Things will start to heat up with 2017 recruiting in the next few months.
I’ll start this thread out with some fresh highlights of Brian ‘Tugs’ Bowen at Peach Jam.
Talented, talented young man. He just glides around the court. Going to be VERY difficult to horn in on MSU’s inside connections though. Tugs dad was Jason Richardson’s mentor and surrogate father. He has grown up in the Spartan family. He will be pursued by all the blue bloods as well.
Any news on Christian David? How was his visit? Did he visit?
John Beilein, Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines (BIG 10) will be in Canada today checking in on Milton, Ontario product Christian David of Bishop Reding- current NPH #1-ranked Canadian prospect.
Michigan’s last Canadian on board was Nik Stauskas, a recent lottery pick for the Sacramento Kings.
David is a 6’5 shooting guard whose recruitment has taken off over the summer, following MVP performance at the NPH Showcase and a strong summer with S-Elite.
Was he not on campus for a visit the week of my first post.
Very likely to get an offer next June 15. My guess is that Michigan will be the early frontrunner.
Was he not on campus for a visit the week of my first post.
Yes, he visited.
Michigan hosted the Michigan Mustangs 15U team for the game yesterday. Xavier Tillman is the headliner, but also Matt Beachler, Dylan Alderson, James Beck, and Isaiah Livers.
Brandon Johns 2018 Lansing MI was also there
Michigan will be in to watch 2017 Indiana prospects 6’3 G Paul Scruggs (Southport) on Monday and 6’7 F Kris Wilkes (North Central) on Tuesday.
Seems early but I can certainly confirm this is common. A few18s on my daughter’s AAU squad have mid major offers already
Michigan got busy in Indiana this week.
Univ of Michigan in Indy all week visiting 2017 prospects. Mon- Paul Scruggs, tue- Kris Wilkes, Wed- Justin Roberts/Jackson, Thur Zach Gunn
Gosh, '17 seems so far away…
Yet Tillman, David and Bowen are already hot n heavy. I’m too anxious for '16 to get going.
Summer Mixtape of Bowen. Have to say, from the limited film I’ve seen he is bit overrated as a top 10 player. No doubt he can shoot the rock, but handle seems to be average at best, not very good at changing direction. Seems to be above average in terms of verticality, but slightly below average in terms of lateral movement and speed. All around nice player, but top 10 in the country?
Summer Mixtape of Bowen. Have to say, from the limited film I've seen he is bit overrated as a top 10 player. No doubt he can shoot the rock, but handle seems to be average at best, not very good at changing direction. Seems to be above average in terms of verticality, but slightly below average in terms of lateral movement and speed. All around nice player, but top 10 in the country?
Have you seen him in person? Because he looks like a top 10 player in his class to me in this video. These are highlights of the kid as a FRESHMAN. His handle looks better than average to me. And I don’t see where you can evaluate “lateral movement” on this video. Below average speed? Not seeing that either on the video. Using the Duke/KU/UK rule, we have no shot at him anyway, since those teams will surely offer him. Izzo has a shot because there is a connection with Jason Richardson, and Izzo still has some clout in the Sag Valley.
Summer Mixtape of Bowen. Have to say, from the limited film I've seen he is bit overrated as a top 10 player. No doubt he can shoot the rock, but handle seems to be average at best, not very good at changing direction. Seems to be above average in terms of verticality, but slightly below average in terms of lateral movement and speed. All around nice player, but top 10 in the country?
This is all footage from before his sophomore year. Where do you think he should be ranked and who’s better than him in that class? I think the fact that he’s developed a jump shot when he probably didn’t have to speaks to his work ethic. If a kid that young and talented continues to work, I think it’s a very reasonable ranking, especially as he physically matures. I admit I haven’t watched any film on the 2017 class, but this kid seems pretty good.
Well, we’ll just have to disagree. The above highlights show no ability to change direction with the ball or handle to the extent that he can play PnR in college. The first minute and a half is nothing but transition dunks and the like. He is a catch and shoot player in a half court set from the film above…lacks the ability to create for others and himself. At least 80-85% of the above highlights are Bowen on transition dunks/oops or catch and shoot situations.
Perhaps my standards are higher than your own…but when I look at a player like Bruce Brown in comparison to Bowen, there is a big difference in terms of lateral movement and vertical speed.
If he looks like a top 10 player to you, so be it, that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. I just disagree. When I viewed highlights of Josh Jackson in 8th grade, he was MUCH better than Bowen in all facets of the game other than shooting (and even that was close). That is what you call a top 10 player in my opinion. The ability to create offense for yourself and your team is what truly elite players (think top 10) can do as opposed to players that are reliant on others to create for them.
MattD, I don’t follow recruiting nearly as much as you do. I’ll take your word for it that he’s not a top 10 player and I totally get your point that most top 10 guards do have that elite change of direction and ability to create. But what if he grows a couple inches, adds some muscle mass (as kids seem to do between their freshman and senior years) and is a 4…is he top ten then? Josh Jackson is also about 8 months older for his class than Bowen.
I just watched a highlight video for Jayson Tatum, top player in 2016. He didn’t show any change or direction and the only creating ability he showed was the ability to create mid-range jumpers for himself, which he made. I’ll take Bowen’s 3 points over Tatum’s 2 points all day.
Totally agree on Tatum…you may recall I did the full game breakdown of Tyler Cook, who just happens to be Tatum’s teammate…and he was VERY overrated in my opinion. Below avearge handle, change of direction almost non-existent. Jumpshot wasn’t very good. I honestly didn’t see the hype about him…even his athleticism seemed to be just good as opposed to elite.
Regarding Bowen, he’s already 6’7…so he’s essentially a PF already for our purposes. Defensively though, I don’t think Bowen is a shot-blocker at this point, nor do I think he’s a great rebounder. Long story short, I don’t think he will become a player that warrants a top 10 ranking unless he diversifies his offensive game significantly.