineup with two other players 6-foot-9 or taller in Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara. The trio wreaked havoc all season long thanks to their length and athleticism in a scheme tailor-made by head coach Dusty May.
Johnson was one of the most efficient players in the country, averaging 13.1 points per game on a 62.3 percent clip. He also led the team with 7.3 rebounds per game and was commonly considered one of the best defensive players on the floor with his ability to guard all five positions. He was a Second-Team All-Big Ten and was on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team as well.
No. 21 – F Deshawn Sims – Score: 78.9
In the transition from Tommy Amaker to John Beilein, Deshawn Sims was a part of a special group that propelled the program to relevancy again. Sims was the 19th player in program history to reach 1,500 career points, and the 15th to surpass 700 rebounds. Consistency was key, as he played in 129 consecutive games over four seasons, starting 92 of them.
Everything came together for the Wolverines in the 2008-09 season when Sims and co-star Manny Harris led the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than a decade. The team underperformed in 2009-10, but Sims’ play stayed consistent.
Along with the elite company Sims established with his longevity, he was also a three-time All-Big Ten honoree and averaged 16.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game over his final two seasons.
No. 20 – F Ray Jackson – Score: 81.6
Not only did we have the introduction to the 2026 championship team, but this stretch also introduces us to the Fab Five with forward Ray Jackson, the final member of the historic 1991 class.
Jackson not only has the pedigree tied to the culture that surrounded the Fab Five and their two runner-up finishes in the NCAA Tournament, but he was also a great player. One could argue he was the most unheralded of the bunch and deserves more credit than he does. Somehow, he was only a two-time All-Big Ten performer, but he averaged 17.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in his final three seasons with the program.
He ascended from the last of the Fab Five to a premier Big Ten player during his four-year career, helping guide Maurice Taylor — an honorable mention in this series — to being a member of the All-Big Ten freshman team when Jackson was a senior.
Jackson’s impact was profound, not just for his role in the Fab Five but for the transition out of it with future players who had impossible shoes to fill. The Wolverines not only stayed afloat, but remained tournament teams in the years following, which would have meant more had that era not been tarnished with “scandal” for a fraction of what is being done today in the NIL world.
- The Top 25 Michigan men’s basketball players since 1989: No. 25-23
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As temperatures rise in Michigan each summer, so to do the chances of harmful algal blooms (HABs) developing in our lakes, causing a risk to both ecosystems and public health.
HABs are formed wherever there is rapid growth of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, which are naturally found in lakes, rivers and ponds. Some cyanobacteria found in blooms contain toxins that can be harmful to people and animals, and often present as blue-green, yellow or brown streaks, foam, or thick paint-like scums on the water surface, according to the Michigan Departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE)
To help keep track of these harmful algal blooms across the state, EGLE has teamed up with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to update its online reporting form to include harmful algal blooms. Now the public can easily report suspected HABs to the state by filling out the form at Michigan.gov/HABs. Individuals can also make a report by calling EGLE’s Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278.
“This new online form is an easy and efficient way for Michiganders to help monitor and safeguard our water resources,” said Jerrod Sanders, director of Water Resources Division at EGLE, in a news release. “This tool improves efficiency and helps us respond to potential risks more effectively.”
It will also allow EGLE and MDHHS staff to better understand how HABs develop, and creates the potential to send out public notifications about what areas to avoid as a way of keeping people and pets safe when they’re detected.
Breathing in or swallowing water with HAB toxins can cause asthma-like symptoms, difficulty breathing, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, runny eyes and nose, weakness, headaches or dizziness. Skin contact can also cause rashes, blisters or hives.
“If you had contact with or swallowed water with a suspected HAB and feel sick, call your health care provider or seek medical attention as soon as possible,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive.
Locations of HAB reports verified by EGLE and results of cyanotoxin testing will be displayed on the Michigan Harmful Algal Bloom Reports Map for the public to review.
For more information on health effects, causes and reports on the occurrence of HABs in Michigan lakes, visit Michigan.gov/HABs.
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