2018 Recruiting Notes

Here’s the full Instagram post, says offers to the left, interest on the right. (doesn’t say top 11)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUM9gDaBKUb/?taken-by=darbaz55

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This recruitment is getting stranger and stranger. A kid that I would LOVE to get but what is the point in posting that picture with schools if that isn’t even a list that means anything

@ghostofstjohnarena know anything about the personality of Bazley or where priorities are?

I obviously don’t know the kid but from the interviews he’s given since his decommittment he seems like a kid that is going to enjoy the attention for the next year and is hoping the blue bloods come calling.

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I have no idea what the Michigan staff thinks about this guy, but if I were to guess, I would say that they have already moved on (if in fact, they ever had any interest at all).

Here’s the only way I can look at Darius Bazley.
Bazley is best friends w/Justin Ahrens from Versailles, Ohio, brother of MSU Spartan Kyle Ahrens.
Bazley and Ahrens committed to Ohio State near spring/early summer 2016 and both stated it was a dream to play together in college.
My best guess as to who he is, where his priorities are, stems from idea he buys into, w/good reason, Ohio State’s struggles. (More or less his words–>) He doesn’t see Ohio State, Thad Matta, the program, and the players as being able to drive his stock up individually. Doesn’t (strangely for me) feel even with someone with his talent, he could lead the Buckeyes into the NCAA tournament. He believes it enough to unlock his connection to Justin which will allow him to play on a bigger stage.
I can’t say I blame him where Ohio State is concerned.

He does seem to have a bit of a transient personality.
Transferred from his original HS, Finneytown, to Cincinnati Princeton.
Was on King James (think I’m right on that) last AAU season. Started off with C2KElite this AAU season, and has changed teams twice more, ending up w/Mean Streets.

I can’t say I really know much of his personality. Seems like an affable kid. Appears to be naive. Likely wants to get everything he can on the recruiting trail while he has a shot at doing so. One might say that’s a flaw, depending on how you go about it, but putting myself in his position if that’s what he wants then I’m good with that. It’s his life.

Where UM is concerned I think he sees the tangible development Beilein has provided different levels of talent and thinks that could be a good situation for him, too.

I really do wish him well. He can play and with flair. He needs strength, muscle, a consistent outside jumper and he’s good to go. Lots to work with. Would be interesting to see how Beilein would use him.

Sorry for the length of this.

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http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/05/recruiting_michigans_2018_bask.html

Demazi Anderson and Torrence Watson are relatively new to me. And haven’t heard about Race Thompson since MattD brought him up, a year ago.

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Great recap. If Wilson and Wagner leave after next year and we fill those two slots along with DeJulius and the current two open spots (for a five man class), we would have no juniors on the 2018-19 roster. So, unless someone leaves after that season, we would have no open spots for 2019. That is probably unlikely to happen, but still.

More on Watson here

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I really prefer his game to a lot of our wing targets.

You like Williams? I had no idea. :grinning::grinning:

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Yeah that’s news to me too. First I’ve heard of this.

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I apologize to everyone I keep posting about those three kids when there is no real chatter about the interest either way outside of that news clip when they made all county. Scout listed Isaiah one time on his profile too.

I guess I keep trying to talk the interest into existence. It seems when a top 100 kid mentions Michigan or shows interest first belein then becomes interested.

I know naz Carter is at least interested. He’s rising up boards fast after reclassifying and playing very well this summer. He’s exactly the type of three we need in this class. He reminds me of a more consistent ibi. Ibi shot and handled better but Carter uses his athleticism better. Plays bigger too. If belein got to work with him he could become one of a long list of belein steals that develop into stars.

I wouldn’t be surprised if naz moves into a top 100 rating. At least top 150. He’s eybl video through the first two sessions is impressive. His numbers are as well. Definitely the leader/ most consistent of city rocks, which is pretty damn good. Certainly peach jam material.

I’d love bazley out if our sf targets but I don’t see him coming. I agree with other posters that he’s waiting on that blue blood interest and would bounce first chance he could.

Obviously it would be a major coup if he decommitted from Ohio st to come to Michigan. I don’t see it. He wants a duke or Kentucky/ Kansas offer.

My dream 18 class of realistic targets would be

Dejulius
Bazley
Hunter
Ignas.

That would be a program changing class. I could see all 4 going pro from belein tutelage. Particularly the middle two. I just wish some of these kids could see the light on belein and our system. Can you imagine trying to guard dejulius with hunter running the p
N r. Bazley and Poole on the wings with teske downlow or Davis.

I guess my major negative if I’m a recruit is the gym isn’t rocking or very popular destination for kids… The atmosphere at duke or Kansas or even Michigan st is intriguing if I’m a kid. Ucla is even worse. Never seen such stories program have fans who couodbt give two :poop: 'S

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I agree it’s weird that the passion is largely channeled toward the football team. For some reason football is this massive full-day, alcohol-driven group bonding orgy, but you go to the basketball game and all the low-key people show up. I don’t know if they don’t care so much as maybe they’re the folks who don’t like the excesses of the football scene.

Ehh, I don’t know if it’s really weird. You have a decade long stretch of utter shit after the scandal that likely resulted in an entire generation of people, the ones who would currently be the louder season ticket holder / single game type people, being rather uninterested in the basketball program. Just look at how Michigan Stadium got after 3 years of Hoke. I bet if he stayed there a decade and we didn’t get a top 5 coach in the entire country on any level that it would take a long time to fully recover. Probably not as long as basketball, as there is much more tradition on the football side of things which surely results in a less fickle fan base year to year, but still pretty long. There’s also the culture part of it. We’re a football school through and through, and it’s incredibly difficult to have high fan base commitment in both sports if they’re not both competing for championships. I can’t even really think of a school like that. MSU over the last decade comes to mind, as do Wisconsin and Louisville. Other places like Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, etc. still see poor basketball attendance and atmosphere during their down years despite recent success (last decade). Even a school like Florida that is generally thought of as the top football-basketball combo since the dawn of the new millennium has had basketball issues during the down seasons.

I just realized this ended up being a wall of text. My bad lol.

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Obviously students just prioritize studying on weeknights, so they don’t build up basketball fan habits when the games are in days they could attend. Apparently MSU and UK students don’t have that issue.:wink:

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and Duke students…

Duke students camp out like a week before games. I still have no clue how this is achieved with classes and stuff.

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Here are last season’s rules for
Krzyzewskiville
at Duke University:

100 tents total are allowed w/a maximum allowed of 12 people in each one. One third of the students registered to be in the tent must be there at any one time. Checks and balances are present to allow for this and that to occur so that circumstances beyond student control can be taken into consideration. If rules aren’t followed, though, a tent gets booted.
Actually sounds like fun.

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