That is a good point. I still think you take him regardless but I agree that a grad transfer would be key for this season.
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I said that because the facts ā Matthews committed in February 2014 as UKās first commit in the class ā didnāt match your narrative whether the narrative is true in other cases or not.
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With two open this year, the traditional transfer basically just has to be weighed against the 2017 class. As you say, thereās still room for a grad transfer if something materializes late.
Didnāt Matthews and Briscoe sign at the same time? I donāt think guys can sign in Feb of 2014 if they are 15 recruit.
Do you mean sign an LOI or commit to the school? He committed in Feb. 2014.
Iām not gonna lie I didnāt see a ton of high school film of nik or Glenn. I remember mitches more vividly. I think just one of each on for two former, I donāt remember withers jumping out at me like that. We know how both turned out but just off of those films I gotta think Mathews is right there or better in comparable films. Weāll see if we get him or that translates if he comes
Exactly. Plus, if āgreat players want to play with great players,ā then why didnāt Mathews just stay at Kentucky, where he could continue to play with great players? Plainly, because he wants to actually play - not unlike Derryck Thornton, who didnāt get much run this year and no doubt anticipated that Frank Jackson would pass him up on the depth chart next year. Great players want to start, not sit on the bench and watch their teammates play.
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Comparing Nik and Mathews is almost like apples to oranges. Mathews has great leaping ability and gets to the rim. Nik, in high school, could drive, but he finished around the rim with more crafty shots, not dunks. Nik had a better handle than Mathews, and was a better passer, but didnāt have nearly the same athleticism (though he certainly developed that under Sanderson). Nikās forte was outside shooting, and he was awesome at that. Mathews probably has a ways to go to shoot like Nik could.
Iāll say this - Nik scored something like 27 when his Canada all-star team played against Baylor. And he looked good doing it (you can probably find it somewhere on Youtube - pretty sure it was on this site at some point too). In any event, after seeing that, I was firmly convinced he would be a very good college player.
I gotta watch Mathews film again but I thought he looked like he was getting busy with the handle. Iām surprised nik has struggled in the nba. I really thought heād translate well. I even thought heād run the p n r well and drop a lot of assists. Combo guard style.
ESPN said he signed in Feb of 2014 but I imagine he signed the same time as Briscoe.
Briscoe committed in November, 2014.
Why is that being talked about still? Itās obvious Mathews was the first to commit and the earliest they can sign is Nov.
Itās important.
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Back to Charles Matthewsā¦ Are we starting to see a real shift in philosophy w/r/t recruiting? We all said (including Beilein) after the season that Michigan needs to play better defense and get more athletic. The Donlon hire, recruiting Matthews, some of the new names that have popped up on trail.
It feels like a start, but will be interesting to see how it plays out.
So I asked about Matthews on the national board- which is basically Ruppās Rafters lite because of all the UK fans- and here are a couple of the responses.
āGreat kid. Hustles and rebounds. He just needs to tighten up his game. He played more at the beginning of the season but I think he lost confidence. He has the tools. Not to mention he is a great person too. No headaches or baggage at all.ā
āI was excited about his potential by his junior/senior year and much
more disappointed about him leaving than Marcus Lee leaving. Good
athlete but raw in terms of basketball skills. I think he can become a
lockdown defender in a year or two. Showed the ability to be a decent
rebounder already but struggled to score from the floor and around the
rim as a freshman. Overall seemed like your typical freshman who needs a
year or two before he could really contribute.ā
āI canāt remember the game, but I remember specifically falling in love
with his defense in one particular game. I thought it was the Duke game
at first and his D on Grayson, but looking back he only played 7
minutes, so Iām not sure.ā - (Duke fan)
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered. PLEASE make this happen.
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Yes so intriguing. I really like most of the nNes being tossed around here. Honestly I think the last few classes will look like abberation. Honestly even the 2016 is decent but imagine if battle hadnāt pulled that stunt. All of us would be very pleased I feel like with a class of x,battle/ Langford ( if what we hear is true), Davis and teske. I think we all would have been very pleased with that class. This is no knock on ibi either as Iāve always liked him but particularly after that last film. He looked much more well rounded there. I think he just needs to be more consistent/ assertive.
Also Iām glad we havenāt jumped out the window on the grad transfers.now because if Mathews is a real option one of those spots is essential. Maybe belein has known about this for a lil bit and thatās why he is slow playing those spots/ turning down baruti ect. Who knows when Mathews camp reached out to a few schools while he was making up his mind. Putting out the feelers before he decided.
Well, we have two spots open. So that doesnāt really explain why we arenāt in the running for any grad transfers.
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I would say itās more like a tweak than a real shift w/r/t recruiting. Shooting has always been emphasized, but itās never been the end-all-be-all viz athleticism. Darius Morris was a PG who couldnāt shoot much who Beilein went after hard. GRIII wasnāt exactly a shooter than Beilein went after hard and early. Rahkman wasnāt a shooter. Isaiah Sykes wasnāt a shooter, Donte Grantham wasnāt a true-shooter type. A top end guy like Matthews would always have been been a guy JB wouldāve wanted even if he wasnāt a true shooter. The commits/primary targets ā Poole, Young, Cain, Wilkes, etc. ā are all guys that JB would always have been after. If we ended up with some combo of Blueitt, Edwards, Grantham instead of Chatman, Wilson, and Dawkins are we having this conversation?
I think it may be more of a shift if he gives Donlon more leeway to coach defense. There may be some shift in which players get the most time, but I still think the greater shift is probably going hard after a guy like Cain earlier than going after him at all.
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Iād echo this (UMHoopsFanās comments), at least to an extent. Add to that list Casey Prather, Dominic Pointer, Colton Christian and JaeāSean Tate among others. Where I think the difference may come in is that after a few years of defense well below even middling standards for a Power 5 team, guys who can guard, but who are works in progress offensively might be prioritized more, and may play more if we get them.