U of M Basketball Recruiting Discussion

[*JD*]

Okay, I watched the whole thing. How is he not rated in the top 50? It seems like the only thing that's missing is an above-the-rim game. He shoots the lights out, has a handle, has quick hands on D and sees the court well.

[WM Wolverine]

I really love his game, expect him to climb in the rankings soon (40 to 60 overall.) Growth spurt, explosiveness and on ball defense is all he really needs to work on.

[The Oracle]

Yeah, definitely see him being top 50 when it's all said and done.

[*JD*]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iowY5Fwv9e8"]3 Michigan Commits Could Make Up 1 of the Best Backcourts in 2 Years! | Watson, Simpson & Poole - YouTube[/ame]

[hack]

Hooray for perimeter players!

[*JD*]

At least they're good ones. Michigan just needs one big man to come through, ala Mitch.

[hack]

'16 was once about Leaf and Thornton...

[*JD*]

Thornton's already getting his 1 year in at doook.

[hack]

I'm still pretty sure that the lack of elite recruits is just bad luck. Took our best shot at Brown. Battle/Langford turned into an awful dumb-luck clusterfuck and Beilein has supposedly learned his lesson and next time wouldn't back off Langford. That was a mistake though. I don't think given the system we run that we'll have success with an elite big, but at some point that elite wing or point is going to seal the deal. Still, there has to be an addressing of the real problems. Michigan has more than enough talent this year. Michigan has really good talent this year in fact.

Let me correct myself -- I think the situation is absolutely ripe for the staff to go sell an elite big on coming in with the ability to play big minutes right away and offer them big exposure, in particular if they are athletic roll man types, vis-a-vis back-to-basket types. But they have to have the right sales pitch, that overcomes the notion that Michigan's bigs are just there to carry water for the guards. I think at some point it's fair to wonder if the staff is really able to develop bigs properly, but if you hit up enough elite 5s, one of them is going to be impressed enough with the overall offering.

[WM Wolverine]

Really like Simpson, he could start for 3, maybe 4 years here. Watson is the type of guard there are 40 of every year, athletic enough, does most things well but nothing good enough where you think he'll be all B1G one day. Hope I'm wrong about him.

[*JD*]

Really the one recent head-scratching recruit that Beilein has offered is Austin Davis. He is Eric Montrossian (think College not NBA Montross) in appearance (if not play) and 247 had him rated around 90 when he committed. Still, I don't think there was a need to rush on him. Although ND was interested as well, his competing offers at the time were only from MAC-schools. They already had a big in Teske so I think they could've held on to the scholarship and swung for the fences.

I wouldn't say he's a bad recruit but I also wouldn't say he's a game-changer.

[Pasadena Blue]

i've said it a thousand times .... Beilein is a substandard recruiter. There is something about his "oh shucks" personality that just doesn't get it done for the high profile recruits. We never got a big bang out of our Finals appearance --- that is all on Beilein.

He just doesn't have the passion/fire that inspires.

People here are too grateful to him and giving him a pass because of the deep abyss M basketball had fallen into before his arrival.

[*JD*]

i've said it a thousand times .... Beilein is a substandard recruiter. There is something about his "oh shucks" personality that just doesn't get it done for the high profile recruits. We never got a big bang out of our Finals appearance --- that is all on Beilein.

He just doesn't have the passion/fire that inspires.

People here are too grateful to him and giving him a pass because of the deep abyss M basketball had fallen into before his arrival.

I don't really see that, as far as him being substandard or lacking fire. He's not elite but he's better than the average guy. Kind of like dantoni. I wish he had a bit of the slickness and connections of a Calipari but he's more of a father-figure. He might be too genuine for his own good at times. He probably connects with good parents and good kids, which might cost him with some talented head-cases. I think that was the case with Devin Booker. I'm not saying he was a bad guy but he certainly sounded like he wanted to be fawned over. Tyus Battle was probably a similar case.

[hack]

I don't know WHY, but it's true that there hasn't been that bump. Can't speculate. These are knowns:

1. He screwed up the Langford recruitment by backing off when Battle committed, and probably could have had Langford. Battle seemed to want to be here but his parents wanted him closer to home.

2. Beilein has lowered the team's ceiling by not recruiting more and better talent at the 5 spot. He clearly makes less of an effort there than at the other spots.

3. It's his team and his players are a reflection of his recruiting. He has only himself to blame if his players don't play as tough and physical as he wants them to.

4. All that said, there's nothing wrong with the talent level on the team. This isn't '12, where he overachieved with a bunch of scrappy kids and some undervalued types to turned out to be real talent. He has plenty of NBA-level talent. But the whole has been much less than the sum of the parts last year and so far this year.

[Pasadena Blue]

I don't really see that, as far as him being substandard or lacking fire. He's not elite but he's better than the average guy.

so you're saying that our standard is not to be elite?

This is my point, he's better than the average guy. I didn't realize that's what we were looking for.