Michigan didn’t tell him anything in the past. You are reading that how you want to read it. But Michigan flirted with offering him 2 or 3 different times where they were really showing interest, it looked like he was certain to get an offer, and then they just stopped talking to him more or less. In July in particular. After the first live period in July everyone was sure he was next to get an offer but it didn’t happen. Then a couple weeks later Bajema got the offer and committed. Beilein was at Beverly’s first game in the first period in July. Coach Washington was also at every single game in July that first live period, and Michigan never usually camps out an entire week for one player, let alone in the NY2LA Association, which he maybe 3 or 4 guys between all age groups that were of Michigan’s caliber. DJ Carton was injured and didn’t play at all in the first live period.
And then times where it seemed like he was a no brainer to go for, they chose not to pursue. Just seemed like they passed up obvious chances to go for him and really put themselves in a good position and chose not to. Hindsight is a b*tch though right? Now they seem to be trying to get in with him super late in the process, and they are way behind the 8 ball now. If they wanted him, they had several opportunities to probably land him in the past.
Seems kind of like being the guy that the girl can always count on because she knows he’ll always be there. At some point he’ll say enough is enough and move on. Problem is, the girl is now pursuing him and he doesn’t know what to do.
For the longest time Coach Beilein and staff didn’t think Beverly was good enough nor a good fit from what I’ve heard. The fit part I can understand somewhat because they weren’t pursuing Guards with his specific strengths at certain points over the years. But to believe he was not good enough is crazy. He’s been wildly underrated for awhile and this year for Montverde he finally got the chance to show how he stacked compared to other big talents every game and practice. He’s outplayed whomever he has matched up with basically the entire season and has probably been Montverde’s best player alongside Cade Cunningham.
Is the real issue here just a matter of Beilein and staff showing up at Beverly’s games again? No question Beverly’s blowing up right now and he had a very good season for Montverde but even today we don’t know for sure that there will be a spot for Beverly at all. How good of a pitch can Michigan make with no spot available, much less the available playing time pitch that many recruits love to hear.
Back in August when Bajema committed, I think a lot of fans were OK with Wilson and Bajema as the '19 class. The staff could check in with some of the unsigned kids still, since you have to be ready for attrition. If attrition happens, I think many fans are OK with aiming high rather than just finding a development player to fill out the roster, even if their chances are slim at this point of landing another top talent.
End of the day I love the staff and don’t want Beilein to leave anytime soon but that doesn’t mean I agree with every recruit they’ve taken or passed on or took too long to pursue. My worry right now is I think Michigan will be left scrambling looking for players in 2019 if Poole and/or Iggy or someone else leaves. In particular Poole or another guard. I don’t think Michigan lands Quinones or Beverly which means Michigan has to go the grad transfer route in all likelihood. Problem there is that how many top options will be left? Michigan can’t go forward now as it is because they don’t know who is staying or going. If they miss on the 2019s and their top Grad Transfer options, Michigan may be in serious trouble offensively next year. May even be worse next year than this year if Michigan cannot replace Iggy/Poole in particular.
Yes I covered that by saying Michigan can’t go forward pursuing players right now because no one has officially left. Because of that, all the top Grad Transfer options are coming off the board and the few 2019 prospects still available are committing places too. And Wagner isn’t a guard he’s a wing-Forward type. Not going to be a ballhandler. He would be a suitable replacement for Iggy but not Poole.
Agree 100%, said in another thread who is the secondary ball handler if Poole leaves? Have to get a capable guard somehow who will have to log some solid minutes. DeJulius is going to be very important in that situation as well.
Even if Dejulius does show the ability to do that, against top tier teams we would struggle to defend on the perimeter and against other great defenses struggle to get shots off. If Dejulius was at the SG spot he’d likely have guys at least 4 inches taller than him defending him.
Yes, I’m going back to the very first post in this thread from July of last year. Hindsight being a b**** and all, do you think that Beverly was more ready to commit back in July than you previously thought?
Beverly has a group he’s leaning towards as well but he is still open to most programs right now. Towards the end of August/early September I imagine he will really start locking in schools.
Maybe Michigan felt they didn’t need a full court press on Beverly if this timeline was widely known. This opened the door for Beilein to take a closer look at Bajema.
He leaves for Montverde on the 13th of August I believe. If they don’t land either (which wouldn’t be surprising), I’m not sure who Michigan looks to next. Hopefully not Girard.
Again, it doesn’t look like Beverly was itching to get that Michigan offer and jump at it.
I talked with a lot of coaches these past two weeks in Milwaukee and Grand Rapids who have seen him and many question if he’s Michigan or a similar school that level’s caliber. I don’t want to say anything more on that but it will be interesting to see how things evolve with Beverly and Watts and whomever else going forward.
Yes, Beverly blew up at Montverde. He bet on himself and won. Good for him. He’ll be fine.
I don’t blame Beilein for taking a look at Bajema, liking what he saw, and pulling the trigger with an offer knowing that Bajema would run through walls to play for Michigan.
I’m intrigued and a bit surprised that Beilein is scouting Beverly again. He must think the relationship is salvagable. If he truly is recruiting for Poole’s spot, I like that he’s going after a very talented kid. Odds are long, but what else should he do instead? Go home and mow his lawn?
Seeing Joe Girard’s name for the first time in months had me thinking at the time, I was really hoping Michigan would go a different direction. Now, I’d be ecstatic if they got a commit from a shooter like him
Exactly my thinking. He committed in October to 'Cuse. This was in the syracuse.comwrite up:
Girard picked Syracuse from a final list of six schools that also included Boston College, Duke, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State. He had taken official visits to Syracuse and Boston College.
There wasn’t a spot left for him, despite what the article said. Bajema committed in August, so that’s the 2 guard spot that in theory could have gone to Girard or Beverly (to bring the thread back on topic).
All true, but it looked as if Girard just preferred Syracuse. He took an OV there in June, right after naming his top 6 schools. He only took one more OV, in Audust. He had a lot of offers, but never changed his list of top schools from June.
I guess I’m a bit confused at all the consternation in here… Michigan evaluated Beverly, Bajema and others in July and decided that Bajema was the priority. Are people arguing that Michigan should have taken another guard at that time? I feel like if that happened everyone would be worrying about how Beilein was pushing people out or something along those lines.
Now there’s a situation where Michigan might have extra spots and it is looking back at Beverly, looking at Quinones and a host of other prospects. I’m just trying to figure out where the disconnect is or what people are worried about.
Beverly has every right to pick a school that has been prioritizing him for a long time or a school that he just thinks is a good fit and came in late (Alabama, Kansas, etc.).