I think the key to UM’s season is finding a way to hide Robinson on defense because offensively, the kid is a flat out weapon. He’s right up there with Stauskas in terms of shooting the ball.
Recruiting junkies have to besides themselves that a D3 kid is now in the rotation (and a potential star) over a borderline 5 star kid in Chatman and another top 100 kid in Wilson. Recruiting is definitely not a science and certain kids just fit better on a JB coached team.
Kid makes our team very dangerous. If Aubrey ever wakes up ( I think he’s lost and no confidence) then this offense could be unreal. All this means nothing if wanton is hurt. He’s actually the most critical player out there. That injury has me sweating.
The crow has been roasting for a couple of more weeks. I know it’s becoming obvious, but it would be manly of the Duncan detractors to admit that they were wrong,
I’d prefer to simply celebrate his success so far and let the stats speak for themselves. Good on Duncan so far and I hope he continues it all the way to a B1G title!
What’s amusing is that many of the Duncan doubters were also the most ardent Chatman supporters. It was beyond obvious that the former was a great fit for this offense while the latter was absolutely not a fit. And as they say, the ball don’t lie.
Combine Chatman and Robinson and you would have quite a player!
Here’s a mega-thread bump…
How was Duncan a D-III player in the first place? Not one D-I or D-II school saw his potential as a 6’8" sharpshooter?
I’ve seen his high school highlight tape. He was rail-thin and not particularly athletic. Maybe 6’6" and 170 or so. He filled out a bit in prep school and at Williams, then obviously things started getting interesting.
He is also quite brilliant and Williams is a REALLY high academic school. But, you are right, he developed a LOT between his high school senior year and the time he left Williams for MICHIGAN! He was probably a DII level player, but, and this is going to sound bad and I don’t want to diminish the academic quality of a DII school, but most DII schools are not academically superior to most DIII schools. Many of them, frankly, can’t compete academically with the DIII schools I know, and certainly not with Williams. When I coached and recruited at the DIII level we looked for kids who could play at a DII level but who were also superior students for whom we could put together a great academic financial aid package. Didn’t always work, but sometimes…we got lucky. But we NEVER had the opportunity to recruit kids like Duncan Robinson! I’m sure glad he came to Michigan.
Duncan had DI offers other than Michigan after his freshman year, but he was only interested in schools with really strong academics. He narrowed his list to Davidson, Michigan and returning to Williams.
True story - a guy I’d see every night in Central Park with our dogs was the father of the guy Duncan beat out for player of the year in the conference Williams is in. He said he was a great shooter, but he’d never be able to play defense at this level. This guy was a former athlete and his son was pretty damn good - the clear #2 behind Duncan in the conference. Interesting that he could end up being so wrong! Guess he didn’t get Camp Sanderson or just how committed Duncan was to improving his shortcomings. As I mentioned in another thread, Duncan absolutely pulled us across the finish line in that game last night. That 3 was a gift from the heavens and his free throws were everything. Everything was melting down around him and he was nails.
Huh. Still, I think it’s pretty normal for a 6’6" teenager to be skinny…
6’6" 170 is too skinny for D1 without ridiculous skill or something. He’s gained 45 lbs. since then if bebopson’s projection is reasonable.
edit: I shouldn’t say 170 is flat out too skinny at that height after Dejounte Murray and Kobi Simmons, but when you’re slow, unathletic, and don’t have great ball skills it certainly makes sense to see him not get many D1 looks.
Yeah, but you’d expect him to fill out his frame in college. Give him a redshirt and tell him to hit the weights and go to town on training-table food.
I’m surprised that literally no scholarship school (D-I or II) thought he might have potential. I mean, he was a freshman at Williams College when JB saw it in him, so clearly it was apparent right off the bat that he was too good for D-III.
CARIS came to UM at 145?
Well you have to mix that in with his other abilities. Brutal defender at that point and wasn’t going to be taking guys off the dribble. He also took a prep year, so he would be expected to be further along physically (although clearly he wasn’t close to done growing).
Listed at 6’4" 175 at some point in HS on 247. Same with rivals.
edit: the commitment post here has him as 6’4" 185.
I have no evidence other than my eyes, but Caris was not 185 as a freshman.
Well your eyes would certainly be correct given his 170 listing on the official roster. I’m gonna guess the high school 175 numbers were somewhat reasonable as weight varies a lot with these guys. Still, he was at least 2 inches shorter at this point and incredibly quick.
I see nothing to corroborate 145, that weight at his height as a freshman falls under the “high health risk” section for BMI, which I doubt a major high school like his would allow him to be at.
Yea thanks…I recall he was really thin…apparently he was around 160