2020 Recruiting Notes

Those two appear to be two of the recruits Michigan currently has the best chances at, which makes sense considering both are bigs like Juwan.

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I am still going with Burnett as the most realistic target. He has already visited and has a ton of connections to juwan.

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Heā€™s not even mentioning UofM in his recruitment

There was just an interview with him on 247 Michigan site by a Louisville reporter today where he said he talks to juwan every day. When reading these interviews, people need to keep in mind that umā€™s rivals site and 247 site no longer attend these aau events so you often dont get the school centric questions like other schools get from their team reporters.

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Iā€™ve never seen him bring up UofM unless asked, while heā€™s mentioned others. Iā€™ll have to read the article

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I feel like Dickinson is the most likely of our current offers to end up at Michigan

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If this is, in fact, ā€œMichiganā€™s laneā€, then we will take a step back as a program. The scenario where we keep the train rolling at the elite level of success we have started to consistently achieve is to recruit more talented players than Beilein, because (a) theyā€™ll be around for shorter periods of time, and (b) thereā€™s just no realistic way that Juwan will be able to identify underappreciated talent and develop them to the level that Beilein did. JB was the best in the country at that.

Still hopeful, though. I think our chances of getting one of Kessler and Dickinson is pretty good, and hopefully we can snag an elite scorer like Burnett. Those two would be a great foundation for a class.

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Getting one of those two big men seems reasonable given Howardā€™s track record with bigs. And with Zeb and Howardā€™s kid as also likely to be in the 2020 class itā€™s a good foundation.

Getting a top wing scorer or two, however, seems like the more difficult task. Jabri would have been a great fit, but heā€™s off the board. All the other targets are going to be tough pills though I agree, Burnett seems the most likely.

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The whole situation is quite interesting.

It makes some sense that recruits may want to see his teams play first. With that said, the guy played in the NBA for a long time, coached there, and his staff includes an assistant with head coaching experience (Martelli), another one with NBA playing and coaching experience (Eisley), and Saadi, who was a top assistant under JB.

Further, this isnā€™t the same situation that JB inherited, where the team hasnā€™t made the tourney for the past ten years. Weā€™ve had a lot of success lately.

So, you would think Juwan would have some recruiting success. I mean, when a guy like Barnes is including teams like Florida and OSU in his top group, neither of those teams have done anything impressive under their current head coaches, and Floridaā€™s offense is a disaster.

It does seem like he can make some traction early with big men. Getting a Kessler or Dickinson (I tend to doubt we could get both) would be huge.

If we strike out on wings, that would be disappointing. If we have a good first season under Juwan, and still have difficulty attracting top kids (say in the 10-30 range), then I have to wonder if there are bigger things at play.

Weā€™ll know a lot more one year from now, I imagine.

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Well heā€™s from Florida, and Mike White got them to an Elite 8 just a couple years ago. Holtmann has clearly shown heā€™s a very good coach, and I believe he has some kind of recruiting ace on his staff.

Anyway, I believe Barnes trimmed his list concurrently with Juwan getting hired. Donā€™t think he ever showed much interest and any connection was always just speculation.

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In four years at Florida, White has lost 15, 9, 13, and 16 games, and heā€™s had no NBA draft picks. (And his offense looks like utter crap).

Since arriving at Butler (he was 44-54 at Gardner Webb), Holtmann went 23-11, 22-11, 25-9, and then at OSU the last two years, 25-9 and 20-15. He had no draft picks at Butler and only Bates-Diop at OSU (a five star recruit, no less).

Iā€™m not suggesting either guy is a bad coach, Iā€™m just saying neither guy has really accomplished that much, either, to the point where any recruit should logically consider those to be better programs than Michigan (or really, even on par with Michigan).

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My man @LosAngelesWolverine1 ā€¦ How many times do you we have to tell you that recruiting is about recruiting and how good of a recruiter you are? You donā€™t just compare the numbers of losses that a team had in the last few years.

Mike White has a top ten team this year (and a top ten class incoming). Heā€™s a hell of a recruiter. Heā€™s also recruiting Scottie Barnes to go to school in ā€¦ Floridaā€¦ where heā€™s from.

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Regardless of the numbers youā€™re throwing out, both coaches are recruiting at a high level in real life. So whatever pitch theyā€™re selling on the recruiting trail, itā€™s working.

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I think mentioning how few NBA draft picks Holtmann had in that time shows how good of a coach he is.

In 2017 Florida was KenPom#5 and went to the Elite 8. Clearly better than their record suggested. At minimum, thereā€™s something to be said for showing stability. Some recruits may value that more than others.

Anyway, if Barnes were a 2021 guy we may have had a shot. But he clearly was comfortable with his list.

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A big reason why Iā€™m in favor of keeping the Class of 2020 to 4 freshmen recruits. Better odds at securing multiple Top50 caliber recruits in the Class of 2021ā€¦bring in enough players to provide depth (and in Zeb Jackson, compete for key minutes) and then bank of the Class of 2021 for star power.

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Weā€™d probably need to hit the transfer portal hard in that situation, but I can see the argument.

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The one thing about scholarship numbers right nowā€¦ I have a hard time imagining that there wonā€™t be any attrition considering the coaching change. Seems like everyone is all in on a fresh start this year, but not all of those fresh starts are going to crack the rotation and could have decisions to make next year.

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Chances this Austin Davisā€™ last year at Michigan? Possibly Eli Brooks if things donā€™t work out this season?