Todd’s mom raved about Michigan’s family atmosphere and Kansas is looking like the opposite of that, but how many times have we had recruits completely abandon such notions and just go with the higher profile school, the better sales pitch, the one that offers the most benefits, etc., etc.
For every Rashan Gary who actually sticks to their stated criteria, there are a dozen of D’Shawn Hands who pick Alabama because of the “academics.”
I keep seeing people use the “family atmosphere” quote in comparison with Kansas. I think it is important to point out that family atmosphere generally refers to how close coaches and players are. Not “family friendly” or something along those lines. Just think that is an important distinction.
Potential sanctions are Kansas are obviously an issue, but I don’t know that we can say Late Night at the Phog with Snoop Dogg wouldn’t have been fun to watch as a visitor. Or is somehow a negative within the context of Todd’s visit.
…or who pick ____________ because of ________________ .
Feel free to add your own answers!
I initially typed out my answers before inserting the blanks instead. I can’t even be a predictable hack on here anymore without experiencing shame. (What are these feelings???)
Similar to Dylan’s post above, “academics” doesn’t mean “the highest ranked / best school”, it might also mean “best academic support” or “major that most closely aligns with interests”.
Side note that has been bothering me: I keep seeing people say Todd would be a higher ranked recruit than anyone John Beilein signed. Mitch McGary was the No. 2 prospect in the country when he committed, that was every bit as big of a deal.
Mitch’s stock dropped a bit his senior year, but for all we know Todd’s stock could drop during his senior year too.
We also beat duke for him which may be the last time a b1g school beat duke for a recruit they really wanted.
from a head line perspective thats true… I think todd’s ceiling is higher tho at least from a scoring/diversity of how to score perspective
Come on Brendan. We as Michigan fans cannot pass up an opportunity to mock the Jayhawks for that one. It may not mean anything to the Todd recruitment, but I would be embarassed as hell if that happened at Michigan in the wake of the Ed Martin scandal. And I happen to love Snoop, but Kansas was utterly tone deaf on that one.
I’m Dylan not Brendan ;-), but of course we can mock it. I think I did on the most recent podcast. I just don’t think it has any real impact on Todd’s recruitment.
This is funny. Lawrence, KS resident here. KU alum. Yes I root for the Jayhawks, but my heart has always been with Michigan. Will always root for them over KU. I cringe when KU gets a recruitment over Michigan. Anyway, sentiment around town is pretty split - either snoop and co. were classless and it’s a bad look for KU at what has traditionally been a family friendly event, or… It was awesome and nbd, parents should’ve left with their kids. I side with the former. Those who side with the latter are just in denial and the kind of righteous KU fan everyone hates 
Todd may have enjoyed himself, who knows. But I think Dylan is right, probably didn’t impact his recruitment. (Unless his mom saw it and said “hell no!” haha) Crossing my fingers he commits to Michigan!
His mom is the point person, no doubt about that. Again, I just think people thinking a Snoop Dogg concert moves the needle are believing what they want to believe.
It’s a bad sign when the coach has to come out and apologize like Self did. I don’t think it would have much impact if he was deciding in the spring, but Todd is announcing shortly after his visits. That’s not much time to change his mother’s mind if it needs changing.
Man, sometimes “Brendan” is a total buzzkill…
I was having a discussion about Todd with someone today.
My take was that the addition of Todd would, in the short term, benefit Todd much more than Michigan. Todd will get to develop under Howard and grow under Sanderson, and eventually hopefully develop into a high draft pick. Michigan on the other hand, for a year, probably gets a guy who can score 10-12 points per game, but also might be a defensive liability early on. As a result, guys like Moody, Dickinson, and Zeb, are actually more valuable prospects since they have a high likelihood of staying multiple years and being part of the core group for awhile.
That being said, the residual effects of Todd coming to Michigan cannot be understated. Todd coming to Michigan would signal that the program is legitimate threat to land any big time prospect. Hopefully, Todd’s development into a solid NBA player will also leave massive impressions on recruits.
I think you are underrating the impact that Todd would have on the court by a pretty decent margin. The point about other guys being multiple year players is true though.
Aside from national exposure and being apart of Howard’s first recruiting class at Michigan (I think if it’s a great class, it’ll get tons of pub nationally) I think Sanderson could be a huge selling point.
Having a proven commodity that works with current NBA players can’t be match overseas. After the season, Todd’s main focus will be improving his stock for the draft. Can’t beat Sanderson in that regard.
I’m just going off of other recruits of a similar position, player type, and ranking.
For example, JJJ averaged 11 at MSU. Simi Shittu averaged 11 and Vandy. Some other players at bigger programs have averaged under 5 points occasionally. I couldn’t find many guys in Todd’s position that averaged significantly more than 10-12 points in their freshman year.
I understand that if he comes in, he’ll be perhaps the centerpiece to our offense since X and Teske will be gone, but without heightening my expectations and judging from past recruits, I do think 10-12 per game is a starting point.
I have no idea who Kansas and Duke, etc have as their strength guys. But I imagine they are at worst just as highly thought of as Sanderson.
Yeah, I wasn’t so much talking about per game averages or whatnot, more just that he would benefit more than Michigan would by the arrangement. I think he would have a big impact in the Big Ten for a year.
I think the comparison being made is Sanderson to the Australian pro team’s guy. I have no idea the level of strength training available in overseas leagues, though it’s prob fair to assume Sanderson is superior.