U of M Basketball Recruiting Discussion

[hack]

???

[The Oracle]

??? is right. Going into this year, our bigs are Soph, soph, frosh, frosh. 2 more frosh bigs coming in next year, or 1 next year and 1 the next year depending on what Davis does. I bet we don't take another big until '18 at the earliest depending if Wagner is a 5 or not.

[hack]

We have no proven contributors at the 5 save for Doyle, who still has a lot of holes in his game.

We have proven contributors all over the rest of the roster, and a dogfight for minutes.

So where should the recruiting focus be?

[hack]

IMO the answer is you never stop shooting for those big blue chippers, at any position. We should be going after Brown/Langford/Battle types but also identifying the right bigs at that level. We should not be, at this point, taking someone like Ibi Watson. The pipeline is stocked on the wing and another 20 Watson-level players can be spotted in next year's recruiting cycle.

I could see your point if the bigs we have in the system and coming into it have significant potential. None of them do.

[*JD*]

As of now, theres absolutely no reason to be recruiting any bigs.

Michigan certainly has quantity but you can always make space for quality.

Michigan is going the route that teams like Wisconsin, Purdue, and (for the most part) spartie has gone and been successful doing so. Just getting beefy and/or tall guys. It might turn out to be as successful as it's been for those teams but it certainly isn't bringing a wow-factor at this point.

I can see Doyle and Davis being those sorts of lunch-pail guys and rebounding certainly should improve. Teske makes me think of Eric Riley. Maybe DJ Wilson could be a Maceo Baston. None of these guys make me think of Webber, Howard, Traylor, McGary, Tarpley, Vaught or Mills.

[The Oracle]

None of that matters. If no attrition, and they're probably will be, in the 16-17 season there will be 5 bigs on the roster. You really think jb will take up half the roster on what would basically be 1 position? Cmon, youre better than that.

[The Oracle]

And McGary is the outlier. Im not expecting any elite bigs to come here.

[hack]

No -- I don't. I think the 5 spot is going to continue to be the limiting factor. I don't trust him to find three-star gems on the inside like he can on the perimeter. His track record says as much already. But the bottom line is this: the weakness here is controlling the defensive glass. So there's no excuse not to address it, even if it means we have a glut of disappointing bigs we're waiting on to exhaust their eligibility or perhaps transfer. We've got more wings than we can play anyways, because he doesn't make bad decisions on the recruiting trail on the perimeter.

(Realistically, I'm saying. Rebounding is a weakness that can be addressed. Defense overall is a weakness, but cutting down on offensive rebounds is a more reasonable goal and doesn't clash with what he wants to do on offense).

[*JD*]

BTW- According to 24/7, Michigan is highly-recruiting a top-30 PF from Texas in the class of 2017.

[WM Wolverine]

If an 'elite' big is interested in M, M will pursue them and recruit over their current bigs. It's not like JB is targeting Teske/Davis/Donnal/Doyle as Plan A targets. Those were plan B, C options after Plan A targets didn't return enough interest.

[*JD*]

Davis was the curious one of the bunch. 24/7 likes him better than Teske and I like that he seems like a load. Still, it didn't seem like there needed to be a rush to offer him.

[hack]

If an 'elite' big is interested in M, M will pursue them and recruit over their current bigs. It's not like JB is targeting Teske/Davis/Donnal/Doyle as Plan A targets. Those were plan B, C options after Plan A targets didn't return enough interest.

Well, if the system is so unappealing to such an extent that Michigan cannot compete on the glass on both ends, then maybe it's time to think about that system. I think in truth Beilein spends more time recruiting to positions he's already stocked than to the one where he's most short-handed.

[Pasadena Blue]

Beilein is just a bad recruiter... there's not much else to say.

People keep citing McGary as a counter to this ... but I think he as a huge exception.

[*JD*]

I think "bad" is too extreme. Maybe he recruits below Michigan's visibility. Up until the 2012-2013 season, that was understandable. Michigan was not really on any highly-rated kid's radar until that point, so you could say he overachieved prior to that.

Since then, he has gotten other Top 50 players in Irvin, Chatman and Walton. Overall, it's the top 10-15 guys that he's whiffed on, aside from Mitch. Battle broke that string but only for a couple of weeks. He still has the 14th best recruiting class this year, according to 24/7, so I don't see how you can call that bad.

The thing that really stings, though, is that Izzo seems to have found his way back into two good classes in a row.

[Hannibal]

His backcourt recruiting has at least gotten decent, but his failure to secure a decent big to soften the blows of losing McGary and Jordan Morgan is gross negligence.