93Grad, it’s interesting that you bring up UConn. Your statement might have been true under Calhoun - we’ll see under Ollie. Of course, Calhoun got hit with recruiting violations how many times?
But, if like MattD you don’t want to acknowledge the seedy side of recruiting, and the reality that Michigan can’t and won’t swim in those waters anymore, no problem.
I’m not even sure why this is such an issue. In 2011, we shared a Big Ten title starting Novak, Stu and Morgan - three guys who no one in the Big Ten recruited.
These days, those who have completely forgotten where we were as a program bemoan the fact that we have “no talent” because we “only” have guys like Walton (top 40), Irvin (5 star), Levert (first round pick at some point), Donnal (top 100), Chatman (top 25), and Wilson (top 100) on the team.
The reality is this - I, and others, were overly optimistic about how quickly this group of guys could progress. We don’t lack talent. What we lack are guys who were ready to step in and be impact players right this second.
And frankly, right now, one of our biggest problems is just making open shots. And I don’t think anyone could have accurately predicted that before the year started.
I am confident that ultimately (perhaps even next year), the core group of this roster (Irvin, Walton, Levert if he stays, Donnal, Doyle, Chatman) will contend for Big Ten titles and have the ability to make deep tourney runs. We were spoiled when it happened within two years with Burke, Hardaway and the great class in 2012/2013.
I come back to this - JB and staff have shown great ability to develop and improve players. Most UM fans see that. So wherever the team is today (and, it’s ugly at the moment), there is no reason to realistically believe we’ll be stuck in the same rut forever.
Case in point - 2010. We had a terrible year. Coming off a tourney appearance, we went 16-17. Awful. The next year, after losing Sims and Manny - we make the tourney.