U of M Basketball Recruiting Discussion

[WM Wolverine]

I would've liked a professional spring/summer football league though I had no interest in the type of football McMahon was interested in.

[lineygoblue]

I always thought the USFL had the right idea, and played some pretty decent football games. But they made their fatal mistake when they tried to take on the NFL too soon. They should have been content to be an 'off season' league, and continue to build fan interest for a few more years, before going after the NFL.

The Michigan Panthers won like, 3 league titles?

[Jamie H]

The USFL has real NFl talent, unlike every other secondary league. They didn't have NFL depth, but their stars were real NFL caliber players.

[Mike]

The problem with the USFL was that Donald Trump had too much influence. He was the driving force behind moving to the fall which was the fatal last straw for the fledgling league. There was a really good 30 for 30 on the USFL that is worth watching if anyone gets the chance.

[WM Wolverine]

That is the big problem, when one guy (McMahon, Trump) is significantly the largest investor; they get too much influence. IMO a team of guys could've design and implemented the XFL and gave it a lot better chance of succeeding. Instead, McMahon designed the XFL exactly what he wanted and it wasn't quite what people wanted to watch.

[Hannibal]

The XFL failed because it had terrible quality football. IMHO there is no strategy that would have made it succeed. There are too many "minor" leagues for any of them to succeed. Football requries either chemistry or talent to be watchable. College football has chemistry and systems. The NFL has talent and some chemistry too. A minor league football team has noe of that. It's basically the charmless character of a pro league with the talent level of college. Baseball and basketball are sports where, for the most part, you can move players around like interchangeable parts. Plus, those sports are international now. Football isn't. The talent pool does not extend beyond the USA, for the most part. On top of that, football requires the biggest payroll.

[*JD*]

I guess it's something about recruiting threads that gets people going off topic.

The XFL? How did we get here?

[WM Wolverine]

Minor leagues in MLB work, hockey has a minor league and it works and basketball just built one... Not sure why there isn't room for one in football, there are lots of talented college football players who aren't NFL caliber. No idea why its not possible in football.

[Jamie H]

Too expensive. You can run a minor league baseball team on a shoestring budget. It's pretty hard to run any football team cheaply.

[Hannibal]

It's a budget issue, and also a quality issue. Minor league football would be terrible to watch. The other sports, to a large degree, use interchangeable parts, so a team can thrive even if guys are rotating in for only one year. Football can't work like that. Especially with the offenses, which is what fans generally tune in to see. I have tried watching games from NFL Europe and that league that Maurice Clarett is in (forget the name) and it makes my eyes bleed to watch for more than five minutes.

[hack]

More blame for the decline of basketball should be aimed at the coaches. Unlike in football there's been a massive decline in the teachability of the game. I see guys in the playoffs that don't do stuff I was taught at age 14. Chauncey Billups in 2004 didn't know how to run a fast break. The players are getting away with it b/c of athleticism and the stars-first nature of basketball, where you can ride 1 guy to a title unlike in football where there's 4x more players on the field and a much greater reliance on coaching.

Given that the NBAs is no longer a fundamentally-sound group of players, there is less of a compelling reason for kids to stay in school and learn.

[*JD*]

More GR III highlights. Not the best produced video (two errors on his name and a Tina Turner song) but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.


[YOUTUBE]HY_frdEdKfw&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]

[The Oracle]

http://www.umhoops.com/

Updated video of Stauskus. We could have 2 top 50 recruits in this class before it's all said and done.

[WM Wolverine]

Zak Irvin SF to decide tomorrow, M in excellent position to land him. Its M vs Butler...

Really like his talent level, ranked #98 by rivals which I feel is underrated. Expect him to jump in rankings to the ~75 level when they revise rankings.

[The Oracle]

He'll end up top 50 by the time it's all said and done. He's one who's gotten better and better each time I see tape of him. Reminds me a lot of THJr, but a better overall game at the same point in their HS career.