2015 Guard and Wing Recruiting (PJ Dozier, etc.)

Ziegler went to play for his dad, as did McCallum. That’s totally different IMO. If Dozier’s dad was the SC head coach, I’d agree. Brunson was going to be a package deal with his dad as an assistant, and ultimately did not pick his dad’s alma mater when Brunson Sr. ran into some legal troubles and presumably Temple couldn’t hire him. Valentine committed to MSU, a strong program. If Dozier Sr. had played for UNC, I think they would be a lock. Booker is probably the closest analogy - an elite recruit who ultimately did not attend his dad’s school (even though Missouri is a much better program than SC). Similarly, Blackmon did not choose UK.

Not claiming that family ties are The factor, just saying the family tie factor weighs more heavily than you admit and that you are underestimating it’s importance to a given recruitment.

There hasn’t been a ton of news on this recruitment it seems, and reading into it doesn’t seem like it will do anyone any good. Seems like they are keeping things close to their vest and that they want to visit every school before making a decision. Hoping for some luck on this one but don’t think it is the end of the world if Dozier isn’t signed.

If Caris leaves next year, personally I think the team could still do very well with a 3 man back court of MAAR, Spike, and Derrick, even though we haven’t seen exactly what MAAR will do against tough competetion, just my faith in the staffs ability to develop players. However, adding Dozier would really take away the one spot that the team could really use a stud player at, providing no other key players leave besides Caris.

Sometimes family ties rule, sometimes not. Denzel Valentine’s dad was OK with him going to Michigan, if that’s what he wanted, after they visited. Dad really likes Beilein. But mom said, “uh uh.”

Yes; one thing I’ve learned is that each recruitment is unique. Because each kid is unique. You can definitely spot trends (many family members going to the same school, whether a program is viewed as historically elite, etc.), but using those trends to predict how one specific recruitment will go is risky, IMO. (I guess as far as you can call predicting recruits “risky”.)

I wonder if the academic fraud case at UNC will have an impact on the Dozier recruitment. My guess is since they’ve already identified a scapegoat outside of the basketball program, the NCAA will do nothing. However perhaps a little uncertainty there gives us an even better chance. If it comes down to us and SC, I like our chances. I know there are family ties and it’s close to home, but the road to the NBA goes through Ann Arbor, not Columbia. Plus why would someone choose to play for Frank Martin over John Beilein?

I wonder if the academic fraud case at UNC will have an impact on the Dozier recruitment. My guess is since they've already identified a scapegoat outside of the basketball program, the NCAA will do nothing. However perhaps a little uncertainty there gives us an even better chance. If it comes down to us and SC, I like our chances. I know there are family ties and it's close to home, but the road to the NBA goes through Ann Arbor, not Columbia. Plus why would someone choose to play for Frank Martin over John Beilein?

There are clearly collusions between staffs of AD and the Af Am Studies, and NCAA should do something. But their basketball program might largely escape unless new allegations surface.

If academics is a big factor for Dozier, then Michigan has the edge there over his other finalists. I think he is an NBA talent and would get drafted no matter where he goes (might be tougher at Georgetown and South Carolina), but I especially think a player of his size and skillset would clearly get featured by Michigan’s staff. He’s got little bits of all our recently drafted guards in his game, from Morris through LeVert.

GC - i would tend to agree concerning academics, save Georgetown. GU is a top flight university, that is generally regarded to be on UM’s level, if not better. UM’s undergrad reputation has taken a slight hit in recent years.

Like the comparison to Morris/Levert, etc…he does have elements of each.

Good point about Georgetown…I should have mentioned them considering my sister went there for grad school (but she doesn’t read this site…she’s not a sports person and went to MSU for undergrad). Anyway, I don’t think we should count out Louisville in this recruitment. November is almost here and his decision is coming up. It seems pretty quiet out of his camp, which is exactly what I would do.

Yeah, Dozier is tough to get a read on, his camp is quiet. Hopefully, it plays out much the same the Chatman recruitment did…because there are some similarities there in terms of how each family conducts the recruiting process.

The scandal aside, I think you guys are underestimating UNC’s academics. It’s one of the elite public schools, going by USNews rankings they are only a spot behind us in public school rankings.

No doubt UNC is good academically, although I think they are a tad below UM in terms of undergrad reputation/prestige. Kind of weird, but I was outright accepted at UM, while being waitlisted (eventually accepted) at UNC, despite the fact that UM was certainly more prestigious at the time.

Not that surprising, UNC is way more difficult to get in as an out of state student than Michigan is.

I’m originally from the southeast coast though, so UNC definitely has a much better reputation out there. Whereas, Michigan isn’t as well known down there.

Odd report that Michigan was in to see Jaylen Brown http://ontheradarhoops.com/otrhoopsreport-recruiting-recap-week-of-oct-20-2014/

No. 2 player in the class of 2015… Thought Evan Daniel’s tweet (“That’s beyond random”) was interesting https://twitter.com/EvanDaniels/status/525306681845370880

Brown has already taken officials to Kansas and Kentucky and is planning on heading to UCLA and UGA on officials.

Interesting new curve with Brown. I’m guessing this is what Sam was talking about on WTKA this morning.

Would be kinda nice to swoop in at the end of a recruitment and steal one

Is there a timeframe on Dozier’s announcement?

And that Jaylen Brown thing is weird. No clue what to make of it until we see more (i.e. he commits elsewhere or randomly visit Ann Arbor).

Would be kinda nice to swoop in at the end of a recruitment and steal one

Absolutely. If Duke and Kentucky are going to come down the recruiting rankings list and poach guys from us (e.g. Booker, Kennard, et al), then I’m all for moving up to grab some of the higher ranked guys they’re not devoting quite as much attention to as they would have. So long as they’re fits for us, etc etc.