Disagree. We do need a point guard in this class and I am not confident his level would be available later. From our current offers, I would take the first one to commit from a position. If a wing is ready to pull the trigger now, take him and then go after a 4. Maybe Duke, Kentucky, UNC, ETC. can afford to wait, but we would run the risk of getting shut out and settling for projects.
I think any notion that we donāt need a PG in the 17 class is absolutely ridiculous. What, are we gonna play Simpson 40 minutes a game? Well I would hope to God he wouldnāt be a bust or weād be in utter peril. Our backup would be our starting 2. Thatās just not feasible.
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Have to disagree here, because PG is just a designation formality. Sure, Derrick Walton is technically our PG, but does he really run the offensive in our half court sets - no, he stands in a corner. When Levert was healthy, he was our functional PG. Later on in the year, MAAR initiated much of he offense along with Zak. Guys like Brooks are a dime a dozen IMO, can easily grab a guy like that in March/April.
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I agree with your premise. It was clear Stauskas was our true āPGā in 2014 and then LeVert for the next 2 years, but who do you see on our team that can do that besides X and MAAR, who will obviously both start? Thatās why getting someone who can run the pick and roll while theyāre on the bench is huge, and I donāt think any of our wing targets provide that to a good enough level. Whether you think Eli can do that is another question, but itās clear we needed another guy to run the offense and those guys generally come in the form of PGās.
Point guard absolutely was a necessity.
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Dylan, I havenāt seen any input from you on the Wilkes Crystal ball influx. Is there anything of substance to that or are people just trying to help their scores on 247 by doing those weird strategies?
Asked a few people, but didnāt hear any reason to take it seriously one way or another. Donāt think Wilkes is particularly close to a decision.
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Any idea when Wilkes or Jackson plan to commit? Landing a 5 star would be fun.
I am more curious when Young and Cain plan on deciding?
I interpret the Spring decision to mean that heās waiting for off-season attrition at NBA mills to slide into a spot. If so, that would not bode well for UM.
Hey guys, just a heads upā¦
Going to try to do a better job keeping the recruiting profiles updated. 247 data pull for Crystal Ball and Composite rankings should also be fixed.
Starting up 2018 profiles as well:
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Looks like a Smith offer is coming soon. It also seems like Cain is taking his time in making his decision. I wouldnt assume we take both with a need for a 4 in this class. Who is the preferred player at this point from the fanbase? JB seems to prefer Cain considering he has an offer in hand. Smith definitely has the superior rankings.
I think Smith and Livers will get their offers in August. Gotta like how Smith has been playing lately overall, seems that heās played well in every event in July so far.
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Seems that JB is moving on to the next group of offers and if that is the case I am not sure the vibe regarding Cainās recruitment is positive. I can not see us taking both Cain and Smith. One of either Young or Livers and Cain or Smith is how I see it looking like at this point. If Livers and Smith get offers then the snoozer loses. Maybe MattD can shed some light on Cainās status regarding a decision time.
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Thatās the vibe I am getting as well.
Would def prefer Cain over Smith though.
Based on Sam Webbās recruiting roundup today, I would not be at all surprised if Smith becomes a part of this class at some point after we offered. Academics appear to be a priority and he seems to be very interested. He also fits the profile of a JB recruit in many ways.
Think the message is definitely pretty clear that they arenāt going to wait around and Livers/Smith would be the first bits of āpressureā applied so to speak as the calendar rolls into August.
I find Beileinās mode of recruiting to be fascinating. I dont know how much it persists at other programs, but because he is so deliberate about handing out offers it seems to send very clear signals. First it signals his priorities (e.g. Brandon Johns is his #1 priority for 2018). He lets the initial set of offers marinate for a while at the key positions that he is looking for. Then he offers his second tier of choices. This signals to his first choices to either make a decision or risk losing the ability to commit on the offer and signals to his second choices that they are definitely welcome at Michigan but also where they lay in the pecking order. It also signals to the second tier guys that the ball is clearly in their court and that if they decide quickly that the spot is theirs. This seems to be a very deliberate methodology by JB, does this lend to the notion that he is very upfront about intentions and the recruiting process?
For people to have such strong takes, either way, is ridiculously stupid with how little actual film is available on Brooks.
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