Who does that Matt? I’m pretty pro-Beilein, and I’ve never pretended that the bad/mediocre years didn’t exist, nor that the bad defensive stats are meaningless, nor that recruiting doesn’t matter. What people, myself included, have said is that if you analyze all of the stats and seasons, good and bad, the overall conclusion we draw is that Beilein is a very good coach, flaws and all. Others are free to disagree.
Context does matter. It is perfectly acceptable to say that Jamal’s stats can/should be viewed against a prism of time needed to adjust to a new AAU team. It is equally acceptable to say that Beilein’s success has been materially affected the last two seasons by unusual injury luck. Neither tells the whole story, just a part of it. Those who rely solely on stats, or who never consider stats, or who look at final results without any context are, IMO, missing an essential part of the relevant information.
I agree with you totally - was just pointing out to Hail that people often say we should disregard JB’s first year, or the past 2 seasons based on injury. Essentially, for him to question ‘is that how stats work’ is a bit flawed, when statements like those I referenced above are thrown around constantly around here in relation to JB. If its good for JB, its good for a recruit - can’t limit that to when its convenient to defend JB.
But if you divide all the games that Michigan lost into quarters, I think you’ll find that we won more than we lost. So basically, we were the superior team.
I’m just joking, in case it needs to be mentioned.
The way I view the three point stats you presented for Cain is that after a slow start, not unexpected for a young kid playing in a relatively new environment, for him, against elite competition, he has become comfortable and has shown that he can be an elite shooter from distance. I really don’t see this as “cherry picking” stats or as isolating data as you have certainly given us the full story, the bad with the good, or should I say, elite, because 58.6% from distance is most certainly elite. As far as my support for Coach B, as a Beilein “apologist” (again, I don’t think Coach B needs anyone to apologize for him, nor does he have anything to apologize for), my support comes from his distinguished career over 40+ years as a head coach and the kind of person he is. I don’t need to isolate data over a couple of great years and one terrific recruiting class to know he has great knowledge of the game, oozes class, cares deeply about his players, and is the kind of rock solid man I want leading our basketball program. He may not be flashy but he is a very good teacher of the game, who has probably forgotten more than I’ll ever know. In short, if my son had the athleticism and the ability to play at the division I level, Coach B is certainly one of a handful of coaches I would want him to play for. Again, I truly appreciate the excellent and very knowledgeable work you are doing with your evaluations of various recruits. Based on the clips you’ve posted and your personal evaluations and knowledge of young Mr. Cain, I really hope he comes to Michigan. I believe he could thrive in Coach B’s system. And yes, he is showing he can be (is) a very good (if not elite!) shooter from distance. Thanks again for your good and tireless work!
Good recruit, but I am just wondering what your cut off is for the distinction of “one of the most highly regarded front court players in the country.” 247 Sports has him listed as #151 overall and #32 SF. I didn’t count the number of centers and power forwards ranked ahead of him, but I would guess it to be well over 50. If that is accurate, that would rank him at about the #82 front court player.
During the spring and summer you have to follow the offers before the rankings. Young has been terrific on the EYBL circuit and added a ton of offers. He should rise in every site’s rankings this spring.
Just my preference, but I’m not big on 247 rankings or composite because they are dominated by outliers on the basis that only 4 recruiting sites are accounted for. For example, Jamal Cain unranked entirely by ESPN. Further, when you take into account that there are literally tens of thousands of frontcourt HS players across the country, I’d say that Kyle is one of the most highly regarded frontcourt players in the country. So while 247 has him at that number, ESPN has Kyle at #71 - which is certainly impressive.
On a practical basis, I mean, what am I supposed to say - Kyle Young is a middling 3 star lol?
You have mentioned this before, but I still am not sure I understand your point. If your point is that the ranking services are flawed so you can’t rely on any of them, then ok.
But if you are concerned about outliers, then you shouldn’t be relying on one ranking service, but a compilation of them, because how do you know which one is correct, given the vast disparity?
With only 4 services the outlier proves to be too significant in the overall player rankings. It’s Much better to go by the eye test, but if you must use the rankings at least acknowledge that at this point in the recruiting cycle they are very raw and shouldn’t be used to determine whether one player is definitively better than another.
93 you have a great point, one in which I cannot dispute. That being said, I’m going to use my own personal judgement because a) I’ve viewed the players live several times recently whereas some of the recruiting sites have not B) you obviously want to portray the kids in the best way possible C) it’s my site to be blunt, and I think Kyle is appropriately ranked at around 70ish as opposed to 150
I agree no way he’s 150 unless this class is amazing. 75 seems very fair and possibly slightly low. I think he compares well to wright who ranks 60.
Also mattd you never answered or maybe you just didn’t notice him much but how was Keith McGee on city rocks? He seemed to score 12-14 every game all weekend.
I see McGee and carter had huge games versus red. Both Rochester kids. Carter had a big game the night before too in a blowout loss. I really hope both start to make waves. Great athletes. I saw carter tearing it up late on Sunday but It was late during the blowout.
I think you’d like both as they’re crazy athletes who can drive/ shoot
I guess I’m not making my point clear enough? Why do you think I don’t see potential in Elliott? He’s a two guard, right? We already have Poole committed. All I’m saying is that Elliott should be a Plan B for us - we don’t need another two guard, so I’d strongly pursue guys like Cain, Young, Jaren Jackson, and Tillman first, but if we happen to strike out on our top targets, and need to fill scholarships, Elliott is surely a guy I’d strongly consider offering.
I’m not sure why that’s derogatory in any sense? If we didn’t already have Poole, and some gaping holes to fill at the 3/4, this would be a totally different conversation.
On Davis, the guy is 6-10 and seemingly has great hands. We’ve seen what a 6-8 (and really, I suspect 6-7 or even 6-6) Jordan Morgan can do in this offense simply by setting great picks and rolling to the rim for layups. And Morgan didn’t have great hands (good, by his senior year, but not great). Davis also looks plenty physical. I realize that defensively, he may have some challenges. But I think our offense really depends on having bigs who can set great picks and roll to the basket, and that’s been really lacking the last two years.
