Towns “heart dropped” when he received the OSU offer
http://www.prephoopsohio.com/news_article/show/442765?referrer_id=1403671
Update with Towns
Recruiting wise, Towns says that five schools are currently recruiting him the hardest.
“Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, and Harvard have been talking to me the most,” said Towns. “There are some other schools, but those are the ones that have been recruiting me the hardest lately.”
The most recent visit for Towns was to Ohio State where he picked up an offer.
“It meant a lot to get an offer from Ohio State,” said Towns. “It was really fun and a good experience. I came right in and went to Coach (Thad) Matta’s office and talked for 20 or 30 minutes before he offered me, and I was elated. My heart just dropped. Just growing up a Buckeye fan and everything it meant a lot to get an offer.”
He continued about the visit, “I watched the open scrimmage and go to the football game, and it looks like the basketball team will be really good this year. It looks like it will be a good overall experience.”
Also Towns has an offer from Michigan, and the Wolverines have long been considered a favorite for Towns.
“Everything is going really good with Michigan,” said Towns. “We are always keeping in close contact, and it is nice to have a school like Michigan in my decision. I talk to them once or twice a week, and I have a good relationship with the coaches.”
http://scouthoops.scout.com/story/1477060-towns-talks-new-offer#/story/1477060-towns-talks-new-offer
Sounds like we’re the safety net at this point, though I suppose it’s encouraging he didn’t immediately drop for Ohio State.
That’s what I’m thinking. As I said before, if Towns isn’t deciding within the next 2-3 weeks, I still think we have a reasonable shot here. I know Dylan isn’t big on Towns at the 3, but I think he’s skilled enough to do it, at least on offense. Lateral movement may be an issue on D, but he is seemingly gaining athleticism with each new film I see. I look at Towns and see a poor man’s version of Klay Thompson on offense, but he is lightyears behind Thompson on D.
Ugghhh. I’m getting a bad feeling that 2016 might mean a lot more heart ache for us on the recruiting trail. It would be great to get one of these highly ranked guys to drop to us soon to get some momentum going. I like Teske, but we need some talented wings and a PG.
Sounds like Towns’ mother is at least giving academics due weight. You hear a lot of parents talk about academics being a huge factor, only to see their kids go to an institution that isn’t necessarily known for being strong in that regard, but Towns visiting Harvard may be indicative of a genuine concern for the Towns family. Can’t think of a better combo of basketball/academics for Towns than UM in relation to his other offers.
"“The most important thing to me would be the opportunity for Seth to pursue the academics that he is interested in,” said Seth’s mother, Melissa Smitherman. “And the basketball program facilitating that. Sometimes you hear that they try to make you pick a lesser academic course load.”
Smitherman will not be swindled by a coach attempting to use her son’s athleticism without returning an academic advantage. Towns will either enter college as an engineering major or in pursuit of a law degree.
“I think (Seth) will be able to select between the two by the end of his high school career,” said Smitherman. “He does very well."
Yep. In one of the earliest articles about Towns, it mentioned his interest in Engineering. And while OSU might be able to offer some good programs, Michigan clearly holds the upper hand in Engineering and Pre-Law. Plus we just had Jordan Morgan graduate from Engineering, so we know our coaches don’t steer away.
Yeah J-Mo was in my department , and I have a friend who taught him. Apparently he was a VERY smart guy. He would be the perfect example to put out there and show you could combine elite basketball with very strong academics.
Hearing 2016 5-Star TJ Leaf is currently favoring Florida. Arizona is also high on the list.
— ScoutsFocus (@scoutsfocus) November 9, 2014
I wonder if he’s the type of kid who is most enamored with his most recent visit. All I ask is he gets to AA in Feb uncommitted.
Is the attention now being paid to Mauritz Wagner a hint that Beilein may be sensing our chances with a lot of the 2016 prospects are not that great? Still, we really need to land a high quality PG this year or next, and probably a wing, too.
Is the attention now being paid to Mauritz Wagner a hint that Beilein may be sensing our chances with a lot of the 2016 prospects are not that great? Still, we really need to land a high quality PG this year or next, and probably a wing, too.
Duke and UConn are interested in Wagner as well. I doubt that they “sensing their chance with a lot of 2016 prospects are not that great”. Wagner plays high level competition and looks as good as if not better than Leaf and Town.
I wasn’t meaning that Wagner would not be a good get, or that we’d be somehow “settling” for him, only that interest in him seems to have overtaken that in a lot of the guys we’ve been looking at for 2016. Maybe I’m mistaking fan interest in those guys for coaching interest, though. Too, if we ended up taking a commit from him, we’d be pretty top-heavy with playable bigs for 2016, more so than we ever have been under Beilein, with very few spots left in the 2016 class to fill gaps at PG and wing. Beilein may just be going for what he thinks he has the best chance at, even if it means not having quite the lineup he prefers.
I wasn't meaning that Wagner would not be a good get, or that we'd be somehow "settling" for him, only that interest in him seems to have overtaken that in a lot of the guys we've been looking at for 2016. Maybe I'm mistaking fan interest in those guys for coaching interest, though. Too, if we ended up taking a commit from him, we'd be pretty top-heavy with playable bigs for 2016, more so than we ever have been under Beilein, with very few spots left in the 2016 class to fill gaps at PG and wing. Beilein may just be going for what he thinks he has the best chance at, even if it means not having quite the lineup he prefers.
There is little doubt that PG is priority #1 for 2016, and priority #2 are wing players that creates.
But Chatman could be moved to 2, and both DJ and Wagner have good perimeter games. I can see a lineup with Chatman-DJ-Wagner at 2-3-4 to create match-up advantages. Or they can be 3-4-5.
I think that the interest in Wagner has much more to do with the lack of success for the 2015 class rather than the 2016.
Don’t necessarily think Kam can be moved to the 2, simply can’t shoot well enough. Also think Kam has shown more lateral ability than most (myself included) gave him credit for, but I don’t necessarily think Kam guarding opposing 2s is a good idea. Almost identical situation with DJ, can’t shoot well enough to be a wing player at this point. Moving Kam to 3 and DJ to 4 may be possible, but I certinaly don’t see Wagner as 5 at this point.
- It’s very possible the coaches sense a negative trend with Leaf and especially Towns since OSU offered, but 2. It’s highly probable that they are just recruiting another player they really like. New names always seem to pop up all the time.
RT @Compton_Magic 6-10 TJ Leaf set to make college decision Nov21st at Noon. @Tyleaf_22 is down to Duke, Florida, Arizona, UCLA & Michigan
Considering the timeline, I don’t feel too confident on this one.
Yup, the longer this one went on, probably the better shot we had. Would have been critical to get him on campus during the season for a game.
No Leaf for Michigan. Recent stuff had him going to Florida, with Arizona in the mix.