Coach John Beilein has added another stellar recruiting class, with three ESPN 100 prospects headed to Michigan. Five-star small forward Zak Irvin is an athletic and skilled player who should challenge for immediate for playing time. In addition, four-star point guard Derrick Walton and four-star power forward Mark Donnal also will be welcomed with open arms to Ann Arbor. Walton will be counted on to help replace National Player of the Year Trey Burke, while Donnal is a skilled forward who will fit the Wolverines’ style of play on both ends of the floor with his length, skill and feel for the game.
Not to quibble, but an A- is silly. The 2013 class was finely crafted to fill Michigan’s needs at the 1, 3 and 4 while meeting Coach Beilein’s exacting standards for character. It’s an A class without a doubt.
A+! It was probably due to the smaller size of this class compared to other schools though… I could see Donnal passing many expectations being behind Walton and Irvin and all.
I love how these Recruiting grades never grade any team under a C.
Not to quibble, but an A- is silly. The 2013 class was finely crafted to fill Michigan's needs at the 1, 3 and 4 while meeting Coach Beilein's exacting standards for character. It's an A class without a doubt.
A- on a strictly relative basis when compared to other classes (probably how they are judging).
A+ for Michigan, our needs, and the direction of the program.
What was MSU rated?
MSU was C+
Looking back on it I think I’d grade it as a C+. Walton and Irvin were both and important solid contributors on a great 2014 squad, but both struggled for a long time after that season before Walton’s recent onslaught of awesomeness. Donnal is… Donnal. Not much more to say about him. While I say C+ overall, relative to their rankings (Irvin and Walton top 50, Donnal top 100) I’d have to go even lower than that.
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Where you you rank the players individually if you re-ranked the 2014 class?
Relative to their rankings?
Walton: B
Irvin: D+
Donnal: D-
No, do you think Walton and Irvin would still be top 100 recruits? How about Donnal?
Um well I think you know my answer to Irvin and Donnal. No need to extrapolate on that… Walton is interesting. He’s about to be first or second team Big Ten so yes, I’d say Walton would definitely still be a top 100 recruit.
Starter on an elite 8 team, injured sophomore year, and on the cusp on All-B1G 1st team and willing this team onto–and then off of–the bubble, and a 4-year starter: that’s a lot of value for one scholarship, even if he wasn’t a star until the 4th year of its eligibility.
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Yeah, I was going relative to their rankings though. He was a top 50 recruit I believe so he pretty much lived up to expectations, minus a couple hiccups. Overall I’d give him a B+ or A-. We’re gonna miss him a lot next year.
The injuries to Irvin and Walton do make the overall evaluations more difficult.
I have a great idea, let’s use a big senior day victory as a reminder to dredge up old recruiting rankings as an excuse to crap on our seniors! I mean,sure, Zak was the 6th man/designated 3 point shooter on a B1G champ/Elite 8 team, a two time team MVP (including on a tourney team), a senior leader on another tourney team that seems to be peaking at the right time, a 1500 point scorer, etc., but that’s not good enough for us. Heck no, let’s use his “five star” status (even though, by the way, he was a four star on the composite and didn’t get offers from anyone outside the region) to use “expectations” as a reason to give this guy a D+ and show we have such high standards. Ah, I feel better now.
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Well stated.
Not sure why you’re so triggered in particular by this when I never called him a five star 
And I’ll say this about Guestavo: I wasn’t a fan, but he sure was right about people who have different opinions getting attacked for those opinions.
It’s true, we had so much to learn from Guestavo about tolerance of opposing opinions and reasoned, respectful dialog.
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Kinda hard to have constructive, respectful dialogue when anything even approaching criticism of anyone connected with the program is immediately rejected as invalid, regardless of facts or evidence. You disagree with my rating of a C+ for the class? Lol okay? What would you give it?