Then you my friend have way too low of expectations for Michigan basketball
Itās not expectations itās how JB operates. Heās no calapari or coach k and we all know that he develops players. Caris Levert Nik Stauskas Trey Burke some of our best players in recent memories all non highly touted recruits
Iām not asking him to be those coaches. Iām asking him to recruit players that are B1G worthy.
Wilson, Doyle, Chatman, Donnal, Dawkins, Robinson(Iām sure the flack will come because how dare someone say this) are not B1G type players. Remember in most years itās the best basketball conference in the nation.
Levert was a good find and a great risk to take because we had a great class coming in that year. Stauskus was not an underated player coming in. If you watched film you could see that. Fit exactly what was needed at Michigan. Burke was also a tough SOB on film. Found a kid with an outstanding work ethic. He should of been at least a 4 star but I assume height left him back at 3.
When Michigan got those two classes o told everyone I knew that was a final four type team. I had doubts during that NC run but once Mitch blew up and saw the draw in the tourney it solidified it.
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Believe me I am not disagreeing with you at all. We all wish that JB would start recruiting big name recruits, but that just isnāt what he does. Out of those players you named Chatman was a 4-star, Wilson was a 4-star, Donnal was a 4-star and they havenāt come close to expectations. I agree with you we can not miss out on big recruits someone like Jaylen Brown would have done wonders for Michigan but it just isnāt JB.
They could still make the tournament but most likely not a team that has a high ceiling to do damage. They have pretty much built their whole resume off a Texas/Maryland win and winning games youāre supposed to. The bad thing is in the tourney there are no Penn St, Rutgers, Youngstown St to beat in the tourney.
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Burke was ranked #93 on the 247 composite and Stauskas was #82. Both players were also immediate playmakers as freshmen. The myth that they were scrub 2 stars before Beilein got his hands on them is absurd.
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I can see why some recruits might not want to play at Michigan because it seems even the real good players Beilein gets all the credit for their development. Players play and coaches coach and if I was a player busting my butt to get better seeing the coach get all the credit that would definitely turn me off.
Nailed it. Itās an Urban legend with those recruiting classes
Thatās such a strawman. I havenāt seen anyone here claim that Burke our Stauskas were 2-star scrubs. That brings up a good question, though. Would you typically expect the 83rd and 92nd ranked players to be immediate playmakers on a contending team?
A handful of posters are Beilein bashers, but JB did a great job of identifying guys who could play right away. Burkeās next best offer was Cinci. Stauskas may or may not have had a KU offer. Otherwise, his next best offer was probably Wake Forest. You guys love to point out the misses, but those were great gets. Maybe Simpson, Watson, and Poole will be similar.
The issue Alum is before that his recruiting wasnāt great and since then itās been even worse.
I think Simpson is good. Watson has a little ways to go. Teske and Davis yawn. Love Poole.
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Agreed nobody said they were 2-star nobodies. Trey Burke was a 3-star ranked 26 at pg and 142 nationally and Nik Stauskas was a 4-star ranked 13 at his position and 71 nationally (via rivals). I would not consider that elite recruiting. They may not be scrubs but they sure were not the top of their class.
I agree that his big man recruiting is not good. Full stop.
But itās not as if he has gone around looking for soft, under-the-radar guards. He tried to leverage the title run into going after some top guys. He went hard after guys like Looney, Booker, Kennard, And Thornton, to name a few. Those guys all went to blue bloods. He was left scrambling and brought in some guys who arenāt talented enough.
I think you need to break down our current roster look at their rankings and see if they are playing over or under then expected:
Spike Albrecht 3-star: Over 
Caris LeVert 3-star : Over
Mark Donnal 4-star: Under
Zak Irvin 5-star: Plays around whats expected of him
Derrick Walton 4-star: Plays around whats expected of him
MAAR 3-star: Over
Kam Chatman 4-star: WAY Under
Aubrey Dawkins 3-star: Well Over IMO
Ricky Doyle 3-star: Under
D.J. Wilson 4-star: Under
Moritz Wagner 4-star: Too early
For the most part it is clear JB gets the most out of his players and is great from the coaching standpoint. It is also clear that he strikes out with 5 stars looking at our current roster. Out of our current roster only Two are very highly touted recruits (Kam and Zak) and that wonāt drive a team far. I see what everyone says that we get the most out of our recruits but highly touted recruits will make a team better. There is a reason Kentucky and Duke win every year (except this year) with freshman. They do not play the development card. Plug and play guys are essential JB needs to stop being naive to it.
I realize weāre drifting off topic, but: On big man recruiting specifically, a lot of people defend the current crop of bigs by saying āwe want the guys who really want to be here.ā The problem is, those guys are usually the ones with only MAC offers. Our softness inside is getting to the point where I would prefer a pouty, brooding 6-10/260 athletic banger of the Xavier/SMU type who wishes he was at Kentucky but grudgingly puts up a double-double every game for us anyway.
Recruiting has been JBās Achilles heel lately and is the main reason for this teams poor performance:
- Zak Irvin has largely been a disappointment and Kam Chatman is a bust so far.
- JB was unable to land a quality big man to fill the hole left by McGary and Morgan
- Missing on Jaylen Brown was expected, but also a bad thing
Add in the injuries to Levert and Spike and you have what you got right now, a mediocre team that can hang with the big dogs. Heās gonna trot out the same team next year, so get ready. '16 class is decent, but not even top 25. He will really need to score in the '17 class in order to bring this program back into contention.
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Mgo, if you think Irvin is playing like a 5 star, you need to reevaluate him bro.
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I would not at all call Zak Irvin a disappointment he is playing at a great level. I would say that DWalt LeVert Irvin DRob (even though he is playing bad at the time) Dawkins B1G caliber players and Donnal is coming close. MAAR is a solid B1G bench guy. People are fast to complain when we lose but the fact is it is a bad stretch most teams have. I would not call them a good team. I would not call them elite either I would say our current team is slightly above average.
Donnal should be playing for Greg Kampe. hes not a B1G level player. neither are Chatman, Doyle, or Wilson.
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I think he is starting to play like one yes. He has really come a far way. His freshman year he was not needed much and played solid his sophomore year and is really playing well now.
Or Dawkins BB. Still trying to figure out why/how people love him
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