I saw Miller play in the city playoffs this winter when they beat Whitney Young - he’s amazing. Also saw him really struggle against a non-scholarship kid on Curie the next game.
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It’s a righteous way of doing things but when no one else does it, why take the chance of offending a recruit by not offering when everyone else does. If it bothered me, then i figured it could bother a recruit.
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It seemed like the staff explained it to recruits during the process and, based on interviews with recruits, it seemed like most understood and didn’t mind. And those that did mind probably weren’t the fit Beilein was looking for inside the locker room.
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So you’re arguing that the poor scheduling in 2018 negatively impacted our results…in a year we checks notes played for the national title.
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Wrong thread?
It allowed Beilein to focus on the recruits that were serious about Michigan. We’ll never know if it cost him any recruits that would have come to Michigan or if it helped him land recruits. His policy gave him the chance to pay more attention to the players he did offer and to move onto new targets sooner.
Beilein did a great job here and has always done things his way for a reason. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
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You aren’t the first to say this, but I’ve still yet to see an example of one recruit that was bothered by Beilein’s policy. It didn’t bother them because they understood it was the policy for everyone and those who were going to get offers still knew they were prioritized. The bother seemed to be just fans being anxious.
Beilein our the emphasis on building a relationship so that if the kid committed they both knew what they were getting into. I hope at least the spirit if that approach carries over.
It’s also worth mentioning that kids are deciding later and later in the cycle so the super early offers don’t mean that much.
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I mean really how many players commit and enroll if they’ve never been to campus? Seems like, “we want you, we can now finance an ov, your offer is waiting in crisler” is the same as, “let’s offer you now” I’m terms of reasonable results.
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The timeline changes now as well. With juniors being able to take official visits and the unofficials aren’t as important.
I do feel like there were times where we couldn’t quite get a recruitment off the ground because they didn’t have an official offer. They wanted to “feel the love” or something. I don’t remember any specific recruitments so I could be wrong. Either way It worked for Beilein, but I will not miss it.
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I just feel like pretty much every other school offers without needing to be on campus and plenty of schools recruited substantially better then us when we had Beilein so it’s not like it’s some secret method that yields better results. I am not saying Beilein was dumb but common sense would say there is no real reason to have that philosophy in place.
You are assuming that schools that recruited better than Michigan did it because of when they offered scholarships. Could be that they just had better recruiters (or anything else).
Some schools offer so much that it means nothing. Some schools rarely offer and are able to build value around it.
I don’t really think that the hard and fast rule made a lot of sense (especially the June 15th thing) but expecting it to be a magic fix is silly.
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I don’t expect anything to be a quick fix and I don’t believe I said anything of the sort. It isn’t like our recruiting was awful I am just saying if it was so effective other schools would do it. I don’t know if it hurts or helps, I just think there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that it produces better results because so many other schools recruit way better, and therefore there isn’t any reason to have it in place other than it was the preference of the previous coach. @umhoops
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I agree. It is an antiquated notion that most other schools completely ignore so I don’t see why Juwan would follow it.
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One big part of the visit policy that gets forgotten was a transcript. Michigan wouldn’t offer one before it saw a transcript and made sure a prospect was on track to qualify.
There’s a reason Michigan had close to (maybe actually) a 100% grad rate and never lost commits due to non-qualification.
There are still going to be hoops that need to be jumped through before a recruitment goes to the next phase. If Michigan offers prospects earlier in the process, we just won’t really know what an offer means. Every school is different and it is TBD until we see how Howard operates.
Best case scenario is pretty much a middle ground. Not offering every kid that you see hit five threes on a Saturday afternoon in July, but do offer prospects who fit the profile (grades, etc.) and are showing legit mutual interest.
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Beilein’s policy on offers was longstanding and well documented. It’s not so easy for another coach or school to suddenly emulate him. If Tom Crean were to say the same thing to a recruit, it just won’t seem credible. When you tell a recruit it’s your new policy, he’s going to wonder if that’s just until he finds a player he wants more.
Juwan could insist on the same visit and academic tour policy that Beilein did if he wants to. Following Beilein’s example is not a bad thing to do if he sees value in it. I do hope he drops the June starting date for offers. I didn’t ever see the value in waiting until then.
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Tyrese Maxey first one off top of my head. Harlond Beverly another. An offer would’ve changed the dynamics of their recruitments.
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Beverly not getting an offer wasn’t based on the no visit thing though. He just wasn’t prioritized at any point and that’s why he went elsewhere.
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Other schools aren’t Michigan! JB protected the brand, enhanced the culture and built a power house. He recruited kids he wanted, which did not include every kid we wanted. He had a plan and lived the plan, never risking embarrassment for the school and focused on kids who wanted to be coached. JB ran the program, no one else, not parents, agents or AAU affiliates. From what I saw he was 100% accountable for everything he did at MIchigan! Juwan will do a great job, he needs to find a plan and learn how to sell Michigan while upholding the MICHIGAN standard. This will not be the Wild MID West of recruiting…the brand will not stand for anything but integrity!
GO BLUE!
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There were 2 or 3 points where everyone thought he would get an offer and didn’t. Michigan got super consistent and heavy with the communication and were frequent visitors to see him. And he’s said if they’d have offered at those points, it would’ve bumped them towards the top. We’ve been over this like a dozen different times.