2018 Recruiting Notes

2 posts were split to a new topic: 2018 - F - Jerome Hunter (Offer)

Cohill talks Michigan here…

Basically says Michigan isn’t sure it needs a PG right now.

“Coach Beilein called me and told me they took Xavier Simpson in this class and they have a point guard in 2017,” explained Cohill. “He told me that they don’t want to offer me yet because they don’t know what they will need in 2018, and they might not need a point guard. He says they like me a lot as a player, but he doesn’t want to disrespect me by offering and then not really wanting me.”
Cohill continued, “I really respected Coach Beilein for that, and I like that he was honest with me about where things stand.”

Money quotes right there. Bodes well if Beilein ever decides to offer. Means we probably won’t be working from behind.

So is Brooks a point guard? If so, is Eastern still being pursued by M?

Brooks is definitely a PG in my book. I would take Eastern next to him because of his length and playmaking. The catch is that Eastern has made it very clear he wants to be recruited as a PG. Not sure if U-M can sell him on the ‘two guard offense’ sort of thing though.

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Glad Cohill takes this the right way, but implicit in the quote below is that as of now we don’t want him. Situation is what it is, and I’m fine with taking Brooks when we did, but the general rigid feeling of “I need to fill position X in year Y” may be carried out differently and with better options to compare if made to be more flexible (eg PG could be 17 or 18 [which by the way has better options])

“he doesn’t want to disrespect me by offering and then not really wanting me”

Depends on how much you like Brooks, and how comfortable you are with having one point guard on the roster in 17-18.

Also I wonder if they want to take a PG in 2019, i.e. Andrew Nembhard.

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Brooks might be great. 2019 is strong with some in-state talent as well so it isn’t even just Nembhard giving that some merit. Just commenting that history says we are rigid in [position slots] x [years] type thinking. Sometimes this is probably going to save us from things like too much Dakich. Other times it burns us (Winston v Langford). Overall, it sucks to see guys who are high on us get dinged, and I just hope that all/less conservative options (1PG, 2019 doesn’t HAVE to be the PG year, etc) get thrown in for discussion.

And I guess main takeaway beyond me personally wanting the perception of flexibility is that a guy a) many of us were high on, b) wanted to come here, and c) we all thought had an offer coming probably won’t be offered and won’t be coming.

What do u think of brooks, I can’t decide. Dylan have you seen him against high level competition?

Not much to go on re: Brooks. Film is limited. Villanova offer may be the best endorsement.

Important thing is that Beilein has seen him enough. I feel totally comfortable with Brooks step in similar role as MAAR and Spike.

What MAAR/spike role are you talking about? It doesn’t seem to me they had the same role so I’m just curious.

I see him as a backup point guard. We need two PGs at all time. Allows us to sign a top level PG in the 2018 or 2019 class.

Brooks will be backing up Simpson for 3 years with the potential to start his senior year. Him starting his senior year allows beilein to do what he always does, bring in a pg who can be the backup for a year before he starts his sophomore year. I love brooks’ game and think he can be a good big ten pg, much like spike was.

If we’re not sure we need another PG in the class of 18 as talented as Cohill is, than we must have a couple of potential stars in Simpson and Brooks.

How you can not need a talent like that is beyond my comprehension. Especially with his legitimate interest.

I see Brooks as more of a combo. He would back up the point and be used as a two guard in emergency or late game situations when ball handlers are needed. I am looking for something better than spike from him as an all around game. Spike was valuable for the team especially on offense, but on the defensive end he could be a liability.

Beilein only has 13 scholarships to work with and maybe only 2 or 3 in any given year. And he has to cover 5 positions. He needs to be cautious, especially when it a couple of years down the road.

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Yeah, I completely agree. Roster balance is much more important and can only be thrown out if it’s a unanimous all star Jaylen Brown type situation. You only get 2 positions where you can go 3 deep and obviously you’re gonna want center to be one of them. That leaves one spot and Beilein has shown he’d rather have player be a wing. Since he was hired here, the only 2 teams of his with more than two point guards were his first 2 years with Kelvin Grady, CJ Lee, and David Merrit. I think we can all agree that was out of necessity rather than desire. A couple years he only had one plus Stu Douglass. I don’t see him changing that unless Trevon Duvall makes a call and tells Beilein he’s coming here. The drop off from how good you think Cohill will be vs. what you think Simpson will be is not as dramatic as the drop off that not getting guys at other positions will be. In that year we will have 2 guys that are of the “can probably play anywhere on the wing” variety that Beilein likes. Watson and Matthews. I think in an ideal situation Beilein would like 4 of those types on a roster plus the need at the 4 is more pressing than at PG. Nobody here is saying Cohill isn’t as good as Simpson. That’s a complete straw man. We’re just saying roster balance is more important.

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I can’t get a feel for him off those videos. Usually I trust my eye but he looks meh to me. Solid all around but nothing that thrills me. I hope to see more

Brooks is a combo, and Simpson is being made out to be a program savior. He’s not. Just a solid four year player. He’s also going to be a 20 year old frosh in February. What’s his ceiling going forward?

Cohill with two more years of HS development is going to be a dynamic player with many more natural physical tools. Than add in Beilein’s development abilities. Look out.

If you don’t need a player like him than you must think you have a helluva backcourt set for the future. Wel’llsee. Hope we have no more injuries.

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