Returning to Former Recruiting Patterns

I think that JB is getting back to his sweet spot a little bit by being a bit more willing to go hard after top 40 to top 100 players with good offers but not being recruited by Duke and Kentucky. Our last three commits:

Xavier Simpson - Nat’l Comp 66 - offers from IU, Ill, Wiscy, PU, Xavier, others

Jordan Poole - Nat’l Comp 74 - early offers from Auburn, Illinois, Marquette, Memphis, Nebraska, VA Tech

Eli Brooks - at 112 for 247, no other rankings - offers from Nova, OSU, NC ST, KSt

Throw in Charles Matthews, former Nat’l Comp 59 and Kentucky transfer who Calipari wanted to keep but was also recruiting over, and you have a pretty solid pattern. Brooks is the lowest ranked currently of the group but has good offers and is likely to rise. Cain, Young, Livers, Justin Smith all fit this mold pretty well too (although the latter two haven’t received offers quite yet).

Obviously some late recruits work out well - LeVert, and to a lesser extent MAAR and Spike - and some players who fit this mold don’t, like Brundidge. And JB will continue to recruit higher ranked players like Jackson, Wilkes, and Bowen hard and hopefully get the occasional one like he did with McGary. But I think the program under JB will be most successful if the backbone is guys who fit the mold I’ve described and then is filled in with the occasional five star or late recruit.

2 Likes

Yup. Feels good.

@umhoopsfan - Yes, that’s Beilein alright.

And in his mind, JB doesn’t recruit bench players. Rather, he knows that some of these guys will blow up and become studs and others will disappoint.