Former University of Michigan guard and Flint Powers Catholic basketball standout Laval Lucas-Perry has transferred to Oakland University.

Lucas-Perry, who started his collegiate career at the University of Arizona and was regarded as one of the best players in the state coming out of high school, will be playing for his third college team once he takes the floor for the Golden Grizzlies in 2011.

Oakland will be his last chance to live up to the hype and expectations placed on him as a high-scoring guard from Flint.

He left Arizona after longtime head coach Lute Olsen stepped down and assistant coach Kevin O’Neil was denied the open coaching position. After sitting out a season, he transferred to Michigan were he averaged 5.6 points per game in two seasons for the Wolverines. Yet, his time with the Wolverines came to an end this summer when he was dismissed from the team by Michigan head coach John Beilein for what was called a violation of team rules. Neither Beilein nor Lucas-Perry would specify on what the violation was.

Nevertheless, Lucas-Perry will join the Grizzlies with a clean slate and head coach Greg Kampe is excited to have him on the team.

“I think it’s great and we’re really excited about him coming here,” Kampe said. “It’s a lot like Reggie (Hamilton) coming in last year. He’s a guy that will be able push Reggie and Larry (Wright) and our other guards in practice and make them better the way Reggie did with Johnathon Jones a year ago.”

Reggie Hamilton joined the Grizzlies last season after transferring from UMKC and will likely be the starting point guard for Oakland this winter. Just as Hamilton did last year, Lucas-Perry will have to sit out a season before becoming eligible to play.

“We lose Larry Wright and three other seniors a year from now so I think Laval will bring a wealth of experience to our team at a time when we’re going to need it,” Kampe said. “He’s a security blanket for our team. We still want to go out and recruit high school kids to come into our program and develop them and we will continue to do that, but getting a guy like Laval this year and Reggie last year transferring in gives us someone in our back pocket and that’s good to have.”

Lucas-Perry could not be reached for comment but he did tell The Flint Journal he thinks Oakland is a program on the rise and that he’s excited about joining the team and expects to contribute right away once he becomes eligible.

His younger brother, Patrick Lucas-Perry, is entering his senior year at Flint Powers Catholic and is among the top rated players in the state at his position. Due to common recruiting practices, it could not be confirmed whether or not Oakland is interested in recruiting him.