Manny Harris would come down the floor during pickup games over the past three months and then, just as he’d reach the three-point line, Harris would go from fast to blur.

By the time Zack Novak knew what was going on during the pickup games between the Michigan basketball team, Harris - a junior guard - was gone.

Manny Harris

“I don’t know if it was possible for him to become more explosive than he was, but just to me, there are times when he’s coming down the court and he’ll go around me and by the time I can turn, he’s at the basket already,” Novak said. “…It was like there’s nothing I can do and he’s still, he’s underrated.”

Don’t expect to hear much underrated talk any more. Harris burst onto the national scene this summer with his play at both the LeBron James and Paul Pierce camps, two gatherings of some of the top college players in the country.

At the Pierce Academy, Harris’ ability to have a mid-range game really stood out to the NBA superstar.

"He’s got a pretty good mid-range game,” Pierce told Jeff Goodman of FOXSports.com. "I like the way he comes off screens. He has tremendous upside and has a good basketball IQ. He’s also one of the guys that picked things up right away.”

And those experiences made Harris realize what he needs to do to be better at Michigan and for a potential career in the NBA.

Harris and Michigan coach John Beilein set a list of things Harris needed to focus on this summer, from Harris’ dribbling to his strength to the development of a mid-range game.

There was also an issue of hesitation and shot selection, something Harris didn’t realize was going on until after last season.

“A lot of people was trying to tell me that I’m a good shooter and to take the first shot, like when I’m open, see, I kind of hesitate on that a lot,” Harris said. “I looked at film this summer, too, and I was watching and sometimes I do do that. I don’t know why but sometimes I’d rather go to the hole than take the easier shot.

“…After the season, when they told me, I watched some film, and I was like ‘OK, I could probably take the first shot.’”

Dribbling and shot selection were the summer activities worked on at the Pierce and LeBron camps. The mid-range game has been something he has worked on with Beilein during his individual workouts since returning to campus for the fall semester.

So far, Harris notices a difference. He feels more explosive. He also thinks he’s more consistent, but he won’t know for sure until games start in November because making shots in games is different from making them in practice or individual shooting sessions.

“He’s always been very quick,” Beilein said. “I noticed more strength in the upper body. He’s still skinny, but he’s stronger with his athleticism.”

With a stronger body and fresh off a summer of impressing NBA scouts even though Harris never even entered the early-entry process, the 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior never let the ‘what-if’ question come into his mind. As in what if he declared for the draft instead of committing to a third year in Ann Arbor after leading Michigan in scoring (16.9 points), steals (43) and tying DeShawn Sims for the team lead in rebounding (6.8).

But he doesn’t look at it that way. He’s still happy as a college student. He knows he has things he needs to work on. And when he arrived in Ann Arbor in the first place, he had no illusions of being a one-and-done type of player.

“If you think about it, you’re going to think about it throughout the season and another thing is I didn’t really, like a lot of people came to college being like ‘I’m supposed to be one year, two years,’” Harris said. “I came here to play my whole four years and play anything else would be a plus.

“If the opportunity comes, then that’s great. But I want to leave when I’m ready, though.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.