2018 Recruiting Notes

This is why our second-half turnaround was so crucial. In a scenario where the team that lost to Illinois and OSU was our team last season, this would be our narrative right now. What Walton and the boys (and staff) pulled off was gigantic for momentum. Hope we can capitalize on the trail.

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Matta had three 2015 kids leave after one year. Player development has been missing. Loving underachieved. Lyle was a 5 star and has not lived up to that after 2 years in the program. Matta doesn’t have kids going to the NBA. Needs to coach his ass off this season and have good luck with injuries. He still has talent.

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Trying to answer both posts at once…

Good insight. Kids have eyes and confidence when they recognize what they know to be true about the game. The push you speak of which UM made reinforced the idea skill players do develop in Ann Arbor---->A shot at earning a living playing hoops…

Recently, Ohio State hasn’t reinforced confidence in it’s brand of ball. Lacking specifically is defensive acumen which makes its difficult to penetrate the lane and forces difficult shots.

I’ve never been able to figure out what happened with Loving. If you can explain, i’d sure listen.
This is an important upcoming season for JaQuan Lyle. I hope he’s had enough and is ready to step up.

I’m of the what’s good for one Big Ten program is good for everyone belief. The more teams that are functioning at a high level the better it is for everyone. The goal is to earn recognition as the best conference.
Therefore, I do wish UM well on the recruiting trail.

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So apparently we have cooled on Cormac Ryan who besides Bieniemy and Carmody are wing targets?

I wonder which side coooled? Sounds like us. Honestly an athletic wing who can defend, slash and run makes the most sense in 18. Dejulius, Poole and Eli is sick but we need that MAar type to balance.

Which again makes naz Carter and jeenathan interesting, both had good session 2 despite their team losing 4 games. All by one or two basket games it seems like.

I really hope we add hunter. Ignas and him are great targets. Next to livers hunter adds more with his length. John’s has really looked Great again. I’m back aboard the bandwagon. Any of those three would be happy with. Then one or two spots left. Athletic wing is my pick.

Why do you think so?

Absolutely no clue but was an article on Rivals where Eric Bossi said h thought Ryan ended up at Michigan so who knows.

Also sounds like Torrence Watson from Missouri is a new target on the wing. Interested to see who else pops up as there seems to more 4 targets then wings.

Think it originated from This Brendan Quinn tweet on Saturday:

2018 guard Cormac Ryan, who was offered a Michigan scholarship last August, says U-M’s recruitment has “cooled” since last summer.

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It’s quite possible/probable if (and that’s a big if) the staff views Ryan as “only” a 2-guard that UM likely isn’t prioritizing that position in the 2018 class anymore. With Poole a SG in the 2017 Class plus Brooks (2017) & DeJulius (2018) as PG recruits the staff feels can shoot well enough to see minutes at the SG spot — depth seems pretty good in 2018 & 2019 with another “true SG.”

From a scholarship distribution perspective, seems more logical for the coaches to focus on depth at the 4/5 slots in '18 (presuming Wagner & Wilson are unlikely to stay for 2 more seasons) and a 2/3 swing player or a 3/4 swing player to give more immediate roster flexibility?

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Or, from a roster building perspective, a guy like Bienemy, who is a plus athlete and a guy who can get “two feet in the paint” is being prioritized over another shooter, given that all of the '17 and '18 signees/commitments to date (Poole, Brooks, Levers and DeJulius) can stroke it from deep.

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I can agree with that perspective as with the list of signees/commits you have above only Levers is above 6’6". Focusing on more wings in that 6’6" range and above with skill/athleticism would be ideal. Especially when you need to be able to deal with teams that play tall small ball like South Carolina. We will need more length.

We made the top 8 for Cole Swider. Wasn’t aware we had offered him but the kid has quite a bit of potential IMO.

No offer that I know of, JM. Just tracking. Beilein offers under the cover of darkness, so who knows? Lol. I have never seen a staff keep their top targets so under wraps. Especially in the age of…blessed to have received an offer from announcements…

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Glad we have more guys coming out of the woodworks with “offers” or interest from Michigan. The caliber of players is generally solid so especially nothing to complain about

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Beat me to the punch on Swider as just saw it today on Scout, great shooter with a bit of dribble game I believe.

Going to be interesting how the staff puts this class together, hope we get two solid creators with the ball.

I guess this is as good a place as any other to post this. Stan VanGundy was in the Tiger’s booth to talk about the new arena. They asked about the Piston’s season and draft and he discussed how much the game has changed. He talked about teams playing small ball, the need for good shooters and spreading the floor. A lot of Beilein in his descriptions.

SVG was one of the coaches that adopted Spread and Shoot before it was widespread throughout the league. Which makes it all the more frustrating that the Pistons have not been a good shooting team under him.

I would think Moe/Wilson, given their positions and shooting ability, would be attractive picks for SVG…in the second round. Though I’m not sure we have a second rounder this year

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Seems like Wilson won’t be around in r2. Svg also like defense, which makes Wagner an unlikely target at this point.