I’d say stuff like not offering people until they do the full academic visit, Beilein needing to see people play in person before an offer, and having actual academic standards would make some prospects view us as “elitist.”
Definitely don’t think the institution is viewed as elitist. Does anybody view the FB team as elitist? I highly doubt that. Jim Harbaugh is all about winning and connecting with kids…we’re talking about a guy that makes cameo appearances at Migos’ concert and literally makes rap songs. This is not a UM thing, its a JB/BB program things. Whether we want to admit it or not, the FB team is the epitome of cool/swag, while the perception of JB/BB team is stiff/elitist/corny to a good faction of folks out there. Does it hurt us, yes, to what degree, nobody really knows.
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Actually agree here. It’s why, to me, getting rid of Adidas and adding Nike/Jumpman was so important from a hoops branding standpoint under JB. Need what little help we can to make UM hoops “cool” again. It has never had the the type of perception it has now. No hype, no excitement, nothing to look forward to (from a casual fans perspective).
Get a guy like Mack or Ollie in here and the entire Michigan Basketball perception changes ASAP, imo.
Let’s be real here folks, the football team under Harbaugh is the it school. Everybody wants to come here due to off the field swag as much as greatness on it. The basketball team under JB is blahhh
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The irony in that being that the Michigan basketball team used to be the epitome of cool and swag on the basketball side of things. The Fab Five pretty much introduced swag to the college game!
The football side of things these days shows Michigan has the ability to be viewed in a positive light with today’s recruits. Two different sports but the mindset and attitude of a top football recruit and a top basketball recruit can’t be that different. The big time prospects are beating down the door to come to Michigan or at least be recruited by Michigan for football.
The issue of perception solely rests at Beilein’s feet. There is no argument that can be made that Beilein is not a great coach, it’s that he is not a great recruiter. And I don’t think an argument can be made that over the course of the long run Beilein is a great recruiter. He has had one above average recruiting class that resulted in two very good years for us. Now things do appear to be on the uptake a bit from a talent and athletic standpoint but is anyone seriously considering us a Big Ten contender, let alone a National contender the next few years. Now maybe that perception changes just a bit if we land Bamba but only for the short term. And it would be an anomaly not the rule at this point. We need to consistently land guys for a long haul run for Beilein to change his recruiting stature.
Just my two cents
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The irony to me is that we are all agreeing how “blahhh” the public perception of the Michigan basketball program is under JB in a thread about the recent official visit of the #2 prospect in the country. It could be much much worse.
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I do agree to a certain extent, but 10 years in moral victories (in the form of OVs) just aren’t good enough. Time to start closing the deal rather than being blahhh
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Matt, is it safe to assume the elitist terminology comes from the lack or perceived lack of recruiting that JB does in the inner city?
I do agree to a certain extent, but 10 years in moral victories (in the form of OVs) just aren’t good enough. Time to start closing the deal rather than being blahhh
Go compare OSU’s 2017 football class so far to ours. We don’t have any 5* kids (yet) while they have several. Also we have just had a couple kids decommit, and it looks like Kai-Leon Herbert could flip to Florida at any minute. I think it’s a little early to call Michigan the “it” school right now in football. That may be the case in a couple of years though.
Also, there’s nothing cool about guys like Coach K, Boeheim, or Roy Williams. They may have a little more of an edge or something than Beilein, but all those guys are much closer to Beilein than Harbaugh on the swag spectrum. Or in CFB, what about Saban?
I think winning games (and to a lesser extent a history/tradition of winning) is by far the most important thing when it comes to recruiting. Hoke was a nice, down to earth guy, but he was far from an exciting personality. He pulled in multiple top 10 recruiting classes.
I guess my bottom line is that there are multiple reasons why we shouldn’t compare Harbaugh to Beilein, and swag might not be worth as much as it seems when it comes to recruiting.
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My response to that would be replace JB with Ollie, Mack, Sean Miller at UM with the exact same history and let’s see how recruiting and perception goes then
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No reason why Michigan shouldn’t be featuring an All American in every class. It’s been so long that some feel that’s a reach. But Beilein will do things his way until he’s gone. That way has led to some mediocre seasons and some Championship seasons.
Honestly, Gary Battle (who I have no respect for in some aspects because he pimps his kids) even insinuating Michigan wasn’t big time enough for Tyus says too much to me.
And getting kids to visit shouldn’t be considered a win, guys.
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True, but unfortunately Michigan doesn’t have the advantage of being a top 5 all time basketball program like those guys do nor do we blatantly cheat like those guys do.
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My bad didn’t mean to throw this thread way off topic, just thought it was an interesting comment and I do agree with what you’re saying now.
I think it’s fine for threads to go a bit off topic when we keep it civil like this discussion has been. This is just good conversation! BAMBA!
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I frequently daydream about Old-Man-Boeheim, Ricky P, and Cal getting banished. Then I overestimate how many of the top recruits, who would’ve gone to their teams, would come to play for blah Beilein. It’s a fun exercise.
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Again a top recruit visiting is the exception not the rule. And it’s still a long way from a commitment.
The blah feeling won’t go away until it becomes or if it becomes rule.
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Bottom line for me is that no matter how the remainder of the class turns out, I think JB and staff have done a good job of turning in a solid/above average recruiting class that is probably a borderline top 25 class as it stands right now (and top 15) if counting Matthews. We got a better rebounder and athlete at the 4 in Livers while not giving up shooting, we got a more skilled 2 in Poole, and Brooks should be equivalent to Spike, while Matthews is a huge upgrade athletically.
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This is largely my point. Other than the Brooks signing, I think we’d all pretty much agree we’re happy with Poole, Matthews, Livers as the most recent additions, despite the negative reception overall of the program. Add Cain or Bamba and then I’m even more excited. Comparing JB to Harbaugh is a useless exercise, much the same comparing him to Calipari would be. (Not saying Harbaugh is paying players just the coolness level of the programs) Until we bring in one of the new coaches you mentioned, I’ll evaluate JB based on what is currently happening with his program. And I’m really excited with the 2017 class and looking forward to the Simpson/Poole/Matthews years.
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Yeah I didn’t want to bring it up, but Brooks is the one question mark for me, caveat being that I haven’t seen him play live, so it very well could be that he is much better than the film indicates.