Pretty great game there between Cinci and Wichita St.
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Kentucky looked like a team that didn’t care. They looked like a team that had no pride in their university, and one that the coach simply couldn’t motivate. Hmmm, kinda like a bunch of one and dones who care more about going to “the league” next year than they do about playing for their university and their teammates today. Just my impression from watching them.
No idea what thread it was in, but I definitely need to give Mr. Robinson some big time props. He went from playing awful to being a very important part for this team. He went from a 5-6 game stretch of not doing a whole lot to a guy who can do about anything out there. Played superb defense today, constantly was hustling, contesting every shot he could, and helped break the press rather well. No idea if it was the, I’m a senior and it’s coming to an end or what, I don’t really care what the reason is but my goodness has he been playing excellent basketball. So props to you Mr. Robinson, we are going to miss you next year!
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Yeah, that defensive adjustment to keep Robinson in the paint was genius. Just a month or so ago, Duncan was basically unplayable and now he’s playing great.
After my awful Irvin takes last year it feels good to hit the nail on the head with Robinson. I’ve been telling y’all he was a good defender since the Detroit game lol!
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I’m watching South Dakota State play right now. I would really really like to avoid them in the first round. Mike Daum is a matchup nightmare for anyone.
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Heckuva career for the Youngblood from Michigan.
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Great read and listen. Thanks for posting.
Eh, I dunno. Seems like Nick was pretty loose with the facts to fit a story. I mean, at least as far the common narrative goes, Beilein didn’t “wind up at Michigan after the Wolverines realized Cassius Winston was headed to Michigan State.” And it’s not like Xavier Simpson was some plucky nobody, he was a top 100 guy higher ranked than, for instance, Carsen Edwards. And from what I remember, Vincent Edwards wasn’t some super high profile recruit and PU had been on him much longer than UM.
Yes, MAAR and Duncan have unusual stories, but otherwise? “They took Charles Matthews off the talent scrap heap” – really? I mean, I’m not sure the former top 50 guy had such a shortage of options, including Xavier.
Had “few in the United States had ever heard of” Wagner? He’d been scouted by NBA guys and had a bunch of pretty high profile schools at least interested in him.
“Jon Teske and Austin Davis got scholarships because someone had to backup Wagner.” Teske was a top 150 guy with OSU and Miami offers that JB offered as soon as he offered anyone for 2016.
It is true that JB prioritizes being a good teammate, etc., but this article was pretty sloppy and lazy.
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Wagner was being recruited by Virginia and others. Teske was someone Beilein really wanted and had an OSU offer. We took Simpson because Winston (his dad really) refused to commit after being recruited for over a year. His dad said that they didn’t want be rushed, wanted to take an official visit, which was scheduled and them cancelled by Winston, who wanted to go to homecoming at his high school. Simpson stopped in on his way back rom Wisconsin, received an offer, after we gave Winston first dibs. He committed the next day. Simpson was a top 100 recruit and Mr. Basketball in Ohio.
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These are all second hand (or third hand) anecdotes, but from the people I know connected to UD Jesuit, the only person who ever felt confident Cassius was coming to Michigan was JB. Most were pretty confident for several months leading up to X’s commitment that Cassius was going to EL. We held the door open as long as possible, but like @sane1 said, we couldn’t wait any longer once Wisky was serious about X.
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I remember the scuttlebutt being pretty mixed, but in any case, it’s false to say that X wound up at Michigan “after the Wolverines realized Cassius Winston was headed to Michigan State” at least by publicly available info (Winston hadn’t committed anywhere when Simpson committed to UM), and Baumgardner doesn’t provide any source to the contrary. It’s certainly true that JB jumped on Simpson after Winston was noncommittal, but that’s a different thing. And if that were the only sloppy thing, then whatever, but as I listed it’s just one of a bunch of questionable statements.
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“after being recruited for over a year”
It felt like we had been recruiting Winston for a decade. Walton referred to him as “my little brother.” He had been looking at a Michigan offer for months without making any sign of accepting it. Yes, it was pretty clear he wasn’t coming.
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Hmmm, when did MSU offer? A long time before, as well, yet he hadn’t committed but ended up there.
This freep article (same paper) seems pretty clear:
“In the tweet, Winston said U-M called to tell him his offer was gone because another player was offered and accepted it.”
MSU recruited Winston even longer and he hadn’t accepted an offer.
I’ll say that everything I had heard from people at U of D was that he was leaning M. Matt D has also maintained the same story coming from from the Detroit scene. The head coach Donnelly was pushing Cassius to MSU (his son was given a coveted MSU manager position to secure that support) but I don’t believe that was winning out.
It has always sounded like JB just didn’t want to risk another Battle after he had been burned in the same class.
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Fwiw, last year, Bridges openly discussed this and his version fits with what Sane relates above. Bridges said he was planning on going to UK because Winston had indicated to him that he was going to UM. This changed only after UM opted for Simpson. If Winston was leaning to MSU all along, it would be pretty bizarre to communicate otherwise to his good friend and 5 star Bridges.
Obviously, that official could have changed things and there were signs that his dad preferred MSU, which might explain why there were mixed signals floating around.
Thanks for the insight gents. Like I said, the people I was hearing from were definitely connected, but not to the point where I didn’t have to put a disclaimer of potential falsehood!
I guess at the end of the day, I’m happy with the “pitbull” we got. Cash will enjoy his time in East Lansing just fine.
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He who hesitates is lost.