2019 - G - Cole Bajema (Commit)

Yes, I agree it is his evident skill added to his physical ceiling that will dictate his ceiling, I was just noting that one side of the equation, That is his stage of physical maturity, seems to put him the late bloomer category when I compare 2016 and 2017 videos.

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THIS, Dylan. Plus, I really appreciate the comments of Dot and hoops4hire, too. REALLY good stuff!! I agree with your comments, too, gtfomycourt, his body is not physically mature at this point but it WILL be. Imagine Bajema taking it to the hole and instead of getting bumped off his spot, and still making the shot, by the way, he just powers to the rim. I AM pretty excited about his future with his skill set and then an additional 20 or 30 pounds of muscle.

I agree with hoops4hire that Bajema could be a great redshirt candidate, but that depends, I think, on the development of Nunez and whether JP is still here when he arrives. Boy, the kid can shoot it from DEEP, though. And that to go with the other skills he has. I think heā€™s a great pickup.

I am about as close to permanently in the ā€œteam never redshirtā€ camp as possible.

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There is still a year to go before Bajema is on campus, and there is a good chance that we will see a lot of development between now and then. In short, I donā€™t think that he redshirts.

Redshirting seems to work for Jay Wright. I think it is unlikely, but possible.

Youā€™re probably right. But, of course whatever Coach B does is more than good with me.

NEVER be afraid to bet on yourself. Probably gonna be my favorite player in a couple years. Ballsy.

See my answer to Dylan. I actually think he may (will) be good enough to play right away, and, of course, would he even be around in five years? Letā€™s hope heā€™s not, and that he has such a great career thatā€™s gone after three years.

By the way, though, Iā€™m such a college purist, and Iā€™m NOT looking for an argument here, I wish kids would stay in school for four years or AT LEAST three. OK, seriously now, this is the Cole Bajema thread, not the ā€œhow long should kids stay in college thread.ā€ Donā€™t let me get us off the topic! :smile:

I think the redshirt hurts the low-mid major programs a lot more than the high major programs (but it does give some control to the athletes, which I think is good, especially after graduating). I donā€™t think the intention, for anyone, should be to redshirt. I just think thereā€™s a logjam around his position (with Poole and Nunez and add in the wings).

Iā€™m also not in the Poole goes pro camp.

Sounds a little like Tom Brady to meā€¦

It would be great if Cole hit the weight room his senior year and added 5-10 pounds before reporting to Ann Arbor in June 2019.

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Wrapping up thoughts on Bajema with some Vegas highlights, thoughts on roster fit, whatā€™s next in 2019 and more. Promise we will talk about other things for the rest of this week :slight_smile: Front page is like a Bajema takeover.

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Iā€™m guessing Sanderson will be sending Cole and his coach some of the workouts he does with the guys back in Ann Arbor! It would really be nice if Cole came in next summer with a little added weight and some additional strength.

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I donā€™t think anyone reading a Michigan hoops blog in August is tired of reading about the new commit. Great coverage, great potential.

In terms of a third recruit, Franz Wagner might be the most likely, given the timing issues, assuming he wants to play in college.

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I am not a fan of red shirting. And at this point of JBā€™s tenure we should not need to recruit red shirt candidates. Kind of understood Austin Davis redshirting. But even with him he is on the clock and must produce or he may be a Donnal candidate.

I think thereā€™s still value to redshirting. For example, having a 5th year for players like Muhammad or Dakota Mathias would be nice. But Iā€™d agree thereā€™s too much risk with transfers and busts to really hardline commit to redshirting people on principle.

Generally, Iā€™d say try to redshirt people. but if they can legitimately improve your current season, then play them. I donā€™t see much value to a freshmen getting 20 minutes in the non-conference and then never playing again, but if they improve the season outlook then play them.

I get this point, but how often do Michigan players play their fifth year somewhere else? Would Moe have benefited from a redshirt as a freshman? I think the experience he got was very valuable even if it was a limited year.

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Beilein doesnā€™t recruit a guy this early with notions of redshirting him. Especially these days when there is so much roster movement, which requires future roster planning literally on the fly.

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I am not much of a fan of BB redshirting anymore, but it was absolutely the right move for Austin Davis. We had 5 guys that could play the 5 his freshman year so he was never going to see the floor, plus it gave a year of separation with Teske. It gave Davis a year to work on his body (which needed work) and to adjust to D1 basketball. There are always going to be some cases like that where it is the smart thing to do.

Davis just wasnā€™t ready and knew it. He also knows that he is unlikely to get a 5th year. The days of having a guy hang around for 5 years are ghost. So nobody makes that part of the plan.

If a guy is redshirted itā€™s either because, as things turn out, the player isnā€™t quite ready for the challenges of big time basketball. Suggestions of redshirting were made last year early on with one of the freshman. Shouldnā€™t take much to figure out who it was.

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