Posted on May 18, 2007

Erik Saroney, men's basketball coach at Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y, got a call in the summer of 2004 from Ben Cronin's father. Cronin was home-schooled and had just finished his eighth-grade year. He had grown pretty tall and his father was entertaining the thought of enrolling him in the public high school, allowing him to play on the basketball team, and wanted his son to meet the coach.

Saroney asked how tall the youngster was and the father said 6-foot-7 or 6-foot-8. So Saroney assumed that really meant 6-foot-5.

But when Cronin came in, to Saroney's delight, he was 6-foot-10.

Now 7-feet tall with his shoes off according to Saroney, Cronin also thrilled Michigan men's basketball coach John Beilein enough to become Beilein's first recruit in the class of 2008, picking Michigan over Syracuse, among other schools.

"I really started considering (Michigan) because of Beilien," Cronin said. "It's a great combo - coach Beilien and Ann Arbor. I love the school and I love coach Beilein."

Cronin can't sign a letter of intent until November, and because he's only orally committed, Beilein can't comment on him.

Saroney usually took Henninger to Beilein's team camps in the summer when Beilein was coaching West Virginia. After the 2004 camp, one of Beilein's assistants told Saroney that Cronin had caught Beilein's eye.

"(The assistant said) 'We'll be in touch because these big guys, they tend to come around late. You'll be surprised how good this kid might get,' " Cronin said.

Henninger didn't go to the camp the next summer because it coincided with the school's graduation ceremony. But when the team went back last summer, Beilein really began to strongly pursue Cronin.

Cronin, who describes himself as a pure, low-post center with a good touch, averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks last year. Saroney said Cronin is an excellent passer with good court vision. Although he wasn't called on to do it much this past season, Saroney also said Cronin is growing into a good perimeter shooter for his size.

Both Cronin and Saroney agreed Cronin's biggest need is to get stronger. To that end, Cronin is working with a professional strength coach.

"He's going to be a great fit for coach Beilein's system," Saroney said. "By the time it's said and done, I think he's going to be a great player in Coach's program."

Cronin didn't start playing basketball until high school, opting for hockey as a youngster. On the ice, he was a defenseman and he said he brought a hockey mentality to the court on the defensive end. But since he focused on just defense while playing hockey, he had to grow accustomed to playing on both ends of the hardwood.

Asked what the main thing Cronin had to work on his first year of playing basketball, Saroney replied "everything." Since he was so raw, Cronin played junior varsity his freshman year.

It didn't take Cronin long to fit in at Henninger, which is a diverse inner-city public high school, according to Saroney.

"Ben being home-schooled and all that, he came right in and had absolutely zero problems with sitting in with anybody - teachers, kids, hall monitors, cafeteria workers," Saroney said. "There's really nobody that doesn't like the kid, nobody he doesn't get along with."

Saroney pointed to not just the number, but the variety of people who showed up to Cronin's press conference Wednesday announcing his decision to come to Michigan. Administrators, teachers, janitors, teammates and other students all came to support him.

"He's a very witty kid," Saroney said. "When you would interview him or people will first meet him, they'll think he's kind of a shy, laid back kind of kid. But he's not. (He's) very witty, very outgoing, excellent with people, just a great kid to be around."

- Mark Giannotto contributed to this report