Recruiting has been brutal and it is clear at this point beilein simply does not win drawn out recruitments. IMO If battle, langford or winston don’t commit soon its time to start locking up some second tier guys (ie cumberland, jefferson, daniels, aiken etc) before they blow up to much. Can’t wait on guys like winston, battle and langford at the expense of the second tier guys because it clear by now it is highly unlikely Beilein wins those ones.
gowolverines8, you covered a lot of them but left a few out. Some of these guys never made it on campus for an official but some took unofficials, others we just stopped recruiting but at some point we were on their list.
2014
Jalen Alexander
Kevon Looney
Jonah Bolden
Dante Exum (stayed overseas)
Reid Travis
Eron Harris (major impact (avg 17 ppg at WVU) transfered to MSU, UM cancelled visit with him)
2015
Diamond Stone
Henry Ellenson
Stephen Zimmerman
Dwayne Bacon
Carlton Bragg
Tyler Dorsey
Prince Ali
Perry Dozier
Eric Davis
Austin Grandstaff
Noah Dickerson
Matt McQuaid
Recruiting has been brutal and it is clear at this point beilein simply does not win drawn out recruitments. IMO If battle, langford or winston don’t commit soon its time to start locking up some second tier guys (ie cumberland, jefferson, daniels, aiken etc) before they blow up to much. Can’t wait on guys like winston, battle and langford at the expense of the second tier guys because it clear by now it is highly unlikely Beilein wins those ones.
gowolverines8, you covered a lot of them but left a few out. Some of these guys never made it on campus for an official but some took unofficials, others we just stopped recruiting but at some point we were on their list.
2014
Jalen Alexander
Kevon Looney
Jonah Bolden
Dante Exum (stayed overseas)
Reid Travis
Eron Harris (major impact (avg 17 ppg at WVU) transfered to MSU, UM cancelled visit with him)
2015
Diamond Stone
Henry Ellenson
Stephen Zimmerman
Dwayne Bacon
Carlton Bragg
Tyler Dorsey
Prince Ali
Perry Dozier
Eric Davis
Austin Grandstaff
Noah Dickerson
Matt McQuaid
2016
Derek Funderburk
This hurts to put together.
Who cares if we were on someone’s list if we stopped recruiting guys. The interest has to be mutual to work.
Goodnight gentleman. The end of a very frustrating recruiting cycle (s) has finally arrived. The only good thing about the 15 cycle is that hopefully we have nowhere to go but up(please, please, please). Just can’t wait til the season starts, following recruiting for UM basketball has been painful the past 2 years. Enjoyed the intrigue and positive energy we had.
I’m starting to think we should go out and hire a young, charismatic, black coach with a great pedigree (maybe someone who played for Coach K) who has overachieved against good tourney competition, and who is the best recruiter in his conference. This type of guy will certainly be able to relate to the elite kids.
How about Tommy Amaker? Oh wait, we tried that.
I’m disappointed with the current status of recruiting too. But I’m not delusional enough to think that if only we had the right coach, we would be Kentucky. Given what transpired from 1999-2008, when we missed the tourney for 10 straight years, it’s amazing to me that more people don’t appreciate what Beilein has done here.
Oh well, as Colin Cowherd always says, “fan is short for fanatic.”
Could someone give an overviews of where we stand with recruits for next year? This thread is now pointless and i didnt follow 2016 recruting all that well
We have an opportunity with several guys but when you look at the last two classes, it’s hard to be anything more than pessimistic.
2016
-Josh Jackson (we were listed early in 2013 as one of his teams since he used to live in Michigan, but for whatever reason we fell out and MSU is one of his top teams along with the blue bloods. Likely a UK, Duke, KU, Zona, or UCLA commit.
-Dennis Smith (UM talked to him a year ago, no longer on the radar).
-TJ Leaf (Committed to Arizona)
-Tyus Battle (visiting soon but is big on Duke, Cuse, and UConn, a top 10 recruit, we know our luck with them recently).
-Josh Langford (blue bloods on him, seems similar to Jaylen Brown, gonna be tough to grab, top 10 recruit)
-Cassius Winston (top 25 player and PG, people say strong MSU lean for the in-state player, went to same HS as Jordan Morgan)
-Jamal Murray (blue bloods are on him, keeps moving up rankings, and may reclassify. Oregon and Kentucky likely biggest competition for the Canadian).
-Miles Bridges (a guy who we have seemingly have been gaining steam recently, gonna have a lot of competition for the Prep player including ISU and UK).
-Amir Coffey (on his long list, likely to be dropped soon).
-Derek Funderburk (Committed to Ohio State).
-Bruce Brown (have a real strong shot with him, bit of a late bloomer).
-Deveral Ramsey (small PG, Walton mold, got a solid shot with him, top 60 player).
-Eron Gordon (brother is in the NBA, played at Indiana, I think he will go there, seemed like UM has cooled with him during the last year)
-Matthew Moyer (Committed to Syracuse)
-Quentin Goodin (another PG, strong Louisville lean, got a shot with him though).
-Bryce Aiken (another late blooming PG who we have a real shot at).
-Kyle Guy (Committed to UVA)
-Seth Towns (Offered by UM, seemed to have cooled and have Davis and Teske as forwards, no need for him now with those guys in the fold).
Best shot is with one of the PG’s Brown, Ramsey, Goodin or Aiken. I think we will get one of those guys as they are 40-70 range players. I hope we can get one of the more big impact guys like Battle, Langford, Murray or Bridges but with the recent struggles of 2014 and 2015. I wouldn’t bank on it.
Recruiting has been brutal and it is clear at this point beilein simply does not win drawn out recruitments. IMO If battle, langford or winston don’t commit soon its time to start locking up some second tier guys (ie cumberland, jefferson, daniels, aiken etc) before they blow up to much. Can’t wait on guys like winston, battle and langford at the expense of the second tier guys because it clear by now it is highly unlikely Beilein wins those ones.
gowolverines8, you covered a lot of them but left a few out. Some of these guys never made it on campus for an official but some took unofficials, others we just stopped recruiting but at some point we were on their list.
2014
Jalen Alexander
Kevon Looney
Jonah Bolden
Dante Exum (stayed overseas)
Reid Travis
Eron Harris (major impact (avg 17 ppg at WVU) transfered to MSU, UM cancelled visit with him)
2015
Diamond Stone
Henry Ellenson
Stephen Zimmerman
Dwayne Bacon
Carlton Bragg
Tyler Dorsey
Prince Ali
Perry Dozier
Eric Davis
Austin Grandstaff
Noah Dickerson
Matt McQuaid
2016
Derek Funderburk
This hurts to put together.
Who cares if we were on someone’s list if we stopped recruiting guys. The interest has to be mutual to work.
Just saying we had a chance and talked with all of those guys. Lots of options we had at one point or another. Never had that many options in years previous.
Could someone give an overviews of where we stand with recruits for next year? This thread is now pointless and i didnt follow 2016 recruting all that well
We have an opportunity with several guys but when you look at the last two classes, it’s hard to be anything more than pessimistic.
2016
-Josh Jackson (we were listed early in 2013 as one of his teams since he used to live in Michigan, but for whatever reason we fell out and MSU is one of his top teams along with the blue bloods. Likely a UK, Duke, KU, Zona, or UCLA commit.
-Dennis Smith (UM talked to him a year ago, no longer on the radar).
-TJ Leaf (Committed to Arizona)
-Tyus Battle (visiting soon but is big on Duke, Cuse, and UConn, a top 10 recruit, we know our luck with them recently).
-Josh Langford (blue bloods on him, seems similar to Jaylen Brown, gonna be tough to grab, top 10 recruit)
-Cassius Winston (top 25 player and PG, people say strong MSU lean for the in-state player, went to same HS as Jordan Morgan)
-Jamal Murray (blue bloods are on him, keeps moving up rankings, and may reclassify. Oregon and Kentucky likely biggest competition for the Canadian).
-Miles Bridges (a guy who we have seemingly have been gaining steam recently, gonna have a lot of competition for the Prep player including ISU and UK).
-Amir Coffey (on his long list, likely to be dropped soon).
-Derek Funderburk (Committed to Ohio State).
-Bruce Brown (have a real strong shot with him, bit of a late bloomer).
-Deveral Ramsey (small PG, Walton mold, got a solid shot with him, top 60 player).
-Eron Gordon (brother is in the NBA, played at Indiana, I think he will go there, seemed like UM has cooled with him during the last year)
-Matthew Moyer (Committed to Syracuse)
-Quentin Goodin (another PG, strong Louisville lean, got a shot with him though).
-Bryce Aiken (another late blooming PG who we have a real shot at).
-Kyle Guy (Committed to UVA)
-Seth Towns (Offered by UM, seemed to have cooled and have Davis and Teske as forwards, no need for him now with those guys in the fold).
Best shot is with one of the PG’s Brown, Ramsey, Goodin or Aiken. I think we will get one of those guys as they are 40-70 range players. I hope we can get one of the more big impact guys like Battle, Langford, Murray or Bridges but with the recent struggles of 2014 and 2015. I wouldn’t bank on it.
I'm starting to think we should go out and hire a young, charismatic, black coach with a great pedigree (maybe someone who played for Coach K) who has overachieved against good tourney competition, and who is the best recruiter in his conference. This type of guy will certainly be able to relate to the elite kids.
How about Tommy Amaker? Oh wait, we tried that.
I’m disappointed with the current status of recruiting too. But I’m not delusional enough to think that if only we had the right coach, we would be Kentucky. Given what transpired from 1999-2008, when we missed the tourney for 10 straight years, it’s amazing to me that more people don’t appreciate what Beilein has done here.
Oh well, as Colin Cowherd always says, “fan is short for fanatic.”
I’m not saying we should be UK, KU, Duke, or Zona…Those 4 are the best basketball schools in the country right now. But we should be on the next tier and I don’t think we are anywhere close to that in terms of recruiting. Let’s not hate on Amaker, he has made 4 straight NCAA’s with Harvard and has passed on some Power 5 opportunities, real solid coach for us during that transitional period and we all know darn well we got screwed multiple years on the NCAA bubble. NCAA wasn’t doing us any favors and some of those teams were capable of S16 runs with DHorton and company.
Clearly Beilein is a better developer and overall coach than Tommy and none of us are saying he isn’t. However, the majority of us do not feel he is a high caliber recruiter. That’s where our frustration lies and this is the offseason for crying out loud…This is recruiting time…This is the time to be frustrated with this. We are the University of Michigan, I have high expectations for the school I grew up less than 20 miles away from and that will never change.
Just read on ESPN Insider that in addition to Rabb and Cuonzo Martin having a very strong relationship with Brown…It was a former Wheeler High player who starred at Cal that helped get this deal done. None other than Shareef Abdur-Rahim, I’m not sure how I missed this.
Well, that sucked. But put me in the camp that is happier with him at Cal than Kentucky. From here, I’m gonna just go ahead and cheer for the guys we do have. Can still accomplish any goal if they peak at the right time. Go Blue.
I'm starting to think we should go out and hire a young, charismatic, black coach with a great pedigree (maybe someone who played for Coach K) who has overachieved against good tourney competition, and who is the best recruiter in his conference. This type of guy will certainly be able to relate to the elite kids.
How about Tommy Amaker? Oh wait, we tried that.
I’m disappointed with the current status of recruiting too. But I’m not delusional enough to think that if only we had the right coach, we would be Kentucky. Given what transpired from 1999-2008, when we missed the tourney for 10 straight years, it’s amazing to me that more people don’t appreciate what Beilein has done here.
Oh well, as Colin Cowherd always says, “fan is short for fanatic.”
I’m not saying we should be UK, KU, Duke, or Zona…Those 4 are the best basketball schools in the country right now. But we should be on the next tier and I don’t think we are anywhere close to that in terms of recruiting. Let’s not hate on Amaker, he has made 4 straight NCAA’s with Harvard and has passed on some Power 5 opportunities, real solid coach for us during that transitional period and we all know darn well we got screwed multiple years on the NCAA bubble. NCAA wasn’t doing us any favors and some of those teams were capable of S16 runs with DHorton and company.
Clearly Beilein is a better developer and overall coach than Tommy and none of us are saying he isn’t. However, the majority of us do not feel he is a high caliber recruiter. That’s where our frustration lies and this is the offseason for crying out loud…This is recruiting time…This is the time to be frustrated with this. We are the University of Michigan, I have high expectations for the school I grew up less than 20 miles away from and that will never change.
No doubt we got screwed over in 2006 for a bid. Teams like 2011 Michigan State (only made it because the committee had no guts to leave them out) and 2014 Iowa completely collapsed down the stretch in their seasons and both made the tournament.
Amaker’s team would play up and beyond their potential at times, but didn’t just win that last game ever to remove any doubt.
2006 still should have been a tournament team, but we lose to a coachless Minnesota team and leave it to the committee’s hands instead of punching our ticket ourselves.
2007 - last game of the season and are beating #1 Ohio State. Atmosphere is crazy. Courtney Sims misses the easiest wide open dunk ever and then Dion Harris bricks the front end of a 1 and 1 free throw, and we lose the game and a tournament bid.
Ignoring the program and facilities for so long was an awful decision by our athletic department. We weren’t really even playing it safe, we were just plain content with having a team.
We should have hired Beilein in 2002 and started renovating our facilities then, not wait until 2009 to start fixing things.
Couple random factoids I’ve picked up surveying the damage across the Internet (though I haven’t fact-checked either):
(1) Cal boasts very few NBA players but Sharif Abdur Rahim is one of them. Apparently Abdur Rahim went to the same HS as Jaylen.
(2) Jaylen didn’t even take an official visit to Cal.
I wonder if everyone was so successful in negative recruiting against the other schools on his list which anyone deemed a remote or obvious threat that it sufficiently scared him off those schools and led to Cal.
Couple random factoids I've picked up surveying the damage across the Internet (though I haven't fact-checked either):
(1) Cal boasts very few NBA players but Sharif Abdur Rahim is one of them. Apparently Abdur Rahim went to the same HS as Jaylen.
(2) Jaylen didn’t even take an official visit to Cal.
I wonder if everyone was so successful in negative recruiting against the other schools on his list which anyone deemed a remote or obvious threat that it sufficiently scared him off those schools and led to Cal.
I remember hearing he did an unofficial visit to Cal shortly after visiting us.
I don’t think he ever wanted Kentucky, but that connection to his hometown must have sealed the deal.
Wow! I totally forgot about Abdur-Rahim. I guess that plus Rabb…it would almost be funny if Swanigan flipped as well. Not certain Martin has the greatest rep as a coach though. Young minds are so impressionable.
Wow! I totally forgot about Abdur-Rahim. I guess that plus Rabb...it would almost be funny if Swanigan flipped as well. Not certain Martin has the greatest rep as a coach though. Young minds are so impressionable.
At one time, weren’t people talking about those guys all wanting to play together. Now that two chips have fallen, I almost expect this Swanigan guy to commit to Cal in the next few days. He wants to be an early entry and made little sense as to why he would commit to a coach at MSU that has had only 1 in nearly 10 years and like 3 in the last 15. Not to mention a coach that has had many highly ranked guys who flamed out totally and never panned out.
Abdur-Rahim - ah yes, right around the time Todd Bozeman got nailed for recruiting violations at Cal. I’ll bet he knows which boosters to visit to get these things done. They got Rabb over AZ, UK and UNC, among others. I’m a little curious about this.
My point in bringing up Amaker is to point out that he seemingly checked all the boxes to be a great recruiter here, but he wasn’t. And the reason why is that just like JB, the University told him what lines he could and could not cross. We’ll get an elite recruit here and there (McGary, Chatman), but we can’t offer some of the things those kids are looking for.
By the way, I’ve heard Jaylen Brown has visited Cal unofficially about five times.
Wow! I totally forgot about Abdur-Rahim. I guess that plus Rabb...it would almost be funny if Swanigan flipped as well. Not certain Martin has the greatest rep as a coach though. Young minds are so impressionable.
At one time, weren’t people talking about those guys all wanting to play together. Now that two chips have fallen, I almost expect this Swanigan guy to commit to Cal in the next few days. He wants to be an early entry and made little sense as to why he would commit to a coach at MSU that has had only 1 in nearly 10 years and like 3 in the last 15. Not to mention a coach that has had many highly ranked guys who flamed out totally and never panned out.
Yes. The three talked about playing together, and as far as I know, Swanigan has not yet signed on the dotted line.
I’m a high school coach in the State of Michigan. Our assistants are great coaches but their is a reason why we keep losing out on these recruits. Unfortunately it will spark a huge debate that is unwarranted on the Internet.
People can spin recruiting anyway they want.We can all keep telling ourselves Coach B finds diamonds in the rough and produces good teams. For the most part this is true. The issue is when we went to the NC game and elite 8 we had talent. Darn good talent. And you can bring up the talent wasn’t rated high but it really was once most finished their senior year. See we were a team with Zack Novak and Stu Douglass that overachieved big time but still lost to Ohio in the tourney. Those guys graduated and Coach B brought in a heck of a recruiting haul. This class immediately sprung us to the NCAA game because they were head and shoulders above guys like Novak, Douglass, Smotz etc. I would even say the next class of Walton Irvin and Donnal was a good haul. Lately though it’s become unacceptable. Way too many misses.
Another thing there are no more excuses at Michigan to not get major talent. Facilities are outstanding now. That used to be the reason we heard why Tommy A couldn’t get it done(unfortunately it was his lack of offensive innovation why) all these issues are fixed.
'16 HAS to be a big recruiting year for Belien, period. At the very least, they must get Battle. I would expect to also get one good point guard option and Seth Towns. If you cant convince Towns that theres better basketball to be played than under Thad Matta, you’ve got problems.