Huggins just seems to land kids that end up being over achievers on both ends of the court.
Well, if Ahmad couldn’t be bothered to take a visit, how serious could he have been about liking Michigan? Seems interesting that OSU didn’t offer, and it seems like most other Big Ten teams didn’t either. Any idea why?
Saw Esa Ahmad dropped 25pts and grabbed 12 rebounds vs Teske last week. Still bothers me we didn't land that kid. He would come in immediately and make an impact. I'll get over it sometimeSaw some film from that game…Im sure Teske got a few blocks on Ahmad, but for the most part Esa was scoring at will against him, and Teske is no slouch in terms of altering shots. Ahmad is going to be very good in college
There’s a kid JB should have knocked down his door to get. Esa has “dog” in his game. One of the best rebounders I’ve seen and just an all around smooth game to go along with it.
I’m just tired of recruiting like we haven’t gone to a national championship game, an elite 8 and have some of the best facilities in the nation. It’s about time JB out recruits a big time program for a kid instead of expecting them to want Michigan.
Amen. It’s so rare to see us beat out programs like Indiana, MSU and OSU for top targets let alone Duke, NC, Kansas or Kentucky. With the exception of McGary, most of our best recruits were not heavily targeted by these other top programs.
Well, if Ahmad couldn't be bothered to take a visit, how serious could he have been about liking Michigan? Seems interesting that OSU didn't offer, and it seems like most other Big Ten teams didn't either. Any idea why?
Convince him to take a visit. If he can be convinced to visit West Virginia, certainly he could be convinced to visit Ann Arbor. He’s going to West Va for crying out loud. Someone did one heck of a sales job.
99 No’s and 1 Yes is still a yes.
Saw Esa Ahmad dropped 25pts and grabbed 12 rebounds vs Teske last week. Still bothers me we didn't land that kid. He would come in immediately and make an impact. I'll get over it sometimeSaw some film from that game…Im sure Teske got a few blocks on Ahmad, but for the most part Esa was scoring at will against him, and Teske is no slouch in terms of altering shots. Ahmad is going to be very good in college
There’s a kid JB should have knocked down his door to get. Esa has “dog” in his game. One of the best rebounders I’ve seen and just an all around smooth game to go along with it.
I’m just tired of recruiting like we haven’t gone to a national championship game, an elite 8 and have some of the best facilities in the nation. It’s about time JB out recruits a big time program for a kid instead of expecting them to want Michigan.
Amen. It’s so rare to see us beat out programs like Indiana, MSU and OSU for top targets let alone Duke, NC, Kansas or Kentucky. With the exception of McGary, most of our best recruits were not heavily targeted by these other top programs.
It’s also frustrating to listen to Michigan fans explain to me what an eye JB has for talent then cite Trey, Levert, Maar and Dawkins. I counter by saying JB was forced to take Burke, Maar levert and Dawkins because he literally had no other options and in reality, neither did the kids, unless you consider Penn State Ohio and Dayton options.
On the one hand JB deserves credit for identifying the best kids he had a chance at landing. On the other hand, he was in those situations because he routinely wiffed on his top targets.
Michigan State in another Sweet 16 while we didn’t make a post season tournament really has me ranting.
double post
Saw Esa Ahmad dropped 25pts and grabbed 12 rebounds vs Teske last week. Still bothers me we didn't land that kid. He would come in immediately and make an impact. I'll get over it sometimeSaw some film from that game…Im sure Teske got a few blocks on Ahmad, but for the most part Esa was scoring at will against him, and Teske is no slouch in terms of altering shots. Ahmad is going to be very good in college
There’s a kid JB should have knocked down his door to get. Esa has “dog” in his game. One of the best rebounders I’ve seen and just an all around smooth game to go along with it.
I’m just tired of recruiting like we haven’t gone to a national championship game, an elite 8 and have some of the best facilities in the nation. It’s about time JB out recruits a big time program for a kid instead of expecting them to want Michigan.
Amen. It’s so rare to see us beat out programs like Indiana, MSU and OSU for top targets let alone Duke, NC, Kansas or Kentucky. With the exception of McGary, most of our best recruits were not heavily targeted by these other top programs.
It’s also frustrating to listen to Michigan fans explain to me what an eye JB has for talent then cite Trey, Levert, Maar and Dawkins. I counter by saying JB was forced to take Burke, Maar levert and Dawkins because he literally had no other options and in reality, neither did the kids, unless you consider Penn State Ohio and Dayton options.
On the one hand JB deserves credit for identifying the best kids he had a chance at landing. On the other hand, he was in those situations because he routinely wiffed on his top targets.
Michigan State in another Sweet 16 while we didn’t make a post season tournament really has me ranting.
To say JB took those guys because he had no other options is simply false. He did whiff on his top targets, much like the majority of other coaches (including Izzo for the past several years). But he chose to offer Levert, MAAR, and Dawkins instead of a lot of other comparably ranked or even higher ranked kids. You are acting as if these guys were the only 3 HS basketball players available at the end of the recruiting cycle. The fact is, a lot of unranked to low 3-star kids remain uncommitted and unsigned until the spring signing period, hoping to get an offer from a power conference team.
We all get it. JB is not a good salesman. I don’t think anyone is arguing otherwise. But you sound ridiculous trying to knock JB’s talent evaluation by saying he “was forced” to take the guys on the team.
MP I think your comment is fair to an extent. With recruiting there is always some luck involved eg. Burke deciding to open up his recruitment as Morris had a huge year and decided to declare for the NBA. He does have a good eye for talent and development though. The one area Beilein hasn’t been able to capitalize on his supplementing that eye for talent and developing it and meshing it with star caliber players to keep things rolling.
This might not be fair to Walton who was injured this year but for instance is Walton ever going to be at the level of a Monte Morris or Demetrius Jackson? Trevon Bluiett has had a very nice frosh season for Xavier and was probably a miss.
Beilein is a very good coach but I am not sure he has it on the recruiting trail to consistently land high level types and be considered a reload type of coach and not a rebuild type coach.
MP I think your comment is fair to an extent. With recruiting there is always some luck involved eg. Burke deciding to open up his recruitment as Morris had a huge year and decided to declare for the NBA. He does have a good eye for talent and development though. The one area Beilein hasn't been able to capitalize on his supplementing that eye for talent and developing it and meshing it with star caliber players to keep things rolling.This might not be fair to Walton who was injured this year but for instance is Walton ever going to be at the level of a Monte Morris or Demetrius Jackson? Trevon Bluiett has had a very nice frosh season for Xavier and was probably a miss.
Beilein is a very good coach but I am not sure he has it on the recruiting trail to consistently land high level types and be considered a reload type of coach and not a rebuild type coach.
They were not getting Blueitt even if they tried to go after him avain when he opened it back up. Trevon didn’t think AA/campus was a fit for him.
Well, if Ahmad couldn't be bothered to take a visit, how serious could he have been about liking Michigan? Seems interesting that OSU didn't offer, and it seems like most other Big Ten teams didn't either. Any idea why?Convince him to take a visit. If he can be convinced to visit West Virginia, certainly he could be convinced to visit Ann Arbor. He’s going to West Va for crying out loud. Someone did one heck of a sales job.
99 No’s and 1 Yes is still a yes.
So why didn’t the school in his own back yard offer him? Seems obvious there was some kind of issue if he wasn’t even a take for OSU though. You have an AAU coach and his side of the story.
Well, if Ahmad couldn't be bothered to take a visit, how serious could he have been about liking Michigan? Seems interesting that OSU didn't offer, and it seems like most other Big Ten teams didn't either. Any idea why?Convince him to take a visit. If he can be convinced to visit West Virginia, certainly he could be convinced to visit Ann Arbor.
99 No’s and 1 Yes is still a yes.
The school in his own backyard has the number 1 recruiting class in the Big Ten for 2015. Thad is also notorious for misevaluating talent. I think he didn’t recruit Esa hard because he liked what he had in Diop Tate and Loving to go along with 2015’s class. Esa is better than all 3 of these kids right now. Looking back, I bet Thad wished he spent more time on Esa.
According to 247, Esa has offers from Maryland, Indiana, Wisconsin and OSU.
Amen. It’s so rare to see us beat out programs like Indiana, MSU and OSU for top targets let alone Duke, NC, Kansas or Kentucky. With the exception of McGary, most of our best recruits were not heavily targeted by these other top programs.
It’s funny to hear this complaint in a thread about a commit from Ohio who chose Michigan over OSU.
Can we try to keep this thread to Jon Teske discussion? Not sure how we got so far off base.
Speaking of Teske. Clipped together some footage here http://www.umhoops.com/2015/03/25/video-jon-teske-junior-season-scouting-highlights/
While I don’t ever think Teske will be a 15-16 ppg type of player, I think he brings a lot of value to the team without scoring. I’ve watched probably 10-12 full games of Teske, and he is an excellent passer for his size…and he throws accurate bullets rather than soft passes. I don’t think Teske’s assist numbers will ever be great, but I anticipate he will get a ton of hockey assists. Simply hitting Teske in the post, and him taking one dribble and then drawing a double will allow others to get open and there is no doubt in my mind that Teske will hit an open cutter. I think Teske would be good at the FT line against a 2-3 zone as well. I don’t need to speak on his shotblocking ability, because we all know he is excellent in that regard…the question is can he improve his rebounding. His effort in boxing out/pursuing the ball leaves a bit to be desired. If he can tighten that up, Jon could be a 7ppg, 5reb, 1 blk type of guy as RS freshman. I could anticipate Jon putting up 10-11ppg, 7reb, 2blks as un upperclassmen. I think he’s a great pickup.
Seems like a fair take. Will be really interesting to see how he develops in the next year before he arrives on campus. He’s still very young.
I hope they have him working on some kind of left hand hook or something. Every one of the post ups in the video where he turned over his right shoulder, he used his right hand for the shot. He was completely giving away any space his body could generate.
Also, his passing appeared quite good, but his reaction/effort after he made the pass was less than desirable. Unless all of the clips Dylan cut were coincidental misses, it seemed his team was not full of knockdown shooters, so maybe he should be crashing to the board after pass in anticipation of a miss. He just sort of stood there and watched the shot go up.
I did love that 3/4 court outlet pass though. That could be a real weapon if he developed as a rebounder. Kevin Love has a lot of flaws in his game but his outlet passing after a rebound is magnificent.
It’s also frustrating to listen to Michigan fans explain to me what an eye JB has for talent then cite Trey, Levert, Maar and Dawkins. I counter by saying JB was forced to take Burke, Maar levert and Dawkins because he literally had no other options and in reality, neither did the kids, unless you consider Penn State Ohio and Dayton options.
On the one hand JB deserves credit for identifying the best kids he had a chance at landing. On the other hand, he was in those situations because he routinely wiffed on his top targets.
Michigan State in another Sweet 16 while we didn’t make a post season tournament really has me ranting.
Well, I agree that Levert, Maar and Dawkins were plan b/c types, but IIRC Burke was a priority fairly early on compared to the other late offers you cite. Also, I do give credit for doing pretty well with the late offers (you can add Spike to that list), but my point has always been you can’t rely on a majority of those types of players and expect to go deep in the tournament. We have to balance the roster between studs and sleepers.
Amen. It’s so rare to see us beat out programs like Indiana, MSU and OSU for top targets let alone Duke, NC, Kansas or Kentucky. With the exception of McGary, most of our best recruits were not heavily targeted by these other top programs.
It’s funny to hear this complaint in a thread about a commit from Ohio who chose Michigan over OSU.
Yea I figured someone would mention that. I don’t think Teske was ever made a priority by the OSU staff, but even if you count him, we are still way behind in the head to head battle for recruits.
“We have to balance the roster between studs and sleepers.”
Of course, who would really argue with that? The issue is landing studs in the first place.
Michigan is not going to be the right choice for every kid. Before we even offer, the recruits are going to have to show they can qualify academically. We also don’t recruit kids who are perceived to be bad teammates. So, if it turns out you’re a great basketball talent but a terrible human being, we’re going to pass. We’re also probably not real interested in kids with parents who want to dictate their playing time to the coaches.
Further, once you arrive, we’re not going to look the other way and allow boosters to pay players. We’re not going to make attending class optional. And we’re going to require guys to actually learn the offense and be good teammates.
That is probably not the most conducive environment for landing top recruiting classes year after year. Some kids will be a fit. Other won’t. I’m fine with that. The 1994 and 1995 classes were a good example of “elite recruiting classes” comprised of many kids who were turds - Taylor, Mitchell, Bullock and White come immediately to mind (I was a huge fan of Traylor, Baston, Conlan and Ward as good kids).
After the run to the title game one year ago, we started to get a lot of interest from top 25 players that was never there before. The only recruit we’ve ever landed under JB who was a five star recruit at the time he committed was McGary, and we had a clear connection there with Zach Novak. Other than McGary, the rest of the best players under JB (Morris, Burke, Stauskas, Robinson, Hardaway, Levert) were not elite, top 25 recruits being recruited by the likes of Kentucky, Duke, etc.
At this point, it may be that we lack what these kids are looking for. As good as we have played the past few years, programs like Duke and Kentucky have been great for 30 years. And again, it bears repeating that several of these programs (UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC) have been nailed for cheating over the years (as was Michigan when it routinely pulled in five star talents). So in all likelihood, it’s not a real even playing field, and anyone who followed the fallout from the Ed Martin scandal knows that the mandate from the Athletic Department (whether you agree with it or not) is that we can no longer recruit in gray areas.
The reality is this - over the past few years, JB has done a great job of getting his players to the NBA (Morris, Burke, Hardaway, McGary, Stauskas, Robinson), and of those six guys, five got there in two years. So if kids want to play for a coach who gets his players drafted, and quickly, JB sure seems like a logical choice. Moreover, until this year, we’ve won games at an impressive clip. So, if you want to compete for conference championships, make deep NCAA tourney runs, and get lots of national TV exposure, we’ve got that too. And oh by the way, if you’re at all interested in academics, we have one of the best universities in the country.
So, I would think kids and parents with rational priorities (good basketball, good academics, coaching and university with integrity) would really like Michigan. For a kid like Ahmad picking West Virginia, well, it makes you wonder.