They recruited Shannon Scott instead, who was ranked much higher than Trey - he just didn’t turn out to be nearly as good.
2 Likes
Trey wasn’t really a can’t miss prospect at the time. In early August, Michigan wasn’t sure if he was a take. They were talking about potentially a redshirt or prep situation with Trey and really liked Kevin Pangos and had him as a priority. Fast forward a couple of weeks and Burke visited Michigan and committed a week later. There were real moments there where Trey’s camp was the one putting the pressure on Michigan to get that offer and seal the deal.
Point being, it wasn’t like OSU fans were kicking themselves over missing out on Trey (or Michigan fans were all that excited). Not many people expected him to be that good, especially that fast. From an OSU perspective that was compounded by the fact that Shannon Scott was never quite as good as many expected (he was a top-40 recruit).
The other thing I’d add is that they didn’t really recruit Scott ‘instead’ of Burke, they had just already recruited him (he committed almost a year before Trey). So the point when OSU didn’t recruit Trey was more along the time when he committed to Penn State (the same time OSU took Scott). At that point Trey only had MM offers and Butler.
3 Likes
The other factor was Ohio State had already successfully recruited Shannon Scott, a McDonald’s AA and Georgia’s Mr. Basketball.
Here’s an article that successfully explains the situation that led to Trey Burke first committing to Penn State, de-committing, and then signing with Michigan.
A side note, Jared Sullinger and Trey Burke were best friends of the type that spent huge amounts of times together. Even Sullinger is on record stating he wanted Trey to play with him at Ohio State but realized the timing was just off for that to happen.
I give John Beilein all the credit in the world for identifying Trey Burke’s ability to help the UM program and then teaching him to use his skills in the powerful way he did on the college level.
Trey Burke understands why Ohio State didn’t recruit him, even if no one else does http://s.mlive.com/KJ8fzXE
I’m trying to think of a good comparison with current recruiting situations. Take Dave DeJulius and Michigan, he committed about a year before signing day. Now imagine that Brandon Wade (PG from Skyline with mainly MM offers) has a big summer and ends up with, say, an Illinois and a Cincinnati offer. Michigan would be in a spot where it can’t do much (it has its PG) and no one would be that concerned.
The trouble for OSU… Burke turned into the national player of the year in 2 years. That’s not what Michigan expected at the time (was just hoping for Darius Morris’s backup), but they looked genius in the end.
(Also the two years that Trey was in Ann Arbor, OSU won a Big Ten Championship, tied for 2nd in the league, made a Final Four and made an Elite 8.)
4 Likes
Excellent post.
Columbus Northland, Burke and Sullinger & many others, once played versus Findlay Prep & Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and a number of other Div. 1 players. Trey Burke held his own and looked good doing so. I thought he was every bit as talented as anyone else on the floor. I recall being disappointed it seemed like it was too late for him to be considered by Ohio State.
But that’s how it goes in recruiting.
1 Like
I generally feel the same way about MGoBlog’s basketball coverage. They do have some decent output. Absolutely worse though are the comments that follow.
5 Likes
Thanks for all of the background, guys. The Dejulius analogy definitely makes sense; I’d be confused if Michigan took another pure-pg (not a ‘combo’ guard with size), who wasn’t a clear top-25/50 player. And for some reason, I thought Scott was in the 2012 class.
So a couple twists of fate led to our 2 studs out of Ohio, Trey and Caris.
1 Like
I somehow missed your 1st post above responding to Bleed Blue. You explained it all very well.
Also somehow missed LosAngelesWolverine1’s post adding the Shannon Scott angle.
All true, but I’ll say this - I always thought Trey’s HS film was impressive. In fact, I often commented to myself that I must not know much about basketball recruiting, because I don’t see how there could be 100 kids in Trey’s class that are better than him. Kinda felt the same about Tim, too - he always looked like an NBA player to me from his AAU film.
Rawle Alkins has decided to return to Arizona per his twitter. Interesting to see where Bowen lands now.
I can’t remember where, but I remember hearing that he was trending towards DePaul University in Chicago, which might be one of the most random landing spots for a top 20 recruit in recent memory.
DePaul hired his high school coach
1 Like
Welp, that’ll do it.
Tyger Campbell is already on board I believe too
Yes, he is. They also are getting Austin Grandstaff from Ohio state who will have 3 years of eligibility remaining.
A real possibility they also land DJ Williams from Illinois.
Everything’s coming up DePaul!
1 Like
DePaul is also getting a new arena in downtown Chicago and will no longer be playing out by O’Hare beginning this fall.